Un-break my heart

By Gabriela Valenzuela

Prologue

You're my world

"Is it here?" Tess turned and asked Sam, the angel in charge of special cases, when they appeared in a corner of a big dark room.

"Yes, Tess, it's here," the dark skinned angel told the supervisor. "It's going to start any minute now."

"You-you know, Sam? I really don't like the idea of Monica handling this. She's faced evil many times but nothing like this!"

"I know," Sam replied noticing the deep worry in his co-worker's eyes. "But the Father knows she's the right angel for this."

"It's going to be too hard for that angel girl..."

"She's strong enough..."

"What if she can't deal with this alone? You said I won't be working with her..."

"She'll get special help if she needs it..." Sam assured her.

"Andrew?" Tess asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not. He won't be able to help her this time. Much on the contrary, he will be her biggest weakness," the male angel answered.

"Sam, I hate to say this but I'm really scared," the supervisor said in an insecure tone that was very unusual in her.

"I understand but there's no other way. It's too late to find someone else. They are coming," Sam said and then looked at the door.

The two angels saw a group of people getting into the room, all dressed in black with large capes covering them from head to toe, their faces hidden from the paly light of a chandelier. They formed a circle and started to sing something neither Tess nor Sam understood. It seemed they were in a kind of trance, their singing repeated once and again until another figure appeared out of nothing and came closer the them.

Two of the figures went to his side and bowed in front of him, then invited a third one that made the same. Sam and Tess were right in front of them but across the room. They were invisible to human eyes, so a bone deep worry ran through them when the figure appeared out of nothing lifted his face and looked at them. The two other figures that had come to its side first looked at the angels and then uncovered their faces. "Oh, Father, please help us!" Tess murmured when she recognized them and then turned to look at Sam. He nodded confirming her fears: it was the Enemy itself.

"Andrew! Come! Look at this!" Monica shouted and in a second she got rid of her shoes and ran across the backyard of "her" house to the beach at the end of it. She had just gotten the orders to go to San Francisco and get settled in that house at the limits of the city, and she was far from complaining about the location. She ran as a little child until the small waves reached her feet.

At hearing her shouts, Andrew went to the backyard door and stood there just looking at her. His heart felt so full of love that he couldn't think about anything but thanking God for create that little angel. The almost setting sun was washing her small figure with a soft orange light that made her look even more beautiful, even more ethereal in the loosen dress she was wearing. She then turned to see him and smiled, reaching a hand to invite him to join her.

Andrew walked to her and taking her hand, he pulled her into a tight hold. "Do you ever realize how amazingly beautiful you are?" he murmured kissing her cheek and then her lips. They stayed there for some minutes, just looking at the sun and the sea, until Andrew checked his watch. "We better hurry."

"Can't we wait for the sunset?" Monica pouted.

"Oh, no! You were the one who insisted on that restaurant downtown! We are not missing the reservations!" he said mockingly complaining. "You better get pretty as soon as possible!"

Monica yelled in surprise when Andrew took her in his arms and started to walk back to the house. "I thought you'd said I was already pretty!" she argued.

"You are! You are the most beautiful angel God has ever created!" he replied placing her back on the floor near where she had let her shoes. "But humans created something like dressing codes, and barefoot is not acceptable everywhere!" he teased her leaning down to give her a peck and later pushing her gently inside the house.

"Do you know where Tess is?" Monica asked Andrew late that night when they were already taking the dessert in the restaurant she had picked up.

"No, baby, I don't know. She just asked me to take you to the house and keep you company... And I'm far from complaining!" he added kissing her hand.

"So do I!" she agreed. "This was a different Valentine's."

"The first we spend like this," he added kissing her hand again. "I have something for you."

She opened her mouth in a surprised intake when she saw the beautiful pair of earrings and the matching ring he had bought her. They were made with gold, sapphires and diamonds and had the shape of a small flower, with the blue gem at the center. "Andrew, they are beautiful!" she reached a trembling hand to graze them.

"Delicate, small, almost innocent... like you, baby," he said taking the ring and slipping it on her finger. "So you remember I'm with you wherever you go."

Monica felt tears stinging in her eyes with his present. "I have something for you too," she said, "but my present pales in comparison with yours."

He took the package she was offering him and unwrapped it to discover a leather covered edition of the Twenty love poems and a song of despair by Pablo Neruda. He opened it and read the inscription she had written.

"I know you like poetry," she explained, "and these were perfect. I took a little paragraph of one to write the inscription."

"I don't resemble anybody since you loved me.

Lay me down between yellow garlands.

Who writes my name in smoke letters among the stars of the South?

Ah, let me remember how I was back then,

when I didn't exist yet."

"I couldn't give you something like this..." the little angel said almost ashamedly looking at the ring in her hand.

He didn't let her finish. He placed a hand on her forehead and pulled her down for a long, passionate kiss. "You alone are the best present I could ever get," he told her trying to regain his breath. "You are my world!"

They kissed again until they were again both breathless. "You're my world, you're every breath I take," Monica murmured repeating the lyrics of Cilla Black's song. "If our love ceases to be, then it's the end of my world, end of my world for me."

Poem 14, You play all days...

"You don't resemble anybody since I love you.

Let me lay you down between yellow garlands.

Who writes your name in smoke letters among the stars of the South?

Ah, let me remember how you were back then,

when you didn't exist yet."