Valentine Angst

The girl sat alone on the park bench, warm tears streaming steadily down her cold cheeks. She sobbed, broken hearted under the full moon with no one to sit in the stinging night air with her.

Valentine's Day was almost over and no one had given her anything, not even her boyfriend. She looked up with watery brown eyes at the violet sky, tinted with a blur of moonlight and speckles of stars. One star stood isolated in a corner, away from the cheerful flashing of the rest, just like her.

"I feel your pain little star. I feel your pain, hang in there," she whispered to no one in particular, knowing she was utterly alone, the star wouldn't hear her no matter how much she shouted, so her voice broke and she was silent yet again.
A kind, anxious inquiry broke into her attention,
"Miss? Are you alright?"

The boy's countenance was soft, and his pale green eyes blinking, trying to hide his overwhelming worry. Her dull eyes rose to meet his. He was very handsome, with lovable smooth features, perfect pink lips and an adorably sweet smile. Her heart froze.
She hardly recognized the breathless feeling….

She hadn't had this impulse, this thud of a racing heart in so long. Pulsing adrenaline, waking her every sense. Even seeing her boyfriend she hadn't felt this blank, numb emptiness fade, it had been so long until her last crush…but until she saw this boy she didn't believe in love at first sight.

Yet watching his smile fade broke her heart, every movement he made was pulling her in. Love? So soon? It wasn't like her boyfriend treated her nicely….She brushed her fingers tenderly along a purple bruise on her jaw where her boyfriend slapped her, coming back drunk one night angry and irritated from a casino.

Choking, she managed, "I'm fine."

But the boy sat down, it was a swift, awkward movement. He could tell that the girl was shivering from cold and depression, but if he curled his arms around her and peeled off his thick jacket for her to warm up, that would seem strange.

He was just a stranger after all.

"I don't have a valentine," the girl blurted, attempting to mask the utter grief in her voice. It was absurdly easy to talk him. The boy nodded and reached into his pocket without another word.  

Slowly he sighed and out a card. On it was written just ten words that changed her life.

"I can be your valentine. You'll never be lonely again."

He smiled, took off his jacket, tossed it gently at her and strolled away, hands in his pockets. She gaped openly at his receding shadowy silhouette. The moonlight no longer seemed eerie, it was blissful now, bright and loving.

Who was that boy who just erased all the anguish of a lonely valentine's day?

She had to find him again.