Sylph

A story I wrote previously. I took some time to rewrite, corect grammer and add new information.

As usual I assume my daily rutine. Floating against the winds currents mingling my essence with it's. I calmly follow my charge, a hyperactive young boy barely in his mid teens. I'm anything but hyperactive. His display of such enormous energy annoys me... and entices me to urge him forward. Truth is, I'm a guardian spirit, a sylph and my domain is in the very wind it'self. I am at the ripe age of 500 years young. I've had many charges, all assigned by my clan leader. My charges however do not compare to this kid.
The boy is bearly fifteen. Shorty dusty black hair, tanned skin and brightblue eyes so full of wonder and excitement. He's a ball of energy despite the fact that he is attending highschool. His energy should have diminished by then, but nope, he's still as hyper as if he were five.
I started watching him from the day he was born. The mishaps he put me through had worn my spirit thin. For fifteen years, I was his parent, conscience, caretaker, and guardian, all without him knowing I even existed. How did I, you wonder? As a sylph I can not be seen, just as the wind cannot. I come and go without a trace and just like the wind my feelings never linger.
For decades, I had countless charges, male, female, human and animal. I was there at birth and at death, not once did I cry for them, not once did I love them, not once did I cherish their faces and names. My job was to simply care for them making sure they died naturally, acheived their goals through honest means, and never harvested hatred, anger, and resentment towards others. Personal feelings were out of the question and so I kept them out of the question.
This kid however did what others couldn't. He made me fall in love with him. I love him more than anything in the world. When he slept, I stayed at his side lightly watching over him. It's unisual for me, normally I'd leave for the sylph bar and have a toast to a good days work, and chat with others of my kind. But now I just want to stay by him.
I can remember the very day I strated feeling like this. He was ten years old, his life, as it said in my roster, was to end that very day. I, at first thought, that it was a quick gig and calmly awaited the moment of death so that I may be released to find my next charge. It was 10 o'clock at night and he kneeled at his bedside to utter his prayers. "Our father thou art it heaven, how thy be thy name..."
I listened silently as the angle of death appeared at my side.
"My gracious lord, I call on thee," he said. "My time is nearly up in life, this cancer is said to take me anyday. Tonight, I pray to you, and hope you hear my cry. Let me live longer. Your friend has guarded me through thick and thin, and I'm grateful for that, I'm also sad. So many opportunities have gone by that my life may have been forfeit but yet they save me, when they could have freed themselves. Even though now I'm being unfair, I hope that you could let me live a little longer and allow me to obtain my hearts desire."
The black angel stepped toward the boy as he crawl into bed. I sighed heavily, a tear peaking the corners of my eyes. "You know," I said to the reaper who looked back at me.
(Alright I'm gonna stop for a minute. I have a few things to explain. Number 1- The grim reaper, isn't as grim as you think. True he does wear all black, but he isn't some scary skeleton. He's a young individual with black hair cut to shoulder length. He's tall, around six foot five inches, and he does carry a scythe that, mind all of you, is not covered in blood stains or flesh. He actually keeps it quite clean and extremely sharp. Number 2- His name is not Grim, Grimmy, Reaper, Or Angel of Death, He has a real name, and I refuse to disclose it since, it might conflic with certain beliefs. Number 3- just because he appears to old people, does not mean he is delivering your final death sentence. He extends and decreases life spans. Beneath his black cloak, he has a large scroll and an hourglass, which he uses to take and give life.)
"Thats the first thanks I ever got, in my years of work." I try to hide my escaping tears. "Most never acknowledge my existence, all they ever do is give Luck, or Fate the benifite of the credit."
(Luck and Fate, are obnoxious pigs. Everytime someone drops their name everyone in the realm drops a coin into the're jars. Also Fate and Destiny are one in the same so Fate always has twice as much money. Bad Luck is Luck's twin brother, and trust me, everytime some thing is blamed on bad luck, he takes twice the amount of money from us.)
"Getting sentimentle," the reaper said, his voice like a harp being strummed. I envy him for it too.
(Oh, yeah forgot to mention. The scythe is a decoration and wepon. He does not use it to hack your sould from you body. He sings a lulaby to the soul coaxing it from you, then as you soul leaves a wave of his hand stops your heart and other bodily functions leaving you motionless.)
"No," I retorted. I brushed the hair from my face as I looked away.
He shrugged and pulled out the hourglass, all of the sand had dwindled to the bottom. "Damn," he cursed. "I broke it during my last trip." Setting it aside he pulled out a heaving bag which was filled with sand. Touching the boys forhead he drew out his soul.
The boy stared about, his eyes sad and full of fear. "I guess, I have to go now." he said. "Nice to meet the one who guarded me though. He cast a sad smile in my direction, then looked at the reaper. He was shocked to see the handsome young face. "Well, shall we be off." he asked resigned.
To my surprise the reaper shook his head. His hand went into the chest of the boy and pulled out the internal hourglass. "As decreed by your lord, I am to allow at the minimum twenty years of life. No more no less. Live life to your fullest."
It was abrupt, the bag of sand was pour into the hourglass and then the soul thrust back into it's hosting shell. I murmured a light goodnight as the glowing esssence disappeared.
When he awoke the next morning he smiled. He didn't remember the nights events but he knew something within him had changed.
He got on his knees again, and this time, he prayed to...me. "Hello my angel." I scoffed at the name. Sylphs and Angels are totally different. For one Sylphs don't parade around strumming harps and wear white wherever we go. Nor do sing the praise of the person we serve. Also, our "divine intervention" isn't always for the better and unlike Angels, we know not everyone can be saved, and we delight in exposing others weaknesses. Then there is the rare occasion we will kill for the hell of it. "I barely remember my dream, however I saw you there, and I think, you spared me from something horrible. I thank you my friend, for watching over me. Please stay at my side."
Touching, I admit, but way off. So I stayed at his side, and each night, he thanked me. No other had done this. I guess thats why I fell for him.
Back to presant, day dreaming, god what has gotten into me. I stare at him, playing his favorite sport, one that utilizes his hyper activity, tenis. He ran about the court hitting the balls like pro, all the while playing a game with his opponent. He forced his opponent to make him run about the court. However I saw that, despite the excited look in his eyes, he was tiring, and so, I hate to say this, I caused the ball to falter and my charged missed it. He stooped leaning heavily on his knees, then he plopped down. I forced the wind to blow a gentle breeze his way to cool him down and allow his to catch his breath, all the while I whispered a hymn to sooth the racing heart and expanding lungs.
Only hours later the competition was done and he disembarked with his friends home. They spoke with increasing excitement. Summer break just started and their final game was over and won. I walked behind them, my winds staving off the blistreing heat of the hot day.
'I shall' I murmured to him through the wind. 'I shall always love you my young friend.'
After games at an arcade the group dispersed and I was left alone with him walking downhill against the setting sun.
"I know your there," he said. "I know your watching and protecting me. Today was great, thanks to you. I'm sorry, I nearly pushed myself passed my own limits, but you stopped me. I hope the day comes when I'm no longer your burden." He laughed heartily. "I'm sure if you had lives, I think I might have shaved off 100 or so."
'What's a hundred years, I only have a million more.' I said more to myself then to him.
We rounded the corner of his block, and then...suddenly he was thrust backwards, right through me. The he was in the air and hit the ground with such force. something else wizzed passed, I couldn't see it. All I saw was the boys form broken at the neck and both legs laying upon the ground, in a steadily increasing pool of blood. Instinct told me to pull out my roster, as I feared, It was not yet his time, he still had fifteen years left to live but as I watched the number began to drop steadily. I rushed to his side trying to stop the bleeding with winds but to no avail. People gathered outside screaming and calling for an ambulence. I kneeled at his side, begging him to stay alive.
"Your cute," he said, blank eyes looking at me. "I'll try my best not to die but I think I'm losing."
"No," I said. "You'll pull through, hang on please."
"Wow," he whispered. "Your different from an angel. what are you?"
The people around the boy were still in a panic, very few were listening to him.
"I'm a sylph," I said. Best try to keep him concious.
"Wow, so, you do exist, must be tough controling all those winds."
His eyes started to close. I sent a wind that shook his body violently trying to wake him up. His eyes opened to half mast, the spark in them flickering like a flame in the wind.
"You are free my guardian, I'll pass on now." His eyes closed again. His heart beat slowly as more people gather.
The reaper was at my side now. He slowly laid a hand on the boys chest and drew out his soul. The hourglass that was rested with his chest fell out. It was broken. The sand spilled out like blood coating the ground.
The boys soul was unconcious, and so the reaper craddled him in his arms. The white suit of the angels dressed his small frame. "His death was premature, forgive me." I said bowing low.
"This time," the reaper said. "It couldn't be healped."
With that the reaper was gone, and I was left to take out my anger and sadness. My winds blew feircely and an out of season storm developed pounding the earth with rain and lightning, very few people remained outside waiting for authorities and an ambulence. Others rushed to the shelter of their homes.
The storm did not stop for some number of days, and when it did, the broken, empty shell of the boy was laid to rest.
After that, I recieved my next assignment, and went on with my work as I did before I fell for the boy, this time around however, I had a partner who recently joined the Sylph ranks. Guess who.

Author's Note

ignore grammer mistakes, if any. I tried to correct most but I'm sure my lack of brain activity missed a few things.