• Time is a curious thing. For some, it passes in the blink of an eye. For others, it drags along like a weighed-down snail. Often we scarcely notice time at work. But sometimes, time is all a girl can count on. Sometimes, time is everything.

    Blind, deaf, and dumb, she mostly sat around all day. Now and again, she would hear someone walk into her spacious room. They were usually tall men in pristine white lab coats, but sometimes a short woman with a simple blue dress would visit her. Other women would visit, but none as frequently as the blue dressed girl, who would sit and talk with her for a while each time. Oh yes, the girl could see, talk, and hear.
    Many times, she would sit and stare at the old, run-down clock in the corner. The ticking had become the rhythm she lived by, the rhythm that was holding her together and breaking her apart. Sometimes it would stop working, and the girl would stop with it. Right away, though, more men in lab coats would fix it. It was a curious time for her. Something would change inside her, and the brokenness and wholeness would both just stop. Time was her master, and without it she could not be.
    Her lone friend in the room was a small tin music box. It sang a familiar tune, one she swore she knew. She got an odd comfort from it, like the simple song could fight off all evil in the world.
    “You are Rina.” She was told one day, by one of the men in a coats. She had nodded, accepting the name. With no name, she was nobody, and she certainly didn't want to be nobody.
    Gradually, as Rina stayed in her brightly lit room, she started to reach out to her visitors. They became her friends, almost like family. She came to know them by name, share jokes with them. All but the woman in the blue dress. For some reason, the woman would not talk to Rina anymore. This saddened the girl, and she doubled her efforts, but she could not get the woman to talk anymore. Finally, she asked one of her friends, Rob, why she wouldn't answer.
    “Oh, her? That's Janice. She's been here longer than you. You scare her. Beauty, plus friendliness, are key elements here.” He replied to her question. She also asked where 'here' was, but he would not answer. She decided to drop the topic, and chatted with Rob while the gentle lull of her music box played in the background. It created a soft environment that soothed Rina, calmed her and almost made her forget she had ever asked.