Guardian Angel

I pulled my jacket tighter around myself, shivering in the cold, night rain. The clouds above me looked dark and angry as they poured out heavy raindrops onto the city streets and I found myself wishing that I could be back home. I could have had a warm blanket around myself as I sat in my cozy duplex watching TV and ignoring the unrelenting rain, but instead I had felt the strangest urge to wander the city streets despite the late hour and the storm going on around me.

I couldn’t explain it exactly. One minute I was just sitting on my couch and watching my favorite crime show, and the next I had shut off the TV, grabbed my jacket, and left the apartment to wander around outside. Somehow this uncontrollable urge to go out had just consumed me, and now I stood out in the rain questioning that bizarre decision.

Then I saw him. I mean, even in my confused state of mind I didn’t understand how I could miss the young man standing a few yards away. He was fairly tall and he wore a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow and light blue jeans. He had light hair, light eyes, fair skin, and his whole being seemed to glow despite the rain falling around him. He just stood there, his arms crossed, until he met my gaze.

I immediately looked away, embarrassed about the fact that I had been staring at him, but to my surprise he started over in my direction with a slight smirk on his face.

“I was hoping you’d follow me,” he said. Something seemed weird about the way he spoke, the words sounding airy as they sounded in the night air.

For a second I didn’t think he had been talking to me, but as I glanced around the alley we stood in, I realized that we were the only ones there.

“I’m sorry, but do I know you?” I asked. He definitely didn’t look familiar, but I felt like I knew him somehow.

He considered it a moment. “Not exactly,” he said finally, “but I do know you. I happen to be your guardian angel.”

My first thought was that the guy had to be delusional. But something inside me told me that his words were true, though it made no sense.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I can explain it to you while I walk you back to your place. Once we get there I think you’ll understand.”

He walked past me toward the direction I had come from, but I hesitated before following him. I hadn’t walked very far from home, so I felt like his explanation should have taken longer than it would take for me to get back.

“Are you coming?” He asked, waiting for me to lead the way.

I followed him and started to lead him toward home. I don’t quite know why, but it simply felt right; it was sort of like I had entered some kind of trance.

“Now, I’m not exactly sure I’m allowed to be showing myself to you, but I don’t exactly play by the rules,” he said as we walked. “I’ll probably get in trouble for this later, but I’m just sort of tired of helping people without them ever finding out about it, you know? Anyway, as your guardian angel it is my job to protect you. Sometimes we fail at that duty and sometimes we succeed. We angels know things that regular people don’t know. I didn’t exactly know why, but I knew that, to protect you, I had to lure you out of your home at this time.”

I listened to him intently. Though I didn’t necessarily believe him, I wanted to hear his story. The way he spoke made him sound infinitely wise as he talked about being an angel.

I cleared my throat. “Why is that?”

“You were in danger by staying there,” he answered simply.

“By staying in my own home? Oddly enough, I feel like I’d be in more danger by wandering the city streets alone rather than staying inside.” I told him a little skeptically.

He shrugged. “My senses are never wrong. I still don’t know exactly why, but I knew you had to get out.”

I was beginning to seriously doubt him at this point. He had to be insane; how could I have believed his guardian angel story for even a minute? I didn’t want to be rude, but I seriously wanted to ditch the psycho before he found out where I lived.

But as we rounded the corner of my street and as my gaze met my duplex, I saw it overflowing with flames and black smoke. The orange blaze seemed immune to the downpour that still raged on. Two fire trucks were parked in front of the house and countless firemen struggled to put out the fire.

I forgot all about my guardian angel and ran over to the first fire truck. I could hear him following me over there, but at the moment I didn’t even care. I could see a man up in the truck with a walkie talkie, apparently communicating with one of the firemen inside.

“What happened?!” I called up to him desperately.

“Is this your place?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’ve only been gone maybe ten minutes! How did this happen?!”

“Looks like an electrical fire. Whoever wired the place must’ve messed up the whole thing.”

I stood there as my mind spun around in frantic circles, not knowing what to do, when I suddenly heard the angel’s voice behind me.

“You’ll be okay. Trust me, I’m never wrong,” he said. His airy voice soothed me ever so slightly.

I turned around to thank him for saving my life, but all I could see was empty street. My guardian angel had disappeared, though I could feel his presence nearby. I felt bad for not believing in him before, and as I thought about how he had saved me without even thinking twice I found myself missing him a little.

However, I could also feel a strange sensation inside; as if he was trying to tell me that he, my guardian angel, would always be with me.

The End