How Much do I Really Know?

When I went to camp, we played this game where we had to tell one secret about ourselves. I had lied but if I had told the truth I would have said that my secret is I’ve never actually seen my best friend. I knew for a fact that it was a girl but I had never actually seen her before. We’d been neighbors ever since I could walk but she never really seemed to leave her house. When I was younger I used to think that it was strange that she never left her house. But as I got older I just assumed that she was homeschooled or sick.

Every night she would sit on her windowsill and we would talk. I couldn’t see her because of a tree that blocked her from view. She often talked about  meeting me but said that her family needed her. When I had asked what she meant by that she just simply shut her window. It wasn’t until the night that someone broke into my house that I even saw her. Just as we had done every night before that one I opened my window but she was nowhere to be found.  

I turned around and for the first time saw my friend, “Violet?” I said questioningly. “In the flesh,” she answered as she stepped back and for the first time I got a good look at her. She had red hair, and eyes unlike any I had ever seen before, they were a piercing blue. “What happened?” I asked. As she grabbed my arm, I heard crashing downstairs. Just as I started to piece together what was going on, we were enveloped in a swarm of golden light and we were gone. When the light had subsided we were nowhere near my room. “Did we just teleport?” I asked.  “Really? That’s the first thing that you’re gonna ask?” she said. It surprised me but I just had to know.

 “Sorta” she said shrugging her shoulders, “what are you?” I asked. Although we had been friends for years, I still felt as if I didn’t know who she was. “Your guardian angel,” she said simply as if there was nothing to it. “But I made a mistake, I'm not supposed to be helping you with this. I got too invested and now I'll be imprisoned. You were supposed to die tonight but I couldn’t just let that happen. I had to save you but in doing so I broke the rules.” 

She finished with a sigh as if it were just a minor inconvenience that she had risked her freedom to save my life. “Wait does that mean that my parents are dead?” I asked as I     

processed what she had said. “No,” she said, “because I saved you it set off a butterfly effect causing this timeline to exist differently than it would have if I hadn’t saved you. I upset the balance and it could possibly end horribly wrong.” Why would she want to save me though I was just another human amongst millions of others? “What’s it like being an angel?” I asked, to distract myself from the questions wandering through my mind. “I keep a close eye on my person by posing as someone their age and monitoring them by keeping tabs.”

A tear rolled down her cheek as she no doubt was thinking about the past and what she had done or perhaps failed to do. Even if she explained it to me would I ever really know what it was like? “I shouldn’t have delayed the inevitable because as soon as they find you here they will restore the timeline or we’ll have another world war on our hands. It's just I didn’t want everything in life to be set out for you. Everything you do, every decision you’ve ever made or  will make I see it all, and yet I wasn’t prepared to let it happen again, no matter how much I told myself that I should.” She finished the sentence just as she collapsed to the ground crying, but I didn’t rush to her side.

 I was too lost in thought. The word again rang in my ears like the bell before school. What exactly did she mean? The ending to this chapter of existence was nearing to a close and although I didn't feel as great about it I knew not to waste my time. I had one more question. “What happens when we die?” I asked, as her face was hung in shame, not wanting to answer  my question. “Sadly, that is the only thing that I do not know. All I know is that as soon as someone dies I never see them again” she said, her voice filled with sorrow.

I had come to terms with the fact that I was going to die but I had not yet learned to deal with the unknown. Not knowing what would happen to Violet, but still more selfishly not knowing what would happen to me. Although I knew that she would be content with fighting for as long as it took to keep me safe, I couldn’t let that happen. I would have to face whatever was in store willingly and do my best to keep her safe. We heard noises outside and we both knew what was coming. I closed my eyes and bounded for the door ready for whatever was to come.

“No!” yelled Violet as she chased after me, her red hair flowing behind her. But alas it was too late for me to be saved from this. I had only ever seen one angel and it was Violet. While she would most definitely pass for human, the ones that most recently captured me wouldn’t. Although they looked human, they had a sort of light that was omitted from their body that made it look as if they were glowing. And then I was crowded in golden light just like before, but different.