The Dying Crystal

Chapter 1: The Destined Forest

                "It's only four days... Four days" she whispered to herself as she zipped her bag closed. "I don't understand why you don't want to go camping Audrey. It will be fun. Just you, me, your brother, mom, and the great outdoors." Said her dad as he put down the laundry basket. "The great outdoors equal bugs and dirt." She replied grabbing her clean shirts, "I don't understand why we couldn't take a vacation To somewhere like Florida?" Her dad sighed," what's the fun in staying in a hotel and going to the pool everyday. It's much more fun going camping, getting to see the wild life. Come on maybe there will be some deer, they're cute right?" Audrey rolled her eyes," whatever." "I see someone's being grouchy." In came her step mother. The bane of her existence," even if you don't like it you have no choice." She stated picking up the basket leaving, giving Audrey's dad a kiss on the cheek," we leave in two minutes Richard." She said right before walking out the door. The "You should listen to your mother, there's no point of being in a bad mood." Her dad said while grabbing her shoulder. Audrey pulled her shoulder from his grasp." She's not my mother." She muttered. Her dad got married to her step mother 10 years ago after she got pregnant with Dustin. Audrey was only six and still to this day she has no idea who her mom is or anything about her. Audrey put her bag on her shoulder and she walked to the door where Dustin was waiting. He looked very different then her, he looked exactly like her dad. He had blond hair with green eyes and pale skin. He was only 10 years old. Audrey was 16, her hair was black and wavy, and her eyes were dark brown. She wasn't pretty but more was she ugly, compared to her model status family she was the ugly duckling.  Her step mom also had blond hair but with blue eyes. Audrey  looked like she was plucked from a different family and was forced in to this one. "Ok" said her step mother walking up to them followed by Audrey's dad," I think we're ready." 

                    Together they walked to the car getting in, settling down for the seven hour drive from New York to Maine. Audrey put her earbuds in turning up the music blocking out her families chatter. Slowly they made their way from state to state. The trees passing by, as they stared at the window at strangers they would never see again. After what felt like a lifetime they pulled off the highway. Finally they made it to Maine. With its small towns and its huge forests it was very different from New York. They drove in to the forest following a path, when they reached an area with a bunch of cars parked together and some people. "We have to walk to where we want to camp." Stated her father as they climbed out of the car. Audrey jumped out of the car yawning and grabbing her stuff. The other people there were making their way on a dirt path to where a camp site was, but her father was walking the opposite direction with the rest of her family close behind. "Uh, guys the camp site is that way." Audrey called ." We aren't camping with other people in a place set up for us, we are going real camping." Said her step mother in an overly cheery voice. Audrey groaned following her ridiculous family in to the woods. It was bugs galore. Everywhere she looked there was some sort of bugs, flies and mosquitos attacked her, and bees buzzed extremely close to her ears. Her idiot family ignored all of it staring at the tree tops as if they were something special. It's just trees Audrey thought, it's not like they didn't have them back home. Audrey took out her phone looking up wild animals in Maine. Her eyes grew at the words "black bear". She raised her head," hey dad." She called. "Yeah" "um, there doesn't happen to be any bears here?" Her dad looked back at her with a huge smile," yeah, isn't that cool." Audrey's mouth fell open," NO, how do you propose we protect ourselves" she questioned throwing her arms up "oh don't worry, just stay still and they will move along." That did not sound promising to Audrey. She put away her phone wanting to be more aware of her surroundings. 

                      After twenty minutes of walking she heard a noise separate from the birds and bugs. It sounded like wings, but huge ones. She looked up quickly but only saw tree tops. "What was that?" She asked still looking at the sky." What was what?" Asked her brother slowing down next to her. She looked at him confused," you didn't hear the wings?" Dustin raised his eyebrows giving her a concerned look," wings?" "Don't give me that look, I know what I heard." She said looking up. Dustin shook his head looking forward," ok, whatever." After a few minutes looking up she gave up, maybe she's hearing things. "Dad, how much longer?" She asked her dad. "Just a little bit more." In the corner of her eye she saw something white flash in the trees. She turned quickly grabbing Dustin's arm stopping him. "What?" He asked. She shushed him walking closer to the trees pulling Dustin. She looked in to the trees but saw nothing. "Earth to Audrey" she looked at Dustin with a scared look," I swear I saw something white." Dustin sighed shaking her grip off of him," it was probably a bird or something." "No it was bigger." She said looking back at the trees. Dustin rolled his eyes grabbing her arm pulling her after his parents," come on crazy." Finally they reached a patch of grass with the trees circling them. "Perfect" her dad said dropping his bags. "Come on kids help me put up the tents." No one in her family knew how to set up a tent. It took forever, but finally after an hour they were able to find out where everything went and ended up with two two people tents. 

                "Alright, come on it's time for dinner." Her dad said clapping his hands walking over to the cooler. He took out a pack of hotdogs. "Audrey, you and Dustin should go looking for some twigs so we can build a fire. Audrey rolled her eyes getting up walking towards an enclosure that seemed to have branches on the floor. She began to collect them, she realized after she couldn't see the camp sight any more  and that her brother went another way. She continued a bit more cautious. She went a bit further when she decided she collected enough and should head back. As she turned a branch cracked near by, the sound of feet crunching it. She froze looking around," Dustin?" She called out. Another snap. "Hello? Dustin if that's you it's not funny." An image of a bear appeared in her head. She dropped the branches picking up the sharpest one. It was barely a weapon, but it was something. She felt someone staring at her, but couldn't locate where the noise came from. Slowly she began walking back to the camp, looking all around her. She was so nervous that she didn't even realize she was back," Audrey." She jumped surprised to see her step mother looking at her angry," you were gone all that time to bring back only one branch."Her step mother grabbed the stick from her hand, behind her stood Audrey's dad and Dustin looking at her confused. "Audrey, are you ok? You look terrified?" Asked her dad coming closer. "There's some one in the woods." She said. "You saw someone?" Dustin asked. " . N-no but I heard them and I felt someone looking at me.thats why I dropped all my branches." Her dad continued looking at her," don't worry about it dad. She's been acting weird, earlier she heard giant wings beating." Dustin said walking away. Her dad gave her a nervous look rushing to her and putting his arm on her forehead," you don't have a fever, are you sure your ok? Maybe we should find a hospital near by-" "no" she snapped," I'm fine. Im not going crazy." She mumbled as she walked away sitting near the now blazing fire. Maybe she was going crazy, she thought to her self