The greenish hue of his blue eyes shined through like truth when he smiled at her. He had wrinkles around his eyes when he winced with joy at his loving partner. The dimples around his mouth deepened as his grin got even bigger when she told a joke or did something goofy. She was all he saw, but then she was gone.
As the days progressed after his love’s departure he grew older, thinner, and not himself. The town would tell stories about them. She stole his heart and ran away, now he’ll never be the same; she was a witch, oh yes she was, that just ran off with his poor little young heart. He heard this day after day when he walked through that lonely sour-tongued town.
The shape of her lips and the truth and beauty in her eyes were swirling through his mind when a rock hit his shoe.

“Hey!” Matt shouted. “What did you do that for?”

“Well, well I just saw you sitting there, staring off into space and I had to get you to think of something else before you broke down in tears again, because that’s what you always do when you’re staring off into the air like that,” She answered. “What do you do that for anyway?”

“I don’t think you should know what I have to say, it’s not very pleasant.”

“Well I think life is just great! What on earth could make it ‘not very pleasant’?”

“Don’t worry about it; what’s your name anyway?” He asked.

“Daisy, Daisy Thayer,” She answered him.

“Well lil’ miss Daisy Thawyer, I think you should run along now.”

“I don’t think I have to because you can’t even say my name correctly! It’s Thayer, not Thawyer! I’m not going anywhere because my mommy told me, ‘when someone is feeling down, you should always cheer them up!’”

“I don’t think anyone could cheer me up. I lost my number one and I’ll never get her back.”

Silence overcame this odd little couple just sitting in the park under a great oak tree that was just swaying with the wind. Matt shoved his eyes in his hands and broke down right in front of Daisy. The eight-year-old didn’t know what to do as he poured his feelings out like a waterfall. Suddenly Matt’s face turns instantly cherry red and his eyes glaze over as if he is realizing something for the first time.

“Daisy, why do people die when they do?” Matt asked.

“God needs them for something else is what my mommy always told me; that’s why he is taking me soon.”

“What do you mean he is taking you soon? Are you okay?”

“My mommy said that I’m going to get real sick in a few weeks and then I won’t be here anymore. She said that I have really bad heart problems and at my age it’s really hard to get it all better unless I have a donor heart but we can't find someone with the same blood type.”

Matt realized that he wasn’t with her anymore; she was gone and there wasn’t one thing he could do about it. His un-kept hair was twisting around his face like fire in the wind. Something slid down his cheek, he started bringing up his hand but it was invaded by something smaller. Daisy’s hand shot up like a bullet as soon as she saw the tear after she told him about her sickness.

“Now don’t have tears for me, it’s what God wants; he needs me for something that I can’t do down here. It must be something special, cause I don’t know any other reason God would want to take me away from my mommy and daddy so soon.”

“No, you need to stay here and grow old! You deserve to live and be free and just be a kid!”

“God needs me.” Daisy said confidently.
“What do you need to make yourself better?” Matt asked.

“My mommy says that I need O blood, what ever that means.” Daisy answered him.

Matt’s eyes blankly stared at Daisy as if they were lifeless and confused. Her curly strawberry blonde hair was blowing in her baby-blue eyes as she stared back. Time ticked as the moments of her short life dimmed. Confused and a little upset, Daisy grew tired of staring and went to get a Frisbee.
Her short white legs ran as fast as they could toward the yellow and red striped Frisbee. Her adrenaline was running as she got even closer to her destination; all of a sudden she dove for her prize! The smile on Daisy’s face was ear to ear when she looked down to see her plate shaped toy, but it wasn’t there. Confusion absorbed her face as she frantically searched for her Frisbee.

“Ha ha ha!” Josh snickered.

Josh the neighborhood thug snatched it just before Daisy dove. His yellow teeth shined through his crusty fire-red lips. His greasy black hair was pasted to his skull with a ripped up Hurley hat on top. His nose twitched as he watched her slowly back away closer to Matt; the dark brown eyes in the thug’s skull followed her every movement.

“Oh, is this yours?” Josh asked.

“Yes, thank you for getting it for me; I wasn’t sure where it went to when I landed on it.”

Shadows showed up from nowhere as the sun dimmed in the late afternoon. Josh’s eyes grew dimmer and darker as he waited for the little girl to ask for her Frisbee back. The tree stopped dancing to the rhythm of the wind and just stood there tall and strong like a shelter. Matt just stood there dazed; he was still thinking about what Daisy said before she started to play with her Frisbee. His hands hung down at his sides lifeless; something warm touched his hand. Matt looked down slowly to find that Daisy found his hand without even looking for it. Matt then heard something, something small, yet clear; it was Daisy!

“Don’t let him hurt me Matty, please don’t.” He heard her whisper.

The warm little hand received a squeeze in response. Daisy’s face turned a bright red as she looked up into Matt’s eyes and smiled her missing tooth smile; Matt smiled too.

“What are you two love birds smiling about?” Josh snapped. “Don’t you want your stupid little toy back before I break it into pieces?”

“You can have it; I have a pink and purple one at home that’s even more fun than that one, because it goes a lot farther!” Daisy said excitedly.

Matt pulled Daisy along as they started to leave Josh at the park all alone with a red and yellow Frisbee. Laughter was all you could hear as they walked along hand in hand. Bang. It was suddenly halted as a loud gun shot thundered through the air. Instantly Matt’s eyes were down to see if Daisy was okay and her eyes were up at him for the same reason. Slowly they turned in unison to look back at Josh.
The gun looked heavy in his fifteen-year-old hands; the metal shined bright as the sun started to flow through the clouds. Josh held the Frisbee in his hands and just stared at them. His eyes were deadly, colorless, and bloodshot as the dull marbles rang with anger and frustration.

“Get over here now!” Josh screamed.

“Daisy get behind me,” Matt said as he pushed her behind him for protection.

Matt knew that Josh wouldn’t let Daisy go by the glare in his death stricken face. There was only one thing Matt could think of to do.
The air flew through his hair as if he was in a plane as he ran toward the thug. Josh’s eyes grew wide as he saw the 195 pound man of muscle running in his direction. If only Matt could reach him before…Bang. Screaming silences the air as Matt lands on Josh stopping the bullet meant for Daisy. Silence fills the air like hot steam engulfing your body in a sauna.

"Matt!" Daisy screamed. "Matt, please be okay; you just saved me from the bad man that was going to take me! Matt please get up. Please."

Matt's once beautiful and life-filling eyes were now glazed over making it very hard to see what color his eyes really were. His beautiful smile was now gone as blood trickled down from his lips and onto the grass. Daisy's petite body laid on top of his; if you listened very quietly you could hear tiny whispers; she started to pray for his soul. Josh lay just a few feet from them now; his broken body was sprawled out like he was just hit by a truck, his mouth was closed and his eyes were shamelessly open.

"Please Matty, please get up. I won't ever be mean to you anymore! I promise I really won't," she whispered.

A groan shut the blonde up as she lay there whispering to her new friend. All of a sudden, his stomach started to move and he tried to say something but Daisy couldn't really make it out. Bits and pieces were understandable until she moved and he repeated them.

"Daisy I lost Brandi to cancer and it broke me up so bad because I couldn't do anything to ever prevent it, but with you I can." Matt said.

"How can you prevent it with me? I'm sick and no one around has the same blood type as me, God needs me so it's my time to go be with him and do whatever he wants me to do. You can't help me." She answered him with a monotone voice and her eyes dazed off straight ahead.

"Well I can, I am the same blood type as you and I won't be needing my heart much longer, and there isn’t one person in the world that deserves it more than you do."

Confusion, anger, hate, and guilt swept across Daisy's face; not knowing what to do she started to weep, not for herself, but for Matt. The ambulance sounded off and was there in a few minutes; the red and blue flashing lights were blinding as the vehicle came to a halt. The stretcher was brought out for Matt's limp body; Daisy never let go of his hand as they lead him to the ambulance and drove him to the hospital. Before they loaded him up he stopped the nurse and said, "No matter what happened to me, I want that little girl right there, Daisy is her name Daisy Thayer, to have my heart so she can live longer than I did." The green-eyed nurse turned around to look at Daisy; she smiled a perfect smile and brushed her grey hair away from her face and just nodded.

"May I have a word alone with her please," Matt asked.

"I'll be right over here if you need anything at all Matthew," the nurse instructed as she walked a few paces away.

"I know why God put me here and is now taking me away so fast Daisy."

Daisy's eyes were drowning in tears as she stared up at her loyal best friend. "Why," she asked.

Matthew looked down at Daisy, the image of Brandi appeared in her face, "God put me here so I could save you."