{"id":3290,"date":"2023-02-24T17:47:42","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T07:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:13:57","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T05:13:57","slug":"carly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3290","title":{"rendered":"Carly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carly is barely noticeable in a crowd. She\u2019s of average height, has average shoulder-length brown hair. Her clothes do not induce anyone to comment on them. Jeans, t-shirt, runners, that kind of thing. Carly\u2019s features are unremarkable as well. Her face is one of those that lead people to say \u201cHave I met you before?\u201d Or \u201cYou remind me of someone I know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carly is more than happy to blend in, because there\u2019s something about her that\u2019s not ordinary at all. You see, Carly is an empath. The thoughts, dreams, and anguish of people around her, flood her mind whenever she engages with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was born this way, and it took many years for her to come to the realisation that not everyone was the same. Many years of knowing exactly what her parents were thinking about her. The little disappointments they thought they were hiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From her father the biggest disappointment was her lack of athletic prowess. He\u2019d been a professional footballer and went on to become a fitness coach of young men and women who excel in their chosen field. Carly didn\u2019t have a chosen field. Although she liked to go into a field, sports field, horse field any field to get away from the voices in her head. When her father was present, the voice kept repeating, \u201cwhy did I get a daughter that is so unco-ordinated? No talent, nothing. I\u2019m wasting my time.\u201d Carly would look at her father, trying to concentrate on the words coming out of his mouth. How high to throw the tennis ball for a serve, then watch the ball, keep your movements smooth, anticipate where the ball is going to return to, MOOVE YOUR FEET!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But still his thoughts came through, \u201cI\u2019m wasting my time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carly\u2019s mother tried. Tried to be accepting, tried to be loving, tried to find some way to connect with her daughter. But all Carly heard was \u201cHow can this child be mine? She\u2019s nothing like me. She\u2019s so quiet and dull, I can\u2019t find one little thing I actually like about her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Carly is eight years old she understands that what she has is a rare gift. She spends much of her school years learning ways to manage this gift to save herself from going mad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She finds that if she keeps her head down and doesn\u2019t make eye contact, it keeps the random thoughts of the other students out of her head. But she struggles to stop their thoughts about her<\/em> from passing through. It\u2019s a cruel conundrum. The more reserved and withdrawn she is, the more other students and staff think unkind thoughts about her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She procures an impressive collection of sunglasses, floppy hats, wigs and other disguises so as to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo-one can have any thoughts about me if they don\u2019t know who I am,\u201d she thinks. And so, she grows up as a stranger surrounded by people. Her outward plainness is an especially cultivated cover to protect her internal extroadinariness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who\u2019s ever wanted to be a fly on the wall should take a moment to think about Carly and her gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more of Amanda’s <\/a>writing here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carly is barely noticeable in a crowd. She\u2019s of average height, has average shoulder-length brown hair. Her clothes do not induce anyone to comment on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[9,282,8,283,10],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-amanda-gambas","tag-empath","tag-mountain-ash-chapter","tag-stories","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sff1uY-carly","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4353,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=4353","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":0},"title":"Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne – A Review","author":"Amanda Gambas","date":"April 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This debut novel from Kerryn Mayne is polished and entertaining from start to finish. 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