Guarded

Prologue

“Promise me you’ll never leave me.”

“I promise you, Harry, that I will never leave you.”

We lay there until we could no longer deny that we were both freezing and our body heat wasn’t keeping us warm enough anymore. He walked me to my house that night and kissed me goodbye before walking across the street to his own.

When I stepped inside, I got an odd feeling, but didn’t think anything of it. “Mom? Dad?” I called out, peering into the kitchen but not seeing anyone.

I checked the living room and figured they must have gotten stuck in traffic on their way home from the airport. I went to fix myself something for dinner and plopped in front of the television with a bowl of cereal. I flipped through the news channels until I found something on Channel 4 to watch.

I must’ve dozed off because when I woke up it was 10:30 and my parents still weren’t home. I checked my cell phone and the house phone for missed calls and there weren’t any. I shrugged and decided their flight probably got delayed. They both travelled a lot for work and it wasn’t unusual for them to have a delay but usually they called.

I set my clothes out for school the next day and brushed my teeth and lay in bed, sending Harry a quick goodnight text message before I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning to pounding on the front door. I checked the time. It was 5:30 and I normally didn’t wake up until 7. I wondered who it could be and padded down the stairs.

“Annaleise, it’s Aunt Stacey, open the door sweetie,” I heard my aunt call through the door. I thought that was extremely odd. My aunt lived in California and she usually on visited on the holidays.

I opened the door for her and she engulfed me in a huge hug. “Thank God you’re alright, the airline won’t give us any confirmation on the status! I wasn’t sure if you were on the plane with them or not.”

I looked at her, my heart sinking. “What are you talking about, Aunt Stacy?” Tears began to well in my eyes.

She looked at me and hugged me again. “Sweetie, I am so sorry. I am so, so, sorry.” She took me into the living room and sat me down on the couch. “Honey, your parents flight to London..” She trailed off, choking up.

She fumbled in her pockets for a tissue. “Annaleise, sweetie, your parents are gone. Their flight experienced engine failure and the pilot tried to do an emergency landing but it’s not looking good. They don’t think there are any survivors.”

My heart sank. My whole body went numb. I couldn’t stop the flow of tears that came from my eyes. I think I sat on the couch the whole day while my aunt went back and forth between checking on me, answering the door to neighbors and taking phone calls.

The day passed in a blur as people came inside to drop off food and pay their respects. I barely said more than a mumbled thanks to anyone who tried to talk to me. Around five o’clock I wandered outside, my aunt too busy to pay attention to me since she was dealing with guests.