The One Who Saved Us

Prologue

"That was the most sexist movie ever! I'm so mad at everyone right now! How dare they show that us women would die if a man wasn't by our side?! That's untrue and so wrong! I'm sure women can survive without a man!" Valencia exclaimed, walking out of the cinema with her friends. This was their routine. Go watch a bad movie every once in a while and then rant on and on about it.

"Well you aren't wrong. But I enjoyed it." replied Ben, hoping to calm her down. But his choice of words was obviously very wrong as Valencia glared at him.

"How?! How did you enjoy that?!" she demanded.

"Well the part where the aliens came and gobbled up the men was cool, I guess."

Celeste frowned. "That was, like, the grossest part of the movie. They didn't have to show all that blood and innards flowing out."

Valencia hummed in agreement and soon they were all just walking and joking, the horrendous movie forgotten.

After dropping off Ben and Celeste, Valencia started off in the direction of her own house, smiling and reliving the night. It wasn't too late when she noticed how utterly alone she was on the street. Not a car nor a person was in sight.

She frowned and reached for her phone to look at the time. It was only 9:15. Not that late. Shrugging off the weirdness of the situation, she resumed her walking.
She made sure to hold the keys she had in her hand in such a way that if anyone dared to attack her, she wouldn't be defenseless.

'It's kinda sad I have to do this while walking to my own house. Can't even feel safe walking down a street now. I wish there wasn't so much violence and monstrous people out there,' she thought to herself.

Suddenly she heard groaning. It sounded like a man's groan but was far off. She wondered whether she should approach him or leave him be.
Obviously a huge part of her wanted to help him. Help him in a way she knew no one else could. Or so she thought. But there was also a slight fear that the man was faking it to lure her in.

Taking deep breaths, she walked in the direction of the distressed sound and saw a boy, not much older than her, laying on the footpath and clutching his side. She approached him cautiously.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Valencia, quietly, and then felt stupid as she saw the pool of blood surrounding him. The boy didn't reply, but his groaning subdued. She moved closer and realized he was about to faint.

There was a huge cut on his shirt and a deep wound gave way to the rush of blood that escaped through the fingers pressing down on the wound. Valencia was horrified as she imagined that someone stabbed him.

She sat down beside him and closed her eyes, placing her hands on his. She took a deep breath and imagined healing him.
The whole process of cleaning, disinfecting, stitching, and bandaging played out in her mind. It helped her focus. Then, she removed her hands. She'd done this before and was now getting very good at it.

There was a slight jab on her side, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. However, the pain was intense, far more intense than any pain she had ever felt. This was normal. Every time she healed someone it was like she hadn't just healed them but actually taken their pain away. She had to bear the pain for a while. Initially it had been there for minutes but now the pain vanished in mere seconds. She took it as a sign that she was getting better at whatever it was she could do.
But she maintained her composure. She watched as the boy opened his eyes and his face morphed into one of confusion.

She quickly realized she had to walk away and got up, but his hand grabbed her leg. He got up as well and looked at her in awe.