It had been so long, he wiped the dust from the top of the old trunk, he lifted it, what was inside, was his life, a life that ended tragically on a frosty November morning in 1997. She was his light, he would sit with her, watching the sun melt into the earth, sending shards of green, baby blues, dusty pinks and glowing lavender across the sky. She used to tell him that dusk was her favorite time of the day, because, it was that still moment as the sun dipped below the horizon , and the sky turned purple-black, when time stopped, and everything stopped. He had agreed with her fully, for a seven year old she was amazingly adapt to know how the world worked, she understood things better than him sometimes.

His life was crammed into this tiny box, a hair clip, a pillow, a slew of pictures, she loved to draw, she'd draw anything, everything. And his most prized possession. A music box. He slowly pulled the key from under his dress shirt, slipped the gold chain from around his neck, the key to his heart. Slowly he slid it into its place, the keyhole at the bottom.

He cranked it slowly, listening to the matalic sound the key made as in wound up the music. He unlatched the latch, and opened the small wooden box. His life came rushing out, as he listened to the chime of the melody. He remembered it all when he heard that music, the scent of her hair, the sound of her laugh, how it felt when she tugged him down the street toward the park, yelling at him for being so slow.

She was his Dakota, Kody for short, only seven when she died, yet her life seemed so fulfilling, like she was a iron angel, come down to earth to teach everyone she knew the meaning of what it was to be happy.

He put the music box down, as he moved on to the pillow, slowly he brought it up to his nose. He could almost hear her small voice, so lifelike, so real, he could see her sitting next to him.

"You know you can't smell me on that old thing." She stated, bobbing her blonde head with simple conviction. He knew she wasn't there, she was dead, right?

"Yes... yes, I can, it smells like your... strawberry shampoo... like your strawberry." He stopped himself when he realized he was alone in his closet, on the floor, still in his dress shirt and tie. In Boston, alone, so alone.

He allowed his mind to drift back to Kewaunee, to Tiffanee, and Kody. Tiffany, his sweet young bride... they were both seventeen, he had gotten her pregnant, so they had no choice. He was going to the academy, when, she was born. So little, small and pink, for some reason he had the hardest time imagining that he created that little bawling girl, out in the world without any protection in the world.

Tiffany had a job as a checkout girl in the local piggly wiggly, not a dream job, but it helped pay the bills. He moonlighted at a tire factory, when he came home, Tiffany and Kody were waiting for him. When he became a cop, Kody was so excited, beaming, telling everyone "My daddy's a peace officer." He looked down at the picture glued to the bottom of that music box. It was Kody, with her arm around his neck, wearing his uniform hat. He was only a beat cop, bottom of the totem poll. He was always careful, he vowed that no matter what, he was coming home to her. Then with a simple phone call his life was left shattered and broken on a bathroom floor, his happy ending never happened.

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Jordan sat in her car, the night enveloping her like a blanket. She couldn't muster enough courage to even get out of her car. Why did he seem so far away? What was it about November that sent him into a tailspin. Often she wondered what had happened to him that caused those quiet November evenings where for hours on end he sat silent in the back of the bar, swirling his drink around, his sapphire eyes staring at the floor, holding a key in his hand, tightly, as if someone was preparing to take it away. She sighed, she told him that he had no problems, she told him he was well adjusted, now she wasn't so sure, there was something he wasn't telling her, a secret, he didn't trust her with... she had to know, maybe not tonight, but she would get it out of him. She turned on her car and drove away, leaving him and his secrets behind.