by K. Manna
CHAPTER SIX
DREAM WATCHER
I stood staring at my bare feet on the ice-covered concrete. I noticed that I couldn’t feel them and that my toes had turned a funny bluish color. The icy sidewalk weaved back and forth across the landscape, disappearing far in the distance, and snow-covered trees and bushes lined both sides of the path. I tried to take a step, but it was difficult to do without slipping. Determined not to give up, I took another step. Then the morning sun crested the horizon and washed the world in its warm, bright light. The snow and ice began to melt rapidly. Suddenly, I was standing in an ankle-deep puddle, and cold drops of water from the tree branches plopped on my head and soaked my hair and gown.
And just as fast as the winter ended, the spring began. The trees grew leaves. The grass turned green. Flowers bloomed.
It’s like everything is moving in fast-forward.
Then I noticed a dark figure moving slowly in the distance. Closer and closer, it moved toward me down the sidewalk. While the mysterious figure moved closer, I squinted my eyes to focus more clearly.
Who is that? Or what is that?
Then I realized who it was.
Him! It’s him!
Wearing red-rimmed sunglasses and the ugly, brown, frizzed wig, he came toward me, smiling his perfect, contagious smile. Suddenly, he stopped, bent down to pluck an orange flower from the ground, then continued toward me, smiling and waving the bright-orange flower. When he finally stood right in front of me, so close I could smell the mint gum he was chewing, I said with a smile, “Will you please take off that ugly wig?”
The Zyon laughed, handed me the orange lily, and pulled the wig from his head and the sunglasses from his eyes. “Anything for you, Margo. Anything for you.” Those piercing, sky-blue eyes twinkled back at me.
Rolling over in bed, I stretched as far as my arms, legs, fingers, and toes would allow, and then sighed. “Uh, I slept like a baby.”
“Yeah, I could tell. You kept smiling in your sleep. I wish I’d had a camera to take your picture. So, I take it you had a good dream?” Lottie asked.
I smiled. “Yup, for once. Since I’ve been here, all I’ve had are bizarre, bad dreams, and that is strange for me. Usually, I have awesome, fantasy-like dreams.”
Lottie sat down on the bed next to me. “Your mind was probably all stressed and out of whack from coming here, and that caused your bad dreams. But now you’ve adjusted to all of the great changes, and your body is working the way it normally does. See, everything happens for a reason.”
“Okay, Dr. Lottie. Can you tell me my future, too?” I laughed.
“Why, of course, my dear Go-Go.” Lottie took my hand and turned it over, pretending to read my palm. “You will marry a man wearing a large, curly, brown wig and red sunglasses, and you will have twelve children together that will all wear crazy wild wigs, too.”
I pulled my hand away and laughed. “Please, if that’s the truth, then you will be the nanny that will take care of all the crazy-wigged rug rats.”
In a playful high voice, Lottie said, “I would be honored, my future Zyla.” She knelt down on the floor and pretended to praise me.
I pushed her over with my foot. “I wish, but minus, like, ten kids.”
Keendra asked, “And what will you be having for breakfast on this lovely morning?”
Feeling extremely energized and positive, I said, “I will have a small bowl of the Cocoa Cannonballs, please.”
“Yes, miss. Coming right up.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Keendra.”
Okay, even if I don’t win my cereal game today, I will still have a spectacular day. Nothing can get me down … nothing.
I even did something that day that I had never done before. I promised myself that, if I did happen to win my little game, it would be the very last time I would ever play it! There would be no more crazy, obsessive counting games for me, no more being late, no more being negative and crabby just because of a ridiculous game. Winning the game one last time and then saying the heck with it sounded like the best possible solution for me.
Keendra returned, this time with a normal-sized bowl of Cocoa Cannonballs. I began eating, five pebbles at a time, and immediately felt that I was being watched. I looked up to see both Gage and Alex eying me. Gage made no attempt to hide it; he just stared at me and shook his head. He thought it was self-destruction, which I guess it could be. Alex was more polite; he smiled, looked away, and generally tried to act like he was concentrating on his counting. Just to try his system out, I chewed a mouthful of cereal twenty-four times; by, like, bite number twelve, it became complete mush.
I don’t understand how he does it. How can a person chew on mush? How is that satisfying? Well, how is counting pieces of cereal and winning the cereal game satisfying?
Most of the others ordered seconds, hurried to finish, and rushed out for morning practice. Gage was one of them.
Five, five, five, five, five, and five. Whoa, I win!
Alex must have noticed my excitement and smiled. “You won, didn’t you?”
“Yup, I did, and that is the last time I’m playing that pointless game.” I gave an overly dramatic sigh of relief and jokingly said, “I feel free at last!”
I got up and was about to leave for practice when a better idea crossed my mind. Alex looked up at me as I hovered over him.
“I dare you to take a bite and chew it only twelve times,” I said.
Alex shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Quit being a pussy and man up. It’s a dare, now come on,” I pressed playfully.
“Don’t call me a pussy.”
I knew that I had to egg him on to get him to at least consider the dare, so I chanted, “Pussy, pussy, pussy.”
“Okay, okay. If you quit calling me that, I will try, but I’m telling you it’s been a really long time,” Alex muttered softly.
Alex took a bite, chewing slowly. I watched as his jaw moved up and down, counting each chew in my head.
Ten, eleven, twelve.
His jaw stopped moving, and he looked at me with uncertain eyes.
“It’s all right. Let yourself swallow it. You can beat your little game, too, even if it’s just this one time. Really, this is our life, our game. We make the rules,” I said in the most confident and commanding voice that I could.
The next thing I knew, Alex’s Adam’s apple moved with a swallow.
My eyes shot open. “You did it! Alex, I am so proud of you!” I shook him by the shoulders excitedly.
Alex grinned, like a proud little boy. Then he said, “It’s weird how such a small thing can have such an effect on us. Thanks for doing this, Margo. You made my day.”
I shook my head. “No, Alex. This is all you. You made your day.”
By the time I met with the group, they had already started meditating.
Shoot! Late again, now I’m gonna hear about it.
Eugene glanced up at me but didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to say anything; I knew he was frustrated with my tardiness. I sat down and positioned myself. Today, during meditation, my body and mind felt more relaxed than on previous days. No negative thoughts clouded my focus. A definite change was occurring inside of me; I could sense it. Nothing else mattered at that moment except this feeling of tranquility.
Before I knew it, Eugene spoke. “Now, it is time for all of you to create your energy ball. Give your energy a color, any color you would like to imagine. Pay attention to the feelings and sensations that occur within your body while working with your energy. Are you feeling vibrations, pressure, heat, tingling, or a numb feeling? Get to know your energy and what you are able to create with it. Work with it, control it.”
All right, purple light, show me what you can do. Don’t let me down. I’m feeling good today, positive, so please show me something—anything. The gorgeous
Zyon flirted with me. I had a good dream including Mr. Hottie. I won my very last cereal game ever. And, I believe I have this healing energy that was detected in me. I believe I can and will heal. Now focus, imagine, believe!
Finally, energy the color of purple gleamed ever so brightly from within my hands.
Yes! Oh, you look so real. I can’t believe the others can’t see this.
I could see the bold-purple light even with my eyes closed. Actually, it almost seemed more intense with my eyes closed. It was like my imagination was real, and it was my eyes that deceived me. The sensation reminded me of the purple waves that put me to sleep at night. Pressure began to rise inside of my hands, a warm tingling sensation growing at the tips of my fingers.
So this is what it feels like to create energy. I can’t believe I’m doing this. Me!
More than an hour had passed as we practiced creating and maneuvering our healing energy when Eugene said it was time to use our healing energy.
Indee went first. His hand covered the partially healed scab on his elbow as he closed his eyes and began humming. Dangling my fingers above his, I felt heat radiating, and it was noticeably stronger than the day before. Indee must have noticed it, too, because he seemed more confident. He began to hum louder. His head and shoulders rolled around into a little dance. Bree and I smiled at each other at the sight of him. A little giggle started to come up from my throat, but I caught it before it made a sound. Even Eugene covered the growing smile on his face with his fist. Indee was a different kind of dude, but in a fun way. I admired how he didn’t seem to care what others thought of him.
When Indee opened his eyes and lifted his hand from his elbow, it revealed only a tiny speck of a scab lingering in the center of a dry area of newly healed skin.
Wow, most of it has healed.
Bree wanted to go next, but she couldn’t find much of a bruise or scratch on her body to heal, so Eugene took a thick piece of paper from his bag. He told Bree to drag it across one of her fingertips to create a paper cut. Shivers ran down my spine at Eugene’s suggestion.
Paper cuts suck majorly. Who would want to give themselves a flippin’ paper cut? They sure do hurt a lot for being so small.
Bree hesitantly took the thick piece of paper from Eugene and rested it lightly on the tip of her thumb. Indee’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. I couldn’t blame him. It gave me an icky feeling, like nails screeching down a board. Not wanting to watch, I turned my head away.
Then Bree said, “I can’t do it. Someone else do it, please.”
“I’m not doing it,” I said.
Indee bit his lip and hesitantly took the paper from Bree. Slowly, and too lightly, he dragged the paper across her thumb. For all the fear in Bree’s face, you’d have thought Indee was killing her, but his attempt didn’t even break the skin.
“You have to break her skin, Indee. Do it faster,” Eugene explained.
Indee, still biting his lip, passed the paper to Eugene. “Ugh, you can do it.”
Eugene took the piece of paper and very quickly sliced open Bree’s thumb. The cut ran so deep that blood started to drip down the side of her finger.
“Ow! That frickin’ hurt!” Bree yelled, grabbing her thumb tightly with her other hand.
“Now focus, Maybree. Focus on the pain and your desire to make it go away. How badly does it hurt? Envision your healing energy knitting your skin together and closing the skin,” Eugene calmly said.
Still in pain, Bree replied, “Ah. Okay, okay. I can do this.”
Her eyes closed tightly, causing deep creases in her forehead. She rocked back and forth as the knuckles on her healing hand turned white from squeezing so tightly. Moments later, she calmed down and stilled. Indee and I quickly glanced at each other and then back to Bree.
With her eyes still closed, Bree whispered, “I’m scared to look at it. I’m going to show you guys first.”
Her hand lifted away from her thumb, and there was only a thin purplish-pink line marking where the paper cut had been.
“Look, Bree, the cut is practically gone!” I raised my voice with excitement.
Bree’s eyes shot open. She rubbed her pointer finger across the pink line on her thumb. “Oh, how awesome is that?”
“Well done, Maybree.” Eugene smiled. Then he turned toward me. “Margo, what will you be healing today?”
“Well, I guess for starters, I will try and heal the rest of the bruise on my leg. Bree healed most of it yesterday, but I can still see a smidge of yellow. And since I haven’t been able to heal anything yet, I may as well start small.”
Eugene nodded in agreement.
Pulling my pant leg up, I found the faint bruise on my shin.
Okay, I can do this. I can do this. I’m relaxed. I’m confident. I want to heal, and I will heal today. Everything is going great, so let’s keep it that way, Margo.
Every fiber of my being wanted, needed, to succeed to prove that I was special. I rested my hands over the faded-yellow bruise and gently closed my eyes.
Envision purple light, my purple healing light, soaking into my skin and repairing the broken blood vessels. Fade the bruise until it is nothing, gone.
A growing heat began to stream from my hands into my shin. A slight feeling of pressure kneaded at the inside of my leg. Tiny tingling sensations subsided shortly after the heat and pressure disappeared.
My eyes fluttered open, and I stared at my shin.
Yay! The bruise is totally gone! Spotless!
I could not help myself at this point. Screaming hysterically, I jumped in the air and pranced around like a small child. “I did it! I did it!” I yelled.
The others clapped and laughed along with me. Indee gave me a few whoop-de-whoops and cheered, “Go-Go, Go-Go!”
From behind the bushes, a masculine voice called out, “Hey, what’s going on over there?”
Within a matter of seconds, someone ran through the bushes quicker than I could focus in on. When they began to slow, it became clear that it was Gage. Then Ricky sprinted past, and finally Elise.
“I beat you, dude. I win!” Ricky shouted.
Gage shook his head. “Win nothing, dude. I slowed before you.”
A high-pitched giggle escaped Elise’s mouth as soon as she saw me dancing around and heard Indee’s cheers.
“So did you heal, Go-Go?” Gage asked, not even out of breath from running.
I stopped dancing. “Only a little bruise on my leg, but at least it’s something. I thought it wouldn’t be possible, but there’s hope for me at last.” I fell to the ground elated.
“Awesome, sis! You rock. Next time I sprain my ankle, you can heal it instead of me having to hobble around for weeks. Hey, you know what you deserve?” Gage asked me with a gigantic smile.
“Huh?”
Gage began to sing the Go-Go song ridiculously loud. Everyone started to laugh, especially Elise. Ricky joined in, beatboxing along with the rhythm.
Covering my ears, I rolled over. “No! Stop! Don’t ruin my moment!”
And do you think they stopped? Nope, they kept right on.
“Well, aren’t you just a happy little thing today,” Lottie said, plopping down on her bed.
“I am. Why?” I asked, a little confused.
“Because ever since we came back from lunch, you’ve been all smiles.”
“How can I not smile after these healing hands of mine finally worked today?” I wiggled my fingers at Lottie as if they were magical, which they were.
“You go, girl. I want to see you heal something. Can you heal this ugly mole I tried to scratch off of my back?” Lottie asked, while lifting the back of her shirt up.
I shook my head. “Oh, I’m not that good yet. I’m only working on healing myself right now. Anyway, I can’t make your mole disappear, if that’s what you want
.” I leaned over and took a peek at the mole. “Maybe, I can heal the skin …”
A knock on the bedroom door startled us. Lottie pulled her shirt down and walked over and opened the mini-door. “Who’s at my door?” she joked in a deep voice.
“Hello, Lottie.” It was Sir Felix. “By chance, is Margo in the room with you?”
“Um, yeah. Do you want to come in, or should I have her come out?”
“Please, have her come out,” Sir Felix said.
Lottie closed the little door and grinned at me. “Go-Go, Sir Felix is asking for you. Oh, maybe the Zyon has requested to see you,” she teased.
I gave Lottie a little shove for making fun.
I wonder what Sir Felix wants. I hope I’m not in trouble. Did Eugene complain that I was late to practice? Oh, no.
I nervously opened the door, slowly closing it behind me.
“Hello, Margo. I have been asked to bring you upstairs to meet with Dr. Avery.”
A doctor? Why? Weird.
Sir Felix must have read my weary and confused expression. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “No need to worry, my dear. Just another scan.”
“Um, why? Is something wrong with me?”
Sir Felix shook his head. “No, nothing is wrong with you, Margo. Dr. Avery will explain everything once we get there. All right?”
I nodded, trying to hide my worry, but I was still unsettled.
They already scanned me once. Did they miss something? What do they expect to find? Or maybe they already found it. What if I’m not special? What if I’m not special enough?
I was so busy worrying that I forgot how to walk and tripped over myself. Luckily, Sir Felix reached out to steady me. “Whoa, that was a close one. Everything will be just fine as long as you don’t trip again and break a bone,” he joked.
I didn’t laugh.
“Oh, wait. You’re a healer, so your magic touch would be able to heal yourself back together, wouldn’t you?” Sir Felix asked.