Eighteen hours after the break-in, Marge, Kyle, Theo, and Annie sat on the couch across from John. He didn’t fail to notice how Marge clung to Annie, even though Annie was showing him one of her prettiest smiles. He had never come out to a family like this before. He usually tried to ease them into the idea that they were not alone in this house by befriending one of the kids. Obviously, this wasn’t normal circumstances.

After the silence had stretched on for about thirty seconds, John broke the uncomfortable silence: “What’s going to happen to the intruders?”

Kyle shifted in his seat. “Jail. Evidence was pretty strong against them, so they pled guilty.”

Marge continued, “Though they might end up getting insanity pleas since they won’t shut up about the invisible man.”

John chuckled, then the silence came back. He took a deep breath. “Well, as you probably guessed, my name is John. I am what is called a Guardian. This means I choose a house and basically live in it with the family.”

“Are you dead? A ghost?” Theo asked.

John nodded. “I died in the 1930’s.” He could almost see the panic rising in their eyes. Ghosts didn’t get good rep nowadays. “I’m not an evil ghost, as you can tell from last night. I’m here to protect, in whatever way I can.”

“How long have you been here?”

“I have lived here for probably about 60 years. Many families live in his house, and I always loved being around children.”

Kyle leaned forward, “What do you mean, ‘being around children’?”

“I died before I could have any, but I always wanted them. As you probably guessed as well, I play with Annie when she needs a playmate. It’s the closest I can ever get to being a parent myself.” Suspicion still shown in Kyle’s eyes. John stared right back into them. “Have I ever harmed Annie? Or Theo? Have you ever heard of kids being mysteriously hurt in this house?”

Kyle broke their gaze, “No.”

“So,” Theo cut in, “do all ghosts become Guardians? Is this our fate?”

“No, I chose this. To me, my life was too short, I wanted to keep living. I had done nothing wrong with my life, so I was allowed to stay on Earth.”

Marge, who had been looking more and more furious, finally burst. “Why did it take you so long to intervene?! You are supposed to protect us, yet they grabbed my daughter! How could you stand by and do nothing?!” Annie started to cry then, clutching her mother tightly. Kyle reached over and put his arm around Marge.

John put his head down in shame. “Believe me, I wanted to intervene sooner. It was killing me to just stand to the side and not do anything.” He looked up. “But we have very specific rules of engagement. I can’t intervene outside of talking. To touch and interact with someone, I must be invited. That happened when Annie called for help. But before that, I was right by her side, trying to calm her, and wishing I could fight them for putting their hands on her.”

Annie had stopped crying by then and was giving him a secret smile. With tears in his eyes, John smiled back at her.

Kyle still had his arm around his wife, but he asked the next question. “How did you die?”

John looked back at him, “I don’t think Annie should hear this. It’s not a pleasant story.”

They both nodded. “Theo, could you please take your sister?”

“What?!” Theo exclaimed. “But I want to hear as well!”

Kyle turned towards his son. “Theo, we will tell you everything. But right now, you need to take care of your sister.”

“But-”

“Don’t. Argue. With. Me.”

Theo looked furious, but he got up and grabbed his sister and left the room. Marge and Kyle turned back towards John and waited. John took a breath. “I was 25 when I died. I was married and living in Michigan. We headed there because of Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps. We got lucky and were given a roof over our heads. But there were still many people hungry, and looking for housing. One night in 1935, we had a group of men break into our house. They raped and killed my wife, then raped and killed me.”

“I had never felt so helpless that I had in that moment when I saw them holding my wife. After I had died, I decided that I wanted to make sure no one else ever had to feel that helpless again. So I became a Guardian. In about 200 years, I will probably retire and join my wife on the other side.”

Silence fell over the house. “You’re sacrificing time with your family to protect ours?” Marge inquired.

“Yes. But I get to spend eternity with my wife. But I want to make sure more people have time to experience life on earth, because losing it, but watching others have it, shows me that it is truly a beautiful thing.”John smiled at the parents sitting in front of him. “And I will keep protecting your family if you let me. But if you want me to leave, I will. I respect you too much to disagree. The choice is yours.”

“Annie, no!” Theo yelled from the other room where he was listening in. Annie appeared in the doorway and started walking across the room towards John. Marge was on her feet, going to grab Annie, but Kyle held his wife’s wrist and gently pulled her back. John kneeled down before Annie. She reached her hands up to John’s face. He cupped her hands to his face as he looked at her. “Can we go play horses now?”

“That’s up to your parents.” John looked over her head to the couple sitting on the couch. He saw then glance at each other, Kyle raised an eyebrow at Marge in question, and she nodded back. Annie by this time had turned around to look at her parents as well. John knew without seeing that Annie had her best-begging face on full beam at her parents. But it was not necessary.

“John,” Kyle started, “would you like to live in this house with our family?”

John couldn’t help the smile that exploded across his face. “It would be my honor.” He felt Annie tug on his hand, reminding him of his promise. He stood up and chased the little devil into the next room, ready to play.