The Kenchi Community Gardens Apartment Complex...
Swollen clouds of the thickest grey had blanketed the sky looming above The Kenchi Community Gardens Apartment Complex where a lone woman had been out and about doing laundry. She was a lovely woman when up close with long flowing dark hair and lovely blue eyes like tiny pools of the ocean when seen up close. She had a fair complexion and a lean build despite her elegance when moving about. She was a highly educated teacher at Cakari College and was happily married to Alexander J. Tempet, her blond hair brown-eyed husband whom she had known ever since they had been attending Rewell College together and studying world history. Alexander was an average-sized man of impressive height that wore glasses due to his poor eyesight and mostly kept his nose buried in books for as long as she'd known him.
Alexander Tempet and his wife had been trying for quite some time to start a family of their own once they'd been situated in terms of residence and finance with their respective occupations and as a result, Mrs. Tempet had finally gotten pregnant and was patiently awaiting the arrival of their unborn child while on maternal leave from work.
On this most peculiar of days, The lovely Mrs. Tempet had gone out to retrieve the hanging laundry due to the oncoming storm and she'd been heavily pregnant. Against her better judgment when the raging of the tempest began, she had opted to get the clothes before the downpour ruined them. Moving quickly, she rushed outside amid the elements and began to collect the clothes into her brown wicker basket hoping to save them from the rain. She had managed to successfully get the clothes down and into the basket before the rain really got to pouring but she had been much too slow to avoid the sudden and violent burst of plasma across the sky in the form of lightning which struck her just as she made her way across the backyard and toward her sliding glass door leading back to her well managed two bedroom apartment.
The basket had been flung into the air as Mrs. Tempet found herself going numb and unable to see. She collapsed onto the cold wet grass and fumbled her way toward her last known memory of her apartment's location. The sound of the thunder echoed loudly in her ears as she frantically attempted to reach at least the glass sliding door.
Fear and panic filled her as she came to the realization that even if she had reached the apartment, she'd been home alone with her husband Alexander at work and everyone she knew either at their respective jobs or running errands. Still, Mrs. Tempet attempted to crawl her way along the soggy ground toward her home fearful of another burst of lightning striking where she'd been. Unbeknownst to her at the moment, she'd been having a good bit of difficulty moving due to her contractions taking place at an alarming rate. The lightning had stimulated her nervous system and as a result, she was in labor before time with two months to go before her child had been full term.
Unable to do much about her situation, Mrs. Tempet had been determined to get as close to the house as possible being blinded and freezing cold from the rain. She suffered a good deal of burns from the lightning strike that turned her skin where it hit her black and sickly as she felt only numbness for a time before excruciating bouts of pain seized her heavily taxed pregnant body.
Having little to no choice, the contractions got closer together, and before she knew it, she'd been on the verge of giving birth to her unborn child. Mrs. Tempet had gotten close enough to the tossed-about laundry to feel it against her skin as she huddled her body close and painstakingly gave birth to her child two months before he'd been due.
She had not known how long the labor had taken nor what she'd do about it once the baby had been there but she was determined to ensure her child had been as safe as possible. She thought of Alexander as she pushed and readied herself as best she could for the baby to come into the world, hoping and praying that the child would be safe despite the onset of the storm.
She pushed with all her might as the child had come forth from her bloodied womb and she frantically attempted to get it to cry. For a time there was nothing aside from her pained gasps as she held the small bundle close unable to see what became of the child and fearful of the lack of crying from it.
"Breathe," she instructed her newborn baby. "Come on Breathe."
She held the child close to her wrapped in a sheet from the toppled laundry she'd been collecting. The baby she felt had been a boy, a small boy due to his premature birth and being born during a storm. She felt around for the basket and placed her child inside just as the tiny bundle began to cry just after she smacked him across the backside forcing air into his lungs just as she had seen in many films that had to do with childbirth.
The desperate new mother couldn't see her newborn baby boy but she felt him and was even more determined to get him out of the cold. Howling winds had been upon them due to the violence of the storm and knocked the clothing line from its position just as a mother burst of lightning struck moving along the clothing line and hitting a rain-soaked Mrs. Tempet just as she reached for her son striking them both with a blunted blast from the lightning.
Mrs. Tempet's heart stopped at that moment as she shielded her baby from the rain while he remained in the basket still jolted from the current coming off his mother. He began to cry amid the storm as he felt the inevitable conclusion of his mother no longer being able to care for him after she had died from being struck indirectly this time.
Mrs. Tempet died holding her son inside his basket in the middle of the violent storm, alone and terrified of what would become of her newborn son.
By the time Alexander Tempet had rushed home, his newborn son had been half dead as well and nearly drowned by the rain. Frantic, he had gotten help for them but it was much too late for his dearly departed wife, while his son, his newborn son had been alive and well but weak and small as a result of his near-death experience and premature birth.
He was taken to a hospital where his father had done the courtesy of naming him despite his lack of faith that he'd survive long enough to endure having it.
Reyden is what he'd chosen for the boy. A fitting name given his unusual birth. Reyden Alexander Tempet, in keeping with his late wife's previous wishes should they have had a son.
Alexander Tempet had left the hospital and wandered out into the rain the pain of losing his wife and the prospect of also losing their only son had been much too great for him. He wandered out into the street and met the oncoming traffic, a poor driver had not seen the man out in the storm in time and Alexander Tempet was met with a rather unfortunate end consumed by his sorrow of having to live without the two people he cared for most.
His death had been as premature as his son's birth and sadly had he had more faith in the boy, he might have known he was to yet live.
SEVERAL YEARS LATER...