Momma, What's a Moon Crystal? [Sterek] [Short Story]

Chapter 9

It was 1943, mid-August; it had been an extremely wet summer, with constant mudslides; the river hadn't been clear since late spring; one of the worst years fishing in a very long time. Some friends and I thought that since there had been so much rain that it possibly caused some Moon Crystals to become exposed. The full moon had passed days before, so ideally, we were safe to go looking for them. Back then, werewolves covered the valley and most of the mountain, so no one dared go near the mountain. 

"Elliot, are you sure it's not too soon to be going up on the mountain? It's only been three days," My best friend Mason asked. We always called him a weeny for being so scared of everything, but he had a reason to be scared for once.

"I'm sure, Mason. A group of hikers was up there yesterday, and nothing happened to them," I chuckled. I'd do anything for Mason; we'd known each other since we were on the playground shoving sand in the other kid's diapers. I was the one shoving sand into diapers; Mason might have been a victim of that, but our Ma's were friends, so he forgave me.

After a little more convincing, we took a three-hour hike up to the place that we'd found Moon Crystals before; they always liked to regrow in the same area. I looked to the sky, smiling that the sun was starting to set; that meant we have a small window of time to find the moon crystals and get down the mountain safely.

 "Elli, I don't have a good feeling about this," Mason stuttered out, grabbing onto my sleeve. 

"Just a quick look, then we'll go down. I've been leaving one alone for a long time, hoping that it would get to a good size. Let's check it out and leave, okay?" I smiled, pulling him in the direction of the crystal. 

It was only about fifteen yards off the beaten trail, so it wasn't hard to find our way back if Mason started getting scared. I moved a large fern bush out of the way of the old burnt tree trunk and smiled widely at the crystal in front of me. "Mason, look at how beautiful it is." 

"How long have you been saving that one? You never let them get over the size of a baseball most of the time." Mason knelt to the crystal running his fingertips across the tips of the crystal.

"About two years, I read once about how big they could grow, so I wanted to see it for myself. I keep wanting to dig it up, but I find it almost impossible to do so," I patted his shoulder.

"Well, maybe when you get back, we can do it together." Mason stood looking up to the orange sky. "I'll be sure to check on it every once in a while, to make sure no one else finds it."

"Sounds like a plan. Come on; we better get back. Your Ma's probably wondering where we went." I threw my arm around his shoulder and led us back down to the trail and off the mountain. 

Ω∆Ω

"It sounds like you and Mason had a lot of adventures together." Stiles smiled at the older man, or as he now knew was named Elliot Rogers. 

"We did. Sadly, we didn't get to dig that crystal up together. When I was away at war, Mason died of cancer; it was far too late to catch it, and medicine wasn't what it is now. So the day after his funeral, I went and dug the crystal up; it was a part of his headstone for a long time before someone tried to steal it." Elliot explains, glancing into the museum's showroom. 

"Well, I'm sure he's happy that you did it for him." Derek smiled. "Thank you for telling us your stories. It means a lot to us." 

"Some of those I haven't thought about in a long time. So, thank you for being a nosy pair of kids." Elliot smiled before turning to grab a box from a shelf behind him. "Take this with you; they might help you." 

Stiles stared at the box that was pressed into his hands, "Are you sure?" He asked, believing that the box held something dear to Elliot.

"Mason would agree with me. So don't worry about it."