Balancer's Soul

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  Mr. V. tried running away to an open spot in the crowd, but Connor struck far quicker. With one hand he grabbed his former teacher by the back of his shirt and threw him on his back, picked him back up by the collar of his shirt and with both hands he brought up the wide eyed man to his eye level. He said loud enough for the crowd to hear. “I saw you in the corner of the gym earlier.” He pulled him closer to his face. “You were the one who gave Mathew this weapon.” Connor dropped the man down to the ground forcefully, wrapped his hands around the electrodes and yanked the two barbed needles out of his chest. Each needle had been coated red with Connor’s blood.

  Moments later Mr. V. found his demeaning voice. “What proof do you have for your accusations?”

  Sarah walked to the side of Connor to see him smile. “Are you honestly that stupid? Oh right I forgot you are!” Connor pulled off a piece of confetti from his clothing. It was a small circular orange piece. “When you fire off a stun gun, these are shot out. They are like the striations of a bullet. Each stun gun is unique. They are branded with a serial number that will be traced back to you.”

  Connor lifted the man to his stubby feet, crouched down and brought his right fist back. Short of killing the man, Connor wouldn’t let him go without punishment. With one quick movement he punched his teacher directly in his stomach with enough for to deliver him unconscious. As the man started to fall, Connor caught him and threw the limp body over his shoulder like he was nothing. He stood tall as he turned to Sarah.

  “Are you alright, Princess?” Connor asked quietly.

  “I am, but you’re not!” She tried to touch his bloody face, but he stepped back, grabbing her hand gently and releasing it just as quick.

  “You can work on me later.” He smiled and turned his head sharply.

  Sarah turned to look in the same direction and saw Mark holding both of Mathew’s arms behind his back. He still wore his silver suit and didn’t ruin it somehow. Kara stood to the side of Mark, glaring at Mathew as he was struggling to free himself without luck. “He tried to escape while you were working on that porker, Buddy.” Mathew tried squirming, but screamed in pain when Mark tightened his grip, almost dislocating his shoulders from behind in the process. “What do you want me to do with him?”

  In a deep commanding voice Connor ordered “Knock him out cold!”

  Before Mark could react Kara stepped closer. She swung her arm back and with a force Sarah never expected her to have, she struck the back of his head to make him go limp.

  Everyone in the audience stared at her with wide eyes. Mark started laughing “That’s my girl!” then copied Connor by throwing Mathew over his shoulder with ease. He turned to look at Connor. “What are we going to do with these two Ass-Clowns?”

  Connor turned to the crowd. “Will someone please go retrieve Deputy Burrow!” several people ran off, following Connor’s order while the others remained dumbfounded and spellbound.

  “Sarah.” Her head spun back to Connor’s bloody face. “Would you please pick up that stun gun and wrap up the coils? We will need the evidence.”

  “Ok, but when this is over I will need to clean those wounds.” He smiled down at her. “What’s that smile for?”

  “It looks like you can take your revenge on me for the time I cleaned out those scrapes on your hand and applied the sage…”

  “Hey your right… you really are going to get it!” She shot him a playful smile.

  “WHERE ARE THEY!?” A deep male voice called from the back of the crowd seconds later. “MOVE ASIDE!”

  With the weight of his unconscious teacher draped over his shoulder Connor walked over to stand with Mark who carried Mathew over his shoulder.

  “Who called for me?” A tall, slender man wearing a brown deputy sheriff’s uniform appeared in the crowd. He was a middle aged, ebony skinned gentleman who has always treated Connor with respect. He shaves his head and always carries a smile wherever he’s called.

  “I did, Deputy Burrow.” Connor raised his free arm.

  The deputy walked up to Mark and Connor and started laughing. “Wow, Connor you look like hell. What happened? And what is up with that new growth over your shoulder?” He smiled brightly at the two young men.

  “Oh this little ol thing?” Connor shifted Mr. V’s. weight on his shoulder. “Oh he only handed a weapon over to Mathew. Who by the way, is hanging over Mark’s shoulder. Mathew here” he pointed on Mark’s shoulder. “used a stun gun on me without provocation.” Deputy Burrow’s constant smile vanished. “Oh it gets better… Mr. V. put my wife in a chokehold and held her captive.

  “While he was shocking and kicking me, while I was down eating the concrete mind you, I stood up and slammed Mathew on the ground. I was glad my wife was able to break free from this teacher and I also incapacitated him until you arrived.”

  Deputy Burrow looked angry “Is your wife ok, Son?”

  “I’m fine officer.” Sarah walked up to Connor with her hair billowing and her blue dress gracefully shimmered in the sunlight. “I hope this helps convict these two men?” Sarah stepped forward and placed the stun gun in his big hands. “Oh wait…” She walked up to Connor and picked off a few pieces of the stun gun confetti. “This will help as well.”

  With the stun gun in one hand and solid evidence in the other, the deputy asked the crowd “Does anyone else have anything to say otherwise in my report?”

  “I do!” One of the guys who asked Connor to play Football with them stepped forward. “Connor, actually tried to talk Mathew out of this foolishness. Plus he saved me as well.”

  “Explain.” The officer said seriously.

  “Connor, took the shock head on. I saw how fast he is capable of moving. If Connor did dodge the gun, I or maybe someone else would have been seriously hurt. He took getting shot on purpose.” The guy said honestly.

  “That’s all I needed to hear.” Deputy Burrow said and his smile returned.

  “Where is your cruiser?” Connor asked, gaining the deputy’s attention again.

  Mark and Connor followed the officer and were followed by Sarah and Kara. The two of them threw the Ass-Clowns, as Mark happily and aptly named them, into the back of the cruiser, still unconscious.

  They were both being charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, discharging a weapon in public, endangering the public, holding a hostage and a few other charges thrown in just for kicks. As Deputy Burrow rolled down the window of his cruiser he said “Son, you need to clean yourself up. You have had a rough of a day. Want a ride to the hospital?”

  “I’ll take good care of him.” Sarah came up and wrapped her arm around Connor’s. The officer nodded and drove away with the criminals.

  “Brother, are you ok?” Kara asked. He looked down at Sarah and then to Mark who all shared the same expression. He must have look really bad.

  “I will be after I get cleaned up.” Connor then looked at her with a smile. “You remembered your training, Sis.”

  “Well duh. I’m not your typical frail female.” She shook her head.

  “What training?” Sarah asked and all looked to her.

  “Do you honestly think that Brother is the only strong one in the family?” Kara lifted her dress high enough to show Sarah her sculpted quadriceps. Mark came up and playfully poked her leg to see if her muscles were real. “Stop that.” She said, smacking his hand away playfully.

  “Wow Kara I never realized.” She looked up at Connor. “I see now why your sister has your hearing as well.”

  “Sorry about that.” Kara apologized a little too easily to be believed.

  “I need to clean up.” He said to everyone and they didn’t argue as his face still bled.

  They said goodbye to the whole family and the four of them left first. Jenny wanted to have him checked out at the hospital, but as stubborn as she is Connor told her all was fine. On the ride back Mark reminded everyone of their graduation camping trip tomorrow. After they got out of the car, Sarah and Connor qui
ckly ran back to their home in the woods.

  Sitting down on the dining room chair, Sarah told him to remove his shirt as she ran into the bathroom to get the first aid kit and some towels. After Connor’s ruined shirt was unbuttoned and stripped off he noticed two deep puncture wounds on his torso. One landed above the left nipple and the other just caught under his right collarbone. The bleeding finally stopped, but it still stung something fierce.

  Sarah came in with a handful of clean towels and the first aid box he stocked in the house just incase of an accident. Only because they live so far out in the woods they might need them. She sat them all on the table and walked around to the sink and filled the empty fruit bowl full of hot water. She brought it over and sat down in a chair in front of him. As she cleaned his chest wounds first she asked “How were you able to stand while being shocked.”

  Remembering back he explained “When I saw you being held I was so furious that I couldn’t do anything to help you. My mind raced for a solution that didn’t give away what we are and I found the answer to my problems. I knew that I needed to direct the electricity away from my body. I used Terra to pull the electricity away through my feet. I couldn’t get rid of it all, but I managed to direct enough away. I was really amazed when I was able to get hold of Mathew be able to direct it all into him without any pain to me.”

  “I have to admit that Mathew deserved far more than that slam you delivered.” She smiled as she dipped the towel again in the water. “I’m finished with this part, lean over here and let me work on your head.”

  Connor leaned down as she used the warm and wet washcloth to wipe the blood out of his eyes first then moved to his cheeks. She wiped away the blood in his forehead lastly. “There is only a deep scrape; at least there isn’t a deep, fleshy gash like I feared.” She cleaned the wound quickly and removed all of the dirt and any foreign objects from his head with peroxide. She added an ointment and one gauze patch to cover the wound on his forehead and two smaller adhesive bandages over the puncture wounds on his chest.

  When she finished Connor grabbed her bottom and sat her down side saddle on his lap. She squeaked from the suddenness of her movement and felt large arms wrap arms around her and clutched her tight to his breast. Connor laid the side of his cheek on the top of her head, telling her “When I saw his arms around your head I thought he was going to break your neck.”

  She wrapped her arms around him as well. “I was worried that Mathew was going to kill you too.” They held each other for several minutes in complete silence. She moved first and raised her head, speaking softly “I love you, Connor.”

  “I love you too, Sarah.” And they kissed each other in comfort and safety; not passion.

  She stood later and made dinner while he washed his blood out of the towels and threw away the rubbish from the first aid.

  They ate a large meal again before taking a shower together and fell asleep not long after.

  This day didn’t turn out as expected. It wasn’t happy, but it reminded him of what is truly important of this life.

  New and Old

  Connor awoke early the next morning feeling remarkably pain free. It was a welcome sensation. Sarah remained fast asleep as he silently left the bed and put on a pair of shorts. Connor left the room to check out his new battle wounds. When he entered the chilly bathroom he carefully shut the door and turned on the lights before stepping into the mirrors reflection. He stripped away the bandages off his chest. Thankfully he became a Balancer and no longer suffered the dread of having any fine bodily hair getting pulled off along with the bandage. Looking closely in the mirror he noticed that the wounds created from yesterday were healed and only two small pink patches of new skin showed where they were.

  He then quickly removed the bandage that covered his forehead. Connor thought he must have been seeing things because there wasn’t a single abrasion on his forehead, only soft pink skin remained. “Sarah didn’t say that I would be able to heal this fast.”

  Returning to the bedroom he sat down on the bed and began rubbing her shoulder softly, knowing Sarah just had to see this. She slowly awoke from the gentle touch. She then stretched and sat up, bringing the bed covers up with her to cover her breasts. “Good Morning.” She yawned. “How are you feeling?”

  “Take a look for yourself!” He stood and walked over to the light switch, turned it on and returned to the bed again.

  Taking a minute to focus her eyes Sarah saw exactly what he meant. “Connor, your wounds, their all healed!” Sounding astonished would be an understatement for the way she spoke.

  “Yes, you never told me that Balancers could heal so fast.”.

  “Connor, your mistaken. Balancers don’t heal, we regenerate. And we can’t. Not this fast. Well we can add another oddity to our circumstance.” She put her fingers to her temples and rubbed. She exited the bed without the sheet and walked over to her dresser to put on her black lace undergarments. She put on some brown jeans and a black sleeveless shirt.

  She sat down on the bed, crossing her legs as she patted the bed in front of where she sat. Sitting down comfortably, she explained precisely what she meant. “Connor, we regenerate our cells, not heal. When a normal human’s cell divides, the copy is slightly degraded. That’s the only reason why humans die of old age. If the degradation process didn’t occur they would be as immortal as we are. Their cells cannot make an exact duplicate like ours can.

  “Ours on the other hand makes an exact and perfect replacement to the original cell. Not only that, but our system is flooded with Stem Cells. If we lose a limb, and we don’t die from blood loss, a Balancer can regenerate any severed extremity in time. Father is a prime example of this because his left arm was severed in a battle five hundred years ago and it grew back in about six months.

  “The odd thing I was talking about was how quickly you regenerated. Normal Balancers regenerate only slightly faster than a human, but not by much to be noticed. Unlike you that is.” She smiled, stood up to walk out the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To test out another theory.” She said sweeping past the door.

  A moment later Connor felt through the bond that she was in pain. He rushed out of bed in a blur and entered the kitchen to hear the sink running. Sarah’s forearm had been thrust under the flowing water and turned red and a red stained carving knife sat on the sink table. “What happened?”

  “I’m experimenting to see if I heal as quickly as you.” She smiled and turned off the water. He ran around the table, grabbing her arm to see how much damage she did to herself. It wasn’t too deep, but just deep enough to draw blood. The injury was located over the top of her forearm. It was an inch long and he ran to the bathroom to patch up her arm. As he came back in she smiled. “I was right!”

  “You cut yourself. How could you be right?”

  She held her arm out. “The bleeding has already stopped.” Connor looked for himself and noticed that it did. “I’m still going to cover it!” She didn’t object to his worry for her. It was a foolish test and she well knew it.

  After he finished taping her up they walked into their room and opened the closet. They grabbed their hiking packs and filled them with four pairs of clean clothes, several kinds of packaged foods and two canteens filled with fresh water. Connor slid Tool in his belt and grabbed both of their bags as they left the house.

  Taking a normal human, leisurely stroll through the woods was a pleasantly calming experience. Most of the travel time had been spent as they smiled at each other. Before they crossed onto Jack’s property Sarah blurted out of nowhere “Did you realize that this is to be our first double date?”

  She made him smile. Connor looked up at the tree canopy saying “You’re right I never thought about it that way.”

  Breaking through the tree line Connor spotted Mark’s brown jeep in his mom’s driveway. He must have gotten here early. Connor sat the packs in the back of the jeep and then they went inside the house. Kara
wore blue jeans along with a pink shirt, covered with a brown jacket. She already laced up her hiking boots. Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail. “Hey Brother, you ready?” He nodded. “How about you, Sarah?” and Sarah nodded as well.

  Mark came out of the hallway, that led down to Kara’s room, carrying a brown pack, filled with things. “Kara, is this all you need?” He wore blue jeans and a silver shirt along with black hiking shoes.

  “Yes… Wait!” She stormed off to her room again, skirting around Mark. A minute later she returned with a long wooden case that was instantly recognized by her brother. Kara sat it down on the couch.

  “Kara, what’s in the box?” Sarah asked in an interested voice.

  “Oh this?” She pointed to the case. “Well you know Brother’s weapon Tool. This is my weapon.” She bent over and opened the case. She lifted her weapon out of the box to show everyone.

  A finely crafted silver Longbow appeared. One she asked Connor to create for her a few years ago. Kara sat the end of the bow down and the tip of the bow remained strung with a black string and it stood as tall as her shoulder when the base touched the floor. She reached in the box again, bringing out a quiver of arrows along with a leather hip holster.

  “Why would you need to bring something like that?” Mark asked.

  “Because I don’t go camping without it.” She stated matter-of-factly.

  “Alright let’s get going.” Mark said, slinging her pack on his back.

  Kara wrapped the bow across her back, the string clung snugly across her chest. She quickly stuffed the quiver into the holster as she ran out the door.

  Sarah and Connor shared a smile at their relationship. Mark had accepted her simple statement without asking why she wanted to bring her bow.

  Mark drove for several hours to a destination Connor hasn’t seen in years. Sarah sat with him in the back while Kara and Mark took the front. Mark pulled into a heavily forested area. “We’re here.” He said and all exited the vehicle.