A Tragic Hero

Chapter 20

Ryder stared at Jake's door for what seemed like ages, waiting for Sky to reappear. She still hadn't returned and he was beginning to worry.
"Ahh,"he raked a hand through his thick tussled hair.
"What to do, what to do."
He jumped up from his seat, just like he had done several other times, rubbed his hands together, and began to pace back and forth around the room.
He glanced over at Jake. The boy was still sound asleep, not a care in the world. He, on the other hand, was basically walking around in circles, trying to not die of impatiens.
"Lord, I need some help with this right about now,"He let out, gazing  up at the ceiling, still shuffling around.
"Can't you open up her eyes to see? To trust me with all of her luggage? It's getting pretty hard to just stand on the sidelines and let her suffer alone."
Jake mumbled in his sleep, pausing all of Ryder's thoughts. He lazily shifted his hand from his side onto his slow moving chest.
"She loves her son so much and would do the absolute best for him. I know that. But Lord, can she really do it alone?"
Silence, it seemed, was his only answer.
Ryder let out a sigh and made his way over to Jake's door. He starred hard at the the door knob, trying to quell his many worries. Sky would come back. She had to come back.
After glancing back at Jack to make sure he was still sound asleep, he reached for the nob and gave it a twist.
The door began to open without his help.
Ryder's arm was yanked forward without warning, making him stubble into who ever had opened the door from the outside.
"Oh!"
Sky's voice sounded in his ear, bringing him a tiny sense of relief. Her eyes shined in surprise as he bumped into her, standing now just a breath away. He was as surprised as she was, very aware how close they were. He could see the tiny flecks of gold in her iris's, the spreading red tint on her cheeks and the bridge of her small nose as she backed away from him, rubbing her casted arm with her right hand. Neither spoke a word, but the air around them was charged to the max.
"Well, are you two gonna just stare at each other or deal with your pretty serious dilemma?"
Wendy's too prying question rewarded her with a annoyed look from Ryder. Sky's face deepened a shade darker.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" He asked his half crazed sister who simply didn't care how people thought of her when she openly asked them about somethings just a bit too personal.
"No," she gave him an innocent look.
"I'm completely free at the moment."
"Wendy,"he growled, ready to scold his sister, but stopped his come back when he caught Sky's glance at him. She was asking him with her eyes for him to just let it go. For her, he would let everything go. If only she knew that.
"Darling, I think we should give them some space."
Ella glanced at him, then Sky, then back to him, now with a look of actual seriousness on her face.
"W-What?"Wendy babbled.
"But...but I though we were gonna help them to open up to-"
"Wendy, let's go."
Ella frowned at her daughter, ending whatever nonsense Wendy was about to say. Silenced, Wendy gave Sky a half smile, waved, then took her mother's hand and began walking away from Jake's room.
"Well, those two really know how to get under your skin, huh?"
He gazed back at Sky now, trying to start up a normal feeling conversation. Once she was ready, he would let her speak to him about the not so normal conversations. The tough, cold, scarring, haunting conversations.
"Yah, but they are pretty up lifting too,"She whispered back, beginning to rub her hands together.
"Where you, uh," he spoke up softly, not wanting her to feel the need to run from him again.
"Where you coming back inside?"
Obviously she had been. Why had she opened the door to start with if she wasn't planning to come in?
"Yes," Was all he got out from her.
A thick silence froze between them, a critical moment to see if she would stay or go.
Before he could ask anything else though, she took a shaky step forward and entered Jake's room. As she passed him, he caught a whiff of lavender in the air. It smelled excellent on her.
He shut the door quietly behind him, then turned around to face Sky. She stood by Jake's bed, staring lovingly down at her boy.
"I'm...," she looked up from her son to the wall.
"I'm sorry for running out on you like that. I don't know what over came me."
He had a guess about what had made her dash, but shoved the answer to the back of his mind.
"It's alright. A lot has happened to you in the last couple of days."
He gave Sky a simple smile when he caught he eyes, keeping it cool, not wanting to indicate to her how deeply he felt for her at the moment. She slowly but surely, returned his smile with her own.
He could tell it was forced.
He approached his chair and dropped down into it, noticing out of the corner of his eyes that Sky's gaze hadn't left his face. He let out a sigh, taking  a moment to examine her when she finally did look away.
She looked so tiny, so frail. Like she was ready to give up, which was probably the case. She also looked like she hadn't slept very well last night. Maybe she had stayed up late intentionally, most likely thinking about her son.
Goodness, it hurt immensely to look at her. To see all the sorrow written on her face.
"Ryder?"
The tone of Sky's voice had changed from failure to hopeful, immediately catching his attention.
"Yah Sky?"
He stared at her now almost happy looking face. What had changed?
"Can you do something for me?"
He would swim the entire Pacific Ocean with his legs chained and hands tied up for her when she suddenly gave him a real grin.
"Anything."
"Would you pray with me?"

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The intense fear and embarrassment that had overcame Sky when Ryder had stumbled into her as she pulled open Jake's door had almost made her bolt straight back to the ladies room. The angered look in his eyes when Wendy had tried to interfere with them had sent a chill down her spin, but when he had glanced back at her, all his frustration had secede in the blink of an eye. When Ella had taken her daughter and herself out of the picture, leaving her and Ryder alone, she had almost forgotten everything she had come to say. Actually, she had forgotten most of it.
Ryder had tried to start a regular conversation, like nothing was wrong with life and everything was fine and dandy. She had instead quickly entered her son's room after he stopped talking. She even apologized for running away, non stop picturing an image of him crushed by her actions as Wendy had put it. She had even faked a smile too, not wanting to disappoint him.
Ryder had slumped down into his seat and then let out a barely audible sigh. She didn't know if he had wanted her to hear it but she had, and it hurt her to hear him sound so...run down.
Ryder Clinton. He was something else all together. Her thoughts began to scramble, and she found herself praying silently in her head.
"Lord help me to be strong,"she said internally.
"Help me to not be scared of anything. Ryder is such a good man. I would never want to hurt him. He's still here, which surprises me a lot. I've told him that I trust him, but do I really? Please, show me what to do Lord."
Like a cool breeze, peace had begun to fill her.
And then, the answer she had been waiting for.
She needed to tell Ryder the truth. The whole truth. She didn't need to worry about what may happen, but simply tell him. She needed to show him who she really was and let God do the rest. If Jesus was with her, which He was, what did she have to fear?
The drops of peace had become a river of joy.
This wasn't gonna be easy, it would probably be one of the hardest things she had ever done in her entire life, but she was gonna do it. She was gonna share with Ryder her greatest demon that seemed to follow her around and hold her back from everyone after the day Noah had died.
But first, she wanted to pray for Jake. She needed to pray for Jake.
"Ryder?"
His eyes had already been on her, she realized. She pushed her feelings aside.
Jake, focus on Jake first. Then she could let go.
"Yah Sky?"
Ryder's pretty much baffled toned almost made her laugh inside. He seemed to have caught on to her sudden happiness. She hoped he would understand, that he would really stay.
"Can you do something for me?"
Jesus was with her. She would not fear anything.
"Anything,"Ryder answered back, a grin playing on his lips. His happiness brought even more joy to her. She could do this. With God's almighty help, she was gonna do it.
"Would you pray with me?"