Title: If Anyone Cared

Rating: PG - PG13

Summary: This is a story about the fate of a child, and how he was thrown into

another, because nobody cared.

In the midst of summer, the world is hard at work. Stocks rise and fall. People die

and more are born. Problems are created and others are solved. And all good

little children are off school for holiday. This particular summer the fate of one child

was changed. If anyone had called, the authorities would have known that at 5 PM

that Thursday night there had been an explosion on an otherwise quiet street. If

anyone had bothered to lodge a complaint, the police would have learned that a full

scale fight had taken place between guardian and child at the same residence. And

if anyone had cared, the cops would have known that a steaming, murderous man

had dragged the little child into his car and returned the next evening without him.

But no one did, so in the middle of a large clearing, deep in a dark and, in all

probability, dangerous forest a small boy sat with his arms hugging his knees,

humming to himself. Today was his fifth birthday.