Cristal - Novella by Anne-Rae Vasquez Page B

was
walking towards her, clutching her black purse, her shoes with
thick black heels hitting the ground making a sound like a crack of
thunder with each step. Cristal covered her ears hoping to block
the sound. Walk past her. Look away.
    She tried to avoid making eye contact, but
her eyes were drawn back to the woman. The old lady was now stopped
in front of her raising her crooked finger at her.
    Cristal froze, the old lady’s words crawling
into her skull. Her skin felt like fire ants crawling up her
arms.
    “I don’t know what you mean,” she said, half
believing her own words.
    The woman continued, clutching the gold
cross around her neck like it was the only thing keeping her alive.
“It was you. There was a bright light coming down from heaven
through your body into the earth.”
    Cristal shook her head and said firmly, “No,
not me! It wasn’t me.”
    She yanked her arm away from the old woman
and started sprinting down the street. Her heart was pounding; her
palms sweating as she ran. Her backpack bounced against her and the
straps rubbed against her shoulders.
    She kept running, oblivious of the people
bumping into her. The words repeated in her head like a mantra.
    “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me!”
    She looked up and realized that GN was at
the next corner. Need to get Harry to tell me what the hell is
going on.
    She dodged traffic and ran across the
street. As she ran up to the busy intersection, another voice
entered her head.
    “ But it was you,
darling.”

Chapter 10
Earthquake or Not?

    CRISTAL’S PULSE WAS RACING, her lungs gasping for
air. “ Was it me?” she asked herself.
    She felt as though she had just finished
doing the 100-mile sprint of her life. It seemed hilarious now that
she was far away from the old lady. Imagine being frightened of a
little defenseless granny. Harry would probably tell her to get her
head checked if she told him what just happened. Deep down inside,
the fear was like lead weighing down her gut. She had to get to
Harry to get some answers.
    She pushed her way past the people on the
street and ran across the intersection. Some GN staff were standing
in clusters all around the designated safe areas. She saw members
from her team gathering at the end of the street. She weaved her
way through the crowd, searching for Harry. She could hear comments
as she walked past.
    “It’s the climate change that did this,” a
lady from the accounting department said.
    “I bet you it had something to do with
terrorists,” another said.
    “It was scary. I thought we were going to
die,” a man from the helpdesk support team told a fellow team
member.
    As she came closer, the sound of their
voices filled her head. The sound was rising as if someone had
cranked up the volume full blast. She needed to calm down and take
control of herself.
    Get out of my head! She closed her
eyes and slowed her breathing.
    It was working. The voices were fading,
except for one. Harry’s.
    “Cristal, is everything okay?”
    She opened her eyes to find Harry staring at
her intensely. A wave of relief swept through her body until she
noticed Joanna beside him, clutching onto Harry’s arm as if she
were holding onto him for dear life.
    Cristal wanted answers but not to the
expense of having Joanna listening in.
    “Harry, we need to talk.”
    Harry must have noticed Cristal’s anxiety.
He glanced down and pulled his arm from Joanna’s vice-like grip.
Joanna put on a show by glaring at him, crossing her arms and
pouting.
    What a spoiled brat, Cristal
thought.
    “They’re doing a head count,” he said,
switching back to Cristal.
    “Good to know,” Cristal replied.
    “Can you take me home?” Joanna asked,
tugging at Harry’s arm. Harry shook his arm free, the expression on
his face reflecting his irritation.
    “Are you listening to me?” she whined.
    He responded but his gaze never left
Cristal’s face.
    “Joanna, calm down. After they give us the all-clear signal, we have to go back