I wake up, like every other morning. Here we go again. Only this time it’s two dogs. Why does Cupid want me to matchmake animals? I have no idea. But I can’t argue with what he tells me to do.
My family is extraordinary. Ever since the Earth was formed, my family has had the ability to put two people, and apparently now animals, together for life. We play cupid in the real world. The way we know who to put together is whenever we go to sleep at night, Cupid, our first ancestor, comes to us in our dreams and tells us who belongs with whom. I get out of bed and head over to my computer. My family's power isn’t known amongst the public, but the Finnish government found out years ago and has helped by giving us access to the human database. It might be illegal, but it makes our job easier. It lets us look people up, find out where they live, and everything else about them. Today is going to be extremely hard. The human database only has human information, not dog. Opening my computer, a message pops up. I click on it, opening a mysterious document. Reading what is on the document, I find out that Cupid has given me the info I need to find the dogs.
It doesn’t take long to find the two dogs and matchmake them. All I have to do is sprinkle some magical love powder on the individuals, and when they see each other, they fall in love. Sadly, around the 20th century, we were banned from using the famous love arrows. The government thought it was too aggressive, so now we just use the dust.
The end of the day, but not the end of mine. I head to bed and get ready for what Cupid has in store for me tomorrow. Part of me hopes it’s another animal. Animals are easy. As I drift off to sleep, the familiar face of Cupid comes into view.. Cupid is just as you thought he would look. A small man, well, baby, I guess, with white feathery wings, and he’s holding a pink bow with a pink hearted arrow.
“Good night, Paula.” Cupid greets in his cheery and bright tone.
“Cupid.” I greet with annoyance in my voice.
“Don’t sound so annoyed.” He flies in a small circle around my head.
“Well, honestly, this is boring,” I admit to him. While match-making might sound fun to some but once you do it for your whole life, you start to get bored.
Cupid chuckles, “Well, today you’ll have some fun!” Oh no. “The people you’ll be match-making today are…” A random drumroll starts, “Rachael and Jackson!!” There was a big cheer as if a crowd was watching us like a reality show. Little bursts of pink confetti burst around us.
I stand there shocked. “What?!” Jackson is my ex, and Rachael is my best friend.
“Well, it should be easy since you know both of them personally.” Cupid has the biggest smile on his face. “You won’t even have to use the database!”
“No!” I protest. It’s not that I have anything against my ex. He was great and now we’re good friends, but it just doesn't seem right.
“He He! I told you this would be fun! Well, the sun is coming up, which means you have a job to do!” Cupid snaps his fingers, and he disappears in a pop. My eyes flutter open. This has never happened. In all my family history, none of us had to put their ex and best friend together.
Getting out of bed, I get changed. Cupid is right about one thing, I don’t need to look at the database since I know them personally. Let’s see. I look up at the clock. 9:45 am. That means Rachael will be at the park drinking her coffee right now, and Jackson will be on his way to visit his grandmother. That means Jackson will have to pass through the park to get there. Should be easy enough. I grab my jacket and the love dust and head out to do the one thing I know how to do, even though something feels off.
Arriving at the park, I look around to see Rachael exactly where I knew she would be, sitting on the bench, coffee in hand. My watch reads 9:56. Jackson should be passing through in a minute. My back pocket buzzed, indicating someone had texted me. I pull it out and notice the screen has turned pink, and white letters show up.
They read, “Now is the only opportunity to match-make these two. You have to complete your job now.” Sometimes we have jobs where you only have one opportunity to sprinkle the dust on them, and apparently, this is one of them. No one knows what happens when you don’t complete a match. We’ve always done it, but we know something bad will happen to us if we don’t complete it. I put my phone away and found a place to hide.
Jackson is late, but he doesn’t show up till 10:30, which made me stress a little. I was scared Rachael would leave before I had a chance to do my job. Thankfully, she is still drinking her coffee. I watch as Jackson finally walks slowly down the path, so I make my move. I creep up behind Rachael, ready to throw the dust on them. With each step, Jackson gets closer, and my heart rate goes up. I put my hand in my bag. Six more steps, my hand is clenching a handful of dust. Four more steps, and I pull my hand out of the bag. Three more steps, and I line up my aim. Two more steps. I look at Jackson and then back at the back of Rachael’s head. Something feels off, wrong, almost. I know both of them, I also know that whoever we matchmake will be together forever, but it doesn’t change their internal feelings, so they wouldn’t be fully happy together.. He is nothing she wants in a guy. One more step. Last chance I go to throw the dust, but stop. This isn’t right. Jackson passes Rachael with a small wave. My chance is gone. I thought I would feel panicked or some sort of dying feeling, but instead, I just feel extremely tired.
I head home even though it’s not even noon yet and go straight for my bed.. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I fall asleep. Just like every time I fall asleep, Cupid appears in my dream. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!?!” Cupid’s sweet angelic voice is now loud and suddenly starts to sound raspy.
“I couldn’t do it,” I explain. I was expecting panic in my tone, but there was none.
“It was EASY!!”
“No, it wasn’t!” I start defending my choice. I realize that I don’t care if I die because of my choice. They were my friends, and I know they wouldn’t have been happy. “I know both of them, and they would be very unhappy together!”
“So?!” Cupid has started to change. His golden locks start to turn grey. “We don’t take others’ emotions into play!”
“I don’t want people, especially my friends, to be together forever, unhappy. It’s just not right.”
“Well,” Cupid struggles to fly closer to me. His baby-soft skin has turned wrinkly. “What’s right doesn't matter. Not doing your job means that you have KILLED US!!”
“What?!” I suck in a breath. What does he mean killed us? I mean, I knew something would happen, but I thought that if I were to die, I’d be feeling it already.
“When you don’t match-make, it kills us,” Cupid says, pointing at himself. His wings are now slumped, hitting the ground with each flap. “There used to be more of our kind.” His voice is very raspy and old now. “Then people stopped match-making, and it killed their magical cupid family line.” Wait. He’s dying. The magic is dying. I won't die, but he will, and all the magic that comes with him. Everything is starting to make sense. “Does that mean you’re going to die?” I’ve never known my life without him in my dreams. All he does is nod. “Is there anything I can do?” I know I would be ok with not doing this job, but I don’t know if I want Cupid to die.
“Hmm…. Is there a way to keep us alive?” His old raspy voice was thick with sarcasm. “Maybe someone who has been in this kind of situation can tell us. Oh, wait! THEY’RE ALL DEAD!!!” Suddenly, a thought pops into my head.
“You know what?”
“What?” All of his teeth are gone.
I let the smile slowly grow on my face, “I think I am perfectly fine with dying, knowing people are happy with who they want to be with.” Cupid's old face shows complete shock. “And if I survive, then I will be very, very happy.” I give him one last smile and poke him in the small chest. As soon as my finger touches his chest, his mouth opens with a scream, but nothing comes out. Instead, he turns to dust. I stand there in the new white emptiness of my dream world.
Silence. Wow, he’s gone. It’s never been this quiet in my dreams before. A bed suddenly appears, and I get this urge to lie in it. What if it’s a trap? No. It can’t be. Cupid is gone, so giving into the urge, I walk over to it, lie down, and close my eyes.
