An Angel's Locket

Chapter 0ne
Charlie crouched low on the wall, shrouded in darkness. The alleyway was completely deserted except for the deranged man steadily getting closer to the entrance. "Come on out, Sweetie, I'm not going to hurt you." The man inched closer to Charlie's hiding spot, Charlie could see the gun in the man's right hand: safety off, loaded, and ready to fire. She inhaled, dizzy with fear. The man heard her and tilted his head slightly to the right, "There you are." He lifted up the gun, his finger on the trigger, and fired. The sudden pressure was intense, and soon she couldn't hear anything besides dead silence. Everything moved in slow motion, the world spun and blurred. The man picked the bullet up off of the ground where it had landed after it ricocheted off the bricks. Then he pulled a white rag from his pocket and placed it over Charlie's face. Her body went limp and he pulled her into his arms, repeatedly whispering sorry.
When Charlie woke she was laying in the backseat of a Lexus. She stiffened, remembering last night. "Please, sit up and look out the window." a gravelly voice from the front seat whispered. Charlie cautiously pushed herself up into a sitting position and gasped. Her hand shot out, grabbed the door's handle and she pulled and then pushed. No good, she was trapped in the car with this monster. "That's not going to help you, Charlie, you're stuck here with me, which is much better than with them." He muttered. Tears streamed down Charlie's face, splattering the floor of the SUV. She studied her house, committing every detail to memory; the mismatched bricks, the black shutters, blue front door, smoke curling up from the chimney, the motley assortment of flowers hugging the sidewalk and the hand-painted numbers on the mail box. A blue police car was parked in the driveway along with her mother's Acura and her father's Ford. She was certain that they were inside the house discussing her disappearance. "Let's get you out of here and to your new home. You'll like it much better there." Her captor said as they drove away.
Chapter Two
Pulchritudinous sat at his desk, shocked. He had failed at his job miserably, Charlie had been kidnapped and it was his fault, he had followed the slogan too carefully, "Angels must stand back, bringing the darkness and the dawn." He should have sent her the locket. The locket! Where was it? He was sure that it was in his desk drawer. Oh Man! If he lost that then the Archangel, M. Operandi, would have him kicked out of Guardian Central. He frantically leaped up out of his chair and rushed to the office tunnels, where he could fly up to his room without getting in trouble. As he neared the edge of the fourth floor he leaped out of the window and spread his wings, literally. Pulchritudinous absolutely loved being a Guardian Angel, he got tons of perks, invisibility, wings, but sometimes work could wreck havoc on his emotional stability. Once he got to his room, he saw the pure gold heart-shaped locket on his coffee table. He grabbed it and put it into the pocket of his jeans. He rushed back to his work station. "Just to let you know, Pulchritudinous, your weekend hours have been increased due to your absence just now." The Archangel herself, sat in his office, grim faced. "Your case is of upmost importance to the agency now. I will be assisting you in Recovery, Resignation and Recuperation. First, we will recover Charlie from this man, keeping in mind that we cannot reveal ourselves. Then, we will let Charlie decide for herself if she wants to be saved and during this point in the process it is crucial that we not do anything to interfere with her rescue. Finally, we will assist in helping her to recover from the shock of the kidnapping."She directed him harshly. "Are we clear in this matter?" "Y-yes." He stammered. She stood up briskly and left. She knows the Code of Angels by heart and I will never live the day to see her stray from the rules. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket. He turned it over and over in his hands, examining the Guardian Central insignia. Then he got up and using the high-tech transportation device, he sent the locket to Charlie's room in the kidnapper's current home.
Chapter Three
"Welcome home, Charlie." The man said, all smiles. Charlie glared at him then looked pointedly at the handcuffs which connected her to him. "Oh, right, sorry 'bout that. By the way, my name is Alan." Her captor sheepishly said, looking at her sideways. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a minuscule silver key, fitted it into the lock and twisted it. The handcuffs came right off. Charlie looked around the house, there were no windows or any other doors but locks on everything that she could see. "You cannot keep me here Alan!" She shrieked. "I'm not, your room is down the hallway and to the left. Why would you think I would make you sleep in the kitchen?" He seemed genuinely puzzled but added, "You need to stay here with me, forever. Someone as amazing as you shouldn't have to endure the hardships that regular people do." She suppressed her feelings of rage and calmly walked to the room. When she walked in, she was expecting a dull, bare, prison cell, not lilac painted walls, a plush bed or a stereo system, "Do you like it?" Alan inquired as he walked in, nervously wringing his hands together. "Did you see your closet? I hacked into your computer and looked through your history to see what clothes you liked and what size you were." "You have been stalking me too?" Charlie cried out. Alan flushed red, "Well, you see I figured that since we were going to be spending lots of time together we should start off on the right foot. What better way than to know your likes and dislikes?" "Please, will you get out of this room so I can have some time to myself." Charlie pleaded. Alan walked away calling over his shoulder, "Dinner will be ready at 7:30 sharp."
That night Charlie skipped out on dinner, too afraid to eat anything that Alan would feed her. Who knows, maybe he would drug her again. As Charlie lay in the bed, she tried to think of ways to escape. She stretched out on the bed, and her hand hit something cold and metallic. Picking it up she saw an outline of a locket in the darkness, she tried to open up the locket, but it wouldn't budge. She flipped on the lights and read the engraving, "Angels must stand back, bringing the darkness and the dawn." Where is my angel? She thought as she lay awake.
Chapter Four
"Good," thought Pulchritudinous, she has the locket. But she will only be able to open it if she has hope and her need is great enough. He had done some digging earlier on this Alan fellow, he didn't seem like he was quite dangerous at first, but after reading his profile, Pulchritudinous deduced that he used violence to solve his problems. He also was crazy about punctuality and some manners. Charlie was in danger even if she didn't know it. It was up to him to save her and that was exactly what he was going to do. He strolled to his living quarters, trying not to look as though he was about to break one of the biggest rules in the Code of Angels. When he got to his room he looked into the mirror. His face was reflected back to him; high cheekbones, a single dimple, skin that looked like it was glowing from within, smoldering green eyes and silky, dark brown curls. "I look human enough, right?" He thought to himself. He packed his meager belongings into a collapsible duffel and started his journey to Earth.
Chapter Five
Charlie woke up with a start. Someone was banging on the door. She almost shouted "Go away Mom!" Then, she remembered the last couple of confusing days. Alan barged into the room, walked right up to the bed and grabbed her roughly by the hair. He pulled her into a sitting position. "You have missed both last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast." He snarled, looking more like the crazed man that had shot at her than the timid man from yesterday. "I wasn't aware I was required to eat." She said. His hand moved too fast for her to even register what was going on. All of a sudden a numbing pain spread all over the side of her face. She moaned and couldn't think straight. He hit her again on the arm, and again on the other side of her face. "It is not good manners to ignore some one's generous hospitality. You do not deserve this room or my company. But I will give you one last chance to show your worth. Be punctual for lunch at 12:45, clean yourself up and change your clothes." Charlie nodded, half-conscious.
Alan left the room and she heard some distant clanging from the kitchen. She dragged herself to the closet and picked out some dark skinny jeans, a pastel blue open-stitch sweater and a white tank top. Charlie still thought it was disturbing that this man knew what size clothes she wore. She made her way to the bathroom, head throbbing. She set her new clothes on the counter and looked in the cabinets, "Of course, all my favorite products and new ones I've been dying to try." She took her shower, dried, did her makeup and hair. Then finally, got dressed, she glanced at the clock, 12:40, I had better get to the kitchen she thought. Alan was waiting for her, looking at his watch, "Made it in the nick of time!" he laughed. She cautiously pulled up a chair and sat down, so did Alan, the dinner looked delicious and like it or not, she was starving. She put a steaming spoonful of mashed potatoes onto her plate and some salad. Alan was studying her every move. "You look nice, Charlie." "Thanks, so do you." She replied. Just then the door bell rang, Alan's eyes flashed and he quickly pulled out his gun. Charlie rubbed the locket she had put on. For some reason she felt as if the locket wasn't from Alan.
He motioned impatiently for her to get up and she did. He had the barrel of the gun pressed up against her head as he looked through the peephole. "Who's there?" He barked. "I have a delivery for a mister Alan Hutchinson." A vaguely familiar voice replied. "Just leave it on the door-step." "No can do, sir, I'm going to be needing your signature." "Fine, come on in." Alan had removed the gun from its unwanted position beside her head, moved Charlie behind him and was training the gun's sights on the guy who was about to walk in through the door. The door moved open an inch or two, then Charlie screamed. The man outside barged inside and Alan open fired on the magnificent glowing stranger who appeared to be bulletproof. The man plucked the gun out of Alan's hands and crushed it like a tin can. Alan's face went white as the man shot fire out of his fingertips that engulfed Alan. The stranger took Charlie's hand and led her out the door and up into the heavens.

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