Never Meant To Fight On My Own

Prologue

It all seemed hopeless. Time and time again lives were cut from this world before they even had a chance to begin. Sometimes before everything was set in stone, and sometimes after all the groundwork had been lain. It all seemed hopeless. Subtle heartbeats became still, tiny breaths seldom drawn. Kicks and wriggles ceasing to be. It all seemed hopeless.

To Cynthia, it was a cruel joke to receive news of her pregnancy once more, her heart already heavy with the hearts that had stopped all too soon. She pondered to herself for an answer to why they kept trying. She wanted children, sure, but it was agony to lose them again and again. This time she was tempted to stop, but couldn't bring herself to do it. This could be the one, their miracle child.

The doubt still weighed on her mind, even after the first trimester, and then the second. By the third trimester, Cedric was convinced even if his wife wasn't. Every night for the last two months of her pregnancy, Cedric would press his cheek to her belly and sing a soft and encouraging traditional song.

 "The strong wind blows, so strong I shall be. 

The night is dark, I shall not fear thee. 

The future is bright, oh bright as the sun. 

And wise I'll be, when my life is done."

When labor started, Cynthia cried- though not for the pain, but for the fear that her child would slip out of life as did other children before it- Though Cedric kept confident thoughts and encouraged his wife to let go of her fears, as every night he felt their child's kicks on his cheek. The moment their new baby boy came into the world, Cynthia cried tears of joy to hear her son cry- Instead of the deafening silence that befell all others that made it to full-term birth. Cynthia and Cedric named their son Kine, as they felt God was kind to them to let him live.

The celebration was short-lived, however, when their son seemed to grow ill, and even sicker as time passed. Cynthia broke down when every healer across the land told her that she would bury her son by season's end. She couldn't accept that she was going to lose another one.