Reluctant Guardian by Melissa Cunningham

hand. “Hello, Darling.”
    â€œGram! Something's wrong with Mom! I think she's dying!”
    â€œYes, dear, she is,” she says with a frown.
    Why doesn't Gram do something? This is her daughter! She just stands there, watching my mother with no reaction whatsoever.
    â€œBut... but she can't die yet!”
    â€œIt's a terrible thing to witness, isn't it?” she says, gazing into my eyes. “I felt the same way when I watched you die in your car. I was there, you know.”
    I didn't know. It's all so jumbled in my mind now, but I don't want to see my mother after she realizes what a terrible thing she's done.
    I can’t let this happen.
    When the loud bang of a door slamming rings through the house, I jump up. Someone is home. Did Derek come back? I let myself sink through the floor to find my dad standing in the kitchen, flipping through the mail.
    â€œDad! Hurry! Mom needs you.”
    He continues to read each envelope and even tears one open, pulling out a bill of some sort. A frown creases his brow and he exhales a loud breath.
    â€œDamn it, Dad! Go upstairs!”
    He looks up, confusion in his eyes.
    â€œYes! Go upstairs!”
    He drops the mail, still staring at the ceiling, and hurries up the stairs. Suddenly he's racing to the top, barreling toward his bedroom. He finds Mom on the bed, totally unresponsive.
    â€œLaynie, wake up!” He pats her face, checks her breathing, and then puffs three breaths into her mouth. After a hurried 911 call, he rushes back to my mother and continues doing CPR.
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CHAPTER TWENTY
    ~A New Plan~
    Brecken
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    Brecken lies on his bed, staring at the dull, cracked ceiling in his basement bedroom. The sun will set in just a few hours. Lazy rays of light filter in through the tiny window above his dresser.
    He lets his mind drift over his earlier conversation with the angel girl. She spoke to him. Actually spoke to him out loud. And she glowed, sitting there in the chair across from his bed. Long, dark brown hair down to her waist, and her eyes...
    There was something about her eyes that intrigued him, and it wasn't just her pretty face. Her aura—the energy that swirled around her—was golden and faintly pink. He's never seen anything like it before, and he has seen plenty.
    He'd had other visitors—guardians—and they always glowed white, like he imagined all angels glowing, but this girl...
    What is it about her? Not that he is interested in finding out; surly this new guardian will be no different from the others.
    The thing that really surprises him is the fact that she spoke to him. None of the others had or would. As soon as they learned he could not only hear them, but see them too, they freaked out and disappeared, only to be replaced by another. The last one had been over a year ago. He'd thought he was free of them. If they were going to send someone who would talk to him, why send such an annoying guardian angel?
    He shakes his head and gets up. He'd get rid of her, just like the others. Show her what he's really like. That's all it usually takes. Once she gets to know him and learns about the life he leads, she'll be gone. It won't take much. It never does.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
    ~A Civil Chat~
    Alisa
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    After a few hours of sitting at the hospital, I begin to feel that familiar itch that tells me I need to get back to Brecken. I ignore it, not willing to leave my mother yet. She needs me more, and I'll stay here as long as I can.
    When the feeling becomes so intense I can no longer ignore it, I kiss my mom's sleeping face, so peaceful in her drug-induced coma. She'll be okay. Gram told me so, and I believe her, but I've had a small taste of what I did to my family. It's a bitter, jagged pill to swallow.
    Reluctantly, and with a heavy sigh, I picture Brecken, focusing on his sad face, his penetrating eyes. This time I only take a second to appear at his side. He sits at a worn Formica table, slurping up Kraft