Guardian Angel

Little Rock and Portland

The next day was the day of the trip. I packed in the morning. I didn't know how long I would be so I brought enough clothes to last me two weeks. I got a call around noon from Melanie.

"I'm coming with you. I already bought my plane tickets." She said.

"Awesome! But don't accuse Graham on this trip, OK? He's coming with me." I told her.

"No! Why are you bringing him? He's just gonna bury you like he did Aly." She yelled.

"Stop with that! No he's not." I yelled back.

Later that night, Graham, Melanie, and I got into my car and drove to the airport. Once we got there we went through security. Melanie and I got through with no trouble, but Graham got stopped.

"I've seen you somewhere in the newspaper before or something." The security lady said.

"I've never been in the newspaper before." He said.

The lady walked over to a desk, picked up a newspaper and walked back to him.

"Last weeks issue, USA Today, there is an article called '14 Years Since Aly Got Kidnapped and Buried.' There is a very blurry picture of a man that looks like you. Care to explain?" She asked.

Melanie looked at me with a scared and told you so face combined.

"I'm sure the picture is so blurry that there's no proof it's him." I whispered in her ear.

I walked up to the lady and saw the picture. It was blurry but not too blurry. It did look a lot like Graham.

"I promise you that's not me. I just came to the earth to be Shelby here's guardian angel." Graham said as he put his arm around me.

"I'm sorry we are going to have to take you to the guardian angel holding cell. You can't disappear from it. Come." The lady said.

"Ma'am you have no proof!" I yelled.

"This is for your safety." She said.

"Graham! I love you!" I yelled.

"I love you too!" He yelled back as he was being dragged out of the room.

I cried into Melanie's shoulder.

"I told you so." She smirked.

"Not a good time. It's not him. I know it." I muttered.

"GET HIM!" I heard screaming in the distance.

I looked to my right and saw Graham running out of the lady's hands and sprinting away.

"Go be free Graham. Come find me." I whispered.

"See, he's running away because he's the suspect. Duh." Melanie laughed.

"Shut up." I murmured.

We got on the plane and I had a donut and Starbucks coffee in my hand. The plane ride went well. I kept thinking about Graham though.

We got to Little Rock, Arkansas when I realized I had no idea where her family lived or what their last name was.

We got off the plane and Melanie and I went to see a receptionist.

"Hi, do you know the girl Aly who got kidnapped and buried in 2002 who used to live here?" I asked the receptionist.

"Yes, that poor girl." She answered.

"Well, we were wondering if you knew where her family lives. We are kind of on a mission to try to save her, or at least figure out her mystery. We need to talk to her family." I explained.

"I know that her family lives about 10 minutes from here in a neighborhood called 'Golden Brookes." She said.

"Thank you." I thanked her.

Wow I'm surprised she just told me all that. Isn't that supposed to be confidential for safety reasons?

Melanie and I rented a car, looked up Golden Brookes on Google Maps, and drove there. We didn't know what house she lived in so we just knocked on the first door we came to.

"Hello, I'm Shelby and this is Melanie. We are on a case to save and/or find out the mystery about Aly, the girl who was kidnapped and buried in Portland. We know her family lived in this neighborhood and we wanted to talk to them. Do you mind telling us what house they live in?" I asked.

"You didn't hear? They got in an accident. I don't really know what happened but, they're dead. They died just 10 minutes ago." He explained.

What! We were so close, then ironically, 10 minutes before we wanted to speak to them they died. Or got killed?

"Oh, ok. Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"I think an intruder stabbed them both. That's what I heard from word on the street. They used to live in a house two doors down from mine." He explained.

I started crying. I didn't really know why. They aren't even my family. I was just sad that if I did save their daughter or find out the mystery about her, they wouldn't be there to see her or hear about it.

"I bet it was Graham." Melanie whispered in my ear.

"How could it have been Graham! He would never kill a soul!" I cried. "And how would he have gotten here 10 minutes before us if he didn't get on the plane with us?" I asked.

"Remember? He can disappear and appear anywhere he wants." She reminded me.

"Oh yeah, but still! It couldn't have been him." I yelled.

Why hasn't Graham come to see me yet? If he can appear anywhere he should be here. Maybe the security caught him and he is in the disappear free zone.

Suddenly, Graham appeared beside me.

"Shelby!" He cried.

"Graham!" I cried back.

He embraced me with a long and warm hug and kiss.

"Why didn't you come sooner? Aly's parents died!" I asked.

"I'm so sorry." He rubbed my shoulder. "You can quickly come with me to Portland without plane. All of you just have to touch me in some way and I think of the place I wanna go and we can all go there." He explained.

"Why didn't we do that when we were coming here?" I asked.

"I forgot." He laughed.

I hugged him and suddenly we were in front of a sign that said, "Welcome to Portland, Oregon!"

Melanie wasn't here.

"Where's Melanie!" I cried.

"She wasn't touching me! It's her fault." He explained.

"You didn't tell us you were ready to go!" I laughed.

"Sorry." He laughed.

"Can't we go back for her?" I asked.

"Let's not waste time." He mentioned.

I went on my phone to google maps and typed in, "art museum Portland Oregon." It popped up and I turned on directions for it. We started walking.

Graham and I were just talking when we saw a mine.

"A mine! Duh! We can just go through there! She must down there!" I cried.

"Yeah why don't you go look." He yelled as he picked me up, threw me in, and blasted a stick of dynamite.