Page 24 - Horizon 17-18

Horizon 2017
24
Guardian
A chubby hand reaches for the doorknob of the silhouetted front door, the beads of her pink bracelet clinking together as her outstretched arm shakes under her toddled steps. I’m pressed against the cool, foggy glass of the sidelights at the front door praying she’ll open the door. The thun- derstorm rages on above me; the rain makes my white clothes stick to my body and my hair falls into my eyes.
“Keep her safe Ellis.”That’s what God said to me before sending me on my mission, “Get Annie out of the house and hide her from Lilith until she isofage.”Icanseethestillshapesofherparentslyingatthetopofthe stairs. I already found Annie’s grandmother dead in her car at the bot- tom of the driveway when I arrived. Lilith sent her cronies earlier today to eliminate them so she could take the child tonight. I continue to hammer on the door.
Once you graduate from academy, you are assigned to another child to help protect them and bring them to the academy. It’s a never ending cycle. The dark works the same way, of course, their academy and mission is focused on bringing people to darkness. Believe it or not, the entire human race operates under this system. Everyone is born with dark and light in them. It’s a part of being human. Two year old Annie is a different case only because her parents were originally angels. That gives her great power from the light side. However, because her parents fell in love and were not chaste, they fell. They denied God for selfish love, and therefore damned themselves. This is what makes Annie a possible threat. She has deep darkness in her heart which could make her a lethal weapon for the darkness.
So here I am: Ellis. Sixteen, fresh out of the academy. Recently named a guardian angel. AND given the impossible mission of preventing the de- monic powers from obtaining the dark power that resides in Annie. Why? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say because God hates me. The real answer is Igraduatedatthetopofmyclass.Luckyme.
“Annie, come on! You can do it! Please, open the door!” I desperately shout. The house is locked, and, unfortunately, I am incapable of moving through walls like a ghost. That is a talent reserved for archangels, which I am not. In other words, I’m stuck out here until she manages to open the door.
“Ann, you have to open the door!”The wind is picking up, so much so that the windows shudder beneath my hand. Annie is still near the stairs. Little legs are making this a lengthy journey for her. Wailing cuts through the sound of wind, causing my stomach to clench and bile to rise in my throat. Demons are coming. I have never fought anything in my life that wasn’t simulated in the academy training rooms. I’m armed, yet I feel like I’m charging into battle naked, weaponless, and with no knowledge at my disposal. A woman materializes before me dressed in a black dress and car- rying a long dagger.
“Poor baby. Such a pity to be stuck in such a dangerous predicament,” she croons in a sickening tone. Her hair is dark like a chestnut and her eyes a totally black.
“You’re not gonna touch her,” I say as steadily as I can.
“I meant you, angel boy, not the girl,” she smiles. Gliding towards me, she sheaths the dagger. Another demon drops in behind her, a man with rusty
colored hair who also has black eyes.
“Lucinda, let us not waste time with the boy, we have more important tasks at hand.” He stalks forward and stops short of the front stoop where I stand.
“I would like to say,” I start reaching my hand back for my sword, “that I am very offended to be called a waste of time. You should not dismiss me like that, I mean gee, I’ve only just graduated. You could at least let my first real fight feel important!” I can feel adrenaline surging in my veins, preparing my body for the fight. A fist slams into my nose with a crunch and blood the color of rose gold starts to spurt from my nostrils. This is followed by another punch to gut that makes me double over as the sound of a crying child, a little girl, my Annie, interrupts the pain that was pumping through my body.
“Annie,” I choke. Then, my wings unfold.
Miranda Dorsey ’18
Kindness
A language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see;
A language people all around the world understand.
Something the poor and the wealthy can have.
Forchildrenandadults,alike. All it takes is a smile or maybe a task,
But even a little could change someone’s life. It’ll make you happier,
It’ll spread the love.
From the coldest of hearts
To the giddy young kids,
Kindness can change the outlook of life for anyone.
Rachel Bokros ’17