by C. J. Anaya
Chapter Seven
I walked over to the top of the examining bed and gently placed my hands on either side of his head. I needed to focus. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and then began humming a single note like some weird religious monk might.
“Hummmm.” I was very proud of myself for not laughing.
“Seriously,” Tie muttered under his breath.
“I call on the spirits of superheroes past, present, and future. Give me focus and purity of heart, and wisdom to use my gift in a way that is pleasing to you all.”
“I get it, Hope. You’re mocking me. Your message is coming in loud and clear.” He sounded irritated, which made me smile.
“I would also like to take this time to give a shout out to my most favorite superhero of all. Wolverine, I always loved your cartoons, but you truly came to life for me when Hugh Jackman represented your iconic image in the unforgettable movie X-Men. May you live long and prosper, and may Hugh Jackman’s jeans always give you the best hind end a superhero could ever ask for.”
“You finished?”
“Hummmmmmm.”
I hesitated before connecting with Tie. I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be, but once I actually focused it didn’t take more than a few moments. I wasn’t prepared for the way he responded to me, though. I could feel him inviting me in, almost pulling me forward as if he wanted me to stay forever and never let him go. A person’s life force was always something I felt and never saw, but the minute I connected with Tie’s, bright images of gold and orange burst forth within my mind. I felt their warmth as they enveloped me in a joyful embrace.
It took me several precious seconds to overcome my surprise. Once I did, I was able to feel not only the warmth radiating from his life force, but also the pain Tie was experiencing due to his injury. I was surprised to feel an aching kind of pain emanating from his heart. I couldn’t pinpoint the cause, but sensed that it was an old kind of hurt, something intangible that I couldn’t fix with a few instructions. I was puzzled and intrigued by it, but couldn’t waste time on something I didn’t fully understand. I decided to ignore the strange wound and turned my attention to the pain brought on by Tie’s broken nose.
I tentatively sent thoughts, impressions, and images of the pain gradually ebbing away. I wanted his life force to imitate the pain lessening in the same way it would if he had taken some pain killers. It always took time for pain killers to actually kick in.
I waited anxiously for some kind of response. To my surprise, I began receiving more images. I was astounded when it showed me the best way to accomplish the instructions it had received, and then waited for me to give it permission to proceed. I gave my permission as if I were in a daze, and waited as it began its slow methodical process.
I continued my annoying hum in order to keep Tie distracted, and then I decided to communicate with his life force again by sending images of his nose gradually healing within a couple of days. Once again, I was surprised to receive several images back showing me step-by-step details of exactly how it would be done.
It was amazing. In all the years I’d been healing people I’d never come across someone whose life force was actually capable of healing itself. At the same time I was puzzled. If Tie’s body could heal itself why had it waited to do so? I was still connected to Tie, and I still hadn’t given permission for his life force to proceed. Instead, I posed my question. Why had it waited until now to heal itself? The answer I received shocked me to my very core. It showed me that it had begun the healing process, but Tie made it stop.
Why?
But somehow I already knew. He was waiting for me to do it. He wanted to see if I could heal him.
My head began throbbing again. I had no idea what to do. It was clear that Tie’s body could heal itself. The pain could be taken away in an instant or not at all. If I told his body to heal gradually, I would give myself away because Tie’s body, under normal conditions, would always heal instantly, but if I healed him instantly he would know it was me and not him who had accomplished the task.
After a few agonizing moments of indecision, I eventually concluded that I should do nothing. I no longer felt guilty for an injury that could easily be taken care of without my help. I would simply instruct Tie’s life force to ignore the images I had sent to it, and wait for instructions from Tie himself. That way his life force wouldn’t respond to me at all, and once I failed to heal him he would be able to heal himself later.
I set my plan in motion, and then pulled my hands away and stepped back. I stopped my humming abruptly and peered down over Tie’s face pretending to be curious.
“Did it work?” I asked with feigned excitement.
“What do you think?”
His annoyance was surprisingly satisfying.
“I think you look awful. My superhero ancestors must not have been impressed with my sincere and heartfelt supplications. I wonder if I should have also paid homage to the impressive size of Wolverine’s biceps.”
The school bell rang startling both of us and signaling the end of yet another fantastic lunch hour.
I shook my head at him and headed toward the door.
“Hey, where are you going?” he asked in surprise.
“To class,” was my curt reply.
“You can’t leave me by myself. Victor and your friend haven’t come back with the nurse yet.”
He was actually whining.
“Make sure you get to the doctor and have that nose set. We wouldn’t want that pretty little face of yours permanently disfigured.”
“I knew you thought I was hot,” he shouted after me.
I was anxious to get out of there. Being connected to Tie had brought with it a flood of emotions that I knew belonged solely to him, but clung tightly to me. The emotions were much stronger than I’d ever felt after breaking off a connection with someone. They barreled into me one right after the other. Confusion, anger, pain, guilt, and an astounding sense of betrayal, all of them merging together; forming strange patterns of words in my head.
The urge to emotionally expel everything from my system was much more pressing than I was used to. I needed my journal and an hour to myself to work it all out.
I ran into Victor and Angie instead, followed by a frazzled looking school nurse.
“Where are you going?” Angie asked. “You’re supposed to be looking after the patient.”
“The patient seems to be doing just fine,” I said. I moved out of the nurse’s way as she bustled past me and into her office.
“Just fine?” Angie asked doing her best to look stern and disbelieving. “His nose didn’t look ‘just fine’ to me.” She punctuated her response with air quotes.
“Well, there’s certainly nothing wrong with his mouth,” I said.
Victor and Angie looked at me in stunned silence. I didn’t realize the kind of conclusions they’d jumped to until Angie started doing a very obnoxious victory dance, and Victor’s face began to get pale. He looked like he was going to throw up. They probably thought we had been making out the entire time they’d been gone.
“Okay, that came out wrong.” I held up my hands to stop Angie’s excited bouncing. “I just meant the guy never shuts up, and everything he says is laced with sarcasm. It was getting on my nerves.”
Apparently, I was getting better at lying through my teeth since Angie was frowning in obvious disapproval, and Victor’s muscular frame nearly sagged with relief.
It was unbelievable how completely useless Angie had been this afternoon. She hadn’t helped me avoid anyone. Thanks to her, I’d spent almost my entire lunch hour with both cousins, and some unfortunate alone time with Tie.
“Let’s get to class,” I said to her. I turned to Victor and plastered a pleasant smile on my face. “We’ll see you later. Thanks for your help, by the way.”
He reached for my arm and pulled me over to his side.
“Would it be okay if we talk after school today? There are some things I need to discuss with y
ou.”
I swallowed hard. Victor’s mouth was set in a firm line. I could tell he wasn’t going to take no for an answer so I continued to wear my fake smile and nodded in agreement.
“I’ll meet you in front of the school,” I said and moved to walk away. Victor reluctantly released me and walked back into the nurse’s station. I assumed he was going to help his cousin, which I thought was strange considering how much he hated him. Maybe they were going to continue plotting and planning.
Angie grabbed my arm and pinched it mercilessly.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“That was for completely sabotaging all of that sweet alone time I managed to give you and Tie,” she said in frustration.
“You were supposed to be helping me avoid Tie. You are so dead to me right now.”
“Well, at least you’ve got a hot little rendezvous with Victor after school.” She began her victory dance again before I could stop her. I decided not to squelch her matchmaking hopes and dreams by revealing to her that I had no intention of meeting with Victor after school. In fact, I had no intention of finishing the rest of the school day.
“Hey, I gotta get to Biology, okay?” I pointed up towards the second floor.
“Right. Call me as soon as you get home or I’ll be pissed.”
Angie continued her dance all the way down the hall. I chuckled under my breath when she danced her way into a group of unsuspecting freshmen.
I waited until she rounded the corner before I turned and headed in the other direction. I needed to sort through what I was going to do next, but my mind was full of the day’s events leaving me with all sorts of questions. I had to talk this out with someone who understood me completely.
It was time to go see Kirby, but Tie’s emotions were still silently pounding words and phrases within my head.
I ran through the high school doors toward the parking lot as fast as my feet would carry me. I didn’t have my journal with me, but the emotions I needed to unload wouldn’t keep. I jumped into my truck, ripped my back pack open, and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. I had to get it out, write it all down now or I would never be able to focus on my visit with Kirby.
The words were never mine in these types of situations, but it usually took a little time for me to get the gist of what a person was feeling or experiencing. With Tie, the words flowed so easily it was as if I’d memorized them.
With my hand slightly cramping, I looked down at my shaky handwriting and read what Tie’s emotions had to say.
Your actions don’t match your words
One day you’re in love with me
And then it’s “we’ll wait and see”
It seems like you’re over me
And then we can’t be apart
You just won’t release my hear
I live for those moments in your arms
The way your eyes take me in
But I’m wondering as those moments start
Will this happen again?
If you’re already leaving
Why don’t you get on with it
Just get on with it
Cause I’m already bleeding
Oh please just get on with it
Get on with it
Take me or leave me
Figure it out
If you’re gonna be gone anyhow
Go now
Holy crap! This guy had some major issues. I wondered if the girl he and Victor had fought over had something to do with this very jaded you-done-me-wrong song.
There were more lyrics left to read, but I was feeling a sudden urgency to get to the hospital. I wondered if Kirby was okay. I hurriedly added the chord progression of the song at the top of the page and then I folded it up and stuck it in my back pocket. Feeling infinitely better after getting rid of all that negativity, I started my truck, threw the engine in reverse and pulled out of my parking space.
I was almost out of the parking lot when something black flew across the hood of my truck.