# Healer in the Shadows- Chapter One



## Aiyooona (Feb 9, 2015)

Chapter 1Forgotten​Sabrina desperately tried to slow her breathing as she pressed herself against the wood box. 
“Sabrina! Sabrina, where are you?” She heard a man’s voice call for her. However, this man in particular scared her, and she had no intention of answering his call. 
“Oh, she is so dead! You better come out, Sabrina, or you’re in for a whipping!” 
I watched as she slowly lifted the lid to the wood box and peeked out. After carefully checking for the man, she hopped out of the box and fled from the house. I moved from the window from which I had been watching her and speculated as she ran into the barn, her long black hair streaming behind her. I pressed against the house when I saw the man walking by with a knife in his hand. I cringed as my mind wandered on his use for it. When he walked away, I ran into the barn, where Sabrina had gone.
“Sabrina?” I whispered. Silence. 
“Sabrina, I’m not going to hurt you. “ I whispered again. Nothing. I sighed and began searching the barn silently to find the girl. After searching the entire bottom layer of the barn, I concluded that she was not there. I rubbed my neck in thought and looked up. I noticed a ladder leading up to the loft. I grinned and silently climbed it. As I popped my head up into view of the loft, I saw Sabrina. She sat cross legged on the floor among the straw and held a cracked mirror up to her face. She was facing the side of me and I instantly saw blood streaming down the side of her face, She had taken off her over shirt, a black t-shirt, to dab the blood, so all she was wearing was a grey tank top and ratty jeans. When the barn door opened, I leaped into the loft, despite the fact that Sabrina hadn’t known I was there. I moved towards her and covered her mouth to muffle her shout of surprise. She struggled against my grip, but I held her tightly. She collapsed to the ground, but I still held her, one hand over her mouth, the other around her waist to stop her from twisting out of my grip. She grabbed my hand with both of hers and pulled at me, and surprisingly, she was quite strong despite her slim build. When she heard the man’s voice, she froze. 
“Sabrina are you in here?” 
He cursed and slammed the door of the barn shut as he left. 
As soon as the door was closed, I released my grip on Sabrina. She turned towards me and opened her mouth, as if to yell, so I covered it again. 
“Don’t be afraid, Sabrina. I live a few houses down the road and I’ve seen what that man does to you. I want to get you out of here and I know the perfect place. “ She struggled against my hold, but this time I didn’t resist. She turned towards me, wide-eyed. 
“Who are you? “ she exclaimed. 
“My name is Jason. I just want to get you out of here.  I promise, where I can take you, you’ll never get treated like this again. “ 
She looked at me, unsure. 
“How do I know you want to help me, and you don’t just want to attack me or take me as your slave?” she asked me suspiciously. 
“If I wanted to attack you, I’d have already done it. If I wanted to kidnap you, you’d be gone already. But I’m asking if you want to come, because it’s your choice. This is your first step towards taking control of your life.”
 She bit her lip in nervousness. I waited suspensefully, desperately hoping she would make the right decision. Her beautiful green eyes darted back and forth, and from the hole in the top of the barn roof, I noticed brilliant gold flecks in her eyes that seemed only to show in the sun. 
“I’ll go with you.” she said, interrupting my thoughts. 
“You will?” I said excitedly. 
She nodded. “Not now. Tonight. At midnight. I sleep in the barn, so it won’t be hard to get away. Just… “
“Just what?” I insisted. 
“He puts a chain on me at night so I don’t run off. “ she said quietly, 
“What? Like a dog?” I said, but instantly regretted it after realizing how insensitive it was. 
She nodded. 
“Well, I can easily get that off. It won’t be hard. “ I smiled at her. 
She smiled in return bashfully. 
“Oh!” I realized. “Let me take care of your head.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. “ 
“You’re not fine. Just let me take care of it. “ She nodded absentmindedly. 
I took some bandages and cleaning agents out of my pack and set them on the ground next to where we are sitting. I dabbed the blood carefully off of her forehead. She winced painfully. 
“Sorry.” I muttered. 
When I had cleaned the blood off, I reached for a bandage, but she grabbed my hand. It startled me, and a flush of emotion washing over me. 
“Don’t put the bandage on. “
She pulled my hand away from the bandage and let go. I scolded myself silently. 
I looked up at her. 
“Aiden, he’ll know someone helped me. “
“Aiden?” I asked. 
“The man. you know, he’s legally my father, but not really, he hates me..” she laughed softly. 
I smiled and stood up. “Well, that’s all I’ll do for now, but I’ll do better when I get you out of here. You'll never have to see him again. “ I promised. 
She nodded. “Thanks.” 
I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. Digging in my vest pocket, I retrieved a phone and handed it to her. She looked at me blankly.
“In case you need to reach me before tonight. I’m on speed dial. Number 2.” I explained. 
She nodded and took it. 
“I’ll see you soon. “ I remarked as I turned away. 
“Wait. “ she said before I could take a step. I turned back to her, but before I could ask, she threw her arms around my neck and whispered, “Thank you. No one has ever tried to help me before. I thought I was just… forgotten. Some forgotten kid no one cared about. .”
I stood there, unsure whether or not to hug her back. In the end, I just patted her on the back and said, “That’s what friends do.” 
She released me and smiled, returning her grin. I turned and walked away from her, realizing that I had made a new friend that could last my entire life. 

I didn’t go home, well, I actually couldn’t. Not in the time I had. My “home” was in walking distance, it just took about three hours to walk there. So, I just hung out in town, which was only about 5 miles from Sabrina’s house. Finally, when I thought I’d die from boredom, I called Kyle, my oldest friend. 
“No, no she's on board. I told you I’d recruit her. No she doesn’t know about the Agensie… I just told her that I’d get her out of there.”
“She must have been really desperate. “he remarked.
“She is. But she’s not some helpless creature. She’s really strong, and sweet and-”
Kyke cut me off. 
“Oh, you don't have a crush on her, do you?” he groaned. “That’s the last thing we need is for General Steward to get on our backs about that. You know how strict he is. “
“No, I don't have a crush on her. I like her, she’s great, but I don’t think of her that way.” I lied. 
“I know you're lying. But that’s fine, We both know that you do. So just try to keep your feelings under wraps, okay? Your feelings will go away eventually. They always do." 
I nodded silently to myself. 
"But Kyle-" I protested, but he cut me off again. 
"Love never lasts, okay kid? As soon as you get that through your thick skull, you'll be better off. "
"That's not true." I mumbled
"Did your mom love you when she ran off with another man and left you with your father?" He asked angrily. 
"No " I sadly said, shuddering at the thought of past memories. 
" And what about your dad? When he told you he wished you were never born and pulled the trigger? "
"No. " I said again, clenching my fists. 
"That's right. I love you, bro. But that's the only love in this world. So get those girls outta your head!" 
“Okay!” I exclaimed.  “I get it, okay? You don’t have to go digging at old wounds.”
“I’m sorry.” Kyle answered quietly. He was rarely quiet, except when he realized how insensitive he was being. He wasn’t just my friend, he was my brother. I didn’t know I had a brother when I still lived with my dad, mainly because they weren’t my biological parents. When I joined the Agensie KLA, (I’ll explain more later), he and I became friends before we figured out that we were brothers. I thought of my own appearance and how it compared to Kyle’s. We shared the same pasty white skin, but his hair was as a jet black while mine was a dark brown. He wore his hair differently, surprisingly changing our appearances. He wore his long and it curled into tight locks, while I kept mine close cut. We shared the same blue eyes, a trait we had inherited from our father. He was much shorter than me, however. He stood at a mere 5’8’’ and I was 5’11’’. 

When we finished up on the phone, I sighed tiredly. I hadn’t slept for 36 hours and I didn’t think I'd get to sleep until I got back to Base, which wouldn’t be until the next day. 
When nightfall came, I walked slowly to Sabrina’s house, preparing to take a power nap under some bushes before midnight came. However, when I came closer to her house, I heard blood curdling screams. Snapping out of my tiredness, I got as close to the house as I could without detection. Every scream I heard, I cringed painfully, hoping that those sounds were not coming from Sabrina’s mouth. As I peeked through the window, I gasped as I saw Sabrina on the ground, cowering. She covered her face with her arms, trying to guard herself from the man towering over her. He held his hand in a fist, and I noticed bulky rings on his hand. Adrian even scared me. He held his hand up again and I gasped again as he hit her. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had never seen him hit her, just the aftermath. But seeing it, I couldn’t just watch. I dashed to the door closest to where they were. I burst in the door, catching Adrian by surprise and allowing Sabrina a chance to move away. Anger bubbled up inside me, unable to fathom the fact that a man would do this to his daughter.  “What is wrong with you?” I yelled at him. He laughed maliciously and moved to hit her. With all the energy I had, I leapt in front of Sabrina and shoved her away. 
“Get outta the house!” I yelled to her, right before I was struck to the ground by Adrian. As pain flooded into my head, I glanced at Sabrina, who had frozen. 
“get out!” I yelled again. She scrambled out the door into the night. I stood up and grabbed a vase that was on the desk beside me and struck him on the head. He fell to the ground in a thump. I stood and checked for a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found it. I ran out of the house and to the barn where I guessed she had come. I found her in the loft where I had found her earlier that day. 
“Sabrina… “ I said as softly as I could. She flinched as she heard my voice, but relaxed when she turned and saw me. 
“Has… has he ever done that? Ever been so angry and… “
“And hit me like that?” she said bluntly. “Yes. It’s kinda common. Tonight he’s really drunk. “
“Oh,” I said quietly. 
She looked at me and crawled toward me. “Your eye, its swelling up like crazy. Let me-” 
I cut her off. “I’m fine. Its no biggie. “ I waved her off. “We need to get out of here before Adrian wakes up. I hit him pretty hard, but he’ll probably wake up soon. “
She nodded.  
“Do you need to take anything?” I asked her, “before we get out of here for good?”
She shook her head and said, “No. I’m ready. Let’s go. “ 
I gestured to leave the barn and she followed. 
“It’s gonna be a long walk until we get there. “ I said as we walked next to the road. 
“Where do you live?” 
“Quite a ways from here, “ was all I would say.


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## Firemajic (Feb 9, 2015)

I am quite intrigued...I enjoyed reading this, lot of drama, intrigue and suspense. I really am hoping Sabrina finds a safe place...I thought you kept the story moving along really well--nothing boring here! Thanks for a cool read.  Peace always...Jul


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## Pepeto (Feb 15, 2015)

This is well written and kept my attention all the way through to the end. I'm intrigued by the general and what he intends to use these young people for. Are they recruiting for some type of army? Is this part of what he does for the general? I liked the brother stuff. Add more about the memory of the gun going off. Who is shooting who? Good read. I intend to continue with the other parts of the story.:fat:


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## MHarding53 (Mar 13, 2015)

Aiyoona. I am also intrigued by this story and if time permits I will read the other 5 chapters you have posted. I have a single question. Has this been edited or proofread yet? Is this an initial draft?


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## Aiyooona (Mar 27, 2015)

MHarding53, this is my initial draft. By posting on this site, I wish to get people's input on my storyline, character development,etc. Mainly, I want to know if it's even worth proofreading, revising, and eventually publishing. So far, people seem to like it and it seems promising.  Thanks for taking the time to read my book!


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## chrismackey (Aug 22, 2015)

This was very well written and suspenseful.


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## Rumpleteazer (Sep 26, 2015)

This kept me intrigued and I wonder where you are going to go next with this. What does the man want with Sabrina? I am looking forward to finding out. The dialogue works well and it is not too laden down with unnecessary description. Just a couple of things:

1. Aiden changes his name to Adrian.
2. The first few sentences are a little confusing in that it starts of from Sabrina's point of view and then the rest of the story is in the first person. Best to stick to one or the other.


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