Cristal - Novella by Anne-Rae Vasquez

Kerim.
    “Could be Sami?”
    Kerim continued, “We were standing outside
somewhere, and it was hot. The sun was hitting the grey wall behind
us. Cristal moved to the center, and all of a sudden there was a
white light coming out from her chest. It was weird, because it
looked almost like a mirror of what was happening in front of
me.”
    He sat back down on the edge of the desk and
fell silent.
    “Don’t stop now,” Harry said.
    Kerim looked at Harry. His eyes narrowed as
he spoke.
    “Harry, it was all about you, all this time!
Right?”
    Harry arched his eyebrow and stole a glance
at Dr. Saeed, who was intently listening to Kerim.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
Harry said.
    Cristal heard the sincerity in his
voice.
    “You and Dr. Saeed over here are in on this,
right?” Kerim demanded, pounding his fist onto the table.
    Dr. Saeed showed no facial expressions, but
said, “Kerim, tell us what you saw,” he said calmly.
    Kerim stood up and turned towards Harry, his
grey eyes piercing into his.
    “You walked into the light,” he said in a
low voice.
    Cristal had to step closer to hear him.
    “Then the light disappeared.”
    Harry’s eyebrows arched up.
    “And that’s it?” he asked.
    Kerim replied, “No, that isn’t it.”
    Harry stood up, his gaze never leaving
Kerim’s.
    “Okay, so tell us.”
    “It wasn’t just the light that disappeared. You disappeared with it.”
    Harry had a shocked look on his face, and
his eyebrows were arching even higher. Dr. Saeed’s eyes widened
slightly. He leaned over and whispered something into Harry’s ear.
Harry smirked in agreement.
    Kerim had turned around, seemingly oblivious
to what was around him. He ran his hands through his hair in
exasperation.
    “And that’s when the earthquake stopped. The
light and the images vanished,” he said.
    A smile crept onto Harry’s face.
    “In your vision, I must have traveled into
the future!”
    Cristal could feel her face burn red. She
could not contain her fury any longer. She marched into the room.
Everyone turned to look at her with stunned looks on their
faces.
    “That explains a lot, Harry,” she said, her
voice shaking with anger.
    Cristal looked straight into his eyes.
    “But guess what? This prodigy wants nothing
to do with your time traveling theory.”
    She whirled around, poking her finger onto
Kerim’s shoulder.
    “And you,” she said, her voice rising
higher.
    She looked at her hands briefly realizing
that they were beginning to shake.
    “I was beginning to trust you. Now I know
better. I can’t believe you told them about the light.”
    She turned around with full intentions of
running out the door, but she stopped. On the shelf, among stacks
of books was an 8x10 photo in a silver frame. In the photo, Dr.
Saeed was standing on the far right. She recognized the man in the
middle as Harry’s father. She had seen his YouTube videos on the
Truth Seekers’ discussion forums. But it wasn’t Aaron Doub that
caught her eye. It was the woman on the other side of him.
    She stepped closer, wondering where she had
seen this person that appeared in the picture. Harry and Kerim
walked up and stood beside her.
    “That’s her,” Cristal managed to say,
pointing to the picture.
    “Who?” Kerim asked.
    “After the earthquake, I looked up into the
sky and saw a face. It was her.”
    She could feel her heart pounding harder and
faster.
    “Are you sure?” Dr. Saeed asked.
    “I’m positive,” she answered.
    Her words seemed to stick in her throat like
chalk dust.
    Harry grabbed her by the shoulders and
turned her towards him. His blue eyes were wide with
excitement.
    “That’s Bina Schwartz. My mother.”
    “Are you serious?” Kerim asked.
    “Yes!” he said. “She went missing last
year.”

Chapter 13
Kismet

    SHE COULDN’T STOP RUNNING . Minutes earlier, she had exited the Physics
building, stumbling down the stairs. She could hear Kerim and Harry
calling her name as she ran out