My Little Sister Gave Away Her Lunch Money to Buy a Lonely Boy at the Hospital a Birthday Cake – The Next Morning, We Found a Black Balloon Attached to a Red Box on Our Lawn

read. “Nobody else did.”

Della leaned against me.

“Mom and Dad send presents, but they don’t stay. I have a locker full of birthdays. Della gave me the only birthday that felt real.”

I stopped.

“Keep reading,” Della whispered.

“Please open the locker. Please don’t let them take me home if they’re only going to leave me alone there too.”

The second note was continue reading …