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Guardian Angel
By David Trebus
Published by DTstories
Copyright © David Trebus 2013
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Dedication
I'd like to thank my friends and family for all their support while I worked on this book. Especially my parents for their faith in me, Nyki for helping me with the mammoth task of editing it, and Anna for her lovely cover art.
Prologue:
Michael opened his eyes to find himself next to Claire and Jazen. They stood on the edge of a rocky cliff with a sea of fire stretching out before them. Molten lava and uncontrolled flames flowed and danced freely all the way to the horizon. In the distance, Michael caught sight of a huge red door wreathed in darkness. He knew instantly that was his destination, straight into the gates of Hell.
"I'm coming for you, Jasmine," Michael whispered. "Please hold on."
Chapter 1: Accident of Design
An urgent beeping startled Michael out of his deep comfortable sleep. He blinked a few times trying to overcome his disorientation, and slowly turned his head to look at the alarm clock. It was still early; he had a good hour to get ready and prepared to work. He hit the snooze button, shutting off the annoying noise at least for a little while longer.
Michael turned his head back and shut his eyes, shielding himself from the harsh glare of the new day that shone in through the window. London was a dreary place most days, but today the sunshine was all the brighter, shining over the busy, people-packed streets below Michael’s small apartment.
He drifted back to sleep, trying to forget the disturbing dream he had just awoken from. Before long, a new dream played out. Michael was walking along a pier with a young, blonde woman. She felt familiar, yet at the same time he had never laid eyes upon her before. She seemed to be surrounded by a shimmering haze that blurred her outline and shone bright like sunshine.
She walked along holding Michael’s hand and looking into his blue eyes with a deeply concerned expression. Her touch felt warm and comforting, yet her face was grave and gave Michael a chill. He tried to recall where he knew her from but just couldn’t force the memory to the surface of his mind.
“Who are you?” he suddenly blurted out.
The woman smiled. “That’s not important right now, Michael. You just need to know I will always be here for you, so don’t give up, no matter what happens.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Michael asked feeling confused.
“You need to be careful, Michael. I don’t want to lose you.” The woman paused, looking up at the sky, as a large cloudbank rushed in from the sea, plunging them both into darkness.
“We have run out of time." The woman continued staring out across the sea. "You need to wake up now Michael, or you will be late.”
“Wait, I still don’t even know your name. Who are you?” Michael asked more urgently.
The young woman turned to face him, her bright blue eyes staring into his. She suddenly looked very serious, pulling a stern face.
“No time, wake your lazy bum up! Toodles for now!”
***
Michael woke up with a start. He sat upright with a powerful word on his lips.
“Toodles,” he muttered under his breath, without realizing it. He lay back down and looked over at his alarm clock again. It was now 8:30; he had slept for another forty minutes and now only had twenty minutes to get to work on time.
“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, not again! Twenty minutes and my ass is toast!” Michael sprang up from his bed, nearly hitting his head on the low hanging-light bulb he couldn't be bothered to fix. He staggered over to the bathroom and ran an electric shaver over his morning stubble, before brushing his teeth in record time. He managed to pull on his suit cursing at his belt which kept catching on the wrong notch.
A glass of water and a banana scoffed down in a hurry were all he could manage for breakfast, as he walked past the kitchen and out into the hallway. Outside, he found himself dazzled by the sunshine, and had to pause for a moment to catch his bearings. “Wow…what a nice day…but why is it always so hot and stuffy in this city to go with it?”
Michael worked for a small publishing firm as a deputy manager. The job wasn’t a bad one. It didn’t pay as much as he wanted but still kept his rent covered and allowed him some small luxuries. However, it just didn’t feel right. He felt he was meant to be doing something different, something better, which was probably why he was often late. He had always dreamed of becoming a writer but, despite some small success with his work, there'd never been anything big. Sadly, dreams did not pay the bills in the real world.
Michael rushed down the steps, stumbling on a loose cobble at the bottom, and out into the street, where he saw a little girl was staring up into a tree. He paused for a moment, trying to see what she was looking at. He squinted past the sunshine. Was that a faint outline sitting on a large branch? It looked like a woman and seemed, but when he looked closer, it shimmered and disappeared.
The little girl looked round at Michael and said, “Angels Angels, high in the air, Angels Angels, everywhere!” She giggled, before skipping off down the street.
“Kids these days have too much imagination…probably from all the weird TV shows they watch,” Michael muttered before running off down the street to catch the bus into work.
***
All around him, the busy city was coming to life. Buses and taxis were ferrying people to shops and work, people were hurrying along the street to their various destinations, and the traditional logjam of traffic was beginning to form, as people struggled to push their way through first. Michael hurried along the road reaching the main street in record time.
He was lucky to have an apartment in the city at all, as his company part subsidized his rent. If he lived on the suburbs, he would most likely have been up before the sun had even risen. He did, however, envy those people sometimes, their bit of greenery, the sounds of birds in the morning, rather than cars honking and engines running. The thought felt somewhat lonely; having so many people around always helped him feel less isolated in the world even though those he actually knew would barely fill an elevator.
The high street was packed as usual, even at this time in the morning. Michael dodged the people as he ran along the pavement to reach the bus stop. He still ended up bumping into some, inciting a curse from a businessman and a loud “HMPH!” from a large woman pushing a pram, which she used as a form of battering ram, but most people accepted such things as part of day-to-day life and just kept on.
Michael threaded his way towards a pedestrian crossing. On the other side of the road, his destination shone golden in the sunlight. If he could just reach it in time, he would only be a few minutes late and could sneak in without anyone being any the wiser. He reached the lights and pressed the button impatiently several times.
To make matters worse, he saw his bus approaching the stop on the other side. It didn’t look like more than a few people were waiting for it, and with Oyster cards they could just swipe pay and the bus would be off before he could reach it. Michael uttered a silent prayer that an old granny would muck about with her change purse or someone would drop a few coins, anything to delay the bus’s departure.
The lights finally changed, and Michael almost leapt over the crossing. It seemed his luck was in; the queue of people wasn’t moving. It looked as if someone indeed had dropped a few coins and was busy collecting them up off the floor of the bus.
“Seems like lady luck is shining on me today,” Michael thought.
Just as he was nearly across the road he heard a loud screech of tyres. He barely had a moment to turn his head before a car came screaming out of a side road. The only thing he saw, before the world became a jumble of confusion, was a young woman driving a car with a mobile glued to her ear.
“I’ll…be late for work,” was Michael's last thought as he lay on the crossing. Concerned people and onlookers were gathering around him, but he caught one face amongst the crowd, the face of a young blonde woman. She looked concerned, and he thought she was calling out to him. Behind her, Michael swore he could see wings. He tried to listen to what she was saying, but his head lolled back and the world went dark.
***
The driver of the Ford Mondeo had been very busy that morning, meetings to arrange, things to do, so it was no surprise that she was on her mobile when she came round that corner. What did surprise to her were the deafening screams and wails that emerged from the mobile drowning out the sound of Roland, her assistant, who was busy giving her the report on profits for that week. The sounds were like something straight out of a horror movie. They distracted her for a moment, just as a young man began to cross the road. She caught sight of him and struggled to apply the brakes in time, but it was already too late.
The car shuddered to a stop, as the driver dropped her mobile in shock and sat staring at the young man in the middle of the road. All she could hear from the phone was static and the faint sound of laughter. Sitting stunned looking she struggled to think of a way she could explain it to the authorities, thinking of what she would tell her husband, praying the man wouldn’t be too badly hurt, so her insurance could cover it and she wouldn’t end up in jail.
If the phone going haywire in her ear earlier wasn’t odd enough, she swore she could see an outline of bright, shimmering wings leaning over the young man amongst the crowd. Sarah promised herself if everything worked out she would never use her mobile whilst driving again…or at least just use a hands-free.
***
Michael’s world was light. It was the only word he could think of to describe it. Light surrounded him; light flowed over him, light even moved through him. He turned what he perceived as his head around, but in every direction only brightness loomed. It was as if he was staring at a spotlight.
Slowly, shapes began to emerge, shapes with elegant white wings. All around him Michael, dimly heard a song, a beautiful melodious sound that made him feel strong and confident. Other such songs played all around him, forming one perfect symphony and complementing each other, instead of competing to be heard.
Michael realized the song was somehow part of him, that it was him. He tried to understand, to rationalize that a song couldn’t be him, that it was impossible, but deep down he knew it was true. Feeling the urge to look down and through the white cloud-like floor, he saw London, the city he lived in.
He saw himself lying in a bed, with people busy around him. What were they doing? What was so urgent that they all had to crowd around him? It was somewhat pleasant in a way, so much attention; Michael didn't get much since he moved away from home.
The notes of his song were playing more urgently. He looked around in confusion, as he felt himself being pulled down towards the city. Part of him didn’t want to go; part of him felt like he belonged in the symphony and wanted nothing more than to stay. A light shone on him from above. He understood instantly; it wasn’t his time, he had to go back and add his song to the symphony of the Earth. He would get his chance to play in heaven one day, but not today.
The pull grew stronger, and the light faded; the clouds grew thinner as he flowed back down towards Earth. Michael’s soul was pulled back into his body, as the CPR team brought him back from the brink. Again, Michael swore he could see the outline of a young woman shimmering as she stood over him, but then the world faded again as he returned to his body from what he thought was a dream.
“Time to wake up,” a young woman’s voice whispered.
***
Michael opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the bright, overhead light. He felt like he had been hit by a bus, and his head throbbed in pain. He turned from side to side trying to get his bearings. On his left sat a machine steadily beeping, and a small display showing different coloured lines. He turned his head to his right and found himself mere inches from the face of a young woman.
She stared straight into his eyes with a concerned but joyful look on her face. She seemed familiar, but Michael couldn’t quite figure out where he knew her from. She was beautiful, however, with long straight blonde hair, blue eyes that seemed to shine with inner luminescence, and a cute-looking smile. Then he noticed something else about her: from her back sprouted two swan-like white wings, folded neatly together.
"This has to be a hallucination" Michael murmured, raising his hand to his head so fast he nearly tore the IV out of it. He tried to recall what had happened. He remembered crossing the road, and then…a dream. Michael worked out that he must have been hit by a car or been involved in some kind of accident, ending up in hospital. Then this girl had to be a nurse or some kind of hospital worker. The wings were probably just a trick of the light, a remnant of his dream. Michael sighed as logic took over his confusion, and he turned again to face the girl.
She had moved away from his bedside and seemed to be kneeling on the floor in prayer; the wings, however, had not disappeared as Michael had hoped they would, so he thought he would try a bit of conversation to help shake off whatever was still bugging him. The woman, meanwhile, prayed sending a pleasant almost melodic sounding voice upwards.
“Thank you sweetly for protecting my charge in his hour of need
Thank you sweetly for seeing to his recovery with such speed
I forever will stand by his side; I forever will guide his whole
I forever will sing far and wide, I forever serve body and soul.”
“That’s a beautiful prayer and a beautiful voice you have there, nurse,” Michael commented, a bit taken aback. His head hurt less upon hearing the young woman sing, and he felt more relaxed.
“Oh, it’s just an old prayer to send thanks into the sympho…” The woman trailed off, then turned round with a growing look of shock on her face.
“AHHHHHHHHiiiiiiii!” she screamed, jumping back and knocking a small beaker over with her wings.
She recovered herself and returned over to where Michael lay to look into his eyes again. “You…you can see me?” she stammered.
“Well, yeah of course, did you think you were like the invisible man? Sorry for embarrassing…” Then it was Michael’s turn to trail off as he looked at the smashed beaker. Tricks of light or imaginary wings don’t tend to knock things over.
“Those…those wings are real?” His head suddenly began to hurt again, and a growing sense of nausea formed in his belly.
His yell brought a nurse running into the room with a half-prepared meal tray. She opened the door almost straight into the face of the winged woman, who stepped aside deftly just at the last moment. The nurse walked straight up to Michael’s bed, totally ignoring the woman standing there. She would have been hard to miss. What was going on? It was still possible he was going crazy, or that headache was a sign of something serious.
The nurse went over to the machine and checked the statistics on it, noting Michael's vitals. She then checked his IV and finally turned to him, looking into his eyes before smiling warmly.
“It’s good to see you finally awake, you have been drifting in and out for a while now,” she said. “I heard you shouting as I was doing the food rounds. Coming out of a coma can be a bit of a shock so breathe deeply and try to relax. Let’s get you comfortable, ok?”
Michael felt he had to ask the obvious questions, trying to ignore the winged woman in the corner of his vision. She could, indeed, be just a figment of his confused brain.
“What happened to me? How long have I been here?” he asked as the nurse adjusted his bed slightly allowing him to sit up at a lazy tilt.<
br />
“You were involved in a car accident. You were lucky; it could have been much worse. You’ve been here for three days now. You suffered a nasty knock to the head and a punctured lung, but somehow, miraculously almost, the lung healed itself within a day. The consultant had seen nothing like it. You really are a lucky young man.”
Michael nodded in agreement; things were making sense to him now. He sat up very slowly, his whole body aching with the effort and his head swimming. The winged woman was still visible, though she seemed to be hiding in the corner and he had to ask the nurse just to be sure.
“Nurse…do you see anyone else in this room?” He pointed over to the corner as the winged woman waved her hands in alarm, as if to indicate that she didn’t want to be given away.
The nurse turned around, then looked around the room. She didn’t seem to notice the winged woman at all and turned back to Michael shaking her head.
“Nope, no one else in here. Do you see someone?” She leant down again.
“No-no. I just thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye,” The last thing he wanted was to be taken for a madman.
The nurse hesitated, looking at Michael sternly. “Well, it’s probably just your mind playing tricks on you. Do you feel up to something light to eat?”
Michael nodded, feeling as if he hadn’t eaten in...well, days. The nurse smiled and left the room. She placed a foldout table in front of Michael with a tray of food on it. The tray had a couple of pieces of toast, jam, butter and a small cup for water.
“Eat slowly and make sure to drink all the water. Your body will need a little time to readjust. I’m going to go back on my rounds now, but if you need anything just push the buzzer there. I'll let the doctors know you are awake and ask one to check on you a bit later. It’ll probably be a couple of hours though so just relax,” the nurse said.
Guardian Angel Page 1
