Messenger of God, A Story

Christy Johnson was walking out of the campus library. It was a dark night: the sky was overcast so the moon and stars did not shine. Fortunately, there were several street lamps around campus that gave sufficient light for her to see by.
Christy was a sophomore, and it was the middle of the fall semester at the state university. So far, she was undeclared, but she was starting to lean toward a major in medicine, or at least be something that had to do with anatomy and human physiology. She was leaving the library because she had met there with some friends to review a chemistry midterm that they were going to be taking tomorrow. It was a cram session, although no one wanted to call it that. Christy figured that she would be able to pass the test easily enough, but she hoped she could at least do better than the average for the class.
As she walked down the sidewalk toward her car, her mind drifted from the facts, laws, and chemical formulas that they had been reviewing, to a rough calculation of what her likely test score would be tomorrow and how that would affect her grade. She was distracted by her thoughts so that when she walked down one particular sidewalk that ran next to a building that happened to cast a shadow over the walkway, she didn’t notice the darker shadow that began to follow her. In fact, she remained ignorant of what was happening until someone grabbed her from behind and put a hand over her mouth.
“Stay real quiet sweetheart,” a man’s voice whispered in her ear, the word “sweetheart” coming out in a maniacal mocking tone. Christy tried to scream but the man’s hand was firmly on her mouth. She tried to struggle and fight back, but his other arm held her firmly so that there was little she could do. The man carried her as he moved alongside the building, with Christy dragging her feet all the way, trying to slow him down.
They had just rounded the corner of the building, and her assailant was still holding her firmly, when she heard him yell out, “What the…” His phrase was cut short by a loud thumping sound, and then Christy could feel him falling, carrying her with him. However, his grip loosened on her, so she struggled free. She tried to right herself, and would have fallen, but someone else grabbed her arm and held her up. Despite the fact that a stranger was gripping her arm firmly in his hand, Christy didn’t feel frightened or startled.
When she was back on her feet, a voice beside her said, “Come one, let’s get out of here,” as the person gently pulled her away from the building. The voice sounded firm, but kind. They hurried out of the shadow of the building, and then Christy glanced at the person leading her away from her attacker. He was a young man: he looked like he was only a few years older than Christy. He was tall and handsome looking, with blond hair and blue eyes. He moved confidently, with long, steady strides.
“Did he hurt you?” the man said.
“No,” Christy said. She was a little shaken by everything that had just happened, so she really didn’t have anything to say.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
“Over there,” Christy said, pointing across the parking lot.
“I’ll walk you there,” he responded. He let go of her arm, but stayed beside her as they walked toward her car.
Christy looked at the man again. She hadn’t seen him before, so it sort of surprised her how confident he was. It was almost like he knew her, like he was just escorting a friend who needed protection. For his part, he said nothing, walking beside her in silence.
When they got to her car, Christy unlocked the door, opened it up, and got inside. The young man said to her, “You should be safe now. So I’ll leave, I’ve got some things to do.”
Christy nodded, as if she understood. Then, as he was starting to turn away, she asked him something that she had wanted to ask since she first saw him, “What is your name?”
He turned back toward her, with an odd expression on his face. He had a subtle smile, but Christy couldn’t tell whether he was amused by something or whether he was keeping a secret. “Michael Guardian,” was his answer. Then he turned away and walked off with his rapid, steady strides. Christy sat there for a while, watching him go before closing her door, starting her car, and driving home.
The next day, Christy had to focus on the chemistry mid-term. However, her mind kept drifting to the events that had happened the previous night. Who was Michael Guardian? The more she thought about it, the odder he seemed. He didn’t seem odd in a sinister way, more in a mysterious, intriguing way. Later on that day, she told a friend of hers, Heather Walker, about what happened last night. Heather was very eager to hear the story and very curious about the details.
“Wow, that’s an amazing story!” Heather remarked. “It sounds kind of exciting.”
“Well, it was really scary at first, when that guy attacked me,” Christy reminded her.
“But yeah, but then that guy showed up. You have no idea who he is?”
“No, I’ve never seen him before, and I didn’t recognize his name. Did his name sound familiar to you?”
“No, I’ve never heard of a Michael Guardian.”
“He’s probably a student here,” Christy speculated. “I mean, he just showed up, so he was probably doing something late at night like we were at the study group.”
“Hey! Maybe you can get on the university web site and check the student directory. You can look him up and get in contact with him,” Heather suggested.
“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t really have a reason to contact him. He might not even be in the directory.”
“Why not? You just said that he is probably a student here.” Heather said. She was surprised by Christy’s apparently quick disregard for her own observation.
Christy was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said, “Well, there were many strange things about him. For instance, he has a strange name. Michael Guardian?”
“So it’s a strange name. What does that mean?”
“There were other things, too. He just appeared from nowhere, quickly and swiftly rescued me from that guy, and the way he walked me to my car, he seemed to know that I was going to my car.”
“That wouldn’t be hard to figure out. You were headed to the parking lot.”
“Maybe,” Christy conceded. “But he also had a very noble, strong appearance. Something about him seemed unreal.”
Heather was quiet for a moment, then cautiously said, “Where are you heading with this, Christy?”
“Isn’t Michael a name of one of the angels? And don’t people talk about guardian angels? And he said that his name is Michael Guardian? Maybe he was trying to indicate something.”
Heather smiled. “Christy, I think you are taking it a little too far.”
Even though Heather thought that she was reading more into it than there was, Christy still thought that there was something strange about Michael Guardian. However, she never checked the college directory, mainly because she was busy with her classes and forgot about it whenever she had time. However, there was another incident that took place about three weeks later that brought her in contact with Michael again.

Christy was driving home from school one day. Her mind was distracted again this evening. A paper for her biology class was coming due in a week, and she was on the verge of entering panic mode as the work for the paper became more pressing. She had part of her rough draft written, but the ending, particularly the conclusion, wasn’t coming along too well. She was starting too think that a science major might not be the thing for her.
She was so distracted that she failed to see the car in front of her putting on its brakes to slow down until she almost plowed into its rear bumper. When she finally noticed it, she screamed, slammed on the brakes, and then swerved wildly to the side, since she was obviously too close to stop in time. Unfortunately, this maneuver sent her off the edge of the road. The highway she was on happened to be on a hill as it rose to cross a street, so her car careened down the hill, rolling over a few times before crashing against a tree.
When the car came to a halt, Christy remained still for a moment, trying to orient herself. She was upside down, being held in her seat by her seat belt. Her car was upside down, the front window was smashed, all the windows were cracked or shattered so that she could not clearly see through them. Slowly she brought her hand to her head, starting to cry a little. She felt a little bit of blood on her face, and her body was sore, but she wasn’t sure where she was hurt. She tried to unbuckle herself, but the buckle was stuck. Suddenly, she noticed something. She smelt smoke. She twisted around to look at the back of her car. She could see an orange glow. Her car was on fire! Now she desperately tried to unbuckle herself, but the latch refused to open. She tried to pull herself out, but the belt was tight.
Christy started to scream in panic. Just then, the passenger window was smashed open. She looked and saw someone forcing himself through it. He reached up and grabbed her buckle. “Stop struggling!” he told her. Christy was too panicked now to listen. She just responded by screaming “Get me out!”
The man couldn’t open the latch either. His arm pulled away, and for a second, Christy thought that he might back out and leave her. But then he reached up with both hands. One arm held her up against the seat with the other reached for the strap. Suddenly, the strap let go of her as it was cut in two. Christy started to fall from her seat but the man’s strong arm controlled her descent so that she landed softly on top of him. Then, before Christy could even react, he grabbed her and practically threw her out of the passenger window. Then he hurried out after her.
Once out of the car, Christy picked herself up off the ground and began to run away from the car. She felt a little dizzy, so she had to stop a short way off, kneeling down to try and regain her sense of balance. As she was kneeling, she became aware of someone standing next to her. She looked up. She almost gasped as she recognized Michael.
“Are you okay?” he asked, as he knelt in front of her. “Your head is bleeding pretty badly.”
“I… I think I’m okay.”
“Just take it easy. Help is coming.”
Christy glanced back at her car. Flames were beginning to engulf its entire body. She looked back up at Michael.
“You’ve rescued me again,” she said.
“You seem to be in need of a lot of rescuing lately,” he responded.
Sirens could he heard in the distance, signaling the arrival of a rescue vehicle.
“Who are you?” Christy asked.
“Didn’t you ask me that last time, Christy? My name is Michael Guardian.”
“I mean, what are you?”
Michael gave her the same quizzical, mysterious look that he gave her last time. “What am I?” he repeated.
Just then, a fire truck pulled up. The firemen rushed out of the truck, most of them getting to work putting the fire out. A couple came over to Christy and Michael. Michael stood up as they approached.
“Were you involved in the crash?” one of the firemen asked Michael and Christy.
“I was not,” Michael answered. “But she was.”
The fireman knelt down and look at her head. “You’ve got a bad cut. Nothing serious, though you appear to have had some blood loss. How are you feeling?”
“A little dizzy,” Christy replied.
“Any broken bones or other injuries?” the fireman continued.
Suddenly, Christy whirled around toward Michael. “How do you know my name?” she asked. But he wasn’t there. She turned back towards the fireman, who was giving her a strange look. “Sorry, what did you say?” she asked him.

Naturally, Christy had to relate the story of her accident to Heather, and so she also had to tell her about Michael once again.
“So, your mysterious guardian angel showed up again?” Heather asked, in a slightly mocking tone.
“I’m serious, it was him.”
“Oh, I believe you. But do you still think he’s an angel?”
“Why not? He knew my name, and then he just disappeared.”
“So he left without saying goodbye, that doesn’t mean he disappeared. And if he was an angel, how come he had to struggle to get you out of the car? Wouldn’t that be a piece of cake to a supernatural being?”
“I don’t know, I can’t really claim to know how a supernatural being would behave. But I do know that a person would not know my name without asking or learning it from someone else. I didn’t tell him and no one I know knows who he is.”
“Okay, Christy. I think we should just do that little experiment of checking his name in the school directory, to see if he really is a flesh and blood person or if he is an angel.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
The two girls headed off to the library to use one of the computers there. Accessing the school’s student directory was easy enough, as they had done that several times to track down friends and classmates. But the search for Michael Guardian came up empty.
“See?” Christy said triumphantly. “He isn’t here.”
“So he’s not in the directory,” Heather retorted. “That doesn’t mean he isn’t human. People other than students come onto campus, and besides, the second time you saw him wasn’t even on campus.”
“But it was only a couple miles away from campus,” Christy responded.
“That still could be a coincidence.”

For the next several weeks, Christy kept her eyes open for Michael. Even though she thought he would only show up when she was in trouble, she would still glance over her shoulder, as if he would be walking behind her, guarding her every step.
Finally, the semester began to come to a close. With finals approaching, Christy’s schedule became more packed, but she still had other things to plan for, like the next semester. Since she was still trying to figure out what she wanted to major in, she talking to students and faculty outside of the departments she was currently taking classes in. That is why she was walking down the Devlon Hall one afternoon. Devlon Hall was where the archaeology department was located, and she was going to meet with Dr. Benhart, one of the professors in this department. There were several offices along the hallway she was walking down, and she was glancing at the names so that she could find Dr. Benhart’s office. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. One of the offices had several names on it, likely an office being shared by several graduate students. But what stopped her was one of the names: Michael Guardian.
Christy’s heart was beating rapidly. The office door was open, so she crept up and glanced inside. There were three desks, two of which were empty, but at the third sat a young man. Even though he was sitting with his back to her, Christy recognized him as Michael. Slowly, she walked into the room.
Michael must have heard her footsteps, because he stopped whatever he was working on and turned around to face her. When he saw who it was, he smiled.
Michael spoke, “Hello again. I’m glad to see you aren’t in any trouble at the moment.”
Christy didn’t answer. So many ideas, thoughts, and emotions were running through her mind that she didn’t know where to begin, or how to even bring a coherent thought together, for that matter.
There were a couple of awkward seconds of silence, which Michael broke by asking, “What did you mean when you asked me what I am?”
It still took Christy a second before she could respond, but finally she said, “I thought… You appeared out of nowhere twice to rescue me and I… I just wondered how you were able to do that, and… and what that would make you.”
Michael once again gave her that quizzical, knowing look. “I’m nothing special, if that’s what you are getting at. The fact that our paths crossed would best be explained by coincidence.”
“But how did you know my name?”
“When I escorted you to your car, I saw some homework lying in the back seat. They had the name ‘Christy’ on them, so I presumed that was your name.”
“Why didn’t your name show up in the student directory?”
“You tried finding me? Well, my name should be in the directory, or at least one of the directories. Did you look in the directory for the whole school?”
Christy thought a moment. No, she hadn’t checked the full directory, she just checked the undergraduate directory, and of course Michael wouldn’t be there, since he was a graduate student. It was dawning on her that everything she presumed to be special or unique about Michael was fading away. She began to blush.
“No, I didn’t look in the directory for the whole school. I guess I’ve been jumping to conclusions about you. Just a bunch of coincidences, I guess.”
“Coincidences, to us at least,” Michael said. “While I can not say that I intended to show up when you needed help, that doesn’t mean that those ‘accidents’ weren’t planned by Someone.”
Christy looked at Michael with a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
Michael turned around and pulled a book out of his drawer. Then he turned back to Christy. She could see that the book was very thick and was leather bound. Michael opened up the book and said, “Let me tell you about this Someone.”