When Two Rivers Meet

Chapter Twenty One

"I'll be right beside you every step of the way!" Mike told Isaiah as he walked beside the nurse, pushing Isaiah in his wheel chair to the room where they did his chemotherapy. This was his third time doing it and it still made Mike have butterflies in his stomach. He worried about his son going through this traumatizing experience. He followed his son until the entrance of the room, knowing he couldn't go any further. "I'll see you when you get out," he smiled, kissing his son's bare head. Tears filled his eyes as he watched his little man get rolled away into the room, him disappearing for the next few hours.

•

"Hey," Carrie whispered as she walked into the original hospital room, finding Isaiah sleeping soundly and Mike reading a magazine. She had a long day at the studio and was exhausted. And the added on stress wasn't helping in any way.

"Hey, babe," Mike whispered back, standing up to give his wife a tight hug. She took deep breathes as her face was pressed against his chest.

"Did you ever tell him?" Carrie wondered, pulling herself away from the hug and looking into her husband's eyes.

He bit his lip and shook his head, turning his head the other way. "No. I couldn't do it. Every time I try to, the hurt in his eyes make me weak."

Sighing, the tired blonde turned her head to look at Isaiah and his features. "I think it's time. It's torture for him to not know what's going on. Look at the poor guy, he doesn't have anymore hair left. He's already asked us multiple times why his hair has fallen out and we continue to tell him the same lie."

"You're right," Mike nodded his head, looking down at his feet.

"Hey, look at me," Carrie smiled, lifting her husband's chin up with her pointer finger. "He's going to be perfectly fine. Today was his last chemo. The doctors said he was slowly getting better. He just needs to know what he's been battling."

Mike pressed his lips against Carrie's and slid his hands down her waist to grip her bottom. Finally getting that certain feeling from a kiss that he had been longing. That feeling that made all of his problems fade away. And little did he know, Carrie had been longing for that too. They hadn't connected like this in a couple weeks.

Hearing Isaiah stir in the bed, the two quickly pulled away, smiling at each other and immensely blushing.

"Hey, sunshine." Carrie sat on the edge of the hospital bed with Mike. She gently rubbed his legs as he woke up, a smile on his face as the presence of his parents made him beam. They let him wake up before looking at each other, signaling that it was the right time.

Isaiah was gazing at the corner of the room when Mike snapped him out of his trance by called his name two or three times. "Isaiah," he said, keeping in his emotions. "How are you feeling?"

"Weak," Isaiah said. He didn't say anything more, he barely had the energy to talk.

Hearing that broke Mike and Carrie's heart instantly. They looked at each other and they could both see brokenness in each other's eyes.

"Honey..." Carrie began, already starting to tear up again. "Do you know why you have been losing your hair and going into that room this past month? And why people have been visiting you." She tried to put it in a way that he would understand. He shook his head and listened to her. "You have something in your body that is very dangerous." She was having difficulty explaining this to a five year old. "Do you know what cancer is?"

"Yes," Isaiah frowned, looking at his dad. "That's how Great Grandpa went to Heaven."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Mike stared at his son. "Well..." He began but couldn't say his following words. Carrie looked at him and saw the pain he wasn't going through.

"Do you want me to finish?"

She received a nod and took a deep breath, also feeling herself at a loss of words. "You have what your grandpa had... You have cancer, Isaiah."

Blankly staring at the blonde, the little boy blinked his eyes a few times before turning his head slowly towards his dad. "It's okay." He whispered. Itching his nose where the tubes were attached. "I remember you guys telling me that Heaven is an awesome place." Isaiah smiled, seeming to be more happy than usual. "I would get to visit everyone that is there right now."

"Isaiah." Mike interrupted him, becoming more upset by the minute. "This doesn't mean you're going to die."

"I know, daddy. But if I did, it wouldn't be so bad."

Carrie looked at the little boy strangely with tears streaming down her cheeks, confused at why he was dealing with this so well. He was only five and could comprehend the situation better than she could. The parents hugged their son together, both of them an emotional wreck, praying in their minds that his time wasn't yet to end. But God has His own plans.