Fiction: The Soul Guardian 2

[ Read Part 1 over here ]

~ January 2007 ~

Somewhere in the middle of remembering and forgetting, Anson recalls in her future, the child will be named Penelope. He sneaks a glance at the girl and turns away.
    "What's your name?" Her loud voice surprises Anson again. She has been asking and he has been dodging. What does it matter what he is called? Besides, Anson is not his real name.
    The child's body's constant attempts to wake from her deep sleep causes her soul to wander and as her guardian, she would always find Anson until her soul settles in place. Her constant appearance puts a dent in his calm and yet, he cannot deny her presence makes him curious. But as she will not remember him when she returns to the living, there is no need to interact with her any more than necessary. He must return her, however cruel it may be.
    They appear at the hospital where the child has been moved to a large room full of other children. Anson gives her soul a gentle tap and she slips back to her body. She is still a tiny form from her years of starvation but he notes she has grown a little in two years. He gives her a second glance and leaves.
    Thoughts of his old life trickles through his mind. Childhood with absent parents. Working through medical school. Residency at a small hospital which he gained much needed experiences. It would have been followed with a fellowship at a prestigious hospital. All gone in just five minutes by a single act of imbecility. The abruptness of it all had made him angry but he had lived a thorough if incomplete life and that should have been enough.
    Anson can't help but think of his damaged body lying in a small white room and being kept alive by machines. As long as his body lives, Anson will always be tethered to it. If some day, his body is released from its hold, he would move on to a new life or so he believes. After many years as a guardian, he has stopped wondering about his fate.
    Unlike Anson, most soul guardians are untethered to any bodies. They have what some might called ghost bodies as they are neither alive nor dead. All souls return to their bodies, move on to the next life or become a soul guardian. There is one exception - runaways. Runaways are souls who have gotten away from their bodies. Sometimes they lose connections with their assigned guardians and this make them lose their way. If they are tethered to a body, that body will die after 49 days as no runaway can ever survive without a body and no body can ever survive without a soul. Runaways are rare and only the oldest of guardians have ever encountered them.
    If Anson's guardian hadn't showed up in time, would he have been a runaway and lost himself and then faded from existence? Anson moves away from those thoughts. He has work to do.
    A woman opens her car door just as a guy stabs her, pushes her to the pavement and drives the car away. The woman lies on the ground with blood soaking her coat. Anson stands over her. In her state between delirium and sobriety, she sees him but her eyes does not linger on Anson. She pulls out a phone from her coat pocket and presses the screen. The voice on the other line speaks but the woman loses consciousness. Anson bends down toward the phone and gives the street name and the necessity for an ambulance.  
    A few moments later, Anson stands beside the stolen car where the thief had crashed it into a pole. The thief's soul detaches from his body and Anson forces him back with a hard push. The kid, perhaps seventeen or older, opens his eyes briefly before slumping his head on the wheel. Anson waves a hand at the car and the alarm screams. Lights flicker on in the surrounding shops. In this late hour, a few people comes out and rushes toward the scene. Anson silences the alarm before leaving.
    In another street, Anson appears. A woman with short, silver hair with a youthful face passes by him. She gives him a nod and he returns it. Her name is Emanuela and she was once Anson's guardian. As guardians, they can simply send thoughts to each other even across a great distance but Emanuela rarely likes to do that nor does she likes to talk.
    When Anson first met her some nine years ago, Emanuela had simply said to him, either he stay with his body or become a temporary guardian. Since then, she has spoken little to him.
    Perhaps the passing of years has made Anson more introspective but Anson does not seek the company of other guardians although they all sense each other's presence. Though his work is solitary, Anson does not mind it. After all the chaos of living, he prefers it.
    Penelope appears but Anson keeps his eyes averted from her smiling face.

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This week's Words for Wednesday prompts are: cruel, return, sneak, solitary, middle. More Words for Wednesday over here.