The Secret of the Ring.

He sat his laptop bag down on the desk and gave a small sigh. It had already been an eventful morning. One of his three boys, Lincoln, his middle child had gotten all worked up about not being able to find his tablet for school. It was not on the charger this morning and he swore that he put it there on the bookshelf the night before. Before he could say anything to his son he had burst into tears. The night before he had received a previous lecture about becoming more responsible and taking care of his things more. Lincoln was a people pleaser and wanted nothing more than to please his dad but it did not come easy for him. No matter how much he sat down with him to keep his homework straight in folders on his tablet or items in his room, he did not possess that gene to find a certain place for everything. Eleven was becoming a hard age, as his older brother was more studious and organized, enrolled in honor classes at high school. This certainly made Lincoln more aware of his shortcomings. While the youngest, had barely just started to learn what homework was and still required quite a bit of support at his young age.

His ring finger gave a tingle on his left hand. He looked down to adjust the silver ring when one of his co-workers walked by, "Morning Sam." He replied the typical response as he quickly studied her as she brushed past him. She did not look troubled he thought to himself. Just in a hurry. He casually looked around the office that he shared with 6 others.

Nicole was busily typing away on her computer, Oliver and Peyton were busy discussing something standing at their desks with their to go coffee cups from the coffee shop down the street. Lucas was on the phone talking to what sounded like a client. Austin was nowhere to be found. Sydney. He slowly walked to the back of the room to look around the partition that tucked her out of sight in the corner of the room.

He found her leaning to the left side of her desk with a box of Kleenex next to her left elbow, holding her head in her hand. Her computer screen lit up to what appeared to be her trying to work even though tears streamed down her face. When she saw him she quickly sat up wiping her eyes with the kleenex that had been in her other hands. "Hey Sam. What can I do for you?" She appeared to seem a little embarrassed as her cheeks suddenly turned a dash of pink.

His silver ring now vibrated against the skin of his finger. Sydney did not flinch. Only he could feel or hear the vibration that was going around his finger. A trick to the ring. He circled the anchor emblem in the middle of the ring, slightly pressing down. The vibration stopped. " I just came over to see how you were doing." he responded, " I realized I had not seen you much this week." This was the truth he thought. Part of his job had to do with a lot of collaboration with his co-workers. While there were no major projects going on at the moment that needed all of their immediate attention, he usually consulted with the other six workers in his office on a daily basis about how things were going on. Being in an office together had made them a tight knit group.

"Oh. My 21-year-old stepson dropped out of college and his dad let him move in temporarily but now it has been a month. I have our two youngest to take care of and Jackson, that's the oldest, leaves his stuff everywhere. EVERYWHERE. There are dirty clothes thrown all over the house, I find dirty socks in between the couch cushions. I love him and I want to help him but I also do not want to enable him. It all is all of a sudden becoming too much for me."

Sam gestured that he was listening as she continued.

"Yesterday after bringing home the two youngest from school I was immediately hit with the putrid smell of sour cabbage. You know what it was? Feet. Feet because Jackson will go days without showering. This morning was the last straw. I told my husband I could no longer handle work, the two youngest kids, and keeping the house clean if his son was making a bigger mess than four people combined. That did not go over well. I should not have went off like that but I was so overwhelmed."

Sam nodded, " That sounds like a lot going on. Is there anything I can help with?". Sydney shook her head. " He is supposed to be finding a job and then his own apartment. My husband was just so upset with me this morning. He rarely gets mad. I just don't know what to do." Sam leaned toward her and gently set his left hand on her shoulder. "Maybe when the dust settles after the disagreement with your husband, tell him you need to have a serious talk about your stepson. Perhaps giving him a timeline to find a job and a move out date?" Sydney sniffled and slowly nodded her head. " In the meantime, maybe, you and your husband need to join as a team to let Jackson know that until he has a job and can move out, he needs to help keep the house picked up."

He felt a surge of energy run through him and exit his body. Sydney took a deep breath and her watery eyes started to clear. She was able to smile a little bit. He felt a bit of tension leave her body as she relaxed. "That sounds like a good idea" she responded. Sam slowly removed his hand. " I am sure he just wants the best for his son and maybe doesn't know how to help him either. Give it some time".

"Thanks so much for listening to me."

" No problem." He started to back up from her desk, " I am always here to listen. I hope things get better.".

He turned and walked back to his desk. He turned on his computer and reached into this bag to retrieve a journal. It was time to get to work but first it was time to do a quick entry about what was happening. He opened up the middle of the book and found where he had left off, a blue ribbon holding the pages place. Ever since he acquired the anchor ring, discovered the meaning behind it he recorded the times that it helped him to recognize the emotions of people, what was troubling them, and to ease their tension.

He had been a member of the Admiral Luminosities for eight years now. He had always wanted to help people around him who were dealing with issues and struggling. He just didn't know how until he found the ring, or the ring let him find it. The AL, as he referred to it as short, had given him the ability to seek out people who were experiencing both emotional and physical pain. Those who were experiencing great amounts of pain, anxiety, grief, hopelessness, etc. He was able to calm their emotions and let them relax so that they could think clearly. He gave them hope on top of that that things could get better and be okay.

He also could heal some physical injuries. Cuts of any size, broken limbs, and some he knew could cure diseases. Those required a lot of power and the only one he knew to do such a massive feat were Admirals that had had their rings for a very long time. Longer than eight years. The most he had ever done was heal small cuts of his boys they had sustained from rough housing around.

Sam zipped up his bag and flung over his shoulder. The rest of his day had gone fairly smooth. There were no other distress concerns. He walked outside to what had turned out to be a beautiful day. There were only a few clouds in the light blue sky and the temperature was seventy-seven degrees outside. It was a quick walk to the train to go home. As he passed between two buildings he noticed a clump of blankets on the edge of one of the buildings. As he walked passed, thinking of what he was going to have for supper, he heard a loud groan. To anyone else this might have startled them but as he heard it his ring juddered around his finger.

He stopped and studied the blankets to his right and caught a small movement underneath them. He knelt down and said, "Excuse me?"

It took a beat but some shuffling occurred and a arm appeared lifting up the blankets and the face of a white bearded man with wrinkled skin with dirt around his face appeared.

"Aren't you hot order those blankets? " he asked the aged man.

The man made a grunting sound and then flipped the blankets off of him.

" I was hiding from these men who stole my three wheeled bike." He pointed to to his left leg that had a series of scratches. " I fought them to keep them from taking it but I lost. They threw my bag of belongings at me then took off"

Sam followed as the homeless man pointed down the rest of his leg at his ankle. "It hurts." he stated.

He bent down and felt the man's ankle and he let out a small bellow. Sam slowly raised his ankle up, it did not feel broken but then he saw the blood, he had a large gash at the lower back of his leg above the ankle. Blood slowly gushed out of it.

" How long ago did this happen?" he asked the man

" I am not sure." I stumbled over here. I wasn't feeling good so I just grabbed my stuff to cover up.

"This cut is pretty bad. I need to call the ambulance."

He took out his phone and quickly dialed the number. The operator came on. He looked around as he gave the address of the building the man was leaning up against but explained that the man was actually outside of that address. As the 911 operator gave him the estimated time that medical help would arrive he had to hide the look of worry on his face. He looked back at the blood that was starting to pool on the ground. The man's eyelids started to flicker. He was close to passing out. The ambulance would not make it in time.

He took a deep breath. He had never done this extent of healing for a physical injury before. "Listen", he started to explain to the older man, " I called the ambulance. You need to have this looked at and stitched up before you lose any more blood. It also needs stitches.". Nervously, he started to grab the end of one of the blankets. "Until then, I am going to try and wrap it until the ambulance gets here to stop the blood flow." The man leaned his head back and just nodded. Sam touched the man's leg. He had to be quick, Even though the ambulance was still far out and the man was starting to lose consciousness, he did not want to leave his identity at the scene once people started noticing what was going on. He pressed the middle of the ring with his right index finger, taking a deep breath. His arm jolted like he never felt it before. Then as he looked down he saw the blood slowing down, the cut slowly closing up. Once it was completely closed, blood starting to dry around his leg, he took the end of the blanket and wrapped it tightly around his leg.

He stood, adjusting his laptop bag on his shoulder, before walking away he turned and leaned back down to the man, hoping that he could still hear him. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Linn."

" You are going to be okay, Linn." The man did not say anything as his eyes stayed closed. Sam straightened up and briskly walked away and rounded the corner to the train station. As he rounded the corner, he heard the far away sound of an ambulance siren.