Help Wanted **DISCONTINUED**

Healing

I awoke to a loud yelp coming from what sounded like the kitchen.

I quickly pulled the covers off of me and raced downstairs. Stopping in the kitchenette, I stared blankly at Rhett, holding my hands up incase I needed to use my powers.

"What happened?" I asked frantically.

Rhett turned to me, before looking back down at his red hand. "It's fine. I was trying to make bacon on the stove, and one of the pieces popped and the grease flew all over my hand."

"Oh." I let my arms fall to my sides and walked closer to see his hand. "Ouch, that looks like it's going to leave a burn." I added.

"Ow ow ow ow ow." Rhett repeated like a young child as I cupped his hand into mine. "What are you doing?" he asked, wincing.

"Just trust me." I replied. He nodded slowly as I closed my eyes to concentrate.

I focused on small burns that already started to harden from their first throbbing state. A deep breath fell from my mouth as I kept my eyes closed and tried to think about nothing but the skin that needed healing.

I remember when I was a little girl, before my father began to drink, before my mother married her work, and before I knew of these abilities, I scraped my knee on the sidewalk when I was running. I used to always run everywhere. I never really knew why. I just knew that it got me places faster.

I was crying as blood began to trickle down my thin leg. It wasn't so much the pain that made me cry, but what I was running after that I had just lost. It was butterfly.

I was very intrigued by the butterfly, because it was different than any other I had ever seen. Instead of having large, bold wings with pastel colors and pretty polka-dots or stripes, it had small, light pink wings with a black outlining on the outer part. I started to follow it from my front yard, when I realized that one of its wings was broken. A part was torn off, and the poor creature was flying lop-sidedly. That butterfly was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. But I didn't just follow it because I thought it was pretty. I felt an obligation; I felt like I had to help it.

I watched in tears as it slowly but steadily flew away from my peripheral vision. My mother came running over and kneeled down in front of me, asking if I was okay. I shook my head and began to wipe the tears from my face. I remember her asking what hurt. Of course, she was asking to know which body part to tend to first, my arm, leg, et cetera. I answered with my heart. She asked me why, and I told her, "That little butterfly needed me. It needed help, and I couldn't help it."

I was so disappointed. My mother picked me up and began to carry me to our house so she could bandage my new wound. Little did I know, that the bandage was just to distract me from my skin regenerating itself. As she walked, she ran her fingers through my hair slowly. She said something under her breath when she approached the house. I don't know if she meant for me to hear them, but I would never forget them: Pain runs deeper than just the skin.

The thought of pain always having a deeper meaning than just pain was confusing for me. It took years of remembering and researching that line for me to finally understand. Pain is more than a feeling. Pain is its own complex emotion.

Pain runs deeper than just the skin.
Those words ran through my mind quickly, making my abilities finally heal. I opened my eyes and removed my hands from Rhett's to see if my powers worked. His hand was perfectly fine, like nothing had happened at all.

"Thank you, Sloane. I don't know if I'll ever get used to being around you." Rhett said with a small chuckle.

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do. So, you were trying to make breakfast?"

"Oh, yeah. Emphasis on 'trying'." Rhett's cheeks turned a light shade of magenta.

I giggled and walked over to the stove, to see a pan of burnt bacon. I turned the stove off and pulled the pan over to the trash, where I threw out the bacon. Bringing the pan to the sink, I spoke.

"I thought you knew how to cook."

"I do. Just, like, macaroni and grilled cheeses and stuff. It's been a while since I've had an actual meal made at home."

"Ohhh. I see. So, you aren't a cooking kind of man, huh?"

"Not really." he confessed. "How about we go out and get something to eat. We need to go shopping for clothes for you anyways."

"Sounds great."

We agreed to leave the house an hour later. Rhett told me where extra shampoo and conditioner was, as well as the extra towels.

I took a shower upstairs, which felt wonderful. The hot water hit my skin softly, making me feel like I was melting. I took my time to get out, not wanting to ever leave the warm water's touch. I got dressed and brushed my teeth.

As I was tying my shoes, Rhett yelled from downstairs. "Almost ready, kid?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a sec!" I replied.

I hurriedly finished and ran downstairs, meeting Rhett at the front door.

"Woah there, Flash. No need to rush." Rhett said with a chuckle.

"I'm excited. You don't know how long it's been since I've been shopping." I replied.

He nodded. I followed him out to the car, where I rode shot-gun.

Rhett and I listened to the radio
silently for a few minutes. "Rhett?" I asked.

"Mhmm?"

"Do you and Link make any other types of music videos?"

Rhett laughed a little. "Yeah, a little bit."

"Can we listen to them?"

"Sure. Here, use my phone." He pointed to his iPhone in the cup holder.

I picked it up and swiped the screen to open it. "What app do I press?" I asked, looking at the multiple pages of applications.

"The red one with the white musical note. It says 'music' underneath it."

I clicked it and looked through the what seemed like hundreds of songs. I finally found one called "I Wanna Be Your Maine Man" by Rhett and Link.

I smiled and clicked it, and the phone immediately connected to the car. The song started, and Rhett almost immediately began singing as I laughed and nodded along.

It was the most fun I've had in a while.