It started out small, a little moment here or there. First she complained about stiffness in her leg. Well, it was not really complaining, she would only mention it when someone asked why she was walking funny. The most interesting part, through- out the whole thing, was that Daisy never made a fuss. She had every right to, but she didn’t. She was always the sweetest little girl. I think on some level she didn’t want to worry us, though I could hear her crying in the room next to mine. She still loved to swim and run, climb trees and lay in a field of flowers under the sunlight to feel the warmth on her rosy cheeks.

Soon the snow came, howling winds and frost burrowing in every crack. Daisy still smiled, she never stopped really; though now the smile didn’t extend to her eyes. Her little hand would clench around the soft rabbit toy she carried as she walked, hold- ing it so tightly her knuckles turned white. Winter made everything worse, and some- times I felt that it was my fault. I let her go to play in the snow, and when she came back coughing, my heart sank. She couldn’t leave her bed after that, the pain was gone, but I don’t think the alternative was any better.

When summer came again and she asked if she could go running in the field of flowers, again my heart broke. I didn’t want to see her cry, I couldn’t, so I lied. I told her another day, but today she needed to rest. She looked at me with a hopeful smile, and my heart was ripped from my body and torn apart. A few weeks later she lay in the field of flowers she loved so much, that hopeful smile still on her face. Though her rosy cheeks were pale and not even the sun could warm them again.