One of my best qualities, I believe, is my intelligence. I don’t mean to come across as rude, but the fact is, I am beyond the brain capacity of any other person my age. At the age of eight, my IQ was measured to be 136, which was just shy of genius level. I loved to learn, too. I wanted to know everything.

As I got older, I spent my time thinking and learning. It was great. One day, I was offered the chance to take part in an experimental process to expand the mental capacity by 250%. I, of course, agreed.

On the day of the test, I went to the lab and sat patiently in the procedure chair. The scientists and resident doctor hooked me up to an EEG and other devices to ensure my life. Then they brought in the equipment for the procedure. It was a pair of glasses, completely normal at first glance.

They slid the glasses onto my face and I immediately saw the difference. Everything, all the secrets of the universe were there before me. I saw chemical formulas, atoms, molecules, and protein structures. I saw mathematical equations, the measures of simple things that I had taken for granted. I saw beyond the walls of the room I was held in. I saw the stars, the next galaxy, and an alternate universe.

I sat for a moment, barely looking at anything. Then the scientists tapped my shoulder and asked me, “What do you see?”

I turned to look at them, slowly. “I see everything.” I could see each cell of their bodies, each fiber of their clothes, each individual strand of their hair.

“Everything, huh?”

I stared into the deep blue, almost black eyes of one of the professors. I saw what he thought. I saw everything.

And then the figurative shit hit the fan.

All the knowledge flooded into my mind. Before, I had only been seeing, and not really taking anything in. Now, though, it was all coming in at once. It was like a tidal wave trying to pour through a rainspout. I could hear all the people of the world, alive and dead, talking; I could see all the terrible things happening at once.

I instantly panicked. I couldn’t breathe. I heard machines beeping, the scientists rushing about and trying to talk to me. Over that, there were still voices in my head telling me the secrets of the world. The doctor checked my EEG, which was bouncing off the walls. I saw nothing but whiteness, pure, blinding whiteness.

That white was suddenly changed to red. I no longer had control of my body or even my brain. My hands reached up and tore off the glasses, but it was too late. Out of pure frustration, my own, disobedient hands dug into my skull to try to put a stop to my brain. The voices had to go. My bloodied fingers gripped my eyes and tore them out of their sockets with a sickening squelch. I felt sick to my stomach and unbearable pain, but I was unable to react to it. My hands started tearing into my own skin before the scientists managed to tie me down. I felt them taking me somewhere.

Somehow, I managed to fall asleep, since I woke up at some point. My eyesight had returned, somehow. The voices were still there. Whispering to me.

“Don’t worry, you’re the smartest person in the world now.”

“You know everything, nothing will ever go wrong.”

I felt my vocal chords strain, and a strangled sound met my ears. Despite a part of my brain telling my body to stop, to shut down, to let me live, my arms struggled against my bonds.

My arms were rubbed raw but they finally tore through the bonds. I couldn’t blink, but I could see blood trickling down my body, blood from my face and arms. I was alone, in a hospital room. I felt the glasses on my face.

I ripped off the glasses and I was immediately blinded. However, the voices remained.

“You can’t leave us behind.”

“You still know everything…”

And at that moment, everything became nothing as my own hands betrayed me and plunged into my chest. Before I breathed my last breath, I heard the doctors rush into my room. Over their yells and the sound of more machines beeping, I heard the voices in my head say one last, chilling sentence:

“…And now you’ll know everything forever.”