The Touch (Healer Series) (8 page)

  
“Cute girls, huh?”
Max countered with a raised eyebrow.

  
“I like to look. Doesn’t mean I’ll touch. I’d
be blind if I didn’t. This girl is pretty hard to miss.”

  
“This girl?
Sounds
like there’s one in particular you’re talking about.”

  
“Slip of the tongue.
Maybe.
Her name’s
Addie,
and she amuses and annoys the hell
out of me at the same time. Figure that one out.”

  
“Sounds like you’re falling.”

  
“You’re the second one to say that to me,” AJ
responded, laughing a bit. “I’m not falling. Just haven’t met anyone like her
before.”

  
Pausing a moment, he loosened his grip on the
back of the kitchen chair, across from where Max was getting each a beer from
the fridge.

  
“Can I ask you something, Max?”

  
“Sure, what’s up?”

  
“Without ridicule or
laughter?”

  
“Depends I guess. I’ll let you know after you
ask. If I don’t ridicule or laugh, the answer is yes.”

  
He smirked.

  
“Have you ever had feelings for someone that
you didn’t understand? I don’t get what I’m feeling from her. I can’t stop
thinking about her, but I have already made a decision to not get involved with
women. I want to do what I was put on earth to do.”

  
“You have fallen,” Max smirked, popping the
top off the beer.

  
“Seriously Max! How do I get the thoughts and
feelings out of my head? I don’t know if what I’m feeling is anything at all. I
am trying to distance myself from it.”

  
“Let’s sit and relax,” Max said, leading AJ
out to the living room – home to the two most comfortable looking
chocolate-brown recliners AJ had ever seen. Max reached out his arm to indicate
AJ should pick one, which he did, and Max settled into the other.

  
“AJ, your destiny has a long time to play
out. We all are put on this earth for a reason. You and I, we have a special
gift, and we have to use it wisely. Our lives aren’t dictated by our jobs
anymore than anyone else’s are on earth. They are dictated by our hearts and
our feelings.”

  
“I don’t understand what my feelings are Max.
It’s been just a couple days and this girl, I can’t stop watching her. I feel
like a stalker, man. She is beautiful and when we touched…it was similar to
what I feel when healing, yet it wasn’t the same, if that makes sense. I wasn’t
being drained, I was being energized. She felt it too, I could see by the look
in her face. Only she didn’t have this look of peace and relaxation that those
we heal do; she had this look of confusion and excitement all at once.”

  
“Sounds to me like she’s fallen too,” Max
laughed.

  
“Doubtful. Until recently she was engaged to
a loser. This guy was bottom of the barrel. I don’t think she’s ready to start
over again with anyone anyway.”

  
Max could see AJ bristling at the mere
thought of this guy, and it made him smile. He remembered going through
something similar back when he was younger.

  
“Have you ever gone through this Max? Have
you ever felt something you didn’t understand for someone?”

  
“I did, kiddo, I did,” Max said, taking a
swig of beer as he watched AJ leaning forward and merely picking at the damp,
peeling label. “There was a girl, once. I was head over heels for her, ready to
give up everything. She filled my heart with this feeling of electricity, and I
went away for a couple months to meditate and contemplate my decision. Would I
give up my gift in order to find love? Would I give up love in order to keep my
gift? It’s a huge decision and one that every Healer will encounter at some
point in their lives, sometimes more than once.”

  
“So there’s that to look forward to.
Wonderful.
What did you do?” AJ asked, already thinking he
knew the answer since there was no Mrs. Max.

  
“I chose her.”

  
His answer shocked AJ; the kid’s facing said
it outright. Maybe there was still more he had to learn.

  
“I came back to tell her, to propose and to
begin our lives together knowing that the moment we said ‘I do,’ my gift would
be taken away from me. I never got the opportunity though. While I was gone
there was an accident that took her life and I was left with continuing on
without her. I haven’t felt the same about anyone since her, not enough to give
up what I do.”

  
“Do you think you would have regretted giving
up the abilities you have to be with her, if things had worked out?”

  
“I don’t. I waited over 100 years to meet
her. It felt like the other half of my soul had been found. When I lost her, I
lost quite a bit of myself. I didn’t heal for a very long time. I didn’t want
to bring more joy into a world where mine had been taken. I eventually got past
the greatest intensity of the pain but she’s still a part of my heart to this
day.”

  
“What would you do if someone made you feel
like that again?”

  
“I’d probably risk the same thing for a
feeling like that.
 
When their touch can
make your skin crawl with excitement and a whisper in your ear can send a shock
down your spine. Some Healers don’t feel the same; they see their life as one
of purpose, a specific purpose, that they are completely dedicated to
following. Neither way is wrong – they are both right, for whatever reason they
choose. It’s not a decision someone else can make for you,” Max said, tilting
his bottle towards AJ. “It’s something all Healers must decide for themselves.”

  
Max spread it all out for him when they met,
detailing for AJ exactly who he was and why. All over earth, there are special
people walking around with special capabilities. They’re known as Healers, and
although to the general population their existence is merely a myth, they do
indeed exist.

  
These Healers are born just as everyone else
with the only difference being their gene pool. Not every child born to a
Healer will become one; it takes a special soul to inherit the gift. Sometimes,
two Healers fall in love and marry, though a rare occurrence. Some go their
whole lives alone, focusing instead on their gift. Some Healers may marry a
mortal, yet if they choose this path, they give up their gift and live out
their lives as mortals.

  
It was such a rush when he healed someone as
it drained him greatly of his own strength, and the power and ability were one
he had finally begun to value. This hadn’t been so in years past, when he
headed to New York to be an avenger of illness, specifically the cancer that
had taken his single mother only months before his strengths unveiled
themselves. He had struggled with this, wondering why they hadn’t presented
themselves earlier. In New York he touched people non-stop. Some thought he was
trying to rob them and he paid the price with black eyes and bloody noses.
Others, most often the women, thought he was a kind gentleman who may bring
them the future they’d always dreamed of. No one knew what he really was, and
it was a loneliness he wouldn’t wish on another soul.

  
When he touched someone, there was a feeling
of warmth and happiness, and their body would soak it up like the warm sunshine
after a too-long winter. He often used the line, “I’m sorry, I thought you were
someone else,” in order to deter suspicion. He grew angry at not being able to
heal some people, especially those in their younger years. He didn’t understand
the overall rules and tried to break them to no avail until he simply stopped
trying.

  
When he felt his heart had given up, he knew
it was time for a change. He decided to head back to the country – although a
different town than that of his mother – so that he could figure out what to do
with his life. First and foremost was to come to terms with the rules of this
gift, and go from there.

  
He’d only spoken to one other healer, a man
with skills enough to sense when another was near. With wavy dark hair and tan
brown skin, Max’s appearance set people at ease when they saw him. He could
have been Latino or Greek, yet his heritage was as much a mystery as he was.
His arms were covered in tattoos, memories of times throughout his life that
carried meaning. They were all personally drawn by him, etched onto his skin by
extremely talented artists who would never understand the depths of the
meanings behind this particular art.

  
He was beautiful inside and out which allowed
him to get close to people for healing. His friendliness and demeanor were what
permitted him to be close to AJ, who had all but given up on outsiders in his
life. When Max spoke the sound was safe and honest. It opened people up, made
them feel secure despite whatever trauma had followed them in their past. His
tone suggested there was a new future waiting through a friendship with this
man.

  
Max had instantly sensed AJ on the city
street and befriended him. He put AJ into situations where AJ would feel
uncomfortable, where he would sense his gift. When Max was sure, he spoke to AJ
the truth, learned AJ knew nothing of his skills, and took him under his wing.
When Max realized that his mother or another family member who served as a
Healer should have been sculpting AJ’s skills with him, there had never been an
opportunity because of the tragedies that had occurred.

  
AJ knew he hadn’t belonged in such a crowded
metropolis, yet he had taken himself there of his own free will. Well, mostly
free will, combined with a bit of rebellion. He also felt pulled to do great
things, to not waste this extraordinary gift, and so on the jammed sidewalks of
New York, he had found just that. Although he was doing great things, he felt
an immense anger and anxiousness that welled up inside of his soul and he often
ended his days alone and bitter.

  
Max assisted him in settling down a bit. He
understood the immense feelings that come along with realizing you have the
ability to heal someone’s illness and change the world. With so many sick and
dying, Max also understood AJ’s fierce determination to save them all even though
it was impossible. AJ was still alive - thanks to Max - after nearly killing
himself multiple times in his quest to save lives.

  
It was the sense of obligation that so many
healers fought; the urge to take care of as many people as possible. To save each
person gave Healers a purpose with each tremendous task taken on.

  
“If you let yourself be drained you let
yourself die. Then you have nothing left to give. Remember that,” Max had said
before he headed to the country for his own life change. It wouldn’t be long
before AJ decided to follow suit and bring his life to a quieter, more calming
level. A small town, AJ had decided, would give him a break and let him clear
his head without having to reach out to so many people every day.

  
The dreams were what AJ found to be the most
unbearable aspect of his gift. The guilt he could live with, the responsibility
he could handle. Even the visions he eventually learned to gain control over.
The dreams had a way of sneaking into his mind as he slipped beneath the warmth
of his blankets for the evening. They were inevitable and as he couldn’t remain
awake all day every day, he was normally filled with anxiety as the evening
approached. He knew as his eyes grew heavy the pain wouldn’t be far behind.

  
The dreams were like his visions, except that
they were not images of people’s futures. Instead, they were the faces of all
the people he hadn’t been allowed to help because of what his visions showed.
They were the children, the women, the vivacious grandfathers that all had gone
on to the next phase of mortality as a result of what he saw. And more often
than not, it was his mother’s face pleading with him to realize his gift so
that he could save her. He’d awake in a sweat, his body shaking and his heart
racing. It was the same nearly every night with the exception of blissful
evenings spent unconscious after a bottle of vodka. He’d overcome his drinking long
ago, needing to own the dreams he had as retribution for those he hadn’t been
able to help. Sober is how he went to sleep now.

  
The Healers have a lot of rules. They may not
heal everyone; they are given visions of each person they encounter as a
potential healing, and these visions give them the ability to determine whether
or not an individual should be healed. This can be a most difficult decision as
sometimes the thought of letting someone continue on with their illness and
ultimately lose their life can be an impossible concept to grasp. To look at
someone’s face and realize nothing can be done to help them can cause a great
struggle with guilt in Healers. The decision is not based on a person’s soul at
that particular moment in time where healing is necessary – good, bad,
indifferent – yet rather what these visions show of their future.