Hello awesome readers! Guess who's got her first follower! Ok, you got it right, it's the girl doing a happy dance around her room! Great guessing!

So I guess I'm being FOLLOWED now, hehe, that sounds creepy when you think about it.

ANYWAY, Merry Christmas! Please enjoy this Christmas speacial, and remember those special people around in your life at this time of year. Enjoy!

Life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. It's not some fair-tale-ending with Prince Charming riding off into the sunset. Life will knock you down, chew you up, and spit you back out. But it's not about how hard life throws you. It's about how hard you get thrown, and keep going.

There are some people that don't understand this. People who think the worst thing that can happen is if the Life cereal box is empty in the morning and that hot guy at school asked Jenny out when so should have asked them.

Some people people do understand it, but don't care. They expect others to take care of the problem while they ignore it, pretending to be oblivious to the problems that surround them. They stay in their own little world, where everything is perfect and they don't need to get their hands dirty.

There's also the people that know about life, and face it's challenges, and don't care. The people who don't just get chewed up by life, but add hot sauce. That don't think anything matters, and don't realize how precious life is.

And of course, there's the fighters. The people who have felt the force of life, fallen, been knocked down, chewed up, spat up, thrown up, and spit up, but no matter what they will get up. They understand that no matter what life throws at them, to always have hope. Because no matter where their at right now, it will get better. My name is Glory. And I am one of these people.

Some people say that shooting stars can grant wishes. Anything your heart desires. No mountain is to high, no valley to low, for the power of the wishing star. That if you believe and are pure of heart your wish will come true.

That's the stupidest thing in the world.

In reality, shooting stars are just pieces of rocks that fall from the sky. I must have wished on a million of those dumb things, and trust me, my wish isn't happening.

Maybe my wishes got lost in the mail, or I have an invalid address or something, but I'm pretty sure it's just because they have no power. No mysterious mubo jumbo, no fancy magic, just something I watched fly by from the tiny window I slept under. The window that showed me glimpses of the world beyond.

In my entire life, I've never been outside. Never felt the the grass, or had the sun shine down fully on my skin. Never heard the birds as I watched them build nests in the spring.

I'm ten years old.

The most logical question is- why not run away?

And believe me, I've thought of it. I've laid awake thinking about it night after night, but really, I never could. For one, simple reason. Sunny.

I gave her that nickname a long time ago, for her sunny attitude. Her real name is Sunandiya, which is an old word meaning "One with a sweet character." Sunny is my best friend- my only friend. My sister. And there's no way I could leave her.

Of course she doesn't know I've thought of leaving. Sunny's a special kind of person who thinks no matter how hard life is, it's great. I suppose that right to an extent, but Sunny can over do it.

And this is my story. The story of Glory, the girl who doesn't know her last name, who knows nothing about her parents. But this isn't a pity-me story. I don't need my parents. Because I already have a family. Sunny.

And this is our story.

I stared up at the window that I called the sky hole. Dawn was coming, and the small piece of sky that I could see was a soft grey, with a hint of pink at the edges. A cool breeze blew through and chilled me slightly. I gave a small shiver, then grinned and threw off the thin blanket. Glancing quickly at the sleeping forms around me, I got up and scrambled up the bookshelf, using the shelves as foot and hand holds. As quietly as I could, I made my way to the top of the tall shelf.

Only a foot away from me was the sky hole. It was small, about three or four hands across, a perfect circle. It was right above the shelf I was sitting on. Up here, high above everyone else, was my quiet place.

My favorite books were stacked by one wall. A few pillows I had, ahem, acquired from a room awhile ago was where I curled up to read. I had a small stack of paper with as many pencils I could take without being found in a small cup. Next to that was a cup of water that was always full. I left it there overnight, and each morning it tasted like stars.

No one knew about this place. Not even Sunny. It was my place. My secret place. On summer days I would lay out the pillows and lay, getting glimpses of the amazing blue of sky. And sometimes, every now and then, I would stack books up high and peek my head head out to look around. Only for a second though, in case someone saw me.

I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall, and I scrambled down quickly, silently cursing myself for not being careful. I had just jumped into my 'bed' and pulled the blanket over my head, when the door slammed open and the yelling began.

"Get up, up, up! Come on, breakfast in five, and the charity people are here, so step lively!"

I scrambled off the floor before the blanket could be ripped off my head, and rushed down to the mess hall, forgetting to wait for Sunny in my excitement.

Because we wouldn't be having a normal breakfast today. Today was the day the charity people would be here, which meant the food would actually be good for once. The orphanage director wouldn't want word to get out that his 'perfect' orphanage wasn't that cracked up to be, and get his permit taken away. Which meant that it had to seem nice.

And if it meant getting yummy food today, it was fine with me.

I reached the mess hall and loaded my plate with tons of food. Scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits... they even had little butter containers today. Grinning, I poured orange juice into a cup, making sure to get plenty before it was all gone.

Sunny was already seated at our usual table, waving wildly at me. I smiled, and headed towards her.

"Hi Glory!" she chirped when I sat down, her mouth full of food.

"Morning." I said, spreading butter on a piece of toast. Sunny grinned, and started talking up a storm.

"Are you excited, cause I'm excited. 'Cause there's good food today, which HAS to mean that those charity people are here. And that means presents! I hope their not like last years, when they were already picked over. What kind of gift do you want? I'm hoping for a big fluffy blanket like Emma Eisen got that one year, or maybe a cute polar bear. Wouldn't that be adorable!? Or maybe.." Sunny babbled. I listened with one ear, purposefully keeping my mouth full of food as an excuse not to talk.

Once a year, Toys For Tots, and other organizations like that would get toys donated to them for kids who couldn't get presents. And once a year they would come to the orphanage bringing the exact amount of gifts as there was kids here, hand them out, and leave.

Unlike Sunny, I wasn't really excited about the gifts. They weren't usually that great, and if there was any money that came with them we had to give it to one of the teachers right away. I could use a nice big pillow, to replace the threadbare ones up by the sky hole. But really I wasn't expecting anything great.

So that's why, when we were gestured come stand in the middle of the room, I wasn't really excited. But I stood next to Sunny while the smiling volunteers passed out the wrapped presents, then told us to go back to our tables and unwrap them. I followed Sunny as she hurried back and started tearing into hers.

I unwrapped mine slowly. The wrapping paper was a bright sparkly silver, and I wanted to save it.

"Aww!" Sunny exclaimed. I glanced at her, and she held up a small, stuffed animal cat.

"It's so cute!" she said happily, cuddling it close. I smiled at her, and she grinned back.

"Well what are you waiting for? Open it!" she told me, and I undid the last piece of tape to reveal... er...

"What is it?" Sunny asked, voicing my thoughts. I held up the soft silver thing. It had black eyes and long arms, and a cute smile.

"Aww!" Sunny said. "It's adorable!"

I flipped it over and looked at the tag. On one side it had the manufacturing details, and on the other it said,

"Fun Fact: Sloths can take up to a month to digest a meal!"

Wow. Amazing.

"It's a sloth." I told Sunny. It had a red and white scarf wrapped around it's neck, and if I was truthful, was very cute.

"Give it a name! How about fluffy?" Sunny told me.

"No thanks." I laughed, then looked at the toy. "I'll name it... Silver."

Later that night, while I was laying in bed, I rolled over on Silver and heard a crinkling noise. Blinking open my I eyes, I fumbled around until I found the source- two twenty dollar bills, rolled up and tucked in the scarf.

Aw crap.

There was no way I cold get up and give a teacher this now- and even if I did they'd probably assume I had decided not to give them the money until now, just to be difficult.

Not that I wanted to give it to them

A small smile spread across my face. Two twenties... forty whole dollars. I thought of all the things I could do with that. I could finally get some better pillows, maybe get something for Sunny...

Except I couldn't go outside. I sighed- the fatal flaw in my plan. There was no way I would be able to get anything if I couldn't go outside. Except... tomorrow.

I sat up straight in bed. Tomorrow, no one would be in the orphanage except the cooks. The teachers and everyone were going on some trip. On most days off like this, all the girls would go into the bathroom to try different things with their hair, and all the guys would go to the cafeteria and play some sort of game. But if I could sneak out of the sky hole, no one would even notice I was gone!

No one, except Sunny.

I'd just tell her that she wouldn't see me today, and I'd explain later.

Grinning, I tied the precious dollar bills back into the scarf and lay back down, hardly able to go back to sleep.

I frowned at the sky hole. Could I fit through? I stole a quick glance behind me to make sure no one was in the room.

All clear. Everyone had left. I had explained- all though 'explained' might not be the right word- to Sunny that she wouldn't see me today. The teachers were all gone.

I took a deep breath and climbed on to the stack of books, swaying precariously until I reached up and gripped the edges of the sky hole. Holding my breath, I went up on my tip toes, sticking my head all the way through and looking around.

So it turns out my initial thoughts of being seen were unfounded. This section of the roof was sheilded from the streets by a large, up-si-down V part of the roof.

Carefully, I pulled myself out of the sky hole and on to the roof. It was east to keep my balance-the roof was only set in a gentle slant to rid itself of rain, and it was easy to walk on. I felt completely at home up here, wind in my hair.

But how would I get down?

I had thought that through, hadn't I? The great Glory, master of plans hadn't decided how she was getting off the bloody ROOF!?

I was an idiot. This had been a bad idea.

I was about to turn around and head back when I saw exactly how- a huge tree right next to the roof. I scurried over and quickly saw it would easily hold me weight. Grinning, I swung myself into the tree and climbed down, where my adventure awaited.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw it, laying in the glass case. It was perfect.

I had already gone to a hundred shops, looking at all these amazing things from so many places. I had bought a fruit that the seller had recommended, saying it was the best of all, called a guava. I had bought a small bag of candy called 'lemon drops' and another bag of 'butterscotch' that I would share with Sunny. And I'd bought a big, fluffy pillow, and big, fluffy blanket.

And now I was staring at it- the most perfect gift for Sunny in the whole world.

It was a necklace. The chain was made out of gold links, and the pendent was a medallion with a sun made out of small yellow jewels. I glanced at the price tag- 30 dollars.

Exactly what I had.

Excited, I called over the sales clerk, who took it out for me. I handed her the money, the smile on my face falling as she described something called 'sales tax'.

What in the name of bloody heck was sales tax?

Apparently it meant the necklace was now thirty ONE dollars.

My lip quivers, and I know I'm about to cry, which I refuse to do because I NEVER cry. No matter what happens, I DON'T.

But I'm about to, that is, until the lady grins and hands me the extra dollar.

"Merry Christmas hon." she tells me, and I beam up at her, making my purchase and running out of the shop, My bags hitting my legs. It's almost sunset, and I need to get back, ASAP.

I might not have done it.

Standing there, looking up at the tree, I would have just turned around and walked back to the town. I would have left and never looked back.

And I thought about it, long and hard. But there was a face seared into my head, who would not go away.

Sunny.

Letting out a long sigh, I realized I couldn't leave her. I wanted to give her the necklace, and share 'butterscotch's' with her, and read that one book that we both love so much. She was in there, probably worried sick, and there was no way I could leave.

And with that, I climbed up the tree and on to the roof.

And I did look back, once.

But I wasn't leaving. At least, not without her.

"But what if I fall?"

"You won't fall."

"What if I crack my head open?"

"Your head will be fine."

"What if I-"

"Sunny, shut up and trust me ok?" I frowned down at her, and she grins, and takes my hand.

"Ok."

I pulled her up onto the top of the book shelf, the new pillow already there.

"What's this?" she asked

"This is my secret place." I say with a shy smile. "My hideaway."

"I love it."

"Yeah, well you'll love this even more. Follow me." I told her, and climbed on to the stack of books, then out the sky hole.

I stick my head back down to look at her. Knowing better to protest, Sunny climbs on to the book stack and I lean down and hoist her up after me.

The sky is a deep, dark blue, the stars are already out. It's a beautiful night, with so many stars, and a huge full moon. I can see Sunny next to me, it's so bright.

"This... this is amazing." Sunny whispers.

"Here." I handed her the bag with her present in it.

"Whats this?"

"Your Christmas present."

"But Glory, I didn't get anything for you.. how did you even...?"

"Just open it."

Sunny opens the bag and pulls out the necklace with a gasp.

"It's beautiful! I love it!" she says, giving me a big hug. I grinned at her, hugging her back and helping her put it on.

"Here, try this." I said, handing her a butterscotch. She opened the tiny candy and pops it in her mouth. I follow suit.

"So good!" we both said, and laughed. Grinned, I leaned back, looking up at the stars. Sunny settled down beside me with a sigh.

Suddenly a flash appeared in the sky.

"Look! A shooting star! Quick Glory, make a wish!" Sunny exclaimed. I laughed, and hugged her tight.

"Why would I do that?" I asked with a grin, looking back up at the sky.

"I got all I need right here."

Well I hope you enjoyed this Christmas special! I also hope it gave you a bit of insight into Glory's past, although there is still more to be revealed, such as why in this part of her past, she didn't mind being touched by Sunny, or how she finally got out of the orphanage, and things like that.

But until all those are revealed, thanks again for reading this. Merry Christmas!

~Sky