He’s My Guardian Angel

I walk outside on the sunny afternoon, the black raven following silently above me, as always. It was only Angel. He followed me around everywhere I went. I ran up to the top of the hill at the back of the school, sliding down carefully so that nobody would see me.

“You can come out, Angel, nobody’s around,” I say quietly, not looking as the raven changed to a young man. He would appear no older than eighteen, with dark brown hair that was nearly black. His eyes were very odd, though, as they were blue with black specks inside.

“Why do you call me that, Seraphina?” I flinch when he used my real name. Nobody called me Seraphina. Not even my parents, who I felt like I no longer knew.

“Because you never told me your name.” I hand him the apple, which he takes gratefully.

“You’re birthday is in two weeks. You’ll be fifteen?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think it’s time you knew my name.” I smile excitedly, fighting to keep from bouncing from where I sat on the still-damp grass.

“But, not here. Maybe later.”

I slouch slightly from that answer, grumbling, “You say that every year.”

“Because every year, you prove to be a danger magnet.” I grimace when he said that, nibbling on my ham-and-cheese sandwich. We had lunch together everyday.

Angel has been with me since I was five. I could still remember the day very clearly. But, that is truly a tale for another time.

I ran a hand through my long black hair nervously, feeling Angel’s gaze on me. I looked up at the clouds, trying to make shapes out of them with my grey-blue eyes. “Hey, Angel, what does Heaven look like?”

“That’s classified.” I give him an annoyed look, sighing as I knew there was no way of getting him to tell me. Angel said everything was “classified.”

I hear the school bell ring, and sigh, gathering the rest of my lunch. Angel transforms into a raven once again. I head toward my next class, everyone giving me disgusted looks. But, they didn’t understand.

Everyone thought that I was a “freak” for having a raven follow me around. Older people, like senior citizens, would say, “Witch.” Adults would yell at me, calling me a “freak.” Parents are always telling their kids, whenever I walk by, “Now, sweetie, remember, don’t ever be like Raven. Having that bird around surely means she’s sick.” Everyone else calls me a loser.

No matter how much I want to scream and yell, tell them everything and why Angel follows me, I know it’d be wrong. His secrecy is important. They could take him away. Then where would I be? Dead, surely. People would want to put tests on me; put me through near-death experiences to see what he’d do. If they didn’t kill me, then They would. Angel told me that even my knowledge of him was forbidden.

But, as I was saying: No matter how much better I’d be if I screamed out in frustration, yelled at everyone who calls me names, I can’t. I merely bite my tongue, take a deep breath, and just walk away. And while they continue calling me names and words that I shall not repeat, I just continue on my way, to my home. That’s the one place that Angel causes the most trouble.

You know how most parents are divorced? Ha, I wish mine were. All day and night I hear them argue. I cover my ears by day, bury my head under my pillow by night; but I still hear their vicious yelling. My only comfort is my brother, Wolf.

Wolf isn’t his real name either. But, his Guardian Angel follows him around as a wolf, too. He knows how I feel about the world; understands the hurt I carry around everyday. It’s really a wonder about where I’d be without him.

ღ ☮ ღ

As the school day went by, much like any other, it was finally time to go home. Wolf pulled up, in his big Ford truck, smirking as he sees Angel. Wolf — wait, I mean Connor — has Lisa right beside him. The female wolf stood tall and proud, looking like a regular ancient princess in my opinion.

“Hey, Seraphina.”

“Hey, Connor.”

We both flinched at hearing our real names. Usually, whenever someone says our names, a million insults are sure to follow. It really is quite unfair how our names themselves have become forbidden to utter. It wasn’t like we were named after the Devil — although everyone says that we are the Devil.

But, I have a good feeling for some reason.

ღ ☮ ღ

Mom and Dad continue yelling, as Wolf and I hide away in our rooms. We were playing go fish with Lisa — Angel refused to “partake in such a childish game of cards.” Lisa pointed out that once you compared my age to his, then I would seem a child. Which, of course, led to me asking how old he was, and his classic answer, “It’s classified.”

“Got any fours?” Wolf asks.

“Go fish.”

“Got any fives?” Lisa asks.

“Go fish.”

“Seraphina, aren’t you hungry yet? You hardly ate any lunch.” Angel always wanted something to do. Sometimes I wondered why he didn’t just put me in danger himself, just to give himself something to do. — I know, mean thoughts.

“Wolf, do you have any twos?” I ask, ignoring him.

“Go fish.”

“Seraphina,” Angel snaps angrily. I flinch, looking up at him. “You need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Raven, if he thinks that you should eat, then you should eat.” Lisa always sided with Angel. Unless it was one of those matter of opinion things. Like, if I thought that a boy was cute.

“Fine.” I grumble under my breath, preparing to walk downstairs and make myself some dinner. The doorbell rang, and Wolf looked at me.

“You, sit.” Angel pushes me back down on my bedroom floor.

“What could possibly go wrong with answering the door?” I whine childishly, finding his protective-Guardian behavior to be ridiculous.

“A lot of things can happen just by answering the door, Sarah.” I groan with frustration, knowing there was no hope with me winning this battle. I watch as he climbs out the window, grumbling angrily to myself. Sometimes Angel is just such a pain in the butt!