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Episode 1: Diamond in the Rough
(Part 3)
When Crystal returned home the previous evening after visiting Allison, she was a ball of conflicting emotions.
Something about the whole situation struck her as not quite right, but her mind kept wandering towards Allison's last words.
"When you wonder what could go wrong ... Take a moment to wonder about all the adventures you have never had"
For some reason the previous night, the comment resonated with Crystal ... Kind of like buying a lottery ticket.
Once you put your money down ... You have no indication you have any chance of winning.
Doesn't make a difference ... You start mentally spending or allocating the money you could win ...
Because you have done the only thing necessary and possible you can do in the situation.
It doesn't have to make sense that you'll probably never enjoy actually winning.
For that moment in your mind ... It's all yours ... And you'll do everything perfectly as well as the way things should be done.
You'll be a hero to some ... A saint to others ... But more importantly you'll be able to provide for those you care about.
Not to mention you're gonna get the justification to treat yourself to a few things as well.
That evening, Crystal's mind kept slipping into that dream world ... The dreams of all the possibilities.
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As it turned out the following morning wasn't quite a nightmare ... But there were no dreams floating around.
The fridge was empty, bills were stuffed in a drawer, the car was almost out of gas ...
And Crystal didn't really have enough money to fix any of that.
Bail money to spring herself from the lock-up after getting busted, had cleaned her out.
She remembered what she had told Allison about going ahead and pressing charges.
The bail money was gone whether or not Allison did press charges and nothing about that was going to pay her bills.
She might end up homeless or in jail either way.
Crystal was so deep in that no regular B&E was going to cover what she needed ...
At least not unless she found someone out of town and rented a U-Haul Truck or held a fake Estate Sale.
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Walking into her house, Crystal snorted, when thinking about being homeless.
"Homeless ... Big deal, because this place sucks big time.
There's no happy memories of here ... And I can still smell the booze that father of mine drank.
That Allison is out of her silly mind ... There is no fairytale ending to this story ... The story of my life."
That thought made her stop for a moment ... And scan the room.
Crystal roughly assessed the area of her house ... And became even more incensed.
By her estimation ... The room Allsion had offered Crystal,
was probably a few square feet smaller than Crystal's childhood and now current home.
Crystal didn't know who Allsion thought she was ... Treating her like garbage and acting like she cared.
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"That nutcase thinks she can fix me ... Who the is she?"
Now, a bit worked up, Crystal decided to do a web search and find out who this Allison was.
Surely there was something in that woman's past that stank to high heaven ...
Or she had been lying about being a thief or whatnot.
The keys clicked away as Crystal eagerly sought that little nugget of hard truth.
She searched area data bases, public records, news websites ... There was something somewhere on that woman.
At first ... To her surprise ... She found nothing.
Not just nothing to hold against Allison ... Literally nothing about Allison anywhere online.
Finally, she cross-referenced Allison's last name, Wildwind. and was going to see if she could backtrack from there.
It was with that, Crystal found something ... And not what she had expected at all.
The story was in the Bridgeport Daily News, and about a young lady named Alexa Wildwind.
This Alexa had gone toe to toe with an organized crime outfit in Bridgeport and apparently met her end in the process.
A picture of Alexa accompanied the article ... And Allison was in the background.
Whatever that had been about ... Allison had been part of it.
Crystal searched a bit more, but again found nothing more about Allsion at all.
There was a little more about Alexa, but mostly just fluff pieces on her contributions and community service.
It didn't make sense ... She had met Allison ... And nothing about the Allison she met screamed benchwarmer.
Crystal couldn't let it go ... It was intriguing, mysterious ...
She kept digging around online as the hours slipped away.
Still nothing about Allison ... And the longer she dug the crazier the other stories got.
There were conspiracy websites with articles about vampires being involved and bunch of other nonsense.
She became frustrated with the garbage she was finding and then thought to herself ...
"Dang Crystal, don't get sucked in ... Let it go and keep your eye on the ball.
Go to your thinking spot, get some fresh air and clear your head."
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Crystal's thinking spot was rusty and faded swing set still in the front yard.
It's where she would escape the misery of her drunken father, drowning himself in booze nightly.
She could barely remember her mother who had abandoned them when Crystal was still in diapers.
It was quiet with exception of the slow, squeaky cadence of the rusty chain grinding metal on metal.
That cadence put order back into her world ... Reliable, unchanging and ever-present.
Something was wrong with the whole Allison situation and Crystal couldn't figure out why she felt that way.
Allison had been a good saleswoman when they had spoken ... It was like she knew what to say.
There was something wrong with that ... How did Allison find the words.
That was when Crystal figured out what her problem was ... And it wasn't Allison.
Deep down, Crystal didn't like Allsion ... Allison seemed to have it all going on.
Allison was strong, smart and self-confident ... Crystal knew she wasn't.
Crystal was jealous, envious ... Allison was everything she wasn't ... Allison was the enemy.
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