The sun streamed happily into the square room. It spattered its rays 
over the bare, plastered walls and silently crept upon the figure of a 
tiny boy. Not more than six, he lay scrunched into a tight ball, an 
expression of pain and extreme fear worn taut on his face. Grasping the 
white sheets tighter around him, he took a glimpse at his surroundings and 
slowly sat up. No picture frames, flowers, or paint to liven the drab, 
dull walls. It screamed of loneliness, pain, and suffering, all of 
which bubbled deep within his young heart. Burying his face into the 
pillow, he cried and wailed out his pain. He wanted to scream, to rant, to 
make someone, anyone, wade through the same agony he was wallowing in. 
But above all, he longed to climb into his mother's lap and wrap his thin 
arms around her waist just to assure himself that she was still here. 
He wanted to jump onto his father's back and pretend to wrestle him to 
the ground as he could remember himself doing so many times in the past. 
Choking now on the tears that wracked his small being, the boy grasped 
his own arms around himself, trying and struggling so hopelessly to 
imagine his mom's embrace. Scrunching his face, tears ran down, unchecked 
like rain down a windowpane. Smelling a waft of his mother's 
all-too-familiar scent, the boy's eyes quickly fluttered open, only to be shoved 
in the face with the monotonous view of powdery-talc panels and a 
strangely maddening odor of new plaster. Slumping back down onto the lumpy 
hospital bed, he hid his face under the comforting weight of the pillow. 
For some odd reason, the sight of sunlight in his room was nauseating 
to him. Unable to cry any longer, the little boy fell into a restless 
slumber just as the tiny alarm clock sitting on the table beeped out an 
insistent twelve times. It was Christmas day.
The hospital was abuzz with excitement as nurses and doctors greeted 
one another with jolly greetings of goodwill and cheer. There were smiles 
and laughter in every corner of the hospital, wreaths adorning many of 
the doors of the patients, with the exception of one. The little boy 
awoke to squeals of surprise and joy from the room next to him: quite 
obviously she had received all she had been wishing for Christmas. With 
his eyes rapidly filling with tears, he fell back into the bed, bunching 
the sheets up to his chin. The cottony sheets, instead of offering the 
solace and comfort he had expected, had quite the opposite effect. They 
choked him, wrapping irritatingly around his thin body. They had a 
similar effect on his throat, bringing a rise of emotions, making it 
difficult for him to breathe. Flinging roughly away at the sheets, he could 
feel the beginnings of tears scratching at the insides of his eyes 
before he coarsely rubbed them away with the back of a hand. He could still 
remember vividly, the flickering candles placed throughout his house, 
the wreath garlands, and the cozy fireplace. 
'I can't have that anymore,' he thought bitterly. The boy fell back 
into bed, not even trying to quell the tears that flowed from his eyes. 
"I just don't want to be alone..." he whispered out painfully, right 
before he felt a slight tug on his hospital robe. He opened his eyes, and 
turned towards the distraction.
It was a small girl, most likely no more than 4 years of age. Eyes wide 
with mirth	 and felicity, she giggled happily before proffering a rose.
"It's a gift! Daddy bought me two of them: one for Mommy. I got a 
brother today! You can have this other one because you look sad. I'm not 
supposed to talk to strangers because they might hurt me, but you don't 
look like a stranger and you couldn't hurt me, right?" 
The boy stared enraptured at her twinkling eyes and toothy smile before 
hesitantly plucking the ruby-red flower from her chubby fingers. She 
was like a ray of hope: an angel that had saved him from his despair. He 
had never met her before this fateful day, and yet, looking deep into 
the recesses of her eyes, he felt an odd sense of knowing: he had met 
this girl before. Shaking the crazy notion from his head, he turned to 
speak to the girl, almost afraid that she had disappeared just as 
suddenly as she had come. 
"W-Who are you?" the boy breathed out, helping her as she struggled to 
lift herself up onto the bed. "A friend. Are you sick?" she chirped out.
"My parents...they're gone. They died in a car accident a couple of 
weeks ago." He choked out, his cerulean eyes pervading with unshed tears. 
"I'm sorry..." she whispered out sadly, her own eyes spilling with 
salty tears. "But don't worry...you're not alone."
He sharply glanced up at her, his mouth dropping open in shock and 
surprise. Had she read his mind? How could she have so readily discovered 
his deepest fear? 
"I'll be your friend. Your very best friend!" she exclaimed, nodding 
her head emphatically. 
"R-really? Do you promise?" the boy stammered out, eyes wide with 
incredulation. He had never had a best friend. So why would a person want to 
befriend him now, in his deepest hour of solitude? Denial and 
hesitation swirled an angry turn in his gut as he raised doubtful eyes to the 
girl. There was nothing he could offer her.
"With a lonely guy like me?" he asked, smiling slightly. He was 
striving to keep the mood light and nonchalant, succeeding save the glimmer of 
fear evident in his eyes.
The adorable tike, obviously startled by his question, recovered only 
to reel back and shove his chest.
	"Are you dumb or something? How can you be lonely with a best friend?" 
she quipped out, eyes gleaming with righteous indignation before a 
flicker of uncertainty flashed across her face.
	"Unless...you don't w-want me to...to be your...best...friend..."she 
trailed off, struggling unsuccessfully to hide the tears gathering 
swiftly in her eyes.
	"NO! I do...God, I...of course I do! I'm just shocked that...YOU would 
want to be my best friend." He blurted out hurriedly, desperately 
reaching for the emotional alleviation of his grief that he knew she could 
offer.	"Well, okay then. We're best friends. We can shake on it." And with 
that, the little girl stuck out a hand, grasped his, and firmly shook.
	"We'll be best friends forever!" she said resolutely.
	"Forever." He repeated, unable to wipe the delirious joy apparent on 
his face. Like a star shining proudly in his black dark week of nights, 
the boy grabbed onto the hope that this little girl gave selflessly. 
For once in the last couple of weeks, his future looked bright. And so he 
laughed out with joy.