The Boxed Hearts
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      Once there was a girl who wanted to give her heart away. She kept her heart in a box strung about her neck, and carried it wherever she went. There was a window in the box, open so that she could show her heart to all her friends and everyone she met. In return they showed her theirs, hearts of every size and color, all held in other boxes hung from other necks. But they were only allowed to look, never take. Not unless it was given to them.
      This girl was happy to share her heart with her friends, and happy that they shared theirs with her. But even so, she longed to be able to give her heart away, so someone could treasure it and keep it safe. Sometimes she even dreamed of receiving someone else’s heart in return.
      So the girl set out to find a man who would take her heart. Every time she met a particularly interesting boy, she would open the window of her box. If he then showed her his heart in return, and it was a good one, she would feel brave enough to want to give her own away.
      But this girl was cautious; many times she had seen hearts broken in the hands of someone who didn’t take care of them. So instead of giving the first boy her whole heart, she offered him only a sliver to begin with. The boy was glad for the gift, but did not offer her his in return. The girl waited and waited, but he never gave even a piece of it. Eventually he grew tired of her and refused to even show her his heart anymore.
      The girl turned sadly and left, but she let the boy keep the sliver of her heart, leaving a small hole where it had once been.
      The girl met another boy to whom she wanted to give her heart. Again, he showed her his, and she was encouraged enough to give him a careful sliver of her own. But again, she received nothing in return, and sorrowfully turned away. The boy kept that piece of her heart, and another hole was left in its place. And so it went, but in spite of the hurt, the girl remained hopeful of one day finding someone who would want to trade his heart for hers.
      One day the girl met a boy unlike all the others. She watched him in timid awe and longed to show him her heart, but she was afraid it wouldn’t be good enough. After a stuggle, she finally got up the courage to show him – but the boy did not want to see it, and ignored her. Again and again she tried, but the boy continued to refuse. Then finally, he gave in and looked. And then he smiled, and finally, finally showed her his. The girl was joyous. At that moment, she immediately took a large chunk out of her heart and gave it to him, without thought and without question.
      But the boy gave her nothing. The girl wept in despair and tried to take the piece of her heart back, but could not, and ended up breaking it instead. She turned away and left with yet another hole in her heart, bigger than all the others.
      Eventually, the girl began to be afraid. Her heart now had several pieces missing, and she was worried what would happen if she lost the whole thing. As she watched the others around her, she saw that many of their hearts were also filled with holes. Some were so riddled that the keepers no longer gave bits of it away, but instead only collected bits of many other hearts to try to fill the gaps. Some people kept their hearts locked away and were too afraid to even show it to people anymore. Some hearts were broken into pieces, some had been stolen, and some were barely there at all.
      Frightened, the girl locked up her box so that no one could take her heart, but only see part of it through the little window. She then decided that she would no longer give any of it away, at least until she could find out how to mend its holes.
      One day, the girl met a boy who seemed kind. Slowly, and little by little, she began to pen the window in her box and show him more of her heart, and in turn was able to see more of his. The girl grew to like this boy very much, but was afraid of losing even more of her already battered heart. His heart wasn’t whole either, but it was in better condition than hers, and she was sure he wouldn’t want something with so many peices missing. And so the girl was sad, because she wanted so much for this to be the boy she could give it to.
      When they had been meeting for some time, the boy did something unbelievable: he offered her his heart. Not just a part of it, not a sliver like the girl had been doing, but the whole thing. The girl was amazed and elated, and immediately took out her own and gave it to him, even though she was still a little afraid of what might come to pass.
      Then something wonderful happened: the bits of her heart that were still there fit into the holes in his, and his heart in turn filled up all the holes in hers, as if they were two halves of a puzzle. Between them they now had one full, unblemished heart to share, and they both lived blissfully ever after.

~The End.~
      <3