They're Not All Invisible

"They're watching over us all the time. Even now, when it feels as if we are all alone, they are there."1

"Who are?" They were the first words the young girl had said all night. I had begun to think she was mute.2

"Well, they're like spirits. We can't see them, but they're always at our sides." It wasn't that I didn't really believe in angels. I did, with all my heart. I had just begun to wish that I could see them, even if just for a moment.3

"Why don't they take me home?" It was a question I couldn't possibly know the answer to, but I wasn't about to give up when I finally had her undivided attention.4

"Maybe they don't know where home is." It was a pathetic excuse for an answer, but not once did I turn away from her entrancing sapphire-blue gaze.5

"If I ever find home, do you think they will follow me there?"6

"Of course they will! You'll find your home, and they'll be with you the whole way." I knew what it was like to be lost and scared, but that wasn't me anymore. It had been a long time since I'd had a family or a home, but I just knew that this tiny being next to me in the tunnel would not grow up the same way.7

"Where's your family?" The question startled me, but I answered with confidence. My vacant expression could easily have been that obvious.8

"The angels are my family."9

"How do you remember them when times get tough?" Things never got tough for me, but I couldn't blame her for being worried and curious.10

"I write about them." I showed her a tattered journal. "Then I read about times that I felt them around me, and I am strong again."11

An alabaster sunrise peeped up through the tunnel window. I squinted as the warm rays flushed our faces. Embarrassed, I hurriedly tucked my journal in my jacket pocket.12

"Look!" A silver car had driven up alongside the park while we had been peering at my fragile journal cover. The little girl was pointing excitedly at the young couple walking swiftly toward us.13

"Are they your parents?" She nodded with an angelic smile. "See, I told you you'd be going home." I sighed and crawled out of the tunnel. I trudged through the golden sand and sat down on a deathly-still swing.14

Suddenly, the girl was throwing herself in my arms. She was mesmerized by my blond ringlets, and slowly caressed the soft tresses. Her voice was barely a whisper in my ear.15

"I think you're an angel too."16