Delirious #Wattys2016

Chapter 5

"Why is your house so far away?" Tara asked. Krystal laughed and said, "Because all of the other houses aren't far away."

Tara looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"That means that it's different. And far away,"

"Why do you want it to be different and far away? Don't you have to walk more?"

"Because I like different."

"But like, why do you want to walk more than you need to?"

"I never said that I like it. I just don't like being close to other people. It's an invasion of my privacy."

Tara sighed. She never really understood Krystal's reasoning. Throughout the entire walk, Krystal hardly spoke. Whenever Tara or Lenora asked her a question, she'd respond with 'yeah' or 'no' instead of an actual reply.

"Hey, Krystal," Tara began, "why are you so quiet?" Krystal paused for a moment before walking again. "I let my actions speak for me."

"That's not a valid answer," Tara said as she walked. Since Krystal was ahead of Tara and Lenora, Tara decided to catch up to Krystal. After running for a minute, Tara finally caught up to Krystal. "Krystaaall," Tara whined. Winded, Tara walked beside Krystal. Lenora decided to catch up as well. Within a minute, the trio was walking side-by-side.

"You looked lonely, so I thought I'd join you," Tara grinned. "Yeah," Krystal said, "I know."

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 "Woah, this house is huge!" Lenora said. She looked at the house in admiration and disbelief. Krystal laughed and said, "You get rewards when you do well in many, many books." Lenora smiled sadly. "Yeah, I bet."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Krystal stated. "You can do more than you'll ever know."

"I seriously doubt that,"

"Why?"

"Because I'm just an assistant," Lenora stated, "I'm not supposed to be a character."

"And fast food restaurants aren't supposed to have universities, but look at what McDonald's did."

"McDonald's? Fast food? Universities?"

"I don't know either, but I heard one of Mr. Rotcerid's employees say that, and I'm pretty sure it suits this conversation." Lenora shrugged. "Seems legit," she said.

"Hey, why is your house so close to the Edge?" Tara asked. Krystal paused for a moment before saying, "I like to stop the jumpers." Tara and Lenora looked confused. "Jumpers?"

"I don't know if you know this, but underneath the Chamber is where lost ideas go. Whenever the author creates a character or idea, it ends up in the Chamber. But if the author forgets about that idea, then it goes to the area underneath the Chamber. I don't know if it has a name or not."

"Well, that makes sense, but what does that have to do with jumping?" Lenora asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Krystal said coldly. Krystal refused to make eye contact, even though Lenora tried.

"No, not really," Tara said, "but why won't you tell us?"

Krystal sighed and said, "Tara, I don't know if you want to know."

"But I do,"

"But you don't."

"Pretty sure I do."

"That may be true, but you'll wish you didn't know once you find out. I'm pretty sure Lenora's figured it out."  Lenora nodded. Lenora didn't look satisfied or comfortable with her conclusion. Neither did Krystal. "Do..." Her voice cracked, "Do people... Jump off the edge...?"