CHAPTER 13

A terrible discovery

Ella watched the young teacher with a slight smile upon her face. Monica's idea to have an open air class was a success and even the weather helped. It hadn't snowed on that week and the sky was blue. Under the gentle sunrays that caressed the now yellow trees of the park not far from the school, excited little ones ran and played freely, but always watched by attentive angel eyes.

Monica was a creative soul and during the time she and the students were there, she managed to entertain them with different and funny activities. During her stay on Earth, her job was her second favourite thing. The first one was obviously Andrew's company.

But that afternoon he was away on duty so the Irish angel had to focus on what she was doing. And soon she noticed that something was not perfectly right with one of her beloved pupils. Rose, who was often sweet and a bit shy, was away from her group. Monica saw it as the little girl moved away from the other children and sat down under the shadow of a tree. She had seen the look in those innocent blue eyes before. Many assignments along the centuries had taught her to know the human heart - perhaps to know even her own angelic heart.

"I'll keep an eye on them, baby. You can go up to that little angel and find out what's wrong with her." Ella spoke, noticing how badly Monica wanted to help.

"Thank you, Ella." With a slight smile, Monica moved away from hers and Ella's group and approached the child.

"Hullo, wee Rose." She greeted, sitting in front of her.

"Hullo, Miss Monica." The little girl politely offered, her eyes downcast with sadness. Monica tilted her head, looking at her with the usual compassion that inhabited her heart.

"I wonder if perhaps you're willing to do something else rather than what your friends are doing..."

This time, Rose shook her head, still not looking at her teacher.

"Hum... So I take it the games were fun?"

Now Monica got a little nod. She reached out and removed a blond curl away from Rose's face, not missing the conflict of emotions on her meek face. "Then why aren't you playing with them?"

"I can't..."

"You can't? Who said that you can't, sweetie?"

"My arm hurts..." she said, and bit her lower lip.

"Oh, wee Rose..." Monica inched closer, sitting next to her. The angel's caress against Rose's curly blond hair was like a caress in the girl's soul. "Your arm? Did you fall or get hurt while you were playing?"

Rose went mute again and limited herself to just shake her head.

"Then what happened?"

"I'm not supposed to tell..."

Those words caused a wave of panic to creep over Monica. "Then do you mind if I take a look at your arm?"

Rose stretched her short arm, as if giving Monica permission to her request. Carefully, the angel raised the sleeve of her sweater and when a red mark against the child's skin came into view, she felt a lump in her throat.

"Oh, honey..." she whispered, frowning with great concern. For the first time, the little girl raised her head and looked at her teacher. "Can you make it stop hurting, miss Monica?"

With tear-filled eyes, Monica held the little girl and kissed the top of her head, glad that Rose welcomed her loving attitude. "I promise I'll try, sweetie. I promise you..."

X

As she waved goodbye to her little students, at the end of that day, Monica kept close attention to the blond little girl that moved with the crowd. When Rose descended the building steps and met an equally blond woman, the Irish angel knew it was time to do what she had been doing for her entire existence: helping people.

"Excuse me... Mrs Sparks?" she said, carefully approaching the two and noticing the surprise on the woman's face.

"Yes?" Rose's mother looked back at the auburn haired lady with questioning eyes.

"Hullo... My name is Monica and I'm Rose's teacher.

"Oh, yes, of course... I'm Nancy Sparks." She shook hands with Monica.

"It's nice to meet you. I... I was wondering if perhaps we could talk for a few minutes..."

"Is... Is there any problem?"

"Is it possible that we could talk in private?"

The woman seemed uncertain. "I... I don't know... What is it about exactly?"

"Well, it's about Rose. I noticed that she got hurt and-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm late." Mrs Sparks abruptly interrupted.

"But-"

"I'm sorry. Maybe some other time."

Monica watched as the woman pulled her daughter along the sidewalk, as fast as possible, as if running away from a scaring threat. Rose innocently smiled and waved her teacher goodbye, leaving the Irish angel to wonder how she could help that sweet little girl.

Two hours after the last student had left the school building, Monica was walking along the New York streets holding a piece of paper with an address. She had obtained the information at the secretary office and was determined to find out the cause for Rose's bruises, and it could not wait until the following day. Andrew was on duty that night so there was no reason to get home early.

Fortunately for her, Ella offered to go together. The old teacher, who was also a mother of three adults, had recently found out that she cared about Monica the same way a mother would towards her daughter, and she knew that despite her intelligence, Monica was way too naïve to live in a big city like that, and needed help whenever her Andrew was not around.

They soon found the apartment building where Rose Sparks lived and the building superintendent allowed them to go up to the 3rd floor. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, Mrs Sparks opened half door and looked at them with scared eyes.

"Yes?"

"Mrs Sparks, please, we need to talk-"

"Please, go away! Can't you see we have nothing to talk about?"

"Yes, we do! Rose got hurt and-"

"What's going on here?"

A male voice was heard from behind Nancy Sparks, and on the following moment, a tall and strong man pulled the door open abruptly so he could see what was going on outside.

"Who are you?" he asked, staring at Monica and Ella with an unfriendly expression on his face.

"My name is Monica and this is Ella, we are teachers at your daughter's school..."

"And what's going on here? What's wrong with Rose?" he wanted to know, as Monica gave a step ahead and tried to see the little girl inside the apartment. But so far, there was no sign of her.

The angel faced the man with the courage that was not compatible with her size in comparison to him. "Today I noticed she was hurt, and she didn't want to talk about it, so I thought I should let you know about it, or perhaps just confirm how she got hurt."

"She fell." Was the man's short answer. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I-"

"May I see her?"

Mrs Sparks stood in between them, her face was pleading for Monica and Ella to leave that place. "She's sleeping. Now please go..."

Ella placed a hand over Monica's shoulder. "Let's go, baby..."

She wanted to remain. She wanted to see if Rose was alright, but the Irish angel knew that she couldn't just burst into someone's house like that. Besides this, she had only suspicions and no concrete evidence of what was going on with her student.

"I hope we can talk some other day, Mrs Sparks." Monica said, before looking at the man again. She and Ella watched as he grabbed his wife's arm abruptly and closed the door, not minding their presence in the corridor. The two teachers turned around and started to descend the stairs.