by Alice Brown
As she continued to follow the trail, her concern and worry over the missing child increased. A moment later, she realized she was getting close when she heard a young child’s faint, muffled cry. The driver of the vehicle had turned onto another road, and she relayed the information back to her body for her grandfather.
In projected form, Stephanie had the ability to move very quickly, so it took only another minute to spot the vehicle. She sent a message back to her body that she had the vehicle in sight, and relayed exactly where she was. If she had been in her human form, she would have been equipped with a GPS that her grandfather could track, but that was not possible in astral form.
She came alongside the car speeding down the highway, a little surprised to find the back seat empty. No, she fumed in rage, he didn’t put that poor child in the trunk, did he? A muffled sob two seconds later confirmed Stephanie’s worst fears. Yes, the girl was locked in the trunk, and from her muffled sob, it sounded like she was gagged.
Simply to do nothing and wait for the team to arrive was not an option. She just had to get into that trunk to try to calm the little girl down. She wasn’t even sure how much air was in the trunk. Her first time of trying to pass through the trunk to reach the child didn’t go so well. She wasn’t sure why, she had passed through solid walls before, but never on a moving vehicle. Since the vehicle lurched forward, as if it were hit from behind, Stephanie surmised that she must have tried to enter from the wrong angle. It took a few seconds for the driver to regain control of his vehicle, which gave Stephanie time to come up with another plan of attack. Thankfully, her second attempt went much better.
As she threw her astral form into the closed trunk, her first priority was to locate the child and check on her condition. The child lay with a gag around her mouth; both her hands and feet were tied up. Her nose was clogged with mucus from her crying, and the gag was further impeding her ability to breathe. Stephanie took a quick moment to ponder the situation. She was hovering over the child at this point, but of course, the child could not see her. Was there a way of showing at least part of herself to the child? She thought it would go a long way in calming the little girl down.
Stephanie thought about the little boy she had found in the park a few weeks ago. He had called her his guardian angel. Could she use her mind to conjure up an image of an angel that the child could see? Her grandfather believed that eventually she would have the ability of projecting her actual body image, but Stephanie had not mastered that yet. She needed to try something for this precious child’s sake, though. She concentrated until she had a clear image of an angel in her mind, and then willed her form to become that image. She gave herself wings and a flowing white robe, and shrank the size down to about a foot tall. A miniature angel! Just for fun she added a glowing radiance to herself. As dark as the trunk was, if Stephanie’s plan worked, it would help light the way for the child. Stephanie smiled at the image she had in her mind. She looked pretty cool as an angel.
Not knowing if her efforts would be a success, she glanced down at the little girl. She knew the moment her eyes hit the child’s face her plan had worked. The child’s eyes were wide in astonishment, and Stephanie quickly went into action to assure the child she was there to help her.
“Hi, sweetie, it’s okay. I’m here to help you. I am going to untie you first, so you are able to move around a little bit and breathe easier, but you have to promise me to stay quiet, can you do that?”
The child nodded her head in compliance, and Stephanie wasted no time in loosening the gag first, then moved to free the child’s hands and feet. As soon as the restraints were gone, the child rubbed her wrists, and Stephanie whispered a quick reminder to keep quiet.
She nodded in understanding and whispered, ever so softly, “Who are you?”
“I am your guardian angel. I was sent here to help you until the police arrive.”
The car suddenly sped up, and Stephanie knew she had to come up with a plan that included stopping the car and keeping the little girl safe until her father’s team arrived. “I need for you to be a big girl for just a few minutes. Help is on the way, but I need to slow the car down, or the police are never going to be able to catch up with us.” Even with tears running down her cheeks, the small child nodded in agreement. Stephanie acknowledged her nod and then added, “I don’t want you to get hurt while I try to get this car stopped, so I’m going to do something to help protect you. I am going to place a bubble around you. If the car starts jerking, you will bounce around as if you were inside a big bouncy ball, but you won’t get injured. The important thing to remember is to stay very quiet, because he,” Stephanie pointed toward the front of the car, “doesn’t know I am helping you, and he doesn’t know you are no longer tied up, and we want it to stay that way.” She sent what she hoped was a reassuring smile to the child.
She made quick work of creating a large bubble around the little girl, gave her hand a final reassuring squeeze, and told her she would return for her very soon. She then released her angel form, making herself invisible once again. She projected easily out of the trunk, but the sight that met her eyes as she flew past the driver in the car made her furious. He was drinking a beer while he drove, and the sneer painted across his face stated he was up to no good. A plan began to take shape in her mind, and Stephanie flew up ahead of the car about two miles.
When she stopped, it was in the middle of the highway, and thankfully no other traffic was near. She once again concentrated on her angel form, only enlarging the body to her normal size. Looking down at her image she muttered, “No, not quite good enough, let’s get a bit larger.” She concentrated on that form until she stood as a beautiful, white robed angel of seven feet tall. With her dark hair blowing in the wind behind her, and wings gently flapping—she couldn’t become an angel without them—she was a sight to behold.
She watched the car fast approaching her, and when it was close enough, she was able to watch the sneer on the driver’s face disappear and replaced with a look of confusion.
She waited until the car was just a short distance away, and sent a sudden, chilling image into her mind. She concentrated on this image until she felt her face changing. The image she held in her mind now was the body of any angel, but the head had been replaced with a fierce dragon. The car came straight at her, as if to hit her, and she changed her hands to dragon’s claws and placed both claws on the hood of the car and pushed with everything she had. The car came to a screeching halt, then was actually pushed back a foot from the force of Stephanie’s will. As soon as the car was stopped, Stephanie unleashed an extremely long dragon’s tongue, which wrapped around the driver’s throat and pulled him straight out of the car through the window. She threw him over into the woods, landing him into a nearby tree.
She threw the guy a little harder than she had actually meant to, but a quick scan showed no serious injuries. He had hit the back of his head into the tree, though, which knocked him unconscious. “He’s lucky I didn’t throw him hard enough to break him in two,” she muttered to herself with a frown. It wasn’t like he didn’t have it coming to him. But her father had drilled into her head ever since she was little they did not take the law into their own hands. Besides, if she killed the piece of trash, it would cause her a major headache with a trip to the review board. That was something nobody wanted to go through. Glancing back over to the body, she noted that he was out cold and figured that should buy enough time for the team to arrive. She then quickly relayed all necessary information back to her body for her grandfather to retrieve, and then turned her attention back to the child in need.
As she quickly headed for the locked trunk, Stephanie released the current image of herself out of her head, and went back to spirit form in order to re-enter the trunk. Once inside, she again conjured up the angel image—minus the dragon parts this time—and, as the light started radiating from her, the first thing she did was lift both her arms and push until the trunk snapped open.
“What is your name?” Stephanie asked her young charge.
“Maria,” the little girl responded, then she shivered as she caught sight of her abductor over in the woods.
“Maria, did that man hurt you?”
“He just grabbed my arm tight and he told my mother she would never see me again.” Tears immediately began welling up in the child’s eyes as she recalled her nightmare. Stephanie wanted to be sure the child wasn’t holding anything back, so she gently placed her hand on the child’s and did a quick mind invasion. What she saw was a little girl that was scared to death of her abductor, who evidently had slapped her around and pushed her out of his way numerous times in the past. It seemed her mother was just as scared of the man.
Stephanie wondered why the child’s mother had stayed and tolerated the situation. Why didn’t they just leave and get out of the abusive environment? Stephanie caught glimpses of numerous scenes through the child’s memories of the man being abusive, especially when he drank. The most horrifying scene was of the one earlier today, when he told Maria’s mother that he was taking her to Mexico to sell her for child labor.
Maria glanced back over to her abductor and sighed deeply. “He’s going to be mad when he wakes up,” she whispered fearfully.
“Don’t worry, you are safe now. By the time he wakes up, he will be on his way to jail. In just a couple of minutes, some people who work with the police are going to be here. These people don’t know I am here with you, and I’d like it to stay that way. Will you trust me?” Stephanie requested.
The child gave her a troubled expression. “Yes. Why don’t you want these people to know about you? Are you in trouble too?” she asked innocently.
Stephanie smiled down at the child and gave her a gentle hug. “No, sweetie, I am not in any trouble. It’s just some people have trouble believing in angels. You understand, don’t you?”
When the child seemed to become agitated, she continued, “I am going to stay right here until someone comes, and when they do, I will let you know immediately if you can trust them. And don’t worry, just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I am not here. I know there are a lot of police out looking for you right now, but I don’t know who will get here first. There are also several volunteers out looking for you also. If they get here first, they will be in a different uniform, but I will let you know who they are before they get here.” She paused to give the girl a reassuring smile. “Trust me, Maria. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
At that moment, Stephanie heard three motorcycles coming from several miles down the road. They would need to get a little closer before she could identify them.
Maria looked up at Stephanie’s form. “Angel, do you have a name, or do you just get called Angel?”
Stephanie smiled down at the little girl. “My name is Stephanie. I try to help children like you who find themselves in trouble.”
“Do you do this all the time?” Maria inquired further.
“As often as I can. I like what I do and I find it very rewarding to help children who are in need.”
“Thank you, Stephanie. Did you know he was going to sell me? That’s what he told my mother. He said I was no good for nothing but fetching and, he said another word, but I don’t think I am supposed to say it.” Maria’s voice quivered as she looked up at Stephanie with wide, innocent eyes.
“It’s over now, sweetie. Nobody is going to hurt you, and I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Stephanie wrapped her arms around the young girl. “You are a special little girl, and you will end up making a difference out there in the world. Maybe when you grow up, you can do something to help make sure what almost happened to you today doesn’t happen to another child.” She stood with her arms wrapped around the child for a moment, just holding her close, letting her know someone cared.
The motorcycles were getting closer, and Stephanie quickly recognized who was riding the bikes heading their way. She also heard a police siren off in the distance. “Maria, in about two minutes, three motorcycles will pull up and stop. There will be two men and one woman on these motorcycles. The men are named Kevin and Joshua, and the woman’s name is Julietta. You can trust all of them; I know them well, and have watched them help children like you before. The woman, Julietta, is a special friend of mine. Can you hear the motorcycles heading our way?”
The child listened intently for a moment. “Yes, I think I can hear them.”
“Okay, they work with the police, and a police car will be here in about five minutes after the motorcycles show up. Kevin, Joshua, and Julietta will take care of you until the police show up. They are not going to let anything happen to you; they are the good guys. Just listen to what they tell you and be a good girl, I promise you will see me again real soon.”
Maria looked up into Stephanie’s eyes, anxiety obvious in her tear-streaked face. “Okay. Are you leaving?” It was impossible to miss the quiver in her voice.
“You won’t be able to see me once the motorcycles pull up. Remember what we talked about a few minutes ago?” Maria nodded, and Stephanie continued, “Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I won’t be around. Now be a good girl and sit here quietly until help arrives, it will only be a minute now. I’ll see you again real soon.”
As she prepared to change her form back to become invisible, she hugged Maria one last time. She had checked on the little boy that she had found lost in the park numerous times. He was home with his parents and seemed to be getting over the worst of his nightmares. Stephanie knew she would be doing the same thing with Maria. Only now that Maria knew what she looked like, she could just show up in human form, and the child would recognize Stephanie instantly.
The bikes were right around the bend, and as Stephanie made herself invisible, she whispered to Maria, “Remember, just because you can’t see me anymore, doesn’t mean I won’t be here. You’ll be safe. Remember, these are the good guys. They won’t hurt you, and I am still here with you.”
Stephanie silently watched as her dad, Joshua, and Julietta brought their bikes to a stop behind the car and removed their helmets. All three got off the bikes slowly, not wanting to scare the child in front of them. Kevin was the first one to reach Maria, with Julietta right behind him. He immediately crouched down to her level. She was still sitting in the trunk where Stephanie had left her. “Are you Maria?” he inquired in a gentle voice.
Maria nodded as Joshua spotted the driver of the car next to the tree where he still lay. He took off in that direction as Kevin continued with Maria. “Hi, Maria,” he stated softly, as he slowly brought out his hand to her. “My name is Kevin, and this is Julietta, we are here to help you until the police come.”
“I know,” Maria replied calmly as she looked directly in his eyes.
“You know who I am?” Kevin inquired gently. “Have we met before, and I just don’t remember it? I would think I would remember if I had met you before.” Stephanie was well aware that both her father and Julietta had the ability to detect her presence, but they did not know what she had accomplished. No doubt all three VCTF members were pondering over this as Joshua dragged the driver of the car over to the others.
Maria glanced over to the side and spotted Joshua hauling the driver over, and immediately started to panic. Kevin noticed her heart rate increase dramatically and stood quickly to block the little girl’s view. Keeping his eyes on the scared, whimpering child, Kevin tried to reassure her. “It’s okay, Maria, he won’t hurt you. I promise that.”
As soon as Kevin finished speak
ing, Stephanie gently whispered into the child’s ear, “Maria, I’m still here. You are okay. Trust Kevin and the others, they are here to help you.”
Maria seemed to calm down immediately, and Stephanie knew full well her father had heard her whispering to the child. Kevin gave her a reassuring smile and then asked, “Maria, are you hurt anywhere? We can get you out of the trunk so you can stand and stretch your muscles a bit, if you would like.”
“I’m not hurt,” she replied. “That man tied my hands and feet up, but an angel came and helped me. She untied me and got the car to stop somehow, but I don’t know how she did it.”
Kevin nodded at the child and then crouched back down again to her level. “Can you do me a favor, Maria? I have heard other children talk about an angel helping them, and I believe in this angel. But the problem is the police don’t seem to believe these kids. Will you tell them that I untied you when I got here? I normally don’t lie, and would never ask that someone else tell a lie, but it is the only way they will believe you, so there won’t be any problems. Would you be willing to do that?” Kevin requested.
Maria nodded her head. “When she told me her name was Stephanie, she also told me that sometimes people don’t believe she is real. She said right before she disappeared that if I was a real good girl, I would see her again someday. I just heard her whisper to me a minute ago that I could trust you.” Maria looked utterly adorable with her large dark eyes staring up at Kevin.
