Love cares about who you are while gently pushing you into who you will become.

As a single rose under glass, Serena gently brushed away a small tear from her numb hardened cheek, as she sat silently enthroned in her high fortress. She was locked away from the reality of life, love, and laughter. She had been locked away as long as she had existed. However, she was fully aware of another life, for she heard the sounds of laughter. The sounds kept beating in her heart like siren calls to the very core of her being. They called her away to another time, another place, and another life that she had never experienced. Serena had seen all the others like her come and go, bringing comfort with their presence for a time but then being swept away as in a flood, never to be seen again. She knew where they went: they went to the place that her heart knew, by the soft calls. Gazing at the moon through her open window, she quietly fell asleep to the distant sounds of the others laughter like a waterfall that soothes as each drop touches the soul. Dreams came in waves. A voice came first, the voice that the others had whispered to her about. A voice that spoke to her in a way that no others ever had. The voice seemed to give her an option of life, laughter, and love. Love, oh how that word seemed too baffling! What did that word mean? Serena wished she knew. She felt if she could understand what that single word meant then perhaps the freedom the others had would also be hers to enjoy.

The voice faded like the sun covered by a cloud.

She awoke, feeling the dark chill that surrounded her. Pulling her blanket closer, she tried to push back the cold by closing her eyes. She drifted once again into sleep and this time she felt a warm light. Glowing, it seemed to be pulling her in by its intoxicating, radiant heat. Life, she could feel it. Strange as it seemed in its newness, she embraced the golden rays that beat on her heart. She took a step closer to the light, realizing that the closer she came to the light, the stronger the familiar voice became.

Before long, she found herself running, no longer numb, robotic, and lifeless. Tears fell down her face as she laughed in the warm sun. She stopped, suddenly aware that her arms, once so stiff and numb, were now reaching out and the laughter that she had only heard before was now coming out of her mouth. She wondered if she were still dreaming and if so whether she really cared to awake.

She awoke, wondering if the reality she tasted was all just a delusion. She sat up, turning to look around the room and felt tears drop off her chin. A small bubble of laughter formed within her. Suddenly she felt a great surge. She realized that the voice that she heard was love. The voice had called her, awakening and freeing her, penetrating her dead heart. That voice of love now permeated the very fibers of her existence. She quickly arose out of bed and turned to the window through which last night she had watched the moon.Behold, there was a bright stone pathway, streaming sun pierced through the trees, making the leaves seem to dance.

As Serena stepped onto the sunlit path, she found herself greeted by the gentle kiss of her laughter. It suddenly struck her that she was living, laughing, and loving because love had broken through her cold, lifeless heart and made her who she had become.