Once upon a time there was a petite girl with brown hair, and large, sparkling brown eyes, named Keri. She sat for hours, looking out the window, staring at the outside world. Her mom had tried everything to get rid of what she thought was fear, but nothing she did helped.

She was missing so much school that eventually her mother put her in homeschooling. She excelled quickly and her mother wished she would go back to regular school. She wouldn't speak a word, effectively ending all discussions with doctors, and turning all the things her mother said into a monolouge. After a few months, her mother, Shannon, stopped trying altogether.

Shannon never saw her daughter move from the chair in front of the big bay window facing outward from her room, keeping Keri at a safe distance from the life she once knew. The food was being eaten, and the schoolwork was done, but still, she never saw her daughter even squirm. She was worried about her daughter who was at one time always out in the sun, running barefoot in the grass, happy. Her best friend, William, also loved the outdoors.

Shannon called William, once. He said he had no idea what was wrong with Keri, and after discussing the wellness of his family, he hung up, leaving no answers. When Shannon told Keri he had said 'hi', she only continued to stare.

Shannon often stood over her daughters shoulder, trying to see what she was seeing: Nothing but happiness, as it always was in Pleastentville. You could see Williams large victorian style home; you could see into his yard, and the room where he slept. The sun shined beautifully and brihgtly, hitting off the sand not far off the side.

One morning, Keri was looking more pale than usual. Shannon called the doctor, who came out of the room with a disturbed face, and told her that her daughter had passed, from the unknown at this point in time. Shannon drowned her sorrows in vodka for days, until the letter from the morgue came back and asked her to come in.

According to test results, Keri's heart had frozen from the inside out and has been for the past several months. The pain had probably impaired her ability to do many things, including move, and although she ate and did the work, it probably took a huge amount of effort. She had probably contracted the strange fatality while sitting at that window, that would be why she didn't move away.

A few weeks later, while going through Keri's room, Shannon found her journal she had kept. She started reading and then came to a page that made her almost throw up while reading.

Dear Diary,
William told me that he loved me today, and I was very happy; I have loved him for a long, long time. If he ever hurts me, let my heart freeze unsude my chest, slowly and painfully killing me, leaving me to see everything that he's doing to wrong me.

Her mother froze and flipped a page, then continued reading her daughter's elegant scrawl.

Dear Diary,
I can't believe it. How could he do this to me? After everything he's promised? I can feel my heart slowing; its getting harder to pump the blood within my body. I mustn't let mother know, she will be a mess. I hope she'll forgive me...
And so, I shall sit upon this chair, couting down my minutes (seconds?) and watch everything he does with her (the replay of what he did with me). I decided a long time ago that I couldn't live without him; now I'm sure I could, but it's too late, it's already done, and now, I will die slowly, taking all the memories with me. The sun sets and a new day begins, and I will go out of this world with bravery and courage.

Shannon stared at the book and swallowed. She held the journal that held all her daughter's secrets and dreams near her heart, and wished that she could feel that tiny fluttering heart the way that it used to be.