I found myself outside a hospital. It was raining but the water did not bother me. It was not a day for a casual walk. Storm clouds gathered as the storm continued to intensify. I stood in the middle of the chaos for several minutes before heading inside.

 

Once inside, I decided to take the form of an elderly woman. Being a place of life and death, I blended in perfectly. Altering my appearance is just one the many talents bestowed upon me.

 

                Who am I? Nobody needs to know that. I was here because this would be the day my future charge would be born. What am I? I am a guardian, one of the best.

 

                I was brought here because one of the children born at this hospital today would in time save the world from the ultimate evil. I was determined to meet the child. I was already told that my next encounter with this child would not be for another twelve years. I wanted to meet this child while I had the chance.

 

                Notre Dame de Lourdes Hospital is a small hospital on the outskirts of this massive city. They call Chicago the windy city and on this day, the city lived up to its name as a terrible maelstrom blew outside. Black storm clouds loomed on the horizon.

 

                A tornado warning had been issued for the city. In response to the warning, the hospital was preparing for the worse-case scenario. I stood calmly in the middle of the panic. Doctors and Nurses were too distracted with other patients to notice me. Occasionally, I prayed. I did not need to worry about my safety so I prayed for the safety of others.

 

                It was at that moment that I knew that the mother had arrived. I heard screaming down the hall. I followed them. I was no longer the old woman but my preferred form. Nobody saw the change as I had vanished from their visual plane. Another gift of mine allows me to exist in this world without being seen.

 

                Thunder boomed overhead. The mother and her family had been traveling in this storm when they were forced off the road. An ambulance had managed to reach them in time but the storm was growing worse. I sensed the violent funnel approaching but did not express fear or concern. 

 

                Even though the hospital would survive the storm, wind strewn objects could cause windows to break, sending debris flying.

 

We reached an operating room. The mother’s family was ushered into a nearby waiting room. A nurse ran through the double doors. Word of the nearing funnel reached this part of the hospital. Lights began to flicker on and off. I could sense their fear-they prayed for mother and child and for their safety.

 

                I do not fully understand the complexities of this world and never will. I only wish that people did not have to suffer. The thunder continued to crash above us. It seemed to grow louder with every blast. The air grew dense and everything began to shake. The tornado was coming.

 

                A baby’s cry pierced the room. The storm was silenced. The shaking stopped and the thunder did not boom again. My future charge had been born.

 

                I learned what had happened from several hysteric people. The tornado came within 500 yards of the hospital and would have caused much greater damage if it had struck the hospital directly. They say that miraculously the funnel just dissipated and the storm abated. This funnel’s life had ended as the child’s life began. 

 

                A few hours later, I went to visit mother and son. I would not be present to the mother of course. She was in good company with many family members surrounding the bed as the nurse brought in the child. After a few minutes of comments and congratulations, the child’s aunt, Deborah Dupoint asked her sister a question.

 

                “So what will his name be Paula?”

                “Jacques,” replied Paula weakly.

                “Jacques Lavasseur?”

                “Yes.”

                “Good choice,” she said with a smile.

 

                I sensed it was time for me to leave. I moved to the child. I made myself visible to only him. The baby giggled and after a few moments I spoke. “Goodbye Jacques, I will return one day. Goodbye young protector, sleep well as one day you will stand against evil and save the world.”

 

                I left the room and walked down the hall. I headed towards an unbroken window. People had begun to survey the damage and clean the damaged rooms and hallways. The setting sun emerged from behind the massive thunderheads that concealed it. I turned around and looked down the hallway that I had just come from. The memory of baby Jacques was fresh in my head. I said another prayer for the child and returned home.