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| Wings of Hope |
“Daniel,” his mom called from downstairs. “Are you okay? Breakfast is ready!”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at the soccer ball in the corner of his room. Its surface was scuffed from countless games, the black-and-white hexagons worn down by his dreams. He wanted to kick it. Or throw it. Or just stop feeling anything at all.
He pushed himself out of bed, wincing as his crutches bit into his hands. Every step felt like a reminder of what he’d lost. He hated the crutches. He hated his leg. Most of all, he hated himself for not being stronger.
On his way to the kitchen, his mom intercepted him. Her eyes were soft but heavy with worry.
“Daniel, Pastor Rob called,” she said hesitantly. “He was asking about you again. Maybe we could—”
“No.” His tone was sharp, cutting through her words like a blade.
“Okay,” she said quietly, stepping aside.
Daniel didn’t want to hear about God, or faith, or miracles. If God cared, he wouldn’t have let the accident happen. If faith mattered, it wouldn’t have left him so empty.
After forcing down a few bites of toast, Daniel escaped outside. The fresh air stung his cheeks, cold and bracing. He hobbled toward the park down the street. He hadn’t been there since the accident, but today something tugged at him, a faint whisper he couldn’t ignore.
The park was empty, save for a few crows picking at scraps near the benches. The soccer field stretched out in the distance, a mocking reminder of what used to be. Daniel sank onto a bench beneath a towering oak tree and stared at the field. His breath came out in clouds, the silence around him heavy and still.
“Rough day?”
The voice startled him. He turned to see a young man sitting on the other end of the bench. He hadn’t heard anyone approach. The man looked about twenty, with golden-brown hair that seemed to catch the faintest rays of light filtering through the clouds. His eyes were a startling blue, as if the sky itself had poured its essence into them.
Daniel frowned. “Do I know you?”
The man smiled, a soft, knowing expression. “Not yet. But I thought you might need someone to talk to.”
Daniel shifted uncomfortably. “I’m fine.”
“Are you?”
The question lingered in the air, gentle but piercing. Daniel looked away, focusing on the soccer field again.
“What’s your name?” Daniel asked, partly to change the subject.
“Gabriel,” the man replied.
Daniel snorted. “What are you, an angel or something?”
Gabriel chuckled. “Something like that.”
There was something odd about Gabriel—something calm and unshakable, like he carried a kind of peace that didn’t belong to this world.
“You don’t know anything about me,” Daniel muttered.
“Maybe not,” Gabriel said. “But I can see you’re hurting. And I know how easy it is to let pain build walls around you, to keep hope out.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “Hope doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t make your leg stop hurting, or your future stop falling apart.”
Gabriel tilted his head, studying Daniel with those unnervingly bright eyes. “No, hope doesn’t erase pain. But it gives you the strength to face it.”
Daniel let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, well, I don’t have strength. Or hope. Not anymore.”
Gabriel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Can I tell you a story?”
Daniel shrugged. “Whatever.”
“There was a boy once, not much younger than you,” Gabriel began. “He loved to run, more than anything. It made him feel free, like he could outrun the world if he tried hard enough. But one day, he fell. His legs were broken, and the doctors said he’d never run again. At first, he was angry. He thought, ‘What’s the point of living if I can’t do what I love?’”
Daniel’s chest tightened. The story felt uncomfortably close.
“But one day,” Gabriel continued, “he saw a bird outside his window—a small sparrow with a broken wing. The bird couldn’t fly anymore, but it still hopped around, singing as if it didn’t care that it was grounded. That little bird taught the boy something important: even when life changes, it doesn’t have to stop. You find new ways to live, new ways to hope.”
Daniel’s eyes stung, but he refused to blink away the tears. “So what? Are you saying I should just get over it? Find some new dream and forget about soccer?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Not forget. Remember it. Cherish it. Let it shape you. But don’t let it be the only thing that defines you.”
For a long moment, Daniel said nothing. The wind rustled the branches above, scattering a few leaves at their feet.
“Why are you telling me this?” Daniel finally asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Because you’re not as broken as you think you are,” Gabriel said softly. “And because you have more to offer this world than you realize.”
Daniel looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. He wanted to believe Gabriel’s words, but the weight of his pain felt too heavy to lift.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he admitted.
Gabriel smiled, a warm and radiant expression. “You’ve already started, Daniel. Just by being here. By listening. By wanting more, even if you’re afraid to admit it.”
Daniel glanced up, and for a moment, he thought he saw something strange—a faint shimmer around Gabriel, like sunlight breaking through a storm. But when he blinked, it was gone.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Daniel said.
“You don’t have to do it all at once,” Gabriel replied. “One step at a time. And you won’t be alone.”
“Why do you care?”
Gabriel’s smile deepened. “Because sometimes, we all need a little help to find our wings again.”
Before Daniel could respond, a gust of wind swept through the park, scattering leaves and sending a chill down his spine. When he turned back to the bench, Gabriel was gone.
Daniel blinked, his heart racing. He looked around, but there was no sign of the mysterious young man. Only the faint warmth in his chest remained, like a spark waiting to catch fire.
He glanced toward the soccer field again, and for the first time in months, the sight didn’t fill him with anger or sorrow. Instead, he felt something new—a flicker of hope, fragile but alive.
Daniel sat there for a while longer, letting the quiet settle around him. His mind replayed Gabriel’s words. “You’re not as broken as you think you are.” Those words felt strange, yet powerful, like they were wrapping around his heart and refusing to let go.
For the first time since the accident, Daniel found himself whispering a prayer—soft, hesitant, almost a question. “God… if You’re there, I don’t know how to fix this. But I’m listening.”
The wind brushed against his face, cool and gentle, as though answering him.
He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. His thumb hovered over Pastor Rob’s name in his contacts list. He had ignored the pastor’s calls and messages for months, but something in him—maybe that whisper of hope—made him press the button.
The phone rang twice before a familiar, cheerful voice picked up. “Daniel! Hey, it’s good to hear from you.”
“Hi, Pastor Rob,” Daniel said, his voice uneven. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I… I think I need to talk. Maybe—maybe I could come to church this Sunday?”
There was a pause on the other end, but it wasn’t silence—it felt like relief. “Of course, Daniel. We’d love to have you. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I know,” Daniel murmured, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
After hanging up, he stayed on the bench for a while, letting the conversation sink in. He didn’t have all the answers, and his pain hadn’t magically disappeared. But for the first time, he didn’t feel quite so trapped by it.
As he stood and started his slow walk back home, he noticed the sky had begun to clear. The clouds parted, revealing a soft blue stretching far above him. A single ray of sunlight broke through, spilling onto the path ahead, and Daniel couldn’t help but see it as a sign.
His crutches bit into the ground with each step, but they didn’t feel as heavy now. The weight in his chest had lifted just enough to let in something new—a sense of possibility.
When he got home, his mom looked up from the kitchen table, surprised to see him smiling. “You okay, honey?”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah. I think I am.”
The next morning, Daniel found himself in front of the church, hesitating on the steps. The building looked taller than he remembered, the stained-glass windows glowing with light from the rising sun.
He glanced back, half-expecting Gabriel to be there, but the street was empty.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the heavy wooden door. Warmth and light greeted him, and the faint hum of a hymn filled the air. Pastor Rob spotted him from across the room and gave him an encouraging nod.
As he found a seat near the back, he looked up at the cross above the altar and whispered, “Thank you.”
Somewhere deep inside, he could almost hear Gabriel’s voice again. You’re not as broken as you think you are. One step at a time.
This time, Daniel wasn’t just smiling—he was ready to begin.