Free Jamb: by Misty Provencher Page B

and I leave my body, except that I’m not completely leaving.  It’s a very specific kind of strength that goes, not like the muscles and bones kind, but more like the stuff that makes me feel springy, almost like when I finish a long run or made my mom laugh.  It’s kind of like when I finally figured out how to move my Cavises.  But it is exactly the kind of strength I feel when Garrett grins at me, pulls me close, and presses his lips to mine.  That’s it.  This strength is the same as feeling whole.
    Garrett suddenly lifts hi s head and his eyes are on me.
    “ Yes,” he says.  “Whole.  Gather that and aim it right at me, Nali.”
    His gaze brings a charge with it and my body responds.  As his eyes move over me, my body fills with longing and pride. I am light and buoyant and laughter bubbles in my heart and stomach.  I return the uncontrollable waterfall of happiness that he gives to me.  The depth of his voice hits the chord inside me that lights up every inch of me.  I tingle, as if his hands are moving over my naked skin as I drop into his gaze.  His smile sends me a final, crazy zap of static that nearly throws my head back.  I inhale as deeply as I can, pulling in as much as I can of Garrett, and I feel what happens. My body distills his gaze, his scent, his touch, and his tone into one perfect, white-hot blaze that could light the Earth, send rockets to Pluto, cure cancer.
    My spirit suddenly wells up, too big to stay inside me, and the perfect energy pushes at the edges of me for a release. It wants to return to Garrett.  The wild surge of it pulses down my arms and into my fingertips.  It’s like trying to hold onto an uncontrollable garden hose or holding my breath too long.  Trying to keep it bottled up inside me is painfully impossible.
    But n ow I understand exactly what Garrett wants me to do.  I aim, not really with my hands, but with my mind, firing the energy out of me and toward Garrett.  My body exhales in such a huge burst that once it’s all gone, I feel a split-second of total relief and total emptiness.
    Garrett braces himself as the energy rushes at him, but then he tips his head back and inhales.  It’s a long, deep breath that fills his lungs, but it also opens up his entire body, making room for the energy that comes blasting into him.
    It is only another second before I see the indigo flicker in his chest.  Garrett’s signature healing color brightens inside him like a light bulb, dialed up from a dimmer switch.  The glow spreads and fills up his frame, until it’s all the way to the ends of his hands and feet.  Then he moves his hands in steady, methodical circles and swishes over the top of his brother, as if he’s playing an instrument. He pauses at several of the gashes, but when he reaches the twisted knee, Garrett lingers, concentrating the flow of indigo that pours from him.
    Brandon’s torso suddenly heaves upward, off the couch, and a horrible moan breaks out of him, as if he’s been cracked open. Mrs. Reese’s face mirrors his agony, although she is still humming with her eyes closed.  I watch as a burst of white energy gushes from her and marbles itself into Garrett’s indigo.  Still, Brandon lets out another moan.
    Garrett continues to work , but with one hand, he reaches up and skims his middle fingertip down the center of Brandon’s forehead, right between his brother’s eyes.  The tension in Brandon’s body immediately collapses and Garrett’s hands return to his brother’s knee.
    “It’s okay now, buddy, you’re going to be perfect,” Garrett murmurs soft assurances as the indigo swells again over Brandon’s knee.  The color intensifies, but it doesn’t make any difference, since Brandon is unconscious.
     
    ***
     
    Once Garrett is finished, Mrs. Reese asks the Addo to take us to Freddie’s suite, so that she can take care of Brandon.  She gives Sean a thin-lipped frown and tells him that she wants to speak with him