A Human... Being

Xander watched the lines in the man’s face soften and his body relax as the pain gradually dissolved. One by one, Xander became aware of his own senses again. He could hear the man’s breathing deepen, becoming audible despite the murmuring of the crowd that had formed around them. Feeling the balance restored to the energy and heartbeat beneath his hands, he sensed a mix of energies surrounding him and settled back to look up to meet the eyes of the curious people who had gathered to watch. He sensed and saw confusion, skepticism, relief, awe, and disbelief. Even though he could only imagine the thoughts of the spectators, he had learned through experience he was often right. Of course, the thoughts were not anything unusual. They would be the typical ones. What just happened? Oh my God! I don’t believe it! Then he heard actual voices.

“Holy shit!” was exclaimed by a young man who looked like he could still be in high school. “Did you just save his life?”

A woman who looked to be in her early twenties took a step forward and asked excitedly, “What did you do?”

The questions paused as the crowd awaited a response to satisfy their individual, internal questions, and in most cases, he knew, to judge him.

Xander tried to think of what he actually did. He remembered he was on one of his carefree walks on the campus of the local college. He didn’t attend classes there, but the school was close to his apartment and was beautifully landscaped. It was a meditative practice he had, to walk the paths in just about any kind of park-like setting and observe the environment through each of his senses. He remembered feeling the warmth of the sun each time the cool breeze stopped. He heard people, birds, and the traffic, and he listened to the concert of raking, weedeating, and a distant lawnmower. There were people everywhere, sitting and playing on the grass, jogging and riding bikes, and walking. He remembered watching a couple walking toward him on the sidewalk. He thought they looked about his age—twenty or so. Their individual auras were moving smoothly and easily blended into a harmonious cloud of energy surrounding them. The man’s energy had a tan tint to it and felt a little off to Xander, but there was nothing specific he could identify. The couple’s love for each other was clear, and Xander noticed they weren’t speaking, simply smiling, holding hands, and enjoying each other as they walked. He looked away and smiled himself, also enjoying their combined, positive contribution to the world in the moment as they passed him. A few steps later, he felt an internal nudge and glanced back at them. They had stopped, and the woman had turned to the man, who was off balance and wobbling. Xander could see that the man’s energy had changed. What was tan had turned to a dark brown, swirling mass that looked like a swamp or thick, disgusting soup. The man’s knees buckled and his body crumpled sideways. Luckily for him, he fell so his head and face hit the grass instead of the concrete.

Xander didn’t remember making a conscious choice about it, but he found himself quickly moving toward the couple even before the woman started screaming. He didn’t remember thinking about what he was doing as he knelt beside the man and rolled him over onto his back. Above where the man’s heart should be, Xander could see the eye of the storm in the dark brown swirling soup that was the man’s energy cloud. Xander did remember experiencing déjà vu, as he had seen this type of energy before. This type… and worse. It was never good. He placed one of his hands lightly on the man’s chest, and the other on the grass. He began visualizing a surge of energy, pure white, coming down from the sky and through his own body into the ground. Then he envisioned healing energy, a light green light, coming up from the earth through his hand, up his arm and across his chest, and down through his other arm into the man. He pictured the green energy saturating the man’s chest and mixing with the brown energy that was surrounding his heart.

A few more spectators joined the others at the scene. Xander’s attention returned to the present when one of them exclaimed, “That’s not how you do CPR!”

Xander ignored the comment and maintained his focus. He saw the healing energy he had introduced start to dilute and slow the swirling brown energy. After a minute or so, the brown swamp disappeared.

This guy’s lucky, Xander thought. That doesn’t always work.

He made eye contact with the woman who had asked the question a moment ago.

“I just helped him balance his energy.”

The woman companion was sobbing and hugging the man, who had opened his eyes but was obviously disoriented. Without breaking her hug, she turned her head toward Xander and mouthed thank you.

He nodded to her and stood up, feeling various spikes of energy, which he had come to understand are associated with sadness, relief, bewilderment, and anger.

That’s okay. People feel, he thought.

Xander chose not to linger in that moment now that it had passed and, ignoring the various comments and the approaching sirens, he walked on with a continued appreciation for the world around him.