I sat alone in the ratty dive bar, lukewarm beer in my hand, debating if I should get something stronger. I knew I would, but I was just trying to convince myself that I was doing it to wash away sorrow and that it wouldn’t be my first step into alcoholism.

It was a Thursday morning, and I sat alone in a corner booth. Rusty Jacks was empty, as expected for the time of day, but I could still see the consistent denizens. Glossy eyes, disheveled hair, and unkempt clothes, those guys were probably more a mainstay in Rusty Jack than the furniture.

And while I led myself down the same road they traveled, one sip at a time, ideas of the future were far from my mind.

Why? Well, because it was Valentine's Day. And while I would have usually spent the day with my girlfriend of four years who had recently upgraded herself to fiance, a seismic spanner had been thrown into the works when I had walked in on her with my best friend, on our bed.

So there I was, drinking my problems away, it was like putting a Hello Kitty band-aid on a severed limb.

At that moment, so many terrible things ran through my mind, so many. But I didn’t have the guts to go through with any of them. Mainly, because half of them would end up with me in jail or six feet under or jail then six feet under.

So I was back to square one, out of my apartment, huddled away like a kicked dog, as the images of my now ex ran through my mind. Plaguing me like the nightmare that it was.

I took another sip of my warm beer, it was terrible. But the disgusting taste seemed to be the only thing that would pull me out of the darkness that was my mind. Stopping me from concocting horrid ways to get revenge on two people I thought I could trust.

A part of me liked the fantasies, like sick little brain teasers. How could I do it and get away with it? Shoot them as they left the apartment? No, I don’t own a gun, and guns are loud anyway. Poison them? No, any toxicology report would pick up on any poison I could get my hands on easily. Hit them with my car? No, that one was just lazy, far too easy to deduce the suspect.

I took a heavy swig, emptying the bottle, and casting the thoughts from my mind. I knew it wasn’t healthy to think such things, but it was hard not to.

I rolled the empty bottle in my hand, arguing with my conscience if I should get another. My conscience was swiftly beaten to a pulp by my barely controlled emotions and I rose from my seat and shambled over to the bar.

“You okay buddy?” The scrawny bartender asked, cleaning a glass with a rag that was dirtier than the floor I stood on.

“Just fine, now get me something strong.” I grumbled, wanting to heave my empty bottle at the innocent man.

He reached for a bottle off the shelf behind him with a dark liquid sloshing inside of it. He placed a glass on the counter and made to pour but I stopped him with a raised hand.

“No need to put it back, I’m right over there in the corner, and I’ll need the whole bottle anyway.”

He looked as though he wanted to protest, to cut me off from the liquid that was stopping me from going insane, but he must have seen something in my eye. He slid the bottle and glass over to me and I turned on my heel and started back to my seat.

I flopped into the uncomfortable corner booth and was halfway through my pour when I noticed someone was also occupying my spot.

He was a pudgy man, and I could tell he was short even while sitting. He was balding with a five o'clock shadow and rings under his eyes as big as hula hoops. He wore a cheap business suit, with a red stain on the collar and it was missing a button. He was drinking some blue cocktail I wasn’t familiar with and seemed not to notice that I was even there.

I looked at him through bleary eyes, only pulling my eyes away from him when my drink started to spill onto the table.

“Hey buddy, this space is occupied. I’d appreciate it if you would find somewhere else to sip your drink. And leave me to my thoughts.” I said angrily. I wasn’t normally that irritable, but as you know, of all the things alcohol is known to cause, a rational mind is oh so very far up on that list.

His eyes seemed to focus then, looking into mine as he took another swig of his blue drink that almost seemed to glow.

“Lady trouble?” He asked in a gruff voice that didn’t seem to fit his body.

“Huh?” I said stupidly.

“You got lady trouble?” He asked again, swishing his drink around in his cup.

“How did you know?” I asked in reply.

“Most of you poor shmucks end up here because of some broad. Like Charlie over there, his girl left him at the alter.” He said pointing to a man that had clearly seen better days.

“And Phil, wife got fed up with his idiotic antics and finally kicked him to the curb – and that curb was apparently Rusties.” He gestured to another man, who was leaning over a pool table, sloppily trying and failing to sink a number five ball into a corner pocket.

“So you frequent this place a lot?” I asked, I’d never seen him before but he had obviously had to since he knew some of the regulars.

“Nope, my first time here, actually.” He replied taking a lengthy swig from his drink. I wasn’t sure at the time if I was seeing clearly or not, but his glass didn’t seem to empty in the slightest.

“So how do you know so much about those guys if this is your first time here? I doubt they would tell you the first time they met you.” I inquired.

“You’ll figure that out soon enough. But alcohol does loosen lips, but that's not how I know what I know.” He said with a slight smile.

“So what brings you here?”

“You do actually, today’s a busy day for me but I try to help out at least one poor schmuck on this day of all days.” He said, and this time I was sure that I wasn’t seeing things. As he took another massive gulp, and placed his glass back onto the table, his drink started to climb back up nearly filling the glass.

“What was that?” I asked, pointing at the glass.

“Huh, oh that, just a magic trick.”

“Okay,” I said taking a weary sip of my own drink, feeling it burn as it went down. I could almost instantly feel my mind thicken with fog. “You said I brought you here, why? I don’t even know you.”

“Because you are having a downright, unequivocally, undisputed, terribly, trash day. And you just so happen to fall into my area of expertise.” He said with a smile.

“And what area might that be,” I asked while taking a swig, feeling like I had just been duped into speaking with a nutcase.

“Love, my friend, my area of expertise is love.”

“And what makes you such an expert in love huh? Who made you the king of desire, prince of passion, the dictator of…” I paused failing to find a word.

“While you struggle to come up with a noun. Let me introduce myself, they call me Cupid.” He said, actually giving his head a little bow like I was supposed to be impressed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I looked at him like the crazy person that he was, took a long drink from my cup, and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be a fat baby or something?”

He rolled his eyes like he had heard that a million times before.

“Geez I hate that stupid image they have of me, I was just trying something new at the time, this is what I get for trying not to freak people out. Now all of a sudden everyone thinks I'm a friggin’ baby.” I took another drink as he grumbled away, slightly amused by the pudgy man.

“If I shrunk you down a bit, and taped some wings to your back, I can see it actually,” I said with an alcohol-coated laugh.

“Aren't you just a comedian? But I can actually prove it. I could tell you how I know your girlfriend- Ex-girlfriend my bad, was cheating on you, and how it's been going on for a year. Or I could tell you that you two met in this same dive bar, which I have to say, is probably doin’ wonders for your mental health since you decided this was the best place to drink your problems away. Or I could tell you that she never really loved you, and that you could tell too but you didn’t want to believe it and she was too much of a coward to break it off like a normal functioning human being. But I don’t have to tell you any of that, no no no, I can prove it right now.”

I sat in stunned horror and amazement, all I could do was take a deep swig from my drink. My eyes widened as I wasn’t hit with the burn I was expecting. Putting my glass down I saw that it was half full of the glowing blue liquid, “Qupid” was drinking. Before I could say anything or even react, the door of the dive bar swung open.

In walked a skinny girl that didn’t fit the type of person that was supposed to be there at all. She was dainty and wore glasses, she wore a nice business suit, the type of thing you wear when you've got somewhere important to be, and had short cropped brown hair.

She walked over to the bartender and I could instantly see that he was interested in her, and more than just serving her drinks, but I could tell he was nervous.

“Now watch closely,” I heard Cupid say. Looking towards him, he made two finger guns and pointed them at the bartender and the woman. “Bang. Bang.” He said in a low voice.

In utter amazement, two projectiles lept from his fingers and lanced into the two targets. An explosion of color jumped from their bodies as the projectiles made their mark, blues and yellows, greens and pinks, it was beautiful, but no one else reacted.

I watched as seemingly a switch was flipped and the bartender's nerves seemed to ease. And they started to talk.

“Rough day?” He asked.

“Yeah, just bombed my job interview.” She said back with a sigh.

“I didn’t think models wore that type of thing at job interviews.” He said with a confident smile.

I scoffed softly at the line, it was corny as all hell, but the woman seemed to eat it up. Then their conversation was in full swing. I pulled my eyes from them and looked back at Cupid who wore a smarmy “I told you so” smile.

“So you’re Cupid?” I asked, still dumbfounded.

“The one and only.” The pudgy man said with a broad smile.

I sat there not really sure of what to say or ask. It wasn’t every day that the manifestation of love and desire sat across from you.

“I’ll give you a second, most of you mortals need a minute to adjust after such a revelation.” He said taking another sip of his drink.

That sparked my first question.

“What's that drink and how did you get it into my cup?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “Really, that's your first question? I guess that kinda makes sense. What it is, is kinda hard to explain. And in the grand scheme of things you don’t really need to know, but it's kinda like eye drops but magic. A mortal takes a sip of that and they get to see the world how it really is, all the stuff your mortal eyes can’t really process without…” He trailed off, and that made me a bit uneasy. “Let's just say I’ve opened your eyes for a few hours. How’d I get it into your cup? Magic.” He said plainly.

“Okay,” I said processing the information. “So you said you came here to see me are you going to help me fix my relationship?” I asked pathetically.

He looked at me, and it was the way your parents look at you when they can’t decide if they are disappointed or angry with you, or maybe both. I could feel myself shrink in my seat slightly under his gaze.

“Listen kid,” He said, and from his tone, I could tell he landed on disappointed. “Forget about her. She made her choice, did you not hear when I said she had been slinkin’ off behind your back for a year? My job is love and passion, I can tell you things about that chick that would make you find the nearest cliff to jump off. So now that I’m telling you this from a place of compassion. Forget. About. Her!”

I had nothing to say, all I could do was put my glass down grab the liquor bottle and take a long swig feeling the burn race down my throat like a river of lava.

“Next question, let's move on cuz’ that obviously wasn’t the answer you wanted.” He said taking a drink from his glass with an expression like a doctor having to break the bad news to a patient's family.

“Okay,” I said sadly. “How does this whole thing work? I mean, that gun thing you did, and the matchmaking. Do you make people fall in love? Do they have a choice?-”

“There's always a choice.” He said cutting me off. “Here's the thing about you humans. You want what you want. There's only so much I can do. Yes I spark the embers of passion, and I strengthen the bonds of love when the connection is real, but you humans will always find what you want more attractive. I’m more of a guide. Like for instance, the bartender and the girl. That dude was a shivering wreck the moment she walked in the door, and he would have never made a move. But here's the thing, my love gun eased those nerves, made him more confident so that he could take the leap. Now it's on him to seal the deal. That one will be easy though because they are made for each other.”

“Made for each other?” I parroted.

“Yeah, some of you humans got it in mind that soulmates aren’t real. Bunch of pessimistic pricks I say. But they’re wrong, everyone's got a soulmate, each and every one of you sacks of meat. It’s my job to put you on the path to finding that connection and sealing the deal, and if you don’t and screw it up, it’s on you. Back to the bartender and the girl, I’ve had that meeting planned for years. She flubbed her interview, got tongue-tied, could barely remember her name. That all stemmed from an incident in kindergarten, she had a presentation, screwed the pooch real good on that one, entire class laughed at her, even the teacher. Type of thing that scars a person, and now she can barely handle any form of public speaking. Now she came here to get a drink where she stumbles upon her soulmate.” He said seemingly proud of himself.

“Wait, you scared her for life in order to make this connection? That's pretty messed up.” I said, annoyed on the girl's behalf.

“Hey! Which one of us has been doin’ this since the dawn of time? ‘Sides the guy has a pretty good therapist, they’ll work it out.” He said annoyed as well for my having questioned him.

“So what happens if you don’t match with your soulmate?”

“Well, sometimes people end up dying alone, hate that outcome. But on other occasions, they end up with different people. Those relationships often don’t last very long, but some do. The relationships are hard, much harder than a soulmate connection, but if they work through things they sometimes come out just as strong and on very rare occasions even stronger than a soulmate connection.”

“So when will I meet my soulmate?” I asked excitedly.

“What makes you think that your ex wasn’t your soulmate? And she was too selfish to actually make it work?” He asked with deathly seriousness.

My stomach dropped, even after what he had told me. Then his face changed and he burst out into laughter.

“I’m just screwin' with you kid,” He said between laughs. “you haven’t met her yet. But she’s out there. And no, I won't tell you who she is, you’ll mess up my design if I do.

After he calmed down, he checked his watch. “Well, my time’s almost up I’ve got a lot more work to do today.”

He started to rise and I rose with him, wobbling, not even realizing how intoxicated I was.

“You're already leaving?” I asked kind of sad, I had a feeling I’d never meet him again, and learning the ins and outs of the world on such a level wasn’t something I wanted to have just slip away so easily.

“Yeah like I said, lots of work to do.” he said straightening out his wrinkled suit.

“Let me come along with you, I still have so much more to ask, I wanna know more. Are there more entities like you? What happens after I die? Is heaven real? Is hell real? Which one is my grandma in? Do ghosts exist?”

“Slow down kid, can’t answer all those questions, not my place to, that's a good way to have the mother of all existential crises.” He sighed and checked his watch again. “Okay you can come along for a couple of my matches, but I will warn you there won’t be much talking, let alone questions, I'm on the clock. You get to see how more of my connections work and in doing so some questions about the world should be answered. And another warning, you might see things, things you might not be able to handle, things you should have never been able to see. You still sure you wanna go?”

I thought about it for a minute.

“Clocks tickin’,” he said checking his watch again.

“One question before I answer. If I go with you will it mess up my soulmate match?”

“If it did I wouldn’t even be giving you this option, and-” He stood there and his eyes seemed to glaze over and glow a soft blue. “In fact, things are moving along nicely in my design. Now that don’t mean you’ll be meetin’ her any time soon and it also don’t mean you’ll meet her on your death bed either but all in all, things still work out nicely.” He said, taking his glass from the table.

“Okay, I’m in.” I said.

“Alrighty, take a sip, top yourself off before we go.” He offered his cup.

Taking it, I took a swig, once again the blue liquid didn’t burn and it filled the glass as I moved it from my lips.

“Alright, let's go.” He raised one hand and put it onto my shoulder, and I watched in amazement as the world folded in on itself.