Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 214: I Won’t Hurt You

Chapter 214: I Won’t Hurt You

"Please tell me that you heard that too," I asked softly, fearing his answer. I was already more than halfway convinced that I was going insane, and hearing voices in my head would just push me that much closer to the finish line.

Rip looked down at me. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but I knew what it meant.

He didn’t hear it.

"Please, help me," came the voice again, this time stronger. That was when I felt it... a pull deep down inside of me. It was like a rope connected me to someone else, and they were pulling on the other end, trying to bring me to them.

Spinning around, I looked to see where the pull was strongest, no longer caring if I was crazy or not. Sometimes, the only way to find the answers you are looking for is to be brave enough to look for them.

There... off in the distance.

I took a step forward in that direction, deeper into the woods.

"Wait," called out Rip, putting his hand on my arm, stopping me from going forward. "We need to let the others know."

I shook my head. "No. There isn’t enough time. Someone is... dying?"

I wasn’t sure exactly how I knew it, and that was almost as frustrating as the feeling itself. I was a woman of science. I knew facts and data, and I knew how to apply those to any situation.

However, I also knew that there were some things in the world that I couldn’t explain, no matter how much time and effort I put into them.

Like transmigrating into a different world, like humans developing powers.

Well, I could explain how they were unlocked, but who got what power was still unclear.

And I knew, for a fact, that whoever was calling me was dying.

"Fine," grunted Rip, not putting up nearly as much of an argument as I thought he would have. Then again, maybe he had talked until he was blue in the face, and I was just too lost in my thoughts to hear him.

Either way, I took a step forward and felt a trembling on the rope, like whoever was on the other line understood that I was coming to save them and was excited.

"But you don’t leave my sight," continued Rip. I nodded my head, but I was going to leave it up to him to make sure that happened. It wasn’t like I was walking fast anyway.

----

I had no idea how long we had been walking through the woods. I didn’t know if the sun was starting to set or the trees were just that much thicker, but the forest began to turn dark, and shadows started to move on their own.

Refusing to feel fear, I continued to move forward. By this time, I was starting to have more than a few regrets about leaving everyone behind. To say I lacked a sense of direction was an understatement, and I was beginning to worry about ever finding them again.

But I had Rip by my side, so I knew that no matter what, I would never be alone again. The man had barely spoken two words to me since I started down this path, but I knew he wasn’t upset. My power inside of him was just as calm and steady as he was.

He was letting me do what I needed to do.

"It’s not much farther now," I said, speaking out for the first time in a while.

"I have a pretty good idea of who was calling you," grunted Rip in reply, and I lifted my head to look around.

He was standing just behind me, looking over my shoulder at something in front of me. I turned to see what he was staring at, only to see a tree standing by itself in the center of a clearing.

It was massive, its branches towering over even Rip’s head and its trunk so wide that my arm span wouldn’t even cover a tenth of it.

"You came," said the voice again. This time, I knew I was hearing it inside of my head, but I was experiencing such a moment of peace that I really didn’t care.

I could feel an energy flowing through my body, relaxing my muscles and taking away my feeling of exhaustion. It was what I thought my powers felt like when I was healing someone.

"You called," I smiled my answer as I closed my eyes and just let the feeling wash over me. It was like chugging a giant energy drink but without the jitters and anxiety that went hand in hand with it.

"I’ve been calling for a very long time," said the tree. There, I said it. The tree was talking to me. "You are the first one to hear."

"Well... a lot has been going on outside of this forest, so I wouldn’t be surprised if more people could hear you now," I shrugged, opening my eyes. I took a step forward and placed my hand on the rough bark.

"I know what is going on outside. I can feel it all. The fear, the power, the... hope. But I am dying, so none of that matters anymore."

I shook my head, refusing to believe that this tree was going to die. It felt like it was older than time, but at the same time, I could feel how... empty it was.

I leaned forward and placed my forehead on the cool bark. Breathing out, I let my power flow through me and into it, trying to heal the tree like I could a person.

At first, nothing was happening. I could feel my gift flowing out of me, but unlike when I healed a human, all I could see in my mind was emptiness. I was standing in the middle of the darkness, unable to see anything around me.

I could feel something trying to reach out to me from the shadows, an almost inky substance, but it felt more curious than malevolent. It was as if it was attempting to figure out why I was in its territory.

"It’s okay," I whispered, holding out my hand. "I won’t hurt you. I just want to help."

And that was the truth. No matter how hard I wanted to deny it, no matter how hard I fought against the idea... I knew that I just wanted to help.

Even if I was hated as a result.

"The contact," murmured Rip from far away, and I thought about what he had said before. Was having something over my natural eye really enough to hold back my power?