Chapter Four: Blaze
Spyro leaned forward. His mouth was obscured by the mask he was wearing, his breath hot and stuffy. The patient was dying. She was losing too much blood. Spyro's mind was racing, he could feel panic creeping into his heart like an icy grip. He had about five minutes before his patient bled to death. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, he could do this.
The patient was a young dragoness with a severe spinal tumor. She had been warned of her tumor only two weeks prior, at which time the tumor had already began to show signs of becoming malignant. Her husband had demanded that she be given as much care as possible.
"Scalpel!" he shouted, one of the nurses passed him the tool. He gripped it and began the process of removing the tumor. It was difficult, the tumor being quite large and placed treacherously close to the patient's spinal cord. In a few minutes he had severed the tumor and the operation was complete, and the patient saved. It was a close call, the patient had been on the brink of death, but Spyro was able to save her life, and the life of her unborn child. His child.
Spyro exited the operation room and briskly walked back to his office to change back into his hospital uniform. He took off the surgeon mask and gratefully breathed in some fresh air, something he had been without for at least eight hours during the surgery. After he changed he went out of his office and looked for the room his patient would be sent to. Room 118, he smiled, the exact same number as my third grade class, he thought to himself. He opened the door and stepped inside of the room.
Cynder lay on the bed half awake. She had numerous machines attached to her, including a breathing tube down her throat. She still looked quite beautiful for someone who had just gone through surgery. Cynder looked up, saw Spyro and smiled.
"Is that you Spyro?" she asked.
"Yes" he answered. He walked over to the edge of her bed and sat down. He held her hand. He spoke gently,
"Don't worry Cynder, the surgery was a complete success. You're safe now." He looked down at her enlarged stomach and added, "You're both safe." Cynder smiled.
"Of course I am, you're the best surgeon there is." She gripped his hand and squeezed it gently. She looked down at her arm and noticed the I.V. in it, she also noticed the breathing tube in her throat.
"Why do they have me hooked up to all these machines?" she asked indignantly.
"It's just a precaution dear, your still recovering." Spyro said.
"Well, I think I can breathe just fine on my own." She said, ripping the tube out of her throat and yanking the I.V. out of her arm. Spyro grinned, she was still just as feisty as ever.
A nurse slipped into the room. She held a clipboard in her hands and a pair of glasses perched on her snout. She glanced at Spyro.
"Dr. Spyro, they need your help with that kidney transplant in operation room B." she said, her voice stern and to the point. Spyro sighed and reluctantly stood up. He leaned down and kissed Cynder on the head.
"I'll see you soon." He walked out the door. The nurse's attention shifted to Cynder. Her eyes widened.
"What did you do to your I.V.!" She demanded. Cynder rolled her eyes and went to sleep, heedless of the nurse's objections.
Spyro leaned back in his chair. All of the surgeries had been completed and now the rest of the day would consist of boring paper work. He sighed to himself, he hated paperwork. He glared at the heap of forms and bills he was supposed to sign. He wished he could just burn it all. He smiled as he imagined the heap as nothing but a pile of ashes. He'd probably be able to get away with it, the hospital wouldn't fire their best surgeon over something as petty as paperwork.
His thoughts were interrupted as a nurse bolted into his office, out of breath. He looked at her hopefully, perhaps they needed him in the emergency room and he could be relieved of his mountain of paperwork.
"What is it?" he asked her. The nurse took a few deep breaths before replying,
"It's your wife! She's having her baby!"
Spyro paced around the door. On the other side his wife was facing the hardest thing she had ever done in her life, and there was nothing he could do to help her. He couldn't help her deliver it, he was a spinal surgeon not a nurse. He sat down on a nearby chair cupped his head in his paws. He groaned, he felt so…useless. He'd heard that word so many times, and so many times he had felt that way. "Useless boy! Good for nothing whelp! I wish you'd never been born." Tears sprang in his eyes at the memory of those harsh words his real parents had said so long ago, the words he often believed before he found his new home.
Spyro struggled to take control over his emotions. "What is my problem?" he whispered to himself. That had been years ago. He was happy now, good job, wife of his dreams, and a child on the way. So why did he still have these feelings of doubt inside of him? Why was he still haunted by the memories of his past? Wasn't fifteen years long enough to get over only seven of abuse? He pondered over this for a while, not noticing the nurse standing next to him. She coughed to get his attention. He jumped a little, then noticed the nurse and relaxed.
"How is she?" he asked. The nurse smiled and said,
"She's fine." She gestured to the open door and let him in. He walked over to Cynder. In her arms she cradled the most glorious thing Spyro had ever seen.
Its scales were the color of the sunset, a deep and vivid red-orange. Its eyes were purple like Spyro's. On its snout was a small horn.
"What should we name him?" Cynder asked, her voice weak from the pain she had just gone through. Spyro thought for a moment, then an idea popped into his head.
"Blaze" Spyro answered. Cynder looked down at her son and smiled.
"Yes, that's a perfect name for him. Blaze, our little angel." Spyro gazed at his son and all his sadness from earlier melted away, and he was now filled with a boundless sense of joy. And he had every reason to be, for he was now one of the greatest things in the world. A father.