Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel Chapter One (REWRITTEN)

Chapter One:

The only escape from reality that we have is our dreams; our bodies in a rested state, our minds conjuring a realm far different than our own mundane life. While some dreams are a blissful escape that provide serenity and happiness; mine cause confusion and idle curiosity. While most dreams are different each time we shut our eyes, mine are the same.

Every night since I can remember has been clouded with a dark eerie meadow. Laces of fog swirl my legs, tangling in my hair. A faceless figure looms before me, always so close yet so far away. The wind whistling in my ears making my skin crawl as I try to approach the same shadow that has taunted me for years. The grass dances in the wind, no animals can be heard. It is just me, the shadow of a person, and the wind singing.

"Who are you?" I shout, hoping to find some semblance of an answer, but to no avail. It never answers. Suddenly, the figure comes towards me, something it has never done in the past. Panic creeps in my throat; a scream tries to escape, but I can't get it out. The figure reaches a few feet away from me, no discernable features can be made out. He reaches out to me, his black hand almost touching my frigid skin. "Find me," the voice echoes. The voice sounds like a man, but not one that I recognize.

My body froze; the wind picks up as the shadow retreats, my instinct is to ask him what he meant, but suddenly a crack of lightning strikes a nearby tree. The sudden loud pop jolts me awake. My skin is cold to the touch, but moist from sweat. I place my hand on my chest, urging my heart to slow down and to calm my breathing. After my racing heart begins to beat normally, I check the clock on my phone, and groaned when it read 0530.

There was no going back to sleep, my mind was running rapidly at the dream I just had. The shadow has never spoken to me before, so why now? Instead of pondering the impossible, I walked into my bathroom to shower. Passing by the mirror, I looked at my exhausted expression. Dark circles lined my eyes, exaggerating the redness of them. Hoping the shower would wash away my fatigue, I turned on the shower and let the hot water loosen my stiff muscles.

Once I finished my shower, I haphazardly threw my hair into a bun and foraged through my closet for some decent clothes, I picked up my textbooks and put them into my backpack. Before exiting my room, I looked one last time into the mirror and decided to throw some concealer and mascara on. Finally, somewhat pleased with my appearance, I race downstairs to find something eat.

I ran into my mother in the kitchen, her pleasant whistling made me smile. "Good, you're awake," she said once she noticed my presence. She walked over to me and tenderly kissed my cheek. "Are you excited to start your senior year?" She asked excitedly. Her enthusiasm was a little over the top for how early it was. "I suppose, I just wish I would've gotten more sleep." Her face turned into a frown, she knew about the dreams, she went with me to every therapy appointment.

"Maybe they need to change the dose on your Ambien." My face upturned in disapproval. "That stuff makes me feel funny, if anything I wish they would stop prescribing it to me." My mom gave me the "mom look" and I immediately dropped the subject. "I'll make you an appointment with Dr. Thomas soon, you need your sleep Aimee." I hated going to him, but she was right, I do need sleep if I am going to survive this year.

I grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs and toast from her and sat down across from the bar. My mother watched me like a hawk, as she knew I didn't eat that much during the day. More than likely from the lack of appetite those stupid pills give me. After shoving an adequate amount of food down my throat, I picked up my things and made my way out the door. "Bye mom, love you!" I called out. "Bye sweetie, say hello to Kelsey for me!"

I walked to my modest 2008 Toyota Camry and started the car to blast the AC, September in Washington wasn't that hot but it was hot enough for me to want the cool air. While checking to make sure I had everything, a flash of black outside of my car caught my attention. I looked up to see a hooded person standing at the end of the sidewalk by my neighborhood's bus stop.

My throat immediately closed in fear; my mind quickly began to think that the shadow from my dreams was creeping into my reality. Suddenly the person turned around and had physical features that I could make out. Realizing that the person was not the shadow from my dreams, I relaxed into my seat. I finally put the key in the ignition and drove myself to school.

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Yes, I rewrote the first chapter of this story, because I honestly don't like how I wrote this the first time.

More chapters will be updated as I have time to do them. As I am on Christmas break from nursing school and want to fix this monstrosity!

To everyone who has commented on the plot/characters/timeline of this story; I have seen them and have begun making changes. SO THANK YOU!

I really appreciate the amount of love this story has received. As I wrote this story when I was a freshman in high school; now I am a sophomore in college! That probably explains a lot about my writing style.

Thank you so much for allowing me to write my thoughts down and taking the time to read it.

Lots of love,

Brittany