Angels With Demons

"This place is very different.. There isn't even any smog or pollution...", the girl once called Mirabelle said aloud.

"There isn't. This place hasn't been touched by either.", replied Abel. The three were walking toward a large structure out on the middle of the field; A white building with what looked like minimalist modern archetecture.

"And where is this? Heaven?"

The two senior guardians looked at each other.

"Not exactly... It's more of a middle plane of existence..", Hanhah explained. "There is neither a heaven or hell.. To be honest, you might call an Earthly existence hell just for the experience of pain."

"Though you could think of it as.. An afterlife of sorts.", Abel spoke softly, putting much thought into his words. "The age that we appear is the same age that we left the Earthly existence."

"Meaning.. Okay, I have to ask. How did both of you die?", the blonde asked.

"I was locked outside during a snowstorm in the winter.", Abel spoke. "Fell asleep in a snow bank and never woke up. It couldn't be helped.", he finished with a sad look in his eyes. It was the other woman's turn to speak.

"I was out with my friends.", Hannah began. "We were eating at a restaurant near my home, and I choked on some chicken adobo. I wasn't paying attention and a bone was lodged in my throat. It took a total of three minutes for me to stop breathing.", she said, crossing her arms and looking off away from the other two. Abel chuckled slightly.

"Well, I ... was trying to keep my best friend from committing suicide... And I fell instead...", the blonde admitted. Her eyes stung like she was on the verge of tears, but not a drop came forth.

"You can't cry.", Abel said, opening the door. "This is the sanctum, the place where all the guardians meet."

Both women went into the structure and the blonde woman looked all around, curiously. There were two hundred or so people sitting down, wearing the same white robes that she, Abel, and Hannah wore. Their ages seemed to vary slightly, but the girl couldn't possibly believe that any of them were any older than their early twenties, nor younger than twelve.

"Believe it or not, most of them are much older than you are. By a few centuries.", Abel stated. The girl's eyes widened; A few centuries...?

"Hannah is closest to your Earthly age, I think...", Abel said, breaking through the one once called Mirabelle's thoughts. "Nineteen, weren't you?", he asked of the brunette woman. She nodded in response.

"I would have been twenty in a couple of more weeks.", Hannah added, tilting her head to the side.

"I was twenty-two. Had barely had a birthday before I decided to fall asleep in the snow.", Abel chuckled. The sad look was back in his eyes, but the tall blonde tried not to think about it.

"Excuse me, there is a new candidate here!", Hannah shouted out. A man around his mid-twenties looked up from a book that he was reading from.

"Hannah, please take care not to shout.", he spoke, looking at the new girl. Long, wavy blonde hair with slight fringe, and clear blue eyes like the ocean was what he first transfixed upon. The pallor of her skin was a nice canvas for the two striking hues.

"Welcome back, Kristen. We have been expecting you."

-
Kenna whispered to the headstone before her.

"Here lies Mirabelle Alise Johannsen. Broken to pieces by the fall that should never have happened, on a rainy day in November that shouldn't have been terrible, but was anyways."

She closed her eyes, hoping that somehow she might wake up from the nightmare, but alas, it was not to be. She wouldn't awaken from the plague that haunted her existence... There was already a scar on her, and this only cut it deeper.

"I wish I could have told you how much I love you..."

-

"This week in the news--"

Click.

"Another reported sighting of--"

Click.

"There has been a panic at--"

Click.

The man was starting to get bored of the four walls before him. Here he was, nineteen years old and had all this fame. His band had been great, but he had to ditch them in order to make something more of himself. He didn't care what anyone else said, it was for the better.

"Mr. Burchard, there is someone that needs to speak to you from your agency.. It's about the movie contract."

"Send them in, I guess...", he stated with a yawn. Big deal, some idiots from the music part of the production? He could handle that. They were probably there to give him his royalties in person and thank him for his part in the production, of course.

Three men walked in, all in black suits with ties. The male looked up and tilted his shades up to make out the faces of the men. One producer, two assistants... He knew the faces well enough.

"Good evening, Zachary.", the one he had dubbed 'hairmonger' in his mind for good reason; He never wore the same hairpiece twice.

"Evening.", he said, finally turning off the flat screen television. "So what are you here for? Are there any drinks in order for the occasion?"

"No, I'm afraid not, kid.", the hairmonger said bluntly. "The deal is that you aren't exactly putting in any effort.", he continued, taking off the spectacles from his face. "You need to either try harder, or hit the pavement."

"... Surely there is a misunderstanding.. I have been showing up, and working."

"Chatting up interns and arriving an hour late every day is not anyone's idea of working, kid.", the muscular man at the hairmonger's side spoke up. Zachary had taken to calling him 'Fathead', but not audibly. Not where he could hear it.

Definitely not.

"I didn't realize that you had such a strict schedule.", the lean brunet man almost stammered. "If that's the case, I will definitely make it a point to show up on time from now on." That royalties check was to buy him a new home, somewhere other than Chicago. Maybe Maui...

"I see. Please make it a point to make time for your obligations.", the man warned. Zach rolled his eyes from behind the shades.

"I'll do what I have to, sir."

-

"So for the time being, you'll be given orders from Christopher.", Abel spoke to the blonde. The one once called Mirabelle had been there for what seemed like an eternity; perhaps it really had been one... She was dead, after all.

Somehow being called 'Kristen' wasn't as bad as she originally thought. Maybe the name somehow fit her.

Guardians, she had learned, were the people of the world that had done something extraordinary in their Earthly existences, such as saving a life, having what was considered good karma, or making it their missions to help those in need whenever there was an opportunity to do so.

They weren't exactly angels (no wings or halos) but they were spiritual manifestations. The building that they had just left served as a learning hall of sorts. Kristen thought of it as a University lecture hall, just like what she had started attending before she had died.

That was a strange thought to wrap her head around. She was dead, but walking around and coherent.

"Abel, can you tell me more about this.. 'plane of existence'..?", she asked.

-

"Kenna! Kenna Hailey Malone! Wake up! You'll be late!", a voice shouted out from downstairs. The redhead stirred and opened her green eyes slightly. It must have been her mother; the tone sounded exasperated. How could she be that cruel?! The day before had been her best friend's funeral.

She had almost forgotten... Something very important was scheduled for that day.

An audition.