Maybe I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d imagine most people have all thought about having some reality bending power. One that would grant status, wealth, power, and even save other lives. Ever since I was born I had the ability to heal any organic matter I touch. I never even questioned why.
I first found out that this wasn’t normal when I was in 3rd grade. One of my classmates fell and tore their skin across their knee. Droplet’s of red blood slowly oozed out of the wound, as if calling me. Instead of just reaching out to heal their small cut, they only sat down and cried. This was very confusing to me at that time. Knowing I can help them, I placed my hand over their wound and it disappeared as if it was never there. Of course the child told the teachers about my ability, but it was all chalked up to a child’s fantasy. Except for my parents.
Never in my whole life have I seen them so angry. I’ve made many mistakes throughout my childhood, but never once have I seen so much fear and anger nestled in their eyes. As usual they decided to punish me by breaking a few fingers or leaving me to starve for the rest of the week. Every now and then I would hear them mutter about how I would ruin all their plans with my ignorance, making the sacrifices they’ve made null.
The stinging sensation from my hungry stomach spurred on the question how the other children handled being punished when they apparently couldn’t make their wounds go away. When I questioned my parents regarding this topic, solemn expressions replaced their happy ones around their table. Instead of an answer they locked me in my room and their faint voices were separated by a few walls, but it was still pretty easy to hear them. I mean, they could also hear other people’s heartbeats within the same house… right?
“We have to do something about that thing…”
“What the hell should we do? He is our only source of income, if we didn’t make him like that then we’d be living on the streets. The market for organs is too profitable!”
“I just can’t help but wonder what our real son would’ve been like…”
Instead of paying attention to their usual conversations I just rubbed the pale skin over my gaunt figure to aleve some of the hunger that was still creeping up. A few hours later the door opened up. Both my parents were standing at the door. My father held a small and pointed metal rod while my mother kept her distance from me.
“We have your new punishment ready.” My father said with a determined voice, his white knuckles taught around the metal spike. What happened next was a very odd experience to say the least, the metal rod made it a bit hard to move one of my eyes and a ticklish feeling spread through my head. If anything it felt like I was flying through the sky. Some blood poured out my nose and stained one of my favorite light blue shirts, but I couldn’t care due to the intense euphoric feeling.
My parents stared at me with a more intense fear when they saw my reaction. I wonder though, do all parents look at their kids like this?
___
Year after year passed and I soon became a young man. At this point, I knew a bit more about the world than I did as a child. It definitely helped that both my parents disappeared. One morning I woke up and my sensitive nose couldn’t pick up their smell, as if they were erased from existence. Their car was still left in the driveway and all the doors were still locked. After a few months of living on my own, I was lucky to find a foster family willing to take me in. If I went another month without eating, I may have done something I would’ve regretted.
Living with a real family was a life changing experience. They never looked at me with the all too familiar eyes filled with fear and only punished me by making me sleep earlier than I usually do. It may sound weird, but I think I was happy.
Sadly, there is always an end to any happiness that is found. It just ended up being in the form of one of my step-brothers’ head getting run over by a drunk driver. The trial of blood ran into the distance where the truck ran off down the road. Looking down at what was left of what I would consider my brother even though we weren’t related by blood, I reached my hand out and healed him. My old parents weren’t here to stop me anyway.
First his scattered organs mended themselves into durable and dense replicas of what he used to have. After his bones fused together creating creaking and clicking noises along the way, they also became much more durable and flexible compared to what he had before. You know, the usual. Finally his shredded skin encased his rebirthed body, stronger than ever. A knife would probably give out first when put against his new skin.
I smiled to myself knowing my step-brother would love his new body, after all, it was better in every way. The healing process was done and the sun shined across his new eyes, creating a green reflective sheen. Just like mine!
…but he didn’t move.
“Come on, we are going to miss our movie!” I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t moving when all his physical wounds were healed. I have definitely come back from much worse, but when I looked into his eyes I think I knew deep down in my gut that he was already gone.
Overall, the hardest part of the day was dragging his body back towards my foster parents. They could probably do something about his condition. Reality is often disappointing though, instead of praising me they instead threw me to the side like a dangerous stranger.
‘Oh, there they are again. Kind of forgot what they looked like. Those eyes filled with fear.’
Each time their eyes passed over his body they both could help but release a yelp in surprise or let out a few tears when they saw each of my modifications to his body. If anything they should be thanking me instead.
___
More years passed, by now I would be considered a middle aged man, but I didn’t look a day over 20. The stale air in the jail cell was all too familiar at this point. At least the food was half decent. Resting my head against the metal bars, I could only think over what went wrong in my life. This ability of mine has only caused me grief and sorrow, even though I only used it with the purest intentions.
If his step-brother just binded his soul to what was left to the rest of his body, like you usually do, then none of this would have happened. Instead of wasting my time lying against the bars I decided to do something productive and at least brush my teeth. It always took quite a few minutes since the retractable ones were always a pain to get to, they were also hard to floss.
While I was completing my morning routine a small ringing noise was heard from the metal bars. A man in a light gray suit was standing in front of the cell with an amiable smile on his face.
“Hello sir, can I interest you in a job?”
Raising an eyebrow I questioned back, “You do know I’m in prison, right?”
The smile on the man’s face grew wider as he replied, “Yeah, but I also know that you haven’t aged a day over the past 30 years you have been here. I also had the privilege to take part in the post mortem examination of your step-brother’s body. I’ve got to say, you made it quite difficult to get through the skin, let alone those bones.”
After a pause he continued, “How would you like to get out of here and help some other people who are in need. They are willing to pay quite a lot.”
Hearing what the man said, a similar wide smile appeared on my face, some of the tooth paste still sticking to my front teeth. Someone finally realized how useful my ability is, I can change so many lives. Agreeing to the man’s conditions, it didn’t take long for me to be released under the guards pensive glares.
Right now I’m sitting in this mysterious man’s car heading towards my first client. I’m so excited! While I’m heading there I thought I’d share the good news.
Wish me luck guys!