Guardian Angel

Anna lay on the ground. She didn’t move nor breathe. She was dead. Cars honked; a woman shrieked in the background, quickly drowned in the commotion created by the crowd gathered.  Streetlights illuminated her crumpled figure. But Michael stood frozen, watching over her body as he always did in the past.  Nobody saw him as he bent down to touch her face or hear him whisper into her ear. And nobody saw his tears as he was swallowed up by the ground.

“Michael, please,” God gestured,” Come in.”

Michael made his way into the cabin, and stood in front of a large oak desk. He clasped his hands behind his back, more for the sake of calming his fidgety nerves than to appear attentive like a soldier. He stared out the window and avoided looking down at the figure sitting behind the desk.

“Is there something troubling you Michael?” asked God, his face smiling kindly. Releasing his hands, he moved closer and whispered, “My Lord, I don’t think I can do this anymore. Every day I look at her and I see the timer ticking away above her head. “

“All the charges I was assigned in the past- they died too, leaving behind their hopes, their dreams, their pain,” Michael’s body convulsed as he tried hard not to cry. His pent up emotions were threatening to burst out unceremoniously. “Why do you make them if you are going to take it all away?” he cried.

God made his way around the desk and held Michael. In a soothing voice, he replied,” All that lives, must die one day. That is how they were designed. As for their dreams, I do not make them, my children themselves do. I have no intention of interfering where I shouldn’t.”

His eyes hardened and he continued, ”Nor should you.”

Temeluch followed Anna as she made her way out through the crowd outside the ice-cream parlour. She licked the chocolate and held onto to her cone, smiling to herself. She had finally perfected that god-awful spin at the ice-rink today. The look on Rebecca’s face was priceless, she giggled to herself. Looking straight ahead haughtily, she added a hop to her step and giggled some more.

Temeluch couldn’t help but smile. Anna had toiled for weeks to land steadily on the ice. She deserved a reward, she rightly did, he thought sadly.  Anna reached the edge pavement and paused cautiously before crossing the street.

And then, time slowed down. Temeluch heard the screeching of the tyres before he saw the car appear rashly out of a corner to his left. A drunk driver, Temeluch recalled. He looked back at Anna. She was to have dinner with a father today. It had been so long.

Temeluch remembered the tears that were shed by a young Anna. He had watched over her as she cried herself to sleep every might, wondering what she had done wrong. Did her father really hate her for killing mom? He watched her as she agonized over getting that perfect grade, landing perfectly on the ice after she spun round and round to the point of dizziness. She gave her best shot and Temeluch kept protecting her. He protected her when her class bullies planned a prank on her; he had protected her when the ice rink manager asked her to stay back alone to violate her.

The car was still a few feet away when Temeluch placed himself inside the car next to the driver. Anna hadn’t reached the other end of the street yet and the driver had started to panic. Temeluch yanked the handbrake and watched the car swing out of control.

Faster Anna, a few paces more and you’re safe.

He’s an angel after all, he had thought. He should be used to this. He’s seen countless of his wards die over centuries. His previous charge had been a sprightly young boy when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Nathan, the boy, had lived for another ten years. He hadn’t given up.

But Temeluch had felt his pain. Even though his ward smiled on the outside, Temeluch could feel his own insides burning. Nobody had told him it would hurt so much. All those years of protecting him had meant nothing in the end.

The headlights from the incoming car illuminated Anna’s face, growing stronger and stronger in intensity; her eyes widened in fright. The car somehow was moving towards her, although out of control. Temeluch watched in horror as the car hit her and her scream echoed through the night.

She was dead. He stood near her lifeless body, as people continued to gather around. Tears rolled down his eyes.
Why? Why did this happen?

He bent down and whispered in her ears, “I’m sorry. Goodbye.” And he was sucked into the ground. His wings were stripped off, feather after feather. He shrieked in pain and continued to fall until he reached hell. And there he stayed writhing in agony and grinding his teeth.

Time flowed in the usual rhythm again. Tick tock, tick tock. The onlookers gathered around the body, curious to see a ten year old girl sprawled dead on the ground. Blue and red lights of the ambulance flickered in the night.