A small house with a harmonious atmosphere was the perfect description of that home. Though it was small, the love inside was immense. Ana had both parents and four older siblings. She was the youngest child in the family.
Ana was only seven when her older sibling's bedroom became her playroom. She loved the room because there were so many interesting things inside. There was a radio that still worked, though most of what came out of it was static rather than a broadcast or a song. There were guitar music books she could follow whenever she got bored and wanted to strum the guitar to pass the time.
But one item fascinated her more than anything else: a black, tube-shaped mesh bag. It contained many things Ana didn't know the names of. Because she didn't know what they were, she was curious. She approached the mesh bag and examined it. Her little fingers traced each small object from the outside. Most of them were gray, white, or blue—the kinds of colors she found boring. When she turned the bag over, one object came into view. It was a small red square, buried deep inside, almost at the bottom of the mesh.
Ana searched for an opening and pulled the zipper at the top. She slipped her little hand into the bag while watching from the outside to keep track of the small red object. It was difficult to reach, but Ana wasn't a child who gave up easily. She continued searching for it.
No one was watching her. Her older sibling wasn't in the room, having gone out for karate practice. Ana was all alone inside.
Her fingers were almost touching the red object...
Her eyes lit up when she finally succeeded. But suddenly, the tip of her finger began to sting and throb with pain. Ana panicked at the sensation and immediately pulled her hand back out. The small square object she thought was a “Lego” was still inside. It hadn't moved. But her finger hurt so badly that she couldn't speak.
She ran out after simply dropping the mesh bag on the floor.
She went looking for her parents.
Her ever-patient parents were shocked to see the injury on the tip of their child's index finger. It was a scrape that had begun to bleed. Ana burst into tears. Her mother quickly got a bandage and treated the wound. The little girl calmed down once the injury was covered with a bear-covered band-aid. Then her mother asked where she had gotten the injury. Ana answered that it had happened in her older sibling's room. Her mother went there immediately and saw the mesh bag lying on the floor, some of its contents spilling out. When she examined it, there was nothing dangerous inside.
Then what had caused Ana's injury?
For years, Ana remained intensely curious about why her finger had stung and hurt after touching that red object. But every time she was about to inspect the bag, fear overcame her curiosity. Her older sibling still let her play in the room, and Ana often played there, but she never went near the mesh bag again. The object was hung in the corner of the room. Ana no longer dared approach it, focusing instead on the toy cooking set her mother had bought her.
Until several months later, when Ana grew curious again. She dragged over a chair so she could reach the mesh bag once more. She took it down and saw that the red object was still inside, without having shifted even slightly.
Her little hand went inside again. She tried to reach it.
A choked sob escaped her lips. The same pain struck again. This time, her pinky was the target. Ana pulled out her hand and wrapped her little finger in a piece of her clothing.
Never again. Ana would never touch it again...
Ten years passed, and that harmonious family decided to move. Ana was a little reluctant because that house was where she had been born. All her memories since birth were stored there. But her parents' decision was final. Ana had no choice but to let go of the old house.
They packed their belongings before moving. Ana entered her older sibling's long-abandoned bedroom, since its occupant was attending school out of town. Everything she had seen there as a child was still there. The radio and the music books.
And the dusty mesh bag hanging on the wall.
Still containing the small red square that Ana called a red “Lego.”