The Touch (Healer Series) (26 page)

  
“Stop!”
Addie yelled
at him, grabbing his arm with the strength only heard about in movies where
someone’s adrenaline kicks in and they lift a car off of someone. “Don’t move
her! Somebody call 9-1-1!”

  
Still slow motion. He knew it was now or
never; too much blood was being lost. He looked at Gram and the old woman moved
over to Addie and pulled her back from Rose.

  
“Let go,” she whispered into Addie’s ear,
holding her granddaughter's arms at her sides from behind. “Let go. Let AJ help
her.”

  
“He can’t help!” Addie replied in an
exasperated wail. “Call 9-1-1!”

  
“Shhhh, shhh, shhh,” Gram whispered, wrapping
her arms around Addie from behind, trying to calm her down.

  
AJ scooped Rose off of the broken rung,
carefully and methodically, watching as the splintered wood pulled out of her
leg from underneath.

  
“You’re going to kill her!” he heard Addie
yell.

  
Her heart was throbbing. She had lost Robert.
She was not going to lose Rose, too.

  
“Please don’t do this to her!” she screamed.
“She’s going to bleed to death!”

  
Addie was trying to break Gram’s grip and move
closer to Rose. AJ saw it all, moving so slowly, out of the corner of his eyes.
Her screams were turning into wails, into cries and sobs of desperation.

  
AJ lowered Rose down onto the ground and Max
was already there, ready to gently hold her head. He would let AJ start because
he knew there would be no telling him not to do this in front of Addie. If he
needed help, Max would step in.

With
AJ’s arms wrapped tightly around the little girl, the visions began to flow.
Rose as a baby, making her mother smile through the tears of a lost
love.
Visions of Rose as a teenager, her mother
smiling proudly next to her at graduation – and then the go-ahead for AJ to
heal the little girl.

He
looked down at her seemingly lifeless body, her head limp in Max’s hands. Addie
still screamed, alligator tears pouring forth from her eyes. The wound on
Rose’s leg was about six inches wide and large enough to be the most deadly
wound he’d seen in a long time. The blood made it hard to see the wound itself
as it bubbled out from underneath the skin, pooling onto the floor underneath
them. AJ’s body was covered in it and he didn’t care. He felt nothing else and
saw nothing else, except for Rose.

  
Rose was still unconscious, for which AJ was grateful.
At least she wasn’t feeling the pain. Her heartbeat weak, AJ knew he must work
fast. He placed his now red-tinted hands over the gaping wound on Rose’s leg,
applying pressure. He felt the heat pull forth from his core, surging out
through his hands and into Rose.

  
The rung had gone clear through from the back
of her thigh to the front, and from the amount of blood probably nicked an
artery. AJ’s hands were careful, swift. They moved back and forth, back and
forth, the heat building into the strength of a fire, only without actually
burning Rose’s skin. As AJ’s hands pressed against Rose’s leg, a light between
his palm and her thigh became

visible
, extending out and creating a blinding
light in place of the blood that had been impaling their minds just moments
earlier.

  
Addie’s eyes were wild, baffled. AJ looked
over at her, pleading with her to believe in him, have faith in him. She looked
from the light to him and back again. She begged him with those big eyes to
save her daughter. She didn’t understand it, yet she knew he wouldn’t fail her.
She was sobbing, begging them still to call an ambulance, begging Gram to let
her go to her daughter. The tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the
dust to form actual trails on her skin. Her heart felt as if it might explode
from pain and in the moment, she thought her mind might as well.

  
As the light grew brighter, a sense of
calmness and fear simultaneously raced through Addie as she struggled to
understand what she
was witness
to. Her lips quivered
at the mere thought of losing Rose; more potent than any other she had felt in
her life. She would have given anything in that moment to take Rose’s place and
be covered in blood instead of her daughter.

  
The light grew brighter as AJ’s hands grew
warmer. He looked at Max who nodded
approvingly,
knowing that to save Rose’s life one of them must be discovered. Otherwise,
they would lose her. AJ knew what Addie seeing him do meant: in a very short
time – days, maybe a couple weeks – his powers would be completely taken away
for having broken the rules that Healers had followed since the beginning of
time: never let a mortal see what you do.

  
The warmth continued to grow underneath his
hands, the wounds sealing from the inside out just as the elder had sealed his
the day before. The ring on the back of his neck grew brighter, a symbol of the
life he was breathing back into Rose, allowing her to continue on the circle of
her life until it was completed when she was very, very old. Addie saw this as
well and grew even more frightened. She hadn’t believed in magic, angels, or
anything of the sort. None of it made sense, and all she could think was that
AJ was some breed of monster, some version of an alien that had infiltrated
their lives. She wasn’t focused on the fact that he was healing Rose now; she
was consumed with fear that he was hurting her.

  
He placed his left hand underneath her leg,
the warmth protruding through from one side to the other.
 
Addie sat speechless and petrified, shaking in
the arms of her grandmother. Rose’s body shook, the artery healing and blood
flow being restored as it was before. The skin under his hands began to seal,
slowly, leaving a light scar. The mark on her flesh was an indication of how
tired and drained he was while healing her. He kept his hands on her longer
than he needed to, ensuring she was completely healed inside and out.

  
Gram looked at AJ, her eyes pleading with him
to save Rose, to work his magic and keep her alive. She knew what he was
sacrificing.

  
Just as the middle of the wound closed
beneath his fingers, Rose moved her head from side to side, a whimper escaping
her lips.

  
“Mama…” she whispered, Addie breaking free of
Gram’s grip and crawling across the floor to her daughter.

  
“Mama’s here baby, I’m right here, shhh,” she
whispered, stroking Rose’s hair away from her face, tucking an arm under her
head and wrapping the other around her body while pulling her baby into a bear
hug. “I’m right here. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  
She rocked Rose back and forth as her baby
came back from unconsciousness.

  
“I’m thirsty,” Rose said, looking into her
mom’s eyes. It was apparent Addie had been crying and it was Rose’s turn to
look confused.

  
“What’s wrong mom?” she asked, sitting up in
Addie’s arms. “Why are you crying?”

  
Addie looked down at Rose’s leg, the tear
still in her jeans and the blood stain massive, covering Rose’s pants and a
great deal of the floor directly underneath her. The puddle resembled a red and
sticky puddle.

  
“Get her inside, get her rested,” AJ said,
breathless and exhausted. “The blood will regenerate faster than normal. She’ll
be 100% in just a few hours.”

  
He fell backwards, lying on his back upon the
dirty barn floor. He didn’t care. The room was spinning. He had used nearly
everything he had.

  
Addie stared at him, completely unsure what
to make of what she had just experienced. She picked Rose up, carrying her
carefully out of the barn as her own body shook. She’d take a few steps and
then look shakily back over her shoulder at AJ, her face plastered with a look
of sheer confusion and panic. The look cut AJ to his soul. He was unable to
move, unable to follow after her and try and explain. He hadn’t had time to
even consider what Addie would think if she saw what he could do; he had only
seen Rose and her nearly lifeless body and he couldn’t bear to let anything
happen to her.

  
Gram looked at AJ and nodded a thank you
before hurrying up behind Addie and helping her carry Rose in. The women walked
slowly, Gram ushering them along, until they had faded through the darkness and
into the house.

  
Max sat down, wondering
what this meant for getting rid of the Grim.
If AJ lost his powers, he
wouldn’t have the fight. As the one the Grim had broken the laws with, AJ was
the only one who could touch Devin without breaking laws of his own.

  
Only he’d just broken one.

  
He looked at AJ as the Healer returned the
stare. They knew what they had done and what the repercussions could be. AJ
shook his head, resting it in hands still covered in Rose’s blood.

  
AJ tried to stand up to no avail; he was too
weak. He was on his knees, sitting back on his heels, his hands on the dirty
floor to hold himself up. What little strength he had left in his hands
dissipated and he lost his grip on the ground, falling backwards and flat onto
his back. His breathing was heavy, his chest rising up and down, and the sweat
beading across his head.

  
His eyes darted frantically, searching for an
idea to of how to rectify the situation.
 
He moved his right hand, resting it on his chest and wheezing as though
he had just run a marathon - in record time with no training. His head fell
left to right, struggling to gain control.

  
“I had to,” he whispered, mostly trying to
convince
himself
. His voice sounded choked, raspy. He
could hear his heartbeat within his ears. “I had to! Max, I had to! I couldn’t
let it happen. I couldn’t let it happen!” he repeated louder.

  
The tears broke through his voice and morphed
into full out cries as he felt everything crumbling around him. Addie had
finally relented, found a splinter of peace in letting them be just friends,
and now she may never talk to him again, he thought. At the very least, she’d
never look at him the same. She’d see him as a freak, an outcast, a monster –
he was sure of it.

  
Max shook his head softly.

  
“I know, AJ, we all know.”

  
“Tell me I wasn’t wrong.”

  
“You’re the only person who can decide what
is right and wrong for you, kid.”

  
“Cut the crap, Max!” he shouted through the
tears, attempting to lift himself up onto his elbows. “Tell me I wasn’t wrong!
Tell me I was right!”

  
Max stood up and walked over to AJ, slipping
his arm behind the weary Healer. He wrapped AJ’s arm around his shoulder and
hoisted his friend up, knowing AJ’s strength wasn’t the only thing that had
taken a beating that evening.

  
“Tell me I wasn’t wrong,” AJ whispered again,
his voice broken-hearted.

  
“You weren’t wrong,” Max said. “You were
right. However, the others might not see it that way. We both know that.” Max
had never been one for mincing words.

  
“I know.”

  
“Was it worth it?” Max asked, since they both
knew what was at risk.

  
“It was. Rose deserves to live. It was.”

  
Grim was
playing a game, and playing dirty.

14
REality
Refined

Addie
sat unsteadily on the edge of the bed, shaken by what had just occurred. Rose
was asleep, worn out from something she didn’t even know had happened to her.
Addie began peeling the dirty clothes off of her daughter. She worked as gently
as possible to clean her up and slip pajamas on her sweet, sleeping angel.

  
A thousand thoughts filled her mind about AJ
and who – or what – he was. Was he an alien?
An angel?
Nothing was for sure, she knew that. She had always felt he was different
somehow. It had been in terms of his personality. Whatever he had just done
with his hands was beyond the realm of reason. Things like that simply didn’t
happen, she told herself. It was right out of a movie.

  
Gram came in and silently, the two women
worked together to get Rose safely in bed. There were no words, because Addie
simply couldn’t find them. She didn’t know what to ask or what to think. Even
if she had opened her mouth, she knew nothing would come out.

  
The color was coming back into Rose’s cheeks,
her heart beating again as normal. It was as if the fall had never happened; as
if Rose had been lying in her bed all evening. Addie was more confused about
this than she had been about anything in her entire life.

  
As she re-envisioned Rose’s wound healing
under the glow of AJ’s hands, a thought suddenly occurred to her: she hadn’t
imagined the wounds on his face or the fight with Devin he had. It was real,
and the cuts disappearing began to make more sense to her. Gram knew the
instant the realization hit her. The former Healer could read Addie’s face like
a book. No one knew Addie better than Gram.

  
As they finished tucking in Rose and closed
the bedroom door, Addie leaned her forehead against the cool wood and began
speaking without looking at her Gram. She didn’t know what Gram knew. She was
only certain she knew something about AJ that she herself didn’t. She had been
too calm and had known to pull Addie off of Rose.

  
“How are you not shaken by all of this? Not
surprised? Did you see what happened out there? What is AJ?”

  
Gram hugged her from behind, pulling Addie
close. Addie turned, burying her head in Gram’s shoulder, the tears flowing.
Gram rested her hand behind Addie’s head, quieting her tears.

  
“Child, I think it’s time you and I had a
little talk.”

  
Addie kept her head buried, absorbing a
moment of rest on an otherwise exhausting night.

  
“Do you still have those old photo albums?”

  
Addie nodded and led her silently to the
living room, pulling out the thick, old albums from their storage spot
underneath a coffee table. The covers were tattered from years of being looked
at, as Addie had struggled as a child and teen to remember her mom as a good
person through the photographs contained in the ancient albums. She wanted so
badly to remember the better times.

  
Gram sat down on the couch first, pulling
Addie down next to her. Words weren’t needed as the two women gathered as close
to each other as they could. Gram could see Addie’s body shake and she pulled the
girl’s hands into her own, the wrinkled hands covering the younger ones,
soothing the pain.

  
Gram knew Addie feared AJ and what he could
do. It didn’t matter that his gift was a good one, meant to bring better things
to the world; it was magic, foreign even – something that one only read about
in science fiction books, and not something that actually happened in the real
world.

  
She’d never seen a Healer exposed and so had
never seen a face like her granddaughter’s after it had happened. From her own
experience, she simply requested to be released from her gift so that she could
continue her life with George. She wanted simplicity. She didn’t want to see
George’s face look as Addie’s did now.

  
She felt she had to somehow, without a wordy
explanation, show Addie that AJ was harmless and a good person. She wanted
Addie to look at him the way she looked at Gram.

  
She had seen them in the yard the other day
when Addie was so confused about his cuts being gone. She had seen the
reflection herself from where she stood, his circular scar glinting from the
fading sunlight. When a Healer is active, still possessive of their gift, the
ring is continually lit. It’s a light glow, but it’s always there.

  
When a Healer loses or gives up their gift,
the mark remains to remind them of the good they’d done throughout their lives
and of the sacrifice made in giving it up. The only difference was that it lost
its sheen, became just another scar.

  
Gram took one of Addie’s hands in her own and
lifted it gently. She turned her head slightly and flattened Addie’s hand,
straightening the fingers and placing them on the back of her neck. She traced
the scar with Addie’s fingers. It had been hidden underneath the neatly styled
hair for years and while it no longer held a glow, she hoped Addie would
understand that it was a good thing; that they were good people. That AJ was
like Gram, a good woman Addie had known her entire life.

  
Addie’s scared look faded as Gram’s hand let
go of hers, and she continued to trace the ring with her fingers. She was
fascinated. Her Gram was one of them, one of these strangers. Only Gram was not
a stranger or an alien, she was the truest person she knew. She felt a sense of
relief as some of the fear regarding AJ slipped from her body. She lowered her
hand, looking into her grandmother’s eyes.

  
“You?” she
questioned,
her voice slow and still trembling.

  
“Me.”

  
“You can do…
that
?” Addie asked. Her hands broke free from Grams as she waved
them about, trying her best to understand.

  
“I could, once upon a time,” she replied, a
smile forming on her lips. “I did.
For a lot of people.
People who were broken physically and emotionally.”

  
“Do…
did
you, fix
everyone? How does it work? Do you just go around, fixing people?” She couldn’t
think of another word than fix.

  
“It’s heal, honey. That’s what I did. That’s
what AJ does. We heal.”

  
“I don’t … I don’t understand. You heal? Or
you did. What do you heal?”

  
“A little bit of everything.
Cancer.
Flu.
Depression.
Lots of things, really.”

  
Addie thought for a moment. She thought of
her mother; she thought of Robert leaving.

  
“So if you heal people, if there are these
people like you walking around everywhere, then why are people still sick or
hurt?”

  
Gram gathered Addie’s hands back up into hers
again. It wasn’t an easy concept to understand, the rules that came with such a
gift. It took Healers years of practice to understand everything that was a
part of what they did, and Gram found herself needing to – for the first time
ever – explain it in a manner that was as easy and fast as possible.

  
“Because not everyone can be healed,” she
said softly. “We see things; the future of people’s lives. What we see shows us
if we are allowed to heal someone.”

  
Addie listened intently, trying to process
the thousands of thoughts swimming through her mind at the moment.

  
“We are governed by rules. To disobey means
we offset the balance of the planet and of human life. It has a ripple effect
that can touch generation upon generation, altering the future in a way it
shouldn’t. We cannot heal everyone because we aren’t allowed to.”

  
Addie’s mind suddenly shot to AJ. The bruises
and cuts he had disappearing.
And then to Isabelle.

  
“Isabelle?” she asked, her lip quivering. She
did not see it possible that Isabelle hadn’t deserved to live, hadn’t deserved
to be saved by these people.

  
These
people
, she thought.
AJ.
Gram.
The term disgusted her, as these were people she loved.

  
“It’s not easy to have to walk away. To let
someone as precious as Isabelle go. I can say from experience, I’m sure every
part of AJ ached to make her better and killed him to let her die. It is not
our choice; the plans are laid out for us and we merely carry them out. He told
me he saw her parents doing great things, helping many, many children. That’s
why Isabelle had to go – so that her parents could take the fire that burned in
their souls and use it to change the world. They will change the lives of
thousands of children down the road.”

  
“It just doesn’t seem fair,” Addie said
incredulous. She couldn’t let go of the idea that there are people out there
choosing their fate, that every event isn't random or an act of God.

  
“And Robert?
My mother?
Grandpa?”

  
“Sometimes,” Gram replied, “People are just
people. Like Robert. Maybe he just couldn’t be fixed, or maybe no one was
around to fix him.”

  
Addie looked down, sniffling. The tears were
starting again.

  
“What happened to you?” she inquired of Gram,
looking back up. “What happened to your … I don’t even know what to call them.
Super powers?”

  
“We call them a gift, honey,” Gram replied
softly. “I gave mine up. I gave them all up for your grandfather.”

  
“You did? Why did you have to give them up?”

  
“If you love someone and you dedicate your
life to them, you can no longer possess the gift. You cannot heal a person that
you love without losing your gift because you cannot see the situation clearly.
If that person is not meant to continue on this earth you could disregard that,
costing future generations a great deal of pain or despair through your
decision to change the path laid out from the beginning of time. So if you
choose to give someone your heart, you choose to let go of your gift and live
out your life as a mortal. I did that for Grandpa George. By the time he got
sick, I couldn’t save him. I wouldn’t give up the time we had for anything. I
don’t know if a Healer ever saw him. Those aren’t questions I will ever know
the answer to, so I stopped asking them a long time ago. I still wouldn’t have
changed any of the decisions I made. It brought me to him, and to you.”

  
Addie looked into her grandmother’s eyes.
 
Gram knew her question without words. Why not
AJ?

  
“AJ isn’t ready, Addie. From everything I’ve
seen of that boy, he loves you. He is completely and totally in love with you.
However, to choose to give his life to you would mean letting go of his gift.
If he’d done
that weeks
ago, when you wanted him to,
he wouldn’t have been there to save Rose. I’m sure that’s what he’s thinking,
right now. It’s all too real to him as well – if he gives up his gift, he
cannot protect both of you. He’d rather live a lonely life than let you or Rose
be hurt. If that isn’t love and sacrifice, I don’t know what is.”

  
The thought shot through her heart.

  
“Do you understand?”

  
Addie nodded, the reality of his situation
sinking in.

  
“Sometimes in life, it’s not need or want.
It’s not that he doesn’t need you, because he does. He needs a friend. Being a
Healer is a very lonely life sometimes. And it isn’t that he doesn’t want you,
because you know that he does. You’ve felt it when you touch. It’s because of what
he’d have to let go of, and what he’d have to live with. This is why he chooses
to remain the Healer he is.”

  
She paused before adding to the sentiment.

“Plus,
you don’t want to force him to choose you over his gift. If something does
happen down the road to you or Rose, he will resent having had to make the
choice. You don’t want that burden.”

  
Gram knew there would be no burden soon, as
AJ’s gift would be taken. He would then be free to be with Addie if he chose.
She didn’t want to relay that part of the story, however, in the event AJ had
other plans with his life. No sense in getting Addie’s hopes up.

  
Addie’s heart sank. She had clung to hope, a
tiny sliver of it in her heart that AJ was merely shy or needed to work things
out. She figured after that he would come rushing to get her. That he would be
her knight in white armor, saving her from the torment she had let her life
become. And now she understood his distance, his solitude, his constant
shunning of her advances. He would never be able to love her the way she wanted
him to.