Tell Me About the Angels by Lorraine Sears

“I had a bad dream again, Gabby,” Piper said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up in bed. Her voice was timid like she didn’t quite trust she was awake.

The older girl smiled at her with affection.

“I know. I came, so you wouldn’t feel scared.” Gabby’s voice was beautiful and resonant, like crystal, and it seemed to fill the whole dormitory, yet it didn’t disturb the other children who were all sleeping soundly in beds along the walls.

“I’m never scared when you’re here,”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”

Piper swallowed and looked guilty.

“I wish you were here all the time,” she whispered.

“Why?”

“I’d never be scared of anything then,” she said, trying to sound brave.

Attempting to look stern, Gabby drew her eyebrows together, but the smile on her lips was a giveaway.

“What else do you have to be scared about other than bad dreams?”

Piper fiddled with the edge of the bed covers.

“Sometimes the boys jump out on me and Jessica when we play,” she said, with a pout.

“So get your own back and do the same to them,” Gabby said as laughter coloured her musical voice, “see how they like it?”

But there was something more on the little girl’s mind that was bothering her.

“It’s not just the boys,” Piper admitted after a few moments, “those people who came today and sat in the playground, watching us. . .”

“Yes, do you mean Mr and Mrs Jones?” Gabby asked in a cautious tone.

Piper nodded. “I didn’t like them very much,”

“Why not?”

Piper shrugged and kept her concentration on the comforter.

“Piper?” Gabby pushed, “you know you can tell me anything. I won’t laugh or get cross, I promise.”

“Well…” she was still hesitant, so Gabby made a point of lowering her face until she was looking up at Piper and blocking her view of everything else, at the same time drawing out a wonderful, toothy grin.

“Tell me.”

“I didn’t like the way Mr Jones looked at me, or said my name; it made me… itchy.”

“Itchy?” Gabby raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, itchy,” the little girl said crossly. “I felt like I couldn’t stand still when he looked at me.” Piper’s little face puckered into a frown and her mouth made a tiny moue, she looked up at Gabby from under a few rogue strands of hair that had escaped her bedtime plaits.

“Jessica said the same thing,” she added sulkily.

“I see,” Gabby nodded, making a mental note. Young children had a way of being far more perceptive around adults than they were given credit for, and if Piper felt so strongly, well, it was worthy of a little investigation. Besides, the orphanage had an odd vibe about it today, like something unpleasant had disturbed it. Its normal tranquillity almost had a feeling of having been violated; could it be the Joneses? She’d make sure she found out, but for now, she turned her attention back to reassuring Piper.

“You know you get a say in the things that happen to you, don’t you, Piper? If something makes you feel uncomfortable about the Joneses you don’t have to see them again.”

The little girl’s head snapped up and her vivid green eyes went wide with relief.

“Really?”

Gabby smiled at the renewed enthusiasm in her voice, “Really. Would I ever tell you a fib?”

Piper bit her lips together to hold back her smile, but her eyes were dancing.

“No. You told me you lose your light if you lie,” she said earnestly.

“That’s right,” Gabby said with a nod, “and am I still glowing?” She opened her arms wide for inspection.

Piper made a show of scrutinizing Gabby from head to foot.

“I can’t see your feet,” she said and then burst in to giggles which she had to stifle behind her hand. She always said that, and it always meant Gabby would take off her shoe. Sure enough Gabby rolled her eyes and obligingly peeled off her soft white ballet slipper to reveal her foot that was radiating a gentle golden glow, just like the rest of her.

“All right?” she asked, putting the shoe on again before cupping the child’s cheek in her hand.

“All right,” Piper nodded.

“Good. Just remember to tell Mrs. Wilkes what you told me. I’ll sort the rest out.”

“Can’t you tell her, please?” Piper’s little hand reached across the bed and grasped Gabby’s arm, her face imploring. “She’ll think I’m being silly.”

Gabby swallowed and worked hard to smile reassuringly. Piper looked so small and scared and helpless. Biting her lip she decided, just this once, she would break a rule. A few carefully chosen words muttered in the ear of the kind woman who ran the orphanage, as she slept, should have the desired effect.

“I’ll see what I can do; you don’t need to worry, okay?”

“Jessica too?”

“Jessica too,” she agreed.

All the tension drained from Piper’s little body, as she said,

“You’re the best, Gabby.” And once more her face was bright and joyful; completely justifying any rule breaking, as far as Gabby was concerned.

“Right, Young Lady,” Gabby said, “time for sleep. It’s very late.” She stood up and peeled the covers back a little so Piper could snuggle down again.

“Tell me a story, Gabby”

“Lie down.”

“Story!” Mischief skipped across Pipers face, her cheeky grin, the show stopper Gabby couldn’t resist.

“One story,” Gabby conceded, “but lie down.”

“The one about the angels,” Piper demanded as she obediently wiggled and wriggled her way back under the bedding. “Tell me about the angels.”

“Not the angels again,” Gabby said as she tucked in the covers. “I tell you about them all the time. How about Snow White and Rose Red? That was my favourite when I was your age.”

“I know, I have the book, remember? But I can read a book any time. Only you can tell me about the angels,” she was on the verge of sitting up again.

“Fine, I’ll tell you about the angels. But then sleep, agreed?”

“Agreed.” Piper nodded enthusiastically against her pillow, her eyes fixed intently on her friend.

“Ready,” she prompted when she was comfortable with her head nestled into the softness.

Gabby rested against the bottom of the bed and crossed her legs in front of her. She’d told this story to Piper so many times, the little girl always interrupted her in the same place with the same questions; between then, it was like a well rehearsed script.

Gabby began. “There are lots of different angels, all of who are created and charged with looking after the world. Some of them are fierce warriors and some are mighty because they have been around forever, but there are none as important as the angels who look after children; ‘Guardian Angels.’ They are unique among their kind because they haven’t always been angels,”

Piper went to sit up.

“What were they?” she asked. But Gabby pushed her back down and wagged a finger impatiently.

“You already know this, you’ve heard it before.”

“Tell me again,” Piper begged.

“Then stop interrupting me, and I will.” Gabby smiled indulgently. Piper pretended to zip her mouth, lock it and throw the key away; she nodded for Gabby to go on.

“Guardian angels are specially chosen to look after children because they have so much love in their hearts; a special, fiercely protective and nurturing love. Born as humans, their lives ended tragically early, before they could fulfil their destiny to help a child on the journey from birth to adulthood. But rather than let their souls weep for eternity, they are offered a marvellous gift: to watch over and protect the children of the world.”

Gabby leant forward and with the tenderest of touches brushed back the stubborn lock of hair that kept falling over Piper’s forehead.

“What type of people are chosen?” the little girl asked sleepily.

“Good people. Some of them are parents already, some were meant to be but never got the chance, some are even grandparents who did such a good job that it would be a waste not to let them use their love and compassion again,” Gabby waited patiently for Piper’s next question.

“Tell me about your friend?”

“My friend was young and never listened to what she was told, often finding herself in some sort of trouble. Her heart was in the right place, but she was a little… careless with herself sometimes,”

Gabby’s voice had become very quiet, almost a whisper, but a tiny curve pulled at the corner of her mouth.

“She got herself in trouble with a boy, and found out she was going to have a baby. The boy didn’t want a baby and cruelly told her not to have it, but she knew that was wrong. The baby was a special gift, reminding her that there are still good things in life. So she ran away from the boy and went somewhere safe where she could have the baby and build a good life for them. She even went night school so she could get a good job. It was hard, working during the day, going to school at night and growing a baby in her tummy, but she was determined to do whatever it took.”

Piper’s eyelids were closed as if asleep, a look of contentment on her face, but as Gabby leaned over to see if she was sleeping they snapped wide open.

“What happened, Gabby?”

“The baby was an impatient one,” Gabby said, her face full of affection.

“She decided nine months was too long to wait to meet her mother, so six weeks before she was due she surprised everyone. My friend was at school at the time, and they called an ambulance to take her to hospital. The hospital was wonderful and did everything they could. But the real reason the baby was coming early was because my friend was in poor health. And although they saved her baby, the hospital could do nothing for her.”

A large tear welled on Gabby’s lower eyelid, but before Piper could open her eyes again, she continued. “My friend spent three wonderful weeks in the hospital being a mother, holding her new daughter, talking to her, feeding her and seeing her first smile. When the baby slept she used the time to write letters for her, one for every birthday until she turned eighteen,”

“Like the letters from my mummy,” Piper interrupted, eyes still closed.

“Just like those,” Gabby said, as with the lightest of touches, she put a golden hand on the covers over the little girl’s heart and the other over her own, sensing the two pulsing beats perfectly synchronised.

“When my friend died, she was overcome with grief. She thought she would never see her daughter; that’s when she was asked if she wanted to become a Guardian Angel. At first she didn’t think she could; she was so worried for her baby girl all alone on earth. But when they said her little girl would be her first charge, she couldn’t refuse. It was a second chance for them both, and she grabbed on to it with all her might.”

“That baby was lucky,” Piper murmured.

“So was her mother,”

“I’ve never seen my Guardian Angel, Gabby,” Piper said, her eyes opening a little and her voice sounding more awake. “But I don’t mind.”

“Really?” Gabby asked curiously. The conversation had never progressed this far.

“I’ve thought about it lots and lots, but, I don’t need my guardian angel, because I have you. I love you, Gabby.”

The tear that had been sat on Gabby’s eyelid finally over spilled and trailed down her face, but it was filled with so much joy that she hardly noticed, and her soft glow radiated even more brightly for a few seconds.

To anyone watching the room, they would have seen nothing and heard little more than a child talking quietly as she slept. But Piper felt that extra glow as surge of comforting warmth that pushed her, finally, into a peaceful sleep.

“I love you too, my darling” Gabby whispered, unheard, and she disappeared.

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Lorraine Sears is a married, mother of two in her mid-thirties. She’s always had a love of creative writing and enjoys combining life observations with her imagination to create her short fiction. Her stories range from children’s fiction to horror and everything in between.

Lorraine has tried to take a break from writing a few times, but her brain won’t stop churning out the ideas. Even when she manages to turn off the computer she always finds herself inexplicably scribbling random musings in anyway she can, from lipstick on mirrors to felt tips on toilet rolls. Therefore in a bid to keep her work in a more readable manner, ultimately she always finds her way back to the PC.

Since being invited to join ‘Hot House’ a small, focused, on-line writing group, Lorraine has achieved publication for her work. ‘Mine’ appeared in The New Flesh e-zine in May 2010, and ‘I am a Princess’ has been accepted by Pill Hill Press. Lorraine has also written a fantasy fiction novel, as yet unpublished.