Chapter 11: You Hate It!

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POV: Crystal
For a while I just knelt beside her, holding my head in my hands.
This was all my fault. If I had just stayed and married Pahu none of this would have happened.
These same thoughts kept forcing their way into my mind over and over again making tears stream down my face even faster. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die.
Ding. Ding.
Instinctively, I looked down to where the sound had come from. The noise maker was the key Pip had given me and I had dropped it.
Her last words came into my head: "You have to unlock the door to your future and live your own life free."
"Okay. Okay Pip." I said as I looked back at her silent body.
I slowly picked up the key and took out the map. My hands were shaking as I held it up to get a better view of it. Using the little light left from Pahu's lantern, I discovered the correct path to the exit of this labyrinth. As I started to walk away, I remembered the flower that I had put in my hair. I found it lying in a puddle a few meters away. Blue asiatic lilies, Pip's and my favorite. Carefully, I put it in Pip's hands which I moved to the center of her chest and kissed her cheek. She loved blue. All things blue: jewelry, clothes, furniture even food at times. Of course she was never allowed to wear anything with color, only grey, same as me. However, she would sneak a little blue necklace underneath her clothes at times, and bring it out and show it to me when I was young. For a girl living in a world of dullness and grey, having even the slightest bit of color made life a bit easier. Pip deserved to have some color, she deserved many things. Her family, her old home, her old life. She didn't deserve to be my servant, as much as she made my life better, her life would have been a whole lot better if my father hadn't taken her away from it.
My father. He could still be close.
I took one last longing look at the now peaceful Pip and ran off into the darkness, the whole time leaving a trail of tears. After running into several walls, I decided to catch my breath again and weigh out my options. I took a sip from my ice cold canteen and took off my coat to cool off a little.
I could continue moving forward or in whatever direction I had been moving in or, I could accept my defeat and sit here and wait for them to find me.
I thought for a while about what I could do. Letting Pip die for nothing didn't sit well with me. There was also no way I could get out of here without being able to read the map, let alone see it (Pahu's light died out in the second tunnel).
"What am I going to do." I sighed hugging my bag and knees.
Suddenly, a faint glow appeared in my bag. I searched for the light and pulled it out. It was the box named Iphone and it was not only a box but also a lantern! With new confidence, I stood up, hope radiating off of my body. Using Iphone's light, I was able to walk quickly and safely down the halls. Finally, I had reached my destination or should I say walked into it. After I recovered from my incident, I thought I had gone the wrong way. The map however disagreed and said I had arrived at the correct spot.
This can't be right. There's supposed to be a door here!
When I leaned against the wall behind me to take another rest, I felt something poking me hard in the back. I turned around and searched the wall for the source of the inconvenience. My hand hit it with a thud. Shining the light coming from Iphone on it, I discovered it was a handle and right next to it was a key hole the size of a snowball. Remembering Pip's words, I reached into my bag and pulled out the key that appeared to be the correct size for the hole. Slowly, I pushed it into the keyhole and turned it. The door clicked and creaked open ajar, as if it hadn't been used in centuries. Taking a breath I forced the door open just enough for me to squeeze past it and found myself staring at yet another staircase.
Why stairs? Why?
"This is for Pip. This is for Pip." I kept telling myself.
Placing one foot onto the rusty, metal staircase I began climbing. Each step creaked underneath my weight, causing me to grip the Aldo rusted railing. Suddenly, One of the steps could not hold my weight anymore and broke free from the metal death trap. The railing was the only thing keeping me from falling to the floor below as I dangled in the air. I gradually began swinging myself back and forth, trying to use the momentum to get myself back onto the platform, however with each swing the railing creeped even more.
Oh god just one more swing and...
I opened my eyes to find I was still suspended in the air, but I was holding onto a less rusted metal stair. With great difficulty I pulled myself up through the new hole and caught my breathe.
"Had to be stairs. Just had to be." I sighed.
For the rest of the climb, I was more cautious, skipping steps that were entirely orange, until finally I made it to the top. After the last step there were two doors, behind which I could hear the wind howling outside. My vision became blurrier and I had run out of water seventy three steps ago. I needed to cool off fast. Pushing the loose hairs from my now messy long braid of white hair, I slung my pack over my shoulder and pulled on the doors. They wouldn't budge. I pulled harder but had the same result. With one more last weak pull, I felt my last bit of energy leave my body and I collapsed onto the door. Apparently, I was supposed to push on the door instead of pull on it because the force of gravity and the weight of my body combined created enough force while I was fainting to nudge the door open. My unconscious body tumbled into the frigid, wilderness of Antarctica.
A few minutes after I had plunged into a snowdrift, the cold returned my strength. After swallowing several ounces of snow,  I searched for my bag. Thankfully, it was still slung over my shoulder. I took out my goggles and pulled them over my eyes. The scenery was probably beautiful. Of course, I couldn't see it due to the massive cloud of cold and ice in front of me. Nevertheless, I was free. My heart soared at the thought of that. Gingerly, I began walking through the swirling wall of snow in front of my eyes, careful not to drop anything that could get blown away. I walked for hours, trudging through the waist deep snow. This wasn't much of a problem because I could manipulate the snow to part around me, making my walk a bit easier.
Without warning, I heard a loud beating noise. The wind picked up as more snowflakes pierced my skin like needles. Whatever was creating the noise was coming from above me. I scanned the blizzardy snow cloud in the sky. Then, I saw it. A large black bird lowering to the ground. The bird didn't look like any bird I had ever seen. Then again the only birds I had seen were really penguins. It didn't have any wings just a long, stiff tail feather that had a spinning circle attached to it. I wanted to run but, my mind wouldn't let me, for its curiousness overpowered its common sense. As the black bird got closer, I realized it had no eyes or a beak and that it was a machine. The machine landed on the ground gently, making the loud beating sound it produced soften. One of the sides of the machine slid open and out came a man. He wore a large white puffy parka, with large snow goggles over his eyes. In his hand he held a disfigured looking black spear.
"Crystal?" he yelled over the roaring wind.
"Yes, I'm Crystal. Did Pip send you?" I shouted over the noise.
"Uhh. Yes she did. Come on!" he said as he waved me over to the machine.
"What is that thing?" I asked.
"It will get you outta' here." he replied not answering my question completely.
He slid the side of the machine open again and gestured for me to get in. I took one last look at my home. It was where I first walked and spoke and laughed and played. Where my mother lived. This was my home. How could I leave it? Then, I realized that this wasn't my home, but a prison, holding me back from my freedom. My father had controlled my life so far, but it stopped now. With a new sense of determination, I ran over to the mechanism to start my new life, but before I could jump into the mysterious contraption something pricked my neck, and I fell to the ground.

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Wazzup!!!!! Thanks for reading.
Will Crystal every learn to not get into the vehicles of strangers?
No. No, she will not.
Will Pip come back to life?
Well, like all superhero deaths, this one is permanent.
Who kidnapped Crystal?
Where will they take her?
Hopefully, you can answer most of these questions yourself.
Tune in next time.
SUPES OUT!

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