Part 2


Glancing up at Alex, I saw him turn a shade of pink before he swiftly grabbed a menu and held it up infront of his face, blocking my view. "I'll take your silence as a yes then."
"It's not how it sounds.."
"Oh?" I picked up my own menu, a single page of elaminated paper, and inspected the breakfast options. It was strange to think that even though I was dead, I was still having breakfast, at a cliffside café, no less. "Because it sounds like you went into a lot of detail, if she can recognise me just by appearance."
I looked over the edge of my menu, hiding my smile. I found his embarressment incredibly amusing. When he didn't answer me, I took mercy on him. "I'm only teasing you, Alex, relax."
"You're not mad?"
"No, of course not. Although I don't know how I could have been that interesting, to talk about."
He made a scoffing noise, then tried to cover it with a cough. This time he peeked over the edge of his menu, and eyed me suspiciously. "You're really not bothered by it?"
"No!"
He visibly relaxed, still behind his elaminated barrier. "Good. And I didn't talk about you that much-"
"Are you joking? Here you are," Lucy bustled up then, baring gifts of french toast and orange juice. She carefully placed them infront of us along with some napkins. "Alex all you could ever talk about was Aurora, especially over the past year or so. I mean I've heard of guardians becoming attached to their charges - it's expected, since they watch over them all through their lives. But Alec you-"
"Okay! That's enough Lucy. I think she gets it." He glowered at her, as she winked at me and pulled up a chair. I realised she was purposely trying to wind him up, and imediately warmed to her.
"I don't know whether to be flattered or worried," I commented, playing along.
"It's not liek I was obsessed or anything. Just after watching you all day, I'd come here to visit Lucy and we'd start talking. And she would ask all kinds of questions about you, so it wasn't jsut me blabbering on about you."
Lucy shrugged, "I've never met a human before, and Alex is the only Guardian I know. I was curious."
"Does he tell you off for asking too many questions too?" Alex switched his glower from her on to me.
"Yes! Alex doesn't liek curiosity. He likes to follow rules, no questions asked. He also dislikes anything catching him off guard."
"You know I'm still here." He huffed, taking an irritated bite out of his toast. "And so are you," He looked pointedly at the chair Lucy was sitting on. "Don't you have a job to do?"
"All right, sorry! No need to get tetchy," She stood up and returned her chair to the neighbouring table. "I'll leave you be. Is there anything else I can get you first?"
We declined and she left us alone once more. For a long time we sat in silence, munching on our toast and sipping our orange juice. The food had so much flavour here. I had to restrain myself from gobbling it all up in one go.
I gazed out the window at the view, and mused about what I'd learnt so far. Alex obviously was friends with Lucy, and from her comment about never meeting a human before she was probably a 'pure' angel too. And he'd talked about me to her when he'd been my guardian angel, and gone into quite a lot of detail from what Lucy had said. I couldn't understand that - Why would he want to talk about me? What had there even been to talk about? 'Aurora had a tuna sandwich today instead of cheese!' ? My life hadn't been that exciting.
But then again I couldn't even remember my life. Just my sister and my last day. It dawned on me that Alex would know. He'd know everything about me, if what I'd gathered from both his comment when we first offically met, "I feel like I already know you," and Lucy's. And the small fact he'd watched over me everyday of my life.
"Alex, tell me about my life. You know I can't remember any of it."
"I can't, I'm sorry." He looked genuinely apologetic. "I would if I could, but I'm not allowed to tell you anything. You have to find out for yourself, as you progress as an angel."
"But why? And how?"
"Well They say it's meant to help you become a proper force of good, as you won't remember a past that might make you biased towards future charges or cases. Your memories will come back to you gradually, sometimes they'll come to you in dreams, other times they might be triggered by certain objects, places or words."
"Who's They?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You really do have an endless stream of questions, don't you?" He sighed, "They, are the Elders. There's a sort of angelic hierarchy, and the Elders are right up there near the top. Some Gods and Goddesses are above them, others are below, depending on how powerful and important they are."
I thought about this. I was pretty sure Persephone, the only Goddess I'd met so far, was right up there above these mysterious Elders. She ruled over the Underworld, and if my greek mythology was correct, she also had something to do with the changing of seasons. That seemed pretty powerful to me.
"So, I will remember my life, but just not all at once?"
"Exactly."
"Well could you at least tell me what kind of person I was? Like, was I nice, or mean, loud or shy? Was I a good person?" I tried to hide how much this meant to me.
Holding my eyes, Alex leant forward in his seat, "Aurora you were lovely. You were loved by many." He said very seriously, not blinking once.
I gulped, suddenly overcome with emotion. "Thank you," I whispered, averting my gaze back out across the clouds. After I was sure my voice wouldn't break or wobble, I took a sip of my orange juice before continueing. "I guess I wasn't loved by all though, evidently." I indicated our surroundings.
That look I'd seen before on him crossed Alexs face then, at the mention of my death. It was filled with sorrow and regret. I suppose he must have taken my death badly, especially if he'd had to stand by and watch it happen, after watching me my whole life. "Hey, don't blame yourself," I reached over and squeezed his hand that was resting on the table, fiddling with his napkin. "You couldn't have stopped what happened."
He looked up at me and away nervously, almost guiltily. "..Could you?" I asked hesitantly, suddenly unsure.
"I-I wasn't there." He took a deep breath, still avoiding my gaze. I pulled my hands back and rested them on my lap. "I should have been there, but I wasn't-"
"What are you saying?"
"I was called away that day. I saw you leaving your house that morning, with your sister, and you were fine. Then.. Then something came up. I had to go away. Then I came back and you-you were... well, you were trying to pick up a camera, and your body was lying at the bottom of the stairs." He shuddered, staring into the distance with a haunted look in his eyes as he recalled my death scene. It was obvious he was just as disturbed as I had been.
He snapped out of his trance after a moment, took in our empty plates and glasses, and jumped up from the table. "Lets go."
I had to quickly scramble out of my chair and almost run to catch up to his long strides. Lucy was standing behind a counter, writing on a chalk board. Alex strode past her without any acknowledgement. "Uhm, what do we owe you for breakfast?" I asked, not sure what the currency was or how Alex expected me to pay for it since he was already out the door.
"Nothing, don't worry." She looked at me worriedly. "He's very sensitive about that."
"What, paying?"
"No, your.. death." She raised her eyebrows. I somehow wasn't surprised she knew what was up with her friend. "He won't forgive himself for not being there. He feels he could have helped in some way, effected the outcome or something. No please, let me say this," She added when I went to speak. "Don't blame him, it really wasn't his fault. He's tormented himself over it."
"I don't blame him, of course not. He didn't kill me." I looked at her searchingly. I felt liek she knew a lot more than she was letting on. "I have to go," I looked out through the entrance, and could see Alex still stalking away in the distance. "Thanks for the food, I'll probably see you around?"
"You're welcome, Aurora. Come back anytime." She smiled at me like we were old friends, then went back to writing on her chalk board. I quickly exited the café and started running after Alex.