Crystal

Chapter 6: Crystal to the rescue

It's been a week since I've slept in Leza's room. I just couldn't go up there. I had a hard time being in the house; I could feel her in there with me. I tried to shake those thoughts out of my head but it was so overwhelming. I found myself hanging out with Rob more. We hung out in his house; we went out for a drive, parties. If I was in high school I'd say we were going out. But I'm 24 so I say he's someone I like to be with. I never told him about Leza in the house and I don't feel like I should.

I had off today so I decided to go for a jog. I grabbed my iPod and headed out. It was a gloomy day, same as always. I don't think I have ever seen the sun here. I avoided going towards the forest so I stayed on the side of the park that was closer to the public. Of course it meant passing the creepy lonely playground. I reached the end of the park that over looked a large lake. I had no idea it was actually there. Well, Leza did mention it but I had forgotten about. It was actually a beautiful sight. It was pretty big; it was sparkling like little crystals. It was really still, untouched. It was the one thing that gave this place a normal feeling. I felt at ease looking over it.

It reminded me of when Leza and I would drive over to the lake near my grandmother's. We lived in the city so it was about a four hour drive to her country house. It was so peaceful. We would feed the ducks and go fishing. Well I tried. Leza succeeded. We'd bring home a few for grandma to cook it. We would read books by the lake and tell stories. Leza wanted to be a writer. I suddenly realized why she would move here. I remembered her telling me how this place was quiet and the lake was peaceful. I remember we wanted a house by the lake. The lake near our grandmother's got emptied due to construction and this was the nearest one. She liked that it meant that we can visit easily. I didn't wanna leave the city. I wanted to open a yoga studio which I ended up doing. But I gave it up for my mother's sake. For Leza, she'd tell me.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture this place looking sunny and bright. But I opened them and only saw gloom. Ah well. I turned to head back home. As I started passing the playground, my iPod died and I stopped to take off my headphones. That's odd; I had fully charged it before I left the house and it never dies so easily. Before I jogged on I heard a swing. I looked in the direction of the swing set and saw two little girls walking past the swings. I don't know why, but I slowly walked in their direction. Why would these kids be out alone?

My heart was beating faster. They were walking towards the forest.

"Hey!" They turned to look at me and I jogged to them. "What are you guys do-" I stopped in my tracks. I saw him. He was standing right at the front of the forest partially hidden behind one tree. His pale body stood out even from a distance. His forearms down to his fingers were black. His head was tilted down but I can still see a twisted red grin that seemed to appear like blood was dripping from his lips. His eyes were white, no pupils just white.  He seemed to be getting taller and hovered over the little girls. I ran towards them and grabbed them by their arms.

I took off running with them until we were out of the park. I turned back to see if he was there. No, there wasn't anything. I looked down at the girls who looked so scared and held each other. They couldn't have been older than six.

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"We live down that street in the blue house and pink door." One of them said. I nodded and held their hands and walked them home.

As we were walking up their street one of them started sniffling. She was silently crying.

"It's okay. Just don't ever leave your house alone, you hear?" I said. They both nodded in unison.

I walked up the house with the pretty pink door and rang the bell. No one answered. I rang again. No answer. I started knocking and the door opened as I knocked. It was dark inside. Nope. No way.

"When did you leave the house?" I asked the girls.

"I don't know, right before we got to the park?" That must have been 10 minutes before I found them.

"Was anyone home?"

"No, mommy wasn't home this morning. We thought she went to the park."

Oh fuck. I held the girls close to me and quickly called 911 stepping away from the house. They showed up in five minutes. They told me to wait with the girls by the car and checked inside the house. They announced themselves as they entered. A few moments later they came back out and one of them radioed something in the car. The other cop walked up to us.

"Any relation to the family?" He asked.

I shook my head no. "I live two streets over." I explained.

I told them I found the girls near the forest. "It just seemed odd these little girls were alone. I felt I had to take them home."

"Well you did the right thing. Did you see anything else?" he asked.

"No." I wasn't about to make myself look insane.

"What about the tall man?" one the girls said walking over to me.

"Tall man?" he asked.

"Yeah the really tall thin man. He has a red smile. His arms are super long too." She stared at him as if she was expecting him to agree. Then she looked at me with the same expression.

The cop actually looked as though he was taking into consideration to what she had said, almost as if he understood her and believed that there was something sinister in the forest. But then went back to his calm expression. "Did you see anyone?" He asked.

"I thought I saw something in the trees. But I think my mind was playing with me. I just grabbed the girls and took them home. When I saw it was empty and they said that their mom hadn't been home it just seemed wrong."

He looked at me for a moment. Then he walked over to his partner. They were speaking for a few seconds when another cop car pulled up. All the cops were talking and finally two approached us.

"Hey sweetie, do you have any one of your family nearby?" One of them asked the girls.

"We have our dad but he lives two towns away, mom says."

"We'll give him a call okay? Wanna ride in a police car?"

The cops took the girls to the station. Their dad was called and would be picking them up. I answered a few more questions before I was allowed to leave. One of the cops I was first talking to ask to speak to me privately while his partner and the other cop walked towards the car.

"One last question. I know it sounds a bit off but what did you think you saw?" The question threw me off. Why would he ask that? What does it matter what I saw?

"I mean, it sounds crazy but exactly what the girls said is what I thought I might have seen. I just wanted to get them out of there."

He looked at me with a slight frown. He looked back at his guys then back at me and added "You might have just saved those girls lives." He smiled lightly.

"What about their mom?" I asked.

He looked down. "We're gonna go put out a search in the park." Then he walked away.

By the time I headed home I saw Rob's bike in his driveway so I went straight to his house. I knocked until he opened.

Hey what's going on?" He was shirtless and very well toned. I had to shake my head.

"I need a beer."