Tusks the Elephant

Once upon a time, there lived a young elephant. His name was Tusks. Tusks was a tough elephant; he had a tough exterior. Tusks was a lonely elephant. He lived alone in a glass house and all he had was a heart made of glass. His heart was small and fragile. But little did he know, this glass heart held a sparkling star within. A wise old elephant once told him, "the sparkling star is the key to life's happiness. The only way to ever see this light is to find his beautiful moon; a moon that could open his delicate glass heart".

Tusks had met many other elephants in search of his happiness; in search of his moon; but other elephants never could hold his fragile glass heart. You see, many elephants have come and gone but Tusks had never let them touch his glass heart. One unexpected day, Tusks had been tired of being alone. He showed his heart to an elephant he once liked; her name was Jay. It was hard for Tusks to show his glass heart to anyone, he was a scared little elephant. Jay looked at Tusks' glass heart; she tried to open the glass heart to release the sparkling star but she dropped the glass and shattered it to pieces.

Tusks had thought that he had found happiness since the glass was now in pieces but he was wrong. All he felt was sadness. Tusks slowly picked up the broken glass and put it back together. Tusks began to give up on the moon. He was starting to think that the wise old elephant was just another crazy old elephant. It took a long while for Tusks to put his glass heart back together but slowly and surely, he did.

Tusks went back to the wise old elephant hoping to find the direction of the moon. The wise old elephant said "you can never find the moon if you're always looking at ground around you". Tusks didn't quite understand what this meant. But, he didn't want to be lonely so he searched and searched. However, Tusks was a scared little elephant. He was afraid that his glass heart might shatter yet again.

Like any other tired elephant, Tusks began to give up. He began to accept his loneliless. Of course, he was sad, but he had searched high and low with no success. When Tusks began to walk back to his lonely glass house, he saw a panda. This panda's name was Niki. Niki was friendly and beautiful. But Tusks could see that she was tired; just as he was tired of being alone. Niki was different. You see, Niki never showed her true feelings to other pandas; she was always full of energy, even when she was sad. Tusks wanted to see her heart. Tusks felt that he had to care for Niki when she was happy and when she was sad.

For the first time in his life, Tusks had found someone he loved. Niki loved him just as much and Tusks knew it. He felt safe with her. He felt love from her. Before he knew it, Tusks had offered his glass heart to Niki. He was scared at first; he was scared she might break it like the other elephants. But Niki took his glass heart with confidence and opened it up. Tusks had never felt so happy. Tusks had never felt his sparkling star shine so brightly... till now. Niki was the key to his glass heart; the brilliant moon to his sparkling star.

His journey with Miki had only just begun...