The Soulmate Collection

9 || The Gaurdian

"Can the person see me?" I ask out loud, but she wasn't paying attention in the slightest, so I asked again.

"I'm sorry. You said something," Annalisa, finally stopped.

"If I become a guard for the person, can they see me?"

"There have been some are rare cases, but no. Are you considering doing it?"

"Can I meet the person first or do I need to tell you now?"

"We could do that. Be aware that you are not permitted to make any kind of contact with the person. Are we clear?" I nod hesitantly. "All righty then! Let's go meet your soulmate!" She exclaimed, smiling way to big for her tiny face. "Oh! This is so exciting!"

In a flash we were perched on a rustic wooden bench, looking out into a field. "Um, Annalisa, there is no one here." I pointed out, scanning the scene for a living human. Nothing.

"Be patient, Arthur," she whispered with a hint of enthusiasm.

Just then a screen door slammed shut and a woman appeared. Her long brown locks curling on the ends, trail down her back, swaying with each step. Her shocking green eyes resemble the oak trees beside us. Her buttermilk coloring looks like it just lays on her skin. She an angel.

"Yeah, well fuck you too, Johnny!" She screams, turning back towards the house, but not actually taking a step foreword. She quickly flips the screen off and continues on her march towards us.

"Arthur, meet Iris, your soulmate."

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"Iris, come back here," Johnny shouts from inside the house, but I'm already too far gone and too pissed for that matter, to even want to return.

"Hell, no," I scream loud enough for him to hear as I make my way into the field, to my favorite hiding space. It's the one place I refuse to tell anyone about.

Over the years of living on Grandpa's farm I've become accustom to running to my own little spot. I mean I had to. I'm the only girl amongst seven boys: My grandpa, my dad, my uncle, my two older brothers, and two older cousins, which gives me the joy of being the lone girl.

Johnny, my annoying irritating, frustrating, infuriating eldest brother, decided he would once again give my tooth brush to one the skanks he brought home to do whatever it is Johnny does. I prefer not to think about it, for I pretty much have the enjoyment of hearing it all night. Which is another one of the many reasons I'm currently ticked off with my brother.

I finally get to my spot and lay down beneath the great open sky when I see a small butterfly fluttering by my hand. Its blue and black colors are so easily spotted against the browns and golds surrounding it.

When I was younger my mother told me when you spot a butterfly, it means an angel is near watching over you. "Hello, little one," I whisper softly to the stunning insect.

A feeling of warmth spread over me and at once I felt safe, content even.

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I can't touch her, but I can feel her. Her soul that is. "I'll protect you," I whisper back. I watch as she lightly closes her eyes and snuggles into the ground as though preparing for a long nap.

And that's just what I did. When her uncle tried to sexually assault her two months later, I was there. He ended up in the hospital for a month. As far as, Annalisa is concerned he tripped, and fell down a flight of stairs.

When she moved in with her best girlfriend, Angie, and two weeks later meet a city boy named Dave, I was there. When Dave took her to the movies and she had to leave early because her bother Johnny was in a car accident, which ended him in a coma, until her father was forced to pull the plug, I was there—even got the chance to help Johnny crossover.

When Dave proposed at the county fair, and a month later she discovered she was pregnant, I was there. When her father was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, I was there. When she came home and discovered Dave in bed with Angie, I was there. Two months later when she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and named her Rebecca after her mother, I was there.

When Iris went back to college and graduated with a masters in psychology and a minor in music therapy, I was there in the front row cheering. When Iris opened her own practice, I was there. When Rebecca ended up in the hospital for a week with stomach ulcers, I was there. When Rebecca turned sixteen and a boy gave her flowers, I was there right next to Iris eyeing the boy up and down.

When Rebecca graduated from college and married Luke, the boy with the flowers, I was there teary eyed and all, desperately wanting to hold Iris. When Luke took Iris and Rebecca to Europe for a month, I tagged along, and ooh and awed at each sight. When Iris welcomed her first granddaughter and two years later her second, I was there. When Iris had her first fall, which ended her in the hospital, I was there.

I was there when she cried. I was there when she laughed, when she smiled, when she screamed, and I fell in love--deep uncontrollable love with the woman, who can not see me.

On the fateful day in the nursing home surrounded by her grandchildren and daughter, I was there.

Iris looked at me with a knowing smile, her once amber brown hair turned to sliver, her face holding years of memories, but her fiery emerald eyes, kept me in a trance; they were the same as the day I met her.

Just then I heard the flat lining of the machine along side silent sobs and gasps, but I could not be too sad, for although her life was over, her soul would finally be reunited with mine.

I took her hand in mine and for the first time in 68 years she felt it.

"Hello, my angel," she said lightly, giving my hand a heart warming squeeze.

"Hello, Iris."

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