Dust covered the wood floor. Empty, discarded papers lay scattered around the room. Boxes where piled in a corner, gathering dirt and grim as the years accumulated.

A rat scurried out from under an old, abandoned box. It ran to the middle of the room and paused, nose up in the air to sniff, before scurring away again.

The many lights in the room had long since burnt out, but some light was let in threw a broken window. The other windows were boarded up, but this one had been opened by a girl many years ago.

She visited often for awhile, bringing life into the otherwise stale room. She would sit in the corner and draw. Sometimes she would talk to the rats or other critters that had taken up residency in the vacant ballroom.

But, she had grown and left the ballroom to a distant memory. It had once been beautiful, with masked men and women in beautiful gowns. They would swirl and laugh and have a good time.

Now, the balls were a memory for the old room just as the little girl was only a memory.