The Healer

Cheese Pizza Is NOT Worth It. Well, maybe.

     I was coming to realize the whole food thing is very important. I was trying to channel my inner sorority girl and not succumb to the need for food, but my will was a lot less strong than it had been twelve hours ago. I figured I still had about a day left in me before I broke.

     The door opened, as it had every four hours or so for the past three days.

     "Can we skip the dramatics? I'm not talking." I said to the figure who stood outside the door.

     To my utter dismay, the door stayed open.

     "Fine. We can waste my time and yours. I had a meeting with a crumb and a dust bunny in the corner over there in five minutes, but I suppose I can reschedule."

     The walk down the hall didn't take that long. I even jogged to fake excitement. The unfortunate soul unlocked the door and I took my place at the table, hands ready to be shackled down to the table. These people really knew how to make a person feel welcomed!

     After the unfortunate soul, who I had named Frankie for no other reason besides the fact that I thought it annoyed him, locked my hands down and left, my interrogators who introduced themselves as Agent Red and Agent Blue, sat down across from me. They hadn't enjoyed it when I'd ask how their baby, Purple, was doing.

     Something was different this time. Agent Blue had a box of hot pizza in her hands. There were three plates and she gave one to herself and another to Agent Red. She opened the box and handed out slices to her partner.

    "Just cheese? Thin crust? Oh, come on. You can do better than that."

    Agent Blue and Agent Red didn't say anything, but they did eat their pizza.

     I'd been trying to convince myself that I wasn't too terribly hungry. Besides, I'd had a pretty big meal before they'd nabbed me. The smell of the cheese pizza, even though it was only thin crust, made me rethink my silence for a bit.

    Agent Red put down his pizza, leaving the crust. "You can have all the pizza you want if you simply answer our questions. No one is having fun here."

    "What?" I said, mocking shock. "I'm having loads of fun. I love talking to my new friends."

     I had decided that my new friends were FBI. There was no other explanation besides the CIA, but something about these people just screamed FBI. Still, a small part of me hoped they were a part of some secret organization, but I suspected they would have intensified their interrogation tactics by now if that were true.

    Agent Blue's brown hair was pulled up into a low pony tail. I was starting to see the effects of sleep deprivation under her eyes. We'd been going in circles for a while now and we're all in need of some sleep.

     "Let's start off easy, all right? Tell us your name."

     I hadn't answered anything so far, but I didn't see the harm in telling them this information. It would be fun to see them think they were going to get any (useful) information out of me.

     Their eyes trained on me when I told them. I could tell they were trying to pretend like they didn't feel as though they had struck gold.

     "Alex?" Agent Red asked, scribbling it down as though he would forget it.

     "Yup."

     "Okay, Alex, can you tell me how old you are?" Agent Red asked.

     I laughed, but not because I had the information and he didn't, but because I honestly didn't know.

     "If you figure that one out, let me know." I couldn't help but eye the pizza. Admitting my name seemed like it was worthy of one slice and I was sure to voice my thoughts.

    The agents eyed one another. "How about this? You answer this one question and we'll let you have the biggest slice in the box."

     I would have opened my arms in a welcoming gesture, but the chains held me down. Bummer.

     "Where are your friends?"

     I groaned. "Out of all the questions, you pick that one? I'm starting to think you want all the pizza for yourself."

     Agent Red leaned forward, his face closer to me that it had been since they first brought me in. "Answer the question."

     "Hmm, let me think. Do I answer the question? The question that would lead to the capture of all my friends? For a slice of pizza? You're gonna have to give me a second with this one." I pretended to be in deep thought. "I've come to a decision." I leaned in forward. "No."

     "We're giving you one more chance until you force us to take drastic measures," Agent Blue said.

     "What are you gonna do? Hit me?" I laughed, a grin spreading across my face. "You know that won't get you very far."

     She nodded. "I know. We don't have time to wait for you to starve, so we were forced to get creative with it." She waved to the two-way glass.

     A few moments later, a man was shoved into the room, knife lodged in his stomach and blood spreading quickly.

     Of all the things I had expected to come through that door, a knifed man was one of the last.

     "What did you do to him?" I yelled, fighting against the restraints.

     The two agents stood up as the man slid down the wall. I yelled at him to not touch the knife.

     "You're the only one who can save him, Alex," Agent Red told me.

     "I know that!" I yelled, knowing he had been stabbed to get me to betray my friends.

     "You have two options. You can either let this man bleed out and have his death on your hands or you can answer our questions and heal him. The both of you can have pizza after."

     I sat in silence for a few moments, watching blood stain the guy's shirt. He was probably in his late twenties. If I didn't do something within the next few minutes, he would lose enough blood that it wouldn't matter if I closed the wound.

     "So, what will it be, Alex? Save his life or watch him die?"

     I closed my eyes as I felt my stomach erupt into a ball of flames. I knew what I had to do. 

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