Angel Among Them - 1. Chapter 1

Jacob was always different and, from the time he was born, he and everyone around him knew it. Jacob didn’t cry when he was born, in fact he made not a single sound. And other than that, he was a completely normal and healthy baby, as far as the doctors could tell. Time went by as it always does and as he got a bit older, Jacob was a popular kid. He always had lots of friends and everyone seemed to take to him quickly. Even adults couldn’t deny that there was something special about that little boy.

His mother would often watch him on the playground in the park and take notice of how the other kids behaved towards her son. Whenever they would scrape their knees or bump their heads, they ran crying to Jacob, even though their own mothers were only a few feet away. And when these kids would come to him, Jacob would stop whatever he was doing and see to the other child. He’d throw an arm around them, wipe their tears away, and talk to them and soon the child was running off once again to play with the others. And he was always looking out for others; he’d stand up to bullies in school and share his lunch with kids who’d forgotten theirs. He was a special child indeed.

His mother was so proud of him. He had some of the best grades in the entire school among fourth graders. But, although her son was a smart and well-behaved little boy, she often worried about him.

Jacob suffered from terrible nightmares; they were almost a nightly occurrence. She marveled at the fact that he could function so well during the day. Being awakened by his cries and screams in the night and trying to calm him down left her exhausted come daybreak. She’d find him curled up in his bed shaking as though he was having a seizure.

And it was always the same; it would only take a soothing hand placed upon his back to bring him out of his nightmarish sleep. The moment he would awake, tear streaked face and all, as far as Jacob was concerned everything was fine. And neither his mother nor anyone else could get him to talk about his dreams. Even in the day, she worried for him. He was an extremely emotional child at times. It would only take another crying child to cause Jacob to cry for hours. And it seemed as though he was overly sympathetic to every bruised knee, hurt feeling, and name-calling around him.

As the years went on and Jacob hit his teen years, the nightmares lessened but didn’t leave him completely. His mother had started taking him to a therapist a few years back, and he continued to go now even though little progress was made. They had talked about many different things over the years but Jacob never once mentioned his dreams to his therapist. They attempted to work on his emotional stability but the boy believed that everything was just fine. He even confessed to the man that he was gay. And after some time with the help of his therapist, he told his mother.

She never wavered, he was her son and her love was unconditional. She was proud of him, for telling her even though he chose not to tell his friends at school. She knew they would accept him as well. Everyone loved Jacob and despite her fears and worries, she knew her son would be just fine in the end. He was a star basketball player and on the student council, he volunteered after school and even took time to play with the younger kids in the neighborhood. The nightmares never stopped and he never could turn away someone in pain. His mother learned how special her son really was in his freshman year.

He’d grown into a handsome young man and was very popular. Jacob still played basketball and was a starter on the high school’s team. It was during tournament play that one of his teammates, Chris, snapped his ankle pretty badly during a fast break. The officials got the screaming kid off the court and back into the locker room. Jacob accompanied the coach to tend to his teammate as he was the captain of the team and Chris was one of his good friends. The league official examined the player and after a few minutes told the coach that Chris was no longer able to play and that he should be taken to a hospital for further examination. The coach was pretty upset as Chris was a good kid and one of his best players, and he understood that the news was bad for the entire team’s morale. Shortly after that, a referee came back to let the coach know that the game would continue in just under 3 minutes.

Jacob asked to stay with Chris until his parents were notified of the situation and came to the locker room to take him for X-rays. Jacob couldn’t understand why but he felt so sorry for Chris. Of course he was a teammate and a friend, they’d known each other for years and were pretty close but Jacob nearly felt as though things were his responsibility. He felt compelled to make things right somehow. And he knew just how he could. It wasn’t something he’d done in a very long time. Since then the dreams had lessened and things seemed to finally be a bit more normal in his life.

It was when he was younger that he learned he could help people in a way that others couldn’t. All the other kids would come to him when they got hurt. Not to their parents and not to the teachers, but him. He not only wanted to do it, but often felt he had to. Just a light hug or a hand placed in the right place and he could make their pain go away. The wound would heal almost instantly and leave no trace. There wasn’t any real harm in it, not really.

The problem was that the pain had to go somewhere; it had to exist in some form or another. And only Jacob knew that. All the kids would come to him time and time again. Sometimes they’d all gather around to watch him do his “trick”. They had no clue that he wasn’t just taking their pain away but taking it into himself. Jacob never complained, a bruised knee here, a cut finger there, he could handle it. The pain would transfer into him and suddenly his knee ached or suddenly he’d feel the dull ache of a cut across his arm. And later the dreams would come. He’d dream about things he’d never seen in all of this life. Things he could tell were no dream at all. It was always the same, people suffering; that was always the theme. He’d see things that the most dramatic and horrific summer blockbuster couldn’t pack into one movie. And it was all real, he could feel it.

It was no surprise to him that he soon found himself placing his hand on Chris’ ankle. The light touch surprised Chris at first but he’d known Jacob since he was nine. They’d always been close.

“Are…are you gonna do it?”

“Shh”

Lots of kids from the preschool and elementary school remembered the strange “trick” that Jacob Stevens could do. And Jacob had asked a lot of people to keep it a secret and just forget about it after he started seeing his therapist. He could tell his mother was worried about him and wanted to help him. So he stopped. Sometimes it was nearly torture; it seemed the only thing that could push back the intensity of the dreams was to heal someone from time to time. It was almost as if he needed to do it.

Chris hissed loudly as Jacob’s grip became a bit tighter but exhaled shortly after as the familiar warmth moved up his leg and throughout his body. The sensations caused goose bump to rise up all over his body. Only a few minutes later Chris was able to move his foot without any trouble and swung his legs to the ground to stand. After jumping around a bit and stomping his foot Chris was all smiles. “You’re amazing man, I can play again, and we’re going to kick those Monarchs’ ass.”

“Haha yeah, you should go out and find your parents up in the stands and let them know you’re ok after all. Coach is probably telling them about your ankle.”

“Oh yeah, shit, mom will have a fit.” Chris turned to run out of the room but Jacob stopped him with a hand around his wrist, a feeling that caused a moment of stirring in Jacob.

“Don’t say anything, ok bro?”

“Yeah, sure thing man, come on, the 3rd quarter already started.”

“Go ahead man, I gotta piss”

Jacob stayed behind after Chris left and in fact missed the entire 3rd quarter. At the top of the 4th quarter his mother came looking for him in the locker rooms. She found him sitting on the bench rubbing his ankle and nearly in tears. It turned out he’d been trying to walk on it but the pain was just too much. She never completely knew what went on with her son, certainly not in his head. But what does a mother need to be told when her child is in pain? She took him to the hospital immediately.

Two hours later, Jacob and his mother were leaving the hospital. She wheeled him out to the car in silence as neither of them spoke. What could she say? What should she say? Her friends, her own mother, the therapist, and now even the doctors. They all say there is nothing wrong with her son, nothing at all. She certainly wasn’t hoping for a problem but without something to target, to focus on, how could she help? The drive home was just as silent as the time spent in the waiting room, as quiet as the trip back to the car. In fact Jacob had very little to say to the doctor who examined him. Just short replies to the basics; allergies, medication, reoccurring pain, he made no mention of what really occurred.

After arriving home Jacob went straight to his room, his leg still hurt pretty bad and he was a bit upset that he’d missed the rest of the game. His mother called up the stairs behind him that dinner would be ready soon but she already knew that he wouldn’t be coming down. Jacob stood in front of his window and looked out over the neighborhood. His mind was racing; this time was a bit different. It wasn’t long before standing there on his bad leg became a bit of an annoyance. He decided to just get some sleep, he wasn’t hungry. He always felt better when he woke up.

Things were different this night, as Jacob slept the nightmares came as they always did. Only there seemed to be so many of them. A woman was in labor, she was screaming, something was wrong with the baby and the labor wasn’t going as expected. Her and the baby’s life signs were all over the place. A man crossing the street coming out of a bank was busy trying to put away his bankbook and money so he wouldn’t get mugged. He wasn’t watching traffic and he never saw the teenager flying down the street in a car full of his buddies. Three men had just broken into someone’s home in the dead of night, and an elderly man was waiting for them with a shotgun. A bag was hanging from a tree in the woods, it was moving, and small whimpers and whines were coming from the bag as a young boy walked up to the bag with a baseball bat. Random images, that’s all they ever were but there was enough to get an understanding. It was all about pain, every incident was marked with a sensation of pain. The dreams were never just that, they always seemed and felt so real.

The dreams lasted through the night and Jacob woke up with tears streaming down his face. He wasn’t in a state of shock like normal, this time, he remembered. Jacob didn’t spend too much time thinking about it. Today he’d find out whether or not his team was moving on in the tournament. His leg was feeling fine this morning as if there was never a problem. He was in a hurry to get to school to ask the guys about the game. By the time he got there the whole school was talking about it. The next game was for a place in the semifinals, an away game this Friday.

The end of the week came quickly, Chris had kept his word and didn’t say anything to anyone about Jacob and the rest of the team was told that Jacob had been injured as well and that’s why he didn’t return to the game. Friday afternoon arrived and three buses loaded up with the players and fans as the school went to play their final game against their rivals. Everyone was excited. The other school was only 5 miles away but the weather was harsh and it was taking much longer to get there. Rain was pouring down and mixed with strong winds which had traffic at a crawl as people tried their best to see the road. Inside the bus the anxious players were hoping they wouldn’t have to cancel the game.

The bus and the anxious team within were not far from the game, when a small car came flying past an intersection, clearly blinded by the heavy rain. The only warning the bus driver had was a set of head lights a few feet in front of him cutting across the intersection just seconds before it happened. Students and chaperones were thrown from their seats as the driver slammed on his brakes. The small car was crushed instantly; the collected rain preventing any chance of the bus coming to a stop in time to prevent the accident. After the initial impact, things were set in motion to become increasingly worse.

The second bus holding the cheerleaders came crashing into the back of the first. The sound of metal grinding and glass shattering highlighted the impact. The third bus full of fans and the students was far enough away from the initial crash to react and its driver hit the brakes early on. Only they continued to slide towards the point of the accident. Seeing that they weren’t coming to a complete stop the driver attempted to make a sharp turn in order to miss the accident. The weight of the people inside moving about and the water on the ground was a bad mix. As the driver began the turn she realized her mistake, the bus continued to slide but came crashing down onto its side. Only a few seconds after the second impact, the third and final bus came crashing into the other vehicles, roof first. After all that mayhem during the crash, only the sound of the pouring rain could be heard.

Nearly an hour later a car came along and found the over turned bus and the carnage just ahead. Some people had been thrown from the buses and were lying in the pooling water not far from the crash site. Some were trying to climb through the twisted metal and broken glass to free themselves from that nightmare. Not long after that the area was packed with ambulances and police officers. Nearly two dozen emergency teams arrived on the site and began to systematically sort through the wounded. Five different emergency rooms were put on alert and brought up to speed on what had occurred.

When the ambulances finally started to arrive it was a nightmare in the ER. Dozens of students with varying degrees of health were pouring in. Some with life threatening wounds and others only needing mild medical attention. Parents were waiting on pins and needles for the arrival of the ambulance that might hold their injured child. And despite the readiness of doctors and nurses on staff, when the wounded started pouring in, it was chaos. Several of the teens were rushed off to different areas to be worked on as others were isolated for monitoring.

When Jacob arrived he was just coming out of unconsciousness. He had been thrown from his seat during the crash and when he woke up he was laying not far from the destroyed buses. As the first few EMT units arrived at the crash they were amazed to see that the boy had been launched so far from the crash site but had no outward signs of trauma. He was quickly analyzed on site and since he was unconscious and could have suffered head trauma he was rushed to the hospital. Jacob was checked in and seen by a doctor. He had no symptoms or signs of any affliction that needed emergency treatment so he was given a room and left for observation.

Waking up in that hospital bed, he was certain he was having yet another nightmare. The buzz of urgency just beyond his room’s door and the gown he was now dressed in only added to his anxiety. While trying to gather his thoughts he was able to recall the events that brought him here. The crash, being thrown forward and landing on top of his teammates. It was chaotic, there was broken glass everywhere and dozens of people all climbing around on top of it. When the second crash occurred Jacob just about jumped out of his skin. Like most of the others he hadn’t fully recovered from the first impact. He knew he hit his head at some point but whether it was during the second or final crash he wasn’t sure.

Having gained a bit of perspective naturally his thoughts drifted to his teammates. Were they here? Are they ok? Did anyone die? Lifting his head up he could see that there was a lot of activity in the area just outside his room. Jacob slowly lifted himself so that he was sitting in the bed. He was surprised that he was seemingly unharmed. And as he swung his legs out of bed and made his way into the bathroom he was even more amazed to see that he had not incurred even a single scrape or bruise. He was certain he had cut himself badly during the crash. There was so much glass everywhere and all of them ended up on top of it and each other. The glass was something he remembered clearly.

In all the excitement no one noticed the boy step out from his room and start down the corridor. Doctors and nurses raced past him obviously in route to something more serious than a boy wandering the halls. Parents and family members were still arriving, frantically seeking help and hoping they were in the right hospital. Despite concern for his friends something else pulled Jacob from his hospital room. That crash was like so many of the scenes from his nightmares. All around him people were suffering and this time he wasn’t just seeing things happen. He was right in the middle of it and it was happening all around him.

Jacob continued down the hall to nowhere in particular. And it seemed everyone was too busy to concern themselves with the boy in the hospital gown. He had just turned down a hallway when he heard someone call out his name.

“Jacob, Jacob is that you?” called the voice.

Jacob spun around looking for the small voice. And his eyes caught site of someone trying to sit up in a bed on the other side of a door. Moving closer and looking in, Jacob nearly let out a yell at the site of one of his teammates. He moved quickly into the room and to the bed side of his friend. He almost couldn’t believe the state of him. Only he’d been in the same crash so he knew it was all real. Laying in that bed was his friend Tommy. His face was a mask of damaged skin and bruises and from the looks of it he had damaged his right arm and both legs.

“Tommy? Jesus man, are you ok? Where are your parents?”

“…they um, they were trying to find the school so they could watch us play…After they were done fixing the bones in my legs and arm, they told me that my parents had been killed in the accident during the crash Jacob. ”

“Oh my god”

“The car we hit…it was my parents man, it was my parents’ car.” Tommy cried.

Jacob wasn’t sure what to do but tears formed in his eyes as he watched his ailing friend fall apart. He leaned in and put an arm around Tommy as they both cried silently. It wasn’t long before Tommy stopped crying and that familiar warmth washed over him. Jacob’s body had responded to the emotional outpouring as well as the physical pain and began working to heal Tommy before Jacob even realized it. And when he did it was too late.

The arm he had thrown around Tommy began to ache and the pain grew quickly, while both legs began to tingle and feel numb. Jacob pulled back from Tommy quickly and as their eyes met they both wore a look of shock. Only on the inside Jacob felt as though he had found something.

“My legs man, what…what did you do? They don’t hurt anymore; I can move them and everything.”

“I…I should go, I’m not feeling to well Tommy”

Jacob quickly made his way out of the room with Tommy calling after him. He was just barely outside when he nearly collapsed. He was able to catch him self and lean against the wall just outside the door. His legs were weak. He knew he needed to lay down but something else was pulling at him. Just as before, his mind was elsewhere. His thoughts were pulling at him in no particular direction and at the same time everywhere. It seemed where ever people were suffering he was drawn to it. It was a fact that he could no longer deny. His body had taken action to heal someone without him being aware of it. It was more than a driving desire to heal but more so that he was meant to do it.

By the end of the night Jacob had made his way to each and every one of them, his teammates, the cheerleaders, the assistant coach and every stranger in between. He had to, something pulled at him. And all the while he took their pain into himself. At midnight’s approach the boy was nearly overcome with pain. His body was shutting down little by little. Everything inside him had been telling him to stop for the last hour or so. He’d never done anything like this before and he wasn’t sure if a nights rest would be enough to undo the damage to his own body. Despite it all, inside amongst the fear, and anxiety he felt more joy than ever before in his life. It was unexplainable and intoxicating but with every person he healed he himself felt better inside, despite all the pain. And at times it was nearly euphoric.

He made his way to the last bed in the last room, he hoped it was the last; he couldn’t go on for much longer, not like this. That strange pull had brought him here just as it had with all the others. In this room were two people, a small boy who was coloring in a book and seemed to be generally ok. And in the bed on the other side of the room was someone laying very still. Who ever it was hadn’t even noticed Jacob enter the room.

“He’s hurt pretty bad, the doctors said I shouldn’t bother him” said the little boy as he continued to scribble in his coloring book.

“It’s ok, I think I know him.” Jacob had gone from room to room and had even helped some people he didn’t know but there was one person he was looking for and he hadn’t found him yet. He was beginning to fear the worst until now. As he moved forward his fears subsided a bit but as he got a better look they were replaced with pain and dread. Laying there in the bed was Chris. His face was badly damaged and it looked as though they had to set the bones in is right arm. Between the busted lip, bruises and scrapes and the large amount of bandages wrapped around his midsection he knew Chris was in terrible pain. As he moved to stand beside his bed, Chris didn’t stir at all.

“Jacob… don’t, you’re in pain I can tell” Chris spoke surprising Jacob who eyes shot up to meet his friends stare. Chris reached down and placed his hand on top of Jacob’s. They held each other’s gaze for some time before Jacob stood again. Forcing a small smile across his lips as he looked down at Jacob he raised a single finger to his lips to signal Chris to keep quiet. Looking down at his friend he could see what Chris could not, the large bruise over his eyebrow had already begun to heal. His lip was no longer bloody and all the scrapes and cuts had disappeared from his face.

Chris may not have been able to see the changes for himself but he could feel them as the familiar warmth moved over him. Jacob had been healing him the entire time. “Jacob no, that’s enough, you’re pale.” A small tear broke free of his left eye and made its way down his cheek. He leaned in and gave Chris a light hug. Resting his forehead on Chris’ he spoke softly. “You’ll be ok now”

Chris had tears in his eyes at this point and was shaking his head. “Jacob don’t, don’t.”

It wasn’t long before the sensations started to build. Little by little, Jacob’s body began to give out. As the warm sensations moved out of Chris’ body, Jacob’s was growing cold. His legs went weak and he had to catch himself quickly on the bed side as a sharp pain started in his ribs. His mind was in a daze. Jacob backed up into the wall opposite Chris’s bed and slid to the floor in a heap. By this time Chris was sitting up in his bed watching his friend. Jacob was so pale and breathing so hard. Chris had no idea what to do. He was certain something was wrong but in a situation like this, what should he do? When the seizures started Chris yelled out for help and hit the call button by his bed side.

When the nurse arrived, she found Jacob sprawled on the floor not far from the door shaking uncontrollably. She hit the emergency button on the nearby wall immediately and soon two other nurses and a doctor were in the room. The room was full of energy as people buzzed all around the ailing boy. Soon they had a stretcher and were moving fast with the boy towards an empty room.

In the end they could do little for Jacob Stevens. The boy who gave too much of himself. With no tangible ailments, there was nothing that modern medicine could do to help. When his mother finally arrived at the hospital looking for her son, she was a mess. Misinformation had sent her to the wrong hospital adding unneeded stress to an already bad night. And at 1:15am a doctor came and sat her down, to tell her the regrettable news about her son. Jacob was always different, and from the time he was born, he and everyone around him knew it.