Heart Shaped Box

On a cool, breezy day, a girl walked through a semi crowded market. Her hair sway in the breeze as she slowly made her way down the isles and through the shops. The girl had very limited means of trade, though she had no intentions on buying a thing. Her legs grew tired slowly as she had been there a good few hours walking, and when she decided she was going to leave and head home, a small shoppe off in the corner caught her eye. This shoppe had nothing special, in fact.. it offered very little, if not nothing that a woman her age would find interesting. Though, she had the taste of a fourty year old woman at times when it came to the things she purchased. After short debate, she decided to walk through the shoppe, to see what it had to offer. As expected, there was not much on the tables, though.. something shimmered in the sunlight. A heart shaped box. Plattenum coat with fancy golden trim around the edges and legs, and an engraved image of a bird perched on a cherry blossom tree, singing happily. This box interested her, so she picked it up carefully and wound it to hear the song. She lifted the lid and watched through the glass as the metal pricked the studs, the song drowning any other form of sound. She had to have it, but knew it would be expensive.. With a lump of doubt in her throat, she turned it to see the price. Five dollars! What luck! That just happen to be all that she had in her pockets! She turned to look for the one who owned the shop, her eyes resting on the kind face of an old woman. After the trade was made, the woman gingerly wrapped the box in paper and placed it in a bag for the girl. She smiled and waved at the old woman and turned to leave, her heart fluttering happily in her chest.

The door slid open to allow the girl to enter the room she occupied her time in, filled with things of her own interest. Taking her place slowly at the seat at her desk, she carefully unwrapped the box and looked it over. Even with the dim light of her room, it shimmered brilliantly. She had no regrets in purchasing this particular item. None what so ever. She took in the image for a long while, saying nothing, moving not a single inch, just thinking as the smile on her face dimmed. She turned the box over, reading the song description on the back. She had a distant look in her eyes as she glanced at the silver ring on her left hand, then back at the box as she turned it back over. Her fingers pinched the 'key' on the bottom as she wound it, then pushed the lid with her thumb, taking in the magestic ticking of the music box, and the whirring of the gears. As if in a trance, she rested the box on the table and took ahold the ring on her left hand, slowly pulling it from her finger and looking it over. The ring had a very significant meaning to the girl.. it belonged to someone.. Someone she lost.. And.. with a sigh, she placed the ring in the small compartment of the box, listening as the song slowed. With a sigh, she closed the lid, haulting the song before it faded, and lowered her head.

She did not regret buying the box, but instead, realized it had more of a segnificance than she had once believed. The song played repeatedly in her head as she closed her eyes, thinking of the ring.. and the song.. The song called "The Way We Were".. The song that played.

In the Heart Shaped Box.