Chapter 2 Take these Lies and Make them True

I stayed inside for a few days after all that happened with Sun Li. I managed to block out her voice and I hid in my room. Mum was getting really worried, I couldn’t tell her about the voices and I didn’t want her to go crazy too, so I ended up lying and told her everything was fine and kind of forced myself to go back to school. I saw Sun Li a few times and she was smiling away, headphones on blasting away in the hallway. I decided, I needed to just focus on someone else, maybe even help them and listen to them, in order to get Sun Li out of my head.

A younger kid got my attention and I honed in on his mind. Straight away I heard his thoughts: I hate school. I hate every teacher and every single subject they try to teach. It’s so boring. How am I meant to concentrate for so long.? They expect me to sit there for hours listening to them talk? No way, that's totally impossible. At least it is impossible for me, I can't concentrate in class longer than five minutes. But I have something to get me through all those boring lessons, my Nintendo DS. Yeah, I play it class. I play it all the time, secretly, though I have gotten caught a few times.

I've come up with some really bad excuses for not doing my work too. In fact, I was basically lying all the time.

I had apparently been the laughing stock of the English staffroom because I had told Mrs. Wang that my dog had eaten my homework. He is still waiting on me to finish that homework too, plus I told the Math teacher that I had ADD and that I needed medication. It was all a massive lie of course but I needed an excuse to get out of another boring Math class. Just yesterday, Mrs. Wang told me, 'I'm going to need some sort of documentation, Luke. These are serious things you are telling me. I hope you are telling the truth.'

I knew Mrs. Wang from junior Chinese classes, I had actually enjoyed her class and respected her for giving me more time with homework and assessments. This kid didn’t seem to respect her at all.

So I followed this troubled boy and heard him think this: To get out of boring Chinese literature, I wore an eyepatch to school every day. I even told the Principal in person that my eye was infected.

He just said, 'OK, I'll give you a few weeks, but I am going to need to see a doctors certificate very soon.'

But even with that crazy lie, nothing is compared with the mother of all lies. I had gotten out of every mid-year exam just because I knew I was going to fail every test and I had been way too lazy to study. This is excuse went well beyond wrong. I told the Principal that I had to go to Beijing to go to my uncles Lin's funeral (who was actually perfectly fine, teaching English and playing in a rock band in Beijing).

So hearing all this, I decided I could help this kid. It seemed easier than Sun Li, after all he was just lying, not slicing up kids faces in a freaky mask. So I followed him around, figured out his class schedule in a week and began planning a letter that would hopefully make him understand that the things he was doing were wrong. When he was all by himself in the library I found out more.

I read his thoughts again: My dog, Maxy, a beautiful old Labrador, had no idea what I was about to do. Then I realised I actually needed to do my homework, so I started right away. I struggled through every question, but thanks to my calculator, I sped through it in an hour. Five double -sided pages were finished. Maxey was watching me the whole time, those deep brown eyes watering away so innocently. He had no idea, what I was about to do.

He was a great dog too, hardly ever barked and knew heaps of cool tricks. I got him when I was about five and we are in every photo on the wall, together doing something crazy like playing in the mud or opening Christmas presents. I loved Maxey but I had to do it. It was the first lie and I had to make it true.

I tore up all my homework and mixed it in with the can of sticky dog meat. Maxey was very excited and pleased to be fed by me for a change. I added the rat poisoning, pushing it in deep with my hands, cringing at the smell.

Maxey dived into the bowl and ate up the meat, bits of homework and rat poisoning. He sometimes looked up at me with trusting eyes. He shouldn't have ever trusted me. I am a liar.

This was horrible! How could he do such a thing! I decided to write him a letter and I really should have given it to him straight away.

This was the letter:

Hey,

I know what you are doing and you have to stop. You’re a liar and nothing is going to change that unless you stop it. If you don’t stop I’m going to tell everyone you have lied to the truth and then you might understand the impact of your ways.

I kept the letter in my back pocket at school, waiting for the right time to give it to him. I followed him out of the school and onto a bus, I sat right behind him and this is what he thought: I hate that look that Mum was giving me. The man in white nodded and left the room. He came back later with a big yellow envelope. I opened it and peered at the X-rays to see my Math answers clearly written. That was the homework I was meant to do four weeks ago. That was the lie I said to Mrs. Wang. The plan had worked.

We went into to see Maxey. It looked like he was just sleeping, so calm and silent. He was gone, gone forever. I felt tears come down my face, I walked right up to Maxey's lifeless body and whispered, 'Thanks Maxey, I'll never forget what you did for me.' And that was that.

I took the X-ray to the Math staffroom. The look on Mrs. Wang's face was amazing. She went all white and said,; 'Oh Luke, I'm very sorry to have doubted you and I'm sorry to hear about your dog.'

A few other teachers looked up in disbelief. They were staring at the hard evidence. I was no laughing stock now, I hoped they felt really guilty when they thought about my dog, I know I did.

One lie proven true, but there were many more.

So I had to give him the letter, this guy just killed his dog to get out of doing his homework. I regret not giving him the letter, because the next thing he did was worse.

The following week I found him, looking like he had just drank twelve shots of espresso. I listened to his mind wonder:

Mrs. Zhao was still waiting my 'documentation' for my ADD so I needed to act fast to make that lie the truth. I researched like a geek on the internet about ADD I read article after article about how they couldn't concentrate at all, were moody all the time and needed medication. Hey, I'm moody and I can't concentrate, the only thing missing was the medication.

Luckily my friend Jacky, knew a guy who knew a guy. I could get my hands on some illegal ADD drugs in no time. Jacky just gave me the guy’s number and I had to catch the train to Nanjing road to get the drugs.

When I got to the busy street, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and I quickly slipped him the cash. He then handed me a small plastic container. It was filled with everything I needed.

That night I took my first drug. Minutes after I couldn't sit down. My heart was pounding and I decided to clean my room and listen to my MP3 player. I had to run to the park and play basketball because I just couldn't stand still. I was playing for over three hours until I felt the energy drain out of me. Soon an awful sadness grew over me and I started thinking about Maxey. My poor dog, how could I have done such a horrible thing, I am the dirt.

I cried all the way home and took another pill. Minutes later the sadness vanished. Those drugs were like instant happiness. I couldn't sleep much that night so I just played my DS and manged to get to the end of Super Mario World. By the time the sun came up I was ready for school, as moody as can be.

I was running around like a maniac, slept through English and Math and cried like a baby in the bathroom. Other kids gave me weird looks and even my friend Jacky left me alone at lunch, probably because I wasn't making any sense at all, talking at a thousand kilometers an hour. I was a real ADD kid now, all I needed was the documentation.

So I knew he was hurting himself too then. I had my letter ready when I heard his thoughts again:

Mum started to freak out and took me to the doctor. She had good reason too, I kept getting up at three AM to dance around the living room with the TV turned up full blast. The doctor asked me a few questions and I knew all the right answers thanks to the geeky internet researching. Ten minutes later he wrote a letter for my Principal and signed the bottom. He also gave me a prescription for some real ADD drugs.

I showed both the Principal and Mrs. Zhao the documentation, remembering to slip on my fake eye patch beforehand. They were both shocked, but there was no way they were not going to believe hard evidence. It was just like the X-rays.

I was a certified ADD kid; another lie had been made true!

I could hear his voice now from long distances, I guess this was a sign. I had this ability for a reason, it wasn’t just random. I needed to do something, but his next lie was really bad.

His mind told me: I knew what to do. I took my eyepatch off and looked at my perfectly working two eyes. I figured I had two of them losing one wouldn't matter that much. Plus I really didn't want to read those horrible Chinese literature books, they were so boring!

I walked into my room and glanced at my steel baseball bat in the corner. I hadn't played in ages but it was about to be put to good use. I slammed it deep into my eye, instantly seeing stars. Then I did it again to make sure I did a good job. Blood was staining my favourite Lebron James shirt. I couldn't be overwhelmed by all the pain. I just thought about all those boring Chinese literature classes.

My eye was all red and blood was dripping down my cheeks. It looked really believable in the mirror.

So I called out to Mum and she came running in, 'Oh my god, what happened!? Let's get you to the hospital.'

We rushed off and Mum held a pack of frozen peespeas on my eyes. I didn't want the swelling to go down too much,; it had to look really convincing.

The doctor couldn't do much but inject me with some pain killers but I got what I wanted, he signed his certificate and I tried hard not to smile all the way home. Mum spoiled me with loads of ice-cream that night and I didn't even have to eat all my dinner! I slipped my eye patch back on.

Glancing at the doctor’s certificate I laughed at the date. I had made sure to change the month, and it just looked like the doctor’s pen had slipped a bit. Things were looking up.

Seeing the look on the Principals face, made it all worth it.

I needed to give him that letter, but not in person. He probably knew who I was because I was the only mute in the whole school. In the library I listened to him think: There didn't seem to be any difference between the pills the doctor gave me and the pills that I got on Nanjing road. I was feeling so happy one minute and then miserable the next. I knew it wasn't real, deep down I was just laughing at it all. Laughing at the teachers that had believed every lie I had made up.

I didn’t put that letter in his bag after that. I thought he might blow up and go crazy from the drugs or something. At the time I had been researching mental health. Teenagers in America were killing themselves over petty things so I guess the same was happening here in China only less people knew about it. Then his thoughts came back into my head: he was recalling the last few days, maybe he was writing it in a diary.

The words from his diary spilled from his head: The Principal said, 'I'm really sorry to have to tell you this but you'll need to give us some documentation regarding your uncle’s passing. As you missed every mid yearmid-year exam we will need a good reason to pass you. I'll give you a few weeks to contact your family members but if you don't I'll have to make you take the whole year again, seeing as you've missed so much.'

They all left silently and I just stood there, trying to figure out my next move. The high from the pill was wearing off and I started thinking about my cool Uncle Lin. He was always sending me cool magazines and comics from the U.S. He never forgot to call on my birthdays either. He was my favourite relative by far, but he was a lie. My last lie.

I organised with Jacky (another lie) that I was staying over his house for three nights to catch up on some extra studying. The truth was, I was on the next flight to Beijing on a surprise visit.

I popped pill after pill on the plane, so excited to see my favourite uncle.

I knocked on his apartment door in the early hours of the morning. His girlfriend, Alice opened the door with a smile.

'Hey, Luke what are you doing here?'

I remembered the last time I saw her, she had short hair. It had grown and was curling up at the bottom. She looked even more beautiful.

She said, 'Come and have some tea, you uncle is at work.'

So we talked until sunrise. I stared into her deep brown eyes and her sweet thin lips. She was amazing.

Soon Uncle Lin came back from his gig.

'Hey, Luke! What a wonderful surprise!'

He made us all some coffee, then he made us bacon and eggs.

We all dosed off mid morningmid-morning. You know how musicians are;, they sleep most of the day and rock out at night. I was just getting a taste of his life and I got more than just a taste when he took me to see him play that night. He took Alice and Ime, to this small bar and ordered me a coke. I met all his band, they were all skinny Beijingers with dyed hair and black T-shirts. They played slow Jazzy music and waved their long hair like mops on the floor. Uncle Lin played the bass like a man climbing a tree. It was like being a little kid again, listening to them play.

After a few songs, they stopped and Uncle Lin said, 'Right, we'd better get you back to our place, it is getting late.'

Back at their place Uncle Lin gave me a can of beer, he said, 'Don't let your Mum know about this, it will be our little secret.' he winked at me.

What about my little secret? There was no way I was telling him mine.

The next day was great. Alice and Uncle Lin took me shopping. He even bought me two new DS games! He was always so generous.

I acted tired when we got back to his place and they left me alone on the couch to fake sleep. As soon as I saw their room light go off I sneaked off and met the guy who I was supposed to meet. He gave me the pistol and the silencer and the balaclava and coat. I paid him and slithered back like a shadow.

I put the coat and balaclava on and screwed the silencer onto the pistol. I walked into their room. I edge close to my uncle. I pointed the trigger to his head. I fired twice. Blood hit Alice's face. She screamed. I aimed at her legs. I fired. She screamed. I left the room. I dumped the gun and the balaclava in the bin shoot outside. I heard them slide down and clunk at the bottom.

I ran back into their apartment hearing Alice's screams.

This boy had to be stopped, I got online and found his email in the list of students in grade eight. I copied the letter I had written and sent it in minutes. I sat there waiting for him to reply.

Then I heard his voice again: There was a huge photo of Uncle Lin over his closed casket. I didn't go near his body. She had no idea that it was the hand that pulled the trigger.

Pulled the trigger? I realised he must’ve killed his uncle just to get out of all that mess he created himself. I saw him in the library again with that eye patch on, all quiet. I walked right by and finally slipped that letter between his backpack and his seat. Luckliy he didn’t notice me and I managed to get out of the library. I peered back in and saw him reading it though. I could feel the tension building.

His mind said: Who is wrote this? It could have been Tommy in maths? I need to talk to him, one on one, I’ll work out a deal and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have to take it up a notch. I’ve gotten this far, a skinny little goodie goodie is not going to stop me.

And that was the first time I talked back. The first time I spoke to someone from my mind. Before I could even process that I had this ability and what I could do, I spoke to him in my mind.

It’s not him, it’s me, I’m Jimmy Zhao from grade 12, you know the mute, the one that doesn’t say anything.

He replied in his head: What’s going on this is crazy!

I saw him storm out of the library face all red. Minutes later his voice came back:

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, please don’t tell anyone.

I told him: you need help, talk to a therapist and stop lying.

A few hours later, he replied in my head:

Please don’t tell anyone, OK, I will do it. I don’t want to get caught. I’ll do anything if you don’t tell anyone. Please Jimmy.

I felt amazing after that. I was like a superhero! I even started a list of names for myself for fun

The silent one

Mind Speaker

Truth Talker

Redeemer

Super mind truth teller

I had decided on Super Mind Truth Teller, just because it was so cheesy and everyone loves a little cheese right? It was a small victory and it was a little bit of a relief. I walked around school with my head held high, silent as usual, but a little smile was creeping up under my usual frown.

Though following that, I found out, my voice could be heard by others too. Others who were listening to my thoughts all the time, just like I was listening to others.

So I spoke to Sun Li the next day through my mind. I told her:

You need to stop doing this, hurting those kids

She replied: How are you doing this? Am I going crazy?

But then a deep voice came between us. That deep voice was the scariest thing I have ever heard.

It said: You have no power over her, she has already made the decision to cross over, leave her alone!

I asked: Who are you? What do you want?

But there was no reply.

So I figured out quickly, after talking to other kids through my mind, someone else was out there listening too.