Lost Soul (3 page)

“Michael!
 
Michael!
 
You must remove yourself from this human and return to heaven at once!” Dominion Emit exclaimed forcefully, his shining visage overwhelming to Michael through the baby’s eyes.

Michael shook himself out of his daydream and focused on his trainer.
 
He noticed the other guardian staring guiltily at Emit, but why wasn’t Emit chastising him?
 
Instead, he only seemed upset with Michael.
 
“Dominion, did you see?
 
I saved this baby from choking!
 
He
was supposed to be guarding her,” Michael pointed at the wayward angel, “but he was watching the girl instead.
 
Someone had to do something, so I jumped in!”

“I saw what happened, Michael.
 
It was not your place to intervene.
 
You are not a guardian angel yet.
 
You still have months of training before you will be ready.
 
And this child is not your charge.”

Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
 
This was totally not the response he expected.
 
“But, Dominion Emit, the baby would’ve died if I hadn’t responded!
 
Maybe I haven’t learned everything yet, but I knew enough to save a life!
 
Isn’t that what’s important?”

“It is not up to you to decide who lives and dies, Michael.
 
Only the Master is in control of that.
 
It is your job to follow his commands at all times.”

“I don’t understand, Dominion.
 
Aren’t we supposed to protect human life at all costs?”

“You don’t understand because you aren’t ready, Michael.
 
There is much you have to learn.
 
Come now and return to your studies.”

“But, what will happen to the baby?
 
You’re not leaving
him
in charge of her, are you?
 
He can’t be trusted!” Michael asked incredulously, staring at the repentant guardian cowering behind Emit.

“She is his charge.
 
She is his responsibility, not yours,” Emit answered vaguely and Michael fumed at his nonchalance.

“No,” Michael replied rashly.
 
“I’m not leaving her.
 
He won’t take care of her, Emit; he doesn’t care about her.
 
I want to protect her.
 
I’m ready to protect her.
 
I want to stay with her.”

“Michael, this child is not your concern.
 
You need to finish your training to prepare for your own charge,” Dominion insisted, his face growing more stern with each word.

“My charge hasn’t even been born yet, Dominion, but this infant has and she needs someone to protect her!
 
I’m not leaving her here with him.
 
I’m staying.
 
I won’t let anything happen to her,” Michael decided emphatically, slapping the ground with the baby’s chubby palm.
 
She gurgled in surprise.
 

“This is not the Master’s plan, Michael.
 
This is not the best path,” Dominion Emit sighed in disappointment.
 
He knew he would not be able to change Michael’s mind, but he wished he could make him understand the consequences of his actions.

“Well, I don’t think the Master’s plan is so great if it means letting this child die because her guardian is careless,” Michael declared, and Emit shook his head in sadness.

“Please reconsider, Michael.
 
We’ll we waiting for you,” Emit replied, and then he was gone, along with the other guardian.

Michael stared in shock at the empty space in front of him.
 
What had he done?
 
He had disobeyed his trainer, insulted the Sovereign, and turned his back on heaven, all for the sake of a tiny little human!
 
He didn’t know why she was so important to him, but he just couldn’t imagine ever leaving her.
 
Her stubby hands waved and bubbles of saliva burbled out of her rosebud mouth as she jabbered away in ignorance of the dramatic turn her destiny had just taken.

“Jessica, are you ready to go inside, sweetheart?” Her mother cooed, marking her place in her novel and bending down to pick up her daughter.
 
“How’d you get way over there?” she mused.
 
Sarah Reynolds carried her young daughter into the house and laid her down.

Michael stared in awe at his surroundings through the little girl’s eyes.
 
He’d never been inside a human home before.
 
It wasn’t nearly as beautiful as heaven, of course, but it was fascinating to him.
 
There were so many items he didn’t know the names of.
 
He wasn’t sure which of them were for decoration and which actually had a purpose, but he wanted to find out.
 
He knew the big pieces with thick cushions were for sitting, but everything else was a mystery he was excited to solve.
 
Humans were constantly moving around, touching things, doing things.
 
They’d sit, they’d stand, they’d pace back and forth, sometimes with no obvious destination in mind, and their hands never stayed still.
 
They made wild gestures, waving their hands in the air and poking and pointing, the tone of their voice rising and falling in sync with the movement of their hands.
 
They touched their faces a lot too.
 
They rubbed their eyes, wiped their nose, scratched their head, pulled on their beards.
 
The women especially liked to fuss with their hair, combing and curling and fluffing and twirling.
 
All that wiggling seemed to tire them out easily and they liked to relax in soft, comfy furniture designed for resting their weary bodies.
 
He was already starting to empathize with their physical limitations after just a few minutes spent in baby Jessica’s body.
 
Her knees were itchy from the tickly grass and her arms were already tired from holding herself up.
 
He didn’t like that he could only see a few feet off the ground and her infant body wasn’t coordinated enough yet to explore their surroundings like Michael wanted to.
 
He decided to exit her body and guard her from the outside so he wouldn’t feel as restricted.

With Jessica happily chewing on a teething ring, Michael explored the rest of the house, marveling at the trinkets and treasures and gadgets and gizmos.
 
He stared curiously at a small piece of plastic dotted with different colored buttons, but couldn’t figure out what it could possibly do until Mrs. Reynolds picked it up and pointed it at a large black box.
 
The blank screen came to life and Michael quickly became engrossed in the action.
 
When Sarah went to the kitchen to get a snack, Michael followed her, mesmerized by the little machine that cut the top off a can and the silver box that lit up and spun the bowl of food in a circle.
 
Michael waited anxiously to see what would happen when the machine was done but Sarah’s angel gave him a stern look.
 
“If you’re going to guard the baby, shouldn’t you be watching her instead of the microwave?” the elder guardian asked.

Michael glanced back towards the living room and was shocked to see Jessica crawling the short distance over to the ottoman and grabbing onto the nubby tweed fabric with both hands, awkwardly pulling herself up into a standing position.
 
Her body wobbled on unsure feet and she immediately plopped to the floor, bonking her head on the front edge of the couch.
 
The cushion softened the impact and the baby just giggled as her bottom hit the ground, but Michael gasped in terror at the possibility of injury.
 
How did children ever make it to adulthood if they were constantly at risk of hurting themselves?
 
Of course, even the adults frequently needed angelic intervention to avoid dangerous situations, he recalled, remembering the clueless way the humans had behaved on his first visit to Earth.
 
Michael puffed with pride as he realized just how important his kind was to the survival of the human race.

After that, he stayed by Jessica’s side, keeping a close watch on her and only exploring her surroundings with his eyes as he kept a lookout for danger.
 
He tried to make conversation with Sarah’s guardian, but Theus wasn’t exactly the talkative type.

“So is this your first assignment?” Michael asked the stoic angel while Jessica and her mother napped.

“Not exactly,” Theus chuckled at the ignorance of the young angel.
 
“I’ve guarded three others to their destinies.
 
Sarah is my fourth.”

“You mean you’ve lived through three human lifetimes, already?”
 
Michael marveled.
 
“What are you, like 250 years old?”

“Not all lifetimes are the same length,” Theus explained, “but I do have many, many years of experience behind me.”

“So does that mean you screwed up and some of your humans lived shorter lives?”

“A short life is rarely an indication of an angel’s mistake, young Michael.
 
The Master has different plans for each soul.
 
You would be wise to accept that.”

“Well, I think everybody deserves a chance at a full life, and I wasn't about to stand by and let an innocent baby die because her guardian wasn’t paying enough attention,” Michael insisted, refusing to contemplate the great mystery of why the Master allowed some humans to die so early.

“Many would argue that passing from this plane to the next is a blessing, not a curse,” Theus replied, but he knew Michael was not ready to understand.
 
Theus never expected to have his current assignment complicated by the addition of an overeager and ill-prepared new angel, but he understood why the Master had chosen him.
 
His years of experience would prove invaluable towards overseeing the ignorant, young angel who thought he knew better than the Almighty.

“So tell me about all the lives you’ve lived,” Michael begged.
 
“Where did you go and what did you see?”
 
Theus rolled his eyes and sighed, but proceeded to tell Michael a little about his past adventures while Michael listened with rapt attention, peppering the conversation with oohs and aahs and demands for more.

chapter three

As the months passed, Michael quickly realized how unprepared he was for the job of guarding a human.
 
There were so many things he didn’t know about, so many ways for humans to get into trouble, especially little ones like Jessica.
 
He swooped frantically around her as she learned to walk, toddling through the house like a pinball on a collision course with every table and chair and dangerously sharp, open cabinet door.
 
She was constantly getting into things she shouldn’t, putting poisonous things in her mouth, and sticking her fingers in places likely to pinch, electrocute, or amputate.
 
Michael lost count of the times he had stopped her from drinking from the bottle of shampoo or guided her wobbly body away from the steep drop of the stairs.
 
He felt like he could write a book:
A Hundred and One Ways for a Toddler to Accidentally Kill Herself
.
 
He loved his job and he never regretted the choice he had made, but he was painfully aware that he was barely up for the task.

As much as he loved watching Jessica, he was also still distracted by his fascination with the human world.
 
Everywhere they went was a constant battle for him between guarding Jessica and satisfying his own curiosity.
 
He marveled at the magnificent buildings and the complicated machines humans had created.
 
Their computers were like little magic boxes — a few keystrokes were all it took for fun games and exciting pictures to appear on the screen.
 
The Master’s creations were pretty amazing, too.
 
When her mother let her play in the garden, Jessica would waddle towards the flowers, attracted by their bright colors and intoxicating scents.
 
She would stick her nose in between the petals and sniff till she sneezed, the yellow pollen clinging to her rosy cheeks.
 
Michael would marvel at their intricate designs and try to imagine how Elohim had come up with so many unique creations.
 
Even the tiny bugs Jessica liked to play with were interesting.

Whenever she played outside, Jessica would chase the first insect she saw, running wildly after the ones that could fly, flapping her arms as she squealed, trying to catch it in her stubby little hands.
 
It was adorable to watch, but she would invariably trip on a rock or a twig and tumble face first into the grass.
 
The crawling bugs were easier to catch.
 
Jessica would waddle along behind them, hands outstretched, eventually stumbling onto her hands and knees.
 
Then she would continue her pursuit at a crawl, stopping occasionally to try to grab the bug.
 
When she succeeded, she would invariably shove it straight into her mouth.
 
Michael hadn’t learned enough about the insect world to know which ones were dangerous and which ones weren’t, so he tried everything in his power to prevent her from catching them in the first place.
 
He hated to ruin her fun, though.
 
Her squeals of delight when she caught one were a candy sweet melody.
 
Meanwhile, Theus would look on in superiority, taking it all in stride, offering no guidance to the struggling guardian.
 
Michael hoped that Theus would speak up if Michael was allowing Jessica to get in any real danger, but sometimes he wondered if the stodgy old angel would prefer to watch him fail.