Chapter 14

Her mother believed things happen for a reason, to help us grow and mature. Chrystal grew up with that idea and always tried to see why things happened, both good and bad; she learned from her mistakes and improved on the good things. However, she could never understand that car accident, why the driver of the trailer was so drunk that he threw them into the ravine, and she was the only one who survived.

Why didn't she die too?

What good did the universe have to show her by making her an orphan?

The world turned gray for Chrystal Daly at the age of thirteen; her paternal aunt and uncle reluctantly decided to take care of her until she turned fifteen so that her parents' will would have value and she could keep the house. She got a part-time job and continued with her studies, but... the will to live was becoming weaker and weaker.

Why, why did she have to go on living?

Life with her uncles and irritating cousins was not the best; no matter how hard she tried not to be a nuisance in their lives and to get over the loss of her family, her cousins made her life miserable. She was a disgrace, just like in the movies; how long did she have to wait for Prince Charming to come and rescue her?

She couldn't wait for someone to do it; it was her against the world. Everything she tried went wrong; why stay alive, why not go back to her siblings and parents and regain her happiness?

Chrystal had no one; she convinced herself that she didn't need anyone either because what she wanted could never be returned. So the best she could come up with was death. Her dreams and goals were gone; she was a living dead. The world was cruel, and she no longer wanted to live in it.

She would die, no one would miss her, she would be happy again.

But.

Inside, a tiny part of her wanted to live to be happy in this cruel world. She cried out for help, a friend, a relative, someone to save her from her sad death.

That's when that boy with emerald eyes and messy hair arrived.

>>¡¿What are you doing!?<<

He had pulled her into the world of the living, reviving emotions in her lifeless body.

The scruffy boy was a representation of how she felt inside, a living dead. No. That strange boy reminded her of her family, of those mischievous triplets who used to turn her life upside down.

>> "Chrys... I don't want to die," exclaimed a frightened Nathan, looking at the blood dripping from his side.

"You won't die, Nathan; everything will be all right. Press on this."

"Chris..."

The redhead turned her attention away from her six-year-old brother to look at the other one, who was staring blankly with blood dripping from his head.

"Norris, stay with me...I'm sure help is on the way."

"Noah… flew… away."

The tears she was trying to hold back came flooding out when she heard that. She was in shock; her left arm hurt too much, and so did her hip. She couldn't take in what had just happened, they had crashed, and the car began to spin, and her third brother flew forward.

"It's going to be okay, don't close your eyes. I'm going to get you out of here and come back for Nathan."

The smell of blood and gasoline burned in his throat, but she had to rescue her brothers. She managed to unlock the door with great effort, and they both crawled out of the car.

"Don't fall asleep, Norris," murmurs Chrystal.

"I don't want to die."

His beautiful light blue eyes lost the mischievous gleam characteristic of the triplets. Holding the pain in her arm, she cut off her blouse and bandaged her brother's head. When she turned around to go back for Nathan, the car exploded.

She blamed herself for the death of her brothers.

If she weren't tickling Noah, she wouldn't have flown forward.

If he had woken up in time, the bleeding in Norris' head would not have been fatal.

If only he had grabbed Nathan with his shattered arm, she would have saved him too.

His parents had died instantly, but she had the chance to save her siblings, and she had failed.

For years she believed everything was a punishment for not appreciating her family enough for fighting with her mother every day and constantly scolding those rascals. She had everything and had been ungrateful for everything her father gave her.

How could you apologize to someone who was no longer in this world?

Oliver was not normal; he seemed to have a heartbreaking story like hers, or even worse, there were moments when she thought it was foolish to want to end her life when the brown had suffered more... Still, the pain and suffering of each one were different. Yet, Oliver came into her life at the right time with the right words; why?

She didn't believe in fairy tales; she didn't think anyone would really come to save her, let alone someone who had major problems but with a great longing to live. She wanted help, and so did Oliver; how could two broken souls help each other?

This week she had felt more things that disappeared long ago; she had even dared to go into her parents' room for some books about a fictional city. The zombie that inhabited Chrystal Daly disappeared for a few days, giving her way to feelings and emotions like surprise, intrigue, and interest in the emerald-eyed boy.

When she got home, she felt again that emptiness and loneliness that had become normal for her. Perhaps, for a few days, she had become accustomed to the presence of someone else, who waited for her at home and needed her. She was appreciated and even admired. The walls and paintings lost color with every step, a tightness in her chest increased with every breath, and her eyes stung the closer she got to her brothers' room, the room Oliver went to when he apologized.

She falls to her knees at the sight of the three small beds with matching blankets and stuffed animals. Since their deaths, Chrystal didn't return to that room until now. The memories of her brothers playing and laughing were like stabs to her heart.

She didn't want to turn the page; she felt that she would forget the most important thing in her life if she moved away from home, she was stuck, and she didn't think it was possible to get out. But Oliver... Oliver was that help; he had proposed to her to run away to an almost non-existent place. He was the only person who realized her true feelings and accepted her. It was supposed to be the other way around, she was supposed to help him, and she dismissed him like everyone else who tried to help her.

How many times did she dismiss the help of her parents and her siblings?

She was a fool.

>> "It is the first time I am free, and I have the opportunity to live in a better world than before, more colorful and wide. My mother wanted to escape and take me with her to a better place; I think I should continue to live for her and get to know everything she told me. And if I were to die tomorrow I would die happy because at least I tried, you know, I tried to see the world her way, and it's beautiful, scary but beautiful and if I have a chance to be totally free, then I will take it." <<

Chrystal Daly was a prisoner of her past; she lived in a perpetual chain of unhappiness that she forgot the enormous world surrounding her, that's why the universe put freedom in front of her eyes so that she could fly and learn that the world, despite being cruel, is also beautiful. Her time to die was not the right one; her parents and siblings knew the beauty of life; they lived each day as if it were their last, just like the boy with the shining emeralds. That's why she had to go on living: for her mother, for her father, for Noah, Nathan, and Norris, she had to try, try to know that world they saw and she did not appreciate.

She must help Oliver get to The Gold Star; she must let go of her past... no. He had to let them go and look forward to freedom.