The second I saw it, I lost my mind. It was beautiful, it was perfect, it was the thing that I’d been looking for. The colors were brilliant, one was the color of a mid-day sunshine, one was the color of the ocean, there was fire and grass in the cube. One was like brilliant teeth and the last was like a fire truck, all arranged in a neat cube. Many people were staring at me and probably wondering why a grown man was staring at a child’s key chain. I grabbed it and ran. I’ve always been a fast runner but today I seemed to run faster. I didn’t stop until I reached my house. I entered without hesitation. I heard my brother and sister’s voices from the other room.

“I can’t stay here forever,” she said, “I mean he’s my brother and she’s my niece and I love them both to death, but I have a life of my own.”

“I understand,” my brother replied, “but he’s going crazy, ever since the girl’s mother left, his mind has been going. I can’t stay with him but maybe we can check him into a home or something.”

Why were they assuming that I wasn’t going to stay in this house, and I can’t stay by myself? They have been talking like this for ages.

I entered the room and they silenced immediately. They both looked nervously around the room, anywhere and everywhere but at me.

“Where is she?” I panted, tired from my running. My sister pointed to the corner of the room, directly across from their rocking chairs, where a five-year old angel was lying in a small bed. Traces of her birth defect were etched upon her face. I handed the precious gift I had risked for her. I had risked everything for her, because I loved her so much.

I whispered, “Happy Birthday,” she grabbed it and then took her last breath.