Saved by an Angel

“Mom?” I turned distractedly to my younger child, my beautiful baby girl. Well, she’s eleven now, but she’s still a baby to me.

“Yes?” I asked, focusing on her. I noticed that while she was playing one of her soft, shiny plaits had come loose and I bent down to do it again.

“Can I have a biscuit?” She asked as I quickly unfurled the braid and began it again.

“No, Lilly. It’s coming up to dinner time. In fact, we’re going to have to go now. Go get your brother and sister,” I cooed softly, fastening the bobble tightly into place.

“Fine,” She huffed and I chuckled as she ran off, returning a few minutes later with fifteen year old Mia and eight year old Oliver in tow.

I was told Mia looked exactly like I did when I was younger, but Oliver had Ben’s hair and eyes and Lilly had his complexion and height. I grabbed my younger children’s hands and led my charges into the car and drove them home.

*o*o*o*o*

“Ben?” I called as my children all stormed upstairs to their separate rooms.

“Yes, my angel?” He asked as he came over to greet me.

“Nothing,” I murmured as I sank into his embrace. He chuckled, his warm breath tickling my ear and causing me to shiver. For a moment I forgot everything but us, but the spell was quickly broken by Lilly dashing past us into the kitchen. I untangled myself unwillingly from my husband’s grasp, mouthing ‘later’ to him as I followed her.

“I’m hungry,” She moaned.

“I’m just putting on some pasta,” I said, doing just that.

*o*o*o*o*

It wasn’t until 9. 43 pm that I realised there was no milk left. With a sigh I pulled on my coat and kissed my husband on the cheek.

“Be right back,” I called as I shut the front door after me.

It was October, so although it was already dark the air was still warm as I walked through the almost deserted streets in the direction of the nearest 24/7 convenience store.

I didn’t hear his quiet footsteps; I didn’t see his shadow behind me; I didn’t feel his gaze on my back as he snuck up on me.

But I did hear the loud crash caused by the impact of him hitting the concrete covered ground. I spun around on my heel as fast as I could, eyes wide with shock, but my attacker was faster. He was already up and pouncing towards me. In a split second he would be at my throat, but again he ended up lying on the ground at my feet. This time however, I had been watching and I could see that what had stopped him was someone grabbing his ankle. I looked up for my savoir, starting when I recognised the face.

But surely it wasn’t her. No, she would have to be the same age as I was now, and besides, in school she was beautiful, but not this beautiful.

No, surely this couldn’t be Bella. It had to be an angel.

My attacker was up again by now, and he looked irritated. His eyes were black as coal and he was just as beautiful as my guardian, but surely he was no angel? I noted the sinister edge to his attractiveness and supposed if she was an angel, maybe he was a devil.

Instead of lunging for me this time, he leapt at the angel. I couldn’t tell who was winning; they were moving at an inhumanly fast speed making the most unnatural noises while I stood there, stupefied. I assumed from the fact that I wasn’t dead that the angel was doing well, but I drew little comfort from that in my petrified state.

“Run, Angela!” She cried, startling me and provoking my legs to move as fast as they could, working on autopilot and carrying me home.

It wasn’t until I was on my garden path that what had happened - how close I’d been to death - hit me, and I collapsed onto my porch, sobbing loudly and desperately, my breath ragged from the sudden exercise, shock and fear. It didn’t take long for my darling husband to throw open the door, having heard my anguished wails. He took one look at my quaking form and picked me up and carried me up to our bedroom. He hugged me tightly to him, slowly calming my down with words of comfort as he painstakingly got the whole story out of me. He didn’t believe that the angel was an angel and in retrospect there was a small seed of doubt, but surely no human could look like that?

My life quickly went back to normal after that, with nothing to prove it was anything more than a dream other than the occasional worried glance from Ben and my memory, sharp and clear as broken glass. I had escaped the incident without a scratch, but two questions stayed with me:

Who was that angel?

And, how did they know my name?