The Broken Healer

Chapter 1: Stone Dungeon

Evelyn awake in full panic. Even before she could fully compute her surroundings, before all the information traveled through the nerve wires and cognitive functions of her brain, she knew that everything was wrong. That everything had been taken from her all over again.

Her eyes flew open, her heart racing, slamming into her ribs so hard they already hurt. Her lungs felt like they were being squeeze in cold iron. Like her hands. And ankles.

Panic flaired inside her again. She tried to move. But she couldn't. Her hands and arms were still clamped inside the shackles Janson placed on her, back at the Right Arm camp. Her boots were removed, leaving her in bare feet with cold iron bitting into her ankles. Her shackles where chained to the wall behind her. With her blood pumping through her, she felt beads of sweat forming, fear, panic, sadness and an all consuming feeling of cold dread.

Evelyn felt hot tears prickle her eyes, her chest rose and fell in shallow gasps. She tried to regain some kind of control. A deep voice popped into her head, why his voice of all people, but her wild spinning mind latched onto it...

"Kitten, go through your list, list your happy thoughts." Goose's voice boomed in her head.

"My happy thoughts...My...my name is Evelyn...My name is Evelyn." She whispered. She clamped her eyes closed to the dark gloom around her. "WICKED calls me a Healing Witch. I have powers to heal the broken. I am wounded. My power is destructive now. My home was the Glade. There is no more Glade. I am an infected Crank. And I'm dying. I'm not scared of dying. It's forgetting that scares me."

Tears leaked down her cold cheeks.

"Newt. Minho. Chuck. Nick. Sonny. Jeff. Tommy. Frypan. Tessa. Sonya. Jorge. Jaz. George. Jack. Gally. Alby. Clint. Winston. Noah."

She whispered the names a few times. She repeated their names. Over and over, it calmed her racing heart. Taking a slow deep breath, she whispered the last few sentences.

"These people are my happy thoughts when the crank becomes too much. My friends. My family. My love. My home. I say them over and over; like a prayer. Trying to keep me sane; trying to hold on."

With a shuddering breath she slowly blinked her eyes open again. Trying to look around. She tried to not panic again. Evelyn was laying in a dark gloomy stone dungeon. The damp stones were old and ancient, a grey brown. Turning her head she saw an old rusty metal and steal jail door. There was a flickering light in the stone hall trying to make its way into her cold dark cell.

Evelyn struggled to her knees, and leaned in the corner. Her arms were chained to the wall. Her ankles were chained to the wall. There was enough slack in the chains from the wall to her shackles that she was able to move around a little. The chill from the stone seeped into her body and settled deep in her bones and joints. She shivered and her teeth started to chatter.

Evelyn struggled to her feet and tried pulling the chains. They were too attached to the wall. Evelyn frowned shaking the chains in frustration. Clenching her fists she tried using her powers, making her hands frosty. She could feel it, the sharp pain of frost bite in her veins. The metal frosted over. Nothing happened. With a scream of frustration she tried a wild surge. Hoping maybe she could crack the metal. Nothing happened.

Anger and frustration made the tears come. They froze as they fell. She felt the stone jail cell frosting over. The frost and ice spread out from her and creeping closer to the iron metal bar door.

She cried and yelled in frustration. She jerked and pulled on the chains. She tried over and over. Nothing seemed to work. She sagged into the walls, finally giving up. Her voice raw from yelling for a few hours. Her arms and legs were sore and tired from pulling and yanking on the thick chains for hours. The skin on her ankles was red and raw. Her mind was exhausted. She curled up as best she could. She clamped her eyes closed. She heard the crank in her mind, cooing, trying to calm Evelyn.