A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.

-Edward de Bono

Prologue

The little girl kept running, sobbing as she did so. Nobody loves me, she thought miserably. She had lost her mother and sister in the park; she thought they had left her behind. She flopped down in the middle of a field and started to sob even louder.

"Why, Mommy?" she wept. "Why don't you love me anymore?" She took off the locket her mother had given to her for her birthday and threw it. She didn't care if she ever saw the necklace again. As the girl wept, she did not notice the mysterious man watching her. He took a strange interest in her. No-he was not attracted to her. He simply wanted to comfort her. He just did not know how. Maybe if I weren't such a monster, he thought. As he crept away, he stepped on a twig. The girl turned around, her brown hair whipping around her face. She got up and slowly walked over to where she had heard the noise.

"Hello?" she called out. The man stepped out from his hiding spot and waited for the girl to scream. When she didn't, he got closer to her. The girl stood still, showing no signs of fear. "Are you a fairytale creature?" He smiled slightly.

"I heard you crying," he said. The girl looked down at her shoes, embarrassed. "Are you sad about something?"

"Nobody loves me…" she trailed off. The man immediately related to the girl, even though he was much older. He often felt the same way. He clumsily picked up the girl's locket. She looked at him in amazement. "Thank you," she said. She cautiously took it and played with the chain.

"Are you scared of me?" the man asked softly. The girl smiled and shook her head. He cocked his head, confused. "But, I'm…different." The word made him shudder slightly. It reminded him of painful memories he tried so hard to forget. The girl shrugged.

"I'm different, too. I'm not like the other kids at school. They say mean things about me, and the teachers say mean things, too, sometimes. But then I remember what my Nana told me before she went with Jesus to Heaven: 'Each of us represents a star in Heaven. Sometimes we shine with the rest, sometimes we twinkle alone and sometimes, when we least expect it, we make someone else's dreams come true,'" she quoted. The man looked at her curiously.

"What is 'Heaven?'" he asked, liking the way it sounded when he said it. It sounded so pretty.

"It's where Jesus and my Nana live. Me and you are gonna be up there some day." The man looked up at the sky, imagining what this "Heaven" looked like.

"How do you know we'll be up there?"

"Because you're a good person. You're nice to me, unlike all of the other kids at school." The man looked down.

"I've done some very bad things…" he trailed off. "Things that a lot of people hate me for." The girl was about to respond when a woman called out her name. The man started to panic.

"Please don't go! You're my friend," she whispered. She went over to him; he crouched down to her level. "I promise that I'll come back tomorrow," she said. She softly kissed his pale cheek and placed the locket around his neck. He looked surprised, wondering why she had given her such a precious thing. Before he could thank her, she ran off in the direction of the woman's voice.

"You're my friend, too," he whispered as he watched her run off. Happy that he had met someone new, he waited for the little girl's return. Every time he heard a child's voice, he hoped it was her. Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks; there was still no sign of his friend. The unbearable weeks soon became unbearable months. The leaves changed color, and before he knew it, the months became years. He still waited for his friend, in hope that she would one day come back.

But deep down inside, he knew that he would never see her again.