Guardian

Chapter Eight

I walked out of the house with Toby and Greg, both of them holding my hands and a smiled climbed it's way onto my face. Yesterday's events still played in my mind, but I tried to keep them away. My safetly blanket - what I had come to call the safe/warm feeling the sometimes came over me- hadn't left me since I'd woken up, and it was with me when I'd gone to bed.

I remember reading something on Wattpad, something about soulmates. There were hundreds of theories about soulmates, but my favorite ones were the ones where even after death, the soulmate will look after the living one. It was a sweet thought to think that someone was looking out for you, that someone beyond where you could see was making sure that you were safe still.

Sometimes I liked to hope that my dad was watching over my mom and essentially our family, though I don't think that's how it worked.

I felt bad for the person looking out for me, having to watch out for someone who was a mess and a loner must be pretty lonely for an angelic being. I suddenly felt bad again, wanting wrap my arms around myself and felt like apologizing to the being. Which was silly because everything I had read was purely fictional.

I looked over my shoulder at nothing, Greg and Toby in front of me, pulling me along, talking quickly about something that I couldn't catch. I smiled slightly despite this, feeling a bit more comfortable with my brothers with me.

"Come on Fee. " Toby said "we gotta meet mum"

"I'm going wherever you guys are. " I told him

He laughed and returned back to him conversation, leaving me to my mind again.

Yesterdays events played through my head and I began to feel anxious again, wondering if I'd see Malcolm today. Hopefully not, I don't think I could live through another encounter like that one.

Luck, didn't seem to be better on my side, as when I walked into my mothers law firm, the first two people to catch my attention were my mother and Paige, and who was with Paige but Malcolm. I stopped short, not wanting to go further as he looked over at me and grinned sinisterly. My felt my safety blanket become heavier, ridged like. It was like some all powerful deity was making fun of me, taunting me with someone, or on this case someone, to make me go crazy.

I looked over at Greg and Toby, only to see that they were almost as unhappy as I was to see Malcolm. They both had the same crease between their eyebrows, the same little spark behind their eyes, matching tensed muscles that made them look bigger than they were. Don't get me wrong, Greg and Toby were already really well built, with both genetics and athletic on their side they were muscle-y as well as tall.

I could feel Malcolm staring at me as I turned away, moving around the room to get to where my mother and Peter were. Peter was going on about a case that he was working on, showing my mother and a few others a bag with what I assumed was evidence in it.

"Subject was about six foot, blond hair wearing a grey hoodie. We didn't find a single fingerprint at the crime scene, no hair. But we did find this. "

Inside of the bag, I saw as I peaked over my Mothers shoulder, was a soda can.

"So he was meticulous enough to hide his fingerprints and make sure that he left no evidence of his presence. But he left a soda can? " A Deputy stated.

"Maybe he was thirsty" Someone else suggested.

Peter turned the bag over to show that one side of the crushed can, was bloody. I felt my heart skip a little bit. I felt someone grab my hand, though I didn't see who. Usually, sudden touches made me jumpy and anxious, but this one didn't. God there was something wrong with me.

"Did he leave it there on purpose? " I asked.

I only realized afterwards that I had spoken up during a private investigation. I could get away with listening as long as I was quiet, often Peter would come and talk to me about the smaller, less worrisome crimes to get my opinion on them. But, technically, I wasn't allowed to be there.

Peter grinned at me "We can assume he's leaving a trail. Its an option."

"Are you saying he wanted you to find it?" Someone asked.

"Its likely yes."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would he be leaving a trail for you, leaving something for you to find, after he went through so much trouble to hide who he was?" I inquired.

A Lieutenant shrugged his shoulders "We'll know more once we get the DNA analysis."

Someone grabbed my hand, the one that wasn't being held, and pulled me away. It wasn't my mother or Peter, who were both still in front of me. I turned around and saw Greg.

"Come on Fee, we're going to the cafeteria" He told me.

I let him pull me away, but the wheels in my head were still turning and I was wondering about two things. First being the murder that didn't add up, answer second being these weird feelings I've been getting. The warmth and the comfort that seemingly came from nowhere. Part of me wished to think that the Soulmate theories that I had read were true, that there was a perfect someone looking out for me, but that seemed ridiculous.

The cafeteria was pretty much empty, save for a few people grabbing coffee. Toby, Paige and Malcolm were sitting at a table. I made a point of sitting between Paige and Toby, Greg, unfortunately, being stuck next to Malcolm, who seemed to dislike the seating arrangement just as much as Greg did.

"Fee, do you believe in Angels?" Paige asked me.

I thought about it for a moment. Did I believe in Angels? I can't say no. I briefly remembered my imaginary friends who had been an Angel, at least that's how I had imagined him. I used to call him Wings on my young age, not really able to think of anything else. One day, he just disappeared. At the time I had been sad, but the sadness went away after a while, once I'd filled most of the hole with books and other imaginary worlds.

"I guess so. Why?"

"We were just talking about Guardian Angels. " She stated.

"Interesting choice of conversation" I mumbled.

"It was Malcolms choice" Toby grumbled.