GALAXY DISTANT
*Abigail*
“I look at you, standing close to me.
I know what I want and it’s hard to believe
that when you look at me, it’s like I touch the sky.
Suddenly you’re cold on your way to fly.
But I’m here you see, it’s so clear to me
Our faith is written in your hands
Cuz every time you’re near
there’s nothing I can fear
I just know we have a chance.
You’re my guardian angel,
even though you bring danger and look
like a stranger, you’re my guardian angel.”
Melody Manful & Angelika Vee.
‘Guardian Angels’ series theme Song.
Yesterday, after Gideon disappeared, I started screaming and praying for whomever he was going to kill. One of the angels, who I later found out was Valoel, put me into a deep sleep. She told me that I needed to rest so that my mind would have time to process everything that was going on.
I had woken in the morning, not knowing where I was, only to have everything that happened yesterday come rushing in.
I went to Gideon’s room to check if he was there, but, unfortunately, he never came back home. Tristan didn’t look like he wanted to tell me where he was, and Valoel told me to stop asking questions.
When I came home and found out that my mother and bodyguards hadn’t been looking for me, I learned that Valoel had created a clone of me, so to everyone else, I was home and never left for Grands.
“He’s not coming back is he?” I asked Tristan, who sat with me on the sofa in my bedroom. It took Valoel a simple snap of her fingers to bring me back home to Earth.
Tristan looked at me, unsure of how to respond. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I don’t want to believe that Gideon is evil. Naïve, I know. I love him, but how can I be with someone whose primary mission is to kill?” Tristan didn’t answer me, because I knew he had no answer to my question. “Why didn’t you tell me before that Gideon tried to save my father?” I asked.
“I had a lot of reasons. One of them was wanting you to admit you loved him. If I’d told you right away, you’d forever wonder if you loved him because you knew he didn’t kill your father.”
I wanted to be angry at Tristan, but I couldn’t. He was right. I wouldn’t have told him to go away if I’d known, but I’d also wonder if I allowed him to stay because he tried to save my father. I needed time to accept everything, and if he had been around, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten the time that I needed.
“Tristan, you look weak,” I said, noticing his blue eyes slowly turning grey. He looked like someone who hadn’t slept for days. He looked exhausted. I didn’t like seeing him like that.
“I’m all right,” he said.
I knew Tristan well enough to know that he wasn’t being honest. “No, you’re not,” I said, remembering what he said to me when he was telling me about Gideon.
“You said Gideon feeds on pain and you feed on happiness.” And then it hit me. “Oh, I’m making you weak. You’re hungry, and here I am sad.” I quickly put a smile on my face. “I promise I won’t cry or be sad.” He laughed, and for a second, the Tristan I loved appeared, but I watched his smile fade after a few seconds.
“Good,” Valoel said, appearing out of nowhere. Then, with a snap of her fingers, a sandwich appeared. “You need to eat something.”
I shot her a look to say I wasn’t hungry, but she was already shaking her head in protest. Now I was positive she could read my mind.
“Eat up, and don’t move. I’m borrowing Tristan for a second.”
“I can’t leave her,” Tristan said.
“Let him guard her for a second, and come with me. You need to feed.” Valoel took Tristan’s hand. “Eat your food,” she ordered. A second later, she disappeared with Tristan.
When they left, I felt lonely, as if everyone had abandoned me. I tried to take a bite of the sandwich, but I choked on the dryness in my mouth, so I tossed it away.
“Stop throwing things.”
I recognized the voice immediately.
“Gideon?” He appeared right in front of me.
“Come here,” he said gently. He helped me up, pulling me to him and throwing his arms around me in a hug.
I stepped back after awhile, remembering yesterday’s conversation. “Where did you go yesterday?” I asked, daring myself not to get distracted by how closed we stood.
“I went out to hunt, but I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?” I was surprised and happy.
“I wanted to, badly.” Hearing the need in his voice, I believed him.
I was so happy that he didn’t hurt anyone. I pulled my hands around him in a hug once more. “Have you been here the whole time?” I asked.
“Yes.” He pulled my face to his. “I never left. I am always with you.”
“I thought you were gone and—” I stopped. His finger pressed against my lips.
He gently put his hands in mine. “I have something for you.” When I looked into my hand, I saw a very beautiful golden medallion.
I smiled, as I looked up at him, breathless. I lifted the medallion. What caught my attention first were the letters G and A intricately engraved in the middle. The initials made my heart flutter in happiness. It was so beautiful.
“It’s…beyond words.” I ran my fingers across the surface. “Does it stand for Guardian Angel?”
He brushed my hair away from my neck and stepped behind me to clasp it closed. A second later, it adorned my neck. “G stands for Gideon, and A stands for Abigail.” I was speechless.
“That’s so nice.” Why couldn’t he be this sweet all the time?
“Whenever you feel lonely, just look at this and remember that I am always close. The G also represents me as the guardian, and the A represents you as my angel. So, as long as you wear this, you will know that I am never far away. I hope you like it.”
“I love it,” I said happily, my eyes locking on his. Gideon leaned toward me. I leaned closer, too, and I felt lightheaded as our lips moved closer toward each other’s. Our lips were inches away from touching when my phone started ringing.
Gideon pulled away, and I cursed whoever was calling before I took my phone out of my pocket. “Hello. Abigail speaking,” I said the moment I brought the phone to my ear.
“Don’t hello me!” It was Sarah. “How are you feeling? I’ve been calling you since yesterday,” she said. I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could, she added, “Don’t answer that, I knew you weren’t sick.”
“Sarah, I was…” I didn’t know how to makeup a believable lie. I decided to go with a partial truth instead. “I’m fine now, and my phone was off,” I explained, taking Gideon’s hand. I didn’t want him to step away from me. I felt butterflies in my stomach as Gideon pulled me closer to him again.
“Don’t play innocent with me!” Sarah knew more about me than I gave her credit for. “Gideon comes back to school and you rush home like the school caught on fire.” This made both Gideon and I laugh.
“My bad,” Gideon said. He smiled and winked at me, which made my heart swoon. He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer into him so that the space between us disappeared. Wow, those green eyes…he was definitely trying to dazzle me, and it was working.
“I left because…” I was having a difficult time thinking straight. My mind felt fuzzy. For a second I didn’t even remember what I was talking about.
“What did that hot guy do to you?” Sarah asked before adding, “Is it just me, or has he gotten hotter since the last time we saw him?” Come to think of it, I think he got hotter every second I saw him. “And did you see his eyes?” I felt my cheeks flush when she asked this. “Green has never looked so beautifully and mysteriously hot.”
“I… I…” I wanted to say I didn’t see his eyes, but I was staring right into them, and Sarah’s description didn’t do those captivating eyes justice.
Gideon’s hands traced my cheek, sending goose bumps down my body.
“Speak up, Abigail, I can’t hear you.” Sarah said annoyingly through the phone. “Here I am talking about how hot Gideon is, and you aren’t saying anything to encourage it. Unless you don’t think he’s hot, which would be a total lie because I have chat messages that confirm you do.”
“He’s…” I paused again because Gideon had taken me completely by surprise when he replaced his hand on my cheek with his lips. I was pretty sure an alien sound of some sort escaped my lips when I felt his breath on my skin. Suddenly, everything around me started spinning slowly.
“He’s what?” Sarah sounded more annoyed than before. My pulse was climbing higher and higher.
Gideon’s lips left my cheeks and moved up to my free ear. “Abigail,” he whispered, “Can I… may I… I want to kiss you, can I?” My grip on my phone tightened when he whispered this. Before, my heart had been beating so fast that I felt as if I were running a marathon; now, however, I was pretty sure it was racing at the speed of light.
“Please say yes,” Gideon whispered again into my ear. My body felt like it was on fire, as Gideon’s mouth on my skin was driving me insane.
“Abigail, are you even listening to me?” Sarah asked, but her voice seemed far away, “What are you doing?”
“Yes,” I said. Gideon pulled away to look at me. “Yes,” I said again, and then he took my phone away from me.
“Sarah, she’ll call you back,” he muttered into the phone before closing it and tossing it aside. The moment the phone left his hand, his lips were on mine.
My whole body went numb the moment Gideon’s lips touched mine. I kissed him back, and he deepened the kiss, his lips sending heat waves through my body. I was on fire. I couldn’t think straight, the touch of his hands on my cheeks and the feel of his lips on mine were electrifying. I placed my hands on his chest. I could feel the beat of his heart beneath my palm. I wanted the moment to last forever, to be frozen in this breathless moment for all eternity, just me and Gideon and no one else.
His hands moved from my cheeks and into my hair, and he pulled me closer into him, his lips never straying from mine. My heart pounded in my chest, racing in anticipation. I felt as if my body was an overheated volcano waiting to explode. The feel of Gideon’s lips on mine was mind-blowing. He kissed me with so much passion that I felt like I was about to shatter with happiness. I lifted my hand, brushing it through his soft, dark hair. Gideon’s hands found my waist and wrapped around it, pushing me tighter into him. I saw stars, heaven, and then…
“Abigail, I made you—” My mother’s words stopped.
Gideon pulled away, leaving me breathless and speechless. My first kiss. It was so worth the wait. I was still trying to make my heart slow down when my eyes met Gideon’s, and I stopped inhaling altogether.
It took me a second to remember why Gideon had pulled away, and then I saw my mother. She stood in the doorway looking surprised at us. Oh, boy.
I knew I was never going to live this one down. I left Gideon’s side. “Mom—”
“Gideon,” my mother cut me off. “How did you get in here?” she demanded. “What is going on here?”
I was so dead. “Gideon and I are…he’s no longer a jerk. He’s…my boyfriend.”
My mother stared surprisingly at me when I said this. “Boyfriend? Since when? And how did he get inside?” My mother’s eyes moved from Gideon and me to the balcony. “You sneaked him up here?”
“No…yes…we were just—”
“Gideon, join me in the sitting room,” my mother said, and already she was walking out. Gideon grabbed my hand and pulled me after my mother. “Boyfriend?” my mother said to herself.
“I am so sorry,” I whispered to Gideon.
“She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?” Gideon asked as a small smile played on his lips.
“Pretty much.” I nodded solemnly. I was pretty sure my mother was now blowing the whole thing out of proportion in her head.
“So, Gideon, how long have you been dating my daughter? And when did you stop being a jerk?” my mother asked without turning around as she walked down the stairs. “Where do you live? Would you mind producing a copy of your birth certificate, along with your social security number?” I knew she wasn’t kidding with her request. We had been taught to learn everything about the people around us because of the life we lived.
“Do you live with your parents? What work do they do? Do you have any thoughts about college?” By the time my mother was done with her questions, Gideon didn’t know which question he should answer first, and my mother expected immediate answers.