Please no flames and let me know what you think in the comments even though this story may seem a bit off.
"Ta-da! This one's from me and your mom." Kyle Masterson said as he handed his daughter, Jo, a small box wrapped in yellow with a blue ribbon. Her last birthday present.
Today is Jo's 11th birthday and Kyle wanted to make this one worthwhile. Instead of having a big birthday party with her relatives like every year, all of her guests are all busy today with work and school and other stuff. Nobody came, not even Jo's best friends, Danny and Lacey. He had to go to a family reunion in Nevada and she had to attend a funeral. Kyle knew that Jo would've been disappointed, so he and his wife, Tess, decided to take her out to an arcade and she had a lot of fun. Then when they came back home, they decided to have cake and open some of the presents her relatives sent her. Right now, Tess is holding a camera with a huge smile, recording her daughter opening her father's gift to her.
As Jo opened the gift, not caring about ruining the beautiful wrapping paper that she wanted to save, Kyle hoped that Jo would like the gift that he and Teas got for her. When she finally opened the box, her excitement calmed down and she brought out a small music box from the box.
The music box was very unusual, yet looked very delicate. It was in the color of a very dark shade of blue, the size was the same size as the palm of Jo's hand, and it had small drawings of a carnival all over the small artifact.
"Do you like it, Jo?" Kyle asked. "I know it may seem a little childish for you, but we thought it could be perfect."
Jo's smile wasn't the same one she had when she opened her other presents. This one was very fake and her parents must know it too, but they didn't say anything. Her thoughts in her mind must be, "Why did my parents get me this? Are they too cheap to get me something else?" She wanted to say this aloud, but she didn't. All she did was use her fake smile full of charm and nodded.
"Thank you," she said as she faced her father then back at her new music box. She twirled it around in the palm of her hand and upside down to let her see a foreign word that she never heard before written in a very glittery font.
Taikatalvi
Tess eyed her husband and gave him a hand gesture, possibly to let him let her know why he got it for her. Kyle understood his wife and came closer to Jo.
"Here, let me show you how special it is." He grabbed the music box from his daughter's hands and he began twisting the knob under the music box. When he twisted it enough, the music box played a very haunting and beautiful tune as the top began to rise to reveal a snowman wearing a leather pilot hat and goggles acting as if it could fly in the sky, while a small boy was riding on it like a horse. In the background, there was a painting of a roller coaster with clouds on top of it, making it snow on top of it. When the intro was done, Jo then heard the lyrics, but they were in a foreign language too.
Lapsistain rakkain tää näyttämö on
Mis kuutamo kujillaan kulkee
Taipunut havu, kesä hoivassa sen
Valkomeren niin aavan
Joka aavekuun siivin
Saapuu mut kotiin noutamaan
Päällä talvisen maan hetki kuin ikuisuus
Mi pienen kissan jaloin luokseni hiipii
Tääl tarinain lähteellä asua saan mis
Viulu valtavan kaihon
Ikisäveltään maalaa
Laulullaan herätää maan
When the lyrics stopped playing, Jo listened to the beautiful ending with a flute solo. She didn't even realize that she was smiling wide when she heard the lovely song. This gift made her realize why her dad got her this. Three years ago when she was seven, she had a dream that she was somewhere in a prairie full of snow. She was lost, until she found a snowman—a live snowman—with a smile on his face, hoping to keep her company. They talked and laughed until they heard a jet plane go across the sky and the snowman said that he wished that he could fly so that he could let Jo know what it is like to see the sky. That was when she woke up and told her parents about it.
When the song ended, Jo couldn't stop smiling, even as her mom turned off the camera and her dad gave the music box back to her. This may be childish for a now 11-year-old, but Jo thought this is a great gift. While still holding the music box, she hugged her dad as a thank you for the gift. She then came over to her mom and hugged her too.
"Well, that's the last of the gifts," Tess said. "Jo, why don't you bring your gifts to your room while me and your father clean up this mess?"
"Well, that sound exciting," Kyle said. Jo then nodded to her mom after letting a smile grow after she heard her dad's sarcastic manner. She began collecting all of her gifts and started to go up to her room, holding the music box tightly in her hand
—
Two and a half weeks later
"Come on, Danny!" Jo said as she ran up a hill with Danny following her like a lost puppy. Lacey would've been hanging out with them at their little house, but she had an important thing to attend. At least Jo will be able to hang out with Danny since he came back from his trip from Nevada.
She might be able to show him her music box. She managed to look up the lyrics of the song, knew that the language it was in was Finnish, and learned it quick, in Finnish and English. After showing it to Lacey—leaving her impressed—, she wanted to show it to Danny even though it may seem girly to him.
"I'm trying, Jo!" Danny shouted back. This surprises Jo, because Danny always goes faster and beats her and Lacey when they reach their house, leading to them both making the fire for all of them.
"Come on, Danny!" She shouted, trying to motivate him. "You don't want to make the fire for the first time, don't you?"
That actually got him motivated and he began to run faster. When Jo realized he helped him, she began to run much faster to their house. She thought that she was going to win this time when she was closer to the small handmade house, but apparently, Danny ran past her and won with a victory smile.
"Nice try, Jo," Danny said. "But you get to make the fire again."
Jo smiled at him and gave him a slight punch on the shoulder before entering the house. This is now going to be hard for her since she never made a fire by herself and she only made fires with Lacey. Only when she grabbed two sticks to make the fire, Danny came by her side and grabbed two sticks.
"Actually, I'll help you with this one."
Jo smiled again and they both began trying to make a fire. That didn't turn out well. They only made sparks, but no flames. Danny also kind of burnt himself while rubbing two sticks together. Not wanting her best friend getting more hurt from trying to help her make a fire, she dropped her sticks and clapped her hands together.
"Why don't we not make a fire for today?"
Still rubbing his hands from his burnt spot, Danny nodded as he dropped his sticks. "Sounds good." They both then sat down on the leaf-covered floor.
"So how was your trip to Nevada?"
"It was fine. I got to meet a lot of my mom's side of her family and I had a lot of fun."
"That's great. It must be fun to go to a family reunion. Both of my parents are only child's and I only have my grandparents."
"That must be nice," Danny said, probably not realizing what he said. "I wish my Aunt Tara wasn't even born."
"What?" Jo asked again since he mumbled this surprising saying.
"Nothing," he said with his voice trembling. He really hoped that Jo would just drop what she just almost or fully heard, but she didn't. Even when he stood quiet and not wanting to talk, she broke the wannabe silence.
"Danny, are you feeling okay? Before you left for Nevada, you've been acting weird since your birthday. You keep saying you didn't want to see your aunt, you say that she's a horrible person, you even don't want to eat her food that she makes us when she babysits. Is there anything she's doing to you?"
Danny still stood quiet, but he shook his head after a while. "No, I'm just…look, it's some family thing that's going on and it's very personal. So can you not talk about it ever again?"
Jo still didn't believe it since she knows Danny very well and knows that he's a very good liar, but she nodded.
At least that made Danny smile again. "Thanks, Jo."
And all of a sudden, he hugged her. Jo stood there in a frozen gaze. Danny Desai never hugged her. Ever. Only by the shoulders, yet very quick and fast. Not this time. This time, he hugged her chest to chest, calm even, and Jo didn't even ask why he was doing this. Maybe the family stuff gotten into his head and he needs a break.
Only when Danny broke the hug, he looked back at Jo and he then realized what he had done. "Sorry" was all he could say. But Jo shrugged back as to say, "It's cool". And then again, an awkward silence. It could be like this for this entire time together, but Jo doesn't want it to be like that. She then remembered her music box.
With that thought in her mind now, she grabbed the music box from her pocket and tapped her friend's shoulder. "Hey, Danny, look at this."
Danny looked back at Jo and he saw the small dark blue music box that she held in front of her face. His face them changed when he looked at it. "What is it?"
Jo smiled. "It's a gift that my dad gave to me for my birthday. It's a Finnish music box."
Danny did a small cock on his eyebrow when he saw this. "Isn't that, you know, a little childish for you?"
"At first, but when my dad showed me it after I took it out of the box, it revealed to have a beautiful Finnish song inside with a special figurine that reminded me of a dream when I was seven. That dream actually made me have a strong imagination that you and Lacey noticed well."
Danny began to touch the small box, possibly memorized by the paintings of the carnival and the color. "Where did your dad get this?"
"I don't know. Some store, but it's beautiful, isn't it? And I'm surprised that a small boy is interested in stuff like these."
"Hey, I'm not interested in it," Danny defended himself. "I just wanted to know about it." He giggled and he moved his hands away from the box. "What song does it play?"
"Like I said before, it's a Finnish song called "Taikatalvi". Here let me show you." Jo began turning the knob many times and when she stopped, the music box began to rise. It once again played the haunting beginning as the snowman began flying with its little boy on his back.
"A snowman?" Danny asked.
Jo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a snowman was part of my dream. Don't judge me, Danny."
"Whatever. And you said it was in Finnish."
"Yup, but don't worry. I'll translate for you."
When the lyrics came out, I translated for him.
This stage is the dearest of my children
Where moonlight moves through alleys
A bent twig, a summer in its care
White vast open sea
On the wings of a phantom moon
Comes to take me home
In winterland a moment is an eternity
Creeps to me on kitten paws
I get to live here where the story begins
Where a violin echoes the eternal melody of immense longing
Waking up the earth with its song
When the song ended, I sighed from having to translate all those lyrics. "So, what do you think?"
Danny stood there and he looked at the box, them back at Jo. "It sounds kind of like a lullaby or maybe another music box that you can dance to."
"You mean like the one in Anastasia?"
"Yeah, it could be like that." Silence began to form again. Danny took the music box from Jo's hands and turned it around like how Jo did when she saw it for the first time. Jo didn't want this to be talk and silence for the rest of this friend time together. She wanted to have something funny to happen. With one thought, she had an idea.
"I wonder what it could be like to dance like that," Jo said, now pretending to think of the movie, Anastasia.
"Now you're thinking girly now."
"Shut up." She nudged him on the shoulder.
As Danny accepted the nudge, he thought about Jo's wondering. She wanted to know what the dance with a music box as music and it may sound silly, but he wants a chance with Jo. To have a special moment, since this may be their only time alone. She doesn't even know that he has a crush on her and he wants to try and make a moment with her
"Hey, Jo?"
"Yeah?"
He grinned as he still twirled the music box in his hands and stood up from the ground. "How about we could know what that dance would be like? I mean, it's not like it could be romantic, but just for the fun of it."
Danny thought that from what he said, Jo would laugh; say he makes up the silliest ideas; say no. But she didn't. Instead, she stood up also and smiled back at Danny. "Why not? It could be fun. And after it's done, we can laugh about it in the end."
How cute? She thinks it's a joke. For Danny, it's the real thing. When Jo agreed, he began to twirl the knob and set it down on the handmade shelf. He moved his hand away from the music box and moved back as he saw the same snowman rising to began to take flight. He then turned to Jo who looked ready to dance even though she wasn't dressed in a fancy dress like the other girls in the movies. He didn't even bother to know what to do; he just stood there frozen with no thought.
"Oh, um," he started off. "So, how do I even…"
Jo knew he was having trouble even when the intro almost ended, so she helped him. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her waist and placed her arms on his shoulders just like the two figurines in that other music box. They started moving as soon as the first verse began playing.
Lapsistain rakkain tää näyttämö on
Mis kuutamo kujillaan kulkee
Taipunut havu, kesä hoivassa sen
Valkomeren niin aavan
Joka aavekuun siivin
Saapuu mut kotiin noutamaan
As soon as the orchestral break played, Danny's heart swelled up as he looked at Jo while they both were dancing around in circles. He was both relieved and surprised that he didn't even step on her foot like other boys when dancing. Jo was also surprised by this. She wanted him to step on her foot. It was part of a joke that he always did, but not this time. Not even during the second and final verse.
Päällä talvisen maan hetki kuin ikuisuus
Mi pienen kissan jaloin luokseni hiipii
Tääl tarinain lähteellä asua saan mis
Viulu valtavan kaihon
Ikisäveltään maalaa
Laulullaan herätää maan
As the verse ended and the flute solo played, Danny was face-frozen. He can't believe the moment he dreamed of with Jo is actually happening. His heart is pumping, his adrenaline is racing, and his eyes were locked with hers. He always liked Jo when they met, not as a friend though. He just even wished that Jo is feeling the same thing.
But Jo has a much different mind than Danny.
Jo thought to herself, "What's happening? Danny's suppose to make his joke like all the other times with me and Lacey. Why isn't he doing it? I don't understand."
Finally when the song ended and the snowman landed from the sky, the two friends broke the chest-to-chest dance and faced each other with shock, confusion, and tension.
"Danny," Jo started, still surprised. "I don't understand. I know you better than everybody. I know that when you want to do something that seems stupid, you wait until its halfway over and do something funny trip somebody. You didn't do that this time. I never wanted to know what the dancers felt like if they're even at a ballroom. I just wanted something funny from you to…"
Before Jo could finish, Danny quickly stepped forward and gave Jo a kiss on the cheek. It wasn't long though it was just a peck, but it counted as a kiss. Danny wasn't even thinking before, during, and after he did that. He didn't even realize it before Jo looked more shocked than before and it made him come back to reality.
But before he could say something, Jo thinks that he may say what she thinks he's going to say and ran out of the house.
Danny tried to follow her but by the time he went by the exit, he couldn't see Jo anymore. Still breathing heavily from what he did, he went back to the house and leaned back against the wall and fell to the ground.
"What did I do?" He said to himself before he covered his face with his hands. He didn't mean to do that. His heart was just swelling up with nervousness and he didn't even know what to do. He got lost when he danced with Jo to that beautiful tune of her music box.
Realizing the thought of the music box, he looked up and turned to his left to see that Jo forgot her music box and it was still standing on the shelf. Without getting up, he grabbed the music box and looked at it. He imagined the painting of the carnival moving by itself and wished that he could go there, to get away from what's happening right now.
Now wanting to see the snowman, he lifted the top with his index fingernail and left it open for him to see the snowman flying with its boy on its back. He wished that the figurines would be different. He wanted it to look like a couple, dancing with the painting of the snow covered roller coaster behind them. It could remind him of himself and Jo dancing in that brief moment. He just imagined himself as the boy and Jo as the snowman and thought of them dancing instead of flying.
Wanting to pretend to see him and Jo dancing, he closed the top and twisted the knob again to let the song play once more.
If you guys want to know, I did not make up the song and there's no music box that plays it. The song "Taikatalvi" belongs to Nightwish and the flying snowman and the boy flying it in the music box is based off a scene from the movie, Imaginaerum by Nightwish. I immediately wanted to make a fanfic with this song and I thought of this show on my mind since I support Janny all the way! Again, please let me know what you think in the comments!