Guardian Angel – Chapter One

Posted on | June 15, 2006 | No Comments

Chapter One: Beginning Again

The cost of her own life was never a thought to Jessica, when she ran out into the street and wrapped herself around the little girl that had been pushed out into oncoming traffic. Jessica took the brunt of the impact as she heard a car slam on the breaks and the tires screech from behind her. She held on for dear life to the scared little girl in her arms and said a quick prayer to God. Nothing else was heard, as the pain of the car pushing into her body overwhelmed her.

In the blink of an eye, Jessica was surrounded by a bright light and then before her was what she had only dreamed and read about, Heaven. She took several tentative steps forward and from a light mist a man came towards her – it was her grandfather. She ran to him and threw her arms around him in greeting, “Grandpa, I’ve missed you!”

He hugged her as he always had when she had been a little girl before his illness, with strength and infinite love. “Jessica, look at you, young lady! All grown up and…” Her grandfather pulled back and looked at her long and hard and his eyes shown with pride. “My word, you’ve got such beautiful wings. You must have done something very right in the eyes of God to have earned them sweetie.” He asked her how she had died and she recounted the events as she knew them.

“Such compassion. It’s remarkable to see, but I knew you would be raised right. Your daddy was always a good hearted man. And your mother was a proud, kind lady herself.”

“Wings?” Jessica questioned as she turned her head around and looked at the wing of bright white feathers she could see peaking over her shoulder. “Oh, wow!” And just then, she registered the feeling of the wings as they attached to her back just under her shoulder blades. Then she looked at her grandfather and noticed that he didn’t have any attached to his back. “But, you don’t have any, Grandpa. Why? What difference do wings make?”

Before her grandfather could answer, someone else spoke up from behind, “You, Jessica, are now a guardian angel. You will protect those who are placed under your care.”

Jessica turned to face the angel who had spoken. She was awed by his presence. He was taller than her by at least a foot or more and his sheer beauty was breathtaking.

Before she could ask, her grandfather answered the question he knew would be uppermost in her mind, “Michael.”

“Yes. I am, in Earth terms, your boss. I assign you to the people you will be guarding.”

Jessica frowned. “Guard them from what exactly?”

“For some, it could be that you guard them from Satan’s minions who would plant doubt or confusion in the human mind, especially during a life altering event or decision. Humans are allowed free will and choice, as God has decreed, and no one from Heaven or Hell should interfere in that plan. Often it happens, as we can not be everywhere at once, as much as God would wish that to be so. For others, we are there to provide a sense of positive well-being and hope.” Michael took hold of Jessica’s arm and had them both bid Jessica’s grandfather farewell.

“Will I be able to see the rest of my family, who are here, sometime soon?” Jessica looked back over her shoulder to see her grandfather walk away, but found her wings obscured her last chance at seeing him.

“You have until the end of time, which is infinite, to see them. But as to the soon, I can not say, as I have to place you immediately with someone who has need of your presence and I have no idea how long this assignment may last.”

Jessica craned her neck to look up at Michael and saw the kind, but stern eyes look down at her. Before she could even ask who or where she would be watching over, they had moved from the heavenly plane to the earthly one in the wink of an eye.

An oh of astonishment formed on her lips and her eyes glowed in wonder. “Where are we?”

“We are in a place where temptation and Satan run rampant. We are in Los Angeles, California. It is sad that a city named for the Angels should be so overrun with sin, corruption and vice. Thankfully, the person you will be watching over may be an inhabitant of this corrupt town, and he may not be without sin, but he is good at heart,” Michael spoke with frustration and a hint of fondness. Jessica shook her head in bemusement.

“Is he an actor then?” Jessica asked. They stood outside a small home, not somewhere she would have assumed a well known or prosperous actor would reside. The name of the person she would be guarding came to her the moment they entered into the home and she saw him, Gabriel McAllister, a small and large screen actor, best known for his portrayal of a young Julius Caesar. She hadn’t watched too many of his works, but from what she had seen, she thought he was a good actor who would only improve with time and effort.

She and Michael stood for several moments in silence watching as Gabriel paced in front of a desk where she assumed his assistant sat. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, and didn’t honestly know where to start. “So what are the rules of being a guardian angel? Can they see or hear us? Why am I here to watch over him? Do you know what it is that will change his life? And honestly, if we can go from one place to another in the blink of an eye, why do we have wings?”

The last question caused Michael to look at her with a quirk to his lips as if he wanted to laugh, and his eyes were shining with good humor. “Hmm, yes, it would be best if you knew what you are getting into.” Michael ushered Jessica away from the scene before them, and into what appeared to be the living room.

With a wave of his hand, he encouraged Jessica to sit down while he educated her on the ways of being a guardian angel. “Let’s start with your last question and go from there.

“The wings are a symbol of status, they mark us separately from the other occupants of Heaven. We have a duty and a willingness to go forth into the world and do right by every person, spirit, or animal – good or bad. The wings are a blessing given to us by God. However, they can also be used, for they allow us to fly free and soar into the beautiful sky in and among the clouds God has given us. One day, you’ll want to stretch out your wings to the fullest and just coast through the wind, to feel the air move through your feathers, it is a joyous sensation.” Michael paused long enough to spread his own wings out to their full span, and Jessica stared in awe once again at the beauty of the man and the pristine, white feathers that covered the wings.

Michael retracted his wings and continued on with his lecture. “As to going from one place to another in the blink of an eye, that might be a misrepresentation of what’s happened here. You have to be aware of where it is you want to be, without that information planted firmly in your mind you can go nowhere. Since you did not know where it was we needed to be or who we were going to be with, I guided you to this location. To watch over your charge at all times, you must have him firmly planted at the forefront of your mind. Always wishing and wanting to be where he is. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. So if I wanted to just go for a quick side trip to visit my family that still lives on Earth, I would just think of them or where I would know them to be and I could be there instantly?” Jessica hadn’t seen her family in over a year, what with living almost an entire continent away with her husband at the time, and the thought of even seeing them for a moment to see how they were doing appealed to her.

Michael shook his head and gave Jessica a look of patient benevolence. “I know it would be a great temptation to do so, but you should never leave your charge.”

“Do you mean I have to be around him at all times? Even when he’s in the shower or has, you know…” Jessica blushed and couldn’t finish her question.

Silence descended on the two angels and the sound of a conversation being carried on within the house was just barely heard. “I know what?”

Jessica huffed in annoyance and finished her question, “Do I need to be around him even when he’s entertaining someone in his, um, bedroom?”

“Ah, I see what you mean. You don’t want to invade his personal privacy. That’s up to you, Jessica. Most guardian angels protect the privacy of their charge. Some feel that being on watch is the only way to guarantee that nothing bad comes to them, at all times. Besides, we are just to stand guard against Satan and his minions. We can not influence the people we guard in any other way,” Michael spoke, but then stopped to reflect on his own words. “Actually, I take that back, we can somewhat influence them by giving them a sense of well-being. Otherwise, we do not direct the outcome of their own choice.”

Jessica stood up and moved around the living room for a bit, letting all that Michael had told her sink in. While she did so, she looked at the pictures of Gabriel and those with his family and friends as they occupied the bookshelves and tabletops. Gabriel was an appealing man, strong of character and from the glint in his eyes and the mischievous smile that graced his lips, she saw that he was also an imp and jester.

She turned back to Michael and asked him for more information. “So they can’t see or hear us then, since we can’t influence them?” He nodded in affirmation.

“Does that also mean we do not sleep or rest, that we must be alert at all times and on guard?” Jessica lightly touched the edges of a framed picture that just showed Gabriel. It was of an unguarded moment and the honest emotion seen on his face was intriguing to her. She felt that it displayed the true measure of the man he was inside, away from the world of acting.

“You may repose in prayer or internal contemplation while they sleep, but no, we do not need to sleep as they do.”

“I see. Alright. So why exactly am I guarding Gabriel McAllister, what is this life altering event that must occur?” Jessica turned away from the pictures that partially told the life of the man she would be watching over and looked once again at Michael.

Michael was silent for several minutes, and Jessica wondered if that meant he was thinking of how best to tell her without telling her anything at all.

“Gabriel’s life will change when he finally falls in love. In the next while, he will come into contact with several women who will make him wander down that path, to commitment and he will have free choice to decide who it is that will make him do so. For if he does fall in love, his path to a life in sin and potentially to damnation will surely be altered, for this affirming love will certainly set him on a better path to God. You are here to see that a follower of Satan does not affect this event, whether it is through direct contact with Gabriel or if they try to charm someone else near to Gabriel, like his assistant or friends or the women he will date and romance to turn things against him.”

Jessica fell silent again and contemplated all that Michael had said and not said. This would be a guardianship that could last days, weeks, maybe even months. Jessica sensed that she could become too emotionally attached to the man she would be watching if that were the case. She naturally cared for all people, without judgment, but that was with a sort of detachment. This would be very different. But she would not court this emotional distress before her job had even begun, instead she would think positively and hope that Gabriel’s life would turn out for the better, just as Michael thought it would, if he were to meet and marry the woman who would make his life richer and more rewarding.

Jessica turned back to Michael and said, “Alright, let the guarding begin.”

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