Chapter Eight

The scrawlings of a thirteen year old girl met her gaze.

 

“It’s my first night at Crédere. I have never before seen a city like this. I keep thinking I will wake up. The people here are unlike anyone I’ve met before. Reidar says they are Guardians. They are immortal. They spend most of their lives outside of Crédere, watching their charges.

 

Every Guardian has a charge; someone they watch over and keep safe. They choose them at child birth. During the first week of birth, guardians can see snapshots of the baby’s life through their eyes. If they see a lot of bad, they take them as their charge and watch them for all their life.

 

I always wondered if guardian angels exist, even if logic said it’s ridiculous. I guess they do. But Reidar says they aren’t angels. He said I have to forget and shun all preconceived ideas of the supernatural, for those are only warped testimonies of Crédere.

 

Crédere is the definition and origin of the supernatural. As such, they have more power than humans. They can do “miracles”, though Reidar says they’re not really miracles. He and I talked a lot. I’m staying in the spare bedroom. It’s like half a house. I have to get up early tomorrow, to see and learn more.”

 

Riley sighed and let her hand rest of the faded page. There was not a trace of question or doubt in the account. Whatever Reidar had said, she had accepted as pure truth. It did not sound like her. She was skeptical; logical. But then again, she had accepted Reidar’s words tonight as well, with very little question or doubt.

 

She tried to remember what she had been thinking and feeling at the time of the diary entry; her mind was blank. She felt nothing that connected her. She placed a hand to her forehead as fragments tried to push their way to memory. Doubt filled her instead. None of this made any sense. It defied all logic. And yet, she yearned to make sense out of it.

 

The door across the hall creaked open, interrupting her reverie. She glanced at the clock, only to find that the night had already passed. She put the diary on the nightstand and headed downstairs to the kitchen, where her father was making coffee.

 

“You look tired Ri. Sleep bad?”
“Had a hard time falling asleep for some reason, yeah.”
“Looks like you already got a start on the coffee.” He pointed at the coffee cup that was still in her hand. “Yeah. Sometime around 5 AM I guess I just gave up.”

“I hope you didn’t wake up Reidar.”

“No…” he was already awake anyway.

 

Her dad turned to get a bagel out of the freezer.

“Dad. How did you meet Reidar?”

He cast her a curious look, reaching for a knife to cut the bagel. “We met when we were kids. He was my neighbor. I guess you could say we grew up together.”

“How come you never mentioned him before?”

He paused mid-slice. A few moments passed before he answered. “You know, I don’t know. I guess I just sort of forgot about him after he moved away back in tenth grade. Lost all contact until a few weeks ago.”