Chapter 5: Stabbing Distance

"I really don't know how I should process this."

"On one hand, you finally stopped obsessing over the idea that this guy has super powers. You were about to make some sort of progress."

"I don't know if considering giving up on life is progress."

"Either way, you finally recognized your own insanity and were ready to walk away. And now, all of that's been thrown away by this dude admitting that you were not insane."

"I agree, it really undermines the character development I just had."

"Who are you talking to?"

"I'm just talking to myself, trying to decide what to do next."

"Well, can you decide that after you untie me?"

"No."

"No."

"Anyways, it's clear you're going even deeper into the insanity; I mean, tying the poor guy up is just wrong."

"Yeah, but am I really insane if I'm right?"

"Can you be both insane and right at the same time?"

"I guess that's possible. Either way, I think I know what I'm going to do next."

I walk up to Terri and slide the blade of a small knife across his face, reassuring what I had already seen.

"No blood."

"You know, even though I don't bleed, that still hurts."

"Hurts? How so? There's no cut into your skin so there's no reason for your pain receptors to be going off."

"I don't know. It just hurts. It hurts the way I assume it would hurt you to have a sharp knife cut across your skin."

"It makes no sense."

"Perhaps it's all in his head."

"Psychological pain would make a lot of sense. His brain knows he's been cut, expects there to be pain, then creates a feeling approximate to the expectation."

"Can I put a blindfold on you and see if it hurts when I cut you?"

"No!"

"I don't know if that would work anyways; I think he would still feel something along his face and create the expected pain."

"What's the most painful experience you've ever had?"

"A broken heart."

"You're being awfully sarcastic for someone in stabbing distance."

"Honestly, I'd rather not talk about it. Look, I didn't reveal my secret so you could start cutting and stabbing me. I just wanted you to know you're not delusional. You are crazy, but not delusional."

"I mean, we should be a bit easier on him, I mean he basically trusted us with a secret that could change the understanding of the human species."

"Alright, fine, I'll let him go."

I release the ropes around Terri and help him up from the chair he's been sitting in for the past hour.

He proceeds to slide off the chair and lie on the floor of my dorm room.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, I get exhausted whenever my power is used."

Terri continues to stare at the ceiling while talking to me.

"Now, since I confessed to my power, maybe you can tell me what your power is."

"My power?"

"Yeah. I mean, all these years, all the people in my life, you're the first one to figure me out? You have to have something going on there."

"I wish. My power is just that I'm weird.

"Weird?"

"I'm not like most people. I mean, you probably got that from everything you've seen me do, but I'm not exactly neurotypical."

"Are you saying your superpower is au-"

"If you finish that sentence, I will beat the shit out of you."

"Got it."

"Although, completely unrelated, I'm gonna stop trying to maintain eye contact with you."

"Trying to maintain eye contact?"

"Yeah, I always feel like I'm doing it wrong. Like, where's the line between avoiding eye contact and just staring at someone. How often do you break eye contact without it being too much?"

"I don't really know. It's just natural to me."

"It's not really important, I just don't want you to think I'm being rude. Either way, it's not like I'm gonna be powerless for long."

"Oh really? Where are you getting your powers from?"

"From you. You're the first step in my plan to become a superhero."