Branded (The Branded Series) (22 page)

I said goodbye
to the group and followed Matthias to the medical building to gather some
supplies. He was quiet. Maybe he was concerned about the energy shift now too.

“Where are we
going, Matthias?” I asked as I helped stuff medical supplies into a duffle bag.

“We're going
on a mission, Jacob. This is the best part.”

“Where? What
do you mean?”

“We're going
to heal some real subjects. Here, put these on.” He handed me a white doctor's
coat, stethoscope and green doctor's face mask.

“Why?” I asked
as I pulled the coat on and hooked the stethoscope around my neck.

“We're going
to the hospital to heal people, like I said.”

It took about
a half an
hour to get to the hospital. Matthias pulled into a "reserved" parking
spot and we both got out, adorned in our hospital gear.

“So who are we
supposed to be?” I asked as I caught up to Matthias.

“You will be
Dr. Rovert. I am Dr. Matthias Carver, head surgeon here at the hospital,” he
said.

“Really?”

“Yes. And I am
always toting along a resident doctor, so no one will question your being
here,” he said.

We entered the
hospital and Matthias stopped to grab a few charts at the nurses’ station. I
followed him down the hall and through the emergency room doors.

“Dylin Boyce?”
Matthias called into the room of waiting patients.

We waited for
the patient to catch up to us in his hospital-borrowed wheelchair, then
Matthias led us down the hall to an examination room.

“What seems to
be the problem, Dylin?” Matthias asked.

“I fell off my
roof. I think I broke my leg.” His voice quivered as he struggled to keep his
leg from moving.

“Your roof,
eh?” I laughed. “What were you doing up there?”

“Taking down
the Christmas lights, actually. I told my wife we should just leave them up
since it’ll be Christmas again before we know it.”

“I guess that
didn't fly?” Matthias said.

“Nope,” he
chuckled.

“Well, let's
get some X-rays of that leg and we'll see what the damage is.” Matthias led him
down to the X-ray room and they were back within minutes.

“Dr. Rovert,”
Matthias began, “I'd like to review the images with you first.”

I followed
Matthias to the back room and he showed me the X-rays. He pointed out where the
bone was clearly broken. I squirmed.

“So it's definitely
broken?” I asked.

“Yes, and
although this isn't a life or death situation, I am going to ask you to heal
his leg for your test. Are you comfortable with that?”

“Of course.
Let's do it.”

I went back to
the examination room and sat down next to our patient. I asked him some
questions about his fall and what it felt like and where he thought it broke. I
gently laid my hands on his leg, pretending to feel around for any lumps.

“Does this hurt
here?” I asked as a distraction so I could focus on healing his leg.

“Yes. Yes, a
lot, actually,” he complained in response.

“And how about
here?” I closed my eyes to focus some more.

“Not as much.
Only a little, I think.” He didn't seem as sure now.

I opened my
eyes and lifted my hands off his leg as Matthias entered the room.

“Dylin, I'm
sorry to have to do this to you, but the images didn't come back as clear as I
would have liked. Could I get you to come back for some more, please?”

“Sure,” Dylin
complied, following Matthias back into the other room.

They returned
a minute later with the new X-rays in Matthias' hand.

“Well, that's
interesting. Good news, Dylin,” Matthias said holding up the images. “Your leg
isn't broken. You probably just pulled some muscles and I'm sure you'll be one
hundred percent by the morning. Go home, get some rest, and forget about those
Christmas lights. Most people leave them up all year round now anyway.”
Matthias chuckled as he gave Dylin a light tap on the shoulder.

“Super! Sorry
for wasting your time, doctors.” Dylin wheeled himself out of the room and I
watched as he stood up and put the wheelchair back against the wall then walked
out the front door.

“Good work,
Dr. Rovert,” Matthias said with a grin. “How do you feel?”

“Exhausted,” I
admitted as I slumped down in a chair by the door.

Matthias
laughed. “That’s to be expected. Healing takes a lot out of you. You’ll get
stronger the more you train.”

“Hope so.”

“Now, there's
one more place I want to take you before we go back to camp.”

“Back to camp?
Shouldn’t we just stay here all day and heal people?”

“Jacob, I'm a
surgeon. If we heal everyone as they walk through the door, I'd be out of a
job,” he laughed.

“Yeah, yeah.
Okay, where are we going now?” I asked as I followed him down the hall to the
elevator.

“To the
pediatric ward,” he said in an uncomfortable tone.

“Where they
keep all the sick kids?”

“That's
right,” he responded quietly.

We arrived at
the pediatric
ward, which had a strange sense of sadness about it. Matthias led us down the
hall and into a room filled with teddy bears, bright-coloured balloons and a
wall covered with colourful drawings and family pictures. Sleeping peacefully
in the sterile bed in the middle of the room was a little girl.

“Who is she?”
I whispered so as not to wake the girl.

“This is
Becca. She's my niece,” Matthias said as he sat down in the chair beside the
bed. He lifted Becca's hand and held it to his cheek. “She's like a daughter to
me.”

Becca’s face
was pale, which was probably why the dark circles under her eyes were so
pronounced. Her head scarf covered what I pictured to have been brown hair at
one point in her short life. Even though she had tubes running along her arms
and up her nose, her relaxed features and quiet slumber suggested she was at
peace somehow.

“Why don't you
heal her?” I asked.

“I can't,” was
all he could say as he choked back tears.

“Why not?” I
pressed.

“I just can't.
I can't concentrate or something. I don't know. I keep trying, but test after
test confirms my failure.” Matthias wiped a stray tear. “But I know you can
heal her, Jacob. I know you can save my Becca Jean.” He smoothed his hand
across her forehead.

“What's wrong
with her?”

“Cancer. Brain
tumour. They gave her two months to live . . . three months ago. She's a
fighter, but she's losing.” Matthias cried, “Jacob, please?”

“Geez, I'll
try, Matthias. I've never done anything like this before. Is it even possible?”

“Anything is
possible, Jacob. You just . . . have to believe,” his voice trailed off as he
watched Becca's eyes flicker and slowly open. “Good morning, angel girl.”

“Uncle Matty!”
her tiny voice whispered in excitement.

“Angel girl, I
brought a friend to see you today. He's going to check you over to see how
you're making out. Is that okay, sweetheart?”

“I guess so,”
she answered shyly.

I walked over
to the other side of her bed and looked at Matthias for direction. “Where
should I start?” I tried to sound confident for Becca's benefit.

“The tumour is
in her brain, so start there,” Matthias said.

I laid my
hands on Becca's tiny head and gently squeezed as I imagined her free from
disease and running through the playground, playing with her friends, swinging
on the swings, having sleepovers, learning to drive, graduating high school,
and living a long and healthy life. I don't know how long I meditated for, but
I snapped out of it when I heard Matthias' voice.

“Dr. Rovert,
it's time to go. We can come back tomorrow, if need be.”

I looked up to
see two adults standing at the end of the bed, watching me with uncertainty. I
jumped to my feet and smiled confidently as my legs trembled beneath me. I held
the bedrail for security. My body was exhausted and I wasn’t sure how much
longer I could stand for.

“Jacob, this
is my sister, Brooke, and her husband, Alex. Becca's mom and dad.” He turned to
the couple. “And this is Dr. Rovert, my resident.”

“Nice to meet
you,” they responded in unison.

I smiled and
followed Matthias out of the room, turning to wave goodbye to the smiling
Becca.

On our way
out, Matthias stopped by the pediatric nurses’ station. “Patty, I want to order
another round of tests for Becca. Can you make sure she gets in there today or
tomorrow at the latest?”

“Another
round, already? We haven't even gotten the last round back yet. Are you sure, Dr.
Carver?” she questioned with hesitation.

“I'm sure,
Patty. Thanks for being on top of things though. I appreciate your hard work,”
he said, which I noticed made a difference in how quickly she picked up the
phone to make the arrangements for Becca's next round of tests.

I crossed my
fingers and said a prayer. For Becca Jean. For a chance to experience life past
six years.

I woke up
early on
Sunday morning after a horrible dream about Abby having cancer. I figured it was
in large part due to our visit with Matthias' niece the day before. But still,
it was unsettling.

I tossed and
turned until I decided I couldn't get back to sleep. It was our last day at
camp and I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I was looking forward
to getting back to see Anna, but on the other hand, I had been having a lot of
fun over the last couple of days and the thought of leaving made me a little
sad.

I quietly
climbed out of bed, threw on some clothes and packed up my sleeping bag and
gear. Noah started to stir and then opened one lazy eye and mumbled, “What the
hell are you doing?”

“I can't
sleep,” I said as I checked my watch. Five forty-three. Wonderful.

“Where are you
going?” Noah slowly sat up and stretched.

“I was
thinking I'd go down to the water. Watch the sunrise or something lame like
that,” I whispered.

Noah sighed.
“I should probably go with you so you don't get lost or drown or something.”

“If you want.”
I laid my gear on my bed. Noah pulled on a pair of track pants and a sweater
and we quietly snuck out of the cabin, across the field and down the path to
the lake.

The grounds
were completely quiet. It was still dark out but you could hear the birds
starting to wake up. The dew on the grass soaked through our sneakers as we
walked the grassy trail down to the lake. We found a couple of rocks along the
water's edge and sat down to admire the orange glow slowly making an appearance
on the horizon.

“Listen to
those loons. Pretty cool,” Noah said as he cocked his head toward the water.

“Man, it's peaceful
out here, isn’t it?” I leaned back and rested against a tree trunk.

“Yeah,” Noah
answered. “I don't think I've ever been up early enough to watch a sunrise.”

“Come to think
of it, the only time I ever watched a sunrise was last summer.” I smiled as I
recalled the memory. “Anna and I stayed up all night on the phone together to
see if we could actually do it. I'm pretty sure we both fell asleep for a
while, but she woke me up when she gasped and said 'Jake, look out your window
at the sunrise. It's beautiful.'” I looked up at the tip of the sun and watched
it struggle to break through the horizon. I wondered what the chances were of
Anna watching the same sunrise.

“You really
miss her, don't you?” Noah reached down and picked up a stone to skip across the
perfectly calm water.

“Yeah, I do.”
I followed suit and skipped a stone, exerting some pent-up energy.

“And you're
okay with having to leave her alone?” Noah hesitated.

“Well, I'm
still going to be there for her in case she needs me,” I reminded him. “But I'm
going to try to get her out of the centre of my existence. I'm doing this for
her, so I can protect or heal her if she ever needs it.”

“That's gonna
be tough . . . to get her out of your centre of existence, I mean.”

“Tell me about
it. She's just so perfect, Noah. She's everything I've ever wanted. She's my
best friend and the only one who has ever made me feel this way.” I knew it
sounded sappy, but that's what the sunrise will do to you.

We sat in
silence for a few minutes watching the ripple effects of our stones.

“What about
you and Rachel?” I finally asked.

“What about
it?” Noah smiled.

“Don't play
coy. You know what I mean.”