Chapter 15: Extreme Measures

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive as famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. Four our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let they mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we wait for thee.- Psalm 33:18-22

"The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy."
They say that Fear and hope are generally thought to be in conflict with each other. In the presence and worship of God, they are found side by side in perfect and beautiful harmony. Do you want to know what I thought about God? I thought that he was our only hope in life, that he always protected us from the bad things that happen…

Keyword: I thought.
Now, I'm not so sure. Life seemed so easy back then. Now, everything's changed. And not for the better…
They finally gave me back my stuff; the Bible, my backpack, all of those stuff they took while they rescued me from those men who murdered my father. They may seem like nothing to you but to me…they're the only things I have to remind me of my mom…my dad…and the life they took away from me.

"Patricia."

I looked up and he turned to meet my gaze. Smiling. Always smiling.

"You know," Spence slowly said, "There are lots of nicknames for Patricia. It's a really nice name"
"Thank you." I replied simply. For a second there, I thought he was going to talk about crap. I was right…
But I didn't care. Nonsense was a rare thing in this house. "Same as yours. The best nickname is 'Asshole'."

Spence coughed out a laugh. He sounded sick. My smile faded and I furrowed my brow in concern. Since when has he become so sick?

Just yesterday, I was spending my time in a local restaurant with King and Abby. Nothing fancy…King had always told me that going to fancy restaurants was a waste of time and money.

"So what? They serve food in these restaurants, too." He retorted, obviously pissed about something, "The only difference is the price."

"What did the restaurant ever do to you? Stop insulting it." Abby told him sternly. "Okay then…" He forced a smile and then leaned on the table, closer to her, their faces only inches away, "What were you and Caulder doing in that fancy restaurant?"

Abby sighed, "Nothing, we were just talking"
"Fuck you Abby, that wasn't nothing." He growled, he glanced over at the innocent look on my face then he continued calmly and softly, "He told you to go join him and his little army of imps, didn't he?"

"No!" she shouted, the talking seized and everyone turned to stare, she turned to them, "What?" she snapped. They went back to their business and Abby turned to King, sighing, "I called him there. I needed to talk to someone. King, I was scared. Scared that I might lose you all, that I might lose you…"

King snorted.
"…It's true, King." she looked down at her trembling hands then back up to him, "I'm scared"
"Hi, Scared. I'm Perplexed. How do you do?"

"You know, sometimes…I wish you would actually listen"
"Okay, folks, here we go. It's time once again to play let's-jump-all-over-everything-King-says. Well, please, before you get rolling, count me out. I'm going to enjoy my food." He started eating. The table was quiet. I looked from one to the other.

"King, if you don't want me to go with him, then I won't"
He didn't even flinch, "Good-- Now beat it, I'm eating."
A few minutes later, our targets have arrived and they were seated on the table right behind us.

"Here," a familiar confident voice had said. King still didn't look up, his back was facing the two people.
"Is that Spence and Kas?" he asked in a whisper.
"Yep," I said cheerfully.
Abby added, "What the hell is Spence doing out of hell?"
"Must be on vacation." King muttered as we continued to listen to their conversation.

I know spying on people was bad but we just couldn't resist. Why was Spence taking Kasumi out? It was weird. So unlike Spence…
I watched from my seat as Spence gave Kasumi a box of chocolates. "I overdid myself." he said. She looked at him, puzzled and happy at the same time and then she looked at the box, a smile spread across her face, "Expired Chocolate?"
"Happy Birthday." Spence said.

Kasumi looked surprised, "How did you--?"
"I took the liberty onto looking into your Journal." he grinned.
"Journal?" she asked. "What Journal? I don't have a Journal"
He smirked and pulled out a little black book, waving it in front of her face. Her eyes widened and she attempted to snatch it away from him, he pulled it back. For the first time in what seemed like twenty minutes, King and Abby looked at each other, puzzled.

All five of us exited the restaurant. Spence had his arms wrapped around Kasumi and she was loving it. Abby let out a dreamy sigh.
"I'm so happy for them. I mean, they finally get along." And she was right, even King was surprised. It seemed as if…they were inlove and yet, they have no clue about it.

Rain began to fall and Kasumi stopped right in front of a homeless man, who was playing some music with his guitar. We hid behind some trees and watched. She started to dance with him which was very cute because we all knew that Spence couldn't dance. They were doing, what King called the "I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off dancing then they were openly making out, not caring about the rain.

"How sweet." Abby sighed.
King grimaced, "They are going to kill us if they found out."

Not me, I'm to cute to die. Oh darn-- I think I'm hyper.

He coughed again and that jerked me back to reality. The rain…he musta caught a cold or something. He looks awfully pale. I hope he's going to be okay…
"Are you okay Spence?" I asked, concerned.
He smiled and ruffled my hair, "Of course, sweetheart. I just caught some cold." he stood up, "I promised you we'll go shoppin do buy you some new clothes and a stupid little cold ain't gunna keep me from my promise."

I smiled sweetly. He can still lie, he'll be fine…

Hours passed and Spence's coughing only became worse. His fever ran anywhere between 99-105 degrees.

"Oh, hun." Kasumi smiled at me considerately, "I'm sorry Spence couldn't come. He's had a fever. But don't cha worry, I'll let you buy as much ice-cream as you want. Go freeze your brain out." It was about 1:00 pm and me and Kasumi had just pulled up to the mall. We had shopped for a good half an hour before we left for the park. We sat on the bench, eating ice-cream. I was definitely enjoying myself. Miss Kasumi was just so fun to be with. She was like……..a second mother.

We talked blissfully for a while before we heard sirens, a police car begin tore down the streets with King's truck right in front of it. We caught a glance of Abigail's worried face in the passenger seat. King's was mixed of concern and anger.

Something was definitely up. Kasumi pulled me up by the arm, she scooped up all the plastic bags of clothing and we ran towards the car. What was happening? I haven't even had time to put on my seatbelt when the car backed out of the parking lot and sped down the street, towards headquarters.

Ten minutes later, Kasumi pulled me out of the car in panic. She pulled me gently but hastily towards the house. Taking two steps at a time, we ran up the stairs and burst through the door to the living room. Tears were already in her eyes when she spotted Caulder. "What happened?" she demanded, finally letting go of me.
A tear rolled town her cheek, when there was no answer, she walked towards the door, Caulder blocked her way. "Kasumi, I don't think you should--"

"FUCK YOU!" She screamed. Pushing him aside, she kicked the door open and suddenly burst into tears at the pitiful sight of someone lying on a bed.
"Spence," she wept, running over to his side, looking at his unconscious figure. A breathing tube had been inserted along with iv fluid to help him progress.

I felt like I was going to cry.
No! a voice screamed inside my head, This can't be happening to me! Why, God? Why? Punish me for whatever i did! Not him!
I had always liked Spence...it felt like he was a relative of mine and not just any relative, a father...a dad...

"Abigail had ran out of the house when she found out, taking the car with her. King just ran after her,not even taking a car. But, uh, Ruby, she went off, crying and weeping. Ashley was in a state of shock when I told her about…" Caulder's voice trailed off.
"What?" Kasumi sniffed. No answer. "What?" She demanded. Not a question.

Caulder closed his eyes.
"WHAT?" Kasumi got to her feet and stormed up to Caulder, shaking him. All the anger building up. More tears coming. "TELL ME!" she screamed, she continued to scream then she rested her head on Caulder's chest, crying silently. "Tell me..."

"This is not easy for me to say but…"
We looked towards him. My heart was beating faster than ever and then, my blood ran cold...

"He has cancer."