Music Box.

Here is the story of a young and infinitely curious boy, who was alone in the world. He owned a music box, which he would play every night before going to bed. One night, as usual, he sat beside his window and played his favourite song from the music box. He looked outside and happened to see a comet. Innocent as he was, he thought he was witnessing the falling of a star from the heavens unto earth.

Perhaps he had fallen asleep, or perhaps, it was his wonderful imagination - in his mind, he had run down the stairs, out the door and with the courage of children, chased through the open fields in search of the fallen star. Determined, he ran beyond the point of exhaustion, until finally discovering the object of his pursuit - and how beautiful she was.

He looked at her and she at him.

“Dear child, you must play me a song from your music box every night and, in return, one day I shall return and grant you one wish, understood?”

The boy nodded.

“Quickly now, go home and play me a song.”

He smiled, then thought for a moment and, with conviction only reserved for the most serious of tasks, turned around and ran back to his room as quickly as he could to play the music box. As it composed for him its delicate melody, he crawled into bed and sank into a comfortable sleep with only a single thought softly lingering in his mind: I wonder what I’ll wish for?

He dreamed he had asked her to stay.

Every night, he played the music box and watched the heavens, waiting. Though impatient, he dared not look away from the night sky, lest he miss the arrival of his star. He spent his days sleeping, eventually becoming a stranger to the day and friend to the night. After much waiting, still no sign of return from the one who would satisfy his yearnings. In-between sporadic bursts of doubt, he remained hopeful, and so passed the time by deciding what he’d eventually wish for when she did.

He decided he wanted the world to stop being to him as lonely as it pretended to be.

One night, as he wound the music box, the strange cruelness of life eventually chose to touch him. and so there was no more music to be heard. He tried and tried, yet the music box did not play.

For hours upon hours, he disassembled the music box and put it back together, over and over, without a song. Finally, it played, and in his triumph he almost hadn’t noticed the sunrise. The night had ended, the stars had been washed away and no songs were played.

The boy played the music box a few more times after that, but eventually, the boy grew older and abandoned the hopes and dreams of children.

Now a man, one night he catches a glimpse of the old wooden box lying on the corner of a shelf, and wonders if it still plays. He dusts it off, winds the handle, and remembers the star he had once loved as a child.