Dark Rider

“Danger?” A.J. murmured as he watched the doctor run off, A.J. stopped in the middle of the floor and dropped to his knees, staring at the doors Kassie was rushed through in shock.

“But will Kassandra be alright?” Rider shouted as he chased them, but his chase ended when the O.R. doors closed and denied his entry. Left in anguish with his thoughts, he stared at it heartbroken.

“Danger?” A.J. repeated once again as Rider made his way back to him, though he was like a shell of empty emotions, he helped the shock ridden boy off the ground to his feet.

“She has to be okay, they have to be okay,” Rider whispered as he fell into a waiting room chair, he glanced around the bright area so much like every other waiting room in the world, but he didn’t notice the details, worry fogged his vision to much to see anything besides Kassie’s face in his memory, one of pain.

“I’m sure they will be fine, they are in capable hands here. The doctors here are great,” Tiffany tried to assure the men that the woman they both loved so dearly would be fine, but she couldn’t even believe her words herself.

“Excuse me,” Rider pulled away from the dark thoughts collecting above him like a cloud of dismay on a sunny day and walked out of the room, his destination was the only thing he wanted to think about. When he finally reached his said destination, he glanced around the room and sighed heavily and nervously. “Hey, big man! I really need you right now; I really need your help!”

No cloud of smoke appeared, no blinding bright lights shone from the ceiling or choir music played. The only thing that happened was the clearing of a throat from behind Rider in one of the hospital chapel pews, turning around, Rider smiled from sheer hope as he seen the blond haired man he knew so well and then again not at all. “Yes, what is it that you need, Francis?”

Rider tried not to cry or show any pain that he hid when he stood in front of the Almighty. But when Rider gazed into his green eyes, everything he denied to be let out rushed at him like the wind of a hurricane. “It’s Kassie, Lord. She’s having my kids and they are in danger, please you have to help them pull through this, I love them all more than life itself.”

Christ smiled softly and sadly as he patted the seat beside him, beckoning
Rider to sit down next to him. Christ was proud of Rider or Francis as he still found himself calling him—the boy had been fit for a life of crime and no reason, but now he had found his reason for life and it wasn’t involving crime, except stealing a heart. He felt horrible for what he was about to say, but it was already set in stone. “My son, I cannot intervene with destiny. What will happen, will and it will be for the best,” he stopped to rub Rider’s back as he had started crying on his shoulder. “But if you lose what is important, believe me when I say I will take care of it, whatever happens is what has to. The design is already sketched; I can’t erase it and start over, unhappily it’s no etch-a-sketch.”

“But I can’t lose any of them,” Rider laid his head on Christ shoulder, after he had leaned up to look him in the eyes and sniffed the tears back. “I’ve never had a family—I have one with Kassie, she’s having our kids, this is my only chance. I can’t lose it.”

“I can’t change it, but I can try to help change the design a bit,” Christ said softly as he gently sat Rider up, standing up to his full height, Christ looked down to Rider and frowned. “I can take care of Kassie, but I can’t promise anything besides me being there the whole way. Maybe I can give a small miracle when needed.”

“Its all I ask,” Rider rubbed his nose and stood up to level with Christ. “Thank you.”

“When everything is over, spread my name and enjoy life as you have it,” Christ said comfortingly. “And I will see everything through. You may want to head up stairs; the doctor is coming with some…news.”

“Thank you,” Rider whispered again before he walked out of the chapel, when he reached the O.R. waiting room where he had left Tiffany and A.J. to go search for some enlightenment, Rider stumbled upon the doctor giving out the news.

“Mrs. Bouvier seems to have had two of the six fetuses’ wrapped up in the umbilical cord, right now the doctors with her are working on getting them out first. If we don’t get them out in time, they have a strong possibility of having disabilities from lack of oxygen,” the doctor paused to clear his throat and pat A.J. on the shoulder, he had yet to see the grief stricken husband behind him. “Just pray, I don’t know if you are religious people but, pray, that’s all I can tell you to do at this point.”

“Thank you doctor,” Tiffany thanked him; she was the only one able to speak. The doctor nodded as if saying he was done and turned around to leave, that’s when he spotted Rider, his sudden surprised face faded into sympathy as he rushed past him back to the O.R. to bring more news for later.

“Did he say anything about Kassie?” Rider shook from panic as he made his way into the waiting room fully, glancing from A.J. to Tiffany with worry etched into his aging face. “Come on guys; please tell me she isn’t hurt.”

“They haven’t said anything about her, so I assume she’s fine—it’s just the children that are in danger,” Tiffany answered weakly while she rubbed A.J.’s back in comfort. “Two of the babies are—“

“I heard,” Rider swallowed his sobs and nodded his head; he didn’t want to hear it over again. It would only cause him to be in even more pain then he already was in. “Alexander…”

“Yeah?” A.J. sniffed as he looked up tiredly at Rider, he wanted to try and help but knew nothing that would work. So he sat and cried in his misery for his family members about to be brought into this world, though he was there cousin, he felt like they were his nieces and nephews or brothers and sisters and it tore him from the inside out.

“Pray,” Rider instructed him knowingly as he took the seat on the other side of A.J. and leaned on his thighs as A.J. had. “Just pray, like the doctor said—you need too.”

“Think it will work?” A.J. questioned as he looked Rider in the eyes, trying to spot any hint of comfort or confidence. “Do you think that if we pray, it will work?”

“I know it will,” Rider said with a quick nod of his head, letting A.J. know he had done something to ensure Kassie’s safe recovery as well as the kids. “We just have to believe it will work, that she’ll be okay and the babies will too.”

“It’s so early,” Tiffany murmured as she looked down at the ground, it was slowly sinking in the severity of the problem. “The babies, they could—are they even developed?”

“Their lungs aren’t fully developed, they probably aren’t able too—it’ll take a miracle,” A.J. mumbled as he ran his hands through his hair. A.J. had been to college for the past two years studying to be a doctor, he knew enough to know that there was a slim chance of any of the kids living, if any chance at all.