Tree of Life

Book I Chapter 06

TREE OF LIFE BOOK I

CHAPTER 06

The health project wasn't much of a challenge for Julian, what with recent events and all the medical information that he had been reading over the last few days. He knew most of that stuff already. In fact, he found he was teaching most of it to Nicole as he went along. She was impressed.

"Wow," she said, "you know this stuff pretty good. Is somebody in your family a doctor or something?"

"I have a good friend who is." He adjusted his glasses.

The two had finished with the library and were now picking their way back to her locker on the second floor.

Julian was nodding. "Yeah, he's really smart. I've known him all my life. When it comes to medicine and problems with the human body, he's got an answer for everything."

She chuckled. "Well, does he have an answer for acne?" Right away, she regretted saying it. Her hand flew to her chin, covering it. "Don't look!"

They stopped. They were already at her locker.

Julian frowned. "What?"

She was still covering her chin with her hand. She shook her head.

Julian smiled. He let out a breath. How Nicole could ever be ashamed of how she looked, he would never understand in a million years. Reaching up, he took her hand and tried to ease it away. "Now, let me see..."

At first she didn't move. But then she let fall her gaze. Sighing, she dropped her hand and lifted her chin. "You're not allowed to laugh."

He edged in closer. He saw it. It wasn't big, but there was a pimple sitting just beneath the tip of her chin. It was red and swollen and had a white spot in the middle of it.

He reached into his pocket and whipped out the plastic bag. Dashing over to the drinking fountain, he made up some of the paste like he did before. He eased in close to her again, and then he reached up with his finger and went to apply the medicine to the lesion.

Nicole pulled back. "What are you doing? What is that?"

"Just trust me on this." He reached out with the mixture and applied a dab to the zit under her chin. He stood back.

It morphed as he watched. It glowed. His eyes widened at the same speed that the zit itself shrivelled and pruned. And then it was gone.

Nicole frowned. She reached up and touched her chin. Rushing to her locker, she opened it. There was a mirror on the door. She bent and peered into it. "Oh my G...!" Her eyes went wide. "Where did it go?" She whipped around to face him.

He drew back a step. He smiled. "I told you..."

She grabbed his hand. "Now do my forehead!"

He glanced down. He regarded her hand. It was wound tight like a watch over his. He looked up. She dropped her gaze and then let go of his hand. "Do my forehead." She lifted her bangs away and showed him what she hadn't even shown her parents for the last two years.

Her forehead wasn't bad. And it had no huge, single lesions like the one that had been on her chin. It was just a little rough in patches, somewhat dry and scaling here and there, and bumpy.

He smiled. He reached up and smoothed the salve onto it, just a thin layer. As he watched, the bumps flattened out and the redness faded. Erased. Like they had never been.

She giggled as she checked herself out in the mirror. "It itches." She touched her forehead. It was smooth. Like magazine smooth. "Wow. And it's warm."

Julian's heart was racing, and he couldn't tell if it was the healing process again or not. He had never had a chance to be this close to her. Never spoken this number of words to her all in one sitting or even through all the years they've known each other. She was even more beautiful close up than from a distance.

Outside, the night had come. The moon was in the window by the end of the hallway and it was on her hair, her face, her everything. Soon, the janitor will be making his rounds and they will have to be gone. He wished that moment would never come. Nicole was still admiring her skin in the mirror. From this angle, her cheeks glowed in the moonlight, a faerie, a wil-o-the-wisp. He could see the swirls of blonde, baby fuzz on her neck, just under her ears. She had dimples when she smiled. She was saying something but her words were music and they drifted over his head and wound themselves around him in a dance. Her fragrance was in the air, and in his face, and in his nose. He shuddered. He had read about pheromones on the computer too, and now in that moment, they worked on him and he wondered that he was still able to stand. He flushed.

The lights went out.

Nicole gasped. They reached out and held hands.

"What happened?" Nicole asked.

"I don't know." Julian helped her to gather her things and close up her locker. "We should go." They held hands for the few minutes until they got outside the school again. The warmth of it, though, he held for a long time after that.

He walked her home. He had always known where she lived. It was out of his way, but he didn't mind. And she knew that too but she didn't say anything.

Now they stood in front of her house. He waved and went to leave.

She watched him go but then called out. "Isn't your house that way?"

He stopped. "Yeah, but I have to go somewhere first."

"Where?"

"Just...somewhere. I'll see ya!" He turned and raced off.

~~~

He made his way over to the house, another three blocks over from where he had been. It was a group home, for the mentally unstable. But not so unstable they had to stay locked up against their will. Here, it was entirely voluntary and they could leave if they had really wanted to go.

Julian peered over at it from across the street. There was a bench there and he sat down.

Maybe he should just go in. Maybe he would be glad to see him this time. Maybe this time, things will be different. Maybe.

Planting his hands on his knees, he hoisted himself up. He marched up to the back door. He punched in the combination. He made his way up to the nursing station.

"Hey, Julian!" A tall man, dressed in uniform white strode up to him and shook his hand.

Julian smiled. "Hey, Joe. Did you get my message? How's my father?"

Joe shook his head. "He's had a bad day. He's in bed already."

Julian played with the button on his coat. "Do you think I could see him? I just wanted to..."

"No." Joe winced. "I'm so sorry, Julian. I don't think that's a good idea. He's had a bad day. The voices have been non-stop, even with the higher dosage. I am so sorry..."

"It'll only take a second." He fingered the twig in his pocket.

"I'm sorry, Julian. And you remember what the doctor said last time. It would just upset him."

Julian gazed deeper into Joe's eyes. "It's important, Joe. And it would only take a second."

Joe sighed. "I'm sorry, Julian. I just can't."

They stood still, the two of them, each searching into the other's eyes.

Joe was a good man. He was kind to all the patients and also to Julian, in particular. He never tired of the boy's questions. He always relayed messages as best he could, and always stayed on top of his father's condition.

"Maybe next time?" Joe placed a hand on Julian's shoulder. "And the minute that the doctors allow it, I will call you. I promise."

Julian looked down. He nodded. Dropping his shoulders, he turned and went down the stairs. At the door, he craned his neck back and looked up. Joe was still there. The man waved and smiled. Julian dropped his gaze, opened the door and drifted back out into the cold and drifting snow of the night.