Monsters & Fairytales (6 page)

“What the hell are you trying to accomplish? Do you understand? You were trying to tell me that you were there to protect me from some men taking my belongings? Things that don’t even matter or can be replaced! What about the things that did exist, and can’t be replaced?
             

"My parents for example?
Oh right, let’s see. First my dad gets drunk and drives the car into a telephone pole, killing my mom, and then later having the plug pulled on him because the doctors said he’d never recover from his vegetable state. And then, hmm, after how many years and foster homes I had to suffer through? All the beatings, abuse, and neglect from the age of five until I was 12?
Then, then when I finally found a home and a loving mother, when everything was making sense, I lose her, causing everything she stood for to be taken from us by greedy government workers. Not to mention it all happened only days before I turned eighteen, forcing me on my own, alone and abandoned yet
again.
             

"Where were you then? Why didn’t you protect me from that if you are my so called guardian angel?”
I screamed, I had become hysterical.

“I do not and cannot protect from the loss of a loved one. That is not a danger or an act I can stop.”

His posture slumped down into complete defeat. He deserved it.

“Not a danger?!
You are not my guardian angel. There is no such thing.”

I closed my eyes and hung on the thought of him not existing. Maybe he was Tinker Bell and if I didn’t believe in him, he’d fall dead. I don’t believe in guardian angels, they don’t exist.
             

He was still there when I opened my eyes. It was crazy to me that at one point I was terrified of his stature. Now, the only thing crazy to me was that he was my alleged guardian angel and we had just had a pretty civilized argument over it. I really needed to cool off. Turning away from him, I walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut; slightly on accident. Something fell off the wall and broke.
Figures.
Turning the shower on full heat, I let the steam fill up the bathroom while I sat on the counter top and cried. It was the only thing that could calm me down when I got this upset. Rida
used to sit with me on the floor and just hum. I closed my eyes and listened for her. I was
forgetting her. Her songs were so far away in my subconscious, it wasn’t fair.
             

He could have saved her. That stranger, that creature claiming to be a guardian angel, he could have done something. Instead, here he was now; getting upset with me because I wasn’t grateful he saved me from losing material items. I owed him nothing. He owed me everything. Everything was taken from me by the real evils of this world; greed, selfishness, and power. He should have been there for that. Instead, I lost it all. And after I thought I had nothing else to lose, I lost the only place I ever called a home.
             

I was so angry that the bank had forced me to sell this house. It was
all my
fault. I was so stupid. But they shouldn’t have expected a 17 year old to understand the words they used, nor understand the paperwork shoved in her face. I had been conned and tricked. There was nothing wrong in my eyes. I was making the right choice; selling a house that was going to make me go bankrupt. That was a lot of responsibility for someone so new in the world of adulthood.
             

Of course, had I known then that when I turned 18 I’d be inheriting my father’s money and the trust fund Rida left me, I would have never made that decision. And the bank had known that. They thought it was lucky she had passed away when she had.
Thieves.
I was so angry that had driven up there. They couldn’t even call to tell me about my incoming trust
funds
, they had sent it in a letter. When I got there, I was in such a rage that they had called the cops on me. They had said I was a danger, they'd feared for their lives. It had all been a ploy to get me to transfer banks so I’d never hear of the profit they had made.
That, or so they’d never feel the guilt of what they did to me by seeing my face every day.
             

I was alone. I had more money than I had ever seen in my life, but I felt so empty. I hated money. I swore I would never be greedy and I would never look away from those that needed me. Of course, if anyone could ever need me. I don’t need anyone. People are such a letdown. And now my own guardian angel was the biggest let down of all. It was harder to blame God than people. I had never thought he was honestly the one behind this. Did he like seeing me struggle? How much stronger could I honestly get? After everything I’ve been through?

“His hand was always there, and still is. Think about it. Finding her, finding your new home, finding your way through the toughest times… ” The creature’s voice echoed in my head.

“That was luck.” I laughed through my tears.

I always laughed when I was frustrated. It was a weird twist to things. Then again, nothing about me was normal.

Shutting off the water, I took a last inhale of the steam in the room. I was calm, finally. I missed her. I needed her here more than ever. I needed help. Why couldn’t my guardian angel actually be here to help me?

“I am here to help.” He said from the other side of the door.

His voice out loud made a tingling sensation pierce my body. I clenched my hands opened and closed again. I didn’t understand it. It was as if
his voice was a part of me. He really did belong to me, I could feel it. This was a pointless battle. I was being stupid.
             

I jumped off the counter and walked out of the bathroom. Instantly,
my glasses fogged up.
I stood there in the doorway to the rest of the house and waited for them to clear up. I didn’t want to run into any walls or trip on any toys. From the living room, I could hear muffled laughter. He was honestly laughing at me!

“Oh great, laugh at me, that’ll make things better.”

I yanked my glasses off and rubbed them with my shirt. I could see the fuzzy outline of him in the same place as before I had left. How had I heard him on the other side of the door like that?

“I do not mean to offend you. You do look quite ridiculous, though.” He said making gestures with his hands that my hair was messy.

“I have curly hair; steam takes
all the
straight out of it. You’re a creature from another world that knows the word ridiculous but doesn’t know that humidity affects curly hair?”

I put my glasses back on and glared at him. He tried to hide his smile by looking down to Spike. I took that small opportunity to smooth the curls back under the bobby pins and tighten my pony tail.

“Do you feel better?” He asked.

“What?” Did he see me fix my hair?

“You were in there a while.”

He pointed to the bathroom.

“Oh, yes. I do, actually. Thank you.”

“Good. You have a lot of thoughts.
So many are troubling.
You are very strong.”

He was trying to comfort me. I had to give him some credit.

“Thank you?”

“Well, I will be leaving now.”

“Now?”

I didn’t want him to leave. I thought he told me he was here because I couldn’t forget him. How could he leave now that I didn’t want to forget him?

“You don’t need me in your life. You are ready to accept I never existed.”

“Just like that and magically you’ll be gone? I’ll be able to forget everything? It will be as if nothing had changed?”

“Time would have changed.” He said.

“What does that mean?” I was lost.

“You’ll understand.” He grinned.

“What’s your name?”

I leaned on the back of the couch with one hand and stared right through him. I knew something; I could feel my brain tugging at long forgotten memories. They were like a dream that I had never thought was real. Each time he talked, more was exposed.

“Sebastian.”

I remembered him from more than just
yesterday
. I couldn’t place the day, though, just the feeling. It was the oddest sense of déjà vu.

“When did we meet before?”

“
Today, technically.
However, literally, it will be yesterday
.” He smiled.

He was trying to be soothing. It didn’t work. I was only irritated at how many times he had torn me apart like this.

“What do you mean by technically and literally? Why can’t you just tell me the truth?”

“You are not better.” He sighed.

“No. I was better until I realized you were a fraud.”

“Fraud?”

“Yes. It means fake. Just disappear already, you’re right, I want to forget you now.”

“You can tell that I am not from here? It is that apparent to your kind?”

“Now is not the time for jokes.”

He dropped his stance and nodded. With his great height, he suddenly seemed small. He honestly felt bad. I wasn’t sure that was good enough for me to forgive him yet, but it was good enough for me to let him explain himself.

“When you were a child, did you believe in the tooth fairy?” He asked.

“What does that-?”

“Just answer.” He interrupted me.

“Yes, for a little while I did.” I said.

“Okay. And your mother, she told you if you tried to see her then she’d never come back.”

“I suppose.”

“Mirabelle, your kind looks to the guardian angels as a sort of break from the terrors of the world. You put so much weight on our shoulders for your happiness. If you thought I had saved you, I expected your happiness and that would have been the key to getting rid of me. But I was wrong. I am sorry I lied to you. I am here for you, but it’s not how you’d wish.”

“Then what are you?” I asked.

“A creature from God to watch over you.”
He said.

“I don’t get it. How is that not a guardian angel?”

“Because that’s your name you give us, not ours.”

I felt myself getting angry. Was he playing with me? I wanted to smack him.

“You are still angry?”

“You are still lying to me. But
whatever,
just tell me how to forget so you can leave.”

“I cannot tell you. You have to want it.”

“I want it.” I said with the most sincerity I could muster up.

He nodded his head as I walked away to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and got out some water to make a point I was able to carry on with my day. It had to be closing in on noon by now. Spike and I completely missed our opportunity to go to the park, but we’d think of something.
             

Trying not to let Sebastian see me struggling with the lid, I turned my back on him. There was a clock up over this doorway. Before I could see the time, my eyes were distracted by Sebastian’s figure going down the hall. He
turned towards the spare bedroom. Curiously, I rushed after him. Had he forgotten where the front door was?

“Um, the front door is the other way. You’ve only been here twenty minutes and already forgot the way you came in?” I called after him.

I looked around the corner and down the hall. The
door
to the guest bedroom was wide open. I could see his tail was disappearing into the closet.

“Sebastian?”

I ran over and faced the open closet. The clothes were swaying. Everything else was in its cluttered place.

“I thought you wanted me to leave?”

His voice sounded very far away. My head hurt a little.

“Yes, but I mean, you do know that’s my closet, right?”

I bent down to see if I could see his feet. The light wasn’t on; I couldn’t even see the piles of shoes that were usually visible down there. It was all black.

“Yes. This is the way I came in...I did not forget.”

“Huh?”

I stood up. There was a funny breeze hitting my cheeks. I felt light headed. It was almost like I felt when he had focused his violet eyes on mine. I wanted to throw up. My head was starting to pound.

“It’ll be okay now.” He whispered.

I tried to fight the overwhelming need to sleep. I didn’t remember this happening before. The pounding was becoming all I could take. When I reached up to my ears and started to scream from the pain, I blacked out.

*
             
*
             
*

Where am I? I’m on the floor. There’s a drool spot just below my mouth. Wiping my cheek, I blinked the focus back into my eyes. Spike was lying next to me. He was whimpering. Something had happened, had I fainted? The brown shaggy carpet of the spare room’s floor came into focus. Then the red walls and all the pictures of flowers started registering in my mind. They were still a bit fuzzy. Something was missing. I felt around the floor and found my glasses.