Christmas Miracle — Shea Balik

At a very early age, Ben learned that, in life, there was no such thing as something to believe in. What was the point? Each time he did, someone would come along and prove to him how wrong he was. The fact that his sister died by a drunk driver, who'd walked away without a scratch, and forcing Tobias to move to Texas -- one of the most homophobic states in the country -- to take care of his now motherless nieces, drove home just how cruel life could be. How was he supposed to help two of the sweetest kids he'd ever known deal with the hell their life would be without the one person they'd depended on, when he was fairly certain, his moving to Texas would only show them how horrible people could be to one another?
Darius had seen things that would make most people cringe in revulsion and dread. His parents had traveled, with Darius in tow, all around the world to help those in need. So tragedy wasn't something new to him. As terrible as some of it had been, Darius had also seen the kindness and sacrifice people made to help others. He was a true believer in the goodness of humanity.
Determined to help Ben discover that though he may have had hit a few bumps in the road growing up, he'd also met people who had been there for him, helping him when they didn't have to get involved. For life might not always be perfect and at times even cruel, but it was also wonderful and kind if one knew where to look.
Ben had to admit that Darius was causing him to look at the world differently. That there might be a chance he'd been only looking for the negative. But, for him, there was one more test that the world would have to pass for him to truly change and it would take a Christmas Miracle to do it.