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The Healer

Rosa Meronek

    I was always going to be a Healer. From the day I kissed my little sister’s owie after I had cleaned and bandaged it. It was only a small scratch, but to Suzie’s three-year-old heart, it was a mortal wound.
    While the other kids my age were reading Percy Jackson, Nancy Drew, and Harry Potter, I spent my hours learning about the human body. The skeletal system. The muscular system. The nervous system.
    I read about diseases and plagues. Plants and herbs. Modern and traditional. I knew more about medicine by the time I got to high school than most fourth-year medical school students.
    I loved my patients. And they loved me. They trusted me. I was a Healer.
    Then...the Devil came.
    Not on wings of fire and smoke and brimstone. But with smiles and charm and seduction. Purchasing souls with promises of health and long life.
    His business was thriving. But I refused to bow. I had no use of his serpent tongue.
    He promised me riches and prestige. Still, I rejected him.
    Until he revealed his fangs. His true nature. Until he threatened to take away my practice. My patients. Everything I’d worked so hard for all my life. All that I was. He threatened to take away my name - Healer.
    So, I sold my soul.
    I capitulated. I did what he said. I sold my patients snake oil. And they bought it. Because they trusted me. I was a Healer.
    I collected souls for my master. Damning them as I had damned myself.
    One by one, they succumbed to his venom. Not just my patients. But all of them. All those me and my rank had betrayed.
    The others sold themselves for the money. Some did it out of fear. And some were simply idiots.
    But me...I did it out of arrogance.
    I justified it. I told myself that even if some were sacrificed, I was doing the best for the most by continuing to practice medicine. That I was too important to the well-being of many.
    Until the stench of death reached up to Heaven. Until the bodies poisoned the water. Until only a fraction remained. Those who had spurned him.
    I swore to save lives. To do no harm. I was a Healer.
    But, the Devil had made me a monster. And, I was so lost I no longer cared.
    Then, he took Suzie.
    I made a list of his most trusted Court. Doctors, Scientists, Politicians - Liars.
    Now, I rip through this Kingdom.
    Like Lady Macbeth, the stain of red never washes off my hands.
    Hundreds of names. But now only ten remain. Then...I can cross mine off too.
    I was a Healer.

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