“This one is going to need some help. He’s fallen hard and cannot find his way.”

“Oh? That is upsetting.”

“Indeed. He has taken a rough beating over the previous year. Last Christmas, his wife took their child and left him behind. He has given up completely and lost sight of what love and happiness means to him. He feels as if he is alone and helpless which is not true of course. He has a strong and loving family who cares so much about him, but he will not listen to their words. Instead he drowns his sorrows and makes no attempt to improve his situation.”

“Goodness! This is a most heartbreaking story!”

“The holiday approaches. Time for celebration and cheer and this one seems to deny the spirit of Christmas. He has shunned his family, friends, and everything he cares about to sit alone in a practically empty apartment. If we do not intervene soon I fear that he may not survive much longer.”

“It is imperative that we help this poor being! What shall we do, Gabriel?”

“That is where you come in my dear. I am sending you down to guide our friend and show him how to love again. Your mission is to save his soul from never ending torture and regret. There is hope for him.”

“Send me back down? Into the human realm? Is this allowed for our kind?”

“Of course, but only in special cases such as this.”

“Will I remember how to get back?”

“Absolutely. When your mission is complete you will be returned to us. Have no fear and keep your faith. All will be revealed. Speaking of our young man, there he is now heading to that dreadful pub. Let’s begin and remember, Harmony we will be right here by your side. It is time for you to go . . .”

December 24th, Christmas Eve in Tulsa, OK.

I could feel the wind rushing around me as I fell. The skin on my body tickled with sensations I hadn’t felt in ages. I could feel the beating of my heart pulsating in my chest causing the fear to rush pure adrenaline to my brain. I floated quickly through the air, into the environment, and further down until the lights and sounds of humanity filled my ears with its familiar noises.

Thunk!

I hit the ground hard. My head hit the pavement with a force that took the air right out of my lungs reminding me of my new body’s limits. It had been a long time since I had been on Earth, and the reality of it suddenly dawned upon me.

I rubbed my eyes and face trying to force myself into a sitting position. The weight of this body was intense and I knew that it was going to be a challenge just getting used to the transition. Looking down at my legs and torso I could see that I was definitely young, maybe 21 with a thin frame and tanned, smooth skin. I was dressed in a white skirt with matching jacket and heels.

Nothin’ like a little sex appeal to help this guy pay attention to me, eh Gabriel? I sassed to the air above.

Sighing, I attempted to stand on wobbly legs. I dusted myself off and tried to remember how to move in this form-fitting female attire. Although difficult at first, as I rounded the corner of a building I managed to get the hang of things.

Up ahead a small pub stood alone further down the street. I walked along the bare sidewalk as dried leaves tumbled across the pavement at my feet. Tulsa’s winter seemed dreadfully dull. A neon sign was the only light shining into the dark night.

Vaguely remembering what Gabriel had told me, I made my way as fast as possible to the bar and stopped to look at my reflection in the front window. My hair gleamed with a sunny yellow color while my eyes were a deep sea blue. I nodded approvingly at my features. Gabriel had done well.

I opened the door to get a blast of loud, noisy music in my face and reluctantly walked in. The man Gabriel had shown me in his vision was nowhere to be seen so I made my way to a table in the corner. I could feel all eyes on me as if they did not expect me to be there.

That’s when I saw him. He had come in almost right behind me, his hair in a disheveled blonde mess and his clothes worn. We made eye contact for a brief instant but his focus was hazy.

Instead, he continued onto the bar where he immediately ordered several shots of liquor. The poor guy. He looked worse from down here. While watching and studying him from afar I almost didn’t even notice the two, looming men who now stood before me.

“Good evening, ma’am. You sure are pretty. Can we buy you a drink?” one of them asked with a fierce grin on his face. “Why don’t you come with us?” Just the sight of him made me nervous.

“No thank you,” I replied standing up quickly. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Sorry, no excuses today sweetheart.”

The other one stopped me in my tracks blocking me from walking around them. My heart raced with fear not knowing what to do. Gabriel, this wasn’t part of the plan! I thought hoping he had heard and would intervene. When nothing happened panic began to set in and I backed up against the wall behind me.

The two guys taunted me with slurry names and just as one of them was about to grab a hold of me I heard a voice and it wasn’t Gabriel’s.

“Leave her alone!” It was the man I had come to save suddenly saving me. There may be hope for him yet!

Both men turned to stare him down.

“What are you going to do about it, bud?” said one of them in a thick southern accent.

He ran a hand through his thick, wavy hair and drunkenly took a stand before the two giants not saying a word. Without any warning, one of the men punched him square in the nose knocking him down hard. I flew to his side just as the bartender rushed up to us.

“I don’t want any trouble, Bert! Now all of ya get out of here!” he said to the four of us.

I pulled my hero from the floor and wrapped my arm around his frame. Blood oozed from his nose and I knew just where to go from here.

Thankfully, the two bullies rode off in their car in search of another beer joint while I walked the tousled guy home practically carrying him the whole way. He didn’t say a word, but instead leaked red liquid onto my snow white suit.

As we walked up the steps to his apartment he finally realized what had happened and looked at me. He had been too drunk and too beat up to understand what was going on before but he narrowed his brown eyes in my direction.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Harmony,” I replied simply. “And you are?”

“Zac.”

“I see. Well, Zac, thank you for saving me tonight. Those guys were awfully obnoxious.” I wrinkled my nose in disappointment at the way humans acted towards one another these days.

Zac nodded with a foggy expression on his face. “Would you like to cuh-come in, Harmony? You’ve got red on you. My bad. I’m such an idiot!”

He put his hand to his nose to stop the bleeding as I opened the door. We walked in to his apartment and I gasped at the bare sight and frigid temperature of its interior.

There was one couch, a TV, and everything else in boxes in the corner of the dining room.

“S-sorry my power got shut off yesterday,” he admitted going over to the kitchen sink and washing the blood off his face.

I took the washcloth from him and began to mend the injury myself. I knew that by my touch alone he would be healed instantly. Having divine powers definitely comes in handy in times like this.

“Allow me.”

“Thank you,” he looked at me again. “Why are you helping me? You don’t even know me.”

“Why, it’s my job, sir.” I told him. “I came here just for you.” He furrowed his brow in confusion.

“W-what…?” Zac’s voice was soft and he decided that he was too drunk to try and figure out what I meant. “Here, I can wash this for you.”

I almost had to chuckle at the thought of him trying to do laundry in his condition.

“It’ll be fine, Zac,” I replied taking my jacket off to reveal a tight tank top underneath. “I’m not here so you can take care of me.”

Throwing the jacket in a bottle-filled trash can I surveyed my surroundings until I realized that he was staring at me. I looked at him and the sadness in his eyes brought a sickening feeling to the pit of my stomach. I had the overwhelming urge to take him into my arms and hold him, but I fought it knowing that they were just petty human emotions. Our gaze was broken when he turned to open the freezer door. As soon as I saw him pull the bottle out I ran and snatched it right out of his hands.

“Zac, you must stop this drinking at once! You have no idea what you’re doing to yourself!” I pleaded with him holding the bottle over the sink.

A darkness came over his whole body and his mood instantly turned grey. I had begun the real mission and by the intensity of his frown I knew that this was not going to be easy. He lunged forward suddenly as I stepped out of his way.

“Give it to me!” Zac screamed. “That is mine! Who do you think you are?!”

“You’re killing yourself, Zac.”

“That’s the point! Now either give it back to me or I’ll…” he threatened but before he could continue and regret the next words out of his mouth I knocked him out with the vodka bottle.

Zac fell to the floor once again and I sat beside him. I pushed a strand of his hair away from his face gently. He was so perfect. Almost like one of us. It was such a shame for him to be feeling the way he did.

This time, I needed him to be sober so he’d understand what I was trying to do. With all of the power I could muster, I healed his head wound, sucked all of the alcohol out of his bloodstream and woke him up.

“What happened?” he wondered his brown eyes meeting mine once again. “All I remember was you being in trouble at the bar. Who are you again?”

“Harmony.” I replied helping Zac stand back up. “Those guys knocked you out, I brought you back here and viola!”

“Okay?” he said still confused about the situation. “Why am I not drunk anymore? Have I been asleep for a long time or something?”

“Yes.”

I took his hand and we sat down on his couch in the living room. The feeling in my body as my gaze fell upon his full, pouty lips made me quiver suddenly and I fought to control myself. These human emotions were starting to get rather annoying. I had come here to do a job not flirt with it.

“So, it’s Christmas Eve. Why are you not at home with your family? Is it normal for you to go to a random bar to help get a stranger home?”

“Depends on the situation, and quite frankly Zac, I should be asking you the same thing.” I replied bluntly.

Zac’s eyes began to fill with tears but not one of them actually rolled down his cheek. I could see him holding back and clinching his jaw tight angrily.

“I don’t wanna talk about my family.” I put my hand on his.

“No wife or kids?”

Zac sighed, looking away. “They left me. My wife she, uh, she took our son. I haven’t seen either of them since.”

“And why not?”

“They don’t need me. She’s seeing someone else now. Apparently, I wasn’t a good enough husband or father so she filed for divorce. I didn’t even put up a fight for custody of our boy.” Then, he looked at me, his cheeks red with shame. “I don’t know why I’m even telling you this.”

“What about your parents? Siblings? I’m sure they’d love to see you for the holidays,” I continued as our fingers intertwined. I could feel the muscles in his body begin to relax through our touch. He was getting comfortable around me. He had not told anyone his secrets in almost a year.

“Ha! Why do you want to know these things? I’m nothing, no one. I don’t even matter in this world!” Zac spat out.

“That’s not true,” I told him honestly. “There are people who care about you.”

“What? How do you even know this?!” he looked at me incredulously. “You barely know me.”

I winked at him. “Believe me I know. I know everything about you. I know where you grew up, I know who your family is, I know you’re in a band with your brothers, I know you quit touring because your brothers couldn’t put up with your heavy drinking all the time…”

Zac stared at me wide-eyed and open mouthed. I had hit home. “H-how…?”

“Shall I continue?” I asked and kept listing everything Gabriel had told me about him.

“Oh God, you’re not one of those stalker fans are you?!” Zac exclaimed stupidly knowing that I was definitely NOT there because of his music.

I had to chuckle. “No. Zac, look,” and my voice grew softer as I stood up, “I know you probably better than you know yourself and what you’re doing to you and the ones you love is not good. I know you had planned on taking these tonight with that bottle of vodka in the freezer and not waking up to see another Christmas Day.”

I pulled his bottle of prescription Xanax out of my pocket magically.

With that, Zac sat there speechlessly his hands in his lap and his skin a pale white. He didn’t have anything to say in reply, but I knew that he was baffled. Now I could finally begin to show him what I came here for and hopefully save his life.

Zac just looked at me and I smiled at him silently letting him know that everything was going to be all right. He must’ve believed me because when I held my hand out he stood up and took it in his own.

“Do you trust me?” I whispered as I pulled him closer towards his balcony door.

“Yes. What are we doing?” Zac wondered curiously.

“I want to show you something,” I whispered. “Close your eyes.”

When he was unable to see, I leaned forward, taking in the smell of his skin. I pressed my cheek to his, causing an electric current to flow through us. Our foreheads touched and I felt him wrap his arms around my waist. He sighed within my embrace feeling safe and that’s when I transported our physical bodies into spiritual form.

Thinking of our destination in my mind, we were placed there in an instant as if God himself had picked us up and put us down again in another location.

“Open your eyes,” I told him and he did so, but frowned as soon as he saw where we were.

“Why are we at my parent’s house?” he asked questionably.

“Come,” I pulled him to the window where his mother and father were standing by the Christmas tree decorating it.

He dodged from their view and I giggled.

“They can’t see you silly.”

“What?” Zac shook his head. “This night just keeps getting more and more weird.”

“Look,” I pointed as Zac’s mom Diana got out a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament.

“This is Zac’s,” she said sadly handing it to Zac’s dad, Walker. “Do you want to put it up?”

“No,” he replied silencing the room.

Zac’s younger brothers and sisters looked at him with astonishment as Walker began to cry.

Diana pulled him into an embrace. “It’ll be ok. Zac will come back to us one day. I know he will.”

I looked to see Zac’s expression, but it remained stern and serious. He bowed his head sullenly.

“See, I’ve already disappointed them. Why bother trying to go on?”

I put my head in my hand. “Oh boy, ok well walk with me.”

“Where are we going now?” he asked annoyingly “Because I’d really like to get back home, Harmony. There’s half a liter of Grey Goose with my name on it.”

I ignored his comments and we walked through the Tulsa suburbs crunching the dead leaves and brown grass beneath our feet as we went. The night was quite cold, the air brisk and clouds were beginning to cover the moon and stars. I grinned at the sky knowing that I would make Zac see how important he was by morning. I was determined.

“Here we are,” I pointed to a two story house with brown shutters and a large window in the front.

The bushes and trees in the yard were lit with twinkling lights and a bright, yellow glow seemed to illuminate the road it loomed above.

“Oh, not here. I don’t want to see them!” Zac complained.

“No, Zac, please. You said you trusted me,” I pleaded with him. “I promise by the end of the night you’ll see what I’ve wanted you to see. By then, if you don’t believe me when I say that people love and adore you then I’ll leave you be. I’ll never return again.”

“All right, fine.” He agreed calmly.

We peeked through a window in the back where his older brothers, Taylor and Isaac stood in their kitchen.

“Have you heard from him at all recently?” Isaac asked Taylor as they ate dinner with their wives silently.

“Nope, I don’t know Isaac,” Taylor dropped his fork onto the table with a loud clang. “What did we do? Why won’t he talk to us at least?”

Isaac shook his head. “I miss him.”

I watched as Zac’s eyes began to gleam with wetness, but no tears fell. He folded his arms over his chest as if he suddenly got cold. I could tell that he felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and loneliness.

“See, they want to know if you’re ok.” I said. “They aren’t the same without you. In fact, they haven’t touched an instrument since you’ve been gone.”

Zac looked at me. “Really?”

I nodded and we turned back to the window.

“Let’s call him tomorrow.” Taylor said.

“I won’t be home,” Zac answered to his statement even though they couldn’t hear him. “I’m ready to go. I’ve seen enough. I know I’ve hurt my brothers, I know I’ve let them all down, and now I cannot even begin to make it up to them! What am I supposed to do? Walk in there and say ‘hi I’m all better guys!’ Call them up and try to work things out after everything I’ve put them through?”

“Well, that’s a start,” I replied honestly.

“Forget it! I’m done with this, Harmony! Thank you for helping me, but I’m a lost cause!” he cried causing me to sigh in irritation.

Dang this boy and his tantrums! With that, I caught up to him, took his hand and whisked him up and away into the night sky.

“Ahhhh!” he screamed. “What the fuck?! Are we flying? Get me down now!”

“No, Zachary Hanson! You’re being stubborn and I still have one more place to take you now let’s go!” I ordered, my voice turning serious.

This time he knew I meant business and we landed in front of an apartment building on the other side of town.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“You’ll see.” I told him as we went in and climbed a few flights of stairs.

We stopped at a door. Apartment 812. I pulled Zac through the door without opening it.

“Holy shit how did you do that?!” he exclaimed looking down at his body as if he were a ghost.

“Watch your language, Zac,” I pointed a finger at him.

He smirked but then his demeanor changed when his ex wife walked into the living room where we stood. Even though she could not see us, Zac sort of hid behind me shyly. Her cell phone rang and she answered it.

“No, Jack, I don’t want to see you right now. . . We’re going to my parent’s house tomorrow. . . I’m tired and we are going to bed. . . Good night!” she flipped the phone shut and threw it down on the coffee table.

Then, she huddled into a ball on the couch just as ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ came on TV. With her head in her hand, anyone could tell that she was obviously upset. Zac just watched her silently.

Slowly, she took out a picture inside a frame from the drawer in the table next to the couch. Zac came up to where she was and sat down beside her so he could see what she was looking at. It was a picture of the three of them; her, him, and their son when he was about 1 at Christmas time last year.

Delicately, she traced a pattern around Zac’s face and a tear fell onto the glass. Zac put a hand on her shoulder but she couldn’t feel it.

“Oh God,” he said under his breath wanting to wrap his arms around her. The feelings were still there, raw and fresh like an old wound newly opened once again.

“I miss you,” she whispered to the picture.

“I miss you too, baby. I’m right here,” he replied making me smile. It was finally working!

“Momma…” said a tiny voice from the hallway.

She jumped up, put the picture back in the drawer and ran to get her son. She brought him back into the living room and that’s when Zac lost it. Tears fell like rain down his face and left his shirt damp. He sobbed as he saw his son for the first time in a year. She sang along with the characters in the movie to “Auld Lang Syne” trying to calm him. Zac reached out wanting to touch and hold them, but it was time for us to go.

“Zac, it’s time,” I said.

“No, no please can we stay longer?!” he pleaded with me, his eyes begging me to change my mind.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Zac, but if I don’t get you back it will all be lost.”

“What will? But I want to stay! I have to be with my wife and son!”

“You can! It’s Christmas Day, Zac anything is possible!” I told him positively as I took his hand again.

I knew I had to get him out of there and fast so I magically transported us back into his apartment where we ended up on his couch.

“I’m such a fool, Harmony,” he said through salty tears. “Such a fool…how can I make this right?”

By the look on his face I could tell that he was exhausted from mentally draining himself over the last year. I pulled him to me and he didn’t resist. I let him lay his head on my lap as I stroked his hair. He eventually fell asleep in my arms. I couldn’t leave until I knew that he was peaceful, until his mind was at ease. I could tell that by the time the sun rose he would know what to do to change his life around. Start anew. I had come here to save this mans soul and ended up sharing it. The feelings that exuded from his being where so strong that I knew he would do the right thing.

I got up to leave him and covered his sleeping body with a blanket from one of the boxes. At that moment, I turned from him to face the balcony door and watched as tiny, white snowflakes began to fall to the ground.

December 25th, Christmas Day, Tulsa, OK.

As the rays of the sun began to peek over the horizon I felt my human body begin to melt away again. I rose up, until I reached the ceiling and then outside his apartment and into the sky where I remained weightless and happy with the outcome of the previous night.

I watched him wake up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. It was his brothers. Taylor and Isaac had told him to get dressed and come over to celebrate the holiday in which he gladly accepted. He looked up at me, towards the heavens and grinned knowingly.

Before leaving his apartment to head over for a family feast, I could see him scurry for the phone as its ringing filled the apartment. He looked at the phone as if it were an alien and hesitantly picked it up.

Slowly, he put it to his ear and swallowed hard. “Hello?”

There wasn’t a sound at first, but then out of nowhere came a little boy’s voice. “Daddy?!”

Zac fell to the floor in shock.

I smiled and resumed my way up to where I belonged. Mission accomplished.

“Welcome home, Harmony.”

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