The Night Rider

continued.....................................He uses his forearm to break the fall and slow done the speed at which he is skidding across the concrete. He feels a burn and yells out in pain. The bike crashes onto a tree and the rider stops in the middle of the road. The rider doesn’t move.

            On his hands and knees, Mervin crawls to his bike and away from the crazed rider. He's wet and blood is gushing from his head as he never wore a helmet. Mervin begins to feel light hearted, his vision blurs.

Raven

She did it. He's hurt and now she will finish him off. No Mercy, the motto she lives by.  She turns the bike off and leaves it in the middle of the street. Raven walks in slow, dragged out steps, her black helmet disguises her. It is her mask to cover her identity.

            Mervin is bleeding; she follows the trail of blood. She can see that he is defeated. There is no fight left in him.

            "Who are you? He says. "What do you want from me?

            Raven doesn’t respond to him, she pulls her arm behind her and pulls out a glock.

            "Please, please. I don't have any money!" Mervin is crying.

            She points the gun at his face. Her hand steady, her breath slow, eyes wide. This is the moment she has awaited. Her final glory……………….

            "Who are you?" he whispers. He is so weak his head can no longer hold itself up. He places it on the ground and lets his body fall to the wet ground. Raven looks at him. He is bruised, scared, and vulnerable, just how she wanted him but now that the moment of victory is here, she is not enjoying him.

Mervin is a real man, flesh and blood; just like her brother was. She sees him for the first time, handsome, sad, unkempt, dirty, scared, and human. He wasn't an image of a monster in her mind anymore. Now as she lived the moment; it was different and she knew killing him would not bring her brother back.

 After all the years she denied having a heart, it was a lie. Raven did have a heart no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she didn't. Seeing Mervin in his condition stopped her dead in her tracks. Her mind told her, do it, pull the trigger and finish him off but her heart told her not to. And she struggled to make her fingers obey her and pull the trigger but they would not budge. She couldn't do it. She couldn't pull the trigger. Her eyes fill with tears, for now she feels like a failure.

            Raven sees something more in his face. He is a handsome man she can't deny that, but something she never noticed, something hidden beneath the unkempt beard. His eyes were heavy with sadness, the same sadness she carried in her eyes. She puts her weapon down by her side and turns her back to walk away when she hears him, a soft whisper behind her, "Thank you" It send shivers down her spine.

            And Mervin is thankful for facing death and surviving has given him a new outlook on his life. He will no longer chase away his regrets with the bottle, for he has promised God if she makes it, he will start a new, better life.

Raven mounts Rita. She's not satisfied. Surely revenge would taste sweeter but nothing but bitterness is left. She watches him from her bike. He clutches his injured hand close to his body. Blood pours out his exposed flesh. He uses one hand to try and pull his mangled bike out of the tree but it's no use. He's lost too much blood, and it too weak. He passes out. Raven knows if she leaves him there, he will die, and this is what she wanted all along, but she can't. She feels sorry for the man who killed her brother. She rides over to him and stops next to his body. She removes her helmet and shakes her long dark hair loose. Mervin hears movement and looks up with blurred vision. He sees a woman, long hair, beautiful face, and angel he thinks. Her eyes big and blue like priceless sapphires. She removes her leather jacket, and then her black tank top. He is convinced is dreaming or dead. Raven wraps her shirt around his head so slow the bleeding down. Then she puts her jacket back on but not before he sees a tattoo of an angel on her stomach. Now he knows she is an angel sent to rescue him. She kneels next to him and wraps her arms underneath him to help him up. Mervin can barely stand but he holds on to her. "Get on. I'll bring you to the hospital. She helps him up then sits in front. "Hold on tight" she tells him and he does. He hangs on with all the strength he has left. She rides fast and hard. She knows the road and the back road and a trip that would take even an ambulance forty minutes takes her fifteen. Once there she walks him in before handing him over to a nurse and walks away.

            "Ms, Ms. Wait a minute!" she yells to Raven but she continues.

"Stop her!" she yells at the security officer who sleeps on a chair by the entrance door but he is not fast enough to catch Raven. She is down the street with Rita before he even makes it out the hospital doors. Mervin would never get to thank the angel who saved him; and he would never know the truth; the one who wanted him dead was the angel who saved him!