El-Oh-Vee-Ee

It had been a little less than a week since the incident on the beach and Kellin still didn’t know what to think about it. His mind had been somewhat on overdrive since. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the guy, whose name he really wished he had asked for, and everything that had happened.

He had found himself having feelings he shouldn’t be having yet again and he thought it was starting to be a real problem, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t just stop feeling could he? It didn’t seem like a plausible idea. Even though he technically couldn’t blame himself for feeling the way he did, he couldn’t help but feel like he needed to fix it, but he didn’t know if that was a result of the fact that he knew he shouldn’t be feeling these things because nobody else did, or his fear of his boss and creator, the one and only Cupid, finding out. Kellin had been alive for nearly three hundred years; he had never aged and as far as he knew there wasn’t anything that could kill him but if there was it would be Cupid.

He had never heard of anyone not completing a job before for any reason, and he had no idea what would happen to him if Cupid were to find out. Kellin assumed that this was all set in place for a reason, and by not doing his job last week it was almost like he was screwing with the universe in some way, but for the first time in forever, matching two people felt so wrong that he just couldn’t do it. The thought almost made him physically ill.

On top of all that he found himself wanting to go back to that day and just do things differently. Maybe not be so weird, get the guy’s name so he at least knew who to look for. That was another thing. He wanted to look for him, to track the guy down. He didn’t know how he would do this, or what he’d do if he did. All he knew was that he wanted to for whatever reason.

All the thoughts running through his head all day were driving him insane. He was actually losing sleep over this and it was effecting other areas of his life too. He was always distracted and he found doing the simplest of tasks difficult. Why me? Was the only other thought accompanying the others. It was like this guy had actually taken over his mind and Kellin couldn’t tell if he liked it or not.

He thought maybe doing something would help get his mind off things. Since he hadn’t had another job recently and he hadn’t really been out of his apartment at all he decided to take a walk. Locking the door behind him, Kellin made his way into the outside world. It was another sunny day in San Diego, California, like most days Kellin had found out. It was a pretty nice place to live, which he was definitely glad for because he would be spending a long, long time there. Realizing he forgot his sunglasses, Kellin looked down at his feet as he walked, not really having a specific destination in mind.

After walking for a little while, he realized it wasn’t really helping. That man was still on his mind and to make things worse, his surroundings became pretty familiar when he looked up from the grey concrete under his TOMS. Unknowingly, he had made his way to the beach he had been at just a week ago, the one where all his problems had started. Before that particular trip to the beach he really had been leading a pretty simple life.

He didn’t know what compelled him to do it, but after a few moments of hesitation, Kellin found himself descending the small hill leading down to the beach. He could feel the sand seeping into his shoes with every step he took, and he began regretting the decision of leaving his shoes on because he knew he was going to be feeling the sand for a while no matter how hard he tried to get it all out. About half way between the sidewalk and the edge of the water he decided to just take them off anyway and spare himself the annoyance for now.

Like the last time he was at the beach, the sand was warm under his bare feet from prolonged exposure to the warm Californian sun, but not too hot as it was still pretty early; so instead of hurrying down to the water to relieve his feet like the last time, he kept his moderate pace, enjoying the warmth against his skin. When he finally reached the edge of the water, he sat down in the sand, placing his shoes neatly next to him just out of reach from the small waves lapping at the land, and layed down on his back with his feet planted flat on the ground with his toes in the cool water, knees bent in the air and his arms up above his head, eyes closed. He knew if he stayed there for too long he would burn, his pale skin no match for the harsh rays the sun sent down from the atmosphere, but he also knew that it would be gone in a matter of hours so he wasn’t really concerned about it.

Kellin let his mind go back to all the things that were troubling him, what little peace he had while the thoughts temporarily abandoned his mind, slipping away as quickly as the thoughts returned. For as long as he could remember, which was surprisingly far back for as long as he had been alive, he really hadn’t had any problems besides his longing for the one thing he couldn’t have. He was created to live a simple life, and it was a simple life he led up until about a week ago, so he really didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Surely Cupid would find out what he had, or rather had failed to do eventually. He didn’t know how he was supposed to hide something like this from someone who just seemed to know everything. Maybe he should just tell him now, it might make whatever punishment he had earned less harsh.

Kellin didn’t notice as he continued pondering his troubles that his thoughts were becoming less and less coherent, his mind becoming foggy and his body relaxing despite the hard, uncomfortable surface he was laying on as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Like most times you fall asleep, Kellin didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep, nor was he aware how long he had been asleep or of the sand which had grown hot beneath him or the stinging of his skin, which had turned red under the sun, which had grown considerably hotter while he had been asleep. Despite all the discomfort he would have been feeling had he been awake, he felt nothing while he was asleep surprisingly, all of it failing to wake him. What didn’t fail to wake him, however, was something very heavy falling on top of him.