text: “Mommy, can I have a balloon?” A child tugged at his mother’s clothes while pointing at a stand selling balloons. The mother sighed. “Oh, all right fine. Just don’t lose this one.” The mother paid for a nice blue balloon and gave it to the child. As they walked off, the child tripped and immediately let go of the balloon and it floated off into the sky. The mother was more dumbfounded than anything and the child started to cry. ... The balloon was confused. One second it was tethered to the earth by a human child, the next it was abandoned into the breeze and drifted into the cloudless sky. The balloon didn’t get to publicly float for a while as a strong gust blew it over a city. Looking down onto the buildings below, it first saw the finest of towers and houses glistening over the glorious boulevard below, but that wasn’t the only thing it saw. Next to the gorgeous buildings, there was a maze of slipshod buildings sprawled out in contrast. This confused the balloon, shouldn’t the humans defend each other, shouldn’t they watch each other’s’ backs? The balloon tried to dismiss this thought thinking, there must be a justified reason the other humans must have their own woes... the balloon wasn’t completely sure. The balloon got blown down into the slums where it became horrified. The humans there were living in absolutely appalling conditions. There were families starving, structures that were falling apart, and orphaned children running around in rags. The balloon wanted to do something, anything, but it couldn’t, it was just a balloon. It could just float. The winds changed and blew back into the wealthy part of the city and balloon floated along with it. Among the glamor, the balloon saw people splurging on fine goods and foods, partying their times away, and seeming to only give a care about themselves. The balloon felt a building furry, here were people just throwing away money without care while people not far away are struggling to just survive. Again the balloon wanted to do something, but it was just rubber. It could only drift. The balloon was disheartened. What could it do? It couldn’t do anything. The humans probably wouldn’t do anything anyway. The balloon did a mental sigh and decided to just give up thought. As it drifted of both mentally and physically, the balloon only lamented that it couldn’t do anything. A loud crash brought the balloon back to consciousness. From high in the atmosphere the balloon peered around and saw the remains of a collapsed building. With nothing else to do the balloon drifted down to the ruins. It was horrendous. Scrap was everywhere, and so were bodies. The balloon decided to look for any survivors it could find, it could at least try to do something. It floated above the scene but could find anyone. All of a sudden there was what sounded like a child crying. The balloon saw a kid almost hidden by the wreckage and covered in so much dust they were barely visible and immediately floated down. ... The child sniffled. They wanted to cry but they were losing the strength to even do that. The child was scared, they didn’t want to fall sleep forever like what happened to their parents. That fear gave the child enough strength to cry out for what they thought was one final time. Strangely a savior came to the child, a blue balloon. “Hello, Mr. balloon...” the child propped themself up awkwardly and weakly. “Are you here to carry me off...” They reached out to the balloon and pulled it towards their chest. “...thank you...” The child poked some of the dust on the ground and drew a smiley face on the balloon. “I don’t think I’ll make it Mr. balloon... I can’t feel my legs anymore...” the kid looked back to their legs. “My legs got stuck when the building fell... I hope I can finally see my parents again...” The kid’s grip on the balloon loosened and it floated up slightly. ... The balloon thought about the child. They wouldn’t survive. For the third time the balloon wished it could do something, but it was just a disposable toy. What could it do? It could only be carried by the breeze and eventually, ...the balloon realized there was one final way to help. ... The child let go of the balloon and watched it float away. It didn’t get far, however, when the balloon ran into a sharp piece of wreckage, poped, and fell back into the child’s hands. “Did you hear that?” rang a voice in the distance. “I think there’s something over here.” said a closer voice. Some of the rubble surrounding the kid was moved aside and a firefighter peered through the newly made gap. “There’s a kid over here!... They are still alive!” A few more firefighters rushed over to help clear the rubble and free the kid. “Don’t worry now,” the first voice said to the kid, “we will save you.” After a bit of struggle, the firefighters freed the kid from the wreckage and was carried to an ambulance. While all this happened the child looked down at the small corpse of a balloon in his hand “Thank you Mr.