Shattering Crystals

"What do you mean? Who's Lorraine?" Connor asks.

“What? What are you guys even talking about?” Cody gives us all a strange look.

“This.” I take Cody’s hand again, and the glow starts again. Lorraine arches an eyebrow at me, but I give her a look that tells her I will explain. “You weren’t wondering about this, Cody?”

“I was, but I thought you were just doing a magic trick or something.”

“Then why would I bring you here?”

“I don’t know, maybe Connor wanted me to see how it was here and convince me to come with you guys,” he says. “Like I said, I don’t know what goes on in that fucked up mind of his.”

“That’s not why…”

“Why don’t you just tell me, then? What is all this?”

“Magic.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Well, sadly, it is.”

“Why would that be a bad thing?” Cody asks. “Wouldn’t that be good?”

“I guess,” I say. “But… we had to run away because of it. And now, so do you.”

“Never,” he responds. “But that’s it. Connor, I have to call the police or something. These people are obviously crazy. You can’t stay with them.” He backs away, his hands up in a gesture that obviously tells us not to get any closer.

“No!” Connor grabs Cody’s wrists, pulling him back. “You can’t do that!”

“Dana, what is going on?” Lorraine asks.

“Who’s Dana? I thought you were Crys, Diana, and Charlie!” Connor exclaims.

“We are, Connor,” I say. “Lorraine, touch Cody’s hand!” Lorraine raises an eyebrow at me again, but walks over to Cody. She sticks out her hand, palm up – an offer.

Cody flinches at first and a guilty wave of pleasure washes through me. He’s reluctant to touch Lorraine’s hand, but had no problem with me. Although I really shouldn’t be thinking like that at a time like this.

Lorraine impatiently wiggles her fingers, and Cody gives in. The same white light glows when their hands meet.

“So it’s not just me,” I murmur.

“What the hell is happening?” Cody yells at us, jerking his hand away from Lorraine’s. “Am I dreaming or something?”

“No, you aren’t,” Lorraine says. She turns to me. “He’s one of them, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. Strange coincidence,” I say, glancing at Dean curiously, as he’s still silent.

“I’m what?” Cody asks.

“You have to run away with us.”

“And why the fuck would that be?”

“Lorraine, are you going to explain, or am I?” I ask her. “And should we tell Connor.”

“Uh, yeah, you should tell Connor,” Connor says. I can see anger and confusion to his face, which brings disappointment to me.

“I think Dean should tell them. It’s his turn, anyways. And I don’t see how we could keep it from Connor. His brother would tell him everything.”

“Okay, I guess,” I say, not knowing what else to do. “Dean, tell them.”

“Make it quick,” Cody says. “Or I’m out of here.”

“Alright,” Dean says a bit uncomfortably. We all know how he is at explaining things, but it’s only fair. “You tell it so much better, though.”

I roll my eyes. “That may be true, but… Just do it already.”

“Fine. Cody, to put it simply… we knew you in a past life.”

“…are you guys high?”

“No. But listen. We didn’t really have a good ending. We died.”

“Obviously,” Cody snorts. I smile a bit at Dean’s mediocre storytelling skills.

“We, well we really didn’t die,” Dean says, looking at me in a help me kind of way. I smile at him and shake my dead, urging him to continue. “I guess we did, but we didn’t.”

“Jesus Dean, get to the point already,” Lorraine says.

“Okay, okay. We’ve been ‘reborn’ and now we have to go back and continue our lives.”

“Alright, I’m starting to think I’m crazy now,” Cody says. “This… it just isn’t real.”

“But it is,” Lorraine says. “You’ve seen the proof.”

“It’s not… this… I don’t know.” He does not seem to have the ability to form full sentences anymore.

“Well, I believe it,” Connor says flatly. He turns away and leaves the room. We hear the back door slam as he leaves the house.

“What’s his problem?” I get up to go after him, but Lorraine stops me, still obviously not caring about him.

“That’s not what’s important right now,” she says. “What’s important, Cody, is that you are sitting in front of the greatest person who will ever live.” I try not to smile as she says this, fearing that I would look conceited.

“And that would be…”

“Dana,” she says, with large amounts of duh in her tone. “Consider yourself lucky.”

“I’m considering myself gone.” He gets up to follow his brother. He heart rate accelerates. Are we failing the first mission we have away from home? In a desperate last attempt, I thrust my hand out in front of me. The chair he was sitting in moves forward, knocking out his knees from behind him

“What the…”

“We don’t lie, Cody,” I say softly. “Come back with us. Won’t life be so much easier? Better?”

“Probably,” he admits after a few seconds. “But I don’t want to go.”

“Why not?”

“Because. Why would I want to run away with people I just met? Why would I want to leave the life I have now?”

“You do know us.”

“In a past life. For all I know, you could have changed and become mass murderers or something.”

“But… do you at least believe us?” I ask hopefully.”

“I… no.” But it’s shown clearly on his face that he does, no matter how much he wants to deny it.

“You do,” Lorraine says, smiling. “You can’t deny it. Don’t even bother trying.”

“Okay, whatever. Why would I go with you, though?”

Lorraine sits down in the chair next to him and reaches for his hand. He doesn’t protest, and the light begins to glow again. “Look, Cody,” she says, her voice low,” it’s where you belong.

She’s looking at him through her thick lashes, and I know how he feels right now He stares right back into her eyes, mesmerized. I get the urge to look away, like I’m intruding on an intimate moment.

Cody eventually pulls himself out of the trance, and takes his hand away. When he speaks again, his voice is distant.

“But is it where Connor belongs?”