The Habit of Crystals (Open Novella Contest)

Two

It was a thirty-five minute drive out to Lawrence's home. The winding road took her out towards the mountains to a barren town outside of Butte, one she shared. Despite this, the desolate nature of the place kept the friends far enough from one another that each managed a quiet social life with a rural feel.

It was just as well, because hiding Chris for a year would have been much harder anywhere else.

She parked behind his car, up his gravel driveway far from the main road. His house was a ranch, just as big as he needed it to be to house his small family. It was just him, his wife Michelle, and their three dogs.

Michelle met Jade at the door, opening it to let all three golden retrievers run out to meet her. She had only just left her car before they bounded over to her, tails wagging with excitement not quelled by age.

Their names were Queen, Ace, and Jack. Michelle had been very insistent on the card theme, and Lawrence's only input was to not have both Queen and King given the similar sounds. One girl and two boys, all from the same litter. Every time Jade came over she concluded that she needed a dog, but never committed. One day. It would be nice to have company at her small house. She once again brushed this off to ponder over another time.

Michelle was a plump woman with dark hair and white skin. She did not know much ASL, only learning through Lawrence after meeting Jade, but would still try and communicate the best she could. When Jade looked up to greet her from the car, Michelle waved and smiled. There was an awkwardness to her, as there always seemed to be when Jade was around.

Michelle knew enough to exchange pleasantries with Jade, doing so as she led her into the living room. It was a quaint place, not too large or too small. The unlit fireplace would normally keep the room warm and cozy, the couches and recliner soft and neat aside from being covered with dog hair.

Lawrence entered from the kitchen, drying his hands with a rag that he set on the counter before approaching with a smile.  He was taller in person, sporting a lanky build. He was a year older than her, making him 34. "I'm glad you're free," he said. "This whole thing's just bizarre."

Jade gave Jack a quick scratch behind the ear before getting down to business. "Show me what happened."

His smile faltered, the serious nature of their meeting taking over. "Right. Let's go."

Lawrence led her to the back and outside, trudging down a worn out path to where the land turned downward. Where the slope evened out, a makeshift work station stood under a canopy. It was sturdy enough to survive the weather, the contents inside hidden by the tarped walls. Michelle kept the dogs inside with her, leaving the pair to work uninterrupted.

He zipped it open, inviting Jade into a familiar space. It was a tight fit, with fold-out tables bordering the sides, each with a matching chair, and the main project straight in front of her.

She knew immediately what was different upon seeing him.

"Chris" was a large chunk of neptunite that crashed into this spot exactly one year prior. The nature of such a find led to Lawrence hiding it, though he never told her how he managed to keep it out of the government's eye. It just fit under the canopy, wide enough that if both of them tried to hug it, there would still be space between their hands.

The crystal further complicated things once it started to change. Over the course of the year, the neptunite began to fade, in a sense, the color becoming duller and more transparent at a gradual pace. If that was not strange enough, the discovery of what was inside of the gem trumped it.

A person. He looked male, suspended within the gem in stasis. He never moved, never made noise, nothing. His figure was hard to see at first, but as time went on his pale skin and dark "clothing"--they had not figured out exactly what his body looked like due to the dark gem they had to look through to see--became more and more visible. He looked to be bald, but there was definitely a darker patch on the top that could be hair.

They referred to him as Chris to be more discreet. It started as Crystal, which became Crys, or Chris.

And now his light grey shell of a gem had a large crack from the topmost point to about halfway down.

Lawrence tapped her shoulder before signing. The light in here was dim, but she switched the battery powered desk lamp sitting on one off the tables on for better visibility. "The crack's been growing all day. It started small and already tripled in length."

"No kidding." She turned back to analyze the gem. It was still smooth, no longer as recognizable as neptunite from its faded coloring. The ground below it had turned a stark white not long after the crash landing, hardening into its own invasive material.

She looked back at her friend. "And you think the text message is related to this?"

"I know it's a bit of a stretch, but the timing of everything is spot on. There's also been nothing online about any source, at least not yet. And it's garnered quite a bit of attention. Seems like people all over the world got the message in some form. It's even translated properly."

Lawrence pulled out his phone, opening it to the internet and showing her pre-loaded tabs from various social media. People had uploaded screenshots; some had even tried responding to the message, but received nothing for it. Already there were dozens of theories, ranging from simple alert testing to deep conspiracies about the world's governments going after this specific person--no, this person--no wait, this one, definitely. However, given the nature of the text going to everyone with a phone, and even laptops and, for one bemused individual, smart fridges, the possibility of it being one state alert or program fell short.

Jade could not even fathom the idea that the entire world had worked together on this message, so any theories on it being a mass conspiracy spanning the entirety of the planet were not even worth considering.

She looked at the gem just in time to see the crack grow, splintering slightly as it did. Lawrence gave it a grim look, lips pursed and eyes narrowed. "He's the one the text is referring to."

"You think?" She asked, looking from him and back to the crack, not wanting to miss it spread again. "Isn't it a little arrogant to assume it has to do with us?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. But the timing of it all is just too coincidental. And we still don't know where Chris came from. No one ever came to collect him. Just some news reporters trying to figure out what crashed out here. I never let any of them see, and no secret ops team broke in to steal it."

"So if you're right, and he's the one, then who sent the message?"

He flashed an amused smile. "You know what I think."

She rolled her eyes. "Really? You still think aliens did this?"

"Why not?"

She didn't normally dignify that with a response, but after everything, maybe he had a point. Maybe.

Not likely, but maybe.

Lawrence's face snapped back towards the gem, and she followed his gaze. The crystal broke again, but didn't stop after a short cut. It kept going, splintering further, and those started to splinter.

And then the figure inside opened his eyes, and the gemstone shattered.