The world around me is dark and stuffy. If I required oxygen, I imagine it would be near-impossible to breathe. I feel squished. The thick cloth rectangles are full of stuffing and push on all sides of my thin, long body. I long for the time that I am not down in the dark, unable to move and to see light, the characters, and hear the sound from the magic box that I control with a few simple buttons on my body. I am used to the blackness now, for nobody ever puts me away properly, in the cool, airy drawer under that magic box.
The heat around me is suddenly relieved as light penetrates the darkness in the world around me. I can now see up into the sky, but the light is blinding, I haven’t seen it in ages. I almost don’t notice the small sweaty hand reaching down towards me. I feel it grasp me tightly and there’s a happy giggle. The warmth that now fills me is no longer the unbearable, sweltering heat from the dark world. It’s warmth that fills you when you’re happy for the first time in a while.

The grubby hand belongs to a small, satisfied child, who clicks my largest button a few times in an over-exaggerated way, pointing me to the large magic box. A few more clicks on another button, and I recognize the moving pictures that the child wants to watch. He sets me down next to him and watches the bright magic box happily. I watch with him, merely happy to be out of the dark world and to be needed again. Soon, the child hears another call to him, he whines and uses me to click off the magic box, then drops me back on the soft rectangles. He bounces off the couch and runs away, but I don’t get to see where he goes, because his clumsy bounce throws me down again, into the lonely, dark world.

It isn’t too bad for a while. I know the child will come back. He always comes back eventually. The way I fell, I am still able to see out just a bit, so the dark isn’t pitch black this time. Time passes and I grow more and more lonely. I tell myself to stay strong, the child will come back. He must come back. He won’t leave me here. He cares for me.
He needs me.

Finally, I feel the weight of the child return. It must’ve been at least two full circles of bright outside and dark outside, but I don’t care, he will pull me out now because he will want to watch the magic box with me again. But when I watch the child through the small hole of light, I see him pull out another small rectangle. It is smaller than I am, and it is beautifully designed. It is much fancier than I am. Eventually, I realize that this small device talks to other ones of its kind when they’re not in the same area as the child. I needn’t be worried. He’ll put the device down and look for me soon. Or maybe he won’t. As I watch, the child points the device to where the magic box is located and presses the buttons. I see more light, and hear the joyful sounds, but they were not made by me this time. Has he forgotten about me? He can’t just abandon me for this new device, he needs me… he needs me…

But he doesn’t need me anymore. I will sit in this dark world for forever now, with this small strip of light as my only comfort. He will never need me again, but I will always need him.