Declan came home from a very long day – he had work in the morning and a show at a coffee shop not far from his apartment directly after. He was exhausted, but that did not stop the familiar loneliness from haunting him the moment he let himself drop onto the couch. He leaned back on a pillow and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, and not being able to hold back the tears that came with his exhale.

He had seen a girl at his show tonight, and she was quite a beautiful girl. He found himself thinking of what she might be like, what her name might be, what other music she listened to or if she was just there for coffee. A man came in who could’ve only been her boyfriend, and even though he was slightly crushed since he had taken a liking to the life he made up for her and how he could play into it, he found himself continuing her fictional life with the man in it also. While he was packing up his guitar he stopped to watch them leave, she was laughing and he had his arm around her waist. Oh God, how he wished that he could be that man.

The faces of the beautiful girl and her boyfriend played across his mind, as did other people he had seen at the show. The reserved girl with thick black glasses who sat closest to the stage, sipping her coffee and writing, looking up every once in awhile when a chorus struck her fancy. The boy and girl on the other side of the café who were almost continuously laughing about what Declan imagined to be incidents from their long life as friends. The girl working at the counter who would look up at him from her making coffee every once in awhile and smile.

He was beginning to feel a way that he had only felt once before, and that time had ended badly. Then again, mistakes are only really mistakes if you do not learn from them.

And he would not make the same mistake he did last time, this time there was no coming back. But how? His nature wasn’t violent enough for a gun, and poison has the downside of being curable…

Then he heard a familiar voice in his head “Flying feels like falling…” Perfect, absolutely perfect.

He wiped away any remaining tears before grabbing his keys and running out the door.

The drive gave him time to think – a big difference when compared with before. Many aspects of his life flew through his head, but the two main ones were all of the people he would never get to meet and his grandfather. His poor grandfather. If he could only make him understand… but that was out of the question. He had to do what he had to do, and hopefully Grandpa Dunstan would never question Declan’s love for him.

Declan turned his car off and let his chin fall to his chest, more tears streaming down his face. There was too much pain in this life to stay, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty for leaving his grandfather. They would eventually see each other again, just not as they had always thought. In reality it would be Declan greeting Grandpa Dunstan, instead of the other way around.

Declan slowly got out of his car, closing the door softly and walking to the edge of the cliff. He closed his eyes for a moment then marveled at the beautiful expanse before him. It was near sunset and the reflection of the sun on the water was breathtaking to him.

He took a deep breath as he reminded himself why he was there. “Lord,” he said aloud, still staring at the ocean, “if there is any reason for me to live, let me know it. Please, let me know it.” He let one last tear fall and took in one last breath.

“Excuse me, Sir, but I have plans to die tonight.” He was confused for a moment and thought that maybe the voice was just in his mind, so he took a deep breath to prepare himself again.

“And you are directly in my way, and I bet you’re going to say it’s not right.” He turned to look behind him this time and saw a very attractive girl, completely composed on the outside, barely hiding her complete inner chaos. He found the combination to be absolutely irresistible. He bowed his head slightly and said softly “Thank you, Lord, for sending me an angel.”