The Fall of the Risen

Kacey’s lower lip quivered. Her eyes never left Aleer’s as her hand brushed his earth brown hair away from his face. She wanted to speak but pain sealed the words in her throat. He smiled and raised his hand to caress her cheek and wipe away the stream of tears. She hadn’t realized she was crying. She had been too focused on him. He tried to sit up from the ground but any movement caused a great deal of pain and blood to flow from the wound more freely

“How does it look Kacey?” His voice was low and calm. It bothered her how calm he was when all she felt was chaos. She did as he asked even though the sight of blood made her dizzy. She felt her head swim as she tilted it to look at the wound in his side. The black metal hilt protruded from a river of crimson. Aleer lifted his hand enough for her to inspect the injury. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Aleer sighed. “I thought so.” He pressed his hand against the wound harder and cringed as pain shot through his veins.

Kacey knelled over him. She desperately wanted to embrace him and cry into his shoulder but there was no way to accomplish the task without hurting him more. She was helpless. Her stomach clenched tight at the thought. It was relieved slightly when she heard sirens in the distance. She leaned down and planted one soft lingering kiss on his forehead.

“Hold on just a bit longer Aleer. Please Love, just hold on a bit longer.” She whispered into his ear, her forehead resting against his. His labored breaths gave evidence to his internal fight. How she wished she could help him. The sirens were louder now. She reluctantly pulled herself up and watched the emergency vehicles speeding down the deserted street. Their lights flashed and illuminated the dark nooks created by the fall of daylight. Her heart rejoiced as the uniformed men rushed toward them. She returned her focus to Aleer and instantly her heart sank.

Aleer’s face was serene and calm. It showed no pain or struggle. It was relaxed as if he accidentally fell asleep on the sidewalk. Kacey fell back, her eyes unblinking. She watched for the smallest twitch of an eye lid or movement of his lips. It was then she realized the hand pressing against the knife wound now lay limp by his side. It was all too much. She pressed her palms against her face and cried. He was strong. He could pull through. She knew he could. She needed him and he knew that. He couldn’t leave. They have a daughter together. He had to be there for her. He has to watch her grow up. He had to walk her down the aisle and take her to kindergarten and scare her first boyfriend and punish her for sneaking out and see her off to college and he promised to read to her tonight, and tomorrow night and every night after.

Kacey was breathing quick and shallow when a hand grazed her arm. She jumped at being torn abruptly from her thoughts.

“We need to rush him to the St. Johns Hospital. If you are riding with us you need to get in.” The paramedics had already loaded him and weren’t going to wait for her response. The paramedic closest to her was already leading her into the ambulance.

“Is he?” She couldn’t bring herself to vocalize the words which threatened to tear her soul apart.

“No, he has lost a great deal of blood but he is still alive. We can’t assess..” The rest of his words were lost on her as she prayed to the heavens for the first time since she was eight. She prayed and pleaded with the powers that be.

“Please don’t take him yet. Please Lord, keep him alive a little while longer.” The next fifteen hours were a blur of hospital lights and questions and phone calls. Kacey’s eyes burned with tiredness but she couldn’t them. She couldn’t sleep while her love was fighting for his life. She couldn’t sleep with the uncertainty of never seeing his eyes look into hers.

Kacey was crammed the wrong way on a chair, her arms wrapped around her knees and a cup of coffee in her right hand. Her clothes held droplets of dried blood and her hair was a tangled mess. She was alone and it unnerved her. She had considered calling someone when she realized in all the years they had been together, she had never met a close friend of his. She knew some of the mystery surrounding his family and foster family but she figured he would have had friends. He was the most caring and generous guy she had ever met, and here he was straddling the line between life and death and there was no one to bring him flowers. She had spent hours thinking while he was in surgery of the friends of his she had met. It was a feeble list and none of which were close enough to acquire their phone number. As far as she knew, all he had was a few people he knew cordially from work, herself and Raine, their daughter. It was true, many people lost touch with friends when relocating through school’s and college but everyone had someone.

Aleer was an artist and a writer. He had numerous sketch books and stories from each period in his life. When they were first together they used to lay on a blanket and stargaze. All the while he would tell her stories of his childhood and the time before her, the dark days he always referred to it as. She remembered feeling innocent and ignorant compared to him. Compared to him, her life story would fill a book and his was its own small library. He always mentioned one friend who was always there for him and it bugged her now that she couldn’t think of his name. Surely he had mentioned it.

The white sterile door to the operating room opened and two doctors came out. Kacey was on her feet before they had taken a second step into the hallway.

“The surgery went as well as can be expected however there was a great amount of damage to his internal organs. We have him stabilized but I am afraid it is too early to tell if the damage will be too much for the body to handle. We will place him in the Intensive Care Unit and monitor his vitals.” The first doctor said and then returned to the operating room. The second doctor stayed behind.

“I knew him.” The second doctor said, then coughed. “His name is still Aleer right?” Kacey stared at him confused. The second doctor went on. “Walk with me to get some coffee and I’ll tell you how Aleer and I met.” Kacey nodded and they began navigating the hallways to the cafeteria. “It was roughly twenty years ago at an orphanage in Ohio when I first met him. He was six, maybe seven years old. I was fresh into my masters, preforming my clinical hours at one of the only places which would accept me for an internship. I remember thinking I had sacrificed a great deal to get to that point in my schooling but I was still the bottom of the class and in danger of being removed from the program. I remember thinking it was unfair. I had worked my ass off and I would have nothing to show for it. I would have to endure the embarrassment of returning to my parents home a failure. I remember these things because as I sat in the small shared office at the orphanage, I was overcome with jealousy. These kids were young and could choose any future. They needn’t worry about performing to the standards set by their parents, classmates, or society. These children had no one to hold them accountable. These children were free.”

The doctor took a long gulp of coffee and sighed with pleasure. They were now seated by a window which looked out into a small courtyard furnished with numerous plants and flowers. The doctor continued. “I was thinking these thoughts when Aleer’s handler came in with him bundled up in ash stained white towels. The handler left him in my care while she filled out some paperwork. At first my brooding jealousy grew and I am sure my annoyance was discernible in my voice if there was a third party. I began giving him the standard physical assessment commands when my eyes finally took stalk of the boy standing before me and my heart tightened in pain”

“His face was streaked with ash and bruises covered almost every inch of his body. Fresh bruises were evident around his throat and his back was littered with new wounds. This boy had been through hell. I took a sanitary cloth from my medical supplies and cleaned his face. Most children at the orphanage showed emotion, be it anger or sadness but Aleer showed nothing at all. He didn’t cringe when I touched and tested the bruises or the cuts. He didn’t flinch a muscle no matter what I did or asked of him. He was a soulless puppet.” The doctor stopped once more to take a few sips of the coffee, his appetite for the caffeine satiated from another sobering source.

“I am sorry for telling you all this, but I needed to share it. It was that night I resolved to continue the career I had originally set out to succeed in. Much more had changed though. I was no longer studying because I needed to be at the top of my class or because I wanted to be viewed as a success to my parents. I studied because I wanted to help people like Aleer. I realized my sacrifices were only a grain of sand compared to what Aleer had already suffered through.” Tears came to the doctors eyes as he finished his story. “I treated his bruises the best I could, and conversed with him during every session. I had confessed my life to him and then one day he was gone. It occurred to me, even though he never spoke or a word or smiled, I had lost a dear friend. Now, twenty years later to see him on my operating table with the same blank face.”

Kacey could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. “When he recovers, if I don’t have a chance to tell him myself, please tell him thank you for me.” The doctor stood to leave but Kacey embraced him. She was glad to finally have someone to share this burden with, to have someone who would miss him. To have someone who would always remember him.