The Touch (Healer Series) (9 page)

  
There is a purpose for this - for not being
able to heal everyone. In some cases the loss of one life will save many
others. These are the cases which proved most difficult for Healers, especially
when it came to children and young men and women.
 
The decision was a necessary one that must be
made in order to facilitate the world continuing on and creating great things.
This is not to say they cannot heal everyone; they most definitely can remove
illness from anyone they encounter. The true complexity came in only choosing certain
people to fulfill the world’s future.

  
Because they must utilize visions to choose
who is saved, Healers may not cure someone they love. This rule was handed down
as the first and foremost rule from the beginning of time. Love can overwhelm
the senses, which might cause a Healer to break ancient rules to continually
restore health to an individual over and over. Other Healers could lend a hand
if visions lent to a healing, but that required other Healers to be around.

  
Healers help by touch. Their hands are their
instruments. Often, Healers wear gloves to keep from touching others without
meaning to in crowded places. Others develop ways to avoid shaking hands or
hugging. Those who are strong are able to control their gift enough that they
can touch and withhold having visions.

  
Combined with the anxiety and depression that
can settle into a Healer due to the tremendous obligation of their gift,
Healers are often seen as loners and keep to themselves to prevent being
discovered.

  
Healers also age differently than the general
population in order to keep watch over the world. For each five years a normal
person lives, it equates to one year for Healers, beginning from the moment
their gift is revealed to them. This is yet another reason they must move
around, to avoid being caught for not aging as the general population does.

  
The two men spent a couple hours laughing and
talking, discussing sports and the world, drinking a few beers. Relaxed and
smiling, AJ felt at home again.

  
When the beer was getting the best of them,
Max bolted upright without warning and a feeling of unease caused the hairs on
the back of AJ’s neck to stand straight up. He’d felt something similar a few
times before and hadn’t thought much of it. Max’s reaction though made it seem
much worse than AJ had ever imagined the feeling being.

  
“Max-”

  
“
Shhhhhh
,” Max
responded, raising his finger to his mouth. His eyes were closed, his hands
down at his sides as if he were feeling for something in the dark.

  
AJ waited in silence as Max listened for
whatever it was he heard. Minutes passed yet it felt like hours, and the
feeling in the pit of AJ’s stomach grew. Max was visibly shaken when he sat
back down.

  
“Max, what’s going on?” AJ asked, now worried
about his friend. “What is it?”

  
“It’s a Grim,” Max countered, his eyes still
staring into space. “I felt it at first, but now I can hear him,” he continued.
AJ remembered Max going on about
Grims
in the past,
yet he had never encountered one. At least that he knew of. And he hadn’t paid
close enough attention because he knew they were simply a part of the world
that he couldn’t take away, one that was needed to keep the earth’s balance in
check despite the fact that they were the bearers of death.

  
“Remember that not all
Grims
follow their laws AJ,” Max began, starting the story from scratch as if he’d
never discussed the topic with the kid before. “There aren’t many malicious
ones left. When one exists, they pick somewhere and want to wreak havoc.
There’s a broken trust between our groups and we must always be cautious when
one is around.”

“Where
is he?
Her?
It?”
AJ felt as
if he should have probably paid better attention to all those lessons Max had
taught him. “I don’t even know what they’d look like. Is it here to find us?”

  
The
Grims
were an
eager group, and their mission in the world was to bring about death to keep
order in the populations. However, there were certain
Grims
who held a different mission: destroy Healers and bring pain and suffering to
the human population. Plagues, accidental explosions and hurricanes were just a
few of the many ways the
Grims
brought their cruel
touch to the mortals, and while most of these occurrences were small-scale and
created by the non-combative
Grims
some were designed
to send messages.

  
“He’s within 100 miles. I’m not quite sure
where.”

  
“Max, what does this mean? Do we have to do
something?”

  
AJ was, quite frankly, a bit scared. He
hadn’t encountered a Grim yet, and the thought scared him a bit. He barely had
a handle on his own capabilities, let alone fighting off someone who was
against him.

  
“There’s Healers closer to him,” Max said. “I
can feel them, too. However, we should be prepared in case he heads near either
of us.”

  
He paused, his senses coming back and
separating him from listening for the others.

  
“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you,
AJ.”

  
AJ was not okay, clearly flustered by this
information. He could feel his hands shaking as he placed them on his hips,
tugging at his loose-fitting cargo shorts.

  
“What if he ends up in Lee?”

  
“I’ll be there with you,” Max said. “I will
keep my thoughts focused on the Grim. I’ll know if you’re in the same area, and
I’ll come.”

  
Taking another step towards AJ and placing a
strong hand on his shoulder, he leaned in closer to him.

  
“What are your questions, kid? Your face says
you have a lot.”

  
“I don’t know enough about them, Max. About
which are okay, which are evil. I don’t know how to defend myself against them.
Or how to stop them from doing what they do if I need to.”

  
“Come with me,” Max replied, patting AJ on
the back and leading him towards the den. He scanned the bookshelves with his
finger, pulling an old book off of the shelf and setting it onto the table. The
dust made it evident the book hadn’t been read in quite awhile.

  
“The only thing that distinguishes
Grims
from the rest of the population is their constant use
of dark clothing,” Max said, having opened the book to centuries-old writing
that began with
Grim.
“Telling them
apart from the general population – on top of the feeling they generate within
our souls – used to be a lot easier before dark denim made them more style
icons as opposed to harbingers of death.”

  
“They haven’t changed their sense of style
since the beginning of time. These
Grims
have a
mission in life, as you already know. When bad things happen it’s the result of
a
Grim’s
fingerprint. Tornados, cancer - all the
unexpected occurrences that humans believe are bad luck or happen for no reason
come from a Grim having touched their lives. As awful as it is, these things have
to happen. While the rest of the world wants the answers as to why someone is
sick or why bad things happen, they don’t look at the top layer: people have to
die for the world to continue on. If everyone lived, everything would just turn
to chaos. It’s the few bad apples of the
Grims
that
we have to watch for: the ones who don’t use their gift for balance, but rather
to cause pain and destruction.”

  
“What if a Grim goes through an entire town,
just touching everyone?”

  
“It’s not that easy for them,” Max replied,
signaling for AJ to sit. “They can only touch one person per day. More than
that would drain them far too much. The average Grim is more sensitive to being
drained of their energy than we are. That doesn’t go to say that Mother Nature
hasn’t made some things easier for them. For example, if a storm is brewing,
they may generate a tornado. This doesn’t happen often. It takes most of their
energy and puts them at risk of dying. If they start an epidemic, like they did
with the Spanish Influenza, touching only one person a day can generate a lot
of pain and suffering. It’s a communicable disease and one person can spread it
to an entire city.
Grims
are tricky, and use these
things to their advantage. A select few take joy in watching people suffer.”

  
AJ realized at that moment what Max had known
all along – a Grim had touched his mother.
 
Maybe if he’d paid closer attention, he thought, he would have realized
that sooner. His stomach tied in a knot that he had only before felt upon her
death and tears welled in his eyes. The anger shot through his veins and with
clenched fists he stood up, towering over Max.

  
“You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?
That’s bullshit, Max! Bullshit!”

  
AJ threw his can across the room and watched
it smash against the wall, the contents spraying like an open hydrant.

  
Max sat in silence, taking the verbal beating
as he had with all the other new Healers who had learned the truth about
someone they loved dying. AJ knew what
Grims
did and
yet he hadn’t tied it into his own life. He’d only thought about it happening
to others. Max kept his eyes on AJ, knowing the kid wouldn’t hurt him.

  
“Were you close to us? And you did nothing?
Were you that close to us that you could feel the Grim, and you didn’t step in?
No Healer did?”

  
“AJ, this is why we aren’t allowed to heal
those we love most, our families. Sit down, so we can talk.”

  
AJ glared at him and slowly shifted his
weight back to sitting, directly across from Max. His eyes never left his
friend’s.

  
“I met your mother once, in the hospital. I
sensed the Grim, an evil one. I was there to follow his path and try to right
the suffering he caused for those who didn’t deserve it. But the visions of
your mom, they did not tell us to heal her.”

  
“Why?” AJ asked, his eyes brimming with tears
that finally began falling down his cheeks. His mother had been his world, his
reason for existence. She had given up so much to give him everything he needed
as she raised him as a single mom. He knew after meeting Max and learning the
rules regarding his gift that he couldn’t have healed her himself, although
that guilt never left him. He had always wondered why no one had healed her.

  
“Why was she chosen not to be healed? Why was
she taken away from me?”

  
“Everything serves a greater purpose, AJ.”

  
AJ wanted to reply with his emotions. He
wanted to yell that he didn’t give a shit for greater purposes but that was a
lie. He was committed to the destiny he’d been handed; it just didn’t apply
strictly to his mother.

  
Max leaned forward towards his friend. AJ had
one of the most golden hearts he had ever encountered in a Healer, and it broke
Max’s heart to see the pain his friend endured.

  
“The visions I had when I touched your mother
showed me you and your strength. They showed the good you would do in the
world, and the man you would become because you had loved her so much. You
would take all she taught you and use that – along with your need to heal
others and protect them from the same pain you felt - to be
a
strength
in this world. The things you are meant to accomplish you
wouldn’t do if she were here because you wouldn’t want to risk your life and
put her through that. The world needs you. There are people out there who need
you to change their lives. You have a destiny you must fulfill.”

  
He reached over and placed his hand on AJ’s
arm, gripping it tightly as if to say he was sorry. AJ understood the unspoken
gesture, placing his own hand on top of Max’s. In silence they sat, the only
sound that filled the room coming from the tears falling down AJ’s face.

  
“Let’s call it a night,” Max said, standing
up and walking over to retrieve a pillow and blanket from the hall closet.
“It’s been a long evening. You have a long drive and a hard day’s work
tomorrow.”

  
“That I do,” AJ said, standing up to stretch,
pulling off his tank top to reveal the finely tuned muscles in his upper body.

  
“Damn. Maybe I need to start working out
again. I miss the days when I would hit the gym for hours. The only workout I
do now is hiking these woods every day.
Keeps me young.”

  
AJ smiled and reached out to shake his
buddy’s hand.