Protectors Chapter 4

 Chapter 4

    Now, I've been watching Malory for twenty years, six months, two weeks, three days, twelve hours, fourteen minutes, and fifty-two seconds. I know everything about her, her height, weight, eye color, hair color, family, friends, and her schedule. The third rule to being a Protector is, never be heard of, seen, or talk to the assignment. It's easier than most think, when you've been trained for years to stay hidden from the world, you get very good at it, you often can find yourself uncomfortable talking to other Protectors. We become solitaire, only to ourselves and since we're humans altered, they somehow found a way to steal sleep from us so when the assignments asleep, we're wide awake. Some will research their assignments but most, like me, take that time to cool off, find something to do, most of the time at the pit. On my down time, I go down to the gym, located in the pit, and fight but that's off topic.
    On this hot spring evening, Malory went for one of her normal runs, I got nothing from the pit, no warning signs so everything was good, I thought. See I've always felt different than the other Protectors, like I had something none of them did, something I couldn't understand. I always caught myself with this weird feeling, I'd watch her closely, my heart felt as though it would burst out of my chest with every 'bu bump, bu bump, bu bump', my palms would get wet with perspiration, my stomach would flip, and everything around me seemed to melt away. I was always quick to snap out of it, stay focused but, today was different, something was different. She always ran down the fifth avenue sidewalk, gave the sweet homeless man on the corner a dollar or two while she passed, the little boy helping his father with their bread shop, a pat on the head and the old man with a single bag of groceries, cross the street. Nothing but kindness poured from her, but one thing caught my eye and that one thing, changed everything, her smile. That smile, could do anything, even distract me from a job I've trained my life for, a job that is my life.
    Suddenly, she was gone, held tightly in the arms of a local druggy, with a record, as he dragged her deep into an alley. I felt the anger hit me like a brick wall, my blood boiled at the thought of anyone touching her, I took off, raced toward them. Just around the corner I saw her squirming yet his arms locked, he had her up against the brick wall with a grin, just before he got anywhere he wanted, I lunged. I quickly had him on the ground, throwing punch after punch, eyes narrowed and dark, then without hesitation both my hands locked around his neck, seeing only red.
“Hey.” I heard from behind me as she gently touched my shoulder, I snapped out of it. I could feel my heart pounding as I stopped and looked at the guy below me gasping for air, I glanced up to see her staring at me, shaky. “Are you alright?” She asked with a very loving, kind, yet sweet voice that beckoned with fear. Only now realizing what I done, I quickly got to my feet, looked around, not saying a word, I looked straight at her. Her eyes were bright blue, a gorgeous blue I've never seen before, her bottom lip was slightly shaking, a soft stream of blood sliding off the side of her face, and there she stood, directly in front of me. I locked eyes with her, only for a moment before turning and taking off.
    It's official, I'm done, I'm dead, the pit will deffinitly hear about this. I broke the third of the most important rules, never be heard of, seen, or talk to the assignment. Once the pit finds out, I could consider myself dead, breaking one of these rules is tramatic, life changing and could sometimes allow the pit to kill the protector off, fearing our cover will be blown. I ran, not knowing what to do or where to go then suddenly stopped. At that moment it hit me, something was wrong yet never felt so right, the look in her eyes, the sudden feeling of my heart sinking to my stomach, I didn't want to leave her, I couldn't.
    “Honey, it's okay, your alright.” I overheard her friend Miles say to her in her small appartment.. Now I never really trusted any guy near her but Miles, he was different. He was a twenty-one year old homosexual from Oklahoma City studying to be an art major. He was sweet and treated her with nothing more than respect and my favorite thing about him, he was almost as protective of Malory then I was. She met him first day of college, freshmen year, she was so lost and he, kinda on the bigger side, brown short hair, hazel eyes and a bright welcoming smile, did just that, welcomed her. Ever since then they've been close friends, he kept an eye on her like she was his little sister and I couldn't help but love him.
“Do you know who it was?” Malory shook her head at Jess' question.
“Oh stop whining Mal, everything is fine and you got away. I told you not to be running alone.” I snapped a glare at Paige, one of Malory's other friends, not as close but for some reason she kept her around. Jessica was always the calming one with a wild adventurous side, Miles was the helpful protective one and Paige, well she was the critic, she was the tough one, tough on herself and others.
“Paige, stop,” Miles said with an edge to his voice. My eyes scanned the room, went from Paige in her black skinny jeans, low cut blue top, and heels, to Miles standing directly in front of Malory, and Jess sitting on the bed next to her gently rubbing her back. Then my eyes finally settled on Malory, her hair in a messy bun, pale face, blood slowly sliding off the side of her face, knees pulled to chest, and arms wrapped around knees, trembling. I just stared, so worried, so many questions buzzing around in my head, 'did I scare her', 'could I have provented this', 'is this my fault'. I could feel the muscles in my chest tighten, a sick to my stomach feeling and a feeling of guilt. This, this is my fault, I didn't do my job, I didn't protect her and, I had to, I have to.