My Guardian Angel

12 years ago I was with my family in a forest while hiking, this should be one of those normal family outings that I've been with every year for the past seven years of my life. However, the moment I laid my eyes to a black butterfly and chase after it, it changed my whole perspective of life. I got lost in a forest all alone. I tried to go back to where I came from but it just made it worst, all the trees that I pass through look all the same, and it was like I was running around in circles finding my family. I shouted as loud as I can in the hopes of them hearing me but it's no use, and it just made me afraid if a wild animal hears me instead and eat me. Every rustle of bushes, every noise of this forest makes, it makes me even more afraid and that's why I run to the opposite direction of those noises, to just avoid them as much as possible. I run and run until I can't run anymore, and before I knew it the forest became even darker than before. It's already night time. I sat down to one of those flat stones that makes a perfect sitting spot and behind me is a big, old-looking tree. I hugged my knees tightly and place my head on them to give me just a little bit of comfort, but that didn't work as I thought it should be. It just made me even more hopeless. I cried because I was tired, hungry, dirty, and...lonely. The moment I thought that I was lonely, I started to hear different voices in my head saying: "You are lost" "No one will find you" "You're all alone" "You will starve to death" "No one loved you" "You've been replaced" "No one will save you" "You will die alone" The last one made me shiver, even the thought of it scared me. At that moment the voices started to be more aggressive. "No one loved you, you're always alone" "Have you ever thought to yourself of why hasn't anybody found you yet? Because no one has a damn about you" "It's best if you die today, nobody will realize that you're gone" Stop it! I tried to stop hearing those voices, but it's no use, instead, I cried again begging them to stop. "What do you mean 'stop it'? You know is true" It's not true! "Oh really? So why are you all alone right now?" That's because... I tried to think of a reason, but I can't think of anything. "That's because no one loved you! You've been replaced by your baby brother" That's not... I want to fight them off, but I can't I don't want to believe them, but I can't "Not true? Oh please, don't make us laugh. You already know about that" "So make the world a favor and DIE!" ... I don't have anything to say, I don't know what to say. At that moment, I seemed to agree on what those voices told me. Nobody loved me... Nobody will find me... I've been replaced... I think... It's best if I die. No one will realize that I'm gon- "Is that what you really want?" I was surprised to hear a voice, not through my head. I lifted my head to see a man standing in front of me who just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He was tall, had black and short hair, he was wearing a long black coat that underneath was a white shirt, a pair of black slacks, and a black scarf around his neck. Even though it was dark, I can still see what he was wearing and what hairstyle he had. But I don't know why, maybe because of the moonlight that is behind him or the fog, but I can't see his face. "Is that what you really want?" he asked me again with his clam voice. At first, I don't understand what he was saying, so I don't know what to answer. I just stared at him, trying to see his face. But suddenly, I heard a voice in my head. "YOU WILL DIE ALONE" "NO!" I shouted to fight off those voices. I suddenly stand up, ran towards the man, and tightly gripping to his shirt. "No..." I said crying. "Please...help me..." begging him to save me. "I *sniff* I don't want to die" I was giving all my hope to this man. This stranger that I just met. It was quiet, the only thing I can hear is me sniffling and trying to stop crying, but I can't stop. And then he places his hands on my shoulders to pull me back a little bit and letting himself kneeled to make our height even. He pulled away his one hand to reach inside of his side pocket and revealed a small chain. When I saw that, it made me nervous, so I looked at him to see what he was thinking, but instead, I saw a creepy smile on his face. It made me scared and want to run away, but I can't. I can't seem to move my whole body. His hands were getting closer and that makes me even more afraid, so I just close my eyes and wait what will happen next. *click* I heard a click sound behind my neck and that made me open my eyes to see a beautiful silver necklace around my neck. It has small silver chains and attached to it is a winged silver shape pendant with a sky-blue gem between the wings. It was beautiful and seemed enchanted. But I wonder why it was on my neck. I looked at him all confused. But he just patted me on the head and said, "This will give you protection to all the negative things in this world has to offer" I was listening to him, but my eyes were focus to his bracelet that he was wearing, "And if you take care of it and won't lose it..." it has so many things attached to it like silver skulls, silver feathers, but the one thing that catches my attention is a small sword with wings that dangled in front of me, "...we may meet again, Alice Yalito" When he said my name, it made me surprise, how did he know my name? He pulled away his hand on my head and began to walk away from me. I was dumbfounded on the thought that he knew my name, but when he was walking away from me, I just realized that he was leaving me all alone. And I don't want that! So I started to run after him, but it was strange. I know he's tall, so his steps should be longer than mine, that's why I ran as fast as I can to catch up. But why...? Why can't I get close to him? "Please...don't leave me!" I was calling to him, shouting and began to cry again. The more he walks away from me, the more I feel hopeless again. "Please! I don't want to feel alone again!" The fear of being alone that I felt earlier is beginning to crawl back. That's why I was desperate to run away from that feeling as fast as I can, but it's no use. He's still getting further away from me. And because of the fog, his image is getting blurrier by the second. I can't catch up, my legs are tired from all the running all day, and my hope on escaping in this nightmare is getting thinner and thinner each time he's disappearing on my sight. But...when I started to feel hopeless, I stopped and saw something on the corner of my eye, and it was a foot-long black feather. I picked it up and it still felt quite warm, like it was just plucked out earlier. And because I was 7 years old, I connected the feather and the man from earlier together, and concluded something so unbelievable on the eyes of others but makes it all perfectly sense in my age. "He was an...angel," I said it as a whisper, disbelieving what I just concluded. I looked at him again, almost disappearing in my sight. I was thinking of trying to catch up again, but the moment I step forward, I felt nothing on my foot and started to outbalance myself. Falling in complete darkness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued...