• "Mommy?" Karoline asked.
    "Yes, sweet heart?" mommy replied.
    "Are you better yet?"
    "No, not yet." her mother had cancer in her brain. Right now her mom was wearing a blond wig over her bald head. Mommy looked wrong without hair. She was sad without her long black hair.
    "When are you going to be better?" Karoline searched her mother's face. Even at five-years old she could still sense her mommy's pain.
    "I don't think I am, hon."
    "Why?" cold tears made their way down her warm cheeks.
    "Come with me sweetie." they left the kitchen to sit on mommy's big love seat. "Don't cry." mommy slowly wiped the tears away.
    "But you're not going to get better."
    "I want to tell you something important."
    "Okay." she sniffed.
    "Listen to you heart." mommy had to slowly lift up Karoline's hand and put it over her heart.
    Thump, thump, thump.
    "Always keep that sound with you, and there is one man in this world whose heart will match yours. He will be your man to love forever." mommy smiled.
    "Okay."
    "Promise to me that you won't forget."
    "I promise, mommy."
    The next morning Karoline tried to wake her mommy up, but she didn't move. Her mother was dead on her own birthday. Gone forever. And Karoline refused to forget her promise.

    Eleven Years Later:

    Karoline leaned against the brick wall.
    "Hey Lusie." her friend Karen said.
    "Hello Karen." Karoline said in a bored tone.
    "Can I have some beer?" she gestured to Karoline's special root beer in a beer bottle.
    "Nope." she took a sip.
    "Come on, just a little bit."
    "No, now go away."
    Her friend walked away with a small sway in her steps.
    After a minute a guy walked up to Karoline.
    Thumpity, thumpity, thump, thumpity, thumpity, thump.
    Went his heart.
    "Wanna dance?" he asked unaware that his heart was being listened to.
    "No,"
    "You sure?" he was slightly drunk, but, then again, that's what happens at bars.
    "You sure you don't want to go from a dance, to jumping down my jeans."
    Shock flashed in his eyes, and Karoline walked away.
    Karoline stuffed her earphones into her ears, and listened to The Prayer, by Celine Dion. It was her mother's favorite song. "Happy birthday to me." she mutters.
    Karoline walked into a diner, and ordered a root beer with five cherries.
    After a moment a boy walked into the diner, and ordered a plain root beer. Karoline paused her i-pod, and looked at the boy. His long black hair fell over his black eyes, and his skin looked almost translucent in the light.
    "Excuse me." Karoline said to him.
    "Yes?" he turned towards her.
    "If you add cherries into a root beer the flavor is...... I don't know,, like a song." she blushed lightly.
    "I think I'll try it." his voice was as smooth as chocolate. "Miss." he said to the waitress. "Can i get some cherries with that root beer?"
    They got their sodas at the same time.
    "Can I have a toast?"
    "To what?" Karoline asked.
    "To....... Cherries."
    "Okay."
    "To cherries!" the cried, clanked their sodas against each other, and drank.
    Thump, thump, thump.
    Went his heart as he drank deeply.
    "I'm Karoline, by the way." she said with a small smile.
    "Mark."
    "Hello."
    "Hey to you too." he smiled.
    For the first time in eleven years, Karoline felt hope.

    Just listen