Angels Brought Me You *Chapter 1*

What happens when, that shoulder you cried on, is no longer there to cry on? Charlotte comes to term with the loss of her Uncle and the suprise re-apperance of him. But she can't see him right..?

What happens when, that shoulder you cried on, is no longer there to cry on?

 

Charlotte was five years old when she first heard of angels. It was the day of her uncles death in a car accident, that bought the subject to her imagination. She had asked her Mum, what happens when you die, wether you come back, or wether you can still see the ones you love, thinking, death was a bit unfair. It takes away your entire body, mind and soul, and you cant even watch over your loved ones.

"Uncle Gabe is an angel now, he is not living, sweetheart, but he still watches over us, still sees what we do, which is why he wouldn’t want you crying over him forever. He needs some sort of entertainment up there." Her mother had said to comfort her.

 

Uncle Gabe was Char’s favourite Uncle. He gave her the best Birthday, Christmas and Easter present any kid could ask for. And since Char didn’t have a father figure in her life, Gabe was her father, her uncle and best friend. Also her shoulder to cry on. So what happens when, that shoulder you cried on, is no longer there to cry on? You move on, Char guessed. Find a new shoulder. But her Uncles had been perfect. He had always picked her up, kissed her cheeks, squeezed her tight, pulled faces, played hide and seek, tiggy and piggy backed Charlotte. Now she needed to find a new friend. Gabe had paid much more attention to Char, than her older brother, or mother. Possibly because Charlotte was the youngest, most innocent, and most vulnerable. He had been there when her father had walked out of her mothers life. Stepped in. Got a black eye and broken nose in the making, but it was all for his family. His sisters family.

 

Gabe sat on a white cloud, looking down, deep down, what seemed like miles upon miles of clouds. He felt a sharp point in his shoulder, and turned to see, and older women, dark gray hair, long claw like fingernails, and a soft expression on her face, standing beside him.

"Where am I?" Gabe asked, but he knew. Hell he was surprised he had ended up there, of all the places he thought he was going, he thought it would be down. "Don’t answer that, what I really want to know is, why am I here?" His face was expressionless. Relaxed, completely, considering he had died yelling out his pain. Calling for his wife and family.

"Mr. Armitage, the reason you are here, instead of.. .there...is because you have been a kind heart, and your life hadn’t been fulfilled, not quite yet."

"So your saying I get to go back?"

"No." The angel answered. Breaking his already broken heart.

"Well what do you mean then, I’m sure as hell, God wouldn’t be playing pranks like that on me, especially a guy like me with a weak heart." Gabe said, being a smart arse, like always. It was his sense of humour that everyone loved about him.

"Well Mr. Armitage, you have looked out for someone their entire life, you stood in the place of a departed, you were their friend, family and father. She is going to need you soon..."

"Charlotte." Gabe whispered on the breath of the air.

"Exactly, since she is going to be going through... such a hard time soon, she is going to need someone watching over her. She wont be able to see you, but you will be her conscience, her heart, soul, spirit and guardian." The angel said

"Can we leave out the heart, mine was botched since birth, which mind you, I would like to have a word with God about that. Cant a guy break a chance at birth?" Gabe joked.

"Her heart is fine, well at the moment it is."

"How’s she coping?" Gabe asked, his smile stifling into a soft frown.

"She misses you, but never mind, you will see her soon enough."

"When?" Gabe asked. But before the angel answered. All he saw was white. More white. A guy could go blind from over exposure. Well not if he was already dead.

 

A loud thud, crash and bang, woke Char one night. She stared at her Barbie doll alarm clock. It read four o’clock. which in her mind, said night time. She hadn’t yet learnt how to read a clock in school. She slipped her sheets off her and picked up her favourite white bunny. His name was Paul. He was replacing her lost best friend. Well at least trying. She clutched him to her chest, as she walked out the open door. Her night light shone down the dark hallway. She had heard the thud in the laundry. She thought it might have been her Aunt, she had been staying with them since Gabe died. She didn’t like living alone. It was too scary, too quiet without his laughter. His presence. Charlotte felt that presence. She could remember his arms wrapped around her tiny body. Squeezing her. That was all she ever needed. She didn’t remember his death anymore. She remembered the good times, the times they smiled, laughed.

Charlotte turned the handle of the laundry with one hand, dropping Paul to her side, clinging to his arm. As the door opened, she heard the sound of laughter. It was so familiar, she knew exactly who’s it was. A smile broke across her face. She quickly stepped up on her tippy toes and flicked the lights. She could hear him talking. She looked in the direction of his voice.

 

"I know exactly where I am, Christ, I fell through this roof playing hide and seek with Charlotte." He laughed. Char could tell he was smiling. She always could. When the light filtered across the room, it was empty. Not a sign of him. Char let out her breath. She had been holding it in, hoping, praying he was there, he was alright and alive. A subtle pain poked at the back of her eyes and tears began to welled up. She wiped the back of her flannelette pyjamas across her eyes. Scrubbing away the tears. She really had wished it was him. The mind was a cruel thing sometimes, especially to young children. As she pulled her arm away from her face and buried it in Paul’s shoulder, who she had clutched to her chest again. Something dropped on her head. She looked up from her rabbit to the roof. She sneezed and noticed the dust fall from her hair. The manhole in the roof was open and Char began to get scared. But part of her couldn’t move, she couldn’t run to her Mum’s room. She had to know what was above.

 

Gabe had landed hard. Right on his arse. He began to laugh as he noticed where he was. He could see the patchwork, the dodgy patch up job he had done on his sisters roof. He had fallen through it one day, when he was playing hide and seek with Char. She never did find his hideout. Which is why he always won.

"I know exactly where I am, Christ, I fell through this roof, playing hide and seek with Charlotte." He said almost laughing. His smile was enormous. He couldn’t believe he was back down, back to see if his family were ok, back to sort out a few things and then, head back to wherever he came from. He shifted onto all fours and made his way towards the manhole in the roof As he shifted it, dust puffed up in his face, and light shone through the corners. He looked down. A small brown head, was buried in a white rabbits shoulder. A weight in him had been lifted and his heart rose in his chest. He looked down on his niece. The love of his life. Well one of them. He wanted to call out to her, tap her head and then duck back in, just how he had when they played hide and seek.

 

She looked up at him and he froze. She couldn’t see him, what was he worried for? He didn’t want to scare the living s**t out of the poor girl. She squinted into the darkness and he could see tears welled up in her eyes. It was that moment that clutched at his heart. He slid his legs through the hole and pushed himself though it. Landing on all fours, he looked up. Char was hidden in her rabbits shoulder again. Clutching him so tight to her small body. She was shivering. No she was shaking. Gabe reached out and wrapped her up in one of his your-safe-in-my-arms hugs. She let out a squeal and ran from the room. Straight into her Aunts legs. Gabe looked up at his wife’s face. It was tear stained, stress written all over it. She was distraught. He would have been too if he had lost her. He wanted to kiss her beautiful face. Wrap his arms around her and never leave her again. But he knew he couldn’t. So instead he stood there. Looking at her, like he had the first time they met. Love in his eyes, heart and mind, telling him, screaming, she’s the one.

 

"Char, what’s wrong?" Her Aunt Kate asked. Charlotte’s scream had woken her. She had seen the light on in the laundry and ran to see what was happening. Charlotte grabbed at her leg and pushed her face into her hip. Her rabbit hitting Kate in the stomach as her arms wrapped so tightly around her leg. Kate shook her head and picked her niece up. Char wrapped her arms around her neck like a big loop. Kate held her on her hip, looking deep into her innocent blue eyes.

"I hope you weren’t looking for ice-cream missy, you know what your Uncle Gabe said about ice-cream at night?" Kate said. Then she realised what she had said, tears stabbed at the back of her eyes, escaped and ran down her cheek.

"He said it was fine, as long as I don’t do it whilst Mummy and Aunt Kate are home." Char said, letting out a giggle. Kate stared at Char, then let out a laugh. A pure one, one without hurt. She knew that was exactly what Gabe would have told her.

"No" she said "no ice-cream after bed."

"Oh." Char said, disappointed that she had gotten the answer wrong. She looked at her Aunt. Char could see the tears in her eyes.

 

Charlotte reminded Kate so much of Gabe. It was all he ever talked about, and she had imagined them having a baby of their own and how he would treat their child. But Char was practically his child. He was her Father figure. Charlotte looked over her shoulder and smiled. A cheeky little smile. One Kate knew all too well. She always had that smile on her face when Gabe was playing hide and seek with her. Or whenever Gabe was around. Kate let out a sigh. She closed the laundry door and switched the light off. Once in Charlotte’s bedroom. She tucked the little girl into the blankets. She placed Paul beside her, as Char’s eyes began to shut and drift off to sleep. Kate stood over her, she was so small, so innocent, she had been robbed of her best friend, and the one man she loved most. Kate knew exactly how she felt. She sat on the edge of Char’s bed and stroked the side of her face. Wiping away a tear that had caught on her cheek. Her lids became heavy and she curled up beside Char. Wrapping and arm over her little stomach. Within seconds, she was in a deep sleep.

 

Gabe had followed the two, loves of his life, down the hallway, and into Char’s room. Gabe remembered the day he had painted it. He had talked Charlotte into making it, commando colours, green and brown. He had her convinced on it as well. He had told her that he would hang out with her more often, if she got the room painted in boy colours. She had smiled at him and said yes. But when Kate and Charlotte’s Mum Quinn had brought home a pink bed spread, and pink paint, Gabe couldn’t deny the look on Char’s face. Her eyes had lit up like a rocket. So huge and shining so bright. He painted the room, with the help of Charlotte, and still kept his promise to her, even thought the room wasn’t green and brown. He watched as his wife tucked Char into her blankets, as she passed out clutched at her rabbit and drifted off into her dreamland. Gabe watched his wife, as she stroked his babies face. Then she curled up beside her, wrapped her arm around her and drifted off as well. The two most important girls in his life, cuddling. It was one of the sweetest things Gabe had ever seen, he clutched at his heart. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt anymore, not how it had, but instead he had another feeling, as if he was missing something, had lost something so important, so close to him.

 

Once his wife and niece were asleep, Gabe watched them, their breathing in sync, their beautiful faces at ease. Knowing they were most likely dreaming of him, or ponies in Char’s case. He found a brown jacket sitting on the chair, along with a tea set and tiny table. He knew the jacket. It was his. He left the room, came back with a blanket and looked at his loves. He leant over his wife and planted a soft kiss on her forehead and placed a blanket over her. Then he kissed Charlotte on the cheek and she rolled over into Kate‘s armpit. Gabe picked up his brown jacket and wrapped it over Kate. Hoping she would get his message. She had given him that jacket on their one year anniversary. He had joked about the fact he would have preferred a wedding ring. Making Kate smile, the smile he had fallen for a year before, standing behind a take away store window. She had asked him if he wanted an upsize, and he had asked her on a date instead. On their one year anniversary, after he had put on the jacket, he handed it back to her, saying it was too small. She had tried it on. It was a perfect fit for him, because it was massive on her. He said the lining was itchy. And the look on Kate’s face was priceless. She ran her hand over the silk lining and felt a lump in the breast pocket. dipped her hand inside and pulled out a diamond ring. By then Gabe had been on his knee, looking into her brown eyes. Hope on his face and in his heart. Then she had smiled.

Author's Note

sorry about the spelling, grammer and punctuation. Was never good at English class, just liked the writting part :D Let me know what you think of the plot, wether you connected with the characters etc. etc.
Thanks