Archie Smith, Boy Wonder

Archie Smith was a boy like any other, except for his keen ability to read the thoughts of those around him. It was a hidden talent, one that he kept secret and shared with no one, not even his parents. They say ignorance is bliss, and in Archie’s case, it may have been true. Archie was only eight, and most of what he heard, he didn’t understand.

His gift was one that he had not been born with. Just ten months earlier, he’d been playing with his older sister, Judie, when he heard her think that she was too old for his games and that he needed to acquire more friends. Not knowing that she hadn’t actually said the words, he ran off and began to cry. It wasn’t until he heard his mother think about how much she wished she’s married Ben Harper from down the street that he realized what was happening.

Archie wasn’t the most loved boy at school, and his new ability didn’t much help his self-esteem. He knew too much now, and drove his friends away after learning what they thought about him. He ate alone, played alone, and walked alone. His burden made him drift into silence, and he stopped speaking. Ten months later, and nothing had changed.

He felt as though he no longer mattered, and like no one liked him.

Until one night.

He was lying in his bed, awake, but with his eyes closed when he heard voices coming from his window. He was afraid and confused as to why there was someone at his window, but equally intrigued. He kept his eyes closed, and tried to listen to the voices the best he could.

A tiny voice asked, “Is he the one?”

“It could be possible, but he’s awfully small,” another tiny voice replied.

“We’ve been looking for months, and everything has lead us here,” the first and more feminine voice said. “He has to be the one we’ve been looking for. I sense his gift. He reeks of magic.”

“Let’s get on with it then.”

He was astonished to find that he couldn’t read their thoughts. He needed to know who they were, and he needed to know how this had happened to him. At this moment, he could no longer lie still. He turned over, eyes open, and spoke his first words in months into the darkness. “My name is Archie Smith, I’m eight and I can’t read your minds, but I can read everyone else’s.”

He couldn’t see were the voices had come from, but a tiny gasp came out of thin air in the corner of his room and two tiny people appeared. They were the size of mice, and their skin seemed to illuminate the room as if it glowed. They hadn’t been there a moment ago, and seemed to have been invisible.

The little, glowing people stood there with shocked looks on their faces for quite some time. It was Archie that made the first move. “Are we going on an adventure? Can I wear my pajamas?”

“Oh, dear. It seems he is the one. Hello, Archie. My name is Claude Frobisher and I’m 214 years old. We’re from a magic place, and we would like for you to help us save it.”