Chapter 13

"Will you come with me?"

Chrystal and Oliver had been discussing for hours about the best plan to get to The Gold Star, Chrystal didn't believe the place existed, but after going back to her parents' room and seeing that picture... thinking about the fantasy city was distracting her from the painful memories. When she heard the chestnut's voice she stopped talking, taking her eyes off the huge map.

Going with him, to a place that probably didn't exist? She had to tell him that she planned to take him to the port and sneak him on a ship with a far destination, that was her way to help him escape and start his new life. Thus she would seal that strange deed.

"You would have a second chance and you would no longer be alone. Jack and Ann are good people, we take care of each other and...."

"Do you think I'm alone?"

Oliver was trying to sort out his thoughts, he wasn't good at talking, but he was good at observing. Chrystal was a sad person, always missing someone with a great emptiness that her eyes could not hide and seeing that photograph confirmed it. He was no expert on families, but the time he lived on the surface with his mother and Mr. Craig was the closest thing he had ever had as a "normal family". His mother used to tell him that on the outside most families consisted of a father, mother and children, at no time was Mr. Craig a father to the chestnut, but... unless Chrystal had a similar or worse life as him he deduced that his family had died and that was why he had tried to commit suicide the night they met.

He didn't want to make her uncomfortable or sad just... wanted to help her and not having to go out alone again. He nods his head slowly before speaking.

"They... they were your family, weren't they?"

He should never have asked that.

Chrystal's face changed completely, it was somber and less friendly than the previous days. She hadn't expected Oliver to realize so quickly about her situation, she didn't think someone who didn't have much knowledge of the world could realize her current situation, had he figured it out just by looking at the picture and the covered furniture? From what happened in the forest nights before? She was good at hiding her feelings, no one suspected that Chrystal had a major depression that brought her to the verge of suicide, no one ever noticed and so she knew no one would miss her, but Oliver... Did she confess anything to him in her drunkenness?

"You know nothing about me. I don't need a new life, what I want can't be given to me by anyone or anything."

Her abrupt answer sent a shiver through Oliver's body who quickly replied to ease the tension in the atmosphere.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude... I know what it's like to be alone and I thought that changing space would lessen the burden I-I think it's better to have someone by your side in your worst and best moments."

The redhead averts her crystalline gaze and wordlessly gets up from the carpet disappearing down the hallway to the bedrooms. Oliver bites his lower lip mentally scolding himself for having opened his mouth, it was clear that it was not a subject he should get involved in, the death of a loved one was so painful that even he could not recover from the emptiness.

He had ruined everything again, really the only thing he was doing right was messing up anything in his path.

He decided to give Chrystal time alone before talk to her. At the stroke of three o'clock Oliver knocks softly on the door he thought was her room.

"Chrystal Daly?"

He waited a few seconds, but she didn't answer. Letting out a sigh he glues his forehead to the door.

"I'm sorry I didn't... I didn't mean to... I didn't want you to bother. I... I thought I saw sadness in your eyes, and I thought it would be best to..."

It was absurd, how could he even think of proposing her to go with him so they could find meaning in life as he had hoped? Oliver knew well what it was like to lose a loved one, he had even wished himself dead on multiple occasions and if it wasn't for Jack he would still be in that place waiting to die.

Letting out a sigh, he walked away from the door and went back to the living room to look at the map again. He could not delay any longer.

After a few hours the sound of the door opening puts Oliver on alert and ready to thank for the girl's kindness and to leave with the map.

"Come with me."

The redhead took a set of keys and left the house without looking at him. Oliver nods and follows her back seeing a strange black colored machine where the girl climbed up and placed a helmet on her head. It was a motorcycle.

"Let's go. "

Oliver sat behind her without putting on a helmet as well. The motorcycle moved faster than the boat he arrived in, he felt dizzy.

The ride lasted ten minutes where neither of the two teenagers spoke. Arriving at the destination Chrystal Daly went to a hut with "ticket sales" written on it. Oliver recognized the place, it was the port he arrived at. He tried to search among all those huge ships for his without success.

Was this the Gold Star?

What were they doing here?

"Your ship sails in ten minutes, it's that black one over there. It will take you far enough away for you to be free. "

She hands him the ticket with a voice somewhere between neutral and cold. The brown-haired boy can't hide his surprise, taking the ticket, the letters catch his attention, he still didn't understand them.

"Will this take me to the Gold Star?" he asks, looking into her eyes for the first time.

"Tsk."

Chrystal refuses to look at him, crossing her arms to answer.

"It's just a myth, I don't think it's true. You'll die trying. The best thing to do is to go to a place that really exists."

"But... I can't do that, Chrystal, I-I have to get there. There are people waiting for me. It's my mission."

He was afraid, going somewhere much farther away than The Gold Star was certain death. Oliver didn't know the world and he was terrified of having to discover it on his own. He couldn't accept it.

"I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't have, I know what it feels like to lose someone important and I thought it was the best way to... get over it" he shook his head several times- "I have wished for death more than anything without realizing that I still had someone with me. I can't fail them, neither those who are waiting for me in life nor those who have died."

"I'm sorry Oliver, believe me I tried to help you....."

"They'll kill me if I don't make it, Chrys..."

"I'm not the right person to help you," she raised her voice, giving him a cold look, "I don't understand why fate put you in my way, but I can't help you. This is all I can do for you, get on that boat and run away, many people do that too."

Oliver swallowed her saliva, crumpling the ticket in hand a little.

"Goodbye, Oliver."