Those bastards caught me! As if I was a Guppy on the sharpest hook, I followed that bait like it was the last piece of my life slipping away forever. She was six-one with long luxorious blonde hair to play in. Her skin was cream churned smoothly, her eyes could reflect glass-steel blue and could break hearts into pieces, and her lips bled a perfect shade of red where it traced her lips evenly. She was the headlights and I was the deer caught into her.
I've been wondering around in the busiest part of town looking for answers and it seemed like I was just goin in circles searching. No matter what, I would always found myself staring at a car accident. Hansburg Drive: The street with no eyes. The crowd is always so thick with gawkers I never have a fair turn to look. And then all that didn't mattered when my eyes set on the blonde bomb shell, Amazon beauty. Looks could kill and I died in lust. She turned away from the crowd and I pushed myself through the gawkers and ran across the street to follow her. She cut through an alley way that seemed like there was no end to it.
Her hair bounced with every step she took. She wore a long black trench coat and even though I haven't seen her hands, I'm assuming their soft and lady like as they are in her coat pockets and I'm trying to catch up to her and be a smooth Cassenova. I didn't realize the sound of her heels click clacking on the stoned ground was going fainter and the the end of the alley was looked like the end of an illustration. Everything went blank...

But only for a moment. A different atmosphere just appeared before my eyes and the next thing I knew, there were differnt set of lines that people was standing in. Much longer than a busy day in a deli/bakery. I recognized the street being Holden Street but the scenery didn't make any lick of sense. The front of the lines was leading into houses with a beam of light coming out of them once you stepped in them.
For the lines being so long, they sure moved in a quick pace like a assembly would if it was put to "fast" mode. As things were getting more confusing, my questions were soon answered by a form of light on the side of my line. It appeared to be human but no person would have a glow surrounding them unless they were screwed in a socket. But he was human form. He seemed to be like the old cliché the hopelessly romantics from the opposite sex would say "He's the dream guy that I would die for!" The strapping lad!, the rebel without a cause. Appears to be hard core; the silent type.
He wore a clean, crisp white T with the sleeves rolled up. Acid washed jeans-
Acid Washed

. His black hair was slicked back and his masculine face was so smooth, NO
pimple traces. I was looking at two eras that was crossed. 50s meet the 80s. Ponyboy
along with Danny Zuko meets A.C. Slater. I'm no expert when it comes to the latest
dress up but I wouldn't think he would pulled that off if he was in actual public. Then
again, women would've preferred nothing on him at all. He was searching through the lines for something-no, someone...I watched his eyes roaming and then the pair fell on me!
A handsome smile crept on his face and exposed a set of the whitest,
pearliest teeth that I'd ever seen on someone. Was he the dying Mr. Universe? "Oh yeeah...there you are." His voice boomed out. So deep it was. I grabbed my own throat and took a deep breath. "God...?" I heard myself say. A chuckle escaped from his mouth, humble yet a mockery of my little intelligence. Felt like I shrunk the size of a marble.
"No, no. Definately not. But I know Him personally. I was waiting for you. I had to wait till my diverson led you to me."

"Huh?" I replied perplexed.

"My diverson. I call her Angela

."

"I had to be tricked by an illusion and led on?"

"Led on? Seriously? I'll let you have that theory to run with it."

Wait, did I just get dissed?

He gave out a small laugh and and shook his head as he read the humilliation on my face. "It's ok. All will be explained to you once we get inside. I was glad to hear that but I wasn't sure if I wanted him near me after all. He just made a strike off my ego.
Once we reached inside the red bricked house, it wasn't your typical family home as the front of it appeared to be. Just four walls and in the middle, a table and two chairs. On the common table was a folder with my name on it. "Is this some kind of Special Government tatics? I'm not a spy and I didn't but anything from a terrorist. In fact, I couldn't get anyone to tell me if I even had eye crust if I had any. I'm use to not being noticed but I will admit this is an all time new kind of ignorance people are giving me."
The gray eyed stranger just smirked and motioned for me to take a seat while he sat on the opposite side of me. "To answer your question, no this is not a Government thing. We're beyond them." We're? I thought to myself. Before I can ask the next question pertaining to his answer, he opened up the folder where it revealed papers and papers of fine penmendship and from the pile he pulled out a folded piece of devestating news:

YOU'RE DEAD. ON TO THE NEXT STAGE.

I had to be reading this entirely wrong. I was feeling like I was so out of left field and now this...phamphlet! The blunt words were biting through me-real big chunks at that. "You give me a phamphlet assuming that it's going to make this situation any better?!"

"It's bold and clear. How exact would you like it to be?" He said with a straight attitude that read *nonchalaunt.
He sat there staring at me while I sat in the chair seething. My hands trembled as I gripped the folded news of lies...a lie..now when I thought about it the things that didn't make since then was strangely coming in view of clarity now. People were ignoring me because I couldn't be seen. I could see and hear but sometimes whatever I heard sounded like an echo moving in and out and my vision would fade the same way.
And to mention how I would enter a different place, as if it had to be drawn for me first. The long lines on Holden St. ...the way you enter a house. I let my guard down and gave into the reality that I'm no longer living. I put the phamplet on the table and pushed it back towards the bringer of bad news.
He remained sitting in front of me, watching me closely. "Oh, that's it? That was the first decent tantrum that I have encountered for centuries. My name is Anthony by the way, Gabe and I suggest you keep that phamplet."

"I don't keep things I don't want."

"Yeah," Anthony said wide eyed and nodding his head at the truth, "you got that right. Been showing that attitude from the beginning."

"The begin-what are you? What is this place?"

Anthony was shuffling through the papers in the folders and he stopped when I asked. "Another problem you have, no patience. I will explain just give me a few minutes. That's why you have to keep the phamplet."
While he went back to the papers, I gave in and took back the phamplet. After all, reading was something to do as Anthony kept reading. As I unfolded and skimmed through the first side, the topic "...So, You're an Angel" felt like the words came to life and slapped me. "Am I reading this right? I'm an Angel

?
Anthony pointed his finger upward indicating for me to wait still. When he was finally done, he looked up at me with those gray eyes that pierced something fierce right through me.
"Well, not exactly. You and everyone else out there are known as 'wondering souls'. For some reason..when you croak you somehow don't enter the after life. There's something keeping you here among the living and you lost your way. And when that occurs it's slightly difficult to get you alls attention so in order to steer you guys in the right direction something has to be made to really get you souls' attention. That's where we come in-us Guardians, and help you guys see the way and get to the next phase."
I remained in my seat looking uninterested and feeling more cheated. "So, what you're really saying is that people like me-"

"Souls."

"People, like me, are incompetent and have to be treated like a slow kid who will follow some dangling keys."

"No, that's how YOU want to see it as. We help you guys find your way to us and then we help you guys mend your problems and help you pass your test in order to earn your wings and be where I am today."

"Whoa, excuse me? Test? Earn

wings? Now I'm suppose to believe in some Christmas hocus pocus tale and a star will light up or a bell would ring. You guys are smoking something much higher than the clouds."

"Watch your sense of humor Gabe. You're testing your limits enough."

"And if I get the wings? If

? What happens if I play along and fail?

"This is not a game and no laughing matter. You are long gone dead. Your body, the outter shell, is forever sleeping and you can't wake up. I understand this is a whole lot to take in but there is no option to go back to the life you once knew. And if you fail, if

... you'll take another trip and they will be glad to welcome you with open fire. That classic movie always had me in tears...but no, getting your wings is not like that."

"So I was on the naughty list but I might be an angel. What is wrong with that picture? What ever happened to The Grim Reaper coming to get you once you die?"

"You had your crooked ways but from your file here it wasn't all that bad. It's also where the wondering comes in. The part that is lost. Something is keeping you back. Maybe it's something that you've done or didn't do. I don't know but that's where I come in to help you to that point. The Death Angel itself knows where you going next once you enter this life. You wonderers are hopeless. No offense."

"You couldn't be more offensive than that to the point. So we are incompetent."

"Now I know you can handle the truth and criticism. And no, not 'we'. Just you."

"You ain't nothing but a-"

Anthony shot me a look that a mother would give saying "try me"-I said no thanks by releasing a short grunt and putting my head down.
He then pulled out a photo and placed it in front of me on the table. It was a polaroid of a little girl no more than five years old. She was sitting on a rock in an open field somewhere blowing bubbles. Cute little dickens she was, I will admit but of course I didn't see what this had to do with me. "This is Abbie. And yes, she is five years old and you do have something to do with her."

"Yay, you can read minds." He ignored my sarcasm and continued."This is your test. You have to be her imaginary friend-"

"I'm sorry, what now?"

"Her imaginary friend-"

I leaned in closer to the table and tilt my head forward. "Her what?"

"Her. Imaginary. Friend. Did that cure your make believe hearing problem?"

"Um hm. I thought that's what I heard you say the first time. Not happening."

"It is going to happen if you want to make up the little time you have."

"Nope. I rather forever be walking in circles out there with the living than being some lame babysitter. Give me another assignment or let me go and I can find my own way." I got up from the chair and headed to the door.

"There is no other assignment. It doesn't work like that."

"Will then make it work."

"You

have to make it work. This is all about you, not me Gabe-"

"I'M NOT GOOD WITH KIDS, DAMN IT!"

We stood there having the most fearsome staring contest. Anthony's own had me feeling like I was rapidly vansihing out of this air but I wasn't going up in smoke without making the best effort to pierce him with my sight. "SIT. DOWN." Anthony said in a stern, solid voice. I evidently took my time but I sat back down. He kept his eyes on me the whole time as he sat and continued to talk.
He told me that Abbie, her six month old sister and their mom was having a hard time. Especially the mother, Abbetha. Abbie and Abbatha? I asked. "Her mother thoguht it would be cute to name her daughters from her name." Anthony said with a little smile. He continued the story about how the father of her children bail out on the account of blamming her for trying to trap him. Her working as an independent owner of a small business is not getting by and her mother was falling critically ill.
The all American story of hardships while I was a drunk my life and barely getting by myself. I eventually gave in to the task. "How did I die?" I finally asked Anthony. His face grew long. "That accident you kept being around at...?" I didn't ask any further. I didn't want to ask any further. My mind replayed back to all those people watching the scene on the street but I wasn't able to see it...when my focus came back to Anthony talking he was saying how I got hit by a car when I was staggering to get across the street.
"Yep, it was the Bourbon that got you killed I guess if you want to think that. But like I said this is your chance to let it go and do something meaningful and good. This task could probably benefit you. Who knows. Are you ready?"
I shrugged my shoulders and I said take me to her. The next thing I knew, the chair Anthony was sitting in, himself, and the table was gone and it was only me sitting in the slightly dark room. It was like someone turn up the dimmer and right before my eyes, in the same house I was told to enter, in the same room where I was arguing with Anthony, was Abbie playing with her tea set sitting across from me. She looked up at me with those green eyes in her white and pink Easter hat and had a face that could break through any cold stone heart. I will admit, mine was forming a little crack.
Abbie eyes remained on me for a good five minutes along with the pause of her hands in mid air with her plastic tea cup and kettle. I was afraid to move on the account of the silence and the look she was throwing at me. Her eyes grew wider and wider. It's unbelieveable how sharp and clear your vision can be when you're looking into the world that you once knew. The vibe that you see on the youth sprouting out with a glow was at the core of the body....trippy and amazing at the same time.
"OH MY GOODY GOODNESS!" Abbie wailed. She released a high pitch scream and hopped out of her chair. She jumped and clapped while I fell out of the small chair from the unexpected excitment. I heard foot steps coming up the stairs and I crawled over to her. "Abbie, Abbie wait-" I said trying to reach her but she had me a mini goose chase as I tripped over things, knocking items while she jumped from spot to spot laughing and screaming. The door opened wide and a woman stood medium hieght at the door way. Her brow was knitted together and concern was written on her face. She had the same eyes as Abbie that told me this was Abagale, the mother.

"Abbie, what is going on here? What are you doing to your room?" Abagale said as she walked in half way to inspect the disaster. Abbie stopped jumping but hopped in place. "My Kid Pal! It came to life! It grew right before my eyes and-and-IT'S ALIVE! YAAAAY!" Abagale looked over to where I was sitting at and I looked over there as well. The doll layed there limp with a simple shirt and jeans sewed on it along with a dumb smile and brown yard as the hair. If that's the upgrade they did for the *Raggady Ann and Friends collection, somebody needs to go back to the drawing board. The plainest doll I had ever seen for a child.
My attention went back to Abagale. She just stood there looking around the mess and taking in what Abbie was blabbering about. She looked over my direction and held her gaze. Oh no, she sees me. A stranger in her daughter's room that's mess. That's right ma'am, I'm chasing your daughter and trying to kidnap her. Call the cops so it can look reeeal good on my record along with the questionable record I have somewhere in ghost town

. I thought to myself.
She walked over to where I was splayed frozen on the floor. I felt the anger in her foot steps and just when I thought she was going to grab me by the coat and get violent, she bent over and picked up the hat that Abbie was wearing-right where my hand was, two inches from it.

"Abbie, is this your Easter hat? I told you this hat is not to play with. You're going to get it dirty and wrinkled."

"But mom, it's a special tea party. Poppers just said she decided to take our advice and go on that tea cake diet that we suggested." Abbie retorted while pointing at her stuffed pig that was sitting in one of the little chairs. "I was happy for her because I already have a backyard exercise plan to do. I told her it was either that or she goes under the knife."

"You better not have scissors in here Abbie. I told you about distroying your toys and playing with sharp objects."

"Yeees, I know." Abbie replied rolling her eyes and letting out a big sigh. "That's why I convinced her to go with the backyard plan instead so I won't get in trouble."


"Ok then. Clean this mess up. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes." Abagale inspected the room one more time, shook her head, and then exit the room with the hat in her hand. Once the door closed, Abbie walked over to the doll cautiously and picked it up. She exmaned it throughly turning it over and back. Flipping up the hair and blowing it. The she dropped the doll and started walking around the room slowly. When she seen me still on the ground hand still in reach for nothing, a smile exploded on her face. "There you are!" Her excitment was growing again and I came to life alarmed. I grabbed her and covered her mouth.

"Abbie, listen to me very carefully. I'm going to count to three and when I get to three I want you calm, cool, and collect when I remove my hand. Is that clear?" Abbie nodded her head in agreement while her eyes grew bigger with anticiption. "1...2...aaaand..." I lift my hand slowly away from her mouth. "3."

There we were. Having a staring contest once again which was creepy for me since I can see things happening on the facial expression that she can't see. "Goodness be the goodies of happiness!" She retorted. YOU ARE real and here in my room. Mommy's not tricking me." She went over to the table and started to clear it off. She collected her tea party set in her arms and then walked over to her toy box to dump them carelessly in it.
I watched her as she picked up the chair that I was sitting in and slid it under the table. She grabbed her stuffed animals and put it back on her bed, she picked up the books and the other items that fell and put them back. When she was done, she hopped on her bed and sat there facing me. "So, now we can talk." She gave me a full smile that revealed the cutest baby teeth I had ever seen. I got up off the floor and walked over to her.

"Wow, you sure know how to clean up your room. I don't remember any five year olds that can do that as soon as they're told."

"You know how old I am? The box didn't say that you do that."

"What box?"

"The box that you came out from. It said 'Kid Pal is the REAL deal for a REAL friend to have. You came to life but it didn't say you would know about me. Cool!" She started bouncing her bottom on the bed.


"Ok, here's how it's going to go. You are going to be calm around me. Not so much excitment because I can't stand it and I can't take it. That's going to be rule number one."


[to be continued]

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.12.2010

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