Free Tearing The Shroud by JM Bray

Mourning them would happen over time. He needed to find out where he was. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room as far as possible without moving his head; he wasn’t sure he was up to it yet.
    What’s that awful smell? The stench was like rotten eggs mixed with sheep’s dung. He ignored the pain and forced his head off the pillow to find the source. To the right was a comfortable looking chair. As he panned his gaze back across the room he saw his body and informed his caretakers he was awake. He took a deep breath and screamed, despite the agony it brought. His body looked like charred meat, and when he tried to move, he was unable to lift even his fingers. Panic burbled in him.
    ‘So, you’ve decided to wake up? Now, shush, you’ll bring the whole Cloister.’ She made calming motions with her hands.
    At the sight of her, the scream caught in his throat. It’s her. The spirit. The one from Paradise .
    ‘Am I...dead?’ he asked.
    ‘No, not yet at least. I’m Jolie, your Healer. By the way, it’s good for you to exercise your lungs, but I suggest you try another way. If you keep screaming, you might rip a stitch. Besides, it isn’t exactly a heroic response, now is it?’ A playful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
    Coleman drank in the sight of her as she went about the room, opening the curtains and checking his blackened body. She was tall, thin, and athletic. Her green and yellow eyes reminded him of a cat; her hair was a deep brown; her skin lightly tanned from the sun. She moved easily, with the smooth grace of a dancer. As she bent to retrieve something, a nicely formed bottom that stretched her leather breeches in a very pleasant way came into view.
    Turning back with a cover sheet in her hands, she caught him looking. ‘Yes, I can see you are coming along quite well.’ Jolie smiled and tapped her fingernail here and there on the crust covering his body, before shaking the sheet out over him.
    ‘You’re the one, aren’t you?’
    She giggled. ‘My, aren’t you the bold one.’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘Well, many people have appreciated my skills as a Healer, but never has anyone claimed me to be the one , at least so soon after meeting me.’ She stood near his head to make it easy for him to see her.
    ‘Oh. No. I mean...’
    ‘Ah, I see. Rescinding your proclamation, are you?’
    ‘No, I meant. The one. I saw. Er...in my um...vision.’ His voice lowered.
    ‘So, now I’m a vision, am I?’
    ‘No. Wait. Yes. But...but...
    ‘Yes. I noticed you were staring at mine.’ Jolie put a hand on her hip...
    Coleman blushed, and struggled to find a way out of the hole he seemed to be digging for himself. He opened his mouth several times to say something, until he noticed a smile once again tugging at the corner of her mouth.
    ‘Well, it would be a shame,’ he said.
    Jolie’s eyebrows lifted. ‘A shame to what?’
    ‘To let such a well-rounded bottom go unnoticed.’
    Jolie blushed. ‘What?’
    He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘Especially when it’s presented to me for viewing.’
    ‘Now you just wait a min — ’
    ‘In such form-fitting leather.’
    Her blush had gone from her cheeks to her neck, and was traveling to her ears. ‘I, well, I never — ’
    ‘You just did.’
    ‘...why you...’
    Coleman bit back his laughter, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. A contagious giggle replaced Jolie’s rosy cheeks and neither of them could resist it.
    ‘Oh.’ Coleman gasped through his mirth. ‘Ah...stop...hurts to laugh.’
    ‘You...have only yourself...to blame.’ She blew out, trying to quit, as he panted quickly, attempting to do the same. When their laughter finally subsided Jolie said, ‘At least I got you breathing hard.’
    ‘It seems our patient is doing well, Jolie.’ A woman stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, and head tilted.
    ‘You know, Sari, laughter is the best medicine.’ Jolie smiled and motioned that she enter.
    ‘Speaking of