Guardian Challenge: Guardian

The Guardian Challenge:

Guardian

By: Karen Marin

It's been a week already. A week, and Serene still felt empty and lost. They said it would take a long time to get over this but they never mentioned the pain and suffering she would go through. They never mentioned the total emptiness and the loneliness she would be feeling. It was too much for her to take.

She blinked her red rimmed eyes free of tears and wiped them away with the long sleeve of her black shirt. She stared down at the picture frame she was holding in her left hand and gently ran her thumb across the face of a young man in the picture. The photo portrayed her and her husband on their wedding day. They were both smiling and holding each other close. That picture was two years old. Every day since she had met Warren was pure bliss, and after their wedding day, it just got better.

Fresh tears made their way down her pale cheeks. Her chocolate brown blinked furiously as a sob escaped her mouth. She held the picture close to her chest as her body shook furiously with the sobs she was trying to suppress.

“Waren...Please come back. Come back...” Serene whimpered as she slowly laid herself on the floor and curled into a ball. She held the picture frame close to her chest and let the tears and sob take over once again.

Hours passed with her laying there, crying her heart and soul out to her lost love. Now though, there was only silence. Serene, still lying on the floor, blinked blankly at the wall in front of her. Slowly, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and placed the picture frame on the floor in front of her. She calmly wiped her cheeks from the tears and gradually stood up.

With her decision already made, she glanced around the room. The room was dark, only light available was the dull light that shined through the window. It was almost seven in the evening, it would be dark soon. The walls were bare of all pictures, she had to take them down. Her...Their bed was neatly done on one side while the other side had the covers thrown, the pillow was in a vertical position, and the sheets were rumpled. The side table was bare of anything except a clock and a lamp. The dresser was opposite of the bed and had make up and perfumes scattered across the top. There were clothes thrown across the floor, all hers. With a sigh, Serene glanced at the picture frame on the floor one last time before making her way out of the bedroom, down the hall and into the laundry room.

Dragging her feet, she neared her drier and washing machine. She raised her head and looked for the bottle of chlorine she had bought the other day. Having found it, she reached for it and grunted as she picked it up. Slamming it down on the washer, she breathed a sigh of relief, it was heavy and full.

With determination in her eyes, she opened the bottle of chlorine, ready to gulp it down and end her life. With a gasp, she picked up the now light bottle and shook it. It was empty.

'How is that possible?' Serene thought, still in shock. 'It was full three seconds ago!'

Serene shook her head at the thought. It was her head playing tricks on her, it had to be. With a frustrated huff, she slammed the bottle to the floor and made her way out of the laundry room and to the bathroom.

As she left, a shadow silently materialized beside the bottle. It shook it's head slightly and sagged it's shoulders. It turned it's head toward the door and slowly faded out, just as silently as he came in.

Reaching the bathroom, Serene angrily tore open the door with a slam and made her way inside. She quickly glanced around the neatly made bathroom and made her way to the sink. She stared at her self for a moment in the mirror. Her hair was still a a mess, her eyes had bags under them, showing the lack of sleep she had been getting and her eyes themselves lacked life. It was like she was dead inside.

Angrily Serene shook her head and opened the medicine cabinet. Her eyes quickly scanned the bottles inside and reached for the full bottle of aspirin. Giving it a light shake and hearing the rattling inside, she hastily turned the cap and held the bottle upside down pointed to her open palm.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as nothing fell out. She hurriedly raised it to her eye level and saw nothing inside. She blinked blankly for a few seconds before an uncontrollable rage took over her. She threw the pill bottle against the wall and swept her hands over the counter top, knocking everything down to the floor in one sweep. She put her hands to her face and let out a mighty sob. She pulled at her hair and backed away from the mirror and counter top. Once her back hit the far wall, she slid herself down the wall and sat there quietly.

Unbeknown to her, the shadow was once again there, seemingly staring down at her. His head was bowed and though you couldn't see his face, you could tell he seemed saddened with her. He knelt down in front of her and placed a hand to Serene's bowed head.

At once, Serene's head shot up and she looked around quickly and saw...nothing. Though the shadow man was kneeling down right in front of her, she seemed not to see him as she glanced around the bathroom. He knelt there staring at her face, almost as if willing her to see him, but to no avail.

'How...strange.' She thought with slight shiver. She wiped her face once again with her palms and rubbed her arms up and down, trying to gain heat from the sudden coldness she felt.

With a new found strength she managed to pull out of herself, she stood up with determination. Her eyes set hard on the wall in front of her. She glared at the mirror for half a minute before stomping her way out of the bathroom and out of sight of the now standing shadow. With no purpose anymore in the bathroom now that Serene left it, it slowly started to fade away, like it did in the laundry room.

Because she lived in a twenty story apartment, her next plan would be simple and fool proof. There was no way she'd delusion it or mess it up. It'd be simple and fast. At least, she hoped. She lived on the 17^th floor, so she ha a bit of climbing to do before she reached the roof top. Her hand on the hand rail, she slowly started walking her way up the stairs. Her eyes upward, she started to slowly gain speed. Soon, she was sprinting up the stairs, eager to reach the roof, and ultimately, her end.

Reaching the door to her salvation, he slammed herself against it and opened it wide only to stop at the entry. Almost reluctantly, she started walking forward. Slowly, she made her way to the edge of the building and leaned her hands against the flat top of the wall that came up to her waist.

She took in her surroundings, possibly for the last time, if all went well. Serene shook her head free of doubts and smiled gently as the wind started blowing. She glanced upward at the dimming sky. Must have been at least eight by now. The sun was almost fully set but the sky looked as beautiful as ever. Slow clouds lazily passed over head as well as birds flying off to find a place to sleep.

She glanced back to the buildings in her line of sight. Many may not find it beautiful, but there was an urban kind of beauty in the city of New York. Buildings were everywhere, loud noises, people talking, kids screaming and playing, life moving forward, while hers stood still. She then glanced down to the cars and the people who looked like ants to her. It was a long drop, one that would kill her quickly and hopefully, without any pain.

Climbing on to the flat surface, she stuck out her arms to keep her balance. Nervous and fearful all of a sudden she took a deep breathe to calm her nerves. She had to do this, there was no other choice for her. She couldn't go on living without Waren. There was no life without him. She had nothing left to live for.

“I'll be with you soon Waren...” She whispered softly to herself and the wind. Taking a deep breathe and closing here eyes she leaned forward and let herself fall to her, death.

As she fell, she felt her eyes water, her hair being pushed back and the sensation of falling asleep took over her. She gladly gave in to the temptation and passed out with a smile on her face.

Before she could even come close to the concrete ground, she was suspended mid-air. Floating higher, rather than falling down, the shadow held her close and he spread his wings and took flight back to the rooftop. As he landed and folded in his wings he looked down at Serene as he held her bridal style. Shaking his head with a sad smile he faded out of sight with her still in his arms and back into her bedroom.

He gently set her down on the still unmade side of the bed. He lifted the blankets and tucked her in, making sure she was comfortable. He bent over her, brushed her dark bangs away from her face and tenderly, with much love, kissed her forehead an then her lips.

He moved away from the bed and walked to the picture frame sill lying innocently and beautifully on the floor. He picked it up and stared at it. A bitter sweet smile came upon his face and he gently rubbed the picture with his thumb. He placed a gentle kiss on the frame and set it on the night table, along with a single feather. With a wave of his hand he made the words he told her a long time ago, appear on the picture, to remind her.

I'll always be there to protect you.

With a final loving glance toward Serene, he smiled and let the tears he'd been holding back fall from his eyes. With a bowed head, he faded from the room, but not from her life. He'd always be there for her. He was her protector, her loving guardian. 

Darcy Smith

Darcy was a normal ten year old girl. She went to school, hated homework, and loved nothing else than to spend time playing outside in the sun. Nothing was special about Darcy Smith, what with her blonde locks tied up in a simple pony tail, her plain brown eyes, small stature, and her normal everyday dress. No, nothing was special about Darcy…well, except that she lived in a haunted house.

Now, by no means was this house haunted. It was just the kind of place your mother would warn you not to play around. There was just…something off about this house, something not quite right.

Of course, there was the fact that there was no electricity, no running water, no sign of life what-so-ever. Only cobwebs, roaches, and other insects seemed to crawl around this place. There were rumors as well, about screams coming from the house at night. Most people though, laughed it off as a way to scare children. This was her home though, the one she shared with her parents, and so she loved it.

Darcy didn’t have many friends, in fact, she really had none at all. That was fine by Darcy though, she had to look after her parents and the house. She spent most of her days cleaning the house of all the blood stains her parents left behind. Now, what happened to them happened so long ago, she could barely remember.

She was very small and in pain, she remembers because still to this day, when she thinks about it, her heart starts to ache and pound terribly. Her parents were holding her, and this bright but menacing light was shinning in her eyes, blinding her. She could hear her parents pleading with someone to save me. I must have been horribly hurt, because they were saying “We’ll do anything! Just bring her back!” From where? She’d always wondered, but never found out the answer.

Later, she had woken up to see her parents crying and holding her tight. They kept repeating that they loved her and would never hurt her. She, of course, knew that already and told them so. But as the weeks went by, she noticed changes. Their appearance seemed to change. Their warm, sun kissed skin turned pasty and gray. Their once loving eyes, turned ice cold, soulless, large and black. Their teeth and nails grew longer and sharper. They talked less and less and soon, didn’t even look human. Once momma had stopped singing her to sleep, she knew, things were not going to get better.

They only came out at night and even then, they stayed out for hours. Darcy had waited for them and when they came back, they would be covered in blood and other things that she really didn’t want to think about. They didn’t say anything and just walked back into the basement, a place where she wasn’t allowed to go. Noticing the stains they left, she immediately began to work in cleaning. She did this every night now.

That was years ago. They never talked anymore. They hid in the dark and never made a sound till the sun went down. They were her parents though, and she loved them, even if they did smell like a sewer rat. They continued their nightly routines though, and so did she.

Darcy continued her life as normal as she could. She went to school, brought home good grades, made her own breakfast, lunch and dinner. To make money, she worked at a paper route and did little odd jobs around the neighborhood. After the groceries, if there was money left, she would treat herself to a small ice cream. Then, every night, she cleaned after her parents. She had quit trying to talk to her parents a while ago, finally understanding that she wouldn’t get a response anymore.

It was hard sometimes. On a sad day, she would have no one to talk to her or comfort her. She had to do everything herself. This day, was one of those days. She stared the floors and walls and sighed. She was so tired the other night, that she had fallen asleep while cleaning up all the blood. She would have to do extra work now it would seem. It wasn’t yet dark out, and so, she continued her work from last night.

She wiped down the bloody walls with a dirty, worn and torn rag. After she had gotten most of the blood out, she went to work on the floors. First, she started picking up the random limbs from the floor and put them in a bag. A torn arm, part of a leg, fingers, and a few organs. This didn’t bother Darcy anymore. After putting the bag outside she went back inside to wipe down the blood from the floor.

Some boys from the next town heard about this haunted old house and decided to go and burn the place down, after they explored it a bit. They had to show their girlfriends that they were brave, tough and scared of nothing. After they got themselves drunk and wild, they rode down to the old place on their motorcycles.

Darcy, having heard them pull up, ran down to the basement, where she usually wasn’t allowed, and hid in a corner. She didn’t know what else to do or where else to go. She hoped momma and daddy wouldn’t be mad at her.

Upstairs, the guys and they’re girlfriends were messing up the place and making loud complaints.

“This place isn’t haunted! It’s the filled with junk!” Jimmy said.

“What about the basement Jimmy? We haven’t looked in there yet.” One of his buddy’s replied.

Darcy’s heart was pounding in fear, not for herself, but for her parents. What if they hurt her momma and daddy. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, let that happen. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon and spotted a shovel. She grabbed hold of it and held it tightly in her hands as she waited.

The door had opened and the boys and their girlfriends came down stairs flashing a flashlight around until they spotted her.

“Well…What do we have here?” Jimmy asked in a sarcastic and snobby way.
“Get out of my house!” Darcy yelled at the boy, gripping the shovel tighter and tighter.

“Or what?” Jimmy chuckled as he came closer.

Darcy swung that shovel with all her might, but even then, the shovel was too heavy for her. She did manage though, to hit Jimmy slightly across the face, leaving a trail of blood on his face.

Jimmy, fueled with anger, came at her fast. Before she could even think to protect herself, he had picked her up over his head and threw her hard against the wall. Darcy only felt pain and had to close her eyes. Jimmy had yet to finish with her though.

“No Jimmy! Leave her alone!” One of the girls yelled.

“Yeah Jimmy, she’s just a kid.”

Jimmy stopped and glared down at her. Before turning around to walk away, he spat bloody saliva down near her, while cursing under his breath.

“Lets get out of here before someone catches us.”

Before they could make it out the door, the floor began to shake and rip open in front of Darcy’s body. Flames started coming out of the floor and the door behind the four teenagers was closed firmly shut. The four teens could only stare in horror as two figures crawled their way out of the hole with hells flames.

The creatures crawled out and swiftly attacked the group of teens. The female creature ripped the first girls head clean off her shoulders and dangled the head with the spine still attached in front of Jimmy. Jimmy cowered in fear and backed away from the horrible creature.

The father had snuck up behind the second male and tore his hand through the boys chest taking out one of his lungs. The boy stared down in pure fear and pain at the hand sticking out of his chest holding his precious lung. Then, death fell upon him.

The second female screamed as she saw her boyfriend die and tried to run for the door. The male creature had quickly placed himself in front of her and slowly began creeping closer. The girl backed away hurriedly, keeping her eyes on the creature at all times. In the blink of an eye though, he was in front of her and crushing her neck with one of his clawed hands. Blood pooled out of her mouth as she gurgled her last breath before her neck broke.

Jimmy having witnessed all this, began to sob, weep and plead. This fell on death ears of course. The creatures slowly ripped him apart, piece by painful piece.

Darcy hadn’t seen any of this happen though. All she saw were her parents, coming to protect her. Her vision was getting fuzzy, but the pain was slowly going away, even though she couldn’t feel her fingers anymore. She forced herself to open her eyes and clear her vision. Seeing the blood, the arms, legs, organs and what not all she could think was, “How am I going to clean this all up before school tomorrow?”

She refocused her vision on the only two standing figures. They made no move to eat the bodies on the floor. Darcy guessed they just weren’t hungry tonight. They stood there, just staring at her, making absolutely no move.

Darcy‘s vision was going fuzzy and black again and she couldn’t feel her legs now anymore. So, she let her eyes close. She could have sworn she saw her parents crying, but that couldn’t be, they felt nothing anymore. She heard though, she knew, her mother humming that lullaby from so long ago and then a raspy whisper of “Goodnight.” She closed her eyes, and let darkness take her.

The next time Darcy woke up, she didn’t see her parents anywhere. She blinked her eyes in surprise as her stomach growled. She was so very hungry but she had a strange craving for something. She stared at the bloody mess still on the floor and licked her lips. Darcy Smith headed toward her meal for the night, grinning and showing off her new sharp teeth.