Heart's Desire

Beth woke with a start. She looked over at the clock on the wall just above her bed; 12am exactly. She was still sitting at her desk wearing her school clothes. Darn the gaming chair for being so comfy! She must have fallen asleep while thinking about what she planned to do tomorrow. Unfortunately though, she was still no closer to a solution. Groggily, she got up from the chair and turned around to tuck it neatly under the desk. Instead, she jumped in surprise and both she and the chair ended up on the floor in a heap.

“I didn’t want to wake you, you looked so peaceful,” said the strange figure that had caused her bewilderment. He - it looked like it was a he - was small and chubby with a childlike and almost cartoony face, looking to Beth like a mischievous toddler. He was wearing nothing but what looked like a white cloth wrapped around his waist and on his back, were those wings? The thing was floating - or probably flying - at about eye level with Beth. Almost instantly, she forgot her fear and jumped to her feet. She charged towards the thing, plucking him right out of the air and pulling him into a tight embrace.

“You’re so cute!” she squealed.

He was laughing but it sounded breathless. “Thank you, but you’re squeezing me a little too tight.”

“Sorry,” she said, loosening her grip. He seemed to levitate across the room then before settling himself on the desk next to Beth’s PC.

“Like I said, you’re super cute,” Beth said to him. “But who - or what - are you? How did you get in my room? Am I dreaming?” Beth looked around the room as she spoke, as if she’d be able to spot something that would answer her questions. The collage of posters on the walls and the collections of figures and books stacked on the shelves all seemed normal. The only light in the room was from the moon that shone brightly through the window, the curtains still wide open from when she’d come in earlier.

“I’m a cupid,” he said.

“Cupid? You mean you’re that love angel dude?” Beth said, tilting her head slightly.

He chuckled. “Yes, I’m one of many ‘love angel dudes’ as you put it. You can call me Eros.” he said.

“Nice to meet you, Eros. I’m Beth!” Beth said brightly.

Slowly and a little uncertainly, she reached out a hand towards Eros. Did cupids shake hands? Was she supposed to curtsey or something? He took the hand with a chuckle but instead of shaking it, he planted a small kiss upon it before releasing it and smiling kindly. “I know, but it’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

Beth looked even more confused. “You already know me?”

“Yes, I can sense when someone is going to need my help so I’ve been watching you, just to get to know you and your situation better.” Eros explained.

“That sounds really creepy,” Beth said flatly, but then a moment later, a look of absolute horror washed over her face. “Have you been watching me get changed? In the shower? On the toilet?”

Eros shook his head, laughing. “No, I promise that I respect your privacy.” he assured her.

“Okay,” Beth said slowly, her mind feeling like an old computer trying to process a multitude of large files. “Well, why are you here? Are you going to make someone fall in love with me?”

“Not exactly, but I could do that if that’s what your heart truly desires,” Eros answered. “I’m here to grant you a Valentine’s Day wish.”

“A Valentine’s Day wish?” Beth repeated.

“Yes, you can wish for anything you want but it will only last until the end of Valentine’s Day,” he explained.

“Anything?” Beth gasped, her eyes lighting up. “So I could wish for unlimited cake? A new gaming PC? More cake?”

“Slow down,” Eros instructed, once again amused by the girl’s enthusiasm. “It has to be something your heart truly desires or it won’t work. You need to take a moment to listen to your heart and find out what it really wants.”

Beth was quiet for a moment as she thought. “Why me though? Why now? Do other people get wishes too? Why hasn’t this ever happened to me before?”

“It’s all in Divine timing,” Eros said ominously.

“What does that even mean?” Beth said with a slight pout.

“You’ll come to understand eventually,” he said with a knowing smile that only served to annoy Beth further. She let out a frustrated grunt, knowing he wasn’t going to explain further. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. You don’t even have to tell me what your wish is. All you have to do is think about it and go back to sleep, and when you wake up it will have materialized.”

“That’s it? It’ll just happen?” Beth said.

“Yes, but remember it will only last until the end of Valentine’s Day,” Eros reminded her.

Beth looked over at her untidy bed, unsure of whether she could simply climb in and then drop off to sleep like she always did, and then somehow wake up with her greatest wish granted. She turned back to Eros to thank him and maybe ask him a few more questions, but he was already gone. She rubbed her eyes, partly because she was tired and partly because she was afraid she might have hallucinated the whole thing. Maybe this was all just a dream. If she went to sleep now, would she wake up for real?

Beth eventually arrived at the conclusion that whether everything that had just happened was real or not, standing around in her bedroom in the middle of the night, still dressed in her school clothes with the curtains wide open wouldn’t do anyone any good, so after pulling the pink unicorn-patterned drapes shut, she changed into her pajamas and went to bed.