Guardian Angels

A/N: I know it’s been a while, and I apologise. I usually publish every Friday, but I’m afraid I forgot my charger at my dad’s when I visited my parents and no charger means no computer. 

The problem is that – as I knew – as soon as I’d skipped one Friday, one easily became two and two easily became three, and for that I apologise. 

Here’s finally a new story, I hope you’ll all enjoy!

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It didn’t take long for Haley to find out that adults were in fact quite stupid. This included her parents. She still loved them, of course, but sometimes she couldn‘t help but worry about them. They seemed so engrossed in themselves it appeared they simply didn’t see the world around them at all.

The worst part was that she was pretty sure they thought that she was the unintelligent one. Just because she was three. It was judgemental, plain and simple. How come it was illegal to differentiate between men and women, straight and gay, but it was okay for people to assume she was stupid just because she was three? It was wrong. Especially when she was so much smarter than them. Or, at the very least, not so unfathomable blind. There was so much they didn’t see.

Like guardian angels for instance.

To be honest she wasn’t sure that it was the correct term for it. It certainly didn’t look like a human with wings, and it had nothing to do with religion as Haley had discovered adults mistakenly thought.

It was a blue light surrounding her mother, ready to protect her from all the evils out there.

And there was so much to protect her from.

Haley sometimes called them demons. Demons, or devils, or evil creatures, because she didn’t know what else to call them. They were little sparks of dark green, flying around everywhere; looking for victims.

Looking for adults, whose light of protection was weakened. Haley had seen what happened when the green sparks won out. She’d seen how the green sparks took over the place of the guardian angel. But rather than protecting their host, they drained them dry. Took their energy, their happiness, their optimism; everything they could soak up.

The adults called it depression, or stress, or some other fancy name, but Haley knew the truth. The green sparks stole their happiness.

There were ways to reclaim one’s guardian angel, though Haley knew what a battle that was. Often the most effective thing was when another human lend them a little of the strength of their guardian angel. Haley had seen her parents do it a dozen times.

When her mother’s cerulean guardian was starting to fade into the pale blue of the sky, Haley’s father would hug her, making it possible for Haley to see how a simple hug brought back the clarity in her mother’s guardian angel.

Or when the cinnamon colour of her father‘s guardian angel started to peel off in large flakes, Haley’s mother would gently take his hand and smile at him, and his guardian angel would rebuild itself up again. It was a good thing they had each other.

Haley had seen the weakening and strengthening of guardians angels a hundred times. Sometimes they borrowed the strength of the guardian angel of their host’s mate. Other time is was a friend. A few times Haley had seen her mother bite her teeth together and seemingly force her guardian angel stronger through mere stubbornness alone. Haley hadn’t seen that with anyone else.

Not that it changed the fact that her parents were obviously blind. And quite stupid.

Stupid because they often weakened their own guardian angel. It happened when they worked themselves too hard, when they stressed themselves out, when the worried, when they were sad but refused to seek comfort. Haley didn’t understand why they did any of these things. Especially the last one seemed incomprehensible stupid to her. She supposed they didn’t know any better.

They were, after all, merely adults. You couldn’t expect them to think with the clarity of children. Though if they would bother to just listen to them every once in a while it would make Haley’s life so much easier.

Speaking of which. Haley frowned as she looked at her mother across the dining room table. Was her guardian paling?

It was.

Perhaps it was because of the broccoli her mother always insisted on putting in everything?

Though, to be completely honest, Haley figured her mother probably worried again. She knew her parents had talked a lot about money lately, though she couldn’t understand the concept of it.

Haley bit her lower lip, thoughtfully. The green sparks were already dancing around her mother, waiting for that moment of weakness where they would strike and transform the slightest worry into a seemingly impossible problem.

Haley glanced at her father, but he was frowning as well, not paying attention to the immediate danger his mate was in. Probably thinking about money too. It seemed like it was up to Haley. Hardly the first time that happened.

“Mummy, look!” she said, trying for a little dance to make her mother smile. Difficult while still sitting down.

Her mother glanced at her, before sending her a tight smile, but it was clear that she was still only seeing the numbers in her head.

Haley sighed. What she didn’t do for the people she loved.

“Mummy, mummy!” she screamed, before taking her bowl of spaghetti bolognese and placing it upside down on her head. The meat sauce was running down her face, and she tried for a cheerful grin even as she was cringing on the inside. This felt gross.

But it had the desired effect.

“Haley!” Her mother scolded. “You’re getting too old to play with your food!”

Mother was mad, Haley knew, which probably meant she would be sent to bed half an hour earlier than usual. Haley detested being sent to bed early – didn’t she spent time enough in it as it were? – but if that punishment was what it would take to get her mother out of her head, Haley would gladly pay it.

And it had worked. Her mother had clearly stopped thinking about money, and Haley tried to comfort herself with the hope that perhaps her little trick would also mean that she wouldn’t have to eat those disgusting broccolis. Still; she preferred her dinner on the table, not slowly sliding down underneath her shirt.

So while her mother was fussing, and her father hid a little smile over his daughter’s antics, Haley withheld a tired sigh.

Adults were exhausting. And blind and self-destructing.

It was a good thing they had her to look out for them.