Andy’s pale grey eyes emerged from under their blankets of slumber. A sliver of moonlight passed over his face as Andy tried to close his eyes again. The same dream that haunted his thoughts replayed on his closed eyelids like a broken record as the smell of sweet perfume reached his nose. His thoughts drifted back to that night with the feel of well worn cloth brushing his skin as a bitter teardrop fell softly onto his infant cheek. Andy’s body filled with warmth as he remembered the soft face with the same pale grey eyes he sees gazing back to him in the mirror every day. The familiar face gazes into his eyes with a love only a mother could show. But Andy sensed an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and misery from that familiar stranger. The beautiful woman gave one last kiss to her son’s tiny forehead as she set him down on the doorstep and slipped quietly into the night. A sudden feeling of abandonment overpowered the infant as his tiny hands grabbed in vain for the long brunette hair he always played with. Andy opened his eyes as the last of his wails for his mother faded in his ears. The one o’clock chime from the clock startled Andy. Bitterly, he thought to himself, "Happy 13^th birthday, Andy." Unconsciously, Andy reached for his pendant. The necklace was the only thing left with him at the doorstep of the Orphanage. Calmed by the cool feel of the smooth, oddly shaped pendent, Andy rolled over and fell back to sleep for the night.

All too soon, Andy awoke to the morning bell. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked out of the frosted window to yet another snowstorm. Andy tried to spot the courtyard fountain below, but all he saw were blurry snowflakes rushing past to join the three inches of snow gathering on the frozen ground.

"Hurry up you mangy scoundrels!" yelled a voiced from downstairs, "I haven’t got all day to wait for you boys to get ready."

The quickened rustling of blankets and clothes could be heard as the boys hurried to get ready. No one wanted to face the wrath of Miranda for being the last one down the stairs.

Miranda is a bitter skeleton of a woman who owns the orphanage. Just one piercing look from her beady eyes restrained in their hollow sockets could terrify any child into submission. Miranda was a penny pinching scrooge who lounged all day while the boys took care of the place. Slave was a more suiting word than orphan.

As Andy hurried down the crooked staircase, Miranda’s hand shot in front of him, blocking his path.

"Last one again, Andy. When will you get your head out of the clouds and come back to reality?"

"I am sorry Miss Miranda." Andy apologized more to the floor than to Miranda. "I will be faster next time, I promise."

"You say that every time. Hmmm, what punishment should you get this time?" After rubbing her hairy chin for a moment, her tiny eyes lighted up, "I know! You can go shovel the walkway!"

"But it is still snowing!"

"Then you will just have to suck it up won’t you?" she said with an evil grin and laughed down the stairs.

Once again, Andy’s hand traveled unconsciously to the mysterious pendant as he rubbed it for reassurance. It was made of a silver-black stone twisted into a mass of knots. To Miranda, the pendant meant nothing. But Andy, it was the only thing that linked him to the outside world. Someone, somewhere, once loved him and he was determined to find her.

Resembling a roll of carpet with his bulky clothing, Andy struggled out into the snow to clear off the walkway. Battling the tiny white army of wet flakes and armed only with a shovel, Andy’s mind drifted back to his dream. It has been haunting him more and more these past couple of days and he couldn’t understand why. What did this mean? Should he run away now and search for her or should he wait? Lost in his own thoughts, a glint of metal caught his eye. Reaching down into the snow, Andy retrieved a gold coin from its hiding place. Studying it momentarily, he hastily put it in his pocket and then looked around suspiciously to see if anyone had seen him. Only walls of white stared blankly back at him. Miranda would kill me if she found out I kept this without handing it over to her, he thought. After finishing his job, he silently rejoiced, Oh, I can finally buy some chocolate!

Three hours later, a very frozen Andy came through the front door. All the boys were busy with their school work. Sneaking a piece of bread from the kitchen, Andy went up to his bed to finish his school work, but all he could think about was that tiny weight in his pocket. Taking it out to examine it again, a sudden pain rushed through his earlobe as he was violently jerked upward.

"What is this!?" Miranda roared as she pulled his ear with one hand and snatched the coin with the other, "You conniving thief, where did you get this?"

"I found it, honest!" Andy pleaded.

"Why didn’t you hand it over to me immediately?" She demanded with eyes cold as ice. With her facial features twisted into a grotesque, menacing glare as her bellowing shriek pierced the air, "That’s it! I am sick and tired of your disobedience!"

Andy’s eyes glazed over with terror. She then proceeded to drag him down the stairs to the broom closet, her razor-sharp fingernails digging viciously into the nape of his neck.

"You don’t need this anymore," she said as she ripped off his necklace and shut the door with a resounding slam.

Andy wasn’t sure how long he was in there. The darkness seemed to penetrate his eyes and fill his body. Andy never felt more alone in his life, and he was used to being alone. It was as if he lost a part of himself without his necklace there to reassure him. As soon as I get out of here, I am going to get my necklace and run away, he thought.

As if his prayer had been answered, Andy heard the scraping of a key and the click of the lock as light flooded into his tiny cell. Benjamin peeked inside the closet.

"Miss Miranda went to the board of directors to get more money for the orphanage. I snuck into her office and grabbed the key. You’d better hurry, she will be back any minute!"

With a determined look on his face, Andy hugged the little boy and ran to Miranda’s office to find his pendant and his mother.

Opening her door with an apprehensive glance, Andy shut it behind him cautiously. Silently, he glided to her desk and started rummaging through the drawers ?

After a couple minutes of searching, he finally found his pendant in the lower left drawer. There you are my… Losing his train of thought in mid-sentence, his eyes fell upon a box in that same drawer. It was the most beautiful box he had ever seen. It was laced in metallic ivory with a gold undertone and was about the size of his hand. Picking up the box, Andy let out a gasp when he read the nameplate.

"Andy Deledigo" he murmured as a wave of familiarity hit him full in the face. "That is my name. This is mine. This is my box!" he exclaimed.

Awestruck, Andy gazed at the beautiful object in his hands. It had the most peculiar lock he had ever seen. As he examined the box, another came to him: Why does Miranda have a box that has my name on it? The answer to that question came back to him, blindsiding

When Andy appeared on the orphanage’s doorstep thirteen years ago, with him was this magnificent box and his pendant. Being the miserable character she is, Miranda quickly noted the beauty of the box and kept it for herself, but disregarded the pendant for trash and let the infant keep it. For years she tried to open the box, but no key would fit it. Finally defeated, Miranda locked the mysterious box in her drawer and left it.

With his long lost box in one hand, his other hand yet again went up to the comforting pendant. Standing in a trance for a couple minutes, Andy’s wide eyes slowly looked at his pendant and to the box and back to the pendant again. With unbelieving eyes, Andy took his pendant off and slid it into the lock on the box and turned it. As he heard the soft click of the box unlocking, he looked up in horror as he heard the smart click of heels as the doorknob slowly started to turn. Miranda was back.