Prue – 13
Piper – 11
Phoebe – 6 almost 7



Prue sat up in bed. She looked around everything was dark. She couldn’t sleep. Not at all. She had the worst day. Her current boyfriend broke up with her, her best friend was mad at her and Grams started to date a guy that she actually liked. This would usually categorize under the good column, but when you have a day filled with bad things nothing is good until something happens directly to you. And worse of all her mother had been dead for four years exactly now.

She threw her blankets off of her and walked quietly out of her room, which she shared with her sister, Piper. She crept downstairs. She was surprised to see the lights on. She looked around. There in the living room was Phoebe. She was small for her age so she was sitting on a booster seat at the coffee table, surrounded by pillows, and eating out of the box of Cheerio’s, that was twice as big as her head.

"Hey, baby, what are you doing?" Prue asked as she sat on the couch and lifted Phoebe onto her lap, Cheerio’s and all.

"Watching," was her reply.

"What are you doing up?" Prue asked.

"Waiting for you." Prue was silent.

Her sister wasn’t strange, she was just . . . entertaining? It was hard to explain Phoebe. She always brought out the best in people in the most unusual ways. Everything she did was always unexpected; you never knew what she would do next. Phoebe went on after a long pause.

"You know hearts shouldn’t represent love."

Prue looked at the little girl in her lap. Where did that come from?

"Cherrios are better," Phoebe continued. "They’re a circle. No edges, there’s no way to get in unless you break it. A circle is never ending; a heart is. You can easily break it." Looking at the little Cherrio in her fingers, Phoebe went on. "Did you know Cherrios are good for the heart? But I think my love is a Cheerio, ‘cause it has no edges, therefore no one can get in."

Prue finally began to understand the little child in her lap.

"So what you are saying is that it is better to have never have loved than to love?"

"Yes. I’ve seen how people spend their entire lives looking for love and then, just end up getting hurt. It is safer not to love at all."

"That’ s not true, Phoebe," Prue answered afraid of what her sister’s thoughts would grow into. "Yes, people spend endless amounts of time searching for that one love. And yes, people get hurt. But when you’re in love you feel . . . It’s hard to describe. But there’s nothing like it. Don’t run away from love.

Prue looked at her sister and saw the overly confused look she was getting. She took a Cherrio in her hand.

"You are looking at Cherrios in a different way than me. You see I agree with you, Cherrios do represent love. They never end, you’re right. You don’t give up on love, Phoebe. ‘Cause without it, without the love of someone, a family member, anyone, you don’t have anyone but yourself. You’re lucky, Pheebs, you have a lot of Cherrios. Don’t give up love yet, Pheebs. Let someone into your circle."

Phoebe looked at her sister and then back at the Cherrios. She slipped one on her pinky. She smiled. There was a way to get in, without breaking it.

THE END