The Strange Healing

by Malone, Misty

  Heath gave her a guarded look and said, “We'll talk a little more after breakfast. How about some coffee?”

  “That sounds wonderful. Heather, what can I do to help?”

  “Absolutely nothing, Sara. Phil had breakfast just about ready by the time I got up. You have to try his omelets. They're delicious.”

  The four of them enjoyed breakfast while they made plans for the day.

  Heath said, “I hate to steal your house guest, but I'd like to take her to my place after breakfast. There's a couple things I want to talk to her about and I don't want to be interrupted.”

  Heather glanced over at Phil, and quickly said, “Heath, that's fine. I want you to know that I've thought about what you said last night, and you're right. You guys can have as much privacy as you need, and I promise I won't give you a hassle.”

  Heath smiled at her, and glancing at the look on Phil's face, he bet he knew what brought about her change. “Thank you, Sis. I appreciate that.

  After breakfast Heath and Sara walked hand in hand to his condo, both eager to talk to the other.

  Chapter 7

  Heath led Sara inside his condo. He turned toward her and they both started talking at once. He said, “Sara, there's something important I want to talk to you about.”

  She told him, “Heath, there's something on my mind I'd like to talk to you about if you don't mind.”

  They stood, staring at each other for several moments, before they both started laughing. Heath suggested, “It sounds like we have a lot of talking to do. Would you like some coffee?”

  “No, thank you. Not yet anyway. I've had enough for a while.”

  “Yeah, me, too. If you want some iced tea or lemonade after while, let me know.”

  “That sounds like a good plan.”

  “Okay, ladies first. What do you want to talk about? Does it have anything to do with why you lied to me this morning?”

  “Lied? When did I lie to you?”

  With a stern expression on his face he answered, “When I asked you how you slept. You told me fine, but you didn't, did you?”

  Sara felt her face blush, and she quietly admitted, “No, not really.”

  “I didn't think so. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, or is there something else you want to talk about first, before we talk about that?”

  “That's kind of what I want to talk about, but you said you wanted to talk to me about something. Was that what you wanted to talk about; about why I lied?”

  “I planned on talking to you when I first got to Heather's this morning. Then when I could tell you lied to me, I had another thing to talk about. So yes and no. We're going to talk about that, but there's something else, as well. So we better get started. Shall we start with how you really slept?”

  “Okay, this is going to sound really weird, but it's the truth. I hope you can help me make sense of it so I can get it off my mind. Last night I was really tired, so after you left I took a shower and fell right to sleep. I hadn't been asleep real long, though, when I had another dream. Two men were chasing me, and I was trying to get away from them and I ran down an alley and hid behind a dumpster that was in the alley. They were getting closer and I was afraid they'd find me, so I was being real quiet. Then I heard a weird sound, like a drum beating. I kept listening, and it sounded more like gunshots, or maybe a car backfiring. Then I heard a scream, a lady's scream. I kind of woke up then.”

  They were sitting on the couch, and when she said she'd had another dream, he'd pulled her onto his lap to comfort her. “You kind of woke up?”

  “Yeah, I think I was about half awake, kind of still in a daze, but I heard something again. This time it sounded like, I don't know how to describe it. I guess like a book fell off a table to the floor, like a bang, or a thud, only there were three of them in a row, and another scream. Then I woke up. It took me a few seconds to get oriented, but then I heard it again, only this time it was like five or six times in a row, and I know I heard a scream. It sounded like Heather.”

  Phil's eyebrows rose, as he considered what she'd told him. Then he thought back onto how quickly Heather agreed to giving them all the time alone they needed, and her glance at Phil, and the look on his face, and it all fit together. His Sara had overheard Heather getting a spanking. Now, how should he explain this without violating Heather's privacy?

  He told her, “Honey, you could have called me.” She just looked at him, thinking about that possibility. He asked, “What did you do?”

  “I was afraid someone had broken into the condo and Phil and Heather needed help. I couldn't just lie there and do nothing if they were in the other room hurt, so I went to check on them. When I quietly got their door open a bit, though, they were both fine. They were sleeping.” She looked up at him with a very serious look on her face. “I went back to my room, but Heath, I know I heard something. I tried to tell myself it was probably part of my dream, but it seemed too real to be a dream.”

  “Did you sleep okay after that, Honey, and before you answer, I want the truth this time.”

  She frowned at him as she said, “Yes, I slept fine after that, and yes, that is the truth.”

  His smile returned as he said, “Good.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head casually, and carefully tried to explain, “Honey, I think I may know what you heard last night.”

  She had an incredulous look on her face as she asked, “You do? How? What was it? Is Heather okay?”

  “Well, I can tell you Heather's fine, but I think you should ask her about the sounds you heard. It would be better if she told you.”

  “Why? If you know, why can't you tell me?”

  “Honey, I think you just have to trust me on this one. It would be much better if she tells you herself. I think she would feel better if you heard it from her rather than someone else, and you might understand it better in a woman to woman talk.”

  “What?”

  Heath felt helpless. Poor Sara was so confused, but he didn't feel it was his place to explain that Heather got her butt spanked fairly regularly. He pulled her close and tried a different tactic. “I promise I'll take you back there and give you girls some privacy to talk as soon as we're done, but there is one more thing I really want to discuss with you. Can you wait just a little while to get your answer to that question?”

  Sara looked exasperated, but said, “As long as you can assure me she's fine, I suppose I can wait.”

  “I give you my word, Heather is fine.”

  “Okay, good. Now, what else do you want to talk about?”

  “You. Sara, I'm concerned about you and the guilt you've been carrying around with you needlessly. I have an idea that I'd like to implement to change that.”

  “What do you mean needlessly?”

  “Exactly that.” Taking one of her hands in his and keeping his other arm around her, he explained, “Sara, you've been taking the blame for a lot of things that were not your fault. Then you feel guilty, and they weren't you fault at all.”

  “I have not! Like what?”

  “For starters, Honey, it was not your fault that your mother was in an accident.”

  “But if I wouldn't have left her she probably wouldn't have been running that errand and wouldn't have been in the accident. It's just like those ladies said.”

  “Sara, those ladies were wrong. The accident was just that - an accident. It wasn't your fault at all. It was caused by the car that pulled out in front of her. Just like the accident at the exit ramp wasn't your fault.”

  “But I should have been paying closer attention to what was going on.”

  “How would that have helped? That man was running a scam, plain and simple. There was nothing that would have made any difference, unless you would have had a camera in your car that would have recorded it. And no one does that.”

  Pulling her closer to him, he told her, “Honey, you have to realize there are things that happen that are not your fault. Did your parents used to blame you for
things when you were growing up?”

  “Well, they always said you should take responsibility for what you do. They hated people who try to get out of things or shirk their responsibility.”

  “Can you give me some examples of what they blamed you for?”

  They spent the next hour talking about a few such examples, and Heath patiently explained why most of those examples were not her fault. He talked about knowing the difference between doing right and wrong, and you only take the fault when you do wrong - not anytime something goes wrong. Oddly, that seemed like a new concept to Sara, who apparently had gotten used to taking the blame anytime something bad happened.

  He used each of the examples she gave of something that was her fault, and tried to turn it around.

  “The two ladies at the supermarket who said you should have been with your mom, were they friends of your mom's?”

  “Yes, they'd been friends for years.”

  “Do they drive?”

  “Yes, they both do.”

  “Then could they have taken your mom that day?”

  “Yes, I guess, but why would they?”

  “For the same reason you would have.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Honey, what did your mom think of you getting that job offer; was she happy about it?”

  Sara smiled as she answered, “She was so proud of me. I think she was as happy as I was. She knew working for that company had always been a dream of mine.”

  “So she was in favor of you taking the job?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Did she want you to stay living at home and driving 50 miles every day?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “So she was in favor of you getting an apartment there?”

  “Yes. She said it would be a new adventure in my life and she was happy for me.”

  Heath watched Sara's face as he offered, “So, your mom was in favor of you going there to live, and she was quite capable of driving herself around town, an experienced, capable driver. Those two women at the store were friends of hers and they were here in town. The way I see it, if they were concerned about her driving, they should have offered to drive her.”

  Frowning, Sara said, “I guess they could have.”

  “Of course they could have. And if they would have, then the accident might not have happened. So, does that mean the accident was their fault?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they didn't do anything to cause it.”

  “But they could have offered to drive her that day.”

  “But they had no idea there was going to be an accident.”

  “Did you know there was going to be an accident?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then how is it your fault any more than it was theirs?”

  “Because if I wouldn't have moved out of the house –"

  “You would have disappointed your mother. You wouldn't have been working at your dream job and starting a new adventure in your life. I thought you said she was proud of you.”

  “She was.”

  “So would it have been better to stay living at home and disappoint her?”

  Sara looked up at him with a new understanding on her face. She even smiled a bit as she said, “No, it wouldn't have.”

  “That's my girl.” He hugged her. He then went over several other examples she gave where she readily accepted the blame for something that wasn't her fault. He did the same thing, breaking each one down and talking her through it.

  Two hours later she had a new understanding and was feeling much lighter. She looked at him with concern on her face, though, and asked, “You said I'm carrying around a lot of guilt needlessly?”

  “You are. You're carrying around guilt for things that were not your fault.”

  “So how do you know when something is your fault? I mean, I'm sure I've done things in my life I should take responsibility for. How do you know when to take the blame and when not to?”

  “At least for a while, until you readily see it yourself, whenever something doesn't go the way you expected, we'll talk about it, like we just did.”

  “Then I'll know what really was my fault and I'll just have to carry around the guilt for those things?”

  He smiled and said, “That's where Part B of my plan comes into play.”

  “Part B?”

  “Yeah. Part A was to get you to realize you can't always blame yourself for everything. Part B is to erase the guilt. I want you to see what it's like without having all that guilt weighing you down.”

  “But how can you do that?”

  “With consequences.”

  “Huh?”

  “Like a penalty, or a punishment.”

  “You mean like in school if you didn't do your homework and the teacher would give you extra homework to do the next night?”

  “That's a consequence, yes, or a punishment. That way you paid the price for not doing what you should have done in the first place.”

  She giggled as she asked, “So you're going to give me extra homework to do every time I mess up?”

  “No, I'm going to spank you.”

  She was still smiling when she asked, “No, seriously, what are you going to do?”

  “Seriously, Sara, I'm going to spank you. Have you ever been spanked before?”

  Her smile was gone when she answered, “No, of course not.”

  “Then you don't know all the benefits of a spanking.”

  “Benefits?”

  “Yes, benefits. They're quick, they're effective, they do no real harm, they pay for your crime so you no longer have to feel guilty, and then you're forgiven and you move on. It's forgotten.” He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head as he added, “When a man cares enough about a woman to correct her, it's done with love in his heart, and she feels that love.”

  He gave her some time to think about what he'd said. Eventually, she asked, “So you think if he does it with love in his heart, she feels that love?”

  Smiling, he said, “At the time she's getting spanked she mostly feels his hand smacking her butt, but afterward, when he's holding her and comforting her, yes, she'll feel how much he cares for her.”

  “And that's what you –”

  He gently lifted her chin so she was looking at him as he said, “Yes, I care enough about you to do that.”

  She smiled, and cuddled up against his chest, thinking. “But it sounds like it will hurt.”

  “It will.” When she jerked her head up to look into his eyes again, he told her honestly, “I'm not going to lie to you, Sara. It will hurt and you won't like it at the time. But it's meant to be a lesson, a deterrent so you don't do it again. If you don't do it again you won't have the guilt again. And if it doesn't hurt, how will it serve as a deterrent? But afterward, I'll hold you in my arms, much like we're doing now, and I'll let you know you're forgiven, and I think you'll be surprised how much better you'll feel without the guilt.”

  “But whoever heard of a grown woman needing help to get rid of a little guilt?”

  “It's more common than you'd think, Sara. A lot of women have a big heart, like you and Heather, and you often think with your heart instead of your head. Then you get yourselves in trouble, and the guilt you feel can overwhelm you. Much like you've felt overwhelmed with guilt lately, Sara.”

  She lowered her head, and was deep in thought. Heath knew she was now admitting to herself that she had indeed been overwhelmed with guilt. “Sara, I think if you let me help you like this you'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel.”

  “But it would be really embarrassing. I would be the only grown woman I know that gets spanked.”

  “Again, Honey, you might be surprised.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Heath sighed. He wanted to tell her about Heather, but he didn't feel it was his place to. He knew his sister wouldn't object, especially under the circumstance
s. In fact, she'd probably be happy to have someone she could talk to about it, that would be able to relate to her. After all, they'd have this in common. Still, he'd feel better if Heather told her herself.

  He had an idea. Checking his watch, he said, “I'm sorry, Sara, but I just remembered, there is one errand I have to run this morning. It won't take long, I promise. How about if I get Heather to come up here and you have that talk with her about what you heard last night? I'll be back shortly, and I promise we'll finish our talk. Then we'll have lunch with Phil and Heather if you want.”

  She looked a bit confused, but readily agreed. “Sure, if you have something you have to do, please go ahead. I am kind of anxious to talk to Heather. Maybe she can help me figure some things out.”

  He smiled as he said, “I'll bet she can help you figure several things out, Honey.”

  He called his sister, who readily agreed to come talk to Sara while he ran an errand. When she got there he got them both some lemonade, and Sara excused herself to the restroom. Heath took the opportunity to explain what Sara wanted to talk to her about, and also what he had proposed as a means to help her. He asked his sister if she minded talking to Sara openly about her experience with spanking, and how it had helped her.

  Heather was shocked by the abundance of info in the short time, but quickly recovered and assured her brother she'd help all she could.

  Sara came back out to the kitchen, and Heath kissed her good-bye, promising to be back shortly.

  The errand he told Sara he had to run was going to talk to Phil. He told his brother-in-law basically what he'd told Heather, both about what Sara heard last night, and a very brief explanation of why he thought she would benefit from a spanking when she earned one.

  Phil laughed. “I don't know what the problem is she's trying to work through, but I think there are a lot of women out there that could benefit from a spanking when they earn one, so you won't get any argument from me there.”

  “I really do think it will help her,” Heath said with a chuckle, “but I have to sell her on the idea. Do you think Heather will help my cause or work against me?”

  “You know as well as I do how much she benefits from it. She usually admits it, as well. Let's just hope she admits it to Sara.”