Thelma

By Ruth Boukhari

Cover art courtesy of SF Norge.

They don’t know what I’m capable of.
Do I even know?
The seizures, the sweating,
the mind-blowing tension
invites unwanted attention.
Popping pills to keep the thoughts at bay
but that didn’t stop her from exploring my face
for a sign of interest, for an answer to a question
that I wasn’t supposed to hear.

Do I want her?
From the curve of her lips
to the glisten of her skin
beneath the hot strobe lights.
Yes, I want her. Is that alright?
The psychiatrists say no.
My parents tremble, NO!
Remember your brother…
Thelma, where is your brother?
One wish was all it took.
Wish him back,” mother cried.
But I wished for him to die.

Now, this brain is doused
in chemical confusion,
one thought replaced with another
and forgotten by another.
But my heart feels her
when she enters the room,
wants true love to bloom.
One night without pills.
Just one night, let me be real,
let me kiss her
and let them see what I can do…

Connections rewiring,
synapses firing,
galaxies colliding,
planets aligning,
no more fighting
the truth of what I am:
a superhero or supervillain?
That all depends…
will she love me in the end?

Dressed to the nines,
all eyes on me
except for her…
except for her
when she’s kissing him.
Supervillain it is.
I close my eyes and make a wish:
Where is Anja?
Did she ever exist?

© Ruth Boukhari 2025

Thelma (2017) is a Norwegian supernatural thriller directed by Joachim Trier about a lonely, sexually repressed young woman whose dormant psychokinetic ability arises when she develops a fascination for a fellow student at her university.