Healing the Sick

You watched as the girl followed you into the bedroom. She had been standing on the street and had asked you if you were up for a good time. Naturally, you noticed something off and decided to play along for the moment. The girl was dressed in a loose fitting piece of fabric, only kept on her body by the belt tying her purse to her hip. She undid her belt, shook her shoulders and the dress slid free, revealing her soft and supple body.

“Ready for a good time?” she purred, giving you a seductive smile. This was offset, however, by her warm, honey eyes. They were dead. Like she was suffering inside and very much didn’t want to be there. “Did you want me to undress you?” she asked, stalking forward and laying a small, soft, hand on your chest. You take the hand in your own and gently lay it against her chest.

“You don’t want to do this” you say in a soft voice. The girl blinked before switching back to her attempt at being seductive.

“Come on tiger, think I can’t handle you?” she asked, her eyes begging you to say no. you sigh as you push her out to the extent of arms reach.

“I can see it in your eyes, the suffering” you tell her and the girl froze. “That’s why I agreed to this in the first place” you say. It was that but there was also something else, something you’ll need to ask Artemis about later. “So why’s a girl like you doing something like this? Especially if you hate it” you ask her, guiding her to sit down on the bed.

“I” the girl started, looking down into her hands as she struggled not to burst into tears. “My sister is sick,” she said after a moment. “It killed mum and... and dad never came home one day” the girl continued, tears brimming in her eyes. You watch as they overflow, a pair of lines trailing down the girl’s creamy skin. “The doctors won’t even look at her if they don’t get paid” the girl said, her voice hitching as she got closer and closer to her emotional break. You say nothing, you just scoot over and wrap the girl up. This broke the dam, she twisted around, planted her face into your chest, wrapped her arms around you and began sobbing uncontrollably.

You don’t know how long you stayed like that, letting the girl cry on you, but finally, her tears dried up and she broke away, a faint smile on her face.

“Thank you” she whispered, eyes puffy red and her dark brown hair disheveled.

“You said your sister was sick?” you ask and the girl nodded.

“The doctors try different medicines, but she just throws them back up again and they shuffle off, demanding more coin” the girl replied.

“Perhaps I can take a look” you suggest and the girl tiredly turned to look at you, hope appearing in her eyes. Cautious, ****, hope. The girl bounced to her feet and made for the door. “Uhh, maybe some modesty mightn’t hurt the reputation” you say and the girl stopped, twisted around, dropped into a squat, hooked her dress over her shoulders and stood again all in the space of a second or two. You blink at the rather impressive display as the girl belted her purse back on.

“Come, I’ll take you to her!” she said, getting some energy back into her. You followed after her as she led you through the streets and to a single room abode in a poorer part of town. Inside was a couple of beds, one of which was occupied. A tiny slip of a child sleeping in that ‘I’m too weak to be awake’ position. You stride towards her and let your power wash over her. First you checked to see what was wrong, a sad sigh escaping you when you found out. She had a virus. With no immunity or vaccine, there would have been nothing anyone could do for her. All modern medicine would have been able to do would be to make her comfortable in the hope that she could fight it off.

“No mortal doctor can heal her” you say, turning to the girl that had brought you here. She had deflated, screwing her eyes shut against the emotional pain. “I’m not a doctor, nor mortal” you add and the girl nodded numbly. You waited a second and wasn’t disappointed, the girl’s eyes snapped open and she rounded on you with shock.

“W-what did you just say?!” the girl gasped.

“I said I’m not a doctor nor am I mortal” you repeat, unable to keep the grin off your face.

“Y-you can heal her?” the blind, **** hope in her voice tugged at your heart, making you regret playing with her like that. You simply nod, placing your hand on the child’s head and letting your power flow into her. You burnt away the virus but it doesn’t take a doctor to know that wouldn’t be enough, so you built her back up again. You healed her damaged organs, layered nutrients into her system and supplied energy to the starved machine that is the human body. Soon the child’s eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room, landing on her big sister.

“Sis?” the child asked tiredly. Despite the energy and nutrients you gave her, she will still need rest to recover, you can’t just wash away all the effects of the illness like that, her body will need time to slip back into normal running.

“Nikita!” the older sister cried, lunging forward to wrap her sister up in a hug, crying into the girl as she did.

“You know” you begin “I never did get your name” you say. The girl laughed as she pried herself from her little sister, who slumped back into the bed with a tired grin.

“Valentina” the elder told you, lunging forward to hug you as well. “ThankyouThankyouThankyou” she said, squeezing you as hard as she could manage.

“It’s quite alright” you reply, returning the hug. You look over and notice that Nikita is already asleep, having used up what energy you had given her to hug her sister.

“Is she going to be okay?” Valentina asked, throwing a worried look at her sister.

“Yes, she’ll need rest and food, but she’s fine now” you reply. Valentina got a sad look in her eyes and you knew exactly what that meant, she thought she’d have to continue to work on the streets. “You need a job right?” you ask. Surprisingly, and possibly to the girl’s credit, she shook her head.

“I have one, if I’m not buying medicine then it shouldn’t be so bad” she said, putting her head on your chest.

“Still, I don’t like it when girls don’t enjoy sex” you say “I could use an extra hand in the shop I’m running” you tell her.

“What does . . . someone like you need to run a shop for?” Valentina asked, frowning as she looked up at you.

“It’s not for me” you tell her “It’s a food shop, I sell cooked food” you explain.

“I . . .” she began, looking away. “I don’t know how to do anything else,” she admitted, hanging her head in shame.

“Normally, that wouldn’t be a bad thing” you tell her “The ‘bad’ part comes from the fact that you don’t enjoy it” you add. Valentina rankled her nose.

“I don’t know why you men like it so much and I think the stories of women finding ‘ecstasy’ from it are just made up” Valentina told you.

“It’s not made up, you just have to want it” you say quietly. “I could teach you if you’d like” you add. Valentina blinked a few times before looking at you with uncertainty.

“I- if that’s what you want” she finally said, hanging her head. You raise her chin until she’s looking you in the eyes again.

“No” you say “if it’s what YOU want” you tell her. Valentina screwed her eyes shut before shaking her head.

“No” she whispers “I don’t want” she tells you.

“Then I shall wait until you are ready” you say “Forever if that is how it works out” you add before kissing her on the forehead. You implant knowledge of where your little eatery is into her mind before you pull back. Valentina blinked a few times before looking at you in confusion. “You need money right? And food I suppose” you say “Both of those can be had by working for me” you tell her before turning around and leaving again.

Valentina caught up with you out on the street, taking your hand to stop you.

“I . . . I want to” she said, looking like she can’t figure out the words. “I want to learn” she finally settles on. “But not right now” she adds, giving you a smile. She lunges forward, gets up on her toes and kisses you on the lips before turning around and running back inside her house, a parting wave before she leaves. You chuckle as you turn around and carry on.