by Terry Reid
Hayley folded her arms, unsatisfied. “So what is the point then?” she began, giving the question time to linger, “What is the point of you or any of the other guardian angels protecting people from death if you know that we are going to die on a certain day at a certain time anyway, regardless of every other near-fatal experience we may have during the course of our lives?”
Alex’s patience was becoming terribly fragile, his expression marking the frustration of a man who was on the verge of exploding into a terrible tempest. Yet, he managed to contain it. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Then explain it! Go on!”
Alex stepped closer to her, now on the edge of losing it all together. “I do not know when you are meant to die and I will never know until shortly before it. The future is not set in stone. It can change at the drop of a hat. That’s the difference, that’s why we continue to do what we do.”
Hayley met his gaze, unafraid. “Rubbish. What’s the difference between you saving me every other time and the one time when my card is marked?”
Alex stared at her for a long time, but did not answer. Turning away, he dismissed her with a flick of the hand. “You could not possibly begin to understand...”
Hayley stalked after him. “Try me!” she demanded, blocking his path.
“No.” He growled through gritted teeth, stepping around her and walking on.
Out of a fit of anger, Hayley jumped him from behind in the hopes that wrestling him to the ground would force the angel to answer her question.
But Alex had seen her coming. She landed on his back, wrapping her elbows tightly around his neck – but her thrashing and kicking did nothing to hinder the angel’s pace. After a few moments, he grew weary of her kicking and stopped. Straightening his back Hayley slid to her feet but she continued to hold on.
“Let go.”
“No.” She refused.
Alex suddenly vanished before her and she stumbled forward.
“That was pointless.” She looked round to see him standing to her right. “I’ll keep doing it until you give me a real answer.” She threatened.
Ales sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. But it is a very difficult thing to talk about.”
Hayley shuffled about uncomfortably, digging her hands into her pockets and deliberately avoiding eye contact. “Yeah, I can imagine...”
Alex’s smile broadened, his eyes glowing warmly. “Come here.” He said, holding his arms out to her. The two shared a quick hug that seemed to melt away any lingering animosity from their hearts.
Once they had parted, Alex looked to Hayley and said, “I know it’s not what you wanted to hear but it’s the way it is and there really is nothing that we can do about it.”
Suddenly feeling overwhelmingly hopeless, Hayley uneasily and with great reluctance let the matter go. Without saying a further word, the two of them trailed away from the wondrous blooming spectacle that was Glasgow Green.
It was late afternoon and Professor Johnston was still working away. He had spent the remainder of the day speculating and pondering about the miracle which had occurred on the green that morning. Yet he was still no closer to any real answer as to what had caused it. He had been so consumed in his thoughts and experiments that he did not hear his granddaughter return.
“Hi Granddad!” Lauren shouted, breaking the peace of the afternoon.
The professor’s face lit up as he saw her. Abandoning what he had been doing he went down onto one knee to give her a cuddle. “How was school?” he asked.
Lauren appeared a little shy at the question. “It was fun. We did painting.” She replied sweetly, lying expertly.
“And what did you paint?”
“I did a cat!”
“A cat? Good girl, that sounds like it was fun.” He said with a warm smile as he stood up again. “Is Anne still in the lounge?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Lauren smiled.
“Why don’t you go and keep her company for a little while? I still have some work to do before teatime.” He suggested.
Lauren’s smile faded to disappointment. “Can’t you come and play with us?”
Her request was met by a forced smile. “I’m sorry sweetie, but not just now.” He bent down to her, gently brushing back her long brown hair with his hand. “Maybe in a little while though.”
“But you always say that...”
“I know, I know, but sometimes things come up that get in the way. But I’ll try my best to be home as soon as I can and then we can play, yeah?” He said with a wide smile.
“Ok...” Lauren said, disheartened.
“Good girl.” He said, giving her one last loving embrace before sending her on her way.
Lauren left trailing her feet and not looking back once. He knew that she was upset and it pained him to see her so, but yet his work must be completed. Dwelling no further on the matter, he turned back to his plants and continued with where he had left off.
******
The night sky was dotted from horizon to horizon, only being outshone by a rising crescent moon that hung low in the eastern corner of the sky. Alex was in the living room pushing weights whilst John and Hayley sat watching the TV.
“What’s on next?” asked Alex, not even breathless as he shot a quick sidelong glance at the noisy, flashing box.
“Some documentary.” John said vaguely with a shrug.
Sitting the weights onto the stand, Alex sat up. He ran a hand through his thick, spiky black hair. “I take it there’s nothing better on?”
“Probably not.”
“Seems like a good night to go slay some demons then.” Alex decided, getting up. He looked expectantly to Hayley.
“We’ve not had tea yet.” She replied.
Alex shrugged. “Ok then, after tea.”
At that very moment on the other side of the city, Anne was putting Lauren to bed.
“Anne, can I have another wish?” The little girl asked as she lay her head down.
Anne looked at her regretfully. “I am afraid not Lauren, one is enough.” She said gently, tucking her up under her pink and red patterned quilt.
“Please?” The little girl pleaded.
Anne looked at her longingly. Her mind protested greatly at the notion but her heart yearned to appease the dying girl’s greatest desires.
Finally, with a heartfelt smile she said, “You can have whatever you want.”
Lauren peered up at her anxiously from amongst the thick, warm, protective quilts which she squeezed in tight bunches between her fingers. “But what if that nasty angel who wants to spoil our fun comes back?” she asked.
A dark shadow flashed over her gaze and then vanished. She smiled. “I can make it so that he doesn’t.”
Hayley and the lads had moved into the kitchen to have dinner. The evening meal was quite exotic compared to the ready meals of previous recent days that they had eaten. Alex had managed to concoct a succulent, sweet and sour chicken stir-fry from only a handful of leftover ingredients he had found scattered around the kitchen.
Impressed by how he had made something so delicious out of apparently so little, Hayley was quick to ask where Alex had learned to cook. The angel was more than happy to regale her with the tales of his exploits in the Middle East during the 17th century.
“Jacob’s answer to solving the problem was of course to disappear and leave me to take the blame for it.” Alex laughed, his face bright red as he recalled the adventure.
“Well it does sound like it was your fault anyway.” Remarked John, but not unkindly.
Alex’s guilty smile broadened. “That is true, I’ll give you that.” He laughed.
“So how many years were you over there for then?” John asked, glancing down at his food as he stuck the folk into another lump of chicken. He jumped at a sudden bang. His gaze darted from one side of the kitchen to the other. Alex had vanished. The air where he had just been sitting was now filled with a fine, chalky white dust. Amongst the drifting dust was the o
dd white feather, drifting lazily back to earth.
Hayley stared at the spot, terrified by what she had just witnessed. Then she and John looked at each other from across the table with wide, frightened eyes.
“Alex!” Hayley shouted. There was no answer. “Alex!” she shouted, standing up.
“Where did he go?”
“It’s alright, I’m still here.”
Hayley and John peered around the empty kitchen. There was no one else there other besides themselves.
“Alex, where are you?” Hayley asked, her gaze automatically lifting to the ceiling.
“All around you don’t bother trying to look, you can’t see me.”
“Are you alright?” Hayley asked, relieved.
“Yeah, I’m fine. But that’s if you discount the fact that my body was just blasted into atoms. That did sting for a second.” But no one laughed.
“What happened?”
“Anne.” He replied, his voice edged with anger. “She did this.”
“Why?” asked John, feeling silly for directing a question to the ceiling.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll tell you this. At the exact same moment the streets and buildings surrounding the Johnston’s homes have turned into crystal.”
John and Hayley exchanged baffled looks.
“Wait, did you just say crystal?” John asked making sure he had heard correctly.
“You’re not going deaf John, are you?”
“Shut up!” John shouted, giving the ceiling angry looks.
“Alex.” Hayley said, getting his attention.
“Yes?”
“Can you get us there?”
“I’m afraid not, I took quite a heavy battering from that cheap shot. Sorry about that Hayley.”
“It’s ok. At least you know where it is.” Hayley said, abandoning her dinner and collecting her coat from the hook on the back of the door.
Alex laughed. “And the fact that crystal paved streets stick out like a sore thumb.”
“Wait, we’re not going down there are we?” John asked, sitting up stiffly.
Hayley sighed and rolled her eyes. “Come on John, this isn’t the time, this could be very serious.” She said impatiently.
“I know, but look what she did to Alex!” John gestured to where Alex had been sitting at the end of the table. “This woman sounds like a right psycho! What do you think she’ll do to us if we go down there?”
“She won’t do a thing because I’ll be there.”
John did not share his confidence. “Says the angel who was just blown to pieces?”
“Shut up and get your coat.”
“Nah.”
“Fucking stay here then!” Hayley spat as she stormed out the door.
******
Lauren and her granddad were sitting in the living room playing with her dolls. Lauren chatted away happily as she brushed the knotted blonde hair of one of them, while her granddad sat in the rocking chair by the window, staring vacantly into space. While Lauren continued to play with her toys and witter away about her day spent in the common with Anne, it escaped the young girl’s attention that her grandfather was not quit himself. He sat and he listened, but he never blinked nor spoke. His eyes stared into a fixed point in the distance, glazed like grey marbles.
There playtime was interrupted by the sound of heavy knocks on the front door. Professor Johnston did not register the arrival.
Squeezing her doll tightly, Lauren said, “Anne?”
Anne appeared in the doorway to the sitting room the instant her name was spoken. She smiled warmly at the little girl. “I’ll go see who it is and send them home.” She said softly.
Lauren smiled happily and continued to play with her dolls.
Turning and heading down the stairs, Anne’s smile faded into the bleakest of expressions.
Upon opening the front door she was not surprised to find Hayley leant against the door frame with her arms folded and wearing a large grin across her face. “Hi!” she said.
Anne stared at her coldly. “I know why you are here. I promise that I will return your guardian in a few weeks.” She offered, attempting to close the glazed crystal door.
Hayley caught it with her foot, forcing it back open with a hard nudge. “That’s not happening.”
Anne stared at her unmoved by her persistence. “Please, I am only doing this to make Lauren’s last few weeks in this world a happy time.”
Hayley did not share the sympathy which Anne was clearly trying to reach from her. “And that’s an excuse to blow my best friend into a million pieces is it?” she asked.
“He came to no harm, I promise you.” She bit her lip in hesitation. “But it had to be done. He would have interfered with Lauren’s wishes else.”
Hayley raised an eyebrow. “Oh so your a genie now?” she asked.
Anne found no humour in the remark. “Please, just go home. No harm will come from Lauren’s wishes, I promise.”
Hayley glanced up and down the glazed street. The crystal drank the night, casting the crystal paved streets into a foreboding shine. With so little light, the roads and walkways appeared to be black, bottomless pits with no indication of where one ended and another began. The buildings and streetlights themselves stood like tall, featureless monoliths in the night. The short walk over to the Johnston’s place had left Hayley feeling unnerved. “You call this no ill?” Hayley asked.
“It will be gone by morning.”
“Oh yeah, if you say so.” Hayley replied, making it deliberately obvious that she did not believe her. “And what about the people who live around here, what’s happened to them?” she went on.
“They’re safe.”
Hayley gave her an accusing look. “And where is safe exactly?”
Anne turned on her then, eyes ablaze. “I will ask you one more time. Go home or else I will send you to the same place that they have gone too.”
“Try it, see what happens.” She dared.
So Anne obliged with the raise of a hand. A surprised look crossed her as she was met by so much resistance. She stared at Hayley as she struggled to push through the invisible barrier that blocked her from touching the young moments. After a long minute of struggling, she was finally forced to concede.
“What do you two want? Why can’t you just leave us alone!” she demanded in desperation.
Hayley took a step closer to her. “We’re not here to tell you what to do but Alex wants you to stop before this gets out of hand. He said you can’t go around altering the world so dramatically on a whim as it will cause a knock-on effect, which will only end in disaster.”
“But we haven’t hurt anyone!”
“But this is where it starts. Don’t you see that? First it begins with small things, then they gradually get bigger and bigger until eventually you do something so big that it has an impact which you cannot foresee.”
Anne was about to reply, when Lauren appeared at the foot of the stairs. Both Anne and the visitor stared at the little girl. But Hayley already knew what was coming next.
“Make her go away!” screamed the little girl.
Anne turned back to Hayley and with a look of regret blinked. Hayley was struck by an overwhelming force – it felt as if she had been hit by a wall. Uprooted from where she had been standing the very moment Anne had made that fateful blink, she found herself sailing backwards through the air – the house shrinking into the distance as she flew across the street. She was caught short from making contact with the glazed wall of the house across the road by Alex. With one flap of his large, impressive wingspan, he glided gently down to the road.
“Are you alright?” Alex asked, clearly worried.
But she was quite the opposite.
“Did you see that? That bitch tried to kill me!” Hayley exclaimed in disbelief, more angry than anything else.
Alex was a little surprised by her response but before he could reply, she said. “Take it you got your body sorted then?” she asked, looking
him up and down.
Alex smiled. “Yeah, the problem with being human is that you can’t click your fingers and make a new body out of thin air.”
Hayley gave him a puzzled look. “Why not?”
“Do you know how complicated the designs for your internal organs and circulatory system are? You have enough nerve endings to circle the planet alone! It takes a while to put everything in the correct order, never mind replicate all the necessary parts.”
“Ugh, I don’t think I want to know this.” Hayley said, a little grossed out.
“Nor is this the time to really be discussing it.” He agreed, turning his attention to the house across the street.
“What are you going to do?” Hayley asked.
“This.” Alex said stamping his foot. A ripple flew out from the paving stone he had struck with his heel. The road and the houses seem to ripple like liquid as there glassy facade fell away. In a matter of moments the stone and tarmac took on their solid form once more, as well as their normal appearance. Alex stood Hayley back on her feet.
She glanced about the street. “Did you bring the people back?”
“Yep.”
“Won’t that piss off Anne?”
“Yep.” Alex replied as he headed off across the road to the Johnston’s household. But something caused him to halt half way across the road.
“What is it?” Hayley asked.
“She has John.”
John awoke with a nervous jolt to discover that he could not move any of his limbs. Stricken with terror, he scanned the room before him. It became apparent from his panoramic view that he was suspended high upon the wall – but he could not see what bound him there. It was if he had been applied to the surface via a high strength adhesive. He struggled, but was met by solid resistance. The click of the door opening caught his attention. Anne stepped into the small room, carefully shutting the door behind her. With a solemn expression, she approached the imprisoned youth.
John struggled again, still to no avail. “Where the fuck am I? Who the hell are you?” He panicked.
“Don’t struggle. You will not be able to free yourself unless I choose to free you.” She said in a soothing tone.