Cristal - Novella Read Online Free PDF

missing after her
mother placed a missing person report forty-eight hours later.
    “He can’t be gone, Mom! He just can’t!”
    She ran into her room and slammed the door.
She remembered how at that same moment, her heart began racing, her
lungs were expanding as if drawing in all the air around her, and
the room slowly started spinning. The floor shifted beneath her
feet and then the walls started to shake.
    “ Cristal! Stop!”
    “Dad?”
    She whirled around. There was no one in the
room but her. Her heart rate slowed; the room was no longer
shaking. Her books were strewn on the floor, evidence that the
event happened. Had her father not called out to her, who knows
what damage she could have done?
    After that night, she was convinced that her
father would return.
    When the police closed the missing person’s
file a year later, her mother became ghost-like—floating around the
house, wordless; an empty vessel.
    Cristal had no choice but to fend for both
of them. She knew that’s what her father would have wanted. She
made sure her mom made it to her psychiatric appointments and her
Help Group at the local church. She learned how to buy the
groceries and cook. All the while, she never gave up the hope of
seeing her father again. Even if she had wanted to forget, her
dreams wouldn’t let her.
    Her father is standing at a distance, surrounded by
a light mist, waving and calling out her name. She runs towards
him, screaming, “Dad, I’m coming to you!” but her voice has no
sound. The faster she runs, the farther he seems to be. Still, she
runs faster, harder. Clouds of white merciless mist block her from
reaching him. “Dad, don’t go!” she cries out in her head. But now,
his image is fading, melting into the blanket of whiteness and
silence.
    Two years after her father’s disappearance, her
mother started dating a dentist from her Help Group. Short, bald
with a terrible case of bad breath, he was the complete opposite of
her father. It wasn’t long before Dr. Halitosis married her
mom and moved into their home.
    “Cristal, get off the computer. You have
school tomorrow,” her mother called out from the living room.
    “Mom, fifteen more minutes!”
    Fifteen minutes usually meant an hour.
    “You know how your dad hates you playing
those online games. He’s going to be home soon.”
    “He’s not my dad,” she grumbled under her
breath. Why does Mom put up with that creep?
    Instead of hanging out at the malls like
most thirteen-year-old girls, she spent her spare time battling
against evil. It was about the time when she received a full
scholarship to study at MIT, the summer before her fifteenth
birthday, when she first met Harry.
    She had gained ten million points, the most
any player had ever reached. Everyone was talking about it in the
discussion forums. That same day, she received a private message,
which invited her to join the Elite team. It was sent by Harry, or
more accurately by his online alias Zero Doubt , creator of
the Truth Seekers. All gamers knew that Zero only invited
the best of the best.
    Zero: Inviting you to be a member of
the Elite Team. You have twenty-four hours to accept the
invitation.
    No one would even dream of receiving a private
message from the infamous Zero Doubt . Other gamers could
only hope of having Zero comment on their discussion posts.
When Harry posted a message, gamers would rush to reply to his post
in hopes that he would respond. What a bunch of losers. Who the
heck was this Zero Doubt anyway ?
    But the challenge to be in the top team was
hard to resist. So she responded to his invitation.
    Mist: Mission accepted. Awaiting
further instructions.
    After the first successful mission as an
elite Truth Seeker, Harry began messaging her regularly. They
started to spend hours online brainstorming strategic maneuvers to
conquer other players in the game.
    Many times while video chatting with Harry,
her stepfather would bang on her door yelling, “If you don’t