A Guardian on the Job

As you laid motionlessly on the feet of the bed, two huge green eyes were staring right at you, so close they almost rubbed against you. Their owner smiled to reveal a missing tooth, and you found that that made her look even cuter.

“Please,” you heard her say in a whisper for the fourth time that day. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

Josie Mclean was not someone you could refuse to easily. As far as you knew, she was the sweetest girl out there, and nothing would ever change that.

“Say something,” she said, smiling. “Anything.”

As your eyes stared into hers, you knew you couldn’t do it. Doing so would break so many rules and have really dark consequences. It just wasn’t worth it.

Maybe it is, you thought. For her.

Josie fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling, her smile now gone. She was looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars her daddy had put up for her, even though they only looked yellowish in the daylight. She sighed. You knew it wouldn’t be long before she gave up hope and started growing up, and that was even scarier to you than the effect breaking the rules could have.

“Just say it,” you thought to yourself. You knew you’d regret it if you didn’t. But you’d also regret it if you did. You opened your mouth to speak, but before you could, you heard a voice coming from the kitchen.

“Jo-siee,” her mom called out. “Lunch is ready!”

Just like that, the smile returned to her face and she sat up quickly. She gave one last look at you and ran off towards her newfound happiness.

When your a-sensor determined she was out of sight and earshot, you turned to look at Eli, her second-favorite stuffed animal.

“What is wrong with you?” he scolded at you. He was an elephant with a tiny, turquoise body, but his attitude was huge. “I just knowyou almost did it this time.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” you replied, knowing perfectly well why.

“Why?” he repeated with a humorless laugh, not believing what he was hearing. “Uhh, only because that could ruin your life!”

“But why?” You asked, getting mad at the Superiors rather than at Eli. You knew the rulesweren’t the natural rules of the Universe. So why did you have to follow them? “Why should one child’s happiness cost the suffering of her stuffie?”

“Because the Superiors say so,” Eli said, “and you can’t do anything about it.”

You crossed your arms and wished, with all that you were, that the Superiors didn’t control what you did. You didn’t like the stupid ‘Department of Unauthorized Actions’ at all. In fact, you hated almost all of their departments, except for the one that rescued abandoned stuffies and gave them new homes, and the one that returned lost ones to their old ones. Both departments mainly consisted of ninjas and spies, and you’d always wondered what being one of them would feel like, even though you loved Josie more than anything in the world and knew you’d never leave her. Besides, since you were her favorite stuffie, you already had a job, which for you was even more important than every other one. You were her guardian, and you made sure to protect her and her dreams every night as she slept.

You sighed, knowing you were only allowed to move when out of sight of your child and other humans. The Superiors detected every unauthorized movement, and if you got caught moving by anyone from the human race, they’d make sure to make you completely lifeless. You’d still be a stuffie, but your spark would be gone. You wouldn’t have a conscience, ability to move, or thoughts at all, and that way, you wouldn’t be able to protect Josie. A stuffed animal’s spark was like a human being’s soul; without it, they ceased to exist.

When you turned to look at Eli again, your a-sensor went off, telling you that someone was coming. You turned back around and directed your head close to the door, letting your body relax to act like stuffies were supposed to act.

Just like your internal sensor had warned you, a human entered the room, but it wasn’t who you’d been expecting. Josie’s best friend, Ally, had barged in with her big pink backpack on her hand and was now looking through her stuff, just like she always did. Of all of Josie’s friends, that was the only one you didn’t like.

Where’s Josie, you thought, and when you discretely glanced over at Eli, you saw he was thinking the same thing.

Ally went over to Josie’s bed and sat on it, probably waiting for her. As she did so, she looked at the window on the other side of the room and decided to jump up and run towards it. She then grabbed onto it and pushed it sideways with all her might until it opened. You had no idea why she’d done that. Ally was weird.

When the window was completely opened, Josie came in through the door, now wearing a pink tutu over her cute little jumper. She then sat down on the floor and they both started playing with the toys in Ally’s bag.

Josie took Ally’s bag with both hands and started pouring everything out onto the faded, circular blue carpet beneath them. As random toys fell into the ground, something clearly caught her eye, and she threw the backpack to the side to grab it. It was a plain white paper airplane, which had miraculously survived being crushed by Ally’s toys. It was a bit rumpled, but Josie didn’t care.

In that moment, you were reminded why you loved Josie so much. She didn’t care about expensive things or high-quality toys; she could play for hours on end with even the simplest of objects, using her imagination to bring them to life. She was so creative and innocent.

She grabbed the plane and threw it across the room while Ally played with a doll. She started making her a braid, but soon realized that her hair was too tangled.

“Josie,” Ally called out to her friend. “Where’s your hairbrush?”

“Downstairs I think,” she replied, to which Ally went running out of the room, closing the door with a loud Slam.

Josie winced at the loud sound and then got on top of her bed to throw the airplane again, but this time she miscalculated and it went right through the window, landing on the tree next to the house.

As soon as it had landed, Josie was already running towards her small desk in the corner, grabbing a chair and carrying it over to the window. She stood up on it and started leaning towards the plane. It was close enough to reach, but Josie had tiny arms that simply wouldn’t be able to reach it by standing in the little chair. She got on her tiptoes, but it was still too far away.

You held your breath as she started getting on top of the windowsill. Her little feet wiggled loosely. Her only grasp on the house was her belly lying flat on the windowsill, but as leaned even further away, you could see she wasn’t going to have balance for much longer.

You debated in your head what to do. You knew you were her guardian, which meant that it was your job to keep her safe, but you’d never been put to the test like that, in plain daylight. You had no idea how you were supposed to protect her when she wasn’t allowed to see you move. You knew you’d possibly lose everything if you did what you were about to, but in that moment, the only thing that mattered was Josie’s safety.

When you saw Josie squirm as she went a bit farther out, you decided that was it: the last straw. You jumped from her bed and ran across the room, only caring about your kid. When you got to her, you heard a noise behind you and turned to see that Eli, some other stuffies by Josie’s desk, and Ally’s doll were coming too.

You turned your head and focused on Josie again. You climbed onto the chair and, without thinking twice, jumped to grab onto her leg. You knew you weren’t heavy enough to keep her on that side of the window, but seconds later, all the other stuffies around you jumped up to grab onto her as well. Ally’s doll was the tipping point. Since she was a bit heavier than the stuffies, when she grabbed on, Josie finally lost her balance and fell­– thankfully– back inside. As she was falling, she grabbed onto the curtain and it fell on top of her, covering her whole tiny body.

The following seconds were absolute chaos. Stuffies were running in all directions, trying to go back to where they belonged as quietly as possible. Eli jumped on top of you to reach the bed, but as he was about to help you up, Josie finally managed to get the curtain off of her. You pretended to be motionless on the floor, but when Josie looked at you, she had a confused expression on her face. You certainly knew she’d felt something on her legs and, by her expression, assumed that she knew she’d left you on her bed. You were her favorite stuffie after all; she never misplaced you. The only thing you weren’t sure about was whether she’d seen you or not, but you knew it was only a matter of time before you found out.

As Josie started walking towards you, Ally came back in, and, for the first time ever, you were happy to see her. You saw Josie look out the window, knowing the paper plane was still on the tree, but you knew she was a smart kid. She’d almost fallen from a third-floor window, and she wasn’t about to repeat thatexperience.

She turned to face Ally and they continued playing with the rest of the toys from Ally’s backpack. Every few minutes, Josie would turn back to look at you. She looked suspicious. You knew beingsuspiciouswasn’t the same as beingseen, and the Superiors couldn’t do anything about that. Besides, if she’d seen you, the Superiors would’ve already acted, so you were nearly certain she hadn’t.

That night, after Josie’s mom had come in to give her a goodnight kiss and turn off the light, Josie got out of her covers and turned on the lamp besides her bed. Then, she walked over and cradled you in her arms.

“I know you saved me,” she whispered as she walked back to the side of the bed her pillows were in. “I can’t prove it, but I know you did.”

You looked at her twinkling green eyes and beautiful blonde hair and knew you’d done the right thing.

“Speak,” she said in a tiny voice you were sure the rest of her stuffies wouldn’t be able to hear. “I know you can.”

Once again, you were tempted to talk, to tell her you loved her and promise that you’d protect her for as long as she lived, but you didn’t. You knew that the moment you talked to her, you’d already be breaking your promise, because you could only protect her as long as you could still move and think, and you’d lose all those abilities if you did. So you looked at her, still as a starfish, knowing that by doing so, you were showing her how much you loved her in the best way possible. You knew you’d always be there for her, to protect her.

That’s the best thing you could ever do for your kid.