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Fairer Tales: Guardian
"Yes, I understand Mrs. Connelly, trust me I do. But what you need to understand is that Alice is sitting right here in front of me, and has been for the last two hours. If someone did do something to Abigail it wasn't Alice. Goodbye Mrs. Connelly." Gigi Toomey hung up on the nagging woman on the other line and turned to glance in the living room at the figure of her goddaughter, slumped on the couch flipping through the channels. Alice had shown up home from school in huff, and she only had to guess that it was because of Abigail Connelly from around the corner. The subsequent call that came later confirmed the girls after school encounter, though Gigi was sure that there was some embellishing done on the part of Miss Connelly.
"Come on Alice, get the boys for dinner and get washed up. You've watched enough tv for now." Without a sound the girl flipped off the television and silently walked past her and up the stairs. Gigi sighed and rubbed her eyes. Slouching back into the chair of her home office she stared up at the ceiling, as if God himself had etched an answer to her unspoken question on its surface. Her eyes came to rest on a set of simple black picture frames; the first held the image of her family, her husband, herself, and her two boys. It was an old photo, when Tucker and George were both small, Georgie being in pull ups at the time. The frame beside it held a small Alice, grey eyes bright with cheer and a hint of mischief, much like her mother, who was standing behind her, hands on her shoulders, warm smile on her face, head leaning on the shoulder of her husband, the love of her life. The picture was taken when Alice was six, almost a year exactly, before the car accident that would claim her parents. Gigi remembered that fateful night she received the call, and how the officer had told her that Alice was missing. They were certain she hadn't been thrown from the car, but they couldn't find her anywhere. Six hours later they'd found her curled up at the base of a large tree, alive but unconscious. Later they'd discover that the accident had left its mark on her more than simply taking her parents away; a medical condition would be a constant glaring reminder of that night long after the emotional wounds had begun to heal.
"Tell me, dear, what would you have me do? She misses you so much; these years are harder than I thought they'd be, what would you have done, hmm? If you were here, what would you do?" Gigi sighed as the picture merely continued to smile at her a mere phantom of what used to be. Rubbing her eyes she turned off her computer and started to get herself ready for dinner.
After the car accident Gigi had become Alice's legal guardian, considering her closest relatives were on the other side of the country some of the time and who knows where around the globe the rest; her parents had expressed that they wanted their daughter to have a relatively stable life, and Gigi had practical been there from birth on anyway. The tired woman pushed her red curls out of her face, and back into a sloppy pony tail, as she made her way into the kitchen to set up for dinner. As she pulled down the glasses and plates Gigi's mind couldn't help but wander back to that night. The one thing that had always been glaring in her mind is how Alice had gotten out of the car.
The car had gone off of the snowy road and crashed just off the shoulder. When Gigi had met up with the police at the site they had stated they were more worried about finding her before the wolves did. There had been faint prints around the car, but they'd headed back off into the woods, instead of staying by the car; the more likely option with the two deceased in the front seat, one young officer had stated just before Gigi had given him a glare to take 10 years off his life. After much searching they'd finally found Alice curled up at the base of a massive tree. As Gigi had gone to pick her up a commotion behind her caused her to spin around, clutching the small girl even closer to her. Two feet in front of her were the two officers she had searched with, two feet in front of them, stood watching, a single wolf. Its eyes locked with Gigi, holding her gaze for what had felt like a lifetime, before turning a disappearing into the shadows, no doubt to join the others not far too far off. Gigi had muttered a soft "thank you" as the creature walked away, fading into the night.
"MOM!" the voice of her youngest, Georgie, snapped her back to the here and now, reminding her of her own wolves who'd soon be circling the dinner table.
"Yes baby, what is it?"
"Are we having peas? Alice doesn't like peas, so I thought I'd check." Gigi held back a laugh, no need to let on she knew that her 11 year old was really looking out for his taste buds.
"No, no peas hon. Pork chops, corn on the cob, and homemade macaroni and cheese. Go set the table?"
"Okie dokie!" Gigi smiled as the little red head bounded out of the kitchen. "Hey Alice! No peas tonight!"
"Awesome kiddo!" Alice put on a smile she didn't really feel. Georgie had become her shadow when she had come to live with Toomey's; as per usual, he insisted on sitting next to her at the dinner table again that night. Georgie chatted on about his day to Alice while the others carried on their own conversations; she smiled and nodded and occasionally nudged him when needed, but Alice really wasn't feeling being happy and peppy today, not after what had happened this afternoon.
After dinner and clearing the table, Alice slipped upstairs to her room. Barricaded up in her blankets, warm in her pajamas and under her covers, Alice pulled out of her nightstand an old copy of The Hobbit that her father had given her for birthday when she was six. It was the copy he'd had for years and always read from when she was younger just before bed time. The beautiful pictures had always been her favorite when she younger, the illustrations were absolutely wonderful in the level of detail; some of her fondest memories were tied up in this book, one specifically being her parents trading off in the reading one night, changing their voices for the different characters, her in the middle wide eyed and curious to hear what happened next. Slipping her finger between the back of the dust jacket and the cover of the book she wiggled out a small envelope with a few pictures of her parents.
One had her sitting on her mom's lap, laughing, holding tight to her giggling little girl; her dad had somehow managed to duck into the frame at the last minute, he probably had set a timer on the camera, and was laughing at whatever ridiculous shenanigans he'd had to do to get into the picture before it was too late. This was one of Alice's favorite pictures. It wasn't forced or stiff like professionally done pictures, it was one of those few candid family moments that a person is able to catch on film. She could see how much she favored her mom in her looks in this photo too. Her mother was half Korean, half African American, her father African American. She'd ended up with a perfect blend of her parent's slightly darker than caramel coloring, she had her mom's almond eye shape and thick long hair, but she had her dad's light grey eyes.
A few other pictures were in the envelope, one in particular Alice kept going back to was a family that for the life of her she couldn't remember. The adults in the photo were both fair in complexion and hair, they were both smiling happily. The young boy in the photo favored the others. Upon seeing the photo a friend had once before suggested that they could possibly be relatives, aunt, uncle and nephew or something of the like; but she had always assumed that it was a family photo, and other than that brief moment had never really questioned it. She couldn't get over the feeling that she knew these people, but after wracking her brain for possible names to go with the faces she simply put the photos back into the envelope, slipped it back into the dust jacket and placed the book back on the nightstand. Turning off her light she snuggled back under the covers, watching the ceiling fan spin, let her mind wander.
The car accident all those years ago had taken more than her parents, it had also stolen some of her memory. That's where she gathered she had known the mystery people in the photo from. The doctors had said that the amnesia would eventually clear up, that even though it was unusual that she had lost all of that 8th year, it was possible that it would come back to her later in life. They had claimed it was because of the trauma of the accident, shock they said. Absentmindedly her fingers began to trace her collar bone, in doing so crossed the tip of a familiar scar. Though they weren't sure exactly how, the accident had damaged her heart, the faint scar from the surgery crossed over the left side of her chest.
Laying back, staring at the ceiling, Alice let out a simple sigh, resigning to let her mind stop working for the night and give in to the sweet call of sleep.
Gigi peeked into Alice's room finding her just nodded off to sleep. Stepping into her room Gigi picked up a jacket, placing it on a chair, moved her backpack to the foot of the bed and moved to the side of her bed to window. She quickly checked it over making sure it was locked and secure, glancing out at the edge of the woods not far behind her home, she found a familiar sight. As the moon snuck out from behind a cloud, the light flooded the backyard and the tree line revealing, a single wolf watching the window, a silent guard. Gigi nodded, quietly saluting what had become, in a strange way, and old friend. Stepping back from the window she looked at two decorative iron tailors sheers, hanging on both sides of the window, both welded open. Touching them gently, she turned to Alice, placing a simple kiss on the forehead of her sleeping goddaughter, tucked her in, and tipped back to the door.
"Sleep tight and sweet dreams Alice." She called quietly over her shoulder. "I love you."