The Crystal Diary

By Sarah Plowman


11/08


Chapter 1
My Worst Realty


My eyes felt as if they had been locked shut with a missing key. Reality seemed to be fantasy, and fantasy seemed to be reality. I felt nothing at all like a princess whom had been put under a sleeping spell by a wicked witch. A sensation that I felt my bed sheets delighted me. Then memory of where I was, and what had happened began to return. I forced my eyes open and tried to clear my vision. Smoke encircled my head trying to lull me back into unconsciousness. Before me lay the twin towers burning with multi-colored flames. Particles of charred wall and floor lay everywhere, constant shouting and screaming echoed New York City.

A sight more horrible could only be composed by the devil himself. I realized that I was lying on hot asphalt with a slice of crumbling wall covering my legs. After three failed attempts to push the piece of building off my aching body, I gave up and pushed myself into a sitting position with my hands. I gasped at the sight before me: there a few feet away lay my mother, her eyes shut tight. Her black hair was stained with scarlet and I knew in a moment she was dead.

“ NO!” I screamed at the smoke filled sky. I wished, I prayed with all my might that soon I would drop dead with my mother. I saw a fireman move closer to my “almost grave”. My wanting to die began to dissolve in the unbearable pain that was beginning to form in my legs. I had to scream out to him at least twice before he heard me over the commotion in the streets.

He came running with one other yellow uniformed man, they yanked the piece of wall off the remainders of my legs. One scooped me into his arms while the other rolled my mother’s body up in a heavy blanket.

An ambulance arrived with a herd of paramedics that asked me question after question. One slender man brought out a stretcher much to the delight of my holder. I nearly cried out as the fireman placed me on the rolling bed. Interested, one paramedic asked me what was wrong.

“My legs, they feel like they’re on fire.” I gasped barely restraining tears. The man took off his gloves and felt my legs while another held my hand to help me not to scream.

“Her legs are shattered,” He reported to one of his companions. Then turning toward me he resumed his question asking. “What’s your name?”

“Gwen Oxford.”

“What are your parents’ work phone numbers?”

“My…my mom has been killed, her body was just rolled up and loaded up into that truck ” I tried not to cry. “My dad disappeared right after I was born.”

“Well then, who can I call to take custody of you after the hospital releases you?”

“Ms. Tustin, my mom’s best friend, she lives with us, ” I explained and gave him our phone number.

The paramedics finally loaded me inside and the ambulance speed away. I sat up straight; tears rolling down my cheeks, a lady behind me took a rubber band from her wrist and began to play with my hair. She took my long blond hair and made a fake hair bun. I saw a man begin to prepare an IV.

“ Why are you giving her the IV, Luke?” The paramedic hairstylist demanded. “She isn’t sick, she just broke her legs.”

“You aren’t in charge of her; I am,” the IV lover retorted. I sighed and the argument lasted until we arrived at the hospital. Finally it was decided that I didn’t need an IV and the IV lover stomped sulkily out of the side door. The back doors were opened and the daylight was bright after the darkness of the interior of the ambulance.

Chapter 2
Crushed Legs, Shattered Heart

After being wheeled through a maze of identical rooms the hairstylist/paramedic finally came to a room that was empty. She seemed to understand that I needed to be alone, and wheeled me to the window to spare me the horrid hospital riff-raff. She flashed me a sympathetic look as she walked out the door.

After waiting to make sure that no professional staff would walk inside to cheer me up I let the blockade I had always kept on my feelings down. Tears ran freely down my cheeks and I didn’t bother to wipe them away. I covered my face with my hands and shook with wet grief. How could I live a life without my mom? She was my life; we were all each other had. My tears stopped and they were replaced by anger and resentment.

“And yes, Dad,” I muttered, “this is your cue to run in and throw yourself at my feet and beg my forgiveness for abandoning mom and I, thirteen years ago! This is your cue to sit down by my bed and take me in your arms and dry my tears like a father is supposed to do.” I gazed around the snow white room trying to find something interesting to stare at. I stared out the window overlooking the town. The window showed my reflection in front of me. It revealed a pair of forest green eyes, tangled corn blonde hair, and a triangular shaped face of pale skin.

“Gwen! Where is she? Don’t tell me to ‘shhhhhh’ tell me where she is!” I felt a little less depressed when I heard Thelma Tustin in the hall. She had always lived with mom and I ever since I can remember. When Thelma’s business had failed she lost everything, and since our house had the extra space, mom insisted that she move right in with us. Thelma treated me like an equal and we were as close as sisters. She had never learned to hide her emotions, and was incredibly blunt in a funny kind of way.

“Gwen darling,” Thelma panted,” thank God you ‘re alive!” She kissed me on both cheeks as if to assure herself that I was truly there. I reached out and grabbed her hand feebly.

“ Gwen,” Thelma whispered looking into my eyes with tears forming in her own. “I know that I will never be able to replace your mom; and I know your mom will roll over in her grave when she sees all the mistakes I am about to make in attempting to raise you. So to make it easier on us both, why don’t you just keep calling me Thelma.” I hugged her slim figure. She pulled me close to her; my eyes began to leak again. I closed them hoping Thelma wouldn’t notice. Her arms were my one source of comfort, and I felt that with her beside me, the hurt would eventually heal. Of course she would never replace my mom, and it was a relief that I knew ahead of time that she wouldn’t try to. But I think I could accept her as my family in time.

Thelma looked over her shoulder to see three busy body nurses listening in on us from the doorway. Her blue eyes grew sharp with annoyance, but before she could tell them to leave a tall middle-aged man in a hospital uniform pushed past them and came rushing towards us. Thelma tucked a strand of long brown hair out of her face.

“Sorry to break this little visit up but uh, the paramedic said your legs were shattered in the accident right?” I nodded and told him my name. “ Well, Mrs. Oxford right?” Thelma after telling him my story and who she was, asked him to continue.

“She is going to need surgery. If you want we can have her legs x-rayed to show you if you don’t believe me. But from the way the paramedic described this young lady ‘s legs it is my belief that every bone in Gwen’s legs are in pieces.” Both Thelma and I gasped in horror and started to talk at the same time. Then after mustering semi-control over herself, Thelma asked the irritated doctor what the surgery consisted of.

“Well we won’t know just how bad the break is until we take a look inside so I really can’t tell you that.” He looked straight into my guardian‘s eyes with a glint of desperation. “Please tell me you have a one story house?”

“No we live in an apartment building why?”

“Because Gwen will be in no shape to walk up any stairs after this surgery, if her legs are as badly shattered as I think they are, she is going to have to have metal bones.” The doctor answered lowering his voice as he said the last part of his reply hoping I wouldn’t hear him. “We’ll incase the metal part in rubber, but she won’t be able to run for three months at the very least.” The Doctor informed her, “I will also recommend that we schedule this surgery immediately. If we don’t, the pieces of bone will fester in the leg and cause infection.”

“Oh of course,” Thelma agreed eagerly, “when is your nearest opening?” The doctor grinned and beckoned her to follow him into the hall.
Hearing no more of the conversation I fell into a deep sleep.


Chapter 3
Secret Treasures

A cold feeling, that felt like ice awakened me, I realized that it was from my legs, which didn’t hurt as much as they did before. A warm hand stroked my arm and I forced my reluctant eyes open. Thelma sat next to me in an uncomfortable hospital chair.

“Gwen, can you hear me?” I heard her whisper in my ear. I groaned and tried to sit up.

“What day is it Thelma?” It was too bright outside to be the same day.

“You have been asleep since yesterday when they did the surgery,” She laughed. “When the doctor and I finished deciding when they could do it, we came back inside and found you dead asleep. The doc. said they could operate on you now and the operation was successful. He was right though about your legs, he said that your bones were basically mush. You’re a bionic woman!” I laughed, but then remembered mom, and felt like I had no right to even be somewhat happy without her. Thelma saw my face fall and touched my shoulder.

“ Is it your mom?” She asked, “Well since you won’t be able to be there for the funeral, I brought you something that I know your mom would want you to have.” After looking around to make sure that the gossip nurses weren’t at the door she took a package out from her handbag and handed it to me. I ripped the professionally rapped package to find a cardboard box that was taped shut. Thelma reached over my hospital bed and pierced the tape with one of her car keys. Finally the tape yielded to my aching fingers and I reached inside taking out a large crystal. It was a violet/white color, about three inches long on a small gold chain. I stroked its glossy texture and wondered again and again why I had never seen my mom wearing it.

“Thelma, she never showed this to me, do you know why?”

“ I was going through her things late last night, I must admit I found many things in her room that she never told me about, including this.” Thelma held up a small book. The cover was a gilded scarlet that had a leather strap that locked the book covers.

“It looks like something out of the medieval times;” I sighed fingering the woven looking flower pattern. Maybe it’s some kind of journal or a gift from dad.

“If you don’t mind Gwen I am going to keep this until you leave the hospital,” my guardian said protectively. “In case there is some thing from your mom in there that we don’t want the doctors looking through. The crystal is yours though, and don’t worry I won’t try to look through the journal without you.” I hated having to part with something that might have some clue to where dad was or some message from him, but I knew Thelma was right.

As if on cue we heard the loud voices of news reporters and doctors arguing.

“Come on doc, KCRA3 needs a personal story from one of the victims--let us in!”

“ Not a chance slicker; most of these people are in a very fragile condition and are in no mood to talk to a couple of obnoxious reporters. Unless you are sick with “noisy-itous” I would be able to heal these people better if you weren’t in the building.” Thelma quickly shoved the book back into her handbag and I shoved the crystal underneath my bed sheets. We couldn’t hear the rest of the fight clearly, but from the low groans the doctor made it became obvious that he was losing.

“ Fine.” we heard him say at last. ‘’But pick out a victim that isn’t seriously hurt and make your stupid story no longer than two minutes.” Eager steps were drawing nearer and nearer to my room. I tried to neaten my messy hair in order to look more presentable if they picked me.

“If they try to interview you, it’ll be over my dead body!” Thelma told me under her breath.

“No, let them pick me if they want to, Thelma,” I confirmed. “If I get interviewed maybe dad will be able to find us and can take custody of me and you will be free.”

“Well look at it any way you want to Gwen, but if you tell them you name and that you are looking for your dad many phony fathers will probably come to our apartment expecting a reward and take off when they don’t get one.” Thankfully for Thelma the reporters passed right by my room without a second glance.
The rest of my time at the hospital was incredibly boring, as I was forced to spend it staring at a small TV screen watching movies that were meant for little kids. Daily visits from Thelma were a slight relief, but she had to hunt for a job as well, so she had to split her time up between visiting me and looking through the Help Wanted section of the newspaper at home.

The doctor, after one week said that the nurses would try to help me to stand for the first time tomorrow. He also told me that I might be able to go home soon and that I was making excellent progress. The nurses told me that my wounds from my surgery were nearly healed. I, on the other hand, wished that Thelma had decided to move or that my dad would walk into my room and beg me to come and live with him. How could I live in the same house without my mom? Every day would be torturous, I would wake up in the morning expecting mom to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast for me and then I ‘d see Thelma instead. Why did God let me live at all if I was to spend the rest of my life mourning for my mom? Why did I have to have a father that hated me? If that isn’t true, then why has he been gone all these years?

That night I fingered the violet crystal around my neck, I wondered many times why mom never told me about her journal. Well her journal I could understand, but why keep such a beautiful treasure a secret?

The street noise began to relax me; the stars in the sky were like tiny little flashlights and the full moon a silver coin. I looked out at the crumbled twin towers that echoed with fire trucks and ambulances. More people would be arriving in this hospital and I would have to share a room. I hated the thought of having to share a room in the hospital. All I wanted was to go home away from all blood tests and VIPs and all unnecessary things invented to torment people.

Chapter 4
Going Home

A nurse came inside with a big grin on her face, which told me that either I was going home or that staff had come up with another excuse to stick a needle in my arm.

“Well Gwen, I have good news for you,” she said that you will be able to leave today.”

“YES!” I screamed in excitement, finally Thelma and I would be able to look through that strange notebook of mom’s. I sat up eager to ask the nurse more questions.

“Shhh! I know your excited Gwen, but please don’t deafen me!”

“Please let me take a shower,” I begged, but the nurse shook her head wickedly. “Please! I haven’t showered in ten days, my skin is killing me!”

“No Gwen, I’m doing this for your own good, your scars are still too soft for a shower. You would be in a lot of pain, you will be able to shower however in three more days.” I groaned, three more days wasn’t very long, but still.
Afterward she helped me to stand and I fell several times. Ironically, she still deemed me strong enough to go home and said I could use crutches until my legs were strong enough after physical therapy to walk.

The next day Thelma came to pick me up, and on the way home talked about how we should enroll me in a school soon. I stared out the car window, barely hearing a word she said.

I couldn’t believe that after hearing the news about the bombing on the Twin Towers my dad wouldn’t try to contact us. He and my mom both worked there even before I was born. As I recall, mom said that she and dad hardly ever fought. What happened to him after I was born? Why did he just disappear? Then a thought entered my mind, What if he was in the Twin Towers, about to come and throw himself at mom’s feet, and the airplanes crashed into the building before he had a chance?

“Still thinking about your mom Gwen?” I heard Thelma say.

“No I was wondering why on earth my dad hasn’t contacted us, he knew that my mom worked in the Twin Towers.” A long silence filled the car and I looked at Thelma, wondering why she was so quiet. She pretended not to hear me when I asked her what was wrong.

“Gwen, I don’t know how I am going to provide for both of us. I couldn’t find a job today that pays enough money to make any kind of living for two people. We will really need to stretch the budget as far as it will go. I am just so afraid we will go bankrupt.”

“ Have you forgotten about mom’s diary? Maybe it will contain a clue to Dad ‘s whereabouts.” Thelma looked at me briefly.

“ Gwen, get real, after your mother had you and your dad disappeared he sent her no letters, at least to my knowledge. No emails, nothing, I doubt that your mom had even the slightest idea of where he was.”

“But…. Mom’s diary might contain a hidden letter or something,” I tried to convince Thelma. In my heart though, I knew she was probably right. The diary would most likely contain old stories and sentiments that would break our hearts again.

“How we are even going to be able to open the cover of that book is beyond me!” Thelma continued, “ the strap that holds the book’s cover together is metal plated, so we can’t cut the leather open, which I would never do anyway. The shape of the lock is round, so your mother had to have opened it with a special key. I‘ll bet she threw it away as soon as she finished the diary too because I looked and looked through her things and I can’t find it anywhere.”

“ No Thelma, you know how conservative mom was. She had a fit once when I tried to through away some spinach she fixed when it was over done.” Thelma laughed at the memory remembering how many times I had to repeat that the rotten remainders of the vegetable were not edible before she finally yielded and let me throw them away.

I fingered my necklace wondering why my conservative, overprotective mom would marry a man that would abandon her the day that she had his child.

Stop it Gwen! You know that your mother was smarter than that! I practically yelled at myself. Mom had only been dead ten days and already I was starting to find faults with everything she had done! What was wrong with me? I loved her didn’t I? Well duh! Maybe it was because I wanted dad to take custody of me so badly and it just seemed like he didn’t care. Was Thelma right? Did my father just pretend to love my mother and used her for money, or some other ulterior motive. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Thelma, but you would be able to tell the first time you met her that she was not the parenting type. She could be compared to a teen-aged girl and went out on dates nearly every night. I knew she would miss being able to go out with her boyfriends on week day nights and would be very happy to hand me over to my dad. I really couldn’t blame her; she wasn’t ready to play parent, and I wasn’t ready to think of her as mom number two.

“Here we are Gwen, home at last!” My guardian chirped. I could tell though that she was thinking the same thing I was. How could this apartment house ever be home again? Thelma parked the car in the apartment building parking lot, and got out of the car. She opened my door and gave me a look of insistence that I leave the vehicle.

Slowly I pulled up my crutches to my arms and began the long walk across the parking lot. My arms felt like they would fall off by the time we reached the door. Thelma quickly opened the door for me and I swung my way inside. I stared up at the steep staircase and wondered if my legs would ever allow me to climb again. I felt more and more like an invalid as I saw many people ascend and descend without even knowing what a precious gift good legs were.

“The doctor said you would be able to walk in a few weeks Gwen, cheer up please?” I tried to smile for Thelma’s sake but secretly blinked away a tear as we walked into the elevator. I sighed as we were lifted up, I would heal soon enough. I just had to accept that. At least I wouldn’t be stuck wearing an awful looking cast for weeks on end.

The elevator bell dinged and I swung myself out. Thelma took out the keys from her purse and unlocked the door. The comforting surroundings of home filled me with relief. I swung my way over to the couch and Thelma walked to the kitchen to make dinner. You may think we would have had more to say to one another, but for several days afterward we only spoke to each other when absolutely necessary. Whether it was our grief, our state of shock, or something unknown to mankind I will never ever know. Soon though I knew, I would have to go to school again and catch up on everything I missed while I was paying the hospital a visit. I also looked forward to going to church, the one place where you can get away from the world. I was sure that I could never stop missing mom but at least with God I could face life easier.


Chapter 5
Mom’s Book Of Secrets

Saturday, three days after I left the hospital Thelma finally began to talk more. My curiosity about the diary burned as hotly as a dry twig that had caught on fire. I had begged Thelma before to try to open it but she refused and looked annoyed when I mentioned it. At last she admitted to me that she wanted to open it too, but felt discouraged to do so.

“I must admit I tried to open it when you were in the hospital, I tried every method I could think of but it wouldn’t budge. I don’t blame you if you are mad at me but my curiosity was killing me.” Thelma looked at me as if expecting me to yell at her, but when I replied negatively to being upset, she with some surprise continued. “ The reason that I don’t want to open it now is because I have a gut feeling that it’s contents will disappoint you. I just don’t want you to be hurt again.” She looked into my eyes and sighed, “If there is any type of letter from your dad in there, I just don’t want you to read it. I have a feeling he isn’t a nice person.”

“You never knew him so how would you know what kind of guy he is!” I said angrily. “ Besides they are my parents, I have a right to know what my father is like. I inherited that diary from mom, it’s legally mine. I also have a right know what is in there.” Thelma sighed and nodded knowing that I was right.

“But how will we open it?”

I fingered my crystal again then remembered how the leather strap had a circular hole in the middle. I looked at my purple stone thinking about its gilded crystal like shape. How the hole was the same size the end of the crystal.

“Thelma; get the diary, I think I know how to open it!” Thelma winced at me as if thinking I had been drinking too much soda lately. She walked out of the living room to mom’s former bedroom.

Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of that? The crystal was the key. What better way to keep your secrets under lock and key? Thelma came in carrying the book in her hand and looking at me as if I had just snitched a cookie.

“Ok Gwen, I know you have something up your sleeve what is going on?” She came over and sat on the couch next to me and handed me the book.

“Well it hit me how similar the key hole and the shape of the crystal are. It may be just my brain playing tricks on me, or maybe I have been watching too many mysteries.”

“Go on Gwen”

“I think that this necklace is the key to the diary Thelma!” I burst out.

“I don’t think that you should try doing what I think you ‘re going to try to do. You know how fragile crystals are, you could break it and it would clog up the lock.” Thelma stroked my hand as if hoping to wipe away my annoyed expression.

“I‘ll try it anyway,” and before my guardian could stop me I shoved the crystal into the lock and it fit perfectly. Thelma’s mouth dropped and I couldn’t resist flashing her a TOLD YA! Look. I turning the lock and all the metal flowers lit up as I opened the book.

The first pages were old and faded and the writing was hard to make out. Some envelopes were sticking out of the pages and I flipped to the pages that contained the letters. A diary entry was written on the page and read as follows:


September 18, 1989

Dear Diary,

My dearest Gwen came into the world three days ago and I am writing this in the hospital. I hid you in the false bottom of my suitcase. Only one thing ruined my happiness, and it is enough to ruin my sweet Gwen’ s happiness too. Luke wasn’t found in the waiting room and the parking lot videotape showed nothing about him leaving the building. I don’t believe that he could ever abandon his child and me.

He and I were not having any arguments to speak of recently; I know he loved this child as much as I do! My hunch can now be even more strongly supported because I found this note on the edge of my bed this morning…

Rebecca Oxford


“Unbelievable! Rebecca never told me she found something from your Dad. Why didn’t she trust me?” I sighed and watched Thelma pace the room with her head in her hands. I wished mom had told me too, but I knew there was probably something in the contents of this letter telling her not to tell anyone.

“We still have to read this letter from Dad, Thelma,” I wanted to sound calm and collected but my heart leaped in excitement. I would find out what my Dad was like for the first time! I unfolded the letter and read aloud in a shaky voice:

September 18, 1989

Dear Rebecca,

I have sent you this letter to try to make you understand why I had to disappear after you had our baby. I can’t tell you why I must leave you, but I hope you will realize that it is not my choice. Please tell Gwen that I love her. I will love you forever, and I promise I will try to find you and come back to you as soon as I can. Also, please don’t show this to anyone until I come back. There are people around that are my worst enemies and are trying to be our friends. Some of your closest friends could be terrorists!
I can’t tell you anything more.

With the Deepest Love,
Luke


“I can’t believe that your dad would think I was a terrorist!” Thelma practically screamed, as she paced the room. I felt more letters in the back of the book but I didn’t tell Thelma. Her face showed signs of feeling like an outsider, an untrusted acquaintance; I shut the book and reached for my crutches deciding that I had better put it in my room and read it on my own.

“When am I going to start school Thelma?” I asked. Maybe if I changed the subject she would forget about it. But my hope was smashed when she replied in a grouchy tone:

“Day after tomorrow, man it’s late as heck! I ‘ll fix dinner.” She stomped into the kitchen with a proclamation of hurt feelings and growing resentment. The clanging of pans, bowls, and a running sink confirmed my hunch. I knew from then on that she would never forgive my mother for not confiding in her. I also began to feel our friendship would dissolve and we would just be ward and guardian never family. I swung my way into my room and hid the diary underneath my nightstand.

“Gwen, I just called Pete, he’s gonna take me out to a movie, wanna come?”

“No thanks, I don’t feel like it,” Most of the movies Thelma and her boyfriends saw were rated R. Mom would never have approved. She called them “R for retarded”. Besides, I had a diary to read and a father to find. I had too much work to do, and it couldn’t be put off by two and a half hours of crud. Where was dad? I thought about the letter dad left behind. Enemies, what enemies did dad have? Where is he hiding and why? Those questions perhaps could be answered in this diary, mom’s book of secrets.


Chapter 6
Big Changes

As I thought she would, Thelma stayed out later than planned on account of her boyfriend ‘s insisting on taking her out for a midnight snack (or so she told me on the phone after the movie). I stayed out in the living room reading mom’s diary and waiting for her to come home. This time I started reading it from cover to cover. Reading her innermost thoughts made mom feel closer and I felt at peace for the first time after her soul went to Heaven. I read to the middle of the diary until one thing caught my eye. An entry about dad! Finally, some kind of information I could use to help me find him. It read as follows:


August 5, 1999

Dear Diary,

I have come to realize that I must write down the information Luke sent me yesterday before I forget. Ok he said that his career was a secret organization in America called: The United States Emergency Ground Force, his unit is USEGF#7788, and he goes by the name Carl Finch. He also said that his contract was nearly expired and that he would be home soon. I hope Gwen doesn’t think that he doesn’t love her. I am counting the years till the day I can throw myself into his arms and introduce him to Gwen. I’d better put this away; I think I hear Thelma’s footsteps coming up the hall.

Rebecca Oxford

Tears came to my eyes, now mom would never see him on this earth again, and it was all those stupid terrorists’ fault. Then I looked in the back of the diary for the other letters that I didn’t tell Thelma about. I found enough letters to make a paper house and sorted through them so I could match the letter with the diary entry. I shuffled and shuffled and it seemed like forever before I finally found it.


August 6, 1999

Dear Rebecca,

I have at last gotten permission from my superior to tell you where to find me in case of an emergency. They soon realized the improbability (as they called it) of you telling anyone. This may sound as if I am crazy, but I work for the government. No I didn’t sneak off to join the army while you were in labor. I work for the U.S.E.G.F (United States Emergency Ground Force) I have been, even before we were married. I wanted to tell you, but my superior officer wouldn’t let me. This organization is one of America’s biggest secrets, we have a tiny head quarters under every state capital just like there is a state police headquarters in every state, and I work under Albany. This organization solves most of the worst crimes that the reporters are never told about and that are too hard for the police.

The best way to get to Albany is to take the train; if you go by car you will be easier to track down by terrorists. Then take the bus to the first stop, and then continue to change buses for safety’s sake then get off at X Fifth Street. Mingle with as many decent looking crowds as possible until you come to the first alley. Walk down the alley until you see power box at the end. Open the door and crawl inside on your hands and knees. Shut the door before you press the combination on the panel. I can’t tell you the combination but you will find it inside your crystal thankfully it only shows in the moonlight. My unit number is U.S.E.G.F# 7788 and my work name is Carl Finch.
Love,
Luke

I held the letter in my hands admiring my dad, a man who I never knew. He balanced his job and his family as best he could and loved me after all. Should I show this to Thelma? She was my guardian after all and had a right to know all my nearest affairs.

Quit yelling “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!” I was just kidding! I never thought about it twice. I would never let anyone see dad’s letters, but how would I hide them? Soon I heard Thelma in the hall with her date and I stuffed the letters into my book, I would handle that later right now I had to put the diary back in it’s hiding place. I swung my way back into my room and replaced it. I changed into my PJs as best I could and when the couple entered I pretended to be having a yawning fit as I entered the living room.

There sat Thelma and her latest boyfriend Pete drinking coffee and watching TV.

“Hey Gwen,” Thelma greeted looking embarrassed. I wasn’t sure whether it was from my seeing her on the couch with Pete, or Pete knowing now that she was a foster parent and if he wanted to marry her, he would have to take me too.

“Hi Gwen, sorry we were out so late,” he apologized. “ After we went to Round Table there was a big traffic jam on the road on the way home.” His brown eyes looked into my guardian’s with excitement. “Do you want to tell her or should I?” Thelma shook her head and he continued “ Thelma and I are engaged Gwen!” My jaw dropped but I closed it before Thelma noticed. Pete and Thelma were very close but I never really thought they were serious about each other. I pasted a big fat fake smile on my face and swung over to the couch to say congratulations to the fairly young couple.


Chapter 7
A Painful Truth

The next two days were passed helping Thelma make phone calls to help prepare for the wedding. Days at school were hard, but were a temporary relief from the hard work. If I described my days at school it would bore every reader on the page. The story I have to tell is non-school related and we all know what school is like. I was never popular with other girls but now they all swarmed around me with cards and presents. They all asked me what it was like to be trapped under a wall and have your mom die. I made my answers fairly brief as I rushed from class to class grumbling over failed tests and long chunks of homework I had to do. As the long day dragged on and on, I wished that my crystal could open a door to a secret passageway home.

It was hard; balancing an over packed backpack on your back while using crutches and many people laughed at the spectacle. That was nothing though; compared to the special treatment the gray whiskered bus driver gave me as I tried to climb onto the bus. Instead of suggesting that I call Thelma and ask her to take me home in the car he carried me in and sat me on the seat nearest to him. My cheeks reddened when I heard my fellow students snickering and whispering things like:

“My gosh what an invalid, she can’t even climb onto the bus without the driver carrying her like a sack of potatoes.” I blinked back tears and stared out the window watching cars go by and people on bikes weaving in-between the cars. Did God want me to suffer like this? I knew at once what I needed to do. I would go to church after Thelma went over to Pete ‘s house so they could go to the store and pick out invitations and wedding decorations.

*****************************************

I swung inside the apartment door and closed it quietly. Thelma usually took a nap at this time of day and I didn’t want to disturb her. I began to swing down the hall to my room when I heard voices. I stopped at Thelma ‘s room, and then heard a conversation that wasn’t meant for me to hear.

“Come on Will, do the job, I know this house better than you do.”

“No way, you have a bad habit of missing things when it comes to robbing houses. This kid has a crystal hanging around her neck that is worth millions and millions of dollars.”

“If you are thinking about killing Gwen, I am all for it after she tells me more about her mom, whether or not her mom had things worth a lot of money.”

“Ok fine you ‘re right, we should wait until the last moment to do the dirty work. You are the professional here; I should listen to you. I just am …… it is hard to be patient when you are about to get something you have really wanted for a long time.”

“You have wanted to kill Gwen for a long time,” Thelma’s voice sounded sarcastic.

“ No, I have wanted to kill her dad for a long time; he married my girlfriend then just upped and left her. I loved Rebecca and know she is dead. It is his entire fault, if he had just stayed away from her when I asked him to, when we were friends, Rebecca would have been my wife. Luke and I would still be best friends and Gwen would be my daughter and she wouldn’t look so much like him. I want to make Luke so miserable that he will give himself up willingly. I want to kill him as soon as possible!”

My mind whirled around and around like a spinning top. Thelma, and Pete my mother ‘s former boyfriend, apparently both wanted to kill me. Thelma didn’t care a hoot if her henchman killed me at all but Pete wanted to kill me to get even with my dad. Like it was my dad’s fault that my mom preferred my dad to him!

“Well, I would like to get as much information out of her as possible before we send her to the grave. That crystal will fetch a pretty price and her dad works for the government I know that much about him. I got Rebecca to tell me a little bit about him. If we capture him, he could lead us right to the state treasury. Think how glad you will be that you listened to me. Then I promise that you may do what ever you like with the remainders of the Oxford family.”

“How did you get your “friend” to tell you anything about her without making her suspicious that you were a snoop or something?”

“You seem rather interested in the methods I use,” My deceitful guardian snapped. “Besides, the reason I called you here was to lay out our plan for getting into the treasury. Let me handle the information gathering you make a better kidnapper and thief.”

“And just how do you propose to get the little wimp to tell us where her dad is?”

A pistol cocked in the room and I looked inside out of curiosity to a brown wig lying on the floor along with a collection of many types of guns that looked like they were from the army. Black suitcases full of various things that a every villain would need for every possible purpose. My guardian‘s real features were the biggest surprise of all. Instead of the so-called Thelma Tustin, the most wanted woman in America--Minet Reginal, sat on a bed only five feet away from me. Her beauty was as deceptive as that of a rattlesnake. Her jet-black hair, high cheekbones and beautiful green eyes could make any man faint. There were even stories about how she was able to set any object on fire just by staring at it which I doubt is true. But still she was very dangerous.

Anyway she had a gun pointed at her own henchman and was wearing a black, frustrated look. She starred at him out from heavily mascara painted eyes.

“You agreed to do this job my way, using my methods, and not questioning the way I handle my victims. I told you before I will take care of the crystal and the diary, and I will not tolerate any more questioning from you-- do I make myself perfectly clear?” Pete or what ever his real name is hesitated, and then nodded. Minet smiled and put her gun back up her sleeve.

“Good; because I can always get myself another sidekick remember that.”

“What do you want to go over with me boss?” The henchman asked in a more submissive tone. And they began to take out papers and talk in very low voices that I couldn’t make out. Without a sound I swung away down the carpeted floor. My mind was full of shock and disbelief, Thelma or eh… Minet was my worst enemy and Dad’s. How would I get away from this horrid fate? I was a cripple with two bad legs and crutches, easy prey. How would I survive unless…………………. Wait! could I try to walk, it would probably be easier now that I had unbreakable bones. I reached my room and locked it quickly hoping that Minet and Pete’s meeting would be a long one. I would have to reteach myself to walk, take a search through mom’s room for extra money, then throw some clothes in a bag along with mom’s diary, and slip out the door without being noticed. I swung over to my bed and sat on the edge while yanking off my backpack. I slowly put it down on the floor and decided that I had to do it now. I had to walk no matter how hard it was, no matter how much it hurt. I lay down the crutches across the bed and set my feet down on the floor. My feet felt steady but when I stood my legs felt like lead. I balanced myself against the backboard of my bed and took my first step. I nearly fell but caught myself, I tried again then I again I fell and was left kneeling on my knees. Then I finally realized why I kept falling, I looked up toward heaven.

“God,” I whispered, “please help me to stand, please help me to live through this day.” After praying I felt stronger and rose to my feet without the help of my bed. I breathed deeply and took my first step and my entire body moved as easily as if I hadn’t been injured at all. I walked all around the room and had felt as strong as ever. I looked up at heaven.

“Thank you God,” I whispered. Then I heard much to my horror the two villains in the hall, but thankfully they were walking in opposite direction as my room. I heard them soon walk back into their room and sighed with relief. I searched around the room for some kind of temporary suitcase then looked at my backpack, it was perfect for a carrying case and better yet it was just an ordinary backpack that was fairly small and not recognizable. I pulled my textbooks out and stacked them into a fairly neat pile.

Then I took three pairs of jeans and six tops out of my dresser and stuffed them in my pack. Then not hearing anyone I bent down next to my nightstand and brought the diary out of its hiding place and stuck it in a separate compartment.

After I poked my head outside the door to make sure that the conman and woman meeting was still in session I walked into mom’s former room and shut the door. It was stuffy and desperately needed airing out. I walked over to mom’s nightstand where she used to keep her money then I remembered that Minet had already gone through mom’s things.

Well there’s no harm in looking anyway, maybe she didn’t have time to go through the dresser. I reasoned and prayed as I opened the first drawer and found the brown cash box undisturbed. I opened the box and counted the money.

$100,000!! That should be enough to get me anywhere I need to go, I confirmed. After stuffing the cash in my pocket I wondered where I should go. All my relatives lived in Wisconsin and I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me. Then I remembered my dad’s letter and knew where I was going. Albany here I come! I confirmed as I walked out of mom’s room. Then to my horror heard Minet walk close to her bedroom door.

“I ‘ll get myself some coffee and come back. What do you mean you still don’t understand? Here, I will go over this with you one last time.”

I had no time to lose over being relieved and walked quickly out of the hall. Out of what was once my home I shut the door and ran to the nearest elevator. I banged on the down button furiously and then heard Pete’s voice near the door then a loud bang. Then all was quiet, Minet must have lost her temper and decided to dispose of her disobedient, ignorant sidekick.

I forgot all pain, and when the stubborn elevator didn’t rise I ran to the stairs. I all most tripped over most of them and their spiral shape nearly made my dizzy head faint. Fear swallowed me; I didn’t feel safe until I was out the door, ignoring many curious people ‘s stares. It wasn’t until I reached the bus stop that I realized how much pain I was in from running. I sat down panting heavily as though I had run three miles when in reality I had only ran a block.

Chapter 8
My Journey’s Beginning

I was so afraid that Thelma or Minet was close behind, and was relieved when the bus came. Many people pushed in front of me and the bus driver only saw me when he was about to shut the bus door. He opened it again and told me as if I were a toddler that this was a public bus and I needed money to ride.

“I know that, how much does it cost?”

“More than you have got.” I held two twenty dollar bills up and waved them in the air astonishing him and the other bus people.

“Fine, climb aboard kid.” The bus driver muttered and it encouraged me to flash him a sassy smile. The bus was nearly full and the only seat that I could find was at the very back listening to people talk. At least I was far away from Minet Reginal though, and could read mom’s diary in peace. Soon I was swallowed up in reading moms diary. One entry after another grabbed my attention but if I described them this story would be rather boring. I took out dad’s letters and began to read one after another. None them provided any more information on where he was to be found. I decided not to read anymore diary entries until I was one hundred percent out of Minet ‘s reach.

At last the bus stopped at the train station, I got out and searched the crowd for signs of Minet in case she had somehow followed me. When no shouts, screams, or gunshots were heard I mixed with the wave of people to discourage snoops from starring at and wondering what I was doing away from my family. If anyone was curious they certainly didn’t show it, every one was talking causing me to barely hear my own voice. Businessmen in variously colored suits were carrying big briefcases and the crowd of people inside the station were so thick Minet wouldn’t have been able to see me if she tried.

I elbowed and shoved my way to the nearest train schedule and found that the soonest train that left for Albany left in thirty minutes. I hoped that Minet, or whoever she was walking around as, wasn’t anywhere close to the train station. A half an hour gave her plenty of time to send the authorities out looking for me. I walked back inside the station to buy my ticket to Albany.

The computerized machine took a long time to hand me my ticket after I put the right amount of money in the slot. The wretched computer took its own sweet time in handing me the ticket it printed out.

“ Come on kid! We don’t have all day!” An impatient train rider called from the long line behind me. I sighed and snatched the ticket from the slot and cantered away from the machine. I sat down on one of the most uncomfortable benches in history and waited.

The schedule was wrong when it said that the wait would only be a half an hour. It was nearly dinnertime before my train was announced I was starving but I knew that the smartest thing to do would be to wait until I was on the train, and the train had left the station, to buy food. If I missed Minet at the station I knew that she would probably ask the employees if they had seen anyone that looked like me. So I shouldn’t make my presence known to anymore people on my trip than absolutely necessary.

I picked up my pack and walked quietly and quickly as possible so that I wouldn’t attract anyone’s attention and I would get out of New York City as soon as possible. The wave of humanity followed and shoved and pushed it’s way up against my elbows. I tried to stay calm but didn’t succeed until I was on the train.

The inside cars were like a blue carpeted universe and I with my pack squeezed in between the pairs of legs that barred my way like a stone wall. After saying ‘sorry’ and ‘excuse me’ over thirty times I reached the second car. At the very end there were two unoccupied seats. I sat down and got my ticket out of my pocket. After waiting for the conductor for six minutes I starred out the window and gasped at the sight before me.

Everyone in the train station waiting area was on their hands and knees with their hands above their heads and Minet stood with a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other hand questioning every one of them. She had trailed me here and would have jumped on the train, had not the conductor after shouting “All aboard!” shut the doors and locked the villain out (as I heard later on the train trip from a fellow passenger.) Minet tried to shoot the door open but then realized that her pistol wasn’t loaded. Then she jumped off the train door and pointed the knife at everyone around her, and then sure no one would dare follow her she took off running.

Finally another conductor came by and I gave him my ticket and he broke off the end and gave the rest of the ticket to me. Then he wrote a number on a slip of white paper and put it on the clip above my head. His clean-shaven face showed concern and he rubbed his chin.

“You’re kind of young to be traveling alone aren’t you?” I tried to think up a believable lie, but before I did an angry passenger called:

“ Hey conductor, what are you doing imitating a statue? I have a ticket too, you know!” He hurried off to calm the man and I knew that that was too close. I would have to play my cards more low key if I was to make this journey successful. I starred out the window and saw that the train was finally leaving the station. I was safe from Minet’s clutches for now, but I had to leave as little evidence behind everywhere I went, in case Minet caught up with me.

I starred out the window and a beautiful sunset in the distance calmed me. I would be fine and I would make it to Albany safely, and I would find dad.

After the other passengers had been satisfied and were going about their business I stood up and walked toward the snack car. I kept my face partially covered in order to keep people from seeing it. When I reached the food bar it was packed full and reminded me some crowds I had seen while in Disney World once. I strained to see the menu through heads, shoulders, and backs. As I looked at my surroundings people of every possible description and race were lined up chatting away on cell phones. I stood in line for at least an hour listening to people get their food and keep saying things like “Oh that was good!” and “Man that hit the spot.” And “I’m full!”

I felt like yelling: “COME ON MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY!” at the old lady in the walker in front of the line. Her caregiver was apparently thinking the same thing because she was patting and stroking her back and saying:

“Come on honey, a crowd is waiting-- make up your mind.” After a few minutes passed she finally did, ordered and left the line. But the guy ahead of me looked like Goliath’s cousin and blocked my view entirely. I prayed that whatever was going wrong up at snack bar wasn’t serious. At last Goliath ‘s cousin moved out of the way of the snack bar and it was my turn to order.

I stared at the large menu then became aware of the hungry people in back of me that would start a freight train massacre if I took my own sweet time in picking out my dinner.

The majority of the items displayed in the display case were pastries, muffins and other sweets. Hardly dinner food and mom would have insisted that I pick the fruit salad. I bought the fruit salad like mom would have said that I should but decided to splurge also and bought an old fashioned chocolate doughnut for afterwards. You would think that I would have ordered milk to go with it, but I bought root beer instead. Sugar Rush City you say? Well maybe your right.

The line members moved forward eagerly after I left it and decided to eat my dinner back in my seat where I could enjoy it in peace. All of the people in my train car were in the snack bar stuck in line for their evening meal. I worked my way back to my seat once again starting an “excuse me, sorry, and pardon me” chorus. Just when I shoved and tripped my way over to my chair and set my food on my seat a man grabbed my shirt and dragged me to the floor saving me from a tranquilizer bullet that was headed for my neck. I heard it crash out the opposite window and he took his hands off my arms letting me up.

I tried to see his face but it was covered with a thick black leather mask. I could just make out blond hair that stuck out from underneath his Indiana Jones like hat. He had a slim but muscular form that wore a black coat and jeans. I stood up shakily and I turned toward him to say thank you.

“ Thank you,” I began hoping that he would drop a few hints on whom he was. Minet’s new henchman? An innocent bystander? A FBI agent that “Thelma” sent after me? Maybe, should I dare hope…Dad? The man starred into my eyes as if hoping that I was someone he knew. His green eyes looked tense and bewildered.

“ Gwen?” Then strangely everything seemed to get foggy and the “Dad” I saw drifted away and I awoke. NO IT CAN’T BE A DREAM! I nearly cried and tried to see Dad again but couldn’t and after straining my eyes to see the non-existent I gave up and sighed. I looked down to see the bag of train food still in my hand.

Chapter 9
The Crystal’s Code

I must have gone to the snack bar, gotten my food went back to my seat and fell asleep. I explained to myself and broke my heart. Then I discovered that it was dark outside and even though the train lights were on I could see a full moon outside my window. I had been asleep for at least three hours. I looked at my watch. Ten ‘o’ clock, practically five hours, I looked around at the other passengers and found all of them asleep and most of them snoring. Hoping that I wouldn’t wake anyone up I unwrapped the plastic container that covered salad. My mouth watered after I had the piece of pineapple and remembered the Root Beer. I gulped a big swig down, and hurriedly finished the rest of the salad, and dug into the 100% deliciously unhealthy doughnut I held in my hands.

After finishing the sugar filled meal I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t. The late nap and sugar combination might have had something to do with it. I felt very restless and wanted to run a mile. Wasn’t there something else to do than just sit on a chair and wait for the conductor to announce that Albany was close by? Then I remembered what dad said in his letter: “I can’t tell you the code but it is in your crystal, you can see it in the moon light.” Then I knew that I had to get the code out of the crystal tonight. I took out mom’s diary and ripped out a small shred of paper, and stuck it my pocket. Then I stopped, what would I use to write with when the code came out of the crystal and I needed to copy it down?

A loud snore came from the seat behind me, I turned and saw a middle aged woman dead asleep. Next to her on the seat nearest to me lay a huge brief case. You probably wouldn’t have been able to find a more disorganized, or more completely stocked brief case if you went to a supplies store and bought one. Papers spilled out into the isle, along with a herd of pencils, and a flock of multicolored paperclips. I stepped out onto the vibrating floor and reached down for one lone pencil that had strayed from its herd to the foot of my chair.

Then I walked toward the car door praying that God wouldn’t allow the rest of the crowd to be awakened by the opening. I stepped outside as quickly as I could then shut the door. I had a hard time trying to balance myself on the shaking outside of the car with one hand and holding my crystal up to the light with other. I was engulfed in darkness with only the moon’s timid light to guide me. At last I found a train handle to swing from and grasped it’s rusty metal bar for dear life. My body shook in the train made wind like a rag doll and nearly dissolved all my courage.

At last I realized that I had to get the code before dawn broke and reached down my shirt with my free hand to grab my crystal. At last I felt it and held it up to the silver light. Instead of being violet now it was a glowing red and inside my watering eyes could just barely make out the numbers 91119. I shoved the crystal back down my shirt and tried to write the numbers with one hand. After failing to do so several times I pulled myself back on the doorstep and pushed my way inside. I panted and nearly fell down from exhaustion as I walked past the sleeping people. I hoped that nobody saw me outside from their window and was planning to tell the conductor that I was an untrustworthy acrobat. Thankfully all the people in the car were asleep and not paying any attention. I felt my new legs begin to hurt and I limped over to my seat. I plopped into my seat and reached into my pocket to find the paper and the pencil missing. I wasn’t surprised and I don’t think you are either. After getting another stray pencil from its herd I sat down and copied the numbers down in the diary where I knew they would be safe. Afterwards I relocked it and decided that it would be wise never to open it again on this trip. I shoved the book down into the pack and zipped it up. I then let sleep swallow me up and believed that I would never have to do anything else on this train trip but relax.


Chapter 10
Nasty Surprise

Why I thought that I would be able to relax is beyond me now. After a few days on the train, I discovered a man that had gotten on a day after I did, seemed to enjoy following me everywhere. I didn’t think much about it at first but when it lasted for about a week it began to get on my nerves. He didn’t follow right behind me but he did follow a few steps behind. For example, if I was going to the snack bar to get a meal or a snack he would be in the line a few people away. The only real way that I would be able to ditch this hitch hiking creep was to walk through car after car then when he got too far behind I waited in the cars bathroom until he moved to the next car. Then I would go back to my seat and then I would wait until to tomorrow to start the whole wretched process over again.

Could he be Minet’s new henchman? Is he following me on purpose then sending her reports about me and where I would be going? Will Minet be waiting for me when I get off at the train station at Albany? I dreaded and stewed about it for the rest of the ride, fear accompanying me everywhere along with that Mohawk hair-do man. I wished the crystal would make me invisible and knew that Minet would be at the train station when I got there.

Thankfully the Mohawk man didn’t ride in the same car with me but in the one ahead. I needed to get off the train at the first stop announced. I needed to find some other way to get to Albany. I would never survive to get to Albany if this kept up. Minet, as famous as she was, had a headquarters in every city. I would have to find another way to Albany, I would have to use the subway or a plane or something that was fast, comfortable, and far away from Minet’s spies. I stared out the window watching the train speed past countryside, cities, towns and valleys. I heard the conductor shout:

“NEXT STOP HIGHWAY MARSH.” I looked for the Mohawk man but he was nowhere in sight. I yanked myself out of the cushion filled seat and put my pack on my shoulders and stood by the train door waiting for it to open. Once it did though everyone in line to go outside wanted to shut the door again. There stood Minet as wicked, beautiful and vicious as ever. Her evil face lit up when she saw me and pointed a machine gun at me.

“Come here Gwen darling,” Minet said with a sarcastic look in her eye. She cocked the gun and I stepped out with my hands over my head. She looked triumphant when she saw that the crystal was still hanging around my neck.

“Fred!” Minet called out walking me over to a waiting car. “ I caught the kid, you can come out now.” Mohawk Fred ran out with a pistol in each hand and shot a police man who came running over with a rifle. He finally reached the car area and watched the stunned crowd with both pistols drawn.

“ I should not have to do this Fred, I am practically a legend,” Minet informed. “I will watch the stupid crowd. You bind and gag her and shove her into the backseat. Then take a look through that backpack, it probably holds the diary. I will take care of the crystal.”

Mohawk Fred was way more obedient than Pete had been and shoved me to the asphalt. My scarred legs felt as though the wounds from my surgery had reopened again. Rough hands grasped my head and tied a blindfold around my eyes. It was the last thing that I saw for hours and fingers wrenched my mouth open. My lips felt like they were bleeding my entire mouth was on fire. I felt my hands being tied so tightly that I barely felt circulation in them. After what sounded like a grunt of satisfaction I was practically thrown into the car and rolled onto the floor.

The car door slammed and I heard things being thrown out of my pack. Sometimes whatever the articles were they were thrown against the window. I, in my blinded state tried time and time again to feel the knot in my binds but couldn’t. I tossed and turned in the bottom of the car floor but found no way to unbind myself. At last exhausted I gave up and realized that there was no way to escape Minet this time and that I would have to be as obedient to her as possible without turning evil.

I heard Minet order:

“ Ok, we found what we needed, the rest of the bag contents are clothes. It’s time to go and dispose of the little flea that we have to drag around.” I heard Minet open the driver’s side of the door and get inside while her new recruit from what I felt sat in the back seat I heard I loud click and wasn’t sure whether it was the seat belts or a gun. As soon as the car started it speed off way over the speed limit and I guessed that Minet was going one hundred miles an hour at least. She laid the horn on almost every minute and the ride was so fast and bumpy that I nearly passed out.

“So Gwen darling,” Minet yelled mockingly over the roar of cars pulling over and crashing. “Did you enjoy your little trip? Well I have a few questions I would like to ask you before you go to your mother.” I wanted to slap her face even though I knew that she would have killed me before I had the chance.

“Oh that’s right, I don’t need you after all! Your stupid diary will do the talking for you.” Minet hissed without knowing whether she was angry at me or happy that I would provide her with all the secrets that she had never been told.” At that moment I wanted to kill her. Mom and I gave this wretched woman a home and this is how she repays us? She would raid this country’s money and kill my dad and me. I hated her with all my strength just as I loved God with all my strength. Then I checked myself; hate was not from God, it was from the devil.

“Well Minet, what are you planning to do with her?” Her companion asked causally. Minet seemed too happy by her victory to be careful with whom she trusted.

“ First we will get the crystal off her neck and open the diary and read it.” Minet then remembered that she was still on a public street with four cops chasing her. “ Fred, fire the guns will you? We have a few gnats chasing us.” She didn’t seem the least bit worried though and the floor felt as though she had increased her speed every time Fred fired a gun.

Screeching tires, hot rubber, and the sound of glass breaking met my ears and I wondered if I would live through Minet Reginal‘s wild ride. Then another thought entered my mind.

Is she hoping to kill me during the ride in order to get rid of me? She has the diary and she could get the crystal off my dead body easily. Of what possible other use could I be to her?

After a while the crash noise began to get farther and farther away. Then I felt the car turn up an old road that badly needed repair. Then the sound and feeling of gravel entered my four other senses that were not handicapped. It is true, the old bible verse: actions speak louder than words. I certainly believed it too after my experience in this house.

Chapter 11
The Snake’s Lair

Finally, I felt the car come to complete stop and the door nearest to me opened. Fred ‘s feet used me as a human floor to get out of the car, and I would have groaned if the gag hadn’t been on my mouth. I felt him jerk me to my feet not caring that I bumped my head on the car ceiling in the process. He made my legs stand and slowly took the blindfold off me. Then he took my sore head and made me look at the house in front of me.

“I just thought that you might want to take a nice little look at your new home before I blindfold you again.” Minet rushed over and slapped his face with a zeal that made me wince.

“Didn’t I tell you not to take her blind fold off before we got into the house?” She snarled as though she were a female wolf. “Now get this little pest inside before I give you a sample of what real pain is.” I looked around me shocked to see that the house was nearly mansion size and that the smoking chimney showed signs that other people worked for her. I stumbled my way into the house walking as slowly as possible so that I would be able to describe every inch of the house to my dad when I finally found him. Every inch of the room was one hundred percent messy. Weapons lay on the floor half way unclean and the furniture was brown, along with the bricks that supported the fireplace that burned comfortably.

“What are you doing kid, watching the paint peel?” Someone from behind me hissed. “ Fred, how ‘bout you tidy the room up for Minet and clean the weapons. I ‘ll put her in the cellar.” I turned and saw to my horror and disbelief Pete Thrashing. The man who Minet had shot down in cold blood! I heard Minet walk inside and walk around the two men and looked at me then laughed at my shocked horror.

“You are so gullible! Do you really think I would have shot a man before he had served his purpose?” She looked at me and knew that I knew she would have. “Yes, I saw you peaking in on us, and I could tell from the look on your face you were going to run away. But enough confessions from me.” The professional conwoman declared, “ Put her down in the basement Pete, she will be more cooperative after I give her her little surprise.” With a pistol pointed at my head, we walked down lighted spiral stairs to a narrow door that looked as though someone had just cut it out of the wall and had done a very sloppy job. Then the door opened up and forced me inside. I got the biggest surprise that anyone could ever have. There in the middle of the dark cold basement stood my mother!

Chapter 12
The Biggest Shock

My eyes began to believe that they were going insane. It was impossible for mom to really be there!

“ Get inside you worthless imp!” Pete ordered and shoved me down to the cellar floor. I hardly felt the cement floor as I rushed over to mom to make sure she was real. My eyes filled with tears that made no sense what so ever. My mother rushed over and took the gag off my mouth after Pete had slammed the door shut.

“ Mom?” I tried to ask hoping that I wouldn’t faint. I touched her to assure my doubting fingers.

“Gwen! Gwen!” Mother embraced me and stroked my back in order to quiet my tears. MOM WAS ALIVE! How was it possible? I saw her body right beside me and she was dead.

“ But you died!” I wept “ I saw your body right next to mine after the Twin Towers were bombed!” She looked into my eyes hardly believing what she heard.

“The Twin Towers were bombed?” She asked for me to tell her more and I told her how she or her double showed me around her office and let me skip school. Then how the Twin Towers were bombed and the events following that. Mom sat down on her prison cot and listened astonished. The features on her face-hardened in anger as she heard the way I had been treated. I sat down beside her; she then opened her mouth to speak.

“I was kidnapped the day before 9/11. Thelma came back from a date with one of her boyfriends. As I let Minet inside her boyfriend Pete pushed his way inside and knocked me to the floor. Then to my surprise a lady came inside that looked just like me and sat next to the other two. Minet told the lady to pose as me until the next afternoon. Pick you up from school then she and her would drive you over to her headquarters and put you down here with me. So she got her just deserves huh? Well thank goodness it is all over.” I was too shocked for words; I had been mourning for a month for one of Minet‘s sidekicks! Mom really was alive. God hadn’t brought her to heaven yet, and we together would escape and find dad.

“ I love you mom! I am so glad you are alive.” I tried to hug her, but couldn’t with tied hands. Mom hugged me and we spent the rest of the afternoon in shocked relief.

Then the door to the cellar door creaked open and Minet, accompanied by one of her sidekicks, walked over to the rickety cot, and both bore weapons.

“Now that I have given you back your mother, Gwen, and let you two visit you will of course give me that crystal hanging around your neck?” Minet hybrided between asking and ordering then looked at me expectantly. I replied the negative and she didn’t seem very surprised. Instead of beating me until my back was raw, or pointing a gun at me or my mother, Minet just looked at me. Then I remembered the story about how she could make anything explode. My skin began to feel hot, and then it felt like it was burning. My tongue felt as though it was a hot coal burning in my mouth. She really could set people on fire and she was doing it to me!

“ St-st-stoppp!” I screamed my tongue barely useable from the heat Minet had inflicted. I was nearly slumped over in a pile of tortured humanity. The villainess and her follower smiled at each other.

“ I thought you would change your mind,” She then saw the way that I was looking at her as if she was possessed. “No I am not a super human if that is that you are thinking! My DNA was altered ten years ago.”

“ How?” I asked forgetting that she was my enemy and felt concerned for her. Well not really concerned if you want me to be perfectly honest. More like curious in a scared kind of way.

“ That isn’t any of your concern Gwen!” and for the first time that I saw her Minet, she in the back of all the appearance of evilness showed small signs of tear. Then after a split second she snapped her fingers and held out her hand. “Come on hand it over!” I, not knowing what else to do, gave it to her. Once it was in her hand her companion cocked the pistol and would have shot me had Minet not stopped him.

“What are you crazy?” Minet asked him in a tone that said: BOY ARE YOU STUPID! “This child and Rebecca will come real handy in case Luke doesn’t give himself up or we can’t capture him. You never, ever should dispose of your prisoners until you get as much use out of them as possible.” Then they left the room leaving mom and I to speculate, wonder, and worry. What would Minet do when she found dad’s letters about U.S.E.G.F. and where to find him? What would she do to find dad and force him to lead her into the state treasury?

“ Oh! If dad gets hurt I will never forgive myself!” I fretted and burst into tears of despair. I leaned against mom’s shoulder and we had a crying operetta.

Chapter 13
A Wonderful Discovery

Our worries were needless, however, and mom and I nearly laughed when Minet came back five minutes later with a rage filled face.

“Your stupid diary won’t open up, even with a hammer smashing the lock!” Minute grabbed me by the shirt and held a knife blade against my neck. And then looked at mom. “ Why won’t it open Rebecca, I am sure you know.” Mom hurriedly told her that she had absolutely no idea why the diary wouldn’t open up. At last tired of trying to glean for information that didn’t exist, Minet released my shirt and called for Mohawk Fred. It seemed as though he had been peeling potatoes because it was nearly half an hour before he came. When he did the sight of him was enough to make Minet pass out. In he marched with a gun to his head and at the end of the gun was a swat team member dressed in black, as swat team members always are. This man, to mom and I, was a regular angel dressed in black. Fred’s eyes begged for Minet’s forgiveness, something that didn’t exist.

“ Ok lady!” the man in black ordered, “On your hands and knees now before I shoot both of you!” Minet smiled and began to work her fire eyes on him and Mohawk Fred. Both of their forms began to weaken and they fell to ashes. More swat team members came in with the rest of the sidekicks that Minet was training. All of them had the same process repeated on them. Why didn’t she do the same thing to mom and I? That I will never be able to tell you, but on hearing sirens, ambulances, and fire trucks headed toward the house, she dashed out of the room.

We waited then after bullets rang out at least fifty times and I heard someone call out:
“We missed her! She got away!” To make sure she was gone before we walked out into the hall. Mom then untied me and threw the rope onto the floor.

“Gwen? Are you alright honey?” Mom asked putting a hand on my back seeing me bent over groaning. While all of this had been going on I didn’t realize in how much pain I was. I was right when I thought that my stitches had opened up. I sat down on floor and saw bloodstains on either side of both my pants.

“ Mom, the stitches from my surgery have opened up again!” I tried not to burst into tears but it felt as though I was falling apart piece by piece.

“The ambulance is outside, I ‘ll get help!” My mom informed after looking at the blue and red striped jeans uneasily. She ran up the stairs and disappeared from my view leaving me to worry about where Minet would strike next. And then speculate on why she gave me the crystal and then kidnapped me to take it back.

What will we do? Where is Minet now and where is she going to strike next? She isn’t as dangerous now that she killed all of her sidekicks but she still could do many horrible things. Like, would she rob our apartment building and burn the building after she was finished with it? What did she do to the diary; burn it? Take it with her when she escaped from the police? Would she find a way to open it? Why did the diary open up for mom and I, but not Minet? Then I came up with a theory. Maybe this crystal diary only opens up for mom and I. When I was in the hospital and “Thelma” had the diary she could have opened it easily with the crystal if she had been able to! She must have tried to open it with the crystal when I was in the hospital, but couldn’t. Then maybe she suspected the same thing I am and decided to give me the crystal. That way her henchmen wouldn’t try to steal it when she met with them, she would raise my hopes and make me want to open it more than anything. But why didn’t she want me to open the diary that first time? She must have been pretending not to want to open it, that way I wouldn’t suspect that she was the best criminal mind in America! That she really wanted me to open it to confirm her suspicions and give her free information!

The paramedics interrupted my thoughts with their heavy shoes thumping down the carpet stairs. I was surprised to see the same crew of paramedics at had rescued me from ground zero. The hair stylist paramedic, needle lover Luke and the rest of them. The hair stylist reached me first and rolled up my pant leg to look at my ruined remainders of stitches. She and I gasped in unison to see the scars splitting a little bit and the true shade of scarlet running out of them.

Chapter 14
An Unpredictable change

“Your stitches need to be redone, Gwen,” She informed. “ It looks as though they were burnt up in the wound.” So Minet had burnt me and she started on my legs because she knew that they were hurting from when her sidekick pushed me onto the pavement! Minet had so many surprises and so many tricks and strategies it was incredible! “ Hello, Gwen?” The hair stylist paramedic waved her young hand in front of my eyes. I jumped then realized that she had been trying to talk to me and that I was daydreaming.

“ Sorry! What did you say?” I apologized.

“ Well,” she sighed in an amused sort of way, “I said that if you want we could stitch you up right here. We have the supplies needed in the ambulance.”

“Oh yes! Please do, I am so sick of hospitals, I could scream!”

“ Do you want some pain medication? ” the IV lover asked. “It will be very painful.” I rolled my eyes in response and told him that I would survive without it. He sighed and put his needle case away and told one of the paramedics to get the case of emergency first aid equipment. When he brought the case I sighed with relief. The IV lover looked at the stitches, their blackened heads stuck up on either side of the barely healed wound. I knew since the stitches were burnt up and the wounds were opened up and burnt that I would have to wear them twice as long as most people wore theirs. I hoped that the paramedics would let me stand up afterwards but I knew that that was pretty foolish thinking. I could barely keep from crying out every time a stitch was put into my skin. It was very painful when my legs were just healing and when I tried to stand for the first time. But now, when they were sewing up my legs that were burnt, it was practically unbearable. Worse yet they said the stupid stitches couldn’t get wet and burns were supposed to be soaked under cold water!

Stop it Gwen! I commanded myself, you aren’t going to feel better or find dad if you spend all you life feeling sorry for yourself! I know the self-centered vain wimpy part of me protested. But it HURTS! Then the good side of me won over, well who cares; you need to ignore it Gwen! Then for the rest of the tiny surgery I fought with myself and almost wished that the evil part of me were a bug that I could squash underneath my shoe.

It seemed like eternity before the painful and tedious operation was over. When it finally was, the paramedics insisted that I use the crutches that they just happened to have in the ambulance. The needle lover offered to carry me upstairs but I declined the offer and was sure that I could use the crutches to swing upstairs. All those in the room protested that that was impossible but I being the strong willed, stubborn person that I am insisted that I could do it. Two of the paramedics actually laughed at the idea and mom who had been standing next to me in her quiet firm way told me that it was foolish to try such a stunt. I grabbed those crutches anyway and after rolling my pant legs down wincing in pain as the heavy material touched my bandaged legs. Then I swung over to the stairs and took a deep breath before I put my crutches on the first step and awkwardly swung myself up. One paramedic followed behind me to catch me if I fell (which would happen very soon in his opinion.) Strangely though, I didn’t fall and made it up the stairs without stopping. Mom and the rest of the paramedics followed and walked outside to the front yard, I was told to tell mom to take me home as soon as possible and not let me walk for a long time until my legs healed.

When I made it to the top I saw three policemen practically tearing the room apart, looking around inside every box and every sort of container in the room for some sort of something that I didn’t know about. Then one of them saw me he walked toward me and wanted to ask me a few questions. To my horror I saw the diary in the fireplace the metal cover melting and I saw the violet crystal still stuck in its slot glowing, but not burning. I screamed and forgetting all sense of pain dropping my tedious crutches pushed past the surprised man. I rushed to the stove and watched in horror as the diary began to burn. I grabbed the tongs not hearing anything the policemen said and grabbed the diary with them. As I took it out I knew that some of it had burnt up. The cover had melted and was an unusual shape.

Strangely enough the crystal remained unharmed and actually looked more beautiful than before. It, now instead of being purple was a bright glowing red that looked as though a fire was burning inside of it. At first I thought it was from being exposed to the severe heat. I blew on it and it changed to a light ice blue. I set the diary down on the hearth and without thinking pulled the crystal out of the diary lock. It was perfectly cool and the officers asked to see “ the strange stone.” I glared at them because I knew they would try to take it for their lab people to run tests on it.

“ No, it is just a necklace that opens the diary. It doesn’t have anything else to do with Minet!” I answered hopping that they wouldn’t try to take it by force or ask mom to sell it to them.

“ Come kid! That crystal or what ever it really is could have some kind of power that could return Minet’s DNA to normal and lead us right to her!” The man who wanted to question me begged. His brown eyes hoping that I change my mind.

“ I said no! If you want me to give you any information at all you will stop asking me for it. It is my mom’s and it means a lot to me.” I put the crystal back on to show them that they would never own it and covered it with my hand.

“ Boy you have nerve, to say no to an officer, kid!” An obviously hotheaded young deputy snapped trying to sound cool and tuff. My mom came in just in time to distract the police.

“ Gwen what is going on ……… what happened to my diary and the crystal?” Her eyes didn’t look like they believed what they saw. She rushed over and looked at how warped the cover was and looked like she could barely restrain herself from picking it up and unlocking it to see if dad’s letters were burned.

“Young lady,” the first policeman said to me, “ I still need to question you if you don’t mind.” Then he took out a tiny notebook from his pocket and asked me if I had any idea of where Minet was headed. I told him how Minet was planning to rob the state treasury and then try to rob every state treasury in America and then the treasury in Washington D.C. But I left out the part about how she wanted to kidnap dad. Somehow I had a gut feeling that not even the police of this country knew about the force on which dad worked and felt that if I mentioned it I would be betraying dad.

“That will do, now Mrs. Oxford would you mind answering a few questions.” The policeman questioned mom for a longer period of time allowing me to limp about the house. I limped down the stairway again; I wondered what I would find in the rooms below the ground. My imagination ran wild as I opened each door expecting to find a hiding sidekick busy cleaning a pistol or a bloody knife. Or a roomful of captives Minet had forgotten about that had gone absolutely crazy and would pounce on me once I opened the door. Usually though I only found rooms full of treasure, priceless antique furniture that had collected many years worth of dust or rooms full of gun and other horrible weapons that were in need of repair.

At last I began to feel like my legs would give out on me and decided to just open one last door. (The rooms downstairs were all right next to each other although some were bigger than others.) The last door though was unlike the others and I heard a loud echoing thud and clinking banging against the door. I wondered what I would find behind the door, then a feeling that I shouldn’t open the door raced through my mind. The two sides of me began to fight again and at last I decided to ignore the horrible feeling that something creepy was behind that door.

I turned the knob and saw only darkness. After I turned on the light and I saw a football field sized room filled with objects that were covered with white sheets. I gathered up the old fashioned sheets and when I pulled a sheet off an article that was close by me I got a surprise that would change my entire life. There in front of me stood my nightstand in Minet’s house!

Chapter 15
Minet’s Revenge

I heard Mom calling out to me from the hall.

“I’m in the last door down mom!” I shouted and I heard her walk quickly down the hall and poke her head inside. She explained that she had heard me scream and was afraid that I had fallen down the stairs or found an apprentice of Minet’s. Then she saw what I had found and her jaw dropped and she cantered inside.

“ Is that?” she began and I nodded. We pulled the rest of the sheets off the covered pieces and discovered that everything from our apartment had been taken and stuffed into this room. From the furniture and everything in them: like toys, pictures, and clothes, to things from the kitchen: pots and pans, and dishes, utensils, and other things mom kept in the kitchen. The police came inside soon afterward and took note of our discovery.

“ But if I know Minet,” One policeman said aloud, “she wouldn’t have cleaned an apartment out to the rafters unless………”

“ Unless what?” Mom demanded as tensely as if she knew what he was about to say.

“ Unless she was going to burn it or was very short on cash.” The man said looking down at his feet. Everyone else in the room looked at him as if to say: “Please say you’re just joking!” Finally the young man spoke again.

“ She also is very vengeful and when she puts her mind to something really bad like: murder, kidnapping, or burning a building down she will do it.” I felt, as though I had seen a man grow two noses, I couldn’t believe that Minet would be that risky. But it made perfect sense; once we were homeless we would be easy to catch again. And we would open the diary for her, and dad would let her in right to the state treasury. I couldn’t let that happen! Mom and I had to reach dad before Minet caught us.

“ It ‘s only a theory though,” one of the policemen assured me. “ Until it can be proven right you guys need to stay somewhere where Minet can’t get you.” We trooped up to the living room I took an extra amount of time so that I wouldn’t hurt my legs again. Mom walked behind helping me up each horrible step.

“ We are going to keep guards posted in the house in case Minet comes back.” The chief told mom, “I suggest that you two take as many portable things with you and take the quickest form of transportation out of this area.”

“We will, don’t worry officer.”

“ And, for the last time are you going to let me buy that crystal?” He asked half begging and half insisting.

“ No!” Mom practically yelled, worn out by his persistent entreaty

“ Alright, fine” he surrendered. “Do you need any money?”

“Oh no, we have plenty,” Mom replied and I knew that she knew that Minet’s henchmen probably stole it, but mom was too proud to accept charity from strangers. I then thought about dad, what was U.S.E.G.F. like? I then saw a tired cop sit down and turn on the TV. The news then was blaring and he hastily turned it down, wincing at the chief’s dirty look. But it soon melted away into a look of disappointment and not being surprised. Mom was the last to turn around her eyes welled up in tears after she heard and saw this bit of horrible news:

“Firefighters and police are thin enough on the ground as it is, but now they are even thinner because just an hour ago this apartment building burst into flames. No matches were found lit and the swat team could pick up no signs of bomb fumes. None of the residents whom lived in this building got out alive except for the desk manager who said that two residents were absent at the time that the building burst into flames.”

Then the news reporters showed a film of our apartment building, but looked so different now that I could barely recognize it. The once white building was now nearly black from ash, fire, and smoke. The roof was no longer existent and all the windows were gone and the door had nearly fallen out. Two walls began to fall head over heels into the blocked off street. Fire sirens went off constantly and several fire trucks were gathered in front of what was once my home. I saw ten fire fighters gathered in front of what was once my home hosing like they were insane, but I knew that it wouldn’t do any good.

How did Minet get to New York City in two hours when it took me a day to get out of it? Then I remembered how I saw the television on and a hand was watching the TV. Minet can turn anything she sees on fire. We live very close to the Twin Towers, maybe Live Copter Three showed our house by chance on it’s way to show the Twin Towers. Then Minet saw it on her way out of the house and set it on fire through the television. I told my theory to my companions. They all said that it was possible and I believed that Minet wasn’t far away but perhaps going through town as someone of her own creation gathering new recruits not caring that she had killed her old ones in cold blood. I turned my attention to my Mom who was crying silently and whispered through her tears:

“ This is all my fault! If I hadn’t been so kind and thoughtful and let Minet (or Thelma as I knew her at the time) move in with Gwen and I; she wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily and those people would still be alive.” I tried not to join in on the crying opera and leaned my head against her back. I stroked her shoulder trying to comfort her.

“ It is not your fault mom, if it’s anyone’s it is my fault.” I realized as I spoke, “ if I had went down to police station in New York City and reported Minet to the authorities when I had a chance they probably would have caught her. And besides,” I looked into mom’s eyes, “if you hadn’t invited Minet over to live with us, you wouldn’t be alive!” Mom dried her tears and hugged me. It was useless to dwell on the past when we couldn’t go back and correct it. The main thing now was to get what we needed out of this house and get out of here to the U. S. E.G. F. Minet thankfully knew nothing yet about where dad worked. If we made it to dad’s, then we would be safe unless Minet, by some miracle, discovered where we were.

“ Mrs. Oxford, I didn’t realize how late it was, you guys only have time to grab one or two things and leave. We need you to go before Minet’s other henchmen army gets here.” We didn’t know how the chief knew anything about Minet’s plans but we were in too much of a hurry to care. I had to sit down on account of sore stitches, and Mom ran downstairs to get essentials. Suddenly a loud thump on the front door grabbed every room occupant’s attention. After about two minutes the chief ordered one of the deputies to investigate. The deputy came back through the door with a note in his right hand and a baffled expression on his face. He gave the note to his chief and sat down next to me. The chief read it quickly and then looked up at me tensely

“ You and your Mom are going to have to leave right now, young lady. The henchmen are almost here!” the chief practically ordered and just at that moment mom came inside with a bagful of necessities and frowned at the chief.

“We‘re leaving, ok?” and I hobbled over to her. We stepped outside and hurried across the gravel walkway, down the street and ran down the sidewalk until we reached the bus stop. After the longest and most nerve racking bus ride in history we arrived at the train station and caught the earliest train headed for Albany. Neither of us breathed easily until we reached the train station and sat down in our seats. The train ride was comfortable and quiet and was spent contemplating where Minet might be. Then I decided to ask mom a question I never thought about before.

“ Mom, how long were you and Minet friends?” I saw her face change color with pain.

“ Since we were five years old. She wasn’t like she is now, over the years in school she got into more and more trouble. I always had her over at my house when we had sleepovers. She said she didn’t want to impose upon me but she said she couldn’t let me come over to her house. Minet didn’t describe her home in detail but she basically said that her parents fought and got drunk every night.” My mom sighed then, stopped and wouldn’t let the subject go on any longer and we were silent for the rest of the trip.

“ALBANY, NEXT STOP!” yelled the conductor and I looked out the window trying not step on Mom’s toes as I stood up to look out the window. In the distance, just ahead of us a building universe was rushing closer and closer. Before I had stared for as long as I had wanted to we sped into the train station. I prayed that Minet wouldn’t somehow catch up and destroy our ‘almost reunion’ with dad. Mom held my pack as I struggled down the steep painful train steps. Once we were off the train we both recited the directions to dad ‘s work office in our heads while we waited at the bus stop. At last I the words became so familiar I was sure that I could say them in my sleep. Then I felt something around my neck grow ice cold. I looked down and saw that my crystal or maybe I should say mom’s crystal had turned a dark purple.

“ GWEN! Let me out!” I heard someone yell, and then I looked up and saw that mom was gone. I heard the voice repeat the same demand then I realized that the small voice was coming from the crystal. I held the necklace up to the light then saw a small figure inside the crystal tapping on the glass. I squinted then saw it was mom. I then began to feel like fainting. How on earth did I trap mom inside there? Or rather how did the crystal trap mom like that? Was this thing magical? I knew that I wasn’t!

“ How can I get you out mom?” I tried to whisper into the crystal looking around to make sure that nobody was looking at me.

“ Sit down and hold the crystal up to the light.” I looked inside at
My miniature mom and tried to restrain a giggle. Then I held the crystal up to the light and watched as mom return to her normal size outside the crystal. I half expected her to yell at me for imprisoning her but instead she took a deep breath and sat down in her former spot.

“ Ok, do me a favor and let me switch places with you.” I switched places with her and mom winced at the puzzled look on my face. I sat down and she and I began to talk at the same time. “I know that you want me to tell you how the crystal trapped me inside itself.” I sighed and then nodded as I rested my head on her shoulder. “Well I wish that I could tell you for sure. The only explanation I can come up with is that the sunlight causes the crystal to imprison the people directly in front of or right next to it’s wearer when it is dark purple.”

“But mom it never turned colors until it had been in the fire. It also was perfectly harmless before this adventure started.”

“ Your dad dipped the crystal in violet paint and made it into a necklace so that I could keep it safe and avoid it kidnapping people every time it turned purple.”
“ What was the original color mom?”

“ There was no original color, I found it on our honeymoon. Luke and I went on a honeymoon/camping trip and during the first night a huge meteor storm hit and afterward I found this stone right outside our tent. Your dad turned it into a necklace for me, but right after I first put it on the crystal turned the color it is now and a sunbeam went through and it trapped your dad inside. I sat down and held it up to the light and your dad was let out. So to ensure his safety and everyone else’s he dipped it in paint and it couldn’t suck people in. Afterwards your dad made me the crystal diary partly as a gift and partly to conceal its real use.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this or anything about my dad before?”

“ I didn’t tell you about your dad when you were really young because I knew that you would probably tell Minet. When you got old enough to keep secrets I….I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you.” I understood, but I was still upset about mom being secretive. Then our bus came along with a herd of tourists and we left to begin a better life.

Chapter 16
Family Again

Just as dad said we should do, we changed buses at every stop we came to costing mom about one hundred dollars. At last we reached X Fifth Street and acting like a couple of silly shoppers was no big deal until I noticed one lady, an old lady apparently always seemed to be on the same bus we were traveling on and I could have sworn that I saw her on the train I was on before. A strange feeling that I knew her crossed my mind and I wondered if Minet had senior spies. I persuaded mom to let us split up and see if she would follow either one of us.

I walked into a nearby beauty shop while mom decided to wait for five minutes around the corner and then come and get me. I walked inside casually and pretended to be interested in buying a pair of earrings and looked into the mirror and waited for the lady to walk inside the shop. But thankfully I was wrong about her, and her being at the same place at the same time was just chance. I began to walk out of the shop then I stopped myself. I looked at the stand of human hair wigs. Well it may have been wasteful since mom and I were nearly in U.S.E.G.F. but anything could happen on our way. I bought two wigs one red/ brown and one blonde; I put the reddish brown one on and then walked out of the store. I found mom and after explaining why my hair had “changed” I persuaded her to put it on and we in our disguises set off to find the alley that dad talked about. Finally we reached it and I stepped toward the green power box and could hardly believe that I would be able to see dad for the first time.

Mom had the same tears in her eyes as I opened the green door that to our disappointment could hold only one person. We debated about it. I wanted her to go first because she hadn’t seen dad in thirteen years and I knew that she was dying to see him. She said that I should go because of my never seeing him before and wanting to see him. At last she won and I agreed to go down first.

“ What is the code to get inside again Mom?” I knew she probably wouldn’t remember and that I would have to open the diary and find out.

“ 91119,” mom replied and then made me whisper all of the information that dad had sent her to ensure my survival. I whispered the information in an annoyed tone and she nodded. I crawled inside as mom looked around to make sure that no one was spying on us. She shut the door telling me that she would be down soon. I felt the blackness surround me and a light bulb lit up button pad cut it with the strength of a little kid’s night-light. I pushed the code in and the small elevator jerked into action taking me down one hundred stories in five minutes. The small elevator produced a small dinner bell like ding and I crawled out into a different world inside a world.

A stainless steel metal universe met my eyes as I stood up stretching limbs that were stir crazy. Herds of people walked by with their shoes clanging against the metal floor. Florescent bulbs lit the space ship like hall. Soon just as I expected a guard rushed toward me as I heard mom crawl out the shaft. His was unlike any type of government uniform I had ever seen. Instead of being green like the army it was a brownish red color like the earth.

“ What on earth are you two people doing here?” He asked sternly, and then he listened to make sure that no more people were coming down.

“ We are looking for Carl Finch, he is my dad.” I made my eyes as cold and crossed my arms. “Would you please step aside?” He hearing a fellow co-worker’s name stepped aside with repeated apologies. I waited for mom and then we together walked down the hall.

You would think that U.S.E.G.F. would be just like a military base full of uniformed men and women. I discovered otherwise though, U.S.E.G.F. was like an underground city all shoved into one building. The office part of the city was separated from their homes. Their lives were pretty much the same as ours because they had restaurants, fast food places, malls, grocery stores. The only real differences were the fact that they were all inside so you would never need a car or any other form of transportation. If you were sick and need to get to the hospital the doctors will come to your door and take you there in a wheel chair. In the stores if you were buying something you would check out your items yourself on a computer. It was impossible to steal anything from the stores or restaurants if you tried laser beams would cover the doors until you put what ever it was you tried to steal back.

Mom and I walked through the office side of town trying to find dad’s.

“ Ok now lets see” I heard mom mutter. “7788.” We walked through the hall looking at number combinations that I didn’t know existed until we finally came to dad’s door. Butterflies flew in my stomach as though they were doing a complicated Spanish dance. Would dad like me? What would he think when he saw us walk in unexpectedly? My legs felt as though they had grown roots and sprouted into the floor. My eyes glazed over as mom began to walk towards the door. She then noticed my freaked out expression.

“ Gwen, honey don’t be scared you dad will love you!” Mom stroked my hair and then I remembered the line that dad wrote to me “please tell Gwen that I love her.”

“ Ok, I’m ready now,” I sighed and walked over to the door with mom. Then mom lifted a shaky hand and knocked at the door. I heard someone walk over to the door and the doorknob turned. I then saw a middle-aged man with gray blonde hair and hazel eyes. I saw his face light up as he saw what he never would have expected to see.

“ Rebecca!” He gasped and they embraced one another, kissing over and over again to make up for the thirteen years of torturous separation. I stood at a respectful distance letting them have time to believe that they both were really there. At last they remembered that they were not alone and mom turned towards me.

“ Luke, this is Gwen, our daughter” Mom introduced almost breaking in to tears of joy. I tried not to cry as I whispered:

“ Dad!” He took me into his arms and hugged me tightly to make sure that I would never disappear. I stood there taking in everything about him in, letting my face rest in his arms.

“ Gwen! I finally get see you with my own eyes.” He murmured and stroked my hair, “you’re really here!” Dad told us to come over to his apartment since his work was all done, that way we would be able to tell him our story and why we had come. I sighed in satisfaction, I had a real family at last, and I would never be alone or have a criminal guardian again.

Chapter 17
Minet’s Downfall

“That sure sounds like Minet,” dad exclaimed angrily after mom told him our experience. He paced the room rubbing his head. I sighed and knew that Minet would have to be stopped and we needed to find her. “So she thinks she would be able to make me let her into the state treasury!”

“ We are going to have to stop her no matter what the cost!” Mom declared but dad shook his head at mom and I.

“Please don’t try to come along with us when we go to catch Minet! I have just gotten my family back and I don’t want to lose them again!”


“Luke, remember that crystal that we found on our honeymoon?” Mom asked hoping that he would remember how it traps anyone.

“ How could I forget it?”

“Well Gwen and I are the only ones that can make it catch people. We could come along and Gwen could trap Minet inside the crystal.”

“ Minet ‘s DNA was altered, she can set things on fire remember?”

“She wouldn’t be able to set this crystal on fire dad,” I put in, “when I took the crystal and the diary out of the fire at Minet ‘s house the diary was a little burnt and obviously hot but when I took the crystal out of the keyhole it was perfectly undamaged and cool.” I hoped that both my parents would believe me. From the looks on their faces they obviously didn’t. I took the crystal off my neck and shoved the head of the crystal into the flame of a candle next to me. Their jaws dropped as they saw the crystal remain unharmed.

“I guess this means I’m going right?” I asked sassily and dad nodded in agreement. Later after mom had gone to bed dad said he “wanted to show me something.” After changing into a fresh pair of clothes I followed him into the hall.

“Gwen,” he began as we walked down the hall, “you know how the crystal can trap people right?” I nodded and he continued, “When we capture Minet I want you to leave Minet inside the crystal and then bury it in a secret chamber under the city. If we just handcuffed her and sent her to prison she would break out easily. I know that crystal means a lot to you, but we can’t take any chances on Minet escaping. Unless you want to have a criminal hanging around your neck.” I wanted to argue but I knew that he was right. This mysterious crystal after capturing Minet would have served its purpose. I told him I understood and he gave me an approving smile.

“Good, now lets get some sleep, tomorrow is going to by a long day.” I wondered where Minet could be at this moment. Fear began to swallow me, what if Minet killed us before I had the chance to draw out my crystal? Well that was a chance I would have to take. I would have to sacrifice myself for the safety of America.

The next day Dad got permission from his boss to leave the underground and carry out his plan to capture Minet. Now she could be anywhere at all, and all we had to do was attract her attention and she would be right there. Dad was especially eager to see the sky again and walk around on asphalt again. I wasn’t though because of the fact that I would have to give up my crystal.

After dad and I came up from the alley we could sense that we were not alone. A loud bang sounded from the end of the alley and we turned to see Minet Reginal smiling, her gun drawn.

“ Well isn’t that nice, it’s just like my birthday, instead of my having to chase two down one by one I get………..” but she didn’t finish speaking because at that very moment a gunshot out and she dropped to the ground dead. Behind the gun to Dad’s and my surprise was mom. Tears streamed down her face. I know she felt like she murdered her best friend, but I knew that she would get over it someday. The rest isn’t worth mentioning in detail, dad called the police to inform them of Minet’s death. Mom was almost interviewed by the news reporters and the mayor presented her with a medal.

Now days dad’s contract with U.S.E.G.F. is expired, and he has a very high paying job and we are living far away from the Twin Towers. My life is now complete, and filled with happiness. But I will always remember that it is all due to God and the Crystal Diary.

The End

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.05.2010

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