Chapter 28:

sceNe 28 - ʀeᴍiNiꜱᴄiNg

ᴋraCᴋeᴅ ᴍooN / Kracked Moon


My favorite days had become when I would go grocery shopping after work. I did miss shopping with Sandra, but we never fully agreed on taste, and she would waste time trying to find the cheapest options, dragging me to like four stores to complete a grocery list. Shopping for myself and Cryztal was always fun, because she was so willing to try whatever I wanted to make. And getting to see her cabinets and fridge fill up with what I got? You wouldn’t believe it was the home of a hermit streamer anymore! There was still a lot of jerky, probably more than ever, but to me that meant she wasn’t eating as much, and was eating what I was making for her! Just the idea of her eating my cooking could keep me excited for the day!

I won’t lie though, I really was hoping to have another night where we could be close. I kept thinking I should tell her about my scars, so she didn’t get confused when I tried to divert her hands, but her puzzled face was also pretty hot. Maybe I could convince her to let me tie her up, but I think maybe I would rather she do that to me. I’ll get there eventually, but until then, I wanted her to know how happy she made me.

“You were so good!” I said, laying on the couch with her after dinner. I couldn’t resist talking about wanting to be with her like that again.

“You sure? I didn’t exactly do much.” She was embarrassed, and maybe frustrated?

“But you did! Even you being close to me is enough to get me going!”

She turned her face away from me. “D-Don’t be silly! That’s not how that works!”

“Oh?” I turned and wrapped my arms around her from behind. “Does that mean you’re more of a push start?”

She wriggled a bit, but I knew she loved being the little spoon.

“Don’t get any funny ideas. I have to stream in a bit.” She sounded disappointed. I kinda loved it.

“I just want to hold you. Being close like this is nice.”

“Yeah…”

We just enjoyed each other’s company for a bit, before her alarm went off, and she quickly sprung up to get back to streaming. I eagerly watched her stream from the couch while waiting for her to finish, even if it just meant curling up in bed together immediately after. She was so great, and I couldn’t believe it took me so long to reunite with her. But it could have been that we needed that time apart just so we could be together now.

Maybe things weren’t the best when we were filming the show, but growing up I always had a good time with Cryztal. We would always play pretend and do our spin on the idea of a princess in a tower guarded by a dragon. Instead of the dragon being a challenge for a knight, we thought the dragon would be more like a friend looking out for the princess. We would pretend like they would leave the tower and go off and explore.

I knew at the time that Cryztal wasn’t fully human. It took me some time before I understood what being half-alien meant for her, but I loved spending time with her regardless. The other kids in the neighborhood didn’t really get her like I did, and so we only really were friends with each other. At least until Jason started dedicating his time to protecting the Earth from whatever he thought Cryztal could do.

When Jason would join us, he would try to turn our reimagined story into the more classic version where he’s the knight who has to save the princess. Cryztal would get frustrated with him, and the technospeak he brought from the shows he watched, so Cryztal would actually pretend to be evil. It started off small, but would get more creative like pretending to make elaborate traps, but with the plan that I was bait to be swapped out and actually capture Jason. But eventually her go-to would be to say she’s going to eat me. Pretending to eat me never really went anywhere, because fighting Jason would always take priority.

Most nights I would eat dinner at Cryztal’s house, especially once my parents started working more overtime. Cryztal’s mother didn’t seem to mind, but about once a month she’d say I couldn’t stay for dinner. She’d say I should try to go home or maybe eat at Jason’s place. I tried both a few times, but most of the time I ended up wandering around outside until my parents came home late, and pretended like I had eaten. I didn’t want my parents thinking I wasn’t spending all that time at Cryztal’s.

The first time I really pushed against it, and insisted I should stay, Cryztal’s mother seemed hesitant, but eventually let me in. She made it clear to me that what was happening was a type of witch’s ritual and that it could change everything if I knew more. The ritual was to help Cryztal and keep her alive. That was the night I really learned to understand what Cryztal was.

And the night before she first called me her favorite.

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