Chapter 1

"I am standing in a dimmer, lighten dark forest. The trees are tall. They seem to reach the sky. While standing in this forest, I see the silhouette of what seems to be a little boy in the distance. As I walk closer, the image I see comes to focus, and there stands a little boy. I wonder what this boy is doing in this forest in the middle of the night. I reach out my hand to grab the boy, but the space between us gets bigger. And within a moment, he's beyond my grasp. I tried to get the boy's attention by yelling. But it doesn't seem like he hears me. And then the ground beneath me begins to shake. And I tried to grab for something, but nothing is in reach. I fall through the ground, and when I awaken. I am standing in front of a house in flames. I look in the house to see if anyone is in there and the little boy I saw early is there, I tried to get close to the house, but the flame became enlarge and engulf the house. And in the distance, I hear a voice calling for me. "Alberto! Alberto!" I hear my name being called but don't know who it is. And then the voice says something else. "Only you can save me. You must save me. Please?!" And the voice is gone. I call back, " Whom I to save? Who are you?" And then I wake up. My wife comes into the room and notices that I've been sweating, and she asked me again.

"Did you have the same nightmare again?" She knew I had been restless these past couple of days. I keep having this dream of a little boy and a fire. And a voice telling me I can save them. And I try to shake this dream, but this feeling that I have something is bound to happen. My name is Alberto Banks. I've been living in San Francisco for 22 years, and my wife and I have been married for 5 years. She's seen all that I've been through and experience. See, to understand me, you must understand what it is I can do. You see, what I have is called the power of hands. And with my hands, I have the foresight to see what happens in the future. To put it in lame terms, if I touch someone, I can see what will happen with them or to them. Besides living in California, I am a doctor. I worked for the St. Madame Catholic Hospital. I am the surgeon general there, and I've been working there for 5 years.

So let's get back to the story. I really don't know how I process this power, but it has been a curse and a blessing. When I was young, I was mean, angry, and a bad influence on some people that I knew. But I was in love with a girl that I couldn't get. And I was around a lot of people that were hurting, and I wanted to help as well. I wasn't just underground with my problem. I was trying to help every one else that I saw. So I always wanted to fix things that were broken. But now that I'm older, I've become wise enough to know when to use it and when not to use it. But since having these dreams, I feel that it was telling me something. But I can't figure it out. What does this little boy being in a fire mean? And what does it have to with my hands? I wish I could talk to someone about this. My wife can only help me so much, and she does her best. But I have to find a way to solve it. But till I do, I might as well get on with the important thing, like my patients. I love being a doctor. I remember as a kid I use to take care of all the animals on the farm. You see, I wasn't this city boy. I lived on a farm with my parents. We raised cows and chickens and all that good stuff. I remember the first time helping one of the animals and experiencing the power with my hands. One of the cows fell sick, and we didn't really have the money to get a vet to fix it. We had money to have them check, but when it came to something serious. We had to let nature take its course. So my dad and I went out to check the cow, and I notice it wasn't breathing. So I put my hands on it and experience a strange sensation. My hands felt tingling. And this image popped into my head, and it showed me where the problem lay in the cow. I looked up at my dad and said.

"Dad, I know what is wrong with the cow. It looks like the cow has worms in him." While my hands are still on the cow, another image comes into focus, and then it's clearer and a name. "Lungworms." What are these? And what are they doing in our cow? So I told my dad, and I told him we should call the vet and find out. So my dad gets on the phone with the vet.

"Hello, Dr. Sol. We wanted to know if you knew what lungworms are." The vet took a moment to look through the records and then came back on the phone.

"Sir, have you notice any slugs around your farm." I saw my dad's face and wonder what the vet said. Then he turned to me and asked me if I had seen any slugs around the farm. And then I remember we had been watering the grass a lot due to it was a scorching summer that year. So I looked at my dad and said.

"Dad, I have seen a few around the cow stable. Why? Is that the problem?" Then dad went back on the phone with the vet.

"Doctor, my son, he has noticed some slug around where their cows are at."

"Sir, the slugs are what is causing your cows to get sick. How did you know that it was worms in the cow?" My dad had a look that I will remember forever. I know the vet must have said something cause my father then told him.

"I noticed that the cow had spit out some worms before it stopped breathing." My dad lied to the vet. I now know why my dad chose to tell him it was him instead of me. I suppose he didn't want his son being some circus freak. But when I think about it, I'm glad at that time he didn't say anything. I wish I would not have said anything about this power. Because it seems now everybody wants to know something about them. I try my best to keep a low profile, but it has somewhat helped since I became a doctor. But the only thing plaguing me is this dream. Why do I always have this dream? What is it trying to tell me? I suppose can't dwell on it. I will have to wait until it comes again. I do know one thing, and I better get back to work. My patients might not have all the time in the world. So I have to treat them as soon as possible. I care for them and care for their health. But now on with the story. My wife is getting to leave so she can go to work. So we kiss each other, and I told her I have to work late so don't wait up and then waves goodbye. I grab my keeps turned off the TV. It's always the same thing with the news. But lately, they have been talking about a little boy, and he has been to doctor after doctor. He had some sort of medical issue. But I clicked the TV off before, and I had a chance to hear the rest. If I had only spent a few minutes watching the end of that, I think back now; I wouldn't have to tell you this story.

####

This is my third try at this. So I hope you like it. Please leave any comments or suggestions. Till then. Later.