18. Guardian Angel
Nov. 8th, 2010 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rossiWhen Sarah was four, her mother gave her a small figurine of an angel holding a sword.
"This is Michael," she said. "The Defender of Heaven. He'll protect you."
Sarah nodded and kept the angel on her bedside table, where it was the first thing she saw in the morning and the last thing she saw at night.
When the fire happened, no-one really knew how it was Sarah's bedroom was untouched, when the rest of the house was destroyed, including her parents' room, but in the end it was chalked up to "a miracle". Sarah went to live with a foster family.
Sarah was twelve when her foster father died in a car accident while he was taking her to school. Everyone said it was a terrible tragedy for such a fine, upstanding man to be taken so soon. Sarah held her tongue and didn't mention that he'd had his hand up her skirt when they'd hit the truck.
In university, there was an incident where one of the boys from her Politics class disappeared one night. Everyone knew he'd had a crush on Sarah and had been following her around - stalking her, really. They all thought it was just as well he'd gone, even if they didn't say it out loud.
Over the years, Sarah's life continued to be marked by strange incidents and near-misses. People thought she led a charmed life. "Someone's watching over you," they said and she would smile and nod.
"They certainly are," she would reply.
One night Sarah came home and interrupted a break in at her apartment. The thieves were armed and somehow in the course of a struggle, one of the guns went off, killing one of the burglars. Sarah gave a statement that it had been self-defence. But when the surviving man was interviewed, he had babbled incoherently about "a glowing man with wings" who had appeared in the room and stabbed his partner with a great sword. The interviewing officers had shaken their heads and sighed. Another one going for the insanity defence, it seemed.
They gave Sarah a cup of tea and took her home. "Are you sure you don't want a friend or a neighbour to stay with you?" asked the woman officer who had driven her home. "To make you feel safe?"
Sarah had laughed then. "Oh, that's all right," she replied. "I have Michael watching over me. I'm always safe."
People forget, not all angels are cute little cherubs.
"This is Michael," she said. "The Defender of Heaven. He'll protect you."
Sarah nodded and kept the angel on her bedside table, where it was the first thing she saw in the morning and the last thing she saw at night.
When the fire happened, no-one really knew how it was Sarah's bedroom was untouched, when the rest of the house was destroyed, including her parents' room, but in the end it was chalked up to "a miracle". Sarah went to live with a foster family.
Sarah was twelve when her foster father died in a car accident while he was taking her to school. Everyone said it was a terrible tragedy for such a fine, upstanding man to be taken so soon. Sarah held her tongue and didn't mention that he'd had his hand up her skirt when they'd hit the truck.
In university, there was an incident where one of the boys from her Politics class disappeared one night. Everyone knew he'd had a crush on Sarah and had been following her around - stalking her, really. They all thought it was just as well he'd gone, even if they didn't say it out loud.
Over the years, Sarah's life continued to be marked by strange incidents and near-misses. People thought she led a charmed life. "Someone's watching over you," they said and she would smile and nod.
"They certainly are," she would reply.
One night Sarah came home and interrupted a break in at her apartment. The thieves were armed and somehow in the course of a struggle, one of the guns went off, killing one of the burglars. Sarah gave a statement that it had been self-defence. But when the surviving man was interviewed, he had babbled incoherently about "a glowing man with wings" who had appeared in the room and stabbed his partner with a great sword. The interviewing officers had shaken their heads and sighed. Another one going for the insanity defence, it seemed.
They gave Sarah a cup of tea and took her home. "Are you sure you don't want a friend or a neighbour to stay with you?" asked the woman officer who had driven her home. "To make you feel safe?"
Sarah had laughed then. "Oh, that's all right," she replied. "I have Michael watching over me. I'm always safe."
People forget, not all angels are cute little cherubs.
