My name is Healer
1099 Words
My name is not Healer, but no one cared about what my name was, all they wanted was to be healed, thus I was called Healer.
It was the only thing I could remember being called. I didn’t even know my name, or if I had one at all.
The sun was about to set, my eyes were fixed on it, my heart was pounding in my chest, and my fingers were trembling terribly. I was going to fail Eva.
I could hear the waters clearly, I heard how it flowed, the rage with which it moved, how it hit against the rocks, weathering it. What I couldn’t do was smell it. How did Eva expect me to smell water this far off? It was worse that I was so high on the tree. I didn’t have any idea of how to come down from it.
I had been distracted by the height of the tree and when I looked up again, the sun was gone.
Now!
I didn’t think, I didn’t calculate. I jumped. What was the worst that could happen?
My ankle broke.
Maybe it didn’t break, but it must have shifted.
It was funny how I couldn’t heal myself. I could heal anyone from anything, but I couldn’t heal myself.
I pulled my leg along, still trying to get a whiff of water. When my nose didn’t work, I tried my ears again. That was when I heard it.
The sound of an army, they were on four legs, in their wolf form. They were running towards me.
I ran.
I forgot the pain, didn’t care about the water, I just ran opposite the sounds.
Fear enveloped me, slowing me down even more than the pain in my leg. Then I tried again. I needed to smell the water. Please, God. Please.
I could afford to run aimlessly, Eva would also be ruined if I got caught. I couldn’t do this to her. My life didn’t matter to me anymore, but Eva’s did.
It seemed like the concoction finally kicked in. My senses were getting sharp, but the sounds of the water had begun to disappear. The water was falling asleep. I couldn’t hear it anymore. That was why Eva needed me to follow the smell and not the sound. I was lost. But I couldn’t stop running.
The dizzy feeling was totally gone. I ran faster, and by some miracle, I finally smelled water.
It was light at first, like a tiny whiff of an aroma of food from the neighbor's kitchen that had fought its way out of the pressure pot. Yet it was enough to give me strength. To give me hope.
I stopped, sat down on the floor, took my feet up, and fixed it back in place. It hurt like hell, but I was willing to do it for Eva.
I ran again, faster, following the smell of the water, shutting the sound behind me.
“Finally!!” I screamed. “Water!!!”
Joy had become a strange feeling. I had nothing to be happy about until now. This moment. I felt victorious. I did it!
But now, what next?
“I see you have regained your strength.” I turned back to see the captain. He was still in his wolf form but he was alone. “Come back with me,” he commanded.
I looked around. It was just plain land and water. Why had Eva asked me to reach the water? She said I would be safe when I got to the water. She knew I couldn’t swim. I had never swarmed before.
“There is no place for something like you in the world, Healer. You’re good for only one thing. Healing. You will come with me.”
“I’d rather die.” I came as close as I could to a snarl, taking a backward step into the water. It was deeper than I thought, one step had me knee-deep.
“Come back here, Healer.” The captain snarled.
“Come get me.” I cooed.
I didn’t know why, but the captain couldn’t come any closer than where he stood. Eva was a genius. I was going to kiss her when I saw her again.
The second step had me covered to my waist. “Stop right there, Healer.”
I loved that I could reply to him, my fear of him was gone for a moment, “Why don’t you come stop me?” I said with a shrug.
Another step had the water under my breast. “HEALER!”
I lifted my finger like I had seen Eva do when he wasn’t looking and flipped him off. Then I let myself lose to allow the water to take me where fate wanted me to be.
Unfortunately, water didn’t seem to have an ending and even still water could drown a person. Water must sleep like a bird because suddenly it was awake and raging again. It pushed me like I was an enemy, seeking to conquer and destroy me.
There was nothing to hold on to, nothing to grab. I needed to stop. The water had smashed my head against a rock twice, and I was getting angry.
“Stop wanting to drown me,” I begged, but the water didn’t seem to have ears.
Fortunately, I managed to grab a rock. I was sure the water intended to smash my head against it and win the charm of three strikes. Not this time.
Water had to have some sort of soul or spirit. Nothing was going to make me believe what happened today was a coincidence.
“Well, guess what? I won. Why? My head might have been smashed two times, but you didn’t succeed in the third one even though I couldn’t swim. I didn’t drown.” I screamed to the water, forgetting I was still inside the water until my hands began to slip away from the rock.
“No. no … no. I apologize for being rude a water spirit. We’ve played this game for long enough. I don’t want to play anymore, so please be still. Please, I beg of you. Stop trying to drown me. Please.”
Magically, the water went still immediately, water probably liked being begged. Arrogant thing.
“Step out and tell me who you are.” The voice was chill, it sent a cold into me, running deep down my spine. I had never heard a voice so powerful. All my nerves responded to it.
I was right. It was the water spirit.
- Writer
