The guys were immediately interested.
"I'm not sure exactly when I would have been triggered, as you call it, but I have a pretty good guess. As I told you earlier Zac, I was orphaned when I was four. Now," Jo bit her lip, "as I recall, the incident that rendered me orphaned was a fire burned down my house - an electrical fire."
"An electrical fire? I don't know - I wouldn't think that an electrical fire could trigger you." Zac commented, frowning.
"Yeah, well, like I said, it's a guess." Jo replied. "But I do know that it was around the time of the fire that I got triggered."
"Oh?" Taylor asked.
"Yes. I know because it was then that I… I…" Jo paused to take a deep breath. "I, uhh, I remember everything. And I can compute things, in my head. Y'know, complicated maths problems faster than a calculator. Pi to the one billionth decimal and beyond - English billions, that is. Reproduce a piece of music after listening to it only once. Recite the entire Bible in almost every version and twelve different languages including English, Hebrew, Greek, Japanese, German, Indonesian, Portuguese, French and Spanish. In fact, I can learn entire languages in a few minutes - all I need is a text book on the topic."
The guys stared.
"This conversation? In twenty years time, I could tell you exactly everything everyone said, word-for-word, movement-for-movement, breath-for-breath. I could tell you exactly what this room looked like, size, colours, furniture, the lot. My reading speed has gotten to the point where I can't turn the pages fast enough and if you don't get the freaking idea by now you need a good bash over the head."
"Zac's had too many of those already." Isaac replied immediately. "Wow… that's amazing."
"Amazing to you maybe. But to me, it's a pain in the butt. Takes all the challenge and enjoyment out of life. And if that's not bad enough…" Jo hesitated a moment. "It can get pretty depressing at times. And I have to admit, I have considered, umm, suicide, but, see, couldn't do that no matter how hard I might try. You wanna know how I didn't get burned Zac? It's like I'm freaking invulnerable or something. Nothing hurts me."
"Nothing." He repeated.
"Nothing." Jo confirmed. "Zip, zero, zilch, nada. I was snowboarding once. Was in an accident that should have broken my neck. The hospital guys told me I was lucky. Lucky my foot. Cursed is more like it. Between my mind and my body there's no challenges in life."
Taylor patted her back.
"So, how'd you get into music?"
"Oh, ok, I admit it. There are only two things that get me through. The first is anything creative. Being creative is the only challenge in my life." The ticked-off expression moved away to reveal a smile. "Music especially. It can be such a release."
"Yeah, I know. What's the other thing?"
"Extreme sports. I considered it as a career once actually, but I figured people might be curious if I never got injured. Pity. Can be lots of fun. Although I imagine my adrenaline rush isn't quite as high as it would be for normal people." She paused. "And I have to admit, I kinda hope one day I'll get to surf a tsunami."
"Tsunami?" Isaac repeated. "Isn't that the Japanese word for a tidal wave?"
Jo's eyes glowed gleefully.
"Oh yeah."