It’s a Risky-Safety-ful Life
[Inspired by "It’s a Wonderful Life" and "Omishi Magical Theater: Risky Safety"]
Featuring: Risky the Shinigami and Safety the Angel
Genre: Holiday Comedy-Drama
Original Concepts and/or Characters by: Frank Capra ("It’s a Wonderful Life" wink , Ray Omishi ("Omishi Magical Theater: Risky Safety" wink , Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (The "Back to the Future" trilogy) and Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy" wink
Written by: The_Otakutopian
Originally Created in: Christmas 2005
Rated: PG (for very mild thematic elements and subject matter, very brief mild language, and cute lead characters)
Christmas is that special time of the year when everyone is supposed to be full of happiness and good cheer. Sadly, there are still some people who get so depressed by all of the things around them that they need to see the good things in their lives. Thus begins the story about one such person.
One year on Christmas Eve in Heaven, angels prepared for the most joyous time of the year: Christmas. The “Pearly Gates” and all of the houses and cathedrals were decorated with tinsel and other holy ornaments.
However, many of the angels were aware that they didn’t have time to celebrate the holiday because they were ordered to go to Earth and help those people in need.
The main chamber of Heaven featured pillars aligned in a row on each side of a red carpet that lead to a large throne. And on that throne sat God, who virtually appeared human even though his head was hidden behind a cloud. He wore a long tunic that went down his knees and wooden sandals.
Suddenly, the doors on the other side of the chamber opened, and a woman known as the Mistress Angel appeared. She was not only the head of all of the angels of Heaven, but was also God’s second-in-command. The angel had long flowing blonde hair that came down to her legs, long white feathered wings that were as long as her arms, and a looseflowing angel’s gown that went down to her knees. Overall, she had the appearance of a beautiful woman in her 20s.
“Yes, Mistress Angel? What is it?” asked God.
“My Lord. I have heard about another poor soul who is about to throw away his greatest gift,” said Mistress Angel.
“I know,” God replied. “I’ve heard several prayers from people on Earth who needed help for a young boy named Daniel McFarland: age 15, brown hair, brown eyes, and a freshman in St. Vincent High School. He also lives with his mother and father in the town of Frosty Hills. Why would he want to give up his own life,” he asked the angel.
“Well, it appears that he had caused some trouble with his family this Christmas,” she answered. “He wanted to make it a wonderful Christmas for everybody around him. But, unfortunately, he made several mistakes that he didn’t mean to do.”
“And his family scowled him again?” God asked her.
“I’m afraid so,” she applied disappointedly. “Fortunately, I was able to notify one of my apprentices about him earlier.”
“Which one? That young apprentice Safety?” asked God.
“Yes sir,” answered the angel. “I understand that she may not be the best apprentice angel we have, but she was the only one who was available at the time. And she does have a good heart and sense of duty as well. However, she has to share her body with the wicked apprentice shinigami Risky who will also have her eye on the boy. But at least she isn’t perfect in her job either.”
“So the two young apprentices will have an equal chance on young McFarland, correct?” asked God.
“Precisely. Let’s pray that our apprentice will be successful,” answered the angel.
“Yes, for those people who are waiting for that young boy’s return,” said the Lord.
That night on Earth, the small town of Frosty Hills had a snowfall that was covering the entire ground under at least four inches of snow. There were several houses in the town that also had snow on them. In the middle of the town was a metal bridge about the length of a football field. About halfway across the bridge stood a young teenage boy dressed in a warm heavy coat, pants, hat, and boots. The boy looked sadly at the dark horizon, possibly thinking about the things he did earlier in the day. How he tried to make the holidays special for his family, but instead ended up ruining it for everybody. Clearly, this boy must be the young Daniel McFarland that God and the Mistress Angel were referring to.
Then the boy looked over the edge of the bridge and saw the dark water flowing beneath him. Then he thought that he only made everybody else’s lives worse, and that it might have been better if he were never born.
So Danny climbed up on the bridge rail but paused for a moment.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” he thought while climbing back down the rail. “I know that I’ve caused so much trouble for my folks this Christmas just like every other year, but I was only trying to help. I mean, I went out to get the stuff that they asked for, but I ended up getting the wrong stuff. I even tried to help decorate the Christmas tree until I tripped on the cords for the lights and the whole thing came crashing down on everyone.”
Danny then started banging his head in frustration.
“Oh God! What am I gonna do?!” he shouted to the sky.
Then he heard what sounded like a little girl slipping on the rail and falling off the bridge and splashing into the freezing river, screaming all the way down.
“Help! Help!” the voice cried in a high voice trying to stay afloat.
“Oh God! Now I’ve GOTTA jump!” The boy thought.
So Danny climbed up the rail and jumped into the river. Despite the freezing temperatures and the near-invisibility caused by the winter night, he kept following the victim’s cries for help.
“Don’t worry! I’m coming!” Danny shouted.
But just when the freezing cold nearly subdued him, the boy finally had the girl in his arms. However, he was a little surprised at HOW little she was.
“What the heck?!” Danny thought. “She’s only two inches tall?!”
The next minute, two police officers spotted the incident and ran to the river. One of them pointed the flashlight into the river that showed two unconscious bodies holding onto each other. One of them was Danny. While the other appeared to be a young girl who wore glasses, a long robe, a jewel brooch on her forehead, and…wings? Plus, she WAS only about two inches tall.
“Don’t worry, kid! We’ll get ya outta there!” one of the policemen said possibly ignoring the little angel because she seemed invisible to him or something.
About an hour later, Danny slowly opened his eyes and found himself on a couch under a blanket.
“Wait a sec,” he thought. “I’m in my house.”
Beside the couch that he was lying on, Danny’s living room also had a TV system in front of the couch, a smaller chair to the left of the couch, and a fireplace to the right of the couch. Danny looked towards the fireplace and saw tiny clothes hanging on a thin string. These included a light-colored robe and a jewel-like brooch.
“Either somebody has a valuable doll,” he thought, “or that thing that I saw really WAS--“.
All of a sudden, Danny heard a tiny voice from the fireplace. He saw a small person with grayish hair and white wings walking to the clothes on the line. She was also wearing glasses and a long bath towel.
“It IS you!” shouted the boy.
Terrified, the girl shrieked and hid behind one of the pillars of the fireplace.
“Please don’t look at me, Mr. McFarland,” she shouted nervously and blushing. “I’m not decent yet!”
Danny realized that the sprite-like person was almost completely naked and covered his eyes with his hands.
“I’m so sorry!” he answered with embarrassment.
Then Danny remembered about what the girl just said.
“Am I dreaming?” he thought. “How can I be seeing a living breathing person the size of a doll? And even if that girl ISN'T a dream, how was she able to know who I am if I didn’t even tell her?”
Then Danny paused for a moment and started smiling and blushing.
“Still, she IS kinda cute,” he thought.
“Okay, you can look now,” said the girl.
The boy opened his eyes and saw the girl floating in the air in front of him. She was wearing her light-colored robe and her jewel-like brooch that was on her forehead. She had light grayish hair that came down to her knees and big light gray eyes that were visible behind her glasses. And, as Danny thought before, she DID look a little cute.
“Are you that person I saw fall into the river?” Danny asked her.
“Yes, I am,” she answered smiling. “My name is Safety, and I’m an apprentice angel who was sent from Heaven to help you. And you must be Mr. Daniel McFarland of Frosty Hills, isn’t that right?”
“Uh…yeah,” Danny answered in confusion. “But HOW do you know who I am?”
“I was told by the Mistress Angel about your life and that you would be so sad,” Safety said.
“Mistress Angel?” Danny asked with even more confusion.
“Yes!” Safety said smiling.
“And did Rodney Dangerfield tell HER too?” he asked jokingly.
“Oh…I don’t know. Maybe” she answered with confusion.
“I was only joking,” he replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. McFarland,” she said bowing with embarrassment.
“It’s okay,” Danny said. “You can call me Danny.”
“Oh…I’m sorry Mr. Danny,” Safety said bowing with more embarrassment.
“Close enough,” he said with a sign of frustration.
For a moment, Danny thought to himself why would an angel even bother appearing before HIM? Let alone one who was tiny, female, AND adorable.
“So Safety,” he said concerned.
“Yes, Mr. Danny?” Safety asked.
“Why DID you come to see ME of all people?” Danny asked her.
Safety blushed for a moment and was unable to give a reply for a second or two.
“Well, I’ve heard from Mistress Angel that you were having some trouble with your life and you’ve even considered taking it away,” she replied.
Then smiling, Safety added, “So I was sent to cheer you up by giving you my blessings and by telling you that you’re having a wonderful life.”
Danny scoffed “Wonderful? Heh. How could living a life that only brings more frustration to the people around me be wonderful?”
He frowned and paused for a moment.
“The only thing that would cheer me up is not being born at all,” Danny spoke with a very somber tone.
Suddenly, Safety felt a slight pain in her chest.
“You don’t really mean that, do you?” she asked in mild agony.
“Of course, I do,” he answered angrily. “I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody even cared whether or not I was alive.”
Safety whimpered again because of another pain in her chest.
“But people DO care about you,” she said tearfully. “They would be really sad if you never existed.”
“You REALLY believe that?” Danny asked unimpressed.
“Yes, I do!” Safety replied crying.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed again.
Yet another pain struck Safety’s chest.
“But Mr. Danny. Please understand that angels don’t lie,” she whimpered.
“I thought you were only an APPRENTICE angel,” Danny scoffed.
“I am, but that rule applies to me, too,” Safety answered.
“Well, I wish I was never born!” Danny said in frustration.
“No! Please don’t say that!” begged Safety in pain. “I know you don’t mean it!”
“Like Hell I don’t!” he said angrily. “I WISH I WAS NEVER EVER BORN!!”
“AAAAH!” screamed Safety falling to the floor with tears flying out of her eyes.
Then Safety let out one big poof of smoke that spooked Danny.
“What the heck?” he thought.
“So, ya wanna wish you were never born, huh?” said another girl’s voice. Only this one sounded sassier and meaner.
“Safety, is that you?” asked a surprised Danny.
“Nope, guess again,” said the voice.
Then the smoke cleared revealing another girl around Safety’s height standing on the floor. She had long shaggy black hair and big bluish eyes. She wore a black witch’s hat with two points instead of one, a black dress, black gloves that were half the length of her arms, black pantyhose, and black cowgirl-like boots that reached her knees. The girl was also holding what appeared to be a scythe shaped like a pterosaur’s beak.
“The name’s Risky, and I’m the shinigami who’s gonna take your soul,” she said eagerly.
“Oh, great. ANOTHER cute and tiny apprentice,” said Danny unenthusiastically.
“APPRENTICE?!” shouted the shinigami angrily. “Who ya callin’ an apprentice?! I’ve come from a long line of shinigami that take the souls of depressed loser people like you! How dare you call me an apprentice!”
“So in other words, you’re the Grim Reaper, right?” asked the boy.
“No, actually, HE'S away on an important mission,” answered Risky calmly. “He’s tryin’ to take the soul of some fat guy from Quahog, Rhode Island. Don’t really know that guy’s name, though. So I was sent to take YOUR soul instead.”
“And how are you gonna do that?” asked Danny.
“Didn’t ya wanna see what life would be like if your were never born?” asked Risky.
“Yeah,” answered a surprised Danny.
“Well, when ya mentioned all of that negative junk to that loser angel Safety, ya turned her into me,” said the mischievous shinigami. “Normally, I was gonna take yer soul on that bridge you were on, but you were darn chicken you couldn’t jump off the bridge until you had me turn into HER and had US fall in instead. But this plan is even better ‘cause I can fulfill your wish.”
Then Risky gave a more sinister look and voice.
“But under one condition,” she added.
“What’s that?” asked Danny.
“Ya gotta give me yer soul when ya see how much better life would be like without ya,” she explained.
“Uh…okay,” he answered reluctantly.
“Just gimme a moment, would ya?” Risky said
“Uh…sure,” Danny replied.
Then Risky sat down on the floor, took off her hat, and pulled a very old book out of it.
“What are you gonna do?” asked Danny. “Pull a rabbit out of your hat?”
“No,” answered the shinigami, “but I am gonna use some awesome magic. Ya see, it’s my little trusty spell book.”
“Oh, cool,” Danny said.
“Ya darn right it’s cool,” Risky replied.
Risky opened up her spell book and skimmed through many of its pages until she found the spell she wanted to use.
“Ah, here it is!” she shouted excitedly. “’The Spell of Alternate Universe.’”
“Is that the right spell?” Danny asked.
“Yep, this is it,” Risky replied.
The shinigami then put her hat back on her head. She then laid the book on the floor and held her scythe over it.”
“Is this spell gonna hurt?” Danny asked.
“Nah, but the stuff yer gonna see might,” she said assuming her victory.
So Risky raised her scythe over her head and began her spell’s chant.
“Solid as steel and cold as a knife, show this poor fool a more Wonderful Life!”
She then slammed her scythe top down onto her book, and a second later, the room was covered with thick smoke. Both the shinigami and her new victim coughed for a moment because the smoke was getting TOO thick.
When the smoke cleared, both the boy and the shinigami ended up in the same room that they started their discussion, or DID they?
“Hey, we’re in the same room, you stupid shinsengumi!” Danny protested annoyingly.
“That’s SHINIGAMI, ya samurai-movie-lovin’ freak!” Risky replied angrily. Then with a calmer tone, she added, “Besides, it only looks like the same room, but many things have changed ‘cause you were never born.”
“Really?” Danny asked. “What things?”
“You’re gonna hafta find out for yourself, Mr. Mc-FOOL-land,” she answered with a sinister chuckle.
All of a sudden, the door to the right of the fireplace knocked.
“Those are probably my mom and dad coming home to give me another scolding for ruining Christmas,” said Danny.
“Maybe, maybe not,” taunted Risky. “You’re gonna hafta answer the door.”
“Okay, okay!” exclaimed an annoyed Danny.
As he walked towards the door, Danny muttered something to himself.
“First I bought the wrong stuff from the mall and market. Then, I brought down the Christmas tree. Then I almost froze to death after jumping into the river saving a hallucination who claimed to be angel of HOPE trying to save my soul from ANOTHER hallucination claiming to be an angel of DEATH.”
When Danny finally reached the door, he gave a sigh.
“At least things can’t get any worse,” he thought.
One more knock on the door had occurred.
“Who is it?” Danny asked.
“It’s the Sandersons,” said a woman’s voice. “We’re the owners of this house.”
Billy was shocked. “The SANDERSONS own this house?” he thought. “But this is my house! What’s going on?”
Risky gave an evil snicker while hiding in the couch.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said to the lady waiting at the door. “You must have gotten the wrong house. This house belongs to the McFarlands.”
“What are you talking about?” asked the slightly annoyed woman. “Isn’t this 547 Boulevard Road?”
Danny froze for a second. Of course this house was 547 Boulevard Road, but that was the address to HIS house.
“Yeah,” he answered reluctantly.
“Then, this is our house,” the lady replied with some frustration. “Are you a friend of our son or daughter?”
“Son or daughter?!” Danny thought in confusion. “These guys have kids living in my house too? And they’re in here NOW?!”
“My name is Danny McFarland,” he answered annoyingly. “I live here with my mother and father, and I don’t know any people with the last name Sanderson.”
“I said that you weren’t gonna like it,” taunted Risky.
“Shut up, you Goth-lookin’ sprite!” Danny shouted at Risky.
“SHINIGAMI!” growled Risky.
“WHATEVER!” he replied.
Danny then heard a discussion coming from the people waiting outside.
“Dear,” said Mrs. Sanderson to her husband, “It must be burglar trying to hurt our kids.”
“Burglar?!” Danny thought in shock.
“Looks like we’ll have to call the police on this guy,” replied Mr. Sanderson.
“Police?!” thought an even more terrified Danny.
“Good thing I have my cellphone,” added the husband.
“CELLPHONE?!” thought Danny in a shriek.
Risky chortled evilly at her victim.
“Now you’ll see how useless in this world you really are,” Risky said.
“I’ve gotta get outta here!” thought Danny.
Danny raced into the kitchen and came out of the house’s backdoor. He ran through the snow of the street until the house was out of his sight. Then he stopped by a park bench to catch his breath.
“What the heck is going on?” he thought in disbelief. “I’ve lived in that house for 15 years. How could it not be mine.”
“Because in this world, you don’t exist,” said a familiarly sweet girl’s voice.
Danny looked down on the bench and found the young apprentice angel Safety standing on top of it.
“I thought you were gone,” Danny said.
“Well I was gone for a moment,” answered Safety, “but only because you were filled with so many negative feelings that I became the bad shinigami Risky. But your newfound hope of living again brought me back.”
“WHAT newfound hope of living?” argued Danny in denial.
“Well, don’t you want to know why there is another family living in your house?” asked Safety.
“I’m probably hallucinating again,” answered Danny. “Yeah, this has probably all been just a bad dream since I’ve fallen into that river.”
“Please, Mr. Danny,” pleaded Safety. “You cannot deny all of the terrible things that might have happened without you to prevent them.”
“Whatever,” scoffed Danny.
“Well aren’t you even curious about what happened to your mother and father?” asked Safety. “Why they aren’t living in that house you just left?”
Finally, Danny paused for a moment. After all of the things that had happened to him today, he thought that he might as well know what the fate of his so-called loving family would have been.
“You know what happened to my family?” he asked the angel.
“Well, a little bit,” Safety answered him nervously. “But I don’t think you should--“.
“Please,” interrupted Danny. “You have to tell me where my family is!”
“Well, I don’t know,” answered Safety reluctantly.
“Where can I find them?” asked Danny with more desperation.
“You’re not going to like it,” Safety replied.
“JUST TELL ME, WOULD YA?!” shouted Danny.
At that point, Safety paused in order to gain the strength to tell her friend the truth. If it was something that Safety would try so hard to avoid mentioning, it had to be bad. Finally, Safety had the courage to tell him.
“Mr. Danny,” she said, “your mother and father have both been in the same place for the past five years…St. Michael Cemetery.”
Danny was horrified. Could what the little angel just said be true?
Without hesitation or a word of thought, Danny quickly ran down the street, leaving Safety alone.
“Oh, at this rate, I’m never going to be a full-fledge angel,” Safety said sadly.
All of a sudden, Safety felt yet another pain in her chest, and she let out another poof of smoke that followed with the return of the mean shinigami Risky.
“YES, I’M BACK!” Risky shouted cheerfully. “Now I’m gonna go finish what I’ve already started.”
So Risky started running to catch up to Danny at the cemetery.
“Danny McFarland, your soul is MINE!” she shouted.
Danny continued running until he finally made it to the opening gate of the cemetery. The gate featured a tall archway with the inscription “St. Michael Cemetery” on the top of it. He paused for a moment at the archway worried about what he would find.
“I’m not sure if I should go in there,” he thought in fear. “But I really have to know.”
Before Danny could set foot into the cemetery, Risky finally reached the gateway stopping beside him.
“So, you’ve finally decided to wait for me, huh?” Risky said panting.
“I didn’t stop for YOU,” Danny argued. “I just stopped to think about something.”
“Come on, ya don’t actually believe a word that twerpy angel said, do ya?” asked Risky.
“I don’t know,” Danny answered with uncertainty.
“She was probably lyin’ about the whole thing about your family,” Risky said. “They’re probably so filthy stinkin’ rich, they have their own personal continent by now.”
“But I thought Safety said that angel’s DON'T tell lies,” Danny replied.
“Yeah, well, in a way, I’m a shinigami, and that’s like an angel of death, right?” asked Risky. “So, wouldn’t that mean that *I* can’t lie either?”
“Good point,” Danny answered with disappointment.
A moment of silence had occurred before either of the two characters spoke.
“Still,” Danny said looking towards the cemetery, “I HAVE to know for myself.”
So Danny ran under the archway and towards the graveyard. An annoyed Risky was about to follow him.
“Darn that kid!” she said angrily. “How am I ever gonna become a full-fledge shinigami if he never cooperates with me or accepts the fact that he’s useless in this world?”
Then Risky felt a cold wind blowing toward her that sounded like the souls of the dead cursing her. This made Risky pause and shiver.
“On second thought,” she replied nervously, “maybe I should just wait here and let that twerp come crawlin’ back to me.”
Then the shinigami realized something.
“Wait a minute,” she thought. “It’s my duty as a shinigami to take the souls of others regardless of the situations. How silly of me.”
So Risky resumed running to Danny.
Meanwhile, Danny was searching tombstones in the graveyard to see if any of them had the engravings that he feared the most: those of his parents. Finally he came to the last two tombstones. They were so dark, he had to stand right beside them to make out their inscriptions. What he found brought him into a total state of shock.
Risky stopped for a moment panting from all of the running she did, especially on the areas with much snow.
“Man, being a shinigami is a lot more work than I thought,” she said while panting. “I think I’m gonna puke.”
Suddenly, Risky heard a loud scream coming from the other side of the cemetery.
“That must be that brat,” she said, “and it sounded like he figured out the truth. I’ll get him now. Charge!”
But after Risky took first step or two, she felt a pain in her body and exploded into a puff of smoke revealing the kind angel Safety.
“Oh no! I’m in a cemetery,” Safety trembled. “Please forgive me old souls for disturbing your peace, but I’m looking for a young boy who might have come in here. Have you seen him?
Another scream occurred from the same direction as the first.
“Oh, Mr. Danny’s in trouble!” she said. “I have to help him!”
So she flew off over the tombstones until she found a shadowy person kneeling in front of two tombstones.
“Oh thank goodness, I’ve found him!” she said in relief.
She flew towards the shadowy person, who was revealed to be Danny. He appeared to be totally startled by the tombstones in front of him. Because those tombstones were for his mother and father, and they both mentioned the person they represented died five years ago. Finally, Safety landed on Danny’s right shoulder. She saw what appeared to be tears coming out of his eyes.
“Mr. Danny?” asked Safety with worry.
“What?” asked a shook-up Danny.
“I’m sorry that you had to find out about this on your own,” she answered.
“YOU'RE sorry?” he replied with a breaking voice. “I don’t even know how something like THIS could’ve happened because *I* didn’t exist.”
“Because you were always there for your parents whenever they truly needed you,” answered the angel.
“But I’ve been a stubborn jerk to them for so long,” said Danny. “And I’ve messed up a lot too.”
“That doesn’t matter,” said Safety. “You were always there to do your parents important errands when your parents were unable to do them on their own. And you were also able to share your sense of humor with your parents, which kept them feeling young for so long. Without you, they lost their ability to feel young and ended up working themselves to their untimely deaths.”
Danny paused. The whole thing had now started to make sense to him, including why the world would have been worse without him. It was because of him that his parents had lived for so long and did not die of a heart attack or stroke. Or worse: they could have ended their own lives, just as HE tried to do himself. After thinking about all of that information, a tear fell down his cheek.
“You see, Mr. Danny,” Safety added. “Even the least likely person could make the biggest differences in the lives of others; whether there were many people affected by them, or just a few. It’s true that some people may have made life cruel and hard for everyone around them, but most people had actually done more good for them. You, for example, may have made several mistakes in your life, but you shouldn’t let all of those bad things stop you from doing the good things you’ve done. Do you understand now?”
But Danny was so shocked, he didn’t answer her.
“Mr. Danny, are you all right?” a worried Safety asked.
All of a sudden, they heard several voices from the archway of the cemetery. Despite being a little shook up from the news of his parents’ deaths, Danny still recognized the voices.
“It’s the Sandersons,” he thought. “And they’ve come with police officers to arrest me.”
“There he is, officers!” said the Mrs. Sanderson from a distance. “The young man who tried to rob our house!”
Dogs were heard from the location coming toward Danny and his little angel friend.
Danny got up and ran out the back door of the cemetery opposite of the main archway, not knowing that Safety was still on his shoulder. Safety fell in the air screaming but then exploded into smoke and poofed back to Risky, who managed to land on her feet.
As the dogs ran closer to her, Risky once again pulled out her spell book and looked up the right spell to deal with the dogs.
“Nobody’s gonna take that kid’s soul, but ME!” she yelled at the dogs swinging her scythe. “How ‘bout you taste the wrath of the ‘Magic of Fear’!”
Risky slammed her scythe onto her book and in a poof of smoke appeared a giant mechanical dog right beside Risky. The real dogs got so scared of the robot, they ran away to their owners.
Meanwhile, Danny was still running in the snow panting loudly. He made it back to the same bridge that he jumped off to save Safety. But as he ran, he slid on some ice on the beginning of the bridge and landed face-first about in front of the ice. He then started shivering and even crying. The experience seemed to have finally been too much for him.
“Safety!” he cried. “Please help me, Safety! I wanna go back to my family! I don’t even care what happens anymore! I just wanna go back! And Risky, as much as I needed to know about this, you can forget about getting my soul, you jerk! ‘Cause I wanna go back! Take me back! Please! I just wanna go back!”
He then cried on the bridge platform having his arms in front of his face.
Suddenly, an arrow with a star-shaped arrowhead with the letter ‘H’ printed on it landed on his back. A beam of light engulfed the area without Danny being aware of it. Everything around him changed to the living room of his house. Or was it the Sanderson’s house?
“Danny!” a woman’s voice yelled.
Danny stopped crying and jumped out of the couch in shock and hid behind the nearby chair.
“Leave me alone! I don’t wanna go to jail!” he shouted.
“What’s gotten into you, Danny?” said a man’s voice. “Are you alright? The policemen found you in the river and were able to pull you out of there and to bring you home to us.”
Danny was quietly wondering how somebody in this house could have known his name, let alone what happened to him.
“Who are you?” Danny asked nervously behind the chair. “And how do you know my name?”
“Danny, we’re your mom and dad,” said the female voice.
“We’ve known you for 15 years,” said the male voice.
“My mom and dad?” Danny thought in surprise.
Danny was wondering if he should believe those voices. Could his parents really be alive again? Or was this yet another trick played by the dastardly Risky. Danny slowly poked his head out of the chair and finally saw the two figures. Then his look of worry turned into a look of surprise.
“Mom? Dad?” Danny replied. “You’re alive?”
“We’d better be,” said the man. “We’re just glad YOU'RE alive.”
Their replies sounded so sincere. Danny’s look of surprise turned into a look of joy. These people WERE his parents.
“You’re alive!” Danny shouted happily.
He walked close to them, and the three of them hugged proudly.
“And so are you!” said both of his parents.
“Mom, Dad. I’m sorry about ruining your Christmas,” Danny said.
“What do you mean?” his mother asked in confusion.
“Well, I didn’t get the stuff you told me to get at the market or the mall,” Danny answered. “And I accidentally had the tree fall on you. And then I--“
“That stuff happens,” his father interrupted. “We’re okay about it.”
“And we’re glad that YOU'RE okay too,” added his mother.
“Thanks guys,” Danny said, “and Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Danny,” said his parents.
The clock in the living room struck three times, signifying 3:00 AM Christmas Day.
“Well, we better get to bed,” said Danny’s mother. “Tomorrow’s gonna be a big day.”
“Today has been a pretty big day, too,” said Danny, “with the angel and the shinigami and all.”
“Angel?” asked the mother.
“Shinigami?” asked the father.
“Oops!” thought Danny to himself. “I forgot that I was the only one who could see them.”
“What’s this about an angel?” asked his mother.
“Yeah, and what’s a shinigami?” asked his father.
“Oh…just something I might have seen on a Christmas special,” Danny answered nervously.
Then he walked into the kitchen on his way to the stairs.
“Well, gotta go to bed,” he said. “See ya tomorrow. Merry Christmas!”
As he walked upstairs, his parents looked confused. What HAD he been doing tonight? And what the heck was a shinigami?
When Danny went into his room, he walked to his bed and kneeled down beside it. Then he closed his eyes, smiled, held his hands together, and started praying.
“Thank you Safety,” he prayed in thought. “Thanks for helping me get through this and for giving me the strength to live on. I almost think that you’re my GUARDIAN ANGEL or something.
Then he chuckled softly.
“And thank YOU, Risky,” he continued, “for actually SHOWING me why I should live on for the people I care about. Even though you drove me crazy, at least you had a cool sense of humor.”
Then a tear of joy fell down his cheek.
“Thanks you guys,” he continued, “and Merry Christmas.”
Waiting outside floated the apprentice angel Safety wiping away tears of joy off of her face.
“They say that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings,” she said. “Of course, I already have my wings, but at least I am finally closer to becoming a full-fledge angel.
Safety then pulled out a bow and an arrow with the same star-shaped arrowhead with the letter ‘H’ that was shot at Danny earlier.
“And I was even able to master the ‘Hopeful Arrow’ to restore Mr. Danny’s world to what it was,” she added.
Then Safety flew up to the clouds of Heaven looking down at Danny’s house with a smile.
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Danny,” she said, “And may God bless you forever and ever.”
She disappeared into the clouds.
That Christmas Day, at the McFarland household, Danny and his parents enjoyed opening presents, watching Christmas specials, and meeting old friends. And they were happy.
“Thanks you guys for making this a Merry Christmas,” Danny thought to Risky and Safety.
In Heaven, Safety the angel got a message from God stating that she was awarded 100 points on her angel evaluation for saving a child’s life on Christmas Eve. And she was happy.
“Thank you, Mr. Danny,” Safety thought, “and I hope you have a Merry Christmas too.”
In Hell, however, Risky the shinigami got a message from the head shinigami stating that she got zero points on her shingami evaluation because she failed to take the soul of that young child on Christmas Eve. And she was definitely NOT happy.
“Man, this sucks,” Risky thought, “Getting zero points on the holidays is really gonna hurt my reputation.”
And they all lived happily ever after, except for the poor shinigami.
“Bah Humbug!” shouted the grumpy Risky to the reader of this story.
THE END
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