“The Guardian” – {Episode Two: Honor}
Took me long enough right? Sorry about that…
Anyway, if you haven’t read ANY of the previous ones, here they are in non-confusing order:
The Introduction (Last Words)
The Preview (Before Episode Two)
…And now that you’re caught up… Episode Two. It’s significantly longer than the previous ones… Enjoy.
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Episode Two: Honor
After a bunch of Q & A with the police about the broken window and the careening truck, Juan finally made it home and dropped his book bag down on the floor as he went straight to the kitchen. “So… God sent you in answer to my prayer?”
“Basically,” Nolan answered as he glided into the kitchen. He had discovered the joys of floating/levitation and had made up in his mind that he would never walk again unless mandatory.
“That’s kind of cool.”Juan emptied a can of chicken noodle soup into a bowl and shoved it into the microwave. It reminded Nolan of the same gracefulness people use to stuff turkeys for Thanksgiving holidays. “So, you didn’t have anything else to do?”
“Well…yeah. But you know…I’m just burning time before I burn.”
“What?” Juan said again, half-laughing, half-confused.
Nolan shook his head. “Nothing. Not important. When God says go, I go. That’s pretty much it,” Nolan said, realizing that statement had more of a meaning than he had intended.
“That’s kind of cool too. It’s crazy because I had been praying for God to, you know, kind of show Himself to me.”
Nolan nodded slowly. “Yeah… Jesus is a homie.”
“What?” Juan did the half and half laugh again.
“Yeah, well no. I mean, He’s just like us. Well…you. Not like me. More like you, but without the fight-or-flight instincts. I mean…” Nolan stopped, took a deep breath, and said, “He’s really easy to relate to when you get to know Him.”
“See, that’s what people tell me, but I don’t really see it for myself. But I want to though… does that make sense?”
“Yeah, it makes perfect sense man.” The microwave went off and Juan grabbed his soup. He sat down at the table, bowing his head for a second to say grace. When he opened his eyes and scooped soup onto his spoon, Nolan blew on the soup.
“Dude. What the crap,” Juan frowned.
“It’s hot. I’m supposed to protect you.”
“From my soup?”
“…It’s hot.”
Juan slowly tried to scoop more soup, but Nolan blew it again, knocking a majority of the soup off the spoon. “DUDE. You’re taking this job way too seriously right now…”
“Sorry…Kind of new at this.” Nolan retreated a few feet. “If you burn your tongue though, that’s God’s judgment.”
Juan snickered. “You got jokes…”
The front door opened and Juan’s parents came in, upset and arguing. Right behind them were Nolan’s friends from earlier, The Instigator and Pride.
The Instigator gave a sarcastic wave to the angel. “Hey buddy, what’s ‘shakin’?”
Nolan pointed to the door. “It’s still open. You can let yourself out.”
“Leave? But we were invited…” T.I. nodded his head towards the parents as they began to “discuss” things with their son.
“What is WRONG with you Juan?” his mom all but screamed. “Do you know how embarrassing it is to get a call telling me my son has jumped out of a school window?”
“Um, do know how embarrassing it is for your son to JUMP out of a school window?” Juan answered, matter-of-factly. “It hurts. A lot. There’s glass involved, and it is sharp when broken-“
Dad jumped in. “Why the hell would you-“
Juan cut them off. “Look, Dad, there’s an explanation for this, and I really don’t feel like talking about it right now, ok?”
“Ok? Oh so you make the rules now?” his Dad sat his briefcase down on the table, making the soup bowl shake.
“Dad! I’m eating here-“
“I really don’t care right now. This is something that we’re going to talk about RIGHT NOW.”
Juan took a sip of his soup. “Dad, that’s not- owwwwww…” he fanned his mouth in reaction to his hot soup.
“HAHA!” Nolan pointed and laughed. “God’s Judgment.”
Juan gave Nolan a death look. “Whatever… look, that’s not fair. Every time you want to talk, we have to talk, but when you don’t feel like talking, I can’t. That’s wrong. How come it’s always what you say goes? Did it ever cross in your head that you’re wrong sometimes?”
“It doesn’t matter if we’re wrong, because you’re not right!” Dad argued, slowly getting more irritated.
“Especially when you’re trying to sass me and your dad-“ Mom started.
Juan interrupted them again. “Sass?! I don’t even know what that means! How can I “Sass” and I don’t even know what it means? I’m just stating facts. If the facts make me wrong, then I’m-“
“About three seconds from having the spit slapped out of your mouth if you don’t lower your tone! You talk to your mother with RESPECT!”
“But you’re not respecting me either!” Juan yelled.
Something’s wrong…Nolan’s thoughts began to warn him. Something is wrong about this situation. “Juan, chill out. They’re your parents-“
“Shut up!” Juan directed his anger towards his angel. “Just, shut up! You don’t know the whole story, they always do this!”
Mom looked where Nolan was standing, obviously not seeing anything. “You’re not telling me to shut up! I am your mother!”
Nolan zoned out of the argument. His thoughts were going crazy. Juan’s not listening, his parents are spazzing out, and I’m completely helpless right now. I don’t know what to do to get them to stop arguing, because this is going to escalate into something bad… Wait, where’d the demons go-
Nolan suddenly felt himself being grabbed. He felt the hands on his collar, but he didn’t see anyone there.
“What the-“ he muttered to himself as he was forcefully suspended in the air. He could barely breathe as the hands shifted from his collar to his throat. He tried to force whatever it was off of him with his hands, but when he reached, there was nothing there.
Oh God… What’s happening?
Without warning he was suddenly tossed headfirst into the living room. Barely aware, he crashed into the couch, making it tumble as he landed on the other side. After getting a quick breath back, he felt himself being grabbed again and thrown back into the kitchen.
Nolan was aware now, and he quickly used his wings to get his body under control. He gracefully landed on his feet, dug in, and looked up to redirect his body towards whatever it was that threw him…
…But there was nothing there.
He stood straight up for a moment, out of confusion. They’re invisible now? I thought I’m supposed to be able to see them.
Juan’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “No, he always does this mom! He always does this! We get along fine, but then DAD always has to do this and make us mad at each other! It’s-“
“You better not blame this on your father. This is YOU acting out like this-“
“I’m not Acting Out!!”
“LOWER your TONE!” Dad ordered, slamming his hand down on the table in frustration.
“STOP YELLING AT ME LIKE I’M SOME TYPE OF CHILD!!!”
“Juan!” Nolan tried to get his attention, but Juan was currently engaged in a scream match straight out of the movies. “Juan, listen-“ Suddenly Nolan was launched into the living room again. He got ready to stop himself with his wings.
Before he could recover, he was slammed from his right side and sent sprawling outside to the porch, crashing to a stop on his face.
Nolan tried to stand, but he was still reeling from the surprise rush and fell back to the ground.
God…help me… What is going on?!?
Nolan could still hear the argument inside as it raged on. He was sure the neighbors could hear it by now:
“I can’t believe you!! You always do this to me! You always do this! You’re not right all of the time!”
“I don’t understand why-“
“I’m 17! I should be able to come home whenever I feel like it! No one else has a curfew, so why should I have one?!”
“If everyone jumped off of a bridge, would you do it too?”
“Oh, REAL original Dad. That-“
“LOWER. YOUR. VOICE.”
Nolan could hear everything, but he was unable to see who or what was attacking him. It had to be the demons, but he couldn’t see them, so he began to become unsure.
Why can’t I see them?!? Nolan thought as he tried to gather himself again, but before he could, something collided into the back of his head, sending him to the ground again.
Out of the blurred vision he saw an outline of a demon…His demeanor was different. He was too familiar… Nolan was sure he had seen the demon at the school. The boss demon was sitting on the grass eating what looked like a candy bar, watching the beatdown.
“Not…cool…” Nolan muttered to himself.
“What’s your name yo?” the guy said in-between bites.
“Not really talking to you.”
“Want a bite?” he held the item out in a peace offering.
“….Are you eating a Twinkie?!?” Nolan somehow squeaked the statement out in surprise.
“Yeah, they never age. Or something, I dunno. I’m getting used to it. Name?”
“Why can’t I-“ Nolan was suddenly lifted and slammed on his stomach, bouncing off the ground and towards the head demon in charge.
“White Angel needs food fast.”
“What?” Nolan moaned as he tried to get to his knees.
“It’s from Gauntlet. The video game?” The head demon shrugged. “Nevermind. Your sense of humor disappears when you’re dying. You should get that checked Nolan.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Your boy’s been screaming for you for the last two minutes in between pitching a hissy fit at his parents. But enough about him. Let’s talk about you…” The demon stood to his feet and – in one swift motion – scooped Nolan by the throat and brought him close to his face.
Nolan could barely focus on the demon’s features. Being so close to his face disoriented him even more.
“When will you stop seeing things like you USED to?”
The statement cut to Nolan’s heart. “What?” He could barely speak now, but for some reason the statement gave him energy.
“Do you say what to everything?”
“….What?”
The demon groaned. “Nevermind. Just. Ugh. Just go die somewhere.”
Without another word, the demon tossed him towards the bricks on the outside of the house with a sense of strength and urgency that Nolan hadn’t experienced before. His reaction time was back, and without even thinking, Nolan phased through the wall and tried to land on the floor.
Unfortunately, it was the tile kitchen floor, and he slipped and crash landed on his side with the argument raging on as a soundtrack to his failure.
“No, I NEVER do anything! I don’t drink, smoke, or anything! I’m nothing like other kids! You can’t treat me like other kids!”
“Juan,” Nolan started, but he kept going.
“THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!! Why do you treat me like I’m-“
“JUAN!” Nolan’s voice cut through the shouting match. “SHUT UP!”
“WHAT?!?” Juan whirled to Nolan, about to unleash his verbal barrage.
“Honor your parents…”
“What?”
“Your parents. They’re your elders. Even if they’re dead wrong, there’s a way better way to show it to them than to argue like your spoiled.”
“I’m not SPOILED-“
“Well, you act like a brat. You don’t talk to your parents that way. You can’t disrespect your elders like that-“
Nolan suddenly was picked up again and tossed into the living room again.
“Juan, who are you talking to?” his mom asked, even more frustrated.
“Shut up mom, it’s not important-“
“You don’t tell me to-“
“Mom! Shut. Up!”
“JUAN!!!!” Nolan roared, causing Juan to cut his sentence off. “I CAN’T PROTECT YOU IF YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!”
“What?”
“They’re ALL AROUND YOU. And I can’t SEE them while you’re ACTING like that!”
“See who?”
“There’s 4 of them! Demons! The same things that were at the school-“
“But I’m right!”
“It DOESN’T MATTER!! It doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong. That’s not for you to judge. God does that-“ Nolan suddenly saw a silhouette of a demon in front of him and changed his statement. “Trust ME on this…”
As the demon reached, Nolan grabbed his arm and launched himself headfirst into the demon’s face. As the demon stumbled back it groaned. “Pride doesn’t like being-“
Nolan quickly grabbed his mini-staff of his side, swung for his head, and connected cleanly, sending the demon into a coma almost instantly. “HAAAA!!!” Nolan screamed at the unconscious demon. “SIT. DOWN!!!”
Juan didn’t respond, as if he was thinking about the likelihood of his statement being true. “What do I do?”
“Stay humble!” Nolan said, and then muttered to himself, “…so Pride doesn’t wake up…He’ll be pissed.”
His parents were watching in confusion. “Son…” Dad asked, “Who are you talking to?”
Juan remembered that he was the only person that could see his angel. “No one… I’m talking to myself…”
His dad threw his hands in the air. “I come home from work, and I walk home into this crap…”
The Instigator sat down in the chair next to Juan, smiling. “This is fun, right?”
Nolan pointed at him. “You, STOP. Juan, stay quiet… Just pray for self-control man. Let me handle the temper loss. It benefits us better when I’m pissed.”
Juan let out a half-smile at the joke, but didn’t say anything. His anger was beginning to surface as He silently shook in rage as his parents continued to unload on him.
“Look, I do NOT CARE what you THINK. It’s not important, because in THIS HOUSE, what I say goes. And when I tell you to respect your mother, you’re going to do that. If not, then I will kick your “I’m 17 years old” lookin ass OUT this house! Do you understand me?” His dad was in his face now, almost as if he was trying to provoke a response…
He’s trying to provoke a response…. The realization slammed into Nolan with the effect of a Mike Tyson right hook. There’s another one!
“Juan, be respectful…” he muttered as he began to search for the other demon.
Where are you? Show me, show me, show me, show me-
Suddenly T.I. launched himself out of the chair and over the table at the angel. Automatically, Nolan threw his staff straight up and spun into T.I., connecting with an elbow that staggered the demon. Without giving him a chance to recover, Nolan grabbed the demon by the back of the head and smashed him face first into the ground in full force, making the kitchen tremble. Without warning, another demon fell from the ceiling, writhing in pain.
Nolan laughed at the irony. His staff he had thrown straight up had connected with the hiding demon in his face. It extended as he dislodged it from its target. “That’s kind of awesome.”
Juan’s parents were freaked out. “What was that?” his dad began to freak out.
“It had to be an earthquake-“
“Alabama doesn’t have EarthQuakes Jillian!”
“Jason, there’s a dent in the floor! What else could it be?”
“ How’d that dent get there in the ground?!”
“You’re acting like I did it Jason!”
“I know you didn’t do it, JILL-I-AN!”
Juan sat down at the table and began to eat the rest of his soup. He then silently placed the spoon in the bowl and walked past Nolan. “You got this, right Nolan? I’ll be in my room.”
“Yeah. I gotta handle something. Be right back,” Nolan said as he dragged the new demon out of the house and onto the lawn. He dropped the victim’s head on the pavement and stood over him.
“Hi,” he gave a half wave to the demon. “How are you?”
“You-“
Nolan interrupted him by shoving his staff into the demon’s neck. “Didn’t ask you to speak yet, sir. Why are you here?”
He let the staff up and the demon gasped. “Not cool man! Not coo-“
Nolan thwacked him on the side with the staff. “Shut up. Now talk.”
“But-“
BAM! The forehead this time. “Be quiet…now speak…”
The demon began to cry. “I’m CONFUSED!! What do you want from me?!?”
Oh…I was kind of contradicting… “Sorry. Name?”
“Strife! I’m Strife.”
“I could give a flying fornication about you. No… The boss. The head demon in charge. The H-D-I-C. What’s his name? Answer me, what’s his name?”
The demon hesitated, and Nolan slammed the staff into his stomach, and then to the side of his head, and then shoved it back to his throat. “NAME!!!!”
“You’re not giving me a chance to answer!”
“NAME!!!!”
“KALE!!! Kale… Name’s Kale… he’s going to kill you-“
“I’m already dead. Nothing else he can do to me.”
He saw the demon’s eyes wander to something behind him and whirled around.
T.I. was behind him in mid-slash with some type of sharp object. Nolan side-stepped it at the last possible second and spun into him with another elbow, staggering T.I.
Nolan followed up in one motion by shoving his staff through the demon’s hand. T.I. stumbled backwards, instantly dropping the sword and yelping in pain.
“AAAAH!!!!” he screamed in shock as he tried to remove it, but then thought against it. He looked up at Nolan and looked to his partner Strife. “You’re….going…to pay.”
“I’m sure,” Nolan said, still a little upset at them jumping him inside the house.
“Let’s go,” T.I. said, motioning to Strife. “We’re done.”
T.I. pointed at Nolan and smiled. “We’ll get you next time, Angel.” He turned and began to fly away.
Nolan watched as they flew off and remembered something important. He grabbed the sword lying on the ground and threw it as hard as he could. The sword flew straight and connected with T.I., causing him to crash to the earth shrieking in surprise.
Nolan calmly walked over to the demon and took his staff out of his hand. The demon screamed in agony.
The scream was violently cut short as Nolan shoved the staff into the demon’s head with a quick thrust.
It stopped moving, and almost instantly the body turned into ashes and scattered in the wind.
Interesting…
Nolan looked up as the other demon fled in fear. “Tell Kale I said hi! Thaaaaanks…” he shrugged as he put the sword on his hip, slung the staff over his shoulder, and walked back towards the house.
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