||Chapter 22||
Dylan.
"Good, good. Take another few breaths and just focus on clearing your mind." Dr. Vanessa Lee's voice washed over Dylan as she sat on the floor, taking another deep inhalation. It was just after breakfast at the Future Minds headquarters, and they were in a strange little room that was painted soft shades of brown and filtered just the right amount of sunlight into the space for it to be calming.
Dylan had never meditated in her life, though she'd heard all pleasant things about it, she didn't quite understand how it worked.
"There are different types of meditation," Dr. Lee had mentioned before they started, giving a brief history of the practice. "But we're just going to try out the common breathing, and focusing techniques." She spoke and instructed them on posture and told them of the benefits of meditation before beginning narrating the steps.
Now Dylan sat cross legged trying to make sure her brain didn't wander to thoughts other than breathing, it took a lot of focus.
She lost track of time. How long had they been doing this? Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? She couldn't tell.
"Good, good." Vanessa Lee's voice sounded far off, in a different dimension. "Now Nathan, try hearing Dylan's thoughts. If she's focused enough you'll get nothing, if not, you'll know."
Dylan's mind wandered for a fleeting second before she took another few deep breaths, counting as she inhaled and exhaled.
"She's counting." Nat mumbled, his voice quiet and soft from somewhere to her right. "But that's it."
"Okay, that's a fine start." Dr. Lee cooed, it sounded as if she had shifted places. "Now I'll give Nat a second to focus his own attention, and Dylan will try to hear his thoughts."
Dylan waited a minute before listening intently for anything, but nothing came. It felt as if something had disconnected entirely though she knew they couldn't just turn it off.
"There's nothing," she whispered, the quiet voice breaking the utter silence in the room.
"Perfect!" Vanessa's hands coming together caused the teenager to jolt right out of her reverie. Did everyone here have to clap when they were pleased?
Dylan looked around, feeling groggy and out of it, everyone else seemed just as relaxed and slow moving.
"Okay, we're at a good starting point. There's not much I can teach you to guard you're own thoughts other than the techniques we did today. It's going to take practice, meditation can be hard for some people, but I have a feeling you two will be fine. It'll allow you each some privacy, and should be sufficient until we next meet." She high-fived each teen and handed them random pins. Dylan's had a picture of Hagrid from Harry Potter with the words "yer a wizard Harreh," scrawled across it. She looked up and smiled wide at the colourful haired woman with the weird assortment of lab jacket and odd clothes.
Vanessa swung her arms, as if she didn't quite know what to do with herself. "Well I don't want to hold you back on your second last day of vacation." She smiled wide and ...saluted? Swishing her lab oat and leaving the room.
Maybe goodbyes weren't her thing, or maybe she just liked dramatic exits, either way, she was gone in a hurry.
++++++++
Nat.
YOU ARE READING
The Not so Mindful Mistake
Teen Fiction"You're not real." She said out loud, her room was silent other than the slight hum of the fan in the corner. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and they scanned the small room, and for a while everything was silent; well other than her steady breathing...
