sceNe 30 - ᴜɴᴄoᴍꜰoʀᴛaʙʟe ᴀNꜱᴡeʀꜱ

When Cryztal began to transform, I didn’t want to leave, but something was definitely off today. She wants to eat me? I thought Dale helped her with that since her mom left. Why tell me now? It must have been really serious for her to transform. Hopefully she would find something to eat in the cabinets while I hide in the garage. That was the idea, except I wasn’t alone in the garage. The garage door was open and Jason was inside, prepping the lawnmower.

“Hey…what was that just now?” Jason asked, staring at me as I pinned myself against the door.

“Oh! Actually it's good you’re here! Can you do that hero thing again?” I asked, remembering how he helped in the park.

“Hero thing? Is something wrong with Cryztal?” He looked concerned.

“No! Well, kinda! She transformed! So we need to snap her out of it!”

“Why did she transform? Did something happen between the two of you? Or online?”

“Nothing strange. We were just talking about dinner plans and then–”

Jason interrupted. “Has she not been eating enough? That would explain her transformation.”

“I cook for her almost every day! She’s probably healthier ever since she’s been eating less of that jerky Dale gives her.” I said, confidently.

Jason stared at me, at first as if he was trying to read my mind, then a look of shock slowly filled his face. That’s the moment I realized the jerky was Dale’s way of helping.

“Y-You’re joking, right?” Jason was trembling.

“I didn’t think the jerky was important! I thought Dale was just really into making his own jerky!” It was nothing like the ritual her mother used to do.

“You didn’t ask if she was still eating people? Did you think she grew out of it?” Jason sounded like he wanted to yell, but didn’t want Cryztal to hear us.

“Yeah, kinda! Or that like she would want to keep it private! Not exactly fun to remind your friend that you eat people to survive!”

Admittedly I really didn’t want to think about it much myself, but it was the truth. Whatever alien species Cryztal’s father was depended on eating highly intelligent beings like humans to survive. The ritual Cryztal’s mother would do was a sort of sacrifice that would allow her to resurrect whoever Cryztal ate as long as they drank a specialized potion beforehand. That is what she was doing every night that she told me to leave, and that is what became a new monthly routine in my life after I asked to stay.

Jason explained that Cryztal’s mother reached out to him right before she left, mainly as a failsafe in-case Dale turned out to be unreliable. Jason also soured his relationship with Dale early on by being a paranoid paranormal investigator who finally found the truth he was looking for.

“You have Dale’s number, right? Can you call him? Maybe he can get us a corpse or something.” Jason asked, scratching his head.

“I would…” I started. “But I left my phone in the house.”

Jason sighed and looked out the garage door. Some kids ran past the house. I had an idea of what he was worried about.

“Well, we need to get your phone, and keep her from getting out.” Jason said, looking around the garage. “Do you know exactly where you left it?”

“Yes! It was in the kitchen.” I liked to keep it handy when cooking.

Jason took a shovel off the wall and stood in front of the stack of a dozen or so kennel cages kept in the garage. Cryztal’s mother supposedly kept exotic supernatural pets before having Cryztal, but I could tell Jason had a different idea.

While Jason seemed to form a plan, I wanted to know what else he was told.

“Mostly that at one point you were the only person Cryztal was eating. Otherwise it would be playdates or babysitters when she was a kid, and classmates or tutors as a teen.”

I was relieved to know they managed without me, but I hoped Cryztal’s mother was light on the details. Sometimes the potion would just make me drowsy and I would fall asleep, and then wake up a few hours later on the couch in the living room. Other times it would take too long to take effect, and I would hear Cryztal getting impatient. But when we filmed the show, Cryztal would eat me multiple times a week just to be able to control her ability to transform. Jason knowing at all didn’t feel great, but if he knew how often it was happening, he might have formed a strong opinion.

As Jason pulled out one of the cages that he seemed to like best, I told him I was ready to do whatever had to be done to help Cryztal.

“Just try not to get caught. And maybe something in the witch’s study will be able to help.”