A Reiki Healing

Frank and Janie try a couple’s massage in efforts to heal their broken marriage.

Frank had a long cold winter. Last fall, his sweet wife, Janie, of sixteen years discovered he had been having an affair.

He loved Janie, but fidelity had never been his strong suit. The thing he wished she could understand is that the affair was just a physical thing. He never loved Vivian. Hell, he never loved any of the women he’d been with over the years, but Janie only knew about the one.

She left him when she discovered the truth and moved into her own small one bedroom apartment downtown. Since there were no children to fight over, she just completely shut him out of her life.

Frank was devastated. He fought to save their marriage, but despite his efforts to woo her back, several months later, she filed for divorce.

In desperation, he took to waiting for her on her doorstep each day after work, calling her friends, family and even her coworkers to intercede on his behalf. He even left phone messages with thinly veiled threats if she didn’t come back to him.

It was finally paying off though. For the first time since the separation, Janie had actually invited him over for dinner.

He jogged up the steps to her third floor apartment anxious to see if she would bend and take him back.

She opened the door as soon as he knocked, wearing a beautiful elegant robe.

Hey, this night might end even better than he hoped!

“Come on in Frank,” she said.

He went in for a kiss, only to have her back up a small step and turn away. This kiss landed on her cheek, and Frank realized there was still some more wooing to be done.

Janie then deflated his bubble even more by explaining the robe as she held one out to him.

“Frank, I’ve hired a masseuse for a couple’s massage. She’s setting up her table in my bedroom now.”

She smiled shyly and continued, “why don’t you change clothes and head in there.”

Frank replied, “Janie, this is …umm…unexpected. I’m not used to women rubbing their hands all over me.”

She muttered, “Coulda fooled me,” and her face filled with rage. She softened her features so quickly with a smile that he was sure he was just hearing things.

Frank really didn’t mind a nice massage, he just thought it would be awkward having his wife there as another woman, even in a professional sense, touch him.

Janie continued, “This is kind of a special deal Frank. Misaki comes highly recommended, and I’ve been trying to book her for us for months. Plus this isn’t a massage like you’re used to. Misaki is a Reiki Healer. She is trained to move energy thought the body to promote well-being. I thought maybe we could both use that.”

She thrust the robe out to him with one last attempt to convince him. “This is just one small way for me to say thank you for being so patient with me over the last few months while I worked things out in my own head.”

Oh why not, Frank thought, as he grabbed the robe. It now sounded really weird, energy moving and all that, but if the “moved energy” melted Janie’s resistance just a little then it wouldn’t be a complete waste of time.

Twenty minutes later, Frank was glad he agreed to this Reiki thing. Misaki was slowly moving up one leg, barley touching him, but he could feel the heat radiating from her palms into his muscles. His legs and arms felt heavy, and he doubted he could move them if he wanted to. It also felt like some of that warmth had found it’s way to his very core.

Misaki spoke gently, “Mr. Frank, I’m going to switch with Janie. I have been teaching her, and she will now spread some of her energy to you, OK?”

“OK,” came Frank’s sleepy reply.

Janie took her place at the head of the table with her palms resting on each side of his temples, her fingers spread over his ears.

“How does this feel, Frank?” She asked after a few minutes.

So warm. “It feels so good to have you touch me again, Janie.”

“As good as Vivian?”

Why did she have to bring that up just as he was really getting into this? Oh well, maybe that was part of her healing.

“Better, Janie, your better than she ever was.”

His heart was growing warmer, and his legs and arms felt so heavy, relaxed.

“Is it better than when Amber touched you Frank?”

Amber! How the hell did she know about Amber?

Frank tried to sit up, but found that he really couldn’t move his legs and arms. He tried to speak, but couldn’t do that either.

“Why did you threaten to hurt me, Frank, if I didn’t come back?”

Panic grew along with the heat in his heart.

“What about Jackie and Heather and, what’s her name, the one who gave you, and now apparently me, syphilis, Frank?”

Frank tried to struggle but he couldn’t move an inch. The heat in his chest had turned to fire and was spreading outward. He looked up at Janie, to beg with his eyes, and saw only a fire of hatred in his sweet Janie’s gaze.

The fire continued to burn in his chest, but Frank couldn’t scream.

He felt a trickle of fluid run out of his nose and ears, and he saw, actually saw, blood well up in his own eyes right before the morbid tears spilled down his cheeks.

And then the fire moved into his head. The room went black, and he felt his eyes pop out of their sockets. The pressure of heat and blood in his ears built up and busted through his eardrums.

She pressed down harder on his temples, and the last thing Frank felt was an exploding heat in his chest as his heart succumbed to all her built up energy.

Tina B

Word Count=1000
Prompt: Write a poem or story that includes a reiki healing.

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