An Angels Work

A car pulls into the driveway of an apartment complex in a fairly dingy and rough side of town. The car comes to a complete stop and Daniel, a young man in his mid 20's who is arriving home from a rough day rapidly steps out of his car and frustratingly slams the door shut and began to make his way towards his apartment. Shivering in the cold night air, he fumbles around in his coat pocket trying to find his keys. He was desperate to get inside, get warm, shut the door behind him, and shut the world out. He breathed a sigh of relief as the door opened and he felt the warmer air of his apartment calm his nerves. His tired head was spinning with a million thoughts racing through his brain....

"I just wanna disappear.." He thought to himself as he glanced over his modest 1 bedroom apartment.

Valentines Day is supposed to be a happy day to remind us of love and kindness with things like candy and cards saying "I love you" and "Be mine". Unfortunately for Daniel, this day had been anything but happy. We usually associate Valentines Day with 3 colors: Red, White, and Pink... well, as Daniel emptied his coat pockets on his coffee table he was reminded of the only kind of valentine he had received that day. It wasn't red or white..but...pink...a lovely pink slip his boss at the office gave him with the news he was getting laid off. This did absolutely nothing to help the depression Daniel had been battling since his grandmother, who was the center of his universe, died two years earlier. Other than the fact the Daniel felt completely comfortable in his sexuality being gay..it was everything else in his life that was spiraling out of control.

Daniel felt the tears welling up in his eyes but then he stopped himself, wiping them away.

"Its ok, everything's gonna be ok" He mumbled trying to console himself, he regained his composure and headed for the bathroom. Daniel's personality had always been selfless and independent. Always putting others before his needs, and now losing his job threatened his independence. It wasn't long after he reached the bathroom that he bursted into tears again. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror and a flashback of his dying grandmothers' voice came to him....

"You'll have a friend soon..you wont be lonely anymore my sweet Daniel".

Daniel shook his head in tears and disbelief as he recalled that mysterious sentence..."Yeah right..where's my friend huh??" He said out loud to himself looking all around him, then his eye caught an old shaving razor he got at an old antique store..still sharp. He grabbed it off the counter, held it up to the light, letting it glimmer off the blade.

"No one's gonna miss me anyways.." He mumbled as he brought the blade down to one of his wrists, holding there...contemplating.

"Um.....I don't think you wanna do that"

The sound of the strange voice out of nowhere jolted Daniel out of the abyss of his depression as he quickly turned his head to see who was there.

"Ok, now I've really gone insane" Daniel said in total confusion as he stared into the face of a young man about his age mysteriously standing in the doorway to his bathroom. In the few seconds that Daniel looked at him, he forgot all about being scared when he took in the calming look on he young mans face. The young man smiled and giggled for a moment.

"No you're not insane, this is all a dream, I'll explain later but for right now...you are coming with me". And with that the young man grabbed Daniel's hand and everything went black for a second but....when Daniel opened his eyes again they were walking down a lonely city street.

"Whoa..um ok this must be a dream, shit like this doesn't happen when I'm awake but..who the hell are you?". Daniel demanded as he looked at the young man walking beside him. Daniel's disorientation and confusion began to subside as he got the feeling that the young man was someone good for him somehow. The young man giggled for a moment.

"Well I'm whatever you want me to be but.I think the question is...who are YOU?". He gently nudged Daniel as he continued jokingly. "Come on you can trust a complete stranger tonight hehe". Daniel threw caution to the wind, "hell it's only a dream" he thought. A huge wave of clarity came over Daniel as he stared into the young mans eyes with the realization that he was here for a reason..a purpose, even if he did appear to him only 5 min earlier.

"Hah! who am I?..I don't even recognize myself anymore". Daniel said.

"I do..." The young man said closing his eyes and replaying flashbacks of Daniel's life..his teen years. "You're the shy teenager who never dated and was known as the "sweet and quiet one".He finished the sentence opening his eyes.

"Look at me Daniel..". Daniel raised his eyes to match the young mans gaze. "Now, grab my hands" Daniel, confused but willing, grabbed the young mans hands and felt a warm, loving calm come over him. Then the young man lifted their grasped hands up to Daniel's eyes for him to see.

"You need to stop holding on to the pain and.....let go". The young man let go of Daniel's' hands which remained frozen and extended in astonishment, and put his own on each side of Daniel's' face, drew him in, and placed a soft gentle kiss on Daniel's' tender lips. Daniel couldn't help but wrap his arms around the young mans waist, and rest his head on his shoulder.

"Well..for tonight..how about I just hold on to YOU". Daniel uttered, a small tear running down his cheek.

"Sounds good to me!.." The young man said laughing as he picked Daniel up and spun him around making him shriek with laughter. He sat Daniel down quickly and ran away yelling and smiling "BETCHA CAN'T CATCH ME!!!!"

Daniel ran after the young man as he watched him disappear behind a small group of trees. Daniel suddenly found himself not in the city anymore but surrounded by a beautiful forest. He spotted the young man trying to hide from him behind a tree. Daniel deftly snuck up behind the tree, reached around and tapped him..

"YOU'RE IT!!"

"AHH!!". The young man shouted as they acted like 10 year olds playing tag, running around the forest like squirrels. They both ran out of breath laughing and running and caught up with eachother, Daniel playfully pushing the young man around..then stopping.

"Why are you doing all this?". Daniel asked with a questioning smile on his face.

"Because I think It's about time you had fun for once like a guy your age should, and because I know that you don't wanna die.." The young man paused for a second carefully pondering how to say his next sentence.

"And because you always do for other and not enough for yourself, you're kind to people, but you're afraid to be close... look, don't please don't take this the wrong way but..I know you don't allow yourself to get close... and in more ways than one" The young man said looking Daniel directly in the eye. Daniel, a bit taken aback by this....knew exactly what the young man mean by his "not getting close".

"Hey, how do you know all this?". Daniel jokingly laughed as he continued... "Wait, don't tell me you're the cliche angel who was sent down to save my life are you? haha". The young man mysteriously stared at the ground before answering.

"Well..hehe..lets just say I'm that part of you that still wants to live."

The young man said as he lifted his head and grinned. And in one instant, Daniel got the urge to say something he would rarely admit to anyone....

"I've never been in love before...but with you..whoever you are, you made me feel like I can breathe again..I can't remember the last time I felt that way, and if this is truly a dream like you say, I'm making it a memorable one..."

Daniel leaned forward and gave the young man the most emotional, passionate kiss he could manage to give. Time seemed to pass by in slow motion as Daniel was finally able to "let go" and let someone into his heart. The young man offered no resistance to Daniel's' show of affection, he realized his intentions could only be good ones.

Daniel slowly snapped back into reality and pulled away from the young man. They both remained silent for a few moments.

"Well Daniel, I don't know about you but I'm totally exhausted from all of this ahem running around, lets go back to your place, since your physical body is sleeping there anyways hehe"

"Haha yeah I guess we should be heading back, so..aren't you gonna pull your scene switching magic and take us back to my house Mr.subconcious dream boy?". Daniel said wittingly coming back at the young man.

"My!..what a sense of humor!" The young man said as Daniel's' vision went blurry for a second and came back into focus with him and the young man standing in the middle of his bedroom.

"I'll never get over that when I wake up hehe". Daniel joked.

"Well Mr. man you better get some rest" The young man said.

"Care to join me?" Daniel asked smiling.

"Might as well". The young man replied as he and Daniel settled into bed. Daniel, with his head rested on the young mans chest. Daniel turned and looked up at him..

"Thank you..." he softly muttered before drifting off to sleep. After a few moments, the young man quietly and slowly got off the bed as to not wake Daniel. He paused for a moment... and looked up at the sky....

"My work here is done.." he said with a satisfied smile on his face.

The alarm clock sounded off in Daniel's' room at 6:30 am with an unwelcome reception by Daniel as he grunted and turned it off. He crept out of bed and stood up and stretched.

"Sheesh..what a crazy but ..great dream man!" he said as he shook himself awake.

He started for the bathroom to take a shower, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He was startled to see a vase with a bouquet of beautiful red roses sitting in it with a letter underneath the vase

"What the fuck?" he thought to himself as he went over and picked up the letter and began to read it. His heart began beating faster and a tears began to form in his eyes as he read on...

Daniel,

I left you these red roses to remember me by. I hope you learned something from our time together last night, because it wasn't a dream..it was all real, I know I lied to you but I had to, you wouldn't have believed me otherwise. You are a wonderful person Daniel, I hope you never forget that. Don't let bad things get you down..stop and "smell the roses" every once in a while. By the way...Happy Belated Valentines day.

-Angel

P.S. Your grandmother told me to tell you she loves you.

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written by sunsetmariahaz