My Guardian Angel (In Combat Boots)

Chapter One: Death Comes Calling.

Chapter One: Death comes calling.

Miracles don't just happen to anyone—that's why they are so few and far between.  How many times have you sat by the bedside of a loved one, counting each and every breath they take, praying that it would not be their last?  That some kind of otherworldly force would intervene and grant them a second chance, and bring them back from their sickness—back to the person you had become so found of? How many blankets did you put on them –on yourself?  What level was the thermostat? Was it warm to keep off the chill of death creeping in from all corners?

You see, that's what happens when you die, the world grows darker and this chill creeps in from around you and it grows colder and colder until you can see the breath barely escaping from your collapsing lungs.  They say you see a bright light before you die.  I believe that's your brain sparring you in your last moments.  Letting you believe that this processes of death isn't as scary as it may seem. I almost died the night of August 12th, 2013.  I remember the whole night very vividly.

I was walking home from late night tutoring at the school.  I was helping out this girl, Gina, with Anatomy.  I was at the top of the class and loved the subject, so I had no problem putting in extra hours to help out those who didn't have find as intriguing as I did.

I didn't live too far from the college campus.  I take the bus to Foster Street and then I walk the rest of the way home, only a few blocks give or take past a shopping center.

It was a cold August evening; the moon had made itself comfortable in the sky as it sat above, blanketed in place by stars.  It was bright and full and the accompanying wind was quiet yet powerful as it lifted my long, dark, red-brown hair in waves behind my back.

The end of Foster Street is a shopping center. It's got a Lowes Foods right smack in the middle of it, settled in between a bunch of small businesses. I usually cut through the shopping center to get to the street my house was on. It was backed up to a small alleyway with dumpsters that held all sorts of thrown out grocery store food. Behind that was an old abandoned house that creaked every time the wind blew a little too hard. I passed it every time I rounded the last block to my street.  I have bets with myself to see if its collapsed yet. It's safe to say I haven't won.

As I cut through the shopping center and neared the dumpsters I heard rattling in the alleyway.

Racoon, I thought. This place must be gourmet central for them.

"Please don't." A girl's shrill voice echoed against the brick walls around me.

My body stiffened, and I felt my stomach drop to my feet. There was a girl in the alleyway in a grocery store apron, holding a bag of trash. She couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen. A man in dark attire was standing in front of her, his back was facing me but I could see his right hand rested on the side of her cheek. I didn't like the look of this.

Something gleamed in his other hand under the moonlight and fear struck me as I saw the knife he was holding.

            The girls face was overwhelmed with terror and I knew I had to act quickly. There was no time to stop and call the cops. I cleared my throat and stepped into the alleyway.

The girl looked up at me with pleading eyes and the man turned around swiftly. His face was shadowed by the poorly lit alleyway but that didn't stop it from looking menacing. A snarl was pulled on his lips was he stepped back to take a good look at me, obviously enraged that I had interrupted whatever he had in mind. I slowly walked towards the girl. 

"What's going on here?" I questioned, not because I really didn't know but because I was hoping to buy time to put myself in between the two of them.