She held onto things.
She didn't know why, only that it seemed necessary. Maybe it was because she had lost so many things in the past because she forgot to hold onto them. Maybe it was just an obsession.
Or maybe she was just afraid that she'd be left behind.
One day her mother found the old red ribbon. Without a second thought, the woman threw it away, along with all of the love and tears that had soaked into it, along with all of the memories, hurts, fears, laughs, comforts. When she found out she had cried, searching for it aimlessly. Finally she curled up, feeling herself breaking and shattering deep inside, spilling blood as red as the lost ribbon.
She had watched them all leave, taking their separate paths. She had known that they would do great things, and that she would be left behind again, the ever present burden. The infamous cowboy, waltzing off into the sunset, she the lonely stone and sand left that he left behind.
She feared to be that desert, alone in the burning days and frigid nights. It haunted her in her dreams, whenever she saw or thought of them. Those chances she could have taken, the things she could have done.
But always she held back, because she knew what it was like to be left behind.
She was terrified of losing things because she herself was lost.
So she held onto them. The memories, the emotions, the fear, everything. It was said that she had the best memory in the village, but that was because she need it. It drove away all of the things that crept past her, leaving her alone in the dust.
But no matter how much it hurt, she pulled herself back. She wanted to be the one that they would return to, the one who would hold their memories and feelings and everything else and tuck them away, safe for another time, another place. The one who would keep them safe at night when they cried, the one who would always be there and keep them from crying; the person who would cry and hurt for them.
She hated to be lost.
So she held onto things.
And she waited, knowing that someday someone would have to come back.
And maybe they would.