“The Guardian” – {Episode One: Unpredictable}

Took a few days, but here it is. Part One. Finished for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy…

Check The Introduction if you haven’t HERE.

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Episode One: Unpredictable

“The one thing you’re going to have to realize is that people are unpredictable. There’s no way of ever being able to tell what someone’s going to do. Just trust Me… I’ll get you through it.”

Nolan walked through the school building for the fourth time, his thoughts active concerning the speech he received from The Voice before he left The Stairway.

Complete reliance in God… Shouldn’t be too hard… he thought.

“But I have to get used to this…” he said as he walked through another wall. He was honestly a little freaked out by his ability to be on Earth, but not be of the Earth. He could touch things, but then he couldn’t. He could phase through doors and walls, but he could also lean against the wall he phased through. He could fly, glide, levitate, but he could walk as well. Stamina wasn’t an issue for him either right now, and he saw things as if he was still living.

This is a mind trip…

He rotated his shoulders, making a miniature whirlwind around him by accident. He had forgotten about his wings. They were a little too much of a hassle, as cool as they looked. It just slowed him down, so he found himself walking and navigating the streets without even using them.

“Trust me…You’ll know him when you see him.” That was one of the last things God aka The Voice said as he left. The whole experience had been weird and eye-opening for him.  God was way more powerful than he originally thought, but way too casual too… even by Nolan’s standards.

Nolan continued to look down the hallways of the high school. It was a nice sized,  three-story school. An easy one to get lost in. There were way too many kids in here, but thankfully they were all in class.

Nolan stepped outside and leaned his head against the bricks, and fell on his butt. “Ow,” he muttered as he stood back up, a little frustrated. “I just need…a wall…” he said, almost pleadingly as he turned his back to the wall to try again.

The school was right next to a busy street. Maybe a designer’s flaw when you consider it, but it wasn’t too busy of a street. The main street was on the other side of the building. It was more peaceful on the back end of the school. Student parking was to the right of him, so when the bell rang, he knew he’d have to relocate somewhere else to find Juan.

He closed his eyes, leaned back against the wall of school bricks successfully, and allowed his thoughts to run…

I can’t believe Jesus was a normal dude. Maybe I just got the bootleg Jesus or something. I always imagined Him to have the long white robe and carry a staff like that dude on Soul Caliber. I always thought He’d have like a Russian accent too… It’s a lot of things I used to think. I don’t know what to think anymore. I just guess I have to trust—

The school bell rang and moments later, teenagers began to pour out of the building. Surprisingly, most of them came out of the rear entrance, laughing, smiling, talking…

They were completely unaware of his presence.  Some even walked straight through him, not even aware there was a presence there that would freak them out.

He patted for his wallet by instinct. He was still thinking he could get pick-pocketed for some reason.

“Oh… that’s right. Angel. Money’s not important.”

He was still having Earthly reactions to things. When he was alive, one of his main habits was to pat for his wallet every few minutes in public places. He’d been pick pocketed once, and really hadn’t recovered since… but he did feel something different on his waist.

“Whoa…They got me strapped?!?” Nolan said in surprise as he pulled out a small staff from the weapon holder on his waist…which was something else he didn’t realize he had on. It definitely wasn’t there when he left the Stairway; that much he knew for sure.

He was a little disappointed.  “Aw…A staff… I was kind of hoping for a sword or something. It’s better than nothing I guess,” he muttered, trying to not show his disappointment as he put it away.

A gay staff… How come other angels get swords and superpowers, and I get a staff and a pair of super heavy wings? It’s a double standard man… I’m gonna talk to Jesus about-

Something bumped him, catching him by surprise. “My fault-“ he started to say, but then realized…

Wait, I’m an angel. How’d I get bumped? He turned and was face to face with another angel like him… but it wasn’t exactly a angel…

An intense, awkward silence passed through the two of them as they sized each other up. “What you doing here? This is our school.”

Nolan looked around and began to notice more of them.  Some were literally hanging off of the school windows.  Some were lying on the ground. Some were even literally walking on the side of the school. They looked like Nolan, but they had a darker demeanor to them than they should. The all-black attire, the dark aura around them, the sinister looks he was receiving…

Demons…

There was one all the way maybe 200 feet away, sitting on a dumpster, unmoving, unflinching. He seemed to have more of a demeanor about him than the other ones. Nolan couldn’t help but fix his eyes on him.

He didn’t even seem fazed. Actually, he looked bored sitting there.

Nolan looked back at the demon in his face. “You’re not as ugly as I imagined you’d be. Definitely thought you guys would be like in the Halloween movies.”

No response. I guess demons don’t have a sense of humor.

“What…are you doing here, Angel?” the demon said more forcefully.

“God sent me here.”

“I figured that much-“

“Well then, you’re not idiots like the movies say either.”

The demon’s chest suddenly swelled up in anger. “Pride takes offense to you threatening me! YOU…NEED…to Back DOWN!”

“No, YOU…NEED… Tic-Tacs. Haha-“ His words were interrupted as Pride shoved him backwards, slamming him into the wall. Pride tried to follow quickly with a quick swipe to the face, but Nolan’s guard was ready.

Nolan ducked under the swipe and delivered a downward haymaker to the face that would make Chris Brown proud, all but crashing Pride to the ground with a loud grunt. His face left a dent in the ground.

“Whoa.” Nolan was a little shocked by the after-effects. “HA!”

Another demon charged at him, almost with blinding speed and crashed into him, sending him spiraling towards the building face first and off-balance. Without thinking, Nolan flapped his wings one and barely stopped himself before crashing into the brick wall.

Nolan slowly turned around, a little upset. “Well… That could’ve sucked-“

His breath was knocked out of him as the second demon crashed into him again. As he lost his balance and began his second building spiral, he reacted quickly and phased through the building to avoid damaging it.

He slid through the brick wall and somehow stopped himself inside a classroom.

“Cool…” Nolan couldn’t help but smile at what had just happened.

“AAAAAAOOOHOAHH!!!!” A confused, panicked yelp/scream erupted from behind him. Nolan swiveled around to see four teenagers – two girls and two guys – who were originally heading out the classroom door… but now three of them were watching as the fourth all but slammed himself into the wall in fear.

“OH MY GOD! OHHH!!!!! OAAAHA!!!! What?!?” the kid continued to panic and scream.

“Dude, what is wrong with you?” The other guy asked, half-laughing, half-confused.

The insane one pointed directly at Nolan. “THAT!!!”

“What are you looking at?” the first girl asked as both girls slowly began to look at each other weird.

Suddenly the second demon fell through the roof and landed in front of Nolan. He reached for his staff, but the demon smiled. “Nah… I don’t work like that.”

“Oh really?” Nolan asked in a disgusted tone. He didn’t take kindly to being tackled through a wall. “So how do you work?”

“Glad you asked… You’re not important here Angel… We make them do whatever we want…”

The demon slowly dissipated in front of him and reappeared in the middle of the students. Slowly, he leaned over into the first girl’s ear. A moment later, she said with a smile, “Johnny…  Let him trip by himself. Let’s go.”

Johnny turned from the crazed one, seemingly torn. “Yo, Juan, what’s wrong man?”

Nolan’s attention snapped to the crazy one. That WOULD be Juan…That explains why he can see me.

Juan slowly fell to the ground. “No way….You can’t see that?” He seemed discouraged and confused.

“See what, man? You’re looking like-“ Johnny cut his voice off and squatted next to his friend. He continued in a whisper. “You look crazy man! Get up…We gotta get to the movie theater… Double-date, maaaan…Remember? Milk and COOKIES man!”

Juan looked away from Nolan for a moment. “Yo, you don’t see the big….” He frantically pointed at the angel in a desperate attempt to make himself seem not crazy.

“No, no, YOU don’t see the big PICTURE. Milk. Cookies. MILK AND COOKIES!”

“What?”

“Her mom’s making milk and cookies for us after the movie.”

Juan never took his eyes off of the angel. “Her cookies aren’t that great man. They’re a little tough-“ he interrupted himself. “Dude, there’s a BIG THING…RIGHT…THERE. It’s not moving…it’s just looking at us…“

Nolan turned around just to make sure he was still pointing at him. After confirming it for himself, he tried to inch closer, but Juan flipped out. “STAY BACK!! Stay BACK devil birdie!”

Johnny looked and shook his head. He only saw an open room. “There’s just a desk there man.”

The girls began to whisper between themselves and the second one spoke up again. “It’s either him, or us. You coming?”

The demon laughed to himself. “See? It’s easy Angel…”

Nolan pointed at him. “Yo, chill out with the instigating!”

The demon smiled. “But…it’s my name, actually… I’m ‘The Instigator’. Just call me T.I…We’re gonna be good friends…”

“I won’t be friends with the likes of you!”

“Ew. Somebody’s been watching their action movies. That was pretty bad…”

Nolan didn’t answer, mainly because he knew it was right. The line came out before he could stop it.

Ugh…Stupid head… he chided himself in his brain. Focus.

Nolan’s attention went back to the situation and he watched as the girls began to feed into the slick talk T.I. was spooning them. “Look, he’s crazy obviously,” Girl Number 2 said as she walked out of the classroom. Girl Number 1 looked back at them, gave a seductive hair flip, and followed the 2^nd one around the corner.  The demon gave Nolan a thumbs-up as glided around the corner with them.

Johnny saw his chance for action getting away and suddenly sprang up. “Dude, come on!”

Juan pointed again at Nolan. “It’s-“

“He can’t see me,” Nolan said cautiously. ”Only you can. It’s no use trying to tell-“

“AIIIE!!!! IT TALKED!!!! OH MY GAAAWWWWD!!!!” Juan ran and jumped onto a desk as if he had seen a rat.

“Are you serious?” Nolan said, almost in disbelief. “I’m not a rat; I can reach you up there. Juan, come down-“

“NO!” Juan said defiantly. “You don’t know my name!! Stay back, or I’ll do handcuffed lightning!”

Nolan frowned again, a little confused by the statement. “What does that even mean?”

Johnny groaned. “What…is WRONG…with you? I’m about to go man-“

“No, no, no…. no, no, don’t, don’t go man. I need you, don’t go. Just hit him or something-“

“There’s no one here! I mean, there!” Johnny threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Whatever… look, go get some sleep or something man.”

“I swear… It’s something there. Looks like a big, huge, muscular Hulk-man-“

“No.” Johnny said flatly. “No it’s not-“

“Juggernaut! It’s the Juggernaut!!!”

Nolan burst out laughing, but it only scared Juan more, making him slip and fall off the desk, crashing into the ground and overturning a few of the desks on the way down. “Ow….” A groan rose from the middle of the mountain of desks.

Johnny shook his head again. That was the last straw for him.  “I’m out man.” He turned and ran out the door after the girls. “Wait, I want some milk and cookies!!!”

“No… wait, no! Don’t-“ Juan got up slowly and tried to crawl towards the door, but stopped as he saw the angel again. “No way, no way, no way-“

“Hey,” Nolan said as he did a half-hearted wave. “How are you, buddy?”

“I don’t know you!  Leave me alone!”

“I haven’t done anything to you. I’m here to protect you man.”

“I don’t need protection! I’m a virgin, we don’t need those!”

Nolan frowned. “That’s not what I meant- look, relax…. No one else can see me. Only you can. So…you should just get used to that now-“

“NEVER!!!” Juan screamed as he suddenly made a dash for the window full speed.

Wait… No way he’s about to jump through the-

The window shattered as Juan did his best Bruce Willis imitation. He crashed through the school window and tumbled through to the outside, groaning.

Nolan stood, mouth open in shock. He stared at the broken window, speechless… “Well…Didn’t see that one coming…”

Still in shock, he jogged over and – just for the heck of how cool it was – phased through the wall.

Juan remembered that he was running and jumped up as if he was on drugs. “Help! Stay away!” he screamed as he skittered towards the street.

“Yo, Juan, don’t go into the street-“ Nolan started as he saw a truck heading towards Juan.

“Stop following me!” Juan said defiantly, looking back at Nolan as he ran.

Suddenly Nolan’s spirit quickened. Something was wrong. The truck wasn’t slowing down, and Juan didn’t see it… Without thinking, his instincts kicked in…

He dug in with his right foot and launched himself for the space between Juan and the speeding vehicle.

Juan saw the truck at the last second and panicked. He had no time to jump out of the way. His body froze; all he could do was duck… But as he ducked, he muttered one word…

“Jesus…”

At the last second, Nolan went feet first, sliding to a stop between Juan and the truck. He extended his wings and covered him completely, his back turned to the vehicle, which was now trying to skid to a stop unsuccessfully. “I got you…” Nolan said as he braced himself.

This might be a bad idea…But I’m not letting this kid die. As crazy as he is, I refuse to let him die because of me…

Juan watched as miraculously the truck seemed to almost ramp off of the angel’s back, making it airborne. The yells of the driver and the people on the side of the road watching in terror urged him to finally scream out in fear. As quick as the terror had gripped his voice box and the panic had washed over him, it was relieved.

The truck landed five feet away and power slid to a stop. The driver all but fell out of the truck. “Bob Sagat!!! What the Bob Sagat!?!”

“Well…that was fun right?” Nolan said, grinning as he uncurled his wings from around Juan. “Still with me?”

Juan never took his eyes off the truck as he stood to his feet. He pointed to the vehicle. “Oh my God… I should’ve died.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Believe me now?”

He pointed to Nolan. “You’re an angel?”

“Bam. You should’ve had a V8 earlier. Or maybe an orange Vonage box to the head… Maybe we wouldn’t be in the street right now if I had one.”

Juan looked up at him. “I can see you though.”

“Yeah… I’m figuring out that part…”

“But no one else can?” he asked as he looked around, pointing to the audience he had garnered. People were running over to check and see what had happened.

“I told you that earlier.”

“How’d you do that? The truck thing…” Juan pointed at the truck and then in the air.

He’s a big pointing fan obviously… “Figuring that part out too. Can we really talk about this maybe not in the street?”

“Oh yeah, true statement-“

“Oh my GOODNESS!!!!” A new voice cut into the conversation as Juan was bum-rushed by the spectators.

“Are you ok?!?”

“Do you have superpowers?”

“Did he run over any important body parts?”

Juan looked toward Nolan and was about to acknowledge him, but Nolan held up a finger to his lips. “Shhh…. They’ll think you’re crazy.”

Juan still looked confused. “I think this is crazy.”

“Me too. Don’t tell them that though.”

“What do I say?”

Nolan decided to point upwards. It was only fitting, considering that was Juan’s favorite things to do. “Give credit where it’s due. Not me, Him.”

Juan heard the question, “You know that truck was supposed to hit you,” and nodded.

“I guess God thinks otherwise.”