The Broken Crystal

Chapter Six

The water was red by the time Crystal stepped out of the lake. On the shore Dean was waiting, a frown plastered onto his face. Before she got the chance to ask him what he was thinking about, he was already walking away.

She ran after him. The wind flew right through her thin gown, the wet fabric sticking to her body and making her shiver. Ignoring the chilling feeling, Crystal focused on Dean, on catching up with him. It was hard. He was surprisingly fast and that, coupled with Crystal's exhaustion, made it almost impossible to keep him within her line of sight.

Just when she was about to give up, the boy stopped. Heaving, Crystal limped the rest of the way over to Dean. "Why-" breathe, "didn't you-" two breaths, "stop?"

Dean glanced at her, then moved his gaze back to whatever it was he had been staring at. Once Crystal got her breath back, she looked as well.

The view was of a town, similar to the pictures she had gotten to look at in the institution, only slightly more deserted. The buildings were the same as in the picture and it daunted on Crystal that maybe this was where it had been taken. In that case, it must have been some time ago, because the little houses and businesses seemed to have seen better days. Even from this distance, looking down from the cliff-side, you could see the cracks in the stone foundation they were resting on. Still, it was a beautiful sight.

Dean's voice cut through the silent atmosphere. "My family lives in Colorado, around 600 miles from here. I've been doing some thinking and there's no way in hell we can get there without a car."

Crystal bit her lip, and her voice was small when she said: "Um, what's a car again?" The word was unknown to her, but there was something about the way he used it she recognized. She just needed to know if she was right.

Dean remained quiet for a moment and Crystal could feel his gaze on her, even though she was looking in another direction. Her eyes were fixated on the sun; an enormous, shiny ball, which seemed to be so bright, so impossibly huge. It blinded her, but she didn't care. It was too beautiful for her to look away.

"A car," Dean began saying, sighing slightly, "is a form of transportation. You sit in it and you go forward, steering it to where you wanna go."

Crystal nodded silently, the explanation sparking a memory. Before it could resurface to torment her, she pushed it away to the back of her mind, hoping it would stay there forever. Even as she thought it, Crystal knew the locked away memories would return at night to play out in her nightmares. That's what they usually liked to do.

"Are you okay?" asked Dean, sensing Crystal's unease.

"I'm fine, thank you." He frowned at her response, but didn't say anything. He was beginning to get used to Crystal's odd way of wording herself. Still, he missed being called "buddy" by his friends and his family- The car. Concentrate on the car. Lately the thought of home had made Dean space out in even the most dangerous of situations. He couldn't let it happen again. So, instead of thinking about that, his mind went back to their transportation.

"We have to steal one..." he mumbled to himself, but Crystal still heard it. "Steal what?"

Dean groaned inwardly. "The car, Crystal. The car."

♢♢♢

"We'll take that one," Dean said, pointing at the white Cadillac carelessly parked in front of the run down gas station. Looking closely, Crystal saw that the keys were still in the ignition. That made it a whole lot easier for them.

Nodding, Crystal straightened up a little, her back crying out in pain from being in the same position for so long. Ignoring its wails, she crouched back down, this time into a running stance. Dean did the same, while also keeping an eye on the owner of the car. The man was currently inside the store, but the way he had parked signaled he wasn't going to be there for long. They had to do it now.