On a night dark and scary when I was bleak and dreary. I closed my eyes and fell to sleep. I found myself then in dreams. A world cool and dark with fairy lights and strange marks on walls.

“Come” a tall silver haired woman commanded and began gliding down the hall, swift and silent, flickering in and out of sight as if she were a mere illusion. Like a horse being led on a lead, I followed close behind, eyes wandering in amazement.

Down a long dark tunnel we went. Demons and Angels both walked by us. Some carrying little delicate balls of bluish white light. Others were carrying bloody battered messy orbs.

“What…what are those?” I asked the woman, staring after one of the demons.

“hearts.” My guide whispered.

“Hearts?!”

“Yes, hearts. When a heart is broken, either Demon or an Angel, typically whoever’s jurisdiction the heart falls under, picks it up, and brings it to the Mender.”

“The Mender?”

“You’ll see.”

Slowly a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. At the entrance to a room just beyond it was a guard. Tall, blond Adonis in pure white armor.

“Let us in.” My guide commanded. The guard nodded. My guide smiled faintly, flirtatiously, and gave the guard’s shoulder a squeeze.

In the room beyond the tunnel was a woman. She was fair-skinned with an ageless look to her features. She had dark eyes, hair, and lips, with a black dress. The woman was holding a small ball in her pale hand and was slowly stitching it back together with a translucent thread.

“Mender?” my guide inquired.

“Yes, Lilim?”
“I’ve brought you the one you wished to see.”
“Wonderful. Thank you, Lilim.” The Mender stood. She was shorter and slighter than I had anticipated.
“Hello.” The Mender smiled and grasped my hand, pulling me into her workspace. Lilim nodded and vanished.
“Why did you call me here?” I asked, sitting on the only chair in the room.
“Before I answer that, would you like some tea?” the Mender gestured to the pot sitting beside her. I nodded and the teapot gracefully poured its contents into a cup that then settled before me. The Mender took a cup for herself and settled back into her chair.
“You are a very interesting individual.” The Mender commented.
“How so?”
“You care about the hearts of all individuals.” I nodded. I did care about all the hearts in the world. I’d noticed it about myself when I was around 12, wishing everyone’s happiness.
“You are unique in that aspect. I spend every moment down here mending hearts broken by others. I’ve seen everyone’s heart down here before. Except yours. However, I’ve seen the impact you’ve had on people’s hearts. It is, commendable. You do your best to help with what primitive tools you have.”
I nodded, uncertain of what’s going on.
“I brought you down here because I wanted to you see my work in action.” The Mender picked up a broken heart, all bloody and coming apart. “What do you see here?”
“A broken heart. An opportunity to help someone, to change their lives.” The Mender smiled and placed the heart very carefully into a bowl of pure silver liquid.
“Unicorn blood mixed with Angel tears.” She explained before gently removing the now blood-less heart.
“Why is it no longer bleeding?” I inquired leaning forward for a better look. The Mender smiled mysteriously before throwing it into a steaming, acrid smelling pot.
“Demon spit and brimstone.” I nodded. The Mender pulled the now steaming red heart out of the pot. A shell had seemed to form over it.
“What-?”
“The first pot cleansed the heart. The second fortified it.”
I nodded, “Why do you do this?
“I love people. I do not wish for them to hurt.”
“I think I understand.”
“I hope. Would you like to stay and learn how to do this?” the Mender offered, pulling a string off a roll and threaded it through a pure black needle.
Grabbing the heart, the Mender examined it carefully. When she found a cut that hadn’t yet healed, she began to stitch the wound closed.
I thought about staying for a long time as I watched her dip the hearts and stitch them together one after another in a repeated, lulling motion. I thought about all the friends I had on earth. All the good I could to here.
“What-what would happen if I said no?”
The Mender put down the heart and looked directly at me.
“Very soon, I will die. If there is no one to take my place, there will be a war. Not just down here and not just way up top but on earth too. The Demons and Angels who are in this tunnel are bound to my Peace Treaty. They will begin fighting again, if I die and have no successor and the broken hearts will be broken for ever. Or they may mend, but do so oddly.”
I nodded and thought about my friends and everything I loved and how much I didn’t want to leave it all. I had a good life on earth, why did I have to change it? Someone else could take care of that.
Indecisive, I sat in that chair sipping tea and thinking for what felt like an eternity. To the Mender’s credit, she was patient and didn’t try to sway me either way. She just sat there mending hearts and sipping her own cup of tea.
Finally I said, “I can’t”
The Mender looked up, face impassive, “I see. Alright then, in a moment you will wake up in your bed. Good luck.” She smiled and the next thing I remembered was waking up in my tiny apartment in my wonderfully soft bed.
At first life seemed normal, the usual predictable world. One thing was off though, this world wasn’t the world I’d left when I’d gone to see the Mender. Everyone I knew was different. Two of my friends who had been so in love before were now in constant battle. Another friend, whose ex had broken her heart was no longer a stable, functioning human of society. She was a heroin addict, unable to think of anything but the next fix and how to get it. I was so furious, so disgusted by their choices, their lives. I didn’t know how to fix it. I didn’t know if it could be fixed. I was cooking dinner one night when Lilim appeared.
“So this is your apartment.” She stated taking a large bite out of an apple. The apple was blood red and the juice coming out of it was neon green.
I jumped, “where did you come from?”
She just gave me a look.
“Why are you here?”
“The Mender’s dead. You my have noted certain differences in your world. The Mender’s death caused these. Such a pity you denied the poor woman. Did you know you were her last hope? Before you she asked 399 people, and they all said no.” she smiled, showing her pointed teeth, “we only gave her 400 shots. She failed. I came to warn your of the impending war.” Her eyes shone bright red at the word. “Ariel, the blond is an Angel. Be careful, Angels seem good but they’re just as bad as us Demons.” She smiled, again revealing her shark-like teeth. “We are no longer bound to the Mender’s Peace Treaty. Good luck.” Lilim started walking away. “Oh, and remember, humans typically are either demonic or angelic in nature.” And with another smile, she vanished.
Suddenly, so much made sense. Why my two friends hated each other, the chaos of this world. I knew what I had to do.
“Lilim!” I shouted. No answer. “Ariel!” no answer. Desperate, I shouted, “Mender of Hearts!”
“To get to the place requires sacrifice. Kill your closest friend and one will appear. Whoever appears will take you to the Tunnel.” The Mender’s voice drifted softly through the air.
Fear pierced me like a knife. Kill Kel?! I couldn’t. I had to. The Order of the World had to be restored. Determined, I grabbed the butcher knife in the knife holder and slipped into the night.
Standing over the body in horror, I felt a presence behind me.
“You killed one of my own. Come.” The voice was rumbling and deep like thunder in the summer. A strong hand grabbed my shoulder and with a flash of bleak lightning, we appeared in the tunnel.
It was different this time around. The dark, peaceful room was now loud. It was brightly lit with broken, bleeding hearts that had congregated on the ceiling. The blood from the hearts was dripping onto the heads of the now viciously battling forms. Blood made the floors slick, yet it had no affect on the battle.
Hoping to silently make my way to the room, I began to swiftly make my way to the tunnel, slipping on blood in my hurry.
“Did you think we would allow you to take Her place as Mender?” a cold melodious voice inquired. I looked around the dimly lit tunnel, failing to see anything. With an exasperated sigh the voice called “Up here fool!” The sight I saw was a fright for all.
The woman I saw was more frightening than all. This woman with eight legs like a spider and the head of a fighter. This woman smiled brightly and I felt my death. I decided to go mightily. Grabbing my knife, I put but a fight but lost to the sheer might of this demonic fright.
“I apologize, however you chose too late and now that you’re dead the gates will open and all of us will go to Earth and destroy who should have been ours by birth.” The demon stated with glee before joining her brethren to continue the fight for the hearts of humans.