Ghazal Mhanna, 15 — Trainers’ Academy, Tulkarm
He sat on his bench in the garden sipping his coffee quietly, enjoying the warm sunshine and the gentle spring breeze. Usaid glanced towards the wall to find that its shadow had disappeared…
When I Heard What I Shouldn’t Have Heard
Lama Nidal Sadr, 15 — Halhul
I’m an ordinary girl living my life normally, just like anyone else in this world. I had a wish — and I won’t call it a dream — a rather strange wish, which was to be able to hear the thoughts of the people around me.
It was as if God had heard my wish and answered it. One day I woke up like any ordinary morning and headed to school. On my way home from school, I came across an elderly woman carrying a large bag, groaning under its weight. I didn’t hesitate. I went up to her and said, “Can I help you, Grandmother?” She replied with a kind smile, “Thank you, little one.” I carried the bag for her and walked her to her house. There she thanked me and handed me a small box of coloured sweets, saying, “Take these sweets — they will change your life.” I took the sweets from her hand, thanked her and left.
That evening, when I was about to go to sleep, I saw the box of sweets beside my bed. I took one and fell asleep. In the morning when I woke up, I heard my mother saying, “Oh my goodness, she’s still asleep. If she doesn’t wake up, I’m going to pour water over her head.” I jumped up at once, came out of my room and said to my mother, “No need to pour water, Mum — I’m up.” My mother was shocked by what I said, and found it strange that I had repeated what she’d said in her head, but she didn’t comment.
When I left the house and walked down the street, dozens of voices suddenly overlapped inside my head. I felt a bit of a headache, and I looked at people’s faces. This one complaining about hard times, this one thinking about his children, this one late for work, this one thinking about today’s cooking, this one unhappy with her clothes, this one annoyed by the noise of cars… They weren’t speaking — they were thinking. That’s when I realised I could hear the thoughts of the people around me.
When I got to school I saw my close friend, and when I walked towards her I heard her say, “Ugh, here comes the arrogant one.” I said to her immediately, “God forgive you, Muna — I’m arrogant?” Muna was shocked that I knew what she was thinking. That day I was able to hear all the thoughts of the students and teachers in the school.
When I got home, the effect of that sweet wore off, so I took another one before bed. The next day I was able to control that power and choose when I listened to people’s thoughts. My goodness, how much people around me suffer! I heard sad thoughts and happy thoughts, I heard people suffering and people dreaming, I heard innocent thoughts and wicked thoughts.
Whenever one sweet wore off, I took another, until the box was nearly empty. Then one day, as I was coming home from school, I saw the same old woman again. I ran towards her, calling out, “Grandmother, Grandmother, wait!” She turned to me with the same warm smile and stopped. “Hello, little one, how are you?” she asked me. “I’m not well. This power has become annoying. Please tell me how to get rid of it — I’m sick of it,” I answered. She smiled and said, “This power was a test for you. Anyone who knows what people are thinking will either lose trust in everyone else, or lose trust in themselves.”
I fell silent for a moment, then walked quietly away from her, thinking about her words. I realised then that I didn’t need to hear other people’s thoughts to understand them — I needed to understand them to know what they were thinking. In that moment all the voices suddenly disappeared, and everything returned to normal.
The End
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