Unbreakable Bonds
The Once-ler
Sleeping peacefully in his room, a four year old Once-ler snuggles up to a teddy bear. His warm, pale-blue blanket is pulled up around his neck-it is unseasonably cold for August. A strange woman appears in his room. She is tall-nearly 7 feet-and clad in a black, double-breasted, belted trench-coat. Silently, she moves across his bedroom floor to get a closer look in her rubber-soled boots until her foot strikes something: an electronic firetruck toy. The lights flash, the siren sounds, and the boy stirs.
"Oncie, go to sleep! If I get in there and you're playing, I'm gonna paint your back-porch red!"
"I'm not playin', mama! It just went off. I'll make it stop-" he gets out of bed and starts to go to the toy truck when he spots the strange woman. He stops dead in his tracks and looks at her. "W-who are you?" She hadn't counted upon him waking and seeing her.
"An angel. I'm your guardian angel, Once-ler." she says. He tilts his head. She knew a question when she saw it.
"If you're an angel, how come you don't got wings or a halo?"
"All the better to blend in, sweet child. I can't let anyone but you know what I am."
"Why are you here?" 38 knew the answer to this question: the boy's father had died a month ago, and her Master chose him to be an Endret Operator when he was ready-she just had to bond with him for the transformation to work better.
"I'm here to protect you. Your daddy, up in Heaven, sent me to look after you for him." Tears well up in Once-ler's light blue eyes.
"Is...is daddy happy up there?"
"Yes, quite. He just can't watch over you, so he sent me." She knew it was a filthy lie, but she had to earn his trust. She hears footsteps skittering and knows someone's coming. "I think your mother is on her way. I'm going to leave, and you need to get back in your bed before she gets in here, okay?"
"Okay, Miss Angel." The boy struggles to get back in bed, but pulls himself back in and tugs the blanket over his tiny form. Thirty-eight vanishes before Isabella can enter the room.
"Who were you talking to, Oncie?"
"An angel." He says, matter-of-factly. She smacks him.
"Angels aren't real, Oncie. Haven't I taught you that? Just pretty stories idiots tell their kids to make them believe in something that isn't there. Now, who were you talking to?" Once-ler doesn't answer, but instead, fidgets in his bed. That lady said she was an angel, and she seemed so...powerful to Once-ler. She didn't look like an angel, but she said she was, and Once-ler believed her. "Who was it, Oncie?"
"Nobody, mommy. I was talking to an imaginary friend." The words tasted like ashes in his mouth, but he didn't fancy another slap. Isabella turns to the door.
"Ubb! Get your shot-gun and go look around! I think we have a trespasser!"
"I'm on it, Isabella!" He shouts up the stairs. After a few minutes, Ubb returns. "There's nobody out there, sis. I looked."
"Good." She says. She turns to Once-ler. "Oncie, go back to bed, and if I hear one more peep out of you tonight, that'll be it for you." The boy settles off to bed, and, eventually, finds sleep.