Writing Prompt: “Since birth you have had telekinesis, one night you try and turn off the light and nothing happens, then a hidden voice goes “whoops boss that’s my bad, wasn’t paying attention” and the light switch flicks off.”
I laid down in my bed after a long day at work. My body was exhausted and my feet were killing me. I laid there for a second, but quickly realized that the overhead light was still on. I looked across the room at the light switch on the far wall.
I let out a sigh.
If I was a normal person, I’d have to get up, walk across the room, flip the switch off, and then make my way back to the bed in the dark. But I’m not a normal person. You see, since birth I have had the powers of telekinesis. Simply put, I can move stuff with my mind. I can just think it and it will happen. Well within reason. I can move objects with my mind.
I looked at the light switch and narrowed my eyes. I thought about the light switch being flipped off.
Now normally when I use my mind to move stuff, it’s almost instatenous. It just happens. But this time was different. I thought about it and there was a strange pause. It didn’t instantly happen. A second went by and the light was still on.
Then there was a voice that emerged from the air.
“Whoops, sorry Boss. That’s my bad. Wasn’t paying attention.”
I was in stunned silence when the light switch flipped off and the room went dark.
There was an uncomfortable silence as I sat up on my bed, staring into the darkness.
“H…hello. Who’s there?” I asked.
Nothing answered my question. The room was silent other than my heart beating fast and my accelerated breath.
“You.. you just talked to me. It’s ok. You can talk to me. Who are you? What are you?” I asked.
Again there was nothing but silence. I thought maybe I had just imagined it or heard a voice from somewhere else. But no. I know I heard it. I checked my phone and it was on silent. There’s no way it came from there.
I looked over at the light switch and thought it on. Instantly the light switch flipped on and the room was filled with light again. Still I could not see anyone else in the room. I then looked over to my far left where my flat screen television sat. Next to it sat a self help book my mother had bought me for Christmas, but I had never read.
I told it hover in the air and it instantly rose off the table and into the air.
I quickly glanced over at the light.
Light off.
The light switch flipped off and the room went dark. I heard a thud from the book falling and hitting the table.
Lift book.
I could not see the book in the darkness, but I could feel the book lift off the table again.
Light on.
Again the book fell with a thud as the light flipped on.
Light off.
Lift book.
Light on.
Lift book.
I turned my head back and forth, switching between the light switch and the book. After several times back and forth, I finally heard the voice again.
“Alright, alright, I’ll talk,” The voice said.
Light on.
The light flicked on as the book fell. It hit the table and then tumbled onto the floor.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m here, Boss,” A voice said.
I could not see anyone but the voice originated from a space near the light switch.
“Why can’t I see you?” I asked.
“I’m not. I’m not visible. To anyone,” The voice said.
“What are you?”
“I’m not sure. I’m just me.”
“Do you have a name?”
“No.”
“Alright. Why do you call me Boss?”
This question lead to a moment of silence.
“You are my Boss. You tell me what to do,” It said.
“And you want to do this?”
“I want what you want. You command me, Boss, and I do it,” The voice said.
“But would you rather be doing something else?” I asked.
Again there was a moment of silence. This time it was so long, I spoke again.
“Hello?”
“I don’t know how to answer that. I want what you want.”
“That doesn’t make me feel good about the situation,” I said. “Are you the thing behind my telekinesis? Actually, is it even telekinesis?”
“I don’t know that word, Boss.”
“Oh. When I think about moving stuff, do I move it with my mind?”
“You think and then I move it.”
“So when I think about moving the book,” I said.
I turned toward the book.
The book lifted off the ground.
“I lift it,” The voice said.
I put my head in my hands.
“This is very strange.”
“Agree. I will go back to being silent.”
“No. No. I don’t want that,” I said. “It’s strange if you just follow me around, silently.”
“You want me to talk?”
“Yeah well. When it’s appropriate. Wait, can others hear you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t normally talk. But if you can hear me, Boss, maybe others can too.”
“Right. Sure. That makes sense,” I said. “I mean, none of this really makes sense. I thought having telekinesis was strange, but turns out that I have an invisible friend connected to my thoughts that just lifts stuff.”
The voice was silent.
“Do you ever get tired from carrying stuff? Like do you need to sleep and eat?”
“I don’t need food, water, or sleep.”
“What do you do when I sleep?”
“Wait for you to wake up.”
The voice said it without emotion, but it stung in my heart to hear it say this.
“Alright, well I can’t… I need to give you a name.”
“If you say so, Boss.”
“And you don’t need to call me Boss. My name is Wally.”
A voice grew silent.
“You are the Boss.”
“Right, but you can call me Wally,” I said.
“Can… can I call you Boss?”
I let out a small sigh.
“Yeah if that makes you more comfortable, then you can call me Boss.”
“Alright, Boss.”
“Now we need a name for you. Let’s start by narrowing down what you are? Are you a ghost?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Can you float off the ground or move through walls?” I asked.
“I go wherever you need me to go, Boss.”
“But can you go through solid objects?”
“I…I don’t think so.”
“Alright, so you are not a ghost. Maybe some sort of Alien. Did you come from another planet?”
“I’ve always been beside you.”
“Do you remember being anywhere else.”
“No.”
“Huh,” I said. “Well maybe not an alien then. Do you have any other ideas?”
“Not really, Boss. Sorry.”
“It’s alright. Do you know anyone else like me who has a friend like you?”
“No.”
“Alright, do you know anyone else like you?”
“No.”
“So you are the only one of your species, whatever you are. Or at least you haven’t met anyone else like you. Maybe I’ll call you One.”
“One?”
“Are you ok with that name?” I asked.
“If that’s what you want, Boss, then that will be my name.”
“Ok. That sounds good, One.”
With that settled, there was another moment of silence between me and One.
“Now what?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, Boss. What do you want me to do?” One asked.
“Well I guess you can put that book back on the table, next to the TV.”
“Ok, Boss,” One said.
The book then floated over to the book and rested on it.
“Now I’m going to get some rest,” I said. “I’ve had a long day at work and I’m only sixty percent sure this is real.”
“Ok, Boss.”
“Right. Please turn off the light.”
The light switch flipped off and the room went dark.
“Goodnight One.”
“Goodnight Boss.”
I rolled over to face away from One’s position and I pulled the blanket up around me. I closed my eyes and did my best to try to fall asleep. Although it was kind of hard to fall asleep when I knew that there was a silent person just hanging out in this dark room, waiting for me to fall asleep and wake up the next day.
Header Photo Credit to EZ Living Future
https://ezlivingfuture.com/wireless-light-switch/
Writing Prompt submitted to r/WritingPrompts by u/AxemanMcMahon
Allen The Writer 