This is a three part short story that I wrote recently, and am still looking for some comments on. ^^ Post your thoughts, s’il vous plaît!

Part One
"So she's really dead, huh?"
"Anna, please."
The frigid north air whirled around them as they unloaded the boxes from the trunk.
"But she was like a legend! Ninety seven years old, never married, no kids... She didn't even have a cat!"
"Maybe she just didn't like people."
Anna's mother stacked one box on another and brought them into the antique shop, placing them in front of the sales desk. The glass case and cash register that sat on top of it were two of the small amount of things in the shop that weren't drenched in age.
"No, that's not it." Anna copied her mother and brought the rest of the boxes inside. The warm air was a welcome relief from the snowy cold. "Because that one day when I kicked my soccer ball into her back yard a few years ago she let me in and talked to me for at least twenty minutes. She kept going on about some guy who was supposed to be coming back."
Her mother shrugged. "Probably senile. It happens when you get to that age."
"If you say so."
"I do. Now, take these boxes to the back and start pricing it. I'll go out and grab some lunch for us."
Anna sighed. "I hate pricing stuff. And don't you feel slightly weird that she just died and we're selling her stuff?"
Her mother fished her car keys out of her pocket. "She wanted us to. It was in the will. Poor woman didn't have any next of kin or friends... Whatever she owned when she died will either be sold in this shop or donated to Good Will. What do you want for lunch?"
"Burger, fries, coke, and no pickles."
"The usual, got it."
And with that Anna was alone in the antique shop. Her mother locked the door behind her, and the sign out front was flipped to closed. It took Anna about ten minutes to drag all the boxes into the storage room. The storage room sat behind a wooden door, behind the glass counter. It was crammed full of everything from pots and pans to lamps and lunch boxes. Anything old that could possibly be sold for profit was back here, waiting to be tagged.
The hard work left Anna sweating. "This old lady's junk is heavy!" she grumbled, talking off her fleece hat, scarf, jacket, and sweater. This left her in just jeans and a t shirt, sufficient for the stuffy air of the back room. Determined to do as little work as possible before her mother got back, Anna opened the lightest box of the four. Strangely enough, inside that box was another box. This box looked quite a bit older, and was taped over many times. Anna searched around the storage room until she found a box cutter. Using the blade, Anna sliced open the second box, only to uncover a sea of packing peanuts.
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath—so much for not doing much work. Brushing away the packing peanuts, Anna found another box. She smiled to herself as she took it out of the box. "Bingo."
Not only did it look old, but it also looked expensive. Anna looked at the box and at first only saw a new mp3 player or cell phone. But as her delicate fingers brushed away the dust, she saw more: a beautiful, gilded box, with carvings of birds and music notes. It had four tiny, ornately carved legs, each with a small piece of black velvet on the bottom. Spellbound, her fingers glided to the lid of the box, set on opening it.
But it was locked.
A small, rusted lock held the lid of the box shut. Grabbing the box cutter again, Anna knocked the lock off. It fell to the concrete floor with a small tinkle. Anna smiled as she let the blade fall from her hand. Checking to make sure there was nothing directly under her, she sat on the floor with the box in her lap, and slowly opened it. Inside the box were elegant gears of a copper color, frozen in place. She reached down to the windup key under the music box, and turned it once, twice, three times.
She let go. The most beautiful melody began to flow from the slowly turning gears. The rotation sped up slightly, just slightly, to play the perfect tempo for the cascading cadence. Anna sat, eyes glued to the spinning metal, ears eagerly listening to each and every note called out. So entranced, she did not notice the small light that had begun glowing in the center of the box, just above the gears.
The light grew larger and larger, a glowing sphere of bright green light. It soon encompassed not only the box, but Anna’s hands. Then more and more, until the whole back room was bathed in the strange, ethereal glow. The song shifted slightly, and the tone turned darker. The light concentrated on one spot in the room, each beam shooting into the single spot. A form began to grow from the light.
Anna had not taken her eyes from the music box.
The light shifted and morphed until it grew tall and slim. Once about six feet tall, the light took a human form. It came suddenly, in bursts—an arm here, a foot there, with the head materializing for a moment before it had a neck to rest on. Ultimately, the green light constructed an exquisite human form. The green light pulsated, flashed, and then went out.
Finally Anna looked up.
She saw the man.
She screamed.
Standing before her was the most handsome man Anna had ever seen. At six feet tall he was taller than Anna. She stood, as if in a trance, her eyes unable to move from the man’s face. She committed to memory his dark hair, arching eyebrows, slightly rounded nose, pale pink lips, and his eyes. Those eyes—they burned into her mind so hot that it hurt. His eyes, almond shaped and beautiful, were of the most piercing bright green. Anna’s heart skipped a beat at those eyes.
And she did not notice the music had stopped.
So focused on his eyes, Anna did not notice that he was smirking at her, either.
“Did your mother ever teach you that it is not polite to stare?”
Anna screamed again, the trance broken. Still dazed, she said the first thing that came to her mind. “You have a beautiful voice.”
He kept smirking. “Why thank you. But don’t expect that flattery will make me forget your previous transgression.”
She did not care what he said, nor did she really comprehend it. All Anna knew was that she didn’t want him to stop talking.
“You know, if you do not contribute to this conversation, it will not be much of a conversation.”
Anna flushed bright red. “Uh, I…”
“Do you have a name?”
“Anna.”
That smirk would not leave. “Well that is a start. My name is Avarice.”
Anna blinked. “Avarice. That’s a weird name.”
He shook his head condescendingly. “There you are, being rude once more. It is an…old name. I am an old being.”
“So you came out of the music box?” Anna looked down at it, trying to grasp how such an amazing man could have come from some old lady’s junk. “Are you a genie?”
“Not quite.” Avarice chuckled.
Anna relaxed. She much preferred making him laugh than him scolding her. “So why did you come out, then?”
“I always appear for pretty ladies.”
The bright red color reappeared.
Avarice stretched. “I have been confined to that wretched box for far too long.” He reached out and took Anna’s hand, which trembled at his touch, and kissed it gently. “I am forever indebted to you for releasing me.”
For a moment, Anna forgot she needed to breathe.
“Anna!”
The spell broke at the scream. Avarice transmogrified back into green light, which shot back into the music box. The lid fell shut with a small thud. Anna’s head reeled. “M-mom?”
“I have lunch. Have you finished unpacking those boxes yet?”
Anna looked down to the three unopened boxes at her feet. “Um…” She left the back room, and was instantly bombarded with the aroma of fried food and beef patties. “Hey look, lunch!”
Her mother shook her head. “You didn’t unpack any of the boxes when I was gone, did you?”
Anna just smiled and popped a few fries into her mouth. When those were devoured, she asked, “Hey mom, did the police ever say how she died? I know she was kind of senile, but…”
“From what I heard, she had a nasty fall about fifteen years ago. She got back from the hospital and was never the same afterward. The police say it was natural causes; she just lost the will to live.”
The rest of the meal continued in silence.
When it was through, her mother said, “Hey kiddo, you had a big day. How about we call it quits and just come back tomorrow?”
“Sure!” Then, after thinking for a moment, Anna added, “Oh hey, let me go back into the back room, I left some stuff there.” Without missing a beat, Anna slipped back into the storage room and put on her discarded clothing. She left the back room, shutting the door behind her, and smiled at her mother, “Okay, all set!”
Her mother did not notice the strange, rectangular shape hidden underneath Anna’s coat.

Part Two
That night, Anna lay in her bed, watching the clock. One more minute, she thought, just one more minute to be safe. Finally, after the longest minute ever recorded, the clock showed a time of eleven fifteen p.m. Anna shot up. She threw the covers off her body and jumped out of bed.
She paused for a moment, listening. No noise, good, she was still safe.
Kneeling down slowly, she reached under her bed. First, Anna pulled out a large, black flashlight, and sat it on her bed. Secondly, she gently removed the bird-covered music box. This she held close to her chest as she sat back down on her bed, legs crossed, with the box sitting in her lap. She turned the flashlight on and sat it down on the bed, facing her. The light cast ghostly shadows on the wall.
In the dim light, Anna’s hand found the knob under the music box and she turned it three times, slowly, gently, lovingly. When that was done, Anna opened the box. The gears turned. Music tinkled out. She braced herself for the green light.
But none came.
Anna closed the box. She looked around frantically, as if the problem was somewhere in the room. Then she saw it. A glimpse of her reflection in the mirror mounted on the wall. Disheveled hair, no makeup, an oversized t shirt and faded pajama bottoms…it was no wonder Avarice had not shown up. Hadn’t he said he only appeared for pretty ladies?
Gently setting the box down on the bed, Anna began to work. In the dim flashlight’s glow, she brushed out her hair. She fumbled through her makeup box and managed to apply some shadow to her eyes and rouge to her lips. Lastly, Anna traded her comfortable pajamas for a dress in the back of her closet. A plain pink dress, cut at her knees with cap sleeves. Shutting her closet door, Anna smiled. Now he was sure to come.
She walked back over to her bed and once again twisted the knob three times and opened the box.
This time it worked. The same green light enveloped her room, until finally merging together to form a smirking Avarice, sitting on the edge of Anna’s bed. With the dim lighting slightly obscuring his perfect visage, Anna, for the first time, noticed what he was wearing. A suit of pitch black, exquisitely tailored from velvet, and lined with bright green silk, the same color as the light. His tie, too, was that same bright green, as green as his eyes, which Anna soon found herself lost in once more.
“Hello again, my dear. I see you have not learned your lesson about staring.”
Anna broke her eyes away from his and let them dart around the room.
“I am only kidding, my pet. And because you look so lovely this night,” he stood, “Shall we dance?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it. A look of concern waved over her face. “There’s no music,” Anna stated. There was, indeed, no music in the bedroom, for no sound could be heard, save their two voices, except for the hum of the ceiling fan.
“Yes there is,” Avarice replied.
“No, there isn’t,” countered Anna.
Avarice stood and cupped Anna’s chin with his right hand. “There is music,” he coaxed, “Because I say there is music. Now, do you hear the music?”
“No—”
He placed his hand now over her mouth. The warmth of his skin sent shivers down her spine. It took every ounce of her concentration just to keep breathing. “I will repeat myself once more.” His voice was harder now, stricter, as he took his hand away from her mouth, “Do you hear the music?”
Anna nodded her hear ferociously, sending her hair flying. “Yes! Yes, I hear the music!”
“Good.” Avarice smirked. He took a step away from here and then bowed deeply, before extending that same warm, right hand towards Anna. “Now, shall we dance?”
“But I don’t know how to dance.”
Avarice dropped his composure, albeit for a moment. He swiftly regained it, shaking his Adonis-like head, not one of his perfect hairs falling out of place. “You are quite stubborn, aren’t you? I say you can dance.”
“I can dance,” Anna parroted, beaming up at Avarice.
“Again, good,” he replied as he nodded in approval.
He nimbly positioned the both of them in proper waltzing posture, and they danced.
Anna giggled. “I didn’t know I could dance.”
Avarice spun her around beautifully, sending her hair and the skirt of her dress flaring out like an open umbrella. “My darling, you can do anything I say you can do. All you have to do is believe in me.” Waltzing around the bedroom, he kept Anna from bumping into any furniture, or from stepping on his own feet.
“Really?” She smiled as they continued to dance, her heart racing to the tempo of the music she pretended to hear.
“Quite so. Why would I ever lie to you? I care about you, turtledove. Too much to ever lie to you.”
Blushing bright red, Anna almost tripped. “Oh Avarice, you are so amazing!”
He smirked, as he had so many times before. “Yes, I know I am. And that is all you ever need know about me.”
The dancing continued throughout the night, until Anna passed out on the floor and Avarice disappeared back into his box. A few moments later, the sun rose. At exactly seven o’clock, there was a knock on Anna’s bedroom door.
“Anna sweetie?” Anna, it’s time to get up.” Not hearing the usual grumbles of protests, Anna’s mother took the initiative to open the door. Upon doing so, she saw her daughter asleep on the floor next to her bed, her hair tangled, wearing a pink dress. She knitted her eyebrows. “Anna, what on earth were you doing last night?”
Anna awoke with a scream. She looked around, disoriented, and then she saw her mother. “Last night was amazing,” she declared, tiredly slurring her words.
“Are you okay?”
“We were dancing.”
“There was someone else in here with you?” Anna’s mother took a step closer, the fear and anger vibrant on her face.
Anna sat up. “A man. He came out of a music box, and there was all this light…” She yawned.
Her mother relaxed. “Anna, it was just a dream. You must have been sleep walking and just had a nice dream.”
Waking up more, Anna stood. “No,” she protested, “It wasn’t a dream. It was real. He’s real! You just didn’t see. Here, look.” She began looking around on her bed. “If you open the music box, all this green light comes out!”
“You just had a dream about poor Ms. Sarah’s old music box, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t a dream!”
The scream caught her mother off guard. “This dream has obviously had an affect on you, Anna. Why don’t you calm down and get ready for school? I’ll have breakfast ready for you in a about twenty minutes.”
“You just don’t understand! He’s tall, handsome, and so sweet… We danced all night to the most amazing music. It’s just that he lives in the music box and come only come out—”
Her mother stopped her short. “Look, Anna. There is no man. There was no dancing. There was no music. And there is no magical music box. You might want to try to get that box out of your head, kiddo. You’re sounding as mad as Ms. Sarah did.”
Anna blinked. “She was crazy?”
“It was back when I was a kid, and Ms. Sarah was quite a bit younger. You know, she was quite attractive back then. She lost her sweetheart in the war, or so everyone said. She almost committed suicide over it. She had climbed up this big old oak tree and was going to jump, but stumbled. She still fell, but even though she was pretty banged up, the branches broke her fall enough to save her. After that, she never talked about her dead sweetheart again, and she sure was never all there again either.”
Silence overcame Anna. She frowned. “That’s terrible.”
“So stop talking crazy,” Anna’s mom smiled at her, “And I’ll go make you some bacon and eggs.”
Anna giggled. “Deal!”
Her mother shut the door as she left. Before she began getting ready for school, Anna searched for the music box. She found it on the other side of her bed. Somehow, it had fallen off of the bed, on to a pillow, and landed right side up. With a sigh, she picked up the music box, checked it for damage, and when she found none she placed it on her bedside table.
“I’m not crazy,” she said to herself, as she changed out of the pink dress and into school clothes. “Avarice does exist, and he thinks I’m pretty.”
That last thought alone had Anna smiling all day.

Part Three
“Maybe today?”
She opened the box.
Nothing.
A month had passed, and no matter what Anna did, Avarice would not show. Outside, the snow coated the world with a blanket of pure white chill. Inside her room, however, mascara tears stained her pale cheeks. She sat on the edge of her bed, the door closed, in a black evening gown, her hair in an intricate braid, and high stilettos on her feet. She took the box from her lap and set it on the bed. Standing up, Anna began to pace around her room.
“A month. Why hasn’t he shown? Maybe he’s busy. Maybe I’m not pretty anymore.”
She ran over to her mirror, almost tripping over her own feet, and examined herself in the mirror. Quickly Anna tried to rub off the smeared eye makeup which marred her appearance.
“Anna, honey?”
“What?” Anna called back down to her mother.
“I’m going out for a while. Is there anything you need?”
“No,” she replied instinctively. “Bye.”
Anna turned her attention back to the music box. “Maybe this time?” She sat back down on the edge of the bed, picked up the box, and opened it.
There it was! The green light, more magnificent than Anna remembered, exploded into her room. It shot out of the box, spiking into every surface possible. As the green shrouded her, tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Her smile spread wide, her legs standing her up out of shock.
As the light began to shape out the form of Avarice, Anna began shaking. There it was! His perfect face, perfect shoulders, perfect torso, perfect legs… He was perfect. Her mouth dropped open—she had almost forgotten his face. The month had blurred the details, softened the lines of his memory in her mind. Now, standing in front of her, it shocked her system. Anna, clutching the box to her chest, backed up to her dresser and leaned against it for support.
There he was, an Adonis in black and green. Avarice simply smiled at her. “Well, well, my darling. You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I…I…”
Now he scowled at her. “Do not stutter, dear. It is not becoming of a young lady such as yourself.”
Anna took a deep breath. “I thought you were never coming back!”
“And why would you think that?” Avarice shook his head. “I was simply busy. You can’t expect me to spend all my time with you; that would be unreasonable.”
She steadied herself. “But you live in a music box! How busy could you possibly be?”
“I can go back if you’re going to be ungrateful. I showed up, which seems like it is more than you deserve. I do not have to be here. You are not my only priority.”
The color drained from Anna’s face. She had not thought of that. Another? Another girl? “I’m not?”
He snickered. “You are a silly girl indeed. Why would you be my only priority?”
Anna’s smile had disappeared. She did not have the courage or the ability to voice the questions in her mind. The compliments, dancing through the night, didn’t any of that mean anything to him, the way it did to her?
Avarice took a step closer. “You are in love with me, aren’t you?” His question was answered with a meek nod. He snickered once more. “I shall make you a deal, then.”
“A deal? What kind of deal?”
“If you can prove to me that you love me,” she said, “Than you shall be mine forever.”
Her heart swelled at the prospect. “I’ll do whatever you ask! I want to prove to you how I feel. I’ll do anything!”
Avarice cracked his knuckles. “Anything? Good. That is what I like to hear. Now, first we must go outside.”
“But it’s snowing!” Anna looked down at what she was wearing. The thin fabric of the strapless gown was no match for the frigid winter air and chilling snow flurries.
“No it’s not.” Avarice looked out the window and saw the swiftly falling snow. “Why would you say such a crazy thing?”
“But I’ll be cold.”
He frowned. “You will not be cold. It’s a beautiful day outside.”
“But—”
“I’ll leave.”
“It’s great outside!” Anna said quickly, nodding her head so fast her bun almost came undone. “The weather is amazing. Let’s go.”
Now Avarice smiled. “That’s my girl. Take my hand.”
Anna, with the music box under one arm, placed her hand in Avarice’s. An explosion of green light suddenly enclosed around the two. Anna screamed.
Then they were outside, standing on the top of the chimney of Anna’s house. Seeing where they were, Anna threw her free arm around Avarice.
“I’m scared of heights!”
He patted her on the head. “No you’re not.”
She looked up at him, confused. “I’m not?”
“No.”
Anna cautiously took her arms from around Avarice and stood up straight. She shivered. She was cold, the weather was horrible, and she was scared. But for Avarice, Anna convinced herself she was not cold, the weather was not terrible, and that she was not scared. She looked down and felt her head spin. Below her the driveway rested, the grey concrete barely buried under a thin layer of snow.
“What are we doing up here?” Anna asked, teeth chattering.
Avarice smiled. In his thick suit, he did not feel the cold at all. “Why, darling, you are going to prove that you love me.”
She took her arm from around him. “How?”
“It’s very simple,” Avarice replied. “You are going to fly.”
“I can’t fly.” The answer came quickly and sharply from her cold lips.
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I can’t!”
Cupping her chin with his hand, Avarice growled in frustration. “Yes, you can fly. If you want to prove you love me, you will fly.”
For the third time that day, Anna could feel tears in her eyes. They streamed down her face, piping hot on her icy skin. “I love you… I love you… But I can’t fly. Don’t make me. Don’t make me!”
“You disgust me.”
Anna cried harder.
“Do you know what the last girl who loved me did?” Avarice asked. “She climbed a tree for me. She was prepared to fly from the tallest branch of that tree.” He let go of Anna’s face. Avarice stroked her hair. “But unlike you, my pet, she had the willpower to fight me. Instead, she fell. She was never quite right in the head after that. I told her I could come back, but why would I? I did not want her after that.”
The tears kept flowing.
Avarice looked directly into Anna’s leaking eyes. Despite the weather, his eyes made her melt. “Now, are you going to be a good girl and fly for me?”
“I love you,” was Anna’s reply.
It was met with a nod. “I know you do. Now, fly for me.”
Without a second look, Anna jumped.
For one glorious moment, she was flying. Her body, surrounded on all sides by snow and air, suspended as a testament to her love for Avarice. Then, she began to fall.
It was then Avarice realized it.
Anna crashed onto the pavement with a sickening crunch. Skull shattered, neck snapped, bones broken, she flopped, before finally settling on the pavement. A thick river of bright red blood began to flow down the gently sloping driveway, as the unrelenting snow began to knit her a shroud of white.
Next to her, the box lay, just as shattered. Yet, on a small fragment, a slightly changed detail. Another bird added. A small, yet beautiful bird, looking happy and at ease with the hundred of other birds, all which lay scattered about the driveway. From the wooden wreckage, a swirl of green smoke arose. It floated into the snowy sky, broken, destroyed, flying.