The rain splattered against the windows of the classroom like paint bringing an empty canvas to life. She could feel the raindrops prickling her skin, soothing her with their rhythmic pattern.

Irritated, she pushed back that curly strand of hair that kept sliding back onto her face no matter how many times she'd pin it back behind her ear. It covered her green, blazing eyes, and stopped her from seeing the blank piece of paper that lay on her desk. Art had always been her favourite subject. She found means of escaping from her thoughts, her life and reality, just with the stroke of a paintbrush. Written hastily on the board with white chalk was: “Draw a scene which represents ambition.” Everyone else’s thoughts in the room blended together with pictures of their future, their dreams and hopes. Some swimming in money, others in fame, a few drowned with love. But none of those thoughts ever reached her. She immediately thought of an old history lesson on Greek mythology, one about a boy who spread his wings and flew too close to the sun.

“Icarus.”  A soft, male voice spoke.

A pair of strikingly clear gray eyes were staring down at her now-golden drawing, blinding with the rays of the sun against the wings. She zoned out from her concentration, startled, and looked up to see who had spoken. It was one of her classmates, a boy with dark, almost black, curly hair that spiralled up like the shells of snails all around his face. He offered her an unrequited smile, she was too taken aback as she’d never really noticed him before to smile back. She started stammering an answer, but he was already walking away.

It was when she was walking home from school that she saw the mysterious boy again. It was just like any other day, music in her ears, the whole world shut out from her mind. At least that’s what it looked like. It would have been impossible for her to hear the footsteps of the three men behind her. A large hand shook her around briskly, grabbing at her shoulder. She felt her heart jump for a second, and then go into a stream of dashing heartbeats, so fast she didn’t even know if they were beating or not.

“Give us all your money.” A rough, croaked voice spoke, snatching a shiny, cold blade out from his jacket pocket.
She caught sight of her reflection from the knife, her whole body drained in a white pallor. She could have sworn she saw a ghost standing in her place. But something glimmered behind her. It wasn’t really a sparkle, like the way water shines on a hot sunny day. It was more like a bundle of light, an aura, coming from something. She turned around. Not something, someone. As she looked straight back into that same boy’s eyes, the light seemed to fade around him and she wondered if she’d just imagined it.

Before anyone had any time to process, the boy jumped in front of her to face eye to eye with the attackers. Never had she seen someone which such quick yet graceful movements. She didn’t know if it was just because of the fear of the moment, or if she really had gone deaf for a second, but something the strange boy whispered to the three men made them turn around at once, perhaps saving her life.

He turned to face her, his eyes now so bright they seemed to burn with heavenly fire. She stood there, not caring whether her mouth was open and her eyes unblinking, her heartbeat slowly going down.

“Thank you.” she said, a hint of shock and gratitude mixing in her voice.

Ever since that day Daniel and Lea never left each other’s sides.

It didn’t take long for them to become best friends. Neither of them had anyone else quite like the other in their lives. He was the sweetest person she had ever met, always putting her life before his. He was there for her whenever she needed him, and she soon realized that that was always, even though nothing was going on. Having him next to her brought a blanket of warmth to her whole body, and an amount of joy she never thought she’d ever feel.

They were sitting in their usual spot, sand dancing in between their toes at the melody of the crashing waves against the beach. There was no-one there, and it felt like they had the world all to themselves. It was sunset, and the orange and pink sky seemed to bring off that same golden flame she often saw hidden in his eyes. The more she looked at him the more she thought She kept thinking how he was too perfect to be true.

They looked at each other intently, until she finally let her instinct guide her, interlocking her lips with his. Her whole body burned up. When they finally pulled away she wished she’d never have seen the look on his face. He seemed to be afraid, a look of terror reflected in his eyes as he quickly turned away. He looked ashamed, regretting what had just happened. It was hard for her to keep the tears from exploding from her eyes and rushing down her rose-tinted cheeks.

“No, no, no, no…” He muttered to himself as he rushed to his feet.

“Do you not love me?” The words came out of Lea’s mouth in a whisper.

He paced back and forth, murmuring things until he finally stopped to look at her.

“Of course I love you! I love you more than my own life, I love you more than I ever knew the world was capable of love, I love you more than I should have ever allowed myself to!” He screamed out in desperation, his voice quavering. As he made his way back to face her, he placed his hands against her cheeks. “I love you, Lea. But… you don’t know who I truly am. You would be horrified if you saw me in my true form, you’d run as far away as possible.” His voice was strained, regretting each word he said as if he were telling her forbidden secrets.

“What are you talking about? I know you better than the palm of my hand…” Lea muttered, growing with fear by the second.

“No, you don’t understand, you don’t understand.” He abruptly turned away again, facing the ocean. She watched him as he raised his arms up by his sides and pointed his head towards the sky.

Enormous, white, feathery wings started growing under his arms, sparks flying all around him. Lea couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She kept her eyes glued to him as he started lighting up, as if the sun rose again from out of the ocean and entered his body. Flames covered him from head to toe, he looked as though he were set on fire. Lea started panicking as she saw the boy she loved burning in blinding light. As he turned around to face her, she had to cover her eyes from the brightness. Once she saw him it was like falling in love all over again. He was beautiful. Never in her life had she seen such a majestic creature, his wings as white and soft as clouds, a presence so powerful she felt as though she was supposed to bow down to him. The warmth emitting from his body just made her want to reach out and hug him, an urge she tried hard to fight.

“Lea,” He had a forlorn look on his face, “This is me. I’m your Guardian Angel.”

So that’s when he explained everything. How angels exist, how each human being on this planet is assigned a Guardian Angel whose mission is to protect them and make sure they live their life in happiness. How they can transform into any human they can imagine, an unnoticed person in the background always following and protecting you. How they’re not supposed to take the shape of just one person as he did, how they’re not supposed to ever talk to their Human, lastly fall in love with them, but he couldn’t help himself.

He sighed, approached her as his body slowly drained of fire. “Icarus. He flew too close to the sun and died before he could reach it. Lea, you are my sun. I was never supposed to come into your life like this and I’m sorry. I love you so much and I must fulfil my mission to make you happy. That will never happen for us, for I am immortal, and you are not.” He tucked away that curly strand of hair back behind her ear. She looked at him unblinking, cheeks soaked in tears. He hesitated. “There’s still one thing I still haven’t told you about what we can do.” He took her face into his hands, kissed her forehead and locked his gaze with hers. In a steady voice he said, “Compulsion. I want you to forget everything about me, everything I’ve told you, all you’ve ever felt for me. Goodbye Lea.”

And with that, he walked away, just a stranger in Lea’s eyes.

But he never really left. He was always there, protecting her, watching her grow, love, live and have the life she was always meant to have. Without him.