The Protector's

“Messenger of hope, who touches earth,
You were God’s gift to me at birth.
As I walk life’s journey I clearly see
Why God sent you to watch over me."

- Shirley Hile Powell

I carried the grocery bag’s from the store to my mom’s minivan, parked too far away from the store in my opinion. When I got to the car my mom pressed the button and the trunk popped open. I dropped the bag’s in the trunk and when I straightened up my eyes caught sight of a familiar face-too familiar.

He wasn’t much taller than me, but at 5’7’’ I wasn’t exactly short. He was muscular, with tanned skin and short blonde hair. I’ve seen him before…five times.

At first, it seemed like we ran into each other a lot, although I’ve never actually spoken to him. I’d always spot him from far away, but he was always staring at me. The third time it happened I found it a little odd, especially in a city the size of Cincinnati, but I figured it was a coincidence.

Apparently not. He was alone, but just like the first five times, he was staring directly at me.
Suddenly a bag of apples I had been holding fell and the apples broke out of the bag and scattered everywhere. I mumbled under my breath as I bent down to pick them up. I looked up to see the stranger walking towards me and I could feel my heart start to beat faster. I quickly picked up the last of the apples and threw them in the trunk next to the other groceries. I quickly turned away and jumped in the car.

“Mom, let’s get out of here,” I said urgently as I buckled my seat belt.

When we got home I went up to my room, shaking the thoughts of the strangers out of my mind. They hadn’t done anything to hurt me, maybe it was just a strange coincidence. I shut my bedroom door behind me and plopped down on my cushion that rested on my bay window. I stared into the vast woods behind our house from my bedroom window on the top floor. Since it was a bay window, I sat on the red, velvet cushion in the recess of my wall. I leaned back against the wall. Whenever I needed to do homework, read a book, or just needed to be alone, this is where I went.

I smiled as I saw a small rabbit hop across the trail that went deep into the woods, the trail that began where my backyard ended. That was also another place I went when I wanted to be alone. It was such a nice feeling, just walking through the woods, listening to a bird chirping, or listening to the sound my boots made when they crunched the dead leaves beneath my feet. I got up off my cushion and walked down stairs.

“I’m going for a walk,” I told my mom, who was currently sitting in the living room, trying to feed my baby brother John, while watching Oprah at the same time.

“Ok,” she mumbled in response. As I walked out the door I grabbed my green camouflage jacket from the coat hanger next to the door, and slipped it on. I circled around the house to the back yard and started down the trail. As I walked I listened to the birds singing, but it wasn’t until I heard the crickets join the chorus that I realized it was starting to get dark. I was about to turn around when I heard a low growling coming from a nearby bush.

I swiftly turned around and ran back the way I had come. As I walked I heard a low growl coming from the bushes where the rustling had come from. I knew one thing for sure, it wasn’t a rabbit. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I started to sprint down the trail. Just as quickly as I started to run, I heard big, heavy footsteps, and a deep, loud panting following close behind. It only took me a second to figure out what was chasing me; a bear.

I pushed myself to run faster. Deep inside I knew I couldn’t outrun a bear, but I wasn’t just going to sit there and let it kill me. It was that ‘fight or flight’ response inside me that told me to run.

Suddenly I tripped over a tree root sticking out of the ground, and smashed face first into a tree. I felt a strong stinging sensation and what felt like water all over my face, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I struggled to get up as the footsteps rapidly approached. As I tried to stand up a felt a burning pain in my leg. I glanced down and saw my leg bent in an odd shape. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming.

I looked up just in time to see the bear mere feet away from me. I saw it’s snout pulled back into a sneer, exposing a row of sharp, deadly teeth. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. I was frozen with fear.

Out of the blue, I saw a blur tackle the bear from the side, knocking it aside. I watched more closely and realized that the blur was a man. I watched in horror as the man wrestled with the bear. He suddenly jumped away from the bear. The bear didn’t waste any time and took the opportunity to lunge at him. The man just lifted his arm and swung it at the bear. To my surprise the bear was throw against a tree. As soon as the bear recovered from the daze he rolled onto his four legs and hobbled away, deciding that fighting with the man wasn’t worth it.

As the bear ran out of sight I turned my attention back to the man who had just saved my life, and recognized his face. It was the face of the man I had seen six times before. His eyes met mine. He smiled when he saw me staring at him, mouth opened in an O shape. I tried to find the words to thank him, but I couldn’t talk. The bear was gone, but I was still trying to stop my heart from beating itself right out of my chest.

“That was a close one,” he said with a laugh as he strode towards me. I was suddenly terrified of the man. He just saved my life, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to hurt me himself. That must be why he saved my life, he wanted me all to himself. He must be a stalker, that’s how he knew I was here in the woods. After all, how many people just happen to stumble upon a defenseless girl who’s about to be mauled by a bear?

I tried to raise my body. I knew it was useless, because even if I could walk the man was faster and stronger than me. There was no way I could outrun him. I screamed in agony as I felt the burning sensation in my leg.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a soothing voice. I didn’t move, but I could still feel my heart racing when he knelt down in front of me.

“I need you to hold absolutely still,” he said in a serious voice, looking me in the eyes.

I stiffened up as he touched my leg. He held my leg in his hands, just looking at it. His eyes met mine again.

“This might hurt a little, but I need you to remain still,” he said. My heart just about burst out of my chest, and my blood ran cold. What was he going to do to me?!

I screamed and cried out in pain and fear as he straightened out my deformed leg. As he gripped the place where my leg was bent I felt my pain lessen. My screaming was reduced to a quiet sobbing as the pain stopped. Without the pain blocking all my other senses I remembered the sharp pain and water on my face. I brought my hand to wipe the water away. As I pulled my hand away from my face and saw a dark red liquid on my finger. I realized with a sick feeling in my stomach that it was blood.

“I’ll heal that too,” the man said. As he reached up to touch my face I jerked back as a reflex.

“I won’t hurt you,” the man muttered, his voice as smooth as honey.

This time when he reached for my face I held still. He placed his hands on either both my cheeks and a few seconds later all my pain was gone. After he pulled his hands back I reached up to touched my face. When I pulled my hand back to look at it, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t any blood on it. I looked back at the man with a awe.

“How did you do that?” I asked in a small voice. This time when I tried to stand up I didn’t feel any pain. As soon as I was standing I took a step away from the man.

“Who are you, and why did you save me?” I asked, my voice a little stronger this time. Suddenly a girl appeared beside me. The same girl I had seen with the man twice before. She had shoulder length dark brown hair and deep brown eyes, with dark tanned skin.

I screamed in surprise and fell backwards. Before I hit the ground I felt a pair of strong arms catch me from behind. I scrambled to my feet and turned around. Behind my I saw a boy who had I had been with the man twice before. He had long black hair that fell into his dark blue eyes. The three people that surrounded me had something unworldly about them, I just couldn’t figure out what it was that was different about them.

“Who are you people?” I asked.

“Behold! I am the arch angel Gabriel. I bring you a message from God!” The black haired boy announced, making big gestures. The girl beside me rolled her eyes.

“Stop messing around with her, Nathaniel. She’s already scared enough as it is,” she scolded him.

“Ok, fine. I’m not Gabriel, but we do have something to tell you-” The boy called Nathaniel started to say.

“But first, let’s introduce ourselves,” the girl interjected. “I’m Miriam.”

“I’m Rodney,” the brown haired boy said.

“And I’m Nathaniel,” the black haired boy said, giving a small wave.

“And we are your Protectors,” Miriam said. I must have had a confused expression on my face because Rodney said,

“You would be more familiar with the term guardian angels.” What did he think I was? An idiot?

“Yeah, you’re guardian angels and I’m the queen of England,” I said sarcastically.

“You want proof?” Nathaniel asked. I nodded. This ought to be interesting. He closed his eyes for a second and he started to float. He was hovering just inches from the ground. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

“That proof enough for you?” he asked. I squinted at him, looking for some sort of harness or rope that was holding him up.

“Where’s the rope?” I asked.

“No rope, no trick. We’re angels sent from The Protectors to protect you. If you want more proof just remember how Rodney healed you,” he said as he dropped back to the ground.

“I still don’t believe you, but let’s say for arguments sake, that you really are who you say you are. You say you’re sent by The Protectors, who are they?”

“We’ll explain everything, but first let’s get you home, it’s getting late and your mom is probably starting to worry about you now,” Miriam said.

“Yeah, she probably is-hey, wait, how do you know that?” I asked.

“We’re your Protectors we know everything about you,” she said.

“Ok, this is getting a little to freaky for me, just leave me alone. Thank you for saving me, I’m really grateful, but I’m out of danger now, so just leave me alone.” I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but they were already starting to sound and act like stalkers.

“We can’t do that, you were assigned to us, and it’s our job to protect you, we can’t just ‘leave you alone’,” Nathaniel said.

I rolled my eyes as I turned around and walked back home. I hoped they wouldn’t follow me, but when I heard footsteps behind me I knew it was the exact opposite. I sighed as I turned around.

“Look, even if you were my ‘angels’, you can’t come home with me, how would I explain to my mom why three people followed me home?”

“Oh, don’t worry, she won’t be able to see us, only you can see us,” Nathaniel said.

“Uh-huh, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.” All the way home the three strangers followed me.

When I reached my door I stopped. This was the moment of truth. If my mom could see them, which I’m positive she’ll be able to, then it’ll prove they’re lying. But if she can’t, then I guess I’ll have no choice but to believe them, but that could never happen, because guardian angels didn’t exist, did they? I took a deep breath as I opened the door and stepped inside, with the strangers right behind me. Nathaniel closed the door as I hung up my jacket on the coat stand.

“Mom, I’m home,” I called through the house. I walked into the living room and saw my mom laying on the couch. She sat up when I walked in.

“I was starting to worry about you,” she said. I waited for her to ask about the three strangers standing right next to me, but she just turned around and went back to watching TV.

“Mom, aren’t you going to ask about the three people I brought home?” I asked. She turned around and looked at me with a questioning look on her face.

“You brought someone home? Where are they?” she scanned the living room and her eyes passed right over the three strangers.