You've decided to wait for Alice.

*thump*

*thump*

*thump*

In a steady rhythm, you keep hitting the tennis ball against the living room wall with your racket. More to calm your nerves rather than passing the time.

*thump*

You needed to make things right. Even though you should be preparing for your dream job, you can't bring yourself to do it. Not when you had to do something as important as this.

The job can wait. You'll deal with the repercussions as it comes.

*thump*

You already told yourself. You won't use your powers for self-gain. You are not above consequences. Anything you ever do should and will always come back to bite you in the ass, and no magical mind control or mysterious entity can stop that.

*thump*

This is the responsiblility you must carry. This is the responsibility you must uphold for yourself. If you don't, then you'll be no better than those punks from that alleyway. Thinking they can do whatever they want, with no thought about how they affect the lives of others. Never taking responsibility.

*thump*

You won't be like that.

*thump*

You need to tell Alice the truth about what happened this morning. You need to right the wrongs that you've committed when you first used this power.

*thump*

You shouldn't have gotten away with it anyway. She's your best friend. She's someone you loved and cared for and trusted your life with. She deserves to know, or it wouldn't be fair to her.

You need to tell her that you...

*Whish*

Pausing in thought, you missed hitting back the tennis ball, which has already dribbled away from you.

Something isn't right...

Something about this image, of you sitting right here on the couch with a tennis racket and playing by yourself. It's wrong somehow.

Like an indescribable feeling of something being misplaced.

And the more you sat there, the more stronger the feeling grows.

You shifted your eyes everywhere in your apartment, knowing that something suspicious was up. And it's almost like it was staring at you in the face...

You looked at the tennis racket in your hand.

...

...

...

"I don't fucking play tennis. The hell did I get this from?"

Shrugging, you nonchalantly flung the offending object behind you as it smacks against the wall.

Where were you again? Oh right, dramatic monologuing about responsibilities.

You needed to tell the truth to Alice. About how you **** her this morning by using your newly founded mind control powers-

After thinking that sentence in your head, you've just realized how retarded you sounded for a moment there.

She's definitely not gonna believe that, especially the part with the mind control, and you using your powers to make her unaffected from being accidentally used on her again, which caused her to have any memory of her while under the effects of the mind control erased, and whatnot.

Yeah, you now just realized that this shits gonna be more complicated than you thought.

Damn, what were you going to say to her? It's already evening, and she should be home any minute now. You should have been gone about half an hour ago for your job, so it's not like you can change your mind now!

Oohp, wait, you can hear the door getting unlocked. That must be her.

Shitbaskets on Easter.

The door opens, revealing Alice coming through the door. When she first saw you, still at home instead of at your new job, she widened her eyes in surprise.

"Oh hey! I thought you'd be at your job by now. Didn't you say last night that you'd be starting today at-"

"Alice, we need to talk." You stood up from your seat and looked straight to her eyes with a serious expression.

She frowned at you, noticing your tone lacking its usual casualness that you always had when you're normally around her.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"It's... something really important. Mind-shattering stuff." You explained. "Something that could... make you see me in different light, and might even mess up our friendship with each other... But I need to tell you anyway, because you deserve to know the truth."

At first she doesn't say anything. She looks at you without a hint of expression, looking completely neutral. It brought back memories of what happened this morning, when you first figured out that you can manipulate emotions and feelings as well.

You had to suppress a shudder from arising.

After a while, she went to lock the door, and sit down right beside you. Holding your hands, she told you, "Whatever it is, no matter how serious, we'll get through it together. I promise, John, if you somehow gotten yourself into trouble, like owe some kind of debt to some shady people, I will do absolutely everything I can to get you out of this mess-"

"What? No! Nononono-" Jesus, she immediately assumed you were in trouble with criminals? And she didn't even hesitate for a moment to try to help you. You couldn't help but chuckle to yourself.

That is so like her.

How lucky were you to meet a girl as amazing as her?

"I'm not in trouble with the wrong crowd or anything like that!" You clarified, "It's... Something you might consider worse. It affects you too."

"Whatever it is, I can handle it." And there it was. Her trademark smile. That beautiful and amazing smile that she always gave you, every single day. Even just thinking about can make you push through and stay determined during the most **** of times. "Because no matter what, you and I are besties. Nothing can ever change that. I trust you."

...

HHNGH, PAIN, GUILT, SUFFERING. A PEICE OF YOUR HEART LITERALLY DIED INSIDE OF YOU. Okay, maybe not literally, since that would imply a few of your heart tissues have died, and you would be having heart failure- BUT IT FEELS THAT WAY GODDAMMIT.

Sigh...

What the hell do you tell her?