In a small town where the sun cast a golden hue over the fields, a little girl named Lily sat on the porch, her small fingers tapping anxiously against her knees. The day was a special one—it was her birthday. Yet, despite the colorful balloons and the smell of chocolate cake wafting from the kitchen, a shadow loomed over the festivities; her father was missing.

“Daddy, are you out there?” she called out into the gentle breeze, her voice carrying the weight of unshed tears. She looked down at her shoes, wishing he would come tumbling back through the front door, his arms wide open, filled with warmth and laughter. “Daddy, won’t you come and play?” In her imagination, she could see him picking her up, spinning her around in circles until they both fell into fits of giggles on the soft grass.

But today, the porch was empty. “Daddy, do you not care? Is there nothing that you want to say?” The questions slipped from her lips like whispers to the wind. She knew he was hurting; she could feel it in the air that thickened with silence. “But I need you, I do,” she murmured, her heart clenching at the thought that maybe he just didn’t know how to reach back.

As the hours trickled by like drops of rain, she glanced at the sky, searching for signs. “You’re so far away,” she sighed, the words echoing in her chest. “Oh, you’re so far away.” Yet a part of her clung to hope, “That’s okay, that’s okay. I’m okay.” She wanted him to know that no matter the distance, she still loved him fiercely.

With each passing moment, her thoughts drifted back to the last time they had been together, laughing at the park, sharing ice cream, their hair fluttering in the summer wind. “Daddy, why’d you run away? Are you okay?” She wanted him to feel her heart, to understand that they were connected in more ways than one. “Look, Dad, we got the same hair,” she chuckled softly, brushing her fingers through her own tangled curls, longing for a smile in return.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant shades of orange and purple, Lily held her breath, wishing with every ounce of her being. “And Daddy, it’s my birthday,” she whispered, hoping her words would travel to him, coax him back home. “All I want to say…” The words hung in the air, heavy with yearning.

“Won’t you come and won’t you stay? Please stay, oh, please stay,” her heart begged. If only he could hear her, if only he could know how much she missed him. She closed her eyes, imagining him kneeling beside her, enveloped in a warm embrace. “Just one day,” she pleaded silently to the universe, desperate for a miracle.

And though she knew he was far away, on this day, in her heart, she hoped the distance would dissolve, and they would be together again, sharing laughter and love as they once did. The stars began to twinkle overhead, each one a promise, each one a whisper of her wishes, extending beyond the vastness of the night sky.