The Man of Healing (Short Story) by Gow

[Gow616]

*Note it this is a rough draft, it needs to be clean up by myself and possibly revised and elongated by myself as I deem necessary. I didn't know what section to put this in but since poetry was in this section, I figured it would work here.

Do keep in mind that this is a short story not a regular thread post so it might be a little long (1,941 words).

The Man of Healing

By E. D. Stebbins / E. Daniel Stebbins / Edan Stebbins / Edan / whatever name I figure works and sounds good to my ears and pleasing to my eyes.

We waited silently by the river where we were told to meet the guide who would lead us past the perimeter. The night was cloudy and dark, no stars and no moon, it seemed to match our hope of the illness. My lover is ever so sick from a terminal disease. It is a cancer that affects the spine and has over time taken much of the body away. Gone are the soft looks around the face, gone are the sparkle in the eyes, and the hair has almost completely left as well. The love that we once shared is shriveling like a flower on a vine as with time the disease exacts a heavy toll for my love to still be alive. A year ago when this diagnosis was passed by a Doctor of some reputed class, she stated that my love only had a little more than a year to live. Tried the treatments we did, stood by the love’s side I did never giving in to the least temptation to hide. All was thought lost as we tried every method at great cost until one day a man was found to possess the most unusual of illness.

This man absorbed the illnesses of those around him, curing them while retaining the diseases he just absorbed. All the medical professionals in the world were at first puzzled completely by this man’s disease that absorbed others. First he was treated for his initial cold infection but as soon as it was cured he had another and another, he was than hospitalized were it just began to take a downward spiral as he developed cancer and a myriad of other diseases why be coincidence the patients around him in the hospital were losing their illnesses left and right until everyone in the place was cured and left with a cheery face. Some tests were run and it was discovered that there was a radius that everyone with an illness inside it was cured while he got worse. The Government and the Medical field decided to protect him from getting worse and try to cure him. He was also the perfect patient because he did not die from these diseases even though his organs were in constantly failing, they never stopped, and he never died. What better patient to try to cure with experimental treatments than one who couldn’t die from them?

The media buzz that this was barbaric and that the man should be allowed to be around people, of course they didn’t mention the fact that they implied sick people. The implication was through the showing of various ways many guides got people inside the perimeter and out again, a perimeter created when they found the extent of the man’s disease absorption radius. It was discussed very heavily and conspicuously on many media outlets, almost as if they were telling people how to do it and d in fact they had. That is how we came to discover that there was hope after all for our love to be saved by a cure that existed this very day. Surely, the man could take one more illness and this one being a rare form of spinal cancer could one day be cured and no one will have to suffer like my love has gone through. He would be able to live through the disease and painkillers would ease his pain but my lover would die with it.

Thus, we read through many forums, chat rooms and blogs about this one guide who we contacted and were instructed to meet by the river to be escorted into the perimeter. This is how at this very moment we stood in this very spot, but the journey has been tiring for my lover who is seriously weak, thin and frail from the disease that racks the physical body and my mental sanity. Dark and warm, better that it was this way. If it were cold, in my love’s weakened state it would have made the journey a lot harder. A still and quiet night, nothing to be heard except the river stream flowing and our conversation going towards the hospital where our hope lay. While we bantered on as best as we could, giving my love’s condition and stopping to rest here has allowed some strength to be regained. We never heard the guide’s soft rustling approach until she was next to us. It gave us the most awful fright as we were withdrawn very violently from our world of talk into the present. For a moment, I was sorrowful over that chat being lost as we were for that brief time no longer thought of the sickness tearing through my love’s body. The guide’s clear voice cut through that sorrow and made us focus on the why we were here.

She discussed rules that we had to obey and she knew the journey ahead would be difficult but once we were in the perimeter the hard part would have only begun. It was easy to get in but to get out without being caught was the rub of it. I thought this guide was quite an expert for she discussed at length and in extreme detail what we were supposed to do and not to do. She even would elucidate on any point we had questions about. Our hope was shining brilliantly in the moonlight that had begun to show through the dark clouds that parted to reveal both the moon and the starry night. Thus with the plan set down and how it was supposed to be executed, we three set off down the river. We kept a steady pace and had to stop occasionally to allow my love to rest. The guide was kind enough to provide some painkillers she had in a kit to ease the pain and kept us encouraged with words of hope stating the perimeter was just around the bend.

Eventually, we saw a beaten path covered up with brush so that it could not be seen until one stepped onto it and saw it under one’s feet. The guide told us that no more words should be spoken and we were now to close to stop to rest. My love pressed on with determination and anticipation, our goal was within reach. Soon it would all be well again, laughing, rejoicing and enjoying our life together with a renewed vigor made all the stronger by the experience. I thought of her “just around the bend” reference and almost ran her over as she stopped suddenly. She pointed up ahead. Thanks to the moonlight we could see a fence glimmering in the night, above a water drainage pipe reinforced with a steel grated cover. From this point on we proceeded forward very slowly with periods of my lover and me stopping while the guide went ahead to make sure the way was clear. Stealthily, we made it up to the fence and started to follow it around. She halted us at one point, started to fiddle with the fence by the fencepost and soon had it unfastened from the post. Motioning for us to go in, we moved slowly inside and waited for our guide to follow. We looked at each other with great hope between us but my love still felt ill. I quickly asked the guide why it was not working, was this not the place where the man was? She responded very quickly that the fence was not the radius of man but it was in just a little further, after all if it was up to the fence they could never be able to stop anyone.

Leading the way, she moved forward towards the hospital that loomed in the distance. She kept darting her head this way and that constantly looking for signs or sources of possible detection. Finding none we kept going forward, deeper and deeper into the perimeter with the hospital growing ever larger as we approached. Once again she stopped rather suddenly and carefully stepped over a short chain perimeter. The guide had a momentary joyous expression on her face as she stepped over it and told us to do the same. We stepped over it and thought it was peculiar for the guide to be so happy for stepping over a fence. I was puzzled on this curious expression and did not notice that my love was for once not breathing hard. It wasn’t until my love stood upright and breathed deeply did I figure out the source of the guide’s joy. This chain perimeter was the perimeter that was the radius of the man’s illness absorbing. We began rejoicing as we were able to dance, move, sing, talk, and act like we had before the illness came upon us.

Our joyous celebrations were cut short as our guide’s expression turned from happiness to shock as people were moving towards us, uniformed people. We started to run back the way we came but we were surrounded by then with rifles being pointed at us and commands telling us to lie down on the ground with our hands behind our head. These security guards told us we had trespassed on private property and that we were now going to be sent to the local police to face charges against this offense. One guard commented to another as I overheard it, “Another one got in. Damn, they just keep coming like ants. Too bad they get off pretty lightly due to the local police being soft on this sort of thing”. Our hope was not shattered thanks to that tidbit of information being heard in our ears. We were marched to a police van and carted off to police station. The guide looked nonchalant while we, lovers, could know no greater joy than what this night has brought to our lives.

---

In the hospital, in the next morning, doctors and nurses go about their work. At a meeting it is discussed that they had caught twenty five trespassers the night before, and have worked out what new illnesses were introduced. It was made note of that a very rare spine cancer was absorbed from one of the trespassers, who was probably now cured and happy but at the same time the man had yet one more burden to bear. A nurse choked back a tearful sob as the meeting ended. The head doctor and his assistant talked further about the man as they drew closer to his room. Upon reaching outside of the thick glassed, heavily sound proofed room, they grabbed a special set of ear muffs.

A nurse waiting outside opened the first door into an antechamber that led into the room. The door was closed and sealed with a hush that could not be heard through the protective ear muffs. The next door was opened, nothing was heard thanks to the protection as they walked over to bed to checkup on the man. Called by the media, the Man of Healing who could heal all but himself, the head doctor grabbed the chart. Looking over the new additions to the already long list of diseases plaguing the healer’s body, he looked up to the man covered in intravenous drips that contained strong dosages of pain killers. Yet, that could do little to ease the doctor’s mind as he stared at the patient with a constantly gaping mouth. It was clearly evident why the hearing protection was needed to any who had eyes and could see.

Somewhere a man screams in sheer agony while a lover's face gleams with pure joy.

[Trogdor]

that was absolutely fantastic, I enjoyed the concept and delivery. I especially enjoyed paragraph 8.

E. Daniel Stebbins sounds best

[pfcreed]

i liked it a whole lot and im glad i was able to read it. the only thing that turned me off to it was the way that the mans lover doesnt really have a personality, and for me this could be solved if you just gave her a name and dropped the refrence of lover, besides in the last part because it fits perfectly

[Cloud Strife]

Wow, that was one awesome short story...

Nice job, i liked it so much i printed it out

[Gow616]

Originally Posted by pfcreed

i liked it a whole lot and im glad i was able to read it. the only thing that turned me off to it was the way that the mans lover doesnt really have a personality, and for me this could be solved if you just gave her a name and dropped the refrence of lover, besides in the last part because it fits perfectly

I tried to leave the couple non-gender specific so that it was not sexual orientation specific making it a everyman/woman couple. I might have to rework it so I don't use the lover phrasing too much. Also, the personality of the lover is not as important as it is a first person perspective piece in the beginning.

[Cloud Strife]

Originally Posted by pfcreed

i liked it a whole lot and im glad i was able to read it. the only thing that turned me off to it was the way that the mans lover doesnt really have a personality, and for me this could be solved if you just gave her a name and dropped the refrence of lover, besides in the last part because it fits perfectly

No, i think it was good like it is...

For those who want a copy of it in the DOC format, here is the link
http://www.freewebs.com/vettexl/The%...%20Healing.doc

[pfcreed]

i wish i could write like that

[Trogdor]

mind if I zbook it?

[Gow616]

Originally Posted by Trogdor

mind if I zbook it?

Permission granted.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Trogdor

that was absolutely fantastic, I enjoyed the concept and delivery. I especially enjoyed paragraph 8.

E. Daniel Stebbins sounds best

E.D. Stebbins sounds more like a writer name.
Great work Gow.

[Scrapz616]

Originally Posted by Trogdor

mind if I zbook it?

I was just about to suggest that
Nice story btw

[Trogdor]

Originally Posted by Jon

E.D. Stebbins sounds more like a writer name.
Great work Gow.

but E.D. Stebbins will eventually will cause him to be mistaken for Ed Stebbins. Also the E.D. reminds me of S.E. Hilton one of my favorite writers but the reason she abreviated her first 2 intials is because she was hiding the fact she was a woman and E. Daniel Stebbins sounds like a guy who doesn't have anything to hide and means serious business

edit-
zBookified!
Download it now
only 1.19 mb of jpg images!

[Volpe Sinatra]

That was absolutely amazing, darling!
Although, I did find a few errors in grammar,
spelling, punctuation, et cetera. I dunno if
you want me to point them out. >.>

[Gow616]

Originally Posted by zombii kitten

That was absolutely amazing, darling!
Although, I did find a few errors in grammar,
spelling, punctuation, et cetera. I dunno if
you want me to point them out. >.>

Please do, saves me the time of having to proofread it, which I still haven't gotten around to. On the minus side, I added up the total number pages I have to write for term papers and its only 38-40 pages.