For ages, Malcom had longed for love. From the years he was a living being, his heart could only latch onto others, hoping and pleading for them to look at him once, to view him as something more than just the “consequence of his mother’s affair”.

Even if it was a far fetched wish, and the damages done to his and his mother’s reputations could never be forgotten, he could not hold back the way he continued praying to any God who would listen.

“Make me loveable,” Malcom would cry out nightly, clutching his hand with his other the way he imagined his future lover would.

Alas, those he crushed on were much too good for him. Perhaps because their hands and pockets were filled with riches he could only dream of, or because they simply couldn’t handle being seen with a bastard child.

So alone he had died, with no hand to hold and no soul to look for in the next life. Even as his body was drained of life, he received nothing but disrespect and disdain, having been buried in the woods, unknown for the rest of time.

It was another typical night as the winds met with the branches, swaying to the tune of solitary silence. All was normal beneath the veil of midnight, twinkling stars blinking above the souls of Earth.. Until the soil housing each root in the woods began to tremble.

“… My dearest, respond to me. If thou dost love me, let it be known,” he had heard from beneath each grain of dirt, no further context needed before the galaxy drove a dagger back into his heart, giving him life.

Malcom’s lifeless body emerged from the ground, evoking a violent tremor. His eyes pulled open abruptly, meeting with the intensely frightened state of a stranger before him. Yet, they were his stranger. Had they not just confessed their love?

A soft smile tugged at his cracked and dried lips, body still showing decors of decay and death. Yet, the glint of something gold and shiny stood out from his palette of shade, wrapping around his ring finger.

“My angel…” Malcom croaked out, staring lovingly into their fearful gaze.