Chapter Two
Gabriel
I have to hand it to the friend. She figured me out pretty quickly. Not that Serenity is buying any of it. Judging from the look on her face she believes anything but what has just been presented to her. I was thankful for her disbelief because it allowed me to do my job that much easier.
During my time here, I have to remain anonymous. I have to be a casual observer, only making my presence known when it is called for. With Serenity in no immediate danger I had to cloak myself. I could not allow her to find out exactly who or what I am. At least not until the time is right.
For the last twenty years I have observed her. I have been with her through the various hardships of her life, especially the ones that seemed to affect her most, like her father disappearing. I was there saving her when she'd been so lost in her own misery that she wanted to give up. Considering that it was against the laws of Heaven for her to pass on before her true time, I had done exactly as instructed.
When she was eight and she'd fallen off her bike, ending up in the hospital for a week, I'd been there. It was actually supposed to be a more serious incident, but I intervened. It was what I had been placed here for. Nothing could stand in the way of what she has been placed here to do, even though she had no idea just what that is.
Serenity knew she was different, yet still considered herself imperfectly human. She had no idea of the magnitude of her power and just what she would eventually mean to the world. It is my job as her guardian to make sure that until the time is right, she never would.
What I'd managed to learn about her during my time with her, is that she is probably the most uncoordinated person roaming the planet. If I didn't have eyes on her every second, she was bound to walk into things, fall over her own feet and just like with the bike accident years before, find herself in situations that would prove to be dire if not for heavenly intervention. Sometimes just with the time it took me to blink; she would find herself in a situation where her life was at stake.
The difference for me in this mission as opposed to others I have been through is easy to discern. Even though she was a constant risk to herself, she always managed do it in a way where it looked fun. It is never a dull moment with her and I enjoyed the time spent focusing on her as much as I did because it meant there was less time to be bored.
Considering her origins, I had gone into the assignment with expectations of a relatively easy watch job, but that had been blown out of the water less than five years into it. Serenity Richards needed more supervision to stay alive then most babies do and they were known to be helpless.
The day her mother put her in the center, things had gotten murky for me. I was disallowed entrance. Whoever owned the house since its inception had barred it against the supernatural. Angels; Demons; Spirits and all other creepy crawly things that went bump in the night were not allowed anywhere near the residents on the inside.
It was during that two and a half year period that I lost track of her, unable to reach her by any method I tried. It caused great worry within me given how easily she found herself in peril. Father, having sensed my overwhelming concern, lined up a human host so that I could gain entrance the traditional way, but I found that even with the best attempts at fitting in, that hadn't worked either. I had still been ejected.
So for two and a half years I remained dormant in my care of her. She had been completely alone other than the human companionship she found with the human girl I now watch her with. Securing Fathers consent, combined with thought implantation, she soon became the perfect watcher of Heaven's most precious gift. Emma is a most blissfully unaware guardian.
A relationship that held up even after Serenity was released. So now, not only is she guarded by me, she also had a friend, one of the strictly human variety that wanted to see her alive and well. It was the perfect partnership and one that I am more than grateful for. I was not called to her side nearly as much since Emma became such a big part of it.
I struggled with the decision to make myself known to her when I appeared three weeks prior. By my father’s own admission, I was to remain detached from her, allowing her to make her own choices and live her life with minimal interference from above. I found that harder to handle as time carried on, growing bored with the constant silence surrounding me. It was then, as the voices became more powerful for her that my decision was made.
I could have easily revealed myself in my true form, but the goal was not to frighten her, nor was I trying to break the rules Father set down in the beginning. So I came to her in a way that she would most identify with, and also the one that would land me in the least amount of trouble. I became just another spirit in her head, one that would be substantially more important than the ones before.
As it would turn out, the risk paid off. Serenity had not seemed at all rattled at hearing yet another voice in her mind. It was a little surprising, considering I had come to her while her body had been in complete rest, something I knew bordered on the impossible.
Holding On To Heaven Page 3