The Chosen Ones Book 4: A New Enemy

Chapter 26

Tyler laid in bed with Sierra sleeping beside him. He thought back to the day he visited the Children's Hospital. His dad had always told him not to do anything that would draw attention to himself. There were people out there that wanted to harm him and using his powers would draw them out. He knew he was right, but today, he didn't care.

This particular day he had argued with Matt because he wanted to use a little bit of his powers to help his high school team win the state championship football game. He thought of disobeying, scoring four touchdowns and being the hero, but he didn't, and his team lost. Now, he was bitter. He had stormed out of the house after the game, leaving his dad and Casey as they tried to make him understand.

He found himself standing in the city, looking up at the Children's Hospital sign. He checked the directory in the lobby and made his way to the elevator and pressed the button for the cancer floor. Kids with cancer...What God would give kids cancer? Surely it couldn't be the same one who gave him his powers, could it?

He slowly walked the floor, looking into the rooms on both sides of the aisle. The kids seemed to range from the ages of three to their late teens. Some already had their hair completely gone from rounds of radiation and chemotherapy.

Nurses walked from room to room, studying their charts as they went. He wandered into one of the rooms, not knowing why he chose this particular one first. A young girl laid in the bed, staring out the window at the sunny sky. She had a hoodie on but that didn't hide the fact that all her hair was missing. She turned to face him as she heard him approach.

"Who are you?" She asked, nervously.
"Oh, I'm uhhhh, I'm sorry. I'm with a nearby high school. We're volunteering here today. Reading to the kids and, uh......stuff like that." Tyler lied.
Damn, he was a bad liar.
"Where's your book?" The girl asked. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, too smart to fall for such a stupid lie.

"Yeah, I must have left it in the last room I was in." He said.
There was a chair next to her bed that he sat in. She didn't seem to mind. She had relaxed quickly after her initial surprise.
"Make yourself comfortable." She said, sarcastically.
"Sorry, do you mind?"
"No. My parents just left. So I'll be all alone until tomorrow."

"You don't get many visitors?" He asked.
"Not many people feel comfortable visiting a cancer patient." The girl said.
He noticed her faint smile. As if she was hurt that others didn't visit but she understood why. She had beautiful green eyes that seemed sad for obvious reasons.
"What kind of cancer do you have?" Tyler asked.
"The worst kind." She replied. "Brain. Well, I don't actually KNOW if it's the worst kind, but it sounds like the worst kind."

He let out a chuckle, and immediately felt embarrassed that he did. The girl laughed too however, making him feel relieved.
"What's your name?"
"Sarah. What's yours?"
"Tyler."
She smiled. "It's nice to meet you Tyler. You're cute."
Ah the courage of a teenager that felt like she had nothing to lose.
He blushed. "Thanks."

An awkward silence followed. "So what's your diagnosis?" He asked, somehow finding the worst possible thing to say to break the awkwardness.
"Six months." She told him. "But that was four months ago."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She said. "I've lived a whole fourteen years."

"What are you gonna miss?" Tyler asked her.
She thought for a moment. "The beach. My friends. My parents." Her eyes filled with tears. "My little brother. He's twelve. He always talked about protecting me. I hate seeing how sad he is when he comes in here to see me, trying to cheer me up, knowing I'm going to be gone soon and there is nothing he can do about it."
Tears fell down her cheeks now.

Matt stood over her now. She looked up at him, not knowing why he was there. She wiped her tears from her cheeks, and suddenly she seemed to see him, like really SEE him.
"You're not from a school are you?" She asked.
"No." He whispered. "I'm going to put my hands on your head if that's okay."
She nodded and pulled her hoodie back. Tyler put both of his hands gently on her head. Sarah closed her eyes and let out a slow deep breath. Just by touching her he could feel how close to death she really was.

It took him about a full minute. When he was done he removed his hands and sat back in the chair, but still held her hand. Sarah kept her eyes closed for another minute before opening them. When she looked at him she was crying again.

"What did you do?" She asked, quietly.
"I gave you your life back." He told her.
She didn't know how, but she knew. The warmth that ran through her body when he touched her head, her steady breathing, she just felt..... good. Something she hadn't felt in over a year. She was cured.

"How?"
"I don't know, actually." He replied, smiling.
"Am I?......." She asked, scared to finish the sentence.
"Yes."
"Oh my God." She said, softly.
"Shhhhh." Tyler said. "You can't tell anybody about me."
She shook her head emphatically. "I won't. I never will. Ever."

Tyler stood. He had more work to do on this floor. He tried to let go of her hand but she held it a little longer.
"Will I ever see you again?" She asked.
He smiled. "No. But I'll never forget you." He paused. "Do something great one day, okay?"
She nodded. "Thank you."
He gave her a smile. Then he was gone.

Tyler stopped in every room that day. Laying his hand on twenty-two kids, even breaking down as he laid his hands on a three year old boy and curing him of blood cancer. Soon the hospital would be dumbfounded about how these kids were suddenly cured of cancer. It would be an anomaly that nobody would have an answer for. Doctors and experts would be called in to try to figure it out and make sense of it all. But they would never be able to.

Maybe the security cameras would be checked, maybe not. Tyler didn't care. He left there feeling better than he had in a long time.

Was this the incident that led Gabriel to find them? Possibly. But he would never be sorry for it. He looked over at a sleeping Sierra one more time, smiled, then drifted off to sleep.