The Guardians (7 page)

“I mean, you usually always shut down after one of Bruce’s episodes. I can barely get two words out of you. I’m not saying you’re Mary Sunshine or anything, but it’s different.”

Zach shrugged. “I don’t know.”

AJ raised his eyebrows. “Did you take out your frustrations with some girl or something?”

I knew Zach wasn’t ready to tell the entire truth about the previous night. He wouldn’t want to admit to AJ he had contemplated suicide, nor would be want to acknowledge he’d tried finding divine answers. “Well, there’s this new girl at school.”

My heart skidded to stop. That most certainly was
not
the response I had expected.

“And?” AJ prompted.

“And she’s…different.”

“Different how?”

Zach sighed. “I don’t know really know how to explain it. She’s just different than any of the girls I’ve seen lately.”

“Uh-huh,” AJ mused. “But what about Lauren?”

“Yeah, um, about her….I crashed at her house last night.”

AJ laughed. “Ah, my brother the player!”

“Whatever.” He then rose up from his chair. “I better go get ready.” He turned and surveyed AJ. “How about keeping what I just said to yourself?”

AJ crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you honestly think I’d want to stir up a hornet’s nest here by telling Lauren that you’re pining for some new chick?” He shook his head. “Nuh-uh, I happen to like the peaceful work environment I’ve got going on now.”

Zach rolled his eyes and muttered, “Yeah, yeah.”

I put my book away as he headed to the back of the shop. I was surprised to see quite a crowd gathering in the tables around the stage. I drew in a deep breath of anticipation as Zach returned with his guitar in his hand.

He strode confidently across the stage and situated himself on the stool in front of the microphone. The room erupted into applause. Zach’s face broke into a crooked grin. “Thank you, thank you. I appreciate my legion of fans coming out tonight to support me.”

“We love you, Zach!” someone shouted behind me.

Zach stared out over the hot lights of the stage toward the origin of the voice. When his eyes met mine, recognition flooded his face.

“For my first song tonight, I wanna do a cover from one of my favorite bands, Bon Jovi. Yeah, it’s a song from way back in the day, but it’s one my dad raised me on. Of course, I can’t do a good Bon Jovi cover without my own Richie Sambora. So AJ, come on up here!”

AJ’s smile widened. In his hesitation, Sarah nudged him. “Go on, honey.”

He trotted up on stage and sat down on a stool next to Zach. “What are we singing?” he asked, pulling a guitar into his lap.

“
Bed of Roses
.”

“Good choice.” He looked back at the counter. “This one is for you, babe.”

Sarah smiled back at him. “I love you!” she called.

As Zach strummed the first few chords, he and the guitar became one. It was with the music he seemed most confident. All the pain, frustration, and anxiety seemed to flow out his fingertips. I knew it must be his saving grace in the dark times.

When he began singing, his velvety voice echoed through the room. I had been around enough music to know good when I heard it, and Zach was definitely good. He finished the song as applause and whistling erupted around coffeehouse. While several people in front of me stood up to give him a standing ovation, I quietly snuck out and headed home. He was safe again. Even more than that, he was happy. But my instincts told me it wouldn’t be long before trouble—bad trouble—loomed on the horizon again.

Chapter Five: ELIJAH

There was something about Abby’s mood on Thursday that made me uneasy. I’d been a guardian angel long enough to trust my instincts. Usually, whenever I experienced uneasy feelings, it meant something troubling loomed on the horizon. Because of that factor and sensing immense sadness threatened to overtake Abby, I decided to follow her home from cheerleading practice.

Even though I knew it would zap me of my physical strength, I appeared
unseen
and
invisible
in the corner of the garage next to a heap of sports equipment and camping gear as Abby pulled her car into its usual spot. She hopped out of the champagne colored Honda Accord, grabbing up her book bag and purse. She unlocked the garage door, and then punched in some numbers on the alarm code. I felt her chest tighten with apprehension when she realized the house was empty.

Something dark and enormous lunged at her, knocking her to the kitchen floor. Her scream echoed through the silence. I threw myself forward ready to transform in seen form and defend her. As soon as I saw the black Labrador Retriever’s red tongue lapping across her face, I felt foolish.

Abby laughed. “Atticus, you bad boy! You know you’re not supposed to jump up on people. What am I gonna do with you?” Atticus responded to her light hearted admonishment by continuing to lick her face. She wrapped her arms around the dog and kissed along the ridge of his nose. As she rubbed his ears, she peered into his face. “You better not tell Hannah about this. She’ll get jealous you were showing me all this attention. You’re supposed to be her baby, remember?”

Atticus wagged his tail and barked.

Abby gave him one last rub down and then stood up. “All right, enough,” she said as she stood up from the hardwood floor.

I slipped inside just as Abby closed the garage door. Atticus’s ears perked up, and I knew the dog could sense the second presence entering the kitchen.

Abby glanced over at Atticus. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s time to roll the shorts down before dad comes home with Hannah and freaks at all my excess skin,” she said, as she quickly unrolled the waist of her shorts. As they came further down her thighs, she laughed to herself. “Abigail Thomas, nice young ladies shouldn’t show so much skin,” she said, deepening her voice to mock her father’s condescension.

I stood rooted to the kitchen floor, mesmerized. I’d never been alone with a teenage girl before. In fact, I’d rarely, if ever, interacted with them. Everything she did was strange but interesting. It was like the weaving of a spell, and my mind felt cloudy. For a moment, I forgot all about my purpose for being in the kitchen. Instead, I hung on to her every word and action.

“I guess I better be a good girl and start dinner before Daddy comes in. Whatcha think?”

Atticus wagged his tail in response.

I watched Abby while she buzzed through the inconsequential details of preparing dinner. Sadness washed over me as she began talking to herself to fill the emptiness of the house, and I knew this was probably something she and her mother used to do.

“What should I cook for dinner, Atticus?” she wondered, as she noisily got pots and pans out of the cabinets and put them on the granite counter. Abby threw open the refrigerator door and peered inside. “Chicken, pork chops, hamburgers,” she rattled off absentmindedly. Once she settled on chicken, she grabbed a large package and tossed it on the countertop.

“Ugh, it’s just too quiet in here!” she cried, as she dug her pink iPod out of her purse. She put it in the docking station on the counter, and a song I’d heard many years before, Aerosmith’s “Angel”, blared out of the speakers. The music’s upbeat tempo prompted Abby to nod her head in time. When Steven Tyler’s voice emanated out of the speakers, Abby raised hers in song as well.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Abby wasn’t the greatest singer in the world, but she certainly made up for it with enthusiasm. She shimmied her shoulders as she sung into the spoon in her hands. The music rolled easily through her as she danced around the kitchen. Atticus wagged his tail appreciatively at her exertions. Finally, I gave in, and let a smile twitch at the corners of my mouth.

Suddenly, she stopped singing. Her carefree expression vanished like a vapor, replaced by one of grief. Two tears slid over her cheeks as she sunk slowly down on the kitchen floor.

I watched helplessly as Abby’s body shook from violent sobs. I knelt down beside her, desperate to understand what caused the raging storm of emotion. When she raised her head, I locked my eyes with her grief-stricken eyes. She could not see me, but the strength of her pain allowed me a clear look into her mind, which was wrapped around a vivid memory.

She and her mother were driving down a highway somewhere. Rain beat against the roof of the car, and the windshield wipers were working double time to keep the visibility clear.

Victoria fumbled with the buttons on the radio. When she flipped past an Aerosmith song, she quickly flipped back.

Abby raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Since when do you listen to Aerosmith?”

“Ha, they’re more my generation than yours. I was a fan long before you were born.”

“Seriously?” Abby asked.

“For our first wedding anniversary, your father took me to their concert in Atlanta,” Victoria said.

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Daddy at an Aerosmith concert? You’ve got to be kidding!” Abby sounded incredulous.

“Yes ma’am, he certainly was. He rocked out with the best of them that night.”

Abby laughed. “I can’t believe there was a time Daddy ever rocked out to anything.”

“Well there was.” Victoria sighed at the memory. Then she looked over at Abby and grinned. “In fact, Chaz was conceived that night.”

“Ew gross! I could have lived a lifetime without knowing that!”

Victoria laughed at her daughter’s mortification. “I’m sorry to have scarred you.”

“Just don’t do it again,” Abby replied, with a laugh.

“I’ll try hard not to, kiddo!”

Then my vision faded. The weight of it sent me falling back onto the floor. When I came back to myself, I looked up at Abby who was still shaken on the kitchen floor. She drew her knees to her chest, and her breath came in ragged sighs from her fitful sobs. When the song went off, she absentmindedly put her hand to the button to replay it, desperately clinging to the vivid memory it induced.

Crouching on my knees, I tentatively leaned towards her. My hand reached out to wipe the tears from her face. Part of me ached to do more—to wrap my arms around her and rock her until the pain subsided. I had done that countless times with children, but I didn’t think I could with her. It frustrated me that I was bound from comforting her the way she should be comforted because of my silly, prideful feelings.

I bowed my head so I could whisper in her ear. “Don’t cry, Abby. Your mother loved you, and she’s at peace. She wouldn’t want you to cry and be sad like this.”

Abby gasped and gazed wildly around the kitchen. “W-Who’s there? Who said that?”

Her fear overwhelmed me. Somehow I’d managed to do the wrong thing, and instead of feeling comforted, she felt scared. I had to do something to remedy it. Gently, I placed my hands on the top of her head to send serenity through her. She sighed with the peace that filled her. Momentarily, she could forget all about the sadness over the memory or the mysterious voice.

She didn’t hear Chaz come in the backdoor. The blaring music caught him off guard. “Abby?” he called. The only response was the sound of sizzling water overflowing from the pot onto the floor. Chaz threw his books down and ran over to the stove. He quickly turned off the gas and shifted the pot to the opposite burner. When he did, boiling water cascaded over one of his hands. “Shit!” he whirled over to the sink, plunging his hand under the cold water. He then noticed Abby curled in the floor.

“Abby, what are you doing?” Her gaze snapped to Chaz’s. “Didn’t you know the water was boiling over?” When she didn’t respond, Chaz rolled his eyes at her. “Oh that’s just what I need, another crazy sister!”

She bolted up from the floor. “Don’t say that, Chaz! Hannah
isn’t
crazy!”

“Oh really? So, what do
you
call a fourteen year old who hasn’t spoken in three months, not even to her father? Or one who wasn’t even able to start high school with the rest of her friends? I call it crazy!”

“She’s just in shock. She’ll come around,” Abby protested.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

I felt the conflict in Chaz as he surveyed the tears streaming down Abby’s cheeks. He stared down at the floor and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, and I shouldn’t have said that about Hannah. It’s just I don’t know how to deal with her right now.” He sighed. “I don’t know how to deal with
anything
right now.”

“You don’t have to
deal
with her. You’re her big brother, and she loves you more than life itself. Just be patient with her. I mean she saw Mom get…” Abby shuddered.

Chaz’s expression softened a bit as he took in her words. “Okay, I will.” He hesitated a moment before reaching over and handing Abby a paper towel to wipe her tears. “So, um, looks like you were making dinner.”

“Geez Chaz, why is dinner always my problem?” Abby asked.

He grinned sheepishly. “Cause you’re a girl.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “With that attitude you just set feminism back a hundred years.”