Crystal Snow

The Frost

My eyes open fast, I notice that I am once again warm. It is uncomfortable I miss the ice. I felt powerful while I was there, wherever there was. Based on the fact that I am now lying in bed I think that it is safe to conclude that that was all just a dream. I mean, I'm stressed about leaving Eric and Hazel, and the idea of having some easy way out of this mess would be nice. So I shrug off the little voice that is reminding me of that woman. There is one thing for certain, I would never dream up something like that as my solution.
    Then a host of memories come flying back to me, Olivia dancing, burning, screaming. I had almost gone a full day without those memories, but I guess there are some things that magic just can't solve.
    Again the memories hit me like a wave from behind dragging me under and tumbling my thoughts and emotions around. We watched her burn, we watched her flesh contort and change as the flames became her. None of us wanted to keep looking, I'm not going to lie, to sugar-coat her because she landed a tragic end. Olivia was not the nicest girl, she wasn't the meanest either, she was kind of just always there. Not the girl that you looked for at the party, but more the one that you saw and acknowledged.
    A sudden beeping in my ear-com pulls me out of the pit of thoughts that I have buried myself in. "Uh, hi it's Crystal." I must not have taken the com out before I fell asleep.
"Yeah I know, I called you." Hazel's voice glides through the com.
"Oh, sorry... I kind of just woke up." My voice sounds distant, as if I was speaking from the other side of the room.
"Don't you remember the article I showed you about sleeping with your com in!" I can tell that she is truly concerned, but I am not in the mood to be serious right now.
"Yep it's right there in my memory next to the one about how coms are deteriorating our society. You only got a com last month! I think the veteran knows how to use it better than the noobie." I know this is going to start a rant but I really am in the need of a distraction right now. Hazel has a tendency to sit very strongly on her beliefs, even once she realizes that she's wrong she won't admit defeat. I'll miss her next year...
"You still there Crys?" I'm jolted from my  thoughts. "I haven't heard a grunt in like, ten minutes, I started to wonder if you had fallen asleep again."
"Uh... no! I just kinda zoned out."
"It's great to know how much you care about my opinions on the matter."
"It's not that H, I'm just thinking about Eric, I mean, what am I gonna do!"
"I'll talk to him, I already told you that, also you know he never stays mad for long."
"Yeah, yeah... Hey I gotta go, dinner." That was a lie
"See you tomorrow Crys, bye"
"Bye." A click, then nothing. I am alone, no voice in my ears, yet the words from my dream still echo in my head, they are like unwanted guests that won't seem to leave as many hints as I give them that they can not stay. Ugh! The fire, the fire is burning in my ears my nerve tingle to quench it. What is this new feeling, power, unbelievable power!
No I can't think like that, those feelings lead people astray.
But I have felt it, and...
Remember Olivia remember the flames, melting her flesh, cooking her alive
But my powers, mine are real! Not stolen from some silly pouch.
Stop! Stop! No the powers they are not yours, you can't even use them, all you can do it feel them, and that feeling will leave you craving more.
But maybe this is why I was chosen, maybe I am one of the few...
Then they will help you unlock these abilities you think that you possess and you will be put into the proper program. But I urge you please do not attempt to live out these dreams before your time, you will be left feeling only empty, a shell of who you are, who we are.
My head is pounding from this... this internal battle that I know has been raging since that message was delivered to the main port. But now more than ever I know that the only way for me to know what that woman wanted from me is for me to figure out my own power, for once in my life I have to listen to the demon on my shoulder.
    Once again I allow my nerves to be consumed by the electric power radiating from my core I feel my skin hardening and changing. I am becoming ice once again, though this time I don't feel frozen at all.
    The ice running through my veins makes me feel awake and alive. I know that with a motion I could turn this whole room to ice, and with this thought I see frost curling around my translucent fingertips.
    Suddenly I hear the stairs creaking and instinctively I know how to put myself back into my solid form. I am flesh again but the power that I felt as ice has not gone away.