The Touch (Healer Series) (25 page)

  
“In a bit.
Just
gonna
clean up the rest, get the little one ready for bed.
She’s going to stay here tonight.”

  
“Why don’t I wait for you?” he responded, not
wanting to leave her there or let her go home alone at night. “I’ll give you a
ride and you can come back in the morning to pick everything up.”

  
Addie walked over to him, putting her hands
on his shoulders. She was eye level with him, since he was on the bottom steps while
she stood on the splintering wood of the porch.

  
She sighed, choosing her words carefully.

  
“I’m tired AJ.”

  
“I know. That’s why I’m offering to drive.”

  
“Not physically,” she smiled.
“Emotionally tired.
Tired of being talked about by the town,
tired of being lied to by everyone – including you – and tired of having
feelings that I know are never
gonna
be reciprocated.
I know we said we’d be friends. I just need a little space. Maybe some time
will let me get over whatever this is and move forward.”

  
“You want me to leave town?” he asked again.

  
“No, not town.
Just
give me some space, that’s all I’m asking. I want normal. I want to be happy. I
need to figure out what that is. You did a good thing for me, making me see how
bad Joseph was for me and Rose, and I’m grateful for that. I need to figure out
who I am before I can be anything of any sort to anyone else.”

  
AJ understood. Maybe a little distance would
keep the Grim away from her, too.

  
“I can do that for you,” he said, stepping
back away from her. How long do you need?”

  
“I don’t know,” she answered. “You’ll figure
it out.”

  
She turned back into the house, closing the
heavy wood door behind her. As he walked back to the car, he knew it was for
the best, especially right now. This would keep her away from Devin, away from
the fight. It would keep Devin uninterested in her. And mostly, perhaps it
wouldn’t hurt her if something happened to him.

  
He got
back in his car, heading towards the B&B. There was a lot to be done-- a
lot of studying to do in preparation.

13
One Touch

In his
dreams, AJ often saw trees; oak trees, a symbol of strength and longevity. They
were tall and sturdy, stunning and majestic as they grew to towering heights
that could oversee the country below them. Their branches spread out as they
grew year after year, sprouting newer, smaller branches along the way and
seemingly reaching up into the heavens.

  
Sometimes the tree was full of life, the
leaves covering branches and creating a warm and welcoming shelter for everyone
from children to adults, friends to lovers. They carved their names into the
trunk, etching their hopes and dreams of togetherness in a place for the world
to see and to remain for as long as the tree was upright.

  
Sometimes the branches were bare, nothing
except the leathery brown of the bark protruding forth. Empty and alone, the
magnificent tree stood alone trying in vain to shelter the ground underneath
it. A futile attempt, given that everything it needed to take care of people
was gone.

  
AJ had come to find it a metaphor for his own
life. He knew his level of loneliness by how desolate the tree’s branches were
in his dreams. Covered in leaves he felt alive, with purpose. He felt the
spirits of those he healed surrounding him and making him stronger, forging a
path of function for him.

  
And when the branches were bare he was at his
worst, the emptiness overpowering his life. He felt alone, lost without his
mother or a family to call his own. He felt angry about those he couldn’t heal.
He felt exposed to the enemy who could easily see his weaknesses with no cover.

  
Most of the dreams he had involving trees
included the bare version, an emptiness surrounding him again. No home had felt
safe to him until he arrived in Lee. He’d had nights of dreams now where the
tree was full, the grass green and the sky blue. And at the trunks base,
resting in the blanket of grass and gazing up through the branches into the sky
of puffy white clouds was Addie.

**************************************************

  
The sun broke on the morning and the roosters
that had begun to serve as an alarm clock stirred AJ. Back to the usual
nightmares, his brain attempted to clear the fog of early consciousness. Only
this time, they involved the future and not the past. Matthew and Helen had
already gone into town for the weekly groceries, leaving AJ and Max at the
B&B to rest.

  
As he did every morning, he looked out his
window, surveying the property as if there would be a legion of Grims awaiting
him. The moments before looking out were like a horror movie. He knew the
chilling images he had created in his mind didn’t exist, yet there was still an
innate fear that those fears would indeed be real as he gazed upon the ground
below.

  
He saw Addie, Gram and Rose in their front
yard, Addie changing a tire on her beloved pickup truck while Rose played with
her dolls on the lawn. As he turned his gaze to the left, he felt it before he
saw it. Max was knocking on his door.

  
“He’s close.”

  
“I know. I see him,” AJ responded. Pulling on
shorts and running outside, they stood on the porch ready to react if needed.
Devin jogged up the center of the street directly between AJ and Max, and Addie
and Rose. Even his athletic clothes were black.

  
“Morning,” he said, his feet remaining in motion
as he jogged in place. “What, no warm welcome?”

  
Addie shuddered. It was eerie that Devin was
acting as if nothing happened, and then she remembered the day before: AJ had
no marks, so maybe it hadn’t. She looked back at Devin, giving him the benefit of
the doubt.

  
“Morning Devin.”

  
The sound made AJ’s skin crawl. He knew what
she was thinking. He’d seen her face the day before when he had no marks. She
believed she had imagined everything. He had pushed her back towards a
friendship with Devin with his lies. He wanted to tear Devin’s head off. He
knew the attempt would be futile and would out he and Max to the world, thus
erasing their strength.

  
Devin smiled over at AJ.

  
“Nothing from you?”

  
“Guess not,” AJ growled, jogging down to the
sidewalk. “What are you doing here?”

  
“Free world, AJ.
I
can run wherever I want to. I’m not hurting anyone.”

  
“Yet,” AJ replied.

Addie
was growing tired of the teenage-like rivalry between the two.

  
Devin turned towards Addie, taking steps
towards her. AJ stayed put, watching closely.

  
“Need a hand?”

  
He reached as though he were going to pick up
tools Addie had in hand, smiling at AJ as he did. He was taunting him, making
AJ unsure as to when and where he’d touch the girl that he knew AJ loved.

  
AJ took a step closer and Max grabbed his
arm, holding him back.

  
“I’ve got it, but thanks,” Addie replied,
beginning her walk towards the truck to finish the job she had started. If they
wanted to bicker, they could do it without her.

  
“Wait,” Devin said, reaching out again.

  
AJ shouted “No!” and ran towards her, ready
to stand in the way to prevent Devin from disturbing her life anymore than the
world already had.
 

  
“Stop it!” Addie yelled, freezing both men in
their tracks. She was loud and stubborn and her voice carried enough leverage
to make them both think better about a next move. Devin shrunk back and AJ
stopped in mid-stride.

  
“I’m tired of this. Take your childish
fighting somewhere else. We don’t want to hear it anymore!”

  
Rose had dropped her doll behind them,
surprised by her mother’s scream. Addie glared at both of them and Devin’s
smile faded, realizing it might be harder than he thought to antagonize AJ if
Addie wanted nothing to do with him. If she wasn’t going to give Devin the
chance to be near her, he’d never get to AJ.

  
AJ was watching Addie as she walked towards
the front tire of the truck, taking his eyes off of Devin as he did. When he
turned back, he was too late. He watched as Devin handed Rose back her doll –
his other hand on her back.

  
“You shocked me!” Rose giggled, thinking it
felt funny as the Grim’s hand touched her.

  
AJ’s heart fell one thousand miles per hour
into his stomach.

  
“Have a nice day,” Devin said, turning back
towards the road. “I imagine you’ll all be…very busy.”

  
AJ looked at Max, who shot him back a look.

  
“I don’t know,” Max whispered. “I can’t sense
it.”

  
AJ walked over to Rose, placing a hand on her
shoulder.

  
“You okay?”

  
He saw nothing; no visions, only emptiness. He
only felt Devin’s mark on her and it didn’t feel good.

  
He stood back, Addie completely oblivious to
everything that happened. Rose ran across the yard to continue playing with her
dolls before disappearing into the barn to play with the huge dollhouse Matthew
had built her in there to play with, since the barn itself wasn’t used for
anything other than storage.

  
 
AJ
walked over to the truck.

  
“Can I help?” he asked, settling down in the
dirt next to her.

  
“I thought I said I needed space,” she
replied, grinning in his direction. It wasn’t a totally friendly grin. “Then
again, you have never listened to me before, so why would you now?”

  
“I’m trying to be nice.”

  
“Then stop fighting with strangers.”

  
“He’s not a good guy, Addie.”

  
“Really?
What’s he
done to you?”

  
AJ was sure now that she believed the other
day had never happened. Whether she thought she had dreamed it or was becoming
crazy like her mother, it was evident she figured it was all made up in her
head. He had been gone when she woke up, and without the cuts, there was no
evidence to prove they had made up that night. All she knew was she no longer
felt angry at him, just somewhat indifferent.

  
AJ stared out ahead, seeing Max sitting on
the old rocking chair with his gaze aimed down the street, guarding just in
case Devin came back. AJ caught a glimpse of Rose running around in the yard,
peaceful as could be. He didn’t know what to make of not having visions of her.
Aside from Addie the emptiness had never happened, and from all that he knew,
the reason he didn’t see many visions of Addie is because he had feelings for
her. His face silently asked Max to do the same, yet as Max lifted his hands
off her from giving her a hug, he looked at AJ: he’d seen nothing either.

  
“I meant it when I said I need space,” Addie
said, her mood turning serious. “You guys gotta give me some peace. The last
month, two months, they’ve been a little crazy.
A swell of
emotions.
Isabelle, you, Devin.
Everything’s
changing. It’s a lot to take in. I just need some breathing room.”

  
She looked at him and he was staring down at
the ground, his arms resting on his knees and his hands clasped in front of
him.

  
“AJ, I swear, I’m gonna work on the friends
thing, but-”

  
She was cut off by a scream; a very loud
scream from a very tiny voice.

  
“Rose!” Addie shrieked, bolting up from the ground
and trekking towards the barn at an incredible pace.

  
AJ followed after her, barefoot, as fast as
he could run. As they emerged through the giant wooden doors, AJ’s eyes darted
around until they saw her bleeding from her leg as if it were a fountain.

  
“What happened? Oh my God, what happened?”
screamed Addie.

  
For the first time since he’d become a
Healer, he felt frozen. It was different – this was someone he knew. Someone he
cared about. She wasn’t his family, but she wasn’t a stranger. He struggled.
Did he heal her? Did he show his gift? He wasn’t allowed to. He wasn’t allowed
to do that in front of Addie, and he knew there was no way to make Addie leave.

  
Addie’s hands were frantically holding her
own head as she stood frozen, staring at her little girl, her eyes wide with
fear. She sprang forward, pulling Rose’s head and upper body into her arms,
trying not to move her lower body. Max was right behind them watching destiny
unfold. Grim had struck again - the vengeful Grim. AJ was more determined than
ever to remove this creature from earth. He may have been a Healer destined to
provide good on earth but he was part human, too. The human part wanted to
destroy the person responsible for so much harm and devastation.

  
“She fell,” Gram said, pointing to the broken
ladder that was leading up to the barn’s loft. “The rung, it broke. The ladder
split. She came down, and the rung just went through her leg!” She shot a
glance at AJ, pleading for his help, feeling a surge of guilt that she could do
nothing to assist. She didn’t have to use words because her face said it all:
she didn’t care about the sacrifice. She was begging him to save Rose.

  
“Call 9-1-1!” Addie screamed.

  
Looking up at AJ, terrified eyes begged him
to help, to call an ambulance and save her daughter. She was clutching Rose,
holding her as still as possible, the strongest fear she ever had welling up
within her body.
 

  
“Somebody call 9-1-1-!
Baby,
stay with me.
Look at mama! Come on baby, you’re going to be okay, okay?
I promise. Keep your eyes open. Keep looking at me!”

  
Addie was frantic and Rose’s eyes were
beginning to shut, the pain causing her to go into shock. Gram was visibly
shaken as well, holding Rose’s hand in her own. The blood was pouring from
Rose’s leg at a pace far faster than AJ cared to see. His mind stopped working
and everything seemed to go in super slow motion.

  
He looked back to see no one standing
outside, and then ran forward into the barn. He caught Max’s eyes and seemed to
apologize for what he was about to do. Max didn’t need to hear it; he understood.
As the slow motion continued AJ was on the ground, one arm underneath Rose,
ready to scoop her up. He was telling Addie and Gram to stand back. Neither was
backing away from the tiny girl.