The wind howled through the trees, rattling windows and sending leaves swirling in every direction. The night was alive with the fury of a storm, dark clouds blotting out the moon and casting the world into an eerie shadow. Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening crack of thunder that seemed to shake the very earth. It was on this night, when the world was at its most chaotic, that the Ruths found him.
Marianne Ruth shivered as she pulled her cardigan tighter around her. She had just finished closing the last window in the house when she heard it—a faint, desperate cry that barely rose above the howling wind. She froze, her heart skipping a beat. The sound was unmistakable. A baby. But who would leave a child out in a storm like this?
"John!" she called, her voice edged with urgency. Her husband, who had been preparing to secure the front door, looked up, concern etched on his face.
"What is it, Marianne?" he asked, hurrying to her side.
"Listen," she whispered, her hand clutching his arm.
They both stood still, straining to hear. The cry came again, louder this time, carried by the wind. Without another word, they rushed to the front door, flinging it open despite the rain that immediately lashed at their faces.
There, on the doorstep, wrapped in old blankets and rags, lay a small bundle. The baby inside was crying, its tiny fists flailing against the night. Marianne gasped, dropping to her knees beside the child. She scooped the baby into her arms, holding it close to her chest as she shielded it from the rain with her body.
"Who could have done this?" John muttered, looking around as if expecting to see someone lurking in the shadows. But the street was empty, the storm making it impossible to see beyond a few feet.
"We can't leave him out here," Marianne said, her voice trembling with both fear and determination. "We have to take him in."
John nodded, his face set with resolve. "Of course. Bring him inside, quickly."
They hurried back into the house, closing the door firmly behind them. The warmth of the living room was a stark contrast to the storm outside, and Marianne wasted no time in unwrapping the baby, checking him over to make sure he was unharmed.
"He's so tiny," she whispered, her heart swelling with a mixture of emotions she couldn't quite name. "How could someone leave him out there like that?"
John stood beside her, his expression softening as he looked down at the child. "Maybe they had no choice," he said quietly. "Maybe... this was the best they could do."
Marianne looked up at her husband, tears glistening in her eyes. "What are we going to do, John? We can't just... give him away."
John reached out, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Then we won't," he said firmly. "We'll raise him as our own. He's our little miracle, Marianne. Our light in the darkness."
Marianne looked down at the baby, who had stopped crying and was now gazing up at her with wide, curious eyes. A small, fragile hand reached up and grasped her finger, and she felt her heart melt.
"Tej," she whispered. "His name will be Tej. It means light... and that's what he is."
John smiled, nodding in agreement. "Tej Ruth. Our son."
The decision was made in that moment, and from then on, Tej was their child in every way that mattered. They showered him with love and attention, their lives revolving around his every need and desire. He grew up in a home filled with warmth and care, never wanting for anything.
But as the years passed, the Ruths began to notice something... different about their son. It wasn't anything they could put their finger on at first—just small things, like the way he would sometimes stare off into the distance as if lost in thought, or how he seemed to have an almost uncanny ability to sense when someone wasn't being truthful. They brushed it off as just part of his personality, loving him all the same.
Yet, there was something more to Tej than even they could understand. Something that had been with him since that stormy night they found him. A secret that would soon begin to unravel, leading Tej down a path they could never have foreseen.
But for now, in this moment, he was just their little boy, their shining light in a world that had once been so dark.
As the storm raged on outside, the Ruths held their son close, unaware of the storm that was beginning to brew within him.