Krystal

Here's a short story I wrote recently, about a girl whose name I imagine to be Krystal. I'd been searching for her for a long time, because she appeared on the iPhone 3 casings when I didn't have an iPhone, and then when I got the iPhone 3, she completely disappeared, not even coming out in the iPhone 4 casings. And then, I managed to find her at some IT fair. Lucky me!

Maybe I should explain why I keep referring to the iPhone casing as a 'she'. Well, for starters, it's a girl on the casing. It would be rude to call her a 'he', don't you think? Anyway, I'd very politely asked her (in my mind, of course, it would look strange for me to be talking to my phone casing out loud in public) what her name was, and she was so shy, it took her a week to trust me and tell me her name.

Before you all assume that I'm completely out of my mind, let me explain. Again. When I say that I'm asking something for its name, I mean that I just quietly look at it and wait for a name to pop into my mind. I try to keep my mind as blank as possible so that I'm not consciously thinking of names, but I wait for a name to make itself known from my subconscious state of mind. And believe me, it always works. The name that pops up always suits whatever (or should I say whoever) I'm looking at. If you didn't understand a single word I'd typed about me asking for names, then never mind, just go ahead and assume that I'm too strange for you to understand.

=.="

So. Here's her story. Mind you, I know it's disppointingly short, but I'm not adding any more to this one, because it already feels complete to me, for no reason at all.

Run, Krystal! My inner voice called out to me. I ran on, not bothering to acknowledge what it had said. After all, this was not the first time I had encountered such a situation.

The diamond necklace swung from my cold palms as I sprinted across the roofs, my breathing light and fast. I had hardly broken a sweat, and yet my heart was thrumming like a bird’s due to the adrenaline that was coursing through my bloodstream. Only I would have compared myself to the birds – I literally lived among them. They were my friends and family, neighbours and teachers. Where society had failed to accept me, the feathered creatures had succeeded.

Far below me, the townspeople were running, trying to catch up with me. They’ll never catch us, try as they might, my inner sneered. Human bodies are too heavy, too cumbersome.

“And don’t I count as a human? I look nothing like a bird.” I silently countered.

My inner hesitated. You are no longer human. You belong with the birds now.

The words stung somewhat, yet I knew them to be true. The footsteps of the humans were loud as they pounded the pavement, while mine were swift and noiseless. The humans made sure they stayed in the light so as to see where they were running in the night, while I stayed to the shadows. Were it not for the torches the humans carried, I would have been practically invisible.

And to think humans could raise such a fuss over a simple diamond necklace. Over my diamond necklace.

The necklace belongs to us! I envisioned my inner baring her fangs. Even though I was at times more bird than girl, my inner seemed to take the form of an ashy-grey wolf. She had no name, no background, and no future. All we knew was that she came into existence the day I was born.

Itbelongstousthenecklacewasnevertheirsitsoursoursoursmineoursminetheycanthaveittheycanttakeitbecauseitsmineminemine!

“MINE!” I screamed out to the starry skies as I leaped across another roof and finally managed to evade the humans that were trying to track me down. Moving faster than the average human eye could see, I made a right turn, then hopped across two more roofs before entering the forest that was on the west side of the town.

The forest was dark, but not unpleasantly so. I slowed down, aware that I was safe in the forest. No human would venture into the forest to try looking for me. None of them dared to, more afraid of their silly local superstitions and tales than their material losses. The forest was known by many names to them.

The Dark Forest.
The Forest of Death.
The Crying Trees.

And my personal favourite, The Forest of the Ravens. That name was actually the most accurate, even though it was least used.

I climbed into a tree and made myself comfortable before examining the necklace I had taken. A diamond pendant in the shape of a feather hung on a length of black twine, and on the back of the pendant was an etching of the crest of the Leturna family.

Six years ago, I would have answered to that crest, having been a member of the household. Six years ago, I was Emily Leturna, a girl who had everything she could possibly have asked for. I had had a family that was rich, and could provide for me not only with material possessions, but love as well. I had been happy. But one day, everything changed.

One thing had stayed constant to me, though. On my nineteenth birthday, I was to receive this necklace, an heirloom that my mother had promised me. It had belonged to the first matriarch of the Leturna family, and had been passed down for many generations. My receiving of the necklace was to mark my transition towards adulthood.

And so today, on my nineteenth birthday, I accepted the necklace, my birthright, as Krystal. I was no longer Emily Leturna, having killed her six years ago.

I was Krystal, reborn from the ashes of Emily Leturna. I was a Raven, having thrown my human existence away.

Oh, and here's what she looks like, in case you were wondering: