The Guardian Angel

Chapter-2: James

Even Rachel wasn't sure who it must've been. Stephen guessed it had been his father at it again. I for one had no clue. I was taxed from the day's events. Stephen had just crashed onto Rachel's bed and started snoring within a moment of doing so. 

Rachel had just scoffed and walked off. There was very little that could perturb the woman. 

I slid down the length of the wall, gasping in pain. Leah cast me a worried glimpse. She got closer, her hand brushing against my cheek. I leant into her touch, wishing I was stronger. Stronger to protect her. 

She knelt down next to me, her arm dipping down to my abdomen. I followed her hand as it pressed against my shirt. The cloth, dampened by blood immediately soiled her fingers. 

"James! You're bleeding!" She gasped. 

I reached down, swiping a finger across my abdomen, dampening my finger slightly. 

"Hmm." I hummed. "Seems so." 

My mind was slow, hazy and dizzy. I couldn't think properly. 

I just... wanted sleep. Yes, that should help, shouldn't it? Nothing sleep couldn't solve. 

"Hey, stay with me." Another voice disturbed my sleepy state. This wasn't Leah's voice. Leah's voice sounded like how soft silk felt. It felt like sunlight after rain. This.... This voice felt like it was the calm before the storm. The moment of peace and quiet I'd have before I was taken away. "What happened?" 

I heard only parts of what Leah said as she brought Rachel up to speed. Yes, that voice must belong to Rachel. Rachel didn't utter a word until Leah finished and I was too tired to open my eyes to gauge her reaction. 

"Keep him awake, I'll be back." Rachel commanded, her voice getting farther and farther away. That would be a hard job to do. 

"Hey, James?" Leah's soothing voice reached my ears. 

"Hmm?" Was all I could manage. 

"Stay awake will you, for me?" I felt her fingers enclose around my hand, lightly squeezing my hand. 

"I'll try." Was what I wanted to say, but I wasn't sure what got out and I was too tired to care. 

"Get him to lie down." Rachel's voice commanded again. 

I felt Leah support and try to get me to lie down. With a little help from another pair of hands, they managed to lay me down on a warm surface. 

"Lift his shirt." 

I thought I heard a light grumble but I didn't trust my mind enough to convey anything it heard or felt. I felt the cold wind blow over my skin as my shirt was lifted. 

"It needs to be removed." Rachel observed. "It will become a problem if it slips down when I'm stitching." 

A growl sounded in my ears. That was quite loud, truly speaking. "Can you stitch?" 

"Yes, Leah. I can. Now, stop wasting time if you don't want more blood to be lost." 

My shirt was removed. With quite some difficulty, I might add, with an unresponsive me. I felt a syringe prick into my skin and soon, all feeling around that part left me. Though, I couldn't have moved even if I wanted to. 

"Please keep him awake." 

"James, talk to me." I heard Leah's voice next to my head. I wanted to turn my head. To turn and take in her beautiful eyes. But I was so tired. So, so tired, I couldn't move a muscle if I wanted to. 

"About?" 

"Anything. Anything you want to tell me." I heard her voice pleading and desperate. Okay, I could do that. 

"The garden." I stopped, gathering some more energy before I talked again. "It was built by my mother and father. My mother chose the flowers and trees that would grow there. My dad built the secret gateway through the fence." 

I felt an involuntary smile tug at my lips at the memory of crawling through the gateway with them behind me. Me running around the garden, gawking at the butterflies and bees that flew around the flowers. 

"Both of them loved 'The Secret Garden'. It was a favorite of theirs. They promised to read it to me one day. The day never came." 

I felt a stabbing pain shoot flare in my abdomen and I tried to sit up but a strong pair of hands pushed me down again. 

My eyes fluttered open, taking in the face that was inches above mine, her hair scattered over my face. 

"Slowly." Rachel commanded, her voice barely above a whisper, slowly taking her hands off my chest. She did so with a tenderness I hadn't expected from her.

I lay back down, earning myself a confused glance from Rachel. She shook herself out of it, taking a seat next to me. 

We were in a different room from the others. Only Rachel was here with me. It made me wonder why. 

"Leah?" I asked. 

"Asleep." A dismayed expression crossed her face, disappearing before I was sure it was even there. 

"Why are you awake?" 

"To make sure you don't rip your stitches open. They're an awful lot of work you know." The edges of her lips tipped upward. 

"I'm sure they are." I sighed. It wasn't my first stitching. "Why did you help me, Rachel?" 

It turned out harsher than I wanted it to sound, and it only made me feel guiltier when hurt slashed across her face. 

"I don't want innocents to be caught in my fight. And as far as I know, you're innocent." Her face softened. 

"You were ready to kill us before. What changed?" 

"You." She replied, taking me aback. "You arriving changed everything, James." 

She slipped a hand inside her shirt, producing a pendant. It had an eye in its middle, the pupil being Earth. 

The pendant brought another flash of memory. Or to be precise the same flash, a second time. 

They had worn the simplest of clothes of those present. Yet the respect they had been given, including by my parents hadn't occurred weird to me then, but felt so now. 

Matching pair of green eyes, the man looping his arm around his wife's waist, a wide smile on his face. The woman was laughing, her perfect white teeth showing as dark black hair flowed past her shoulders. The same hair I was seeing in front of me. The man and woman had the same matching pendant. An emerald eye with the world as its pupil. 

"Your.... Parents." I whispered. I remembered now. Why hadn't I all this while? Why couldn't I remember this when I could remember my parent's face? When I could remember their sweet words? It hadn't struck me until now. Until I'd seen the pendant. 

Rachel stood up, walked to me and bent down. Our faces were barely apart, our breaths softly hitting each other in the face. 

"Yes, our parents were close. So were we. I hoped you'd remember. I hoped you'd had dreams of me too. I was broken when I saw you die. But I knew you hadn't." She sounded wistful, hopeful and determined. "It doesn't matter. We're here, together, now." 

I swallowed, forcing the lump in my throat to move down. "What do you mean by knew I hadn't?" 

"We share the same gift." She smiled. "The gift of escaping from the jaws of death. The gift of dreaming of each other."