Annie Black was six years old. A pretty girl with dark black hair that sat on her shoulders, a rosy pink complexion and deep blue eyes. She was the youngest of six children. She lived in a housing commission home in a small town, with her mother and father and her three brothers and two sisters. Her father worked away from home, sometimes up to a month at a time. He worked for an electronics company and was often overseas, visiting exotic countries. When he was home, he would tell Annie and the rest of the children all about the wonderful things he saw in other places, and would bring back little gifts for them. Annie loved his tales and always looked forward to his next story.

Lately, Annie's mother seemed to get cross with the children more often than she used to. If one of the children spilt milk or dropped food on the floor, she would raise her voice and yell at all of them, no matter who had done it. They would all run and hide in their rooms and would argue who was going to go and see if it was safe to come out. At other times, they would all sit in front of the television at night and her mother would nurse two at a time on her knee and cuddle them. These were times that they all enjoyed, but it only took the slightest thing to set their mother of at them. No matter how hard they tried to be good, they never knew when she would start yelling at them again.
After school and on weekends, the children would play in the back yard. Beyond the fence, a small brook babbled and Annie's oldest brother, Stephen, had made a swing out of an old car tyre and tied it to a big tree. They would take it in turns swinging out over the brook, laughing with glee. This was Annie's favourite spot. Sometimes she would sit amongst the buttercups and daisies and just watch the others while she made daisy chains. In the summer she would dangle her feet in the water and pretend there were wood nymphs and fairies to play and dance with. Annie loved to dance. She had a wonderful imagination and was always making up some kind of fantasy. She found this very comforting especially when her mother was not in a good mood. Sometimes she would imagine being in the places that her father had talked about, other times she would pretend that she could speak the language of the birds and butterflies and would spend a long time talking to them, each telling their own secrets.
 
When their father was due to return home, the children were allowed to stay up and wait for him. They waited impatiently in the living room, glancing occassionally out the window for his car pulling up in the driveway. When he finally arrived they rushed out to meet him before he had time to turn of the engine. They all talked at once and hung on to him as he made his way into the house. He smiled at them and told them that he would speak to them shortly after he had said hello to their mother. Their mother was at her happiest when their father was home and she never spoke a cross word the whole time he was there. It was always after he had been gone for a while that she would get angry, yet the children never understood why.
 
On one of his visits, their father sat in the living room with them. Teasing them and playing with them, then he reached into a small bag on the floor next to him and gave them each a gift. He loved being there with them and wished he didn't have to go away so often, but work was hard to find and he had no choice but to go. The children laughed with joy as each unwrapped their presents. Annie was delighted with hers. She unwrapped the colourful paper to reveal a small, carved wooden box. When she opened it, it played a wonderful tune and a tiny ballerina danced round and round. Her father told her the tune was called ‘Music Box Dancer.' Annie was enthralled and hung on to the box and wouldn't let any of the others touch it incase they broke it.  They had a wonderful few days with their father but too soon it was time for him to leave again. Through cries of ‘Don't Go!' Please stay! They stood tearfully in the doorway as he drove away. Their mother cried as she ushered her children back inside the house and shut the door.
 
Annie took the music box everywhere with her. At night she would hide under her blankets and play the music until she finally fell sleep and in the morning she would put it in her school bag and take it to school. No one was allowed to touch the box but they were allowed to look and listen. Annie loved the tiny dancer and was determined to be just like her. She begged her mother to send her to dancing class so she could learn and her mother agreed.
Annie started dancing classes and told everybody she was going to be just like the dancer in her music box.  She went to class twice a week and practised all the time at home, playing her music box non-stop. Sometimes it would drive her brothers and sisters crazy and they would tell her to go somewhere else and play the stupid thing, so Annie would sneak through the fence and beside the brook, would play and dance until she was called in for supper.
A few months passed and her father had been home a couple of times but the presents he bought for Annie didn't mean anything anymore. She had her music box and that was all she wanted. She was doing really well with her dancing class and would play the music and dance for her father and mother. They would cheer her on and praise her for her efforts. Her mother's outbursts over the last few months had been few and far between but Annie had heard her cry late at night when she must have thought all the children were asleep. She didn't like to hear her mother cry but was afraid she would be in trouble if she asked her why she did. She knew her mother never cried when her father was home, only when he was not around Annie heard the sobbing.
 
At the end of Annie's first year of dance class, she took part in her first competition and stood proudly on stage as she accepted her prize for second place. She looked at the audience and was surprised to see her father sitting beside her mother. He was not due to be home for a while yet. Annie learnt later that his boss had flown him home especially for Annie's night and that he would be leaving again in the morning. He said that the next time he came home, he would have a surprise for all of them. He didn't even tell her mother what the surprise was.
 
One day, not long before he was due to return, Annie had sat on the stairs playing her music box. It was pouring with rain and she was not allowed to go outside. She got up and left her music box on the stairs as she went to the bathroom, passing her mother coming down the stairs as she went. Her mother didn't see the music box on the stairs and as she stood on it, it slipped out from under her, sending her tumbling down the staircase. Annie had just reached the top of the staircase and turned around as she heard her mother falling. "My music box! She cried as she raced to retrieve it. Her mother reached up and grabbed the box and threw it at Annie but Annie didn't catch it and it fell hard on the stair. When Annie picked it up she heard a rattle inside the box, as she opened it the little doll fell out. Annie's heart was broken. She tried to put the doll back where she belonged but she wouldn't stay there, she just kept falling off. Annie ran down the stairs passed her mother who glared and yelled at her never to leave toys on the stairs and raced out into the rainy afternoon. She had seen her mother angry before but never this angry. Annie was shaking as she made her way round to the back yard and through the fence to her special place. The rain soaked through her clothes but she took no notice. Her precious doll was broken and she didn't know how to fix it.
"How can I be like you if you're broken!" she sobbed  ‘How can I dance like you if you can't dance anymore!  She clutched the doll in one hand and held the music box in the other. The rain continued to pour and Annie sat staring into the brook, her heartbroken face staring back at her in the crystal clear water. She wished her father was at home, maybe he could fix the doll for her. The music still played but it wasn't the same without the dancer. "I'll dance for you" she told the doll "I'll dance for you forever. I won't let you down. I promise" Annie soon fell asleep clutching the doll as the rain beat down on her.
 
Her mother called her four or five times and was starting to worry when she couldn't find Annie anywhere in the house. Her brothers and sisters put on raincoats and went out into the yard to look for her. Stephen went through the fence and looked for her but could not find her. No sign of Annie or her music box, just the rush of water in the brook not giving away any secrets. Neighbours came to help search and eventually the police were called. Her father came straight home when he was told that Annie could not be found and they all searched for days. The police followed the brook but thought it was unlikely that Annie had fallen in. There was no trace of her anywhere. The search continued for a few more days but nothing was ever found of little Annie.
 
Her father's surprise would have pleased Annie. He told the rest of the family that he had a new job in London and that they would all move there and he would be with them all the time. Annie could have had dancing lessons from only the best in London, now they would be moving, never knowing what had happened to her.
Her mother should have been thrilled to hear this news, as she hated the house they were in. It was too small for her and the children and it was hard raising six children on her own. She had longed for the day when her husband would be home to stay and they would find a bigger house to live in.  Now she would spend the rest of her life regretful of yelling so harshly at Annie and she would never give up hope that one day she would find her.
The trip to London was solemn as they left to start a new life.
 
The years soon passed and Annie's brothers and sisters grew up and left home, leaving their parents wondering what Annie would be doing now if she were here. They enjoyed living in London and every weekend there were different things to do. Sightseeing. Visiting the zoo, and day trips out of London. There was so much to see and do but still it could never fill the emptiness that they felt after Annie had disappeared.
 
Out shopping with friends one day, Mrs Black suggested a cup of coffee at a small café in a little side street. It was a lovely summer's day and the street was buzzing with activity as they sat and drank their coffee at a small table on the footpath, soaking up the summer sun. A busker sang and played his guitar as shoppers tossed coins into his guitar case, and shopkeepers yelled out their bargains of the day. They sat and drank their coffee and watched shoppers as they rushed past trying to grab a bargain. Looking across the road Mrs Black saw an old antique shop, which drew her attention. The shop looked as if it had been there for all time, dark and dingy, yet she felt herself being drawn towards it. She said goodbye to her friends, picked up her shopping bag and crossed the road.
A faint light glimmered inside the shop as she looked through the window. All she could see where different shapes of furniture and a figure of an old man standing at the counter polishing something. She decided to go in and have a look around, there was still time before she caught the bus home. A small bell tinkled as she opened the door and entered the shop. It smelled musty and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. Old Victorian tables and chairs with worn seats were crammed in a corner and an old piano stood opposite them. Shelves were stacked with knick-knacks, oil lamps, and crockery and jewellery boxes. The old man behind the counter smiled at her as she weaved her way through the tiny store as he continued to polish whatever it was he was polishing.
After looking through everything and not finding anything that interested her, Mrs Black turned to thank the shopkeeper for letting her look, when she saw what he was polishing. She held her breath then let out an inaudible squeak as she approached the old man. Her face turned ashen as she reached out and asked if she could have a look at the box. He smiled with a twinkle in his eye and handed it to her .Her fingers shook as she took it of him and ran her fingers over the box, not daring to open it. She hesitated for what seemed like an eternity as the old man waited patiently for her to open the box. Tears rolled down her cheek as she plucked up the courage and opened it, only to hear that familiar tune that so many years ago had been played over and over. She gasped as she looked at the face on the tiny ballerina twirling to the music.
Little Annie Black had finally been found.