The Eighteenth Birthday

“Crystal-- Crystal--- CRYSTAL!” Crystal came back to planet Earth after being shoved by her friend Stacy who was looking at her with her nose evidently scrunched in annoyance.

“What?” she asked, uninterested. Stacy sighed and shook her head.

“I've been calling you for the hundredth time now and you are lost somewhere in those oceans,” said Stacy indicating the aqua-blue eyes Crystal had and she chuckled. She found it amusing that Stacy would always mention how her eyes reminded her of the big vast ocean while on the contrary whenever she looked in the mirror, she had seen nothing but the fire in her eyes.

“Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. I have been too tired these past few days,” Crystal apologized and Stacy pouted, taking her seat beside Crystal as she had stood up from it before in irritation while being ignored by her friend.

“I hate how you are always so busy and tired. You help your parents' business, you help the old ladies with farming and harvesting, you play with those children and take care of them and even take care of the injured animals who are afraid of people. It is good that you are always helping people but sometimes-- it feels like you don’t make time for yourself.” Crystal was just constantly smiling at her friend as it was not the first time, she had shown those concerns for her.

“Don’t worry, you know that I enjoy whatever I do. Nothing of those is meaningless for me.” Stacy rolled her eyes at the same statement that she had heard always.

"Yeah, blah, blah. Anyway," Crystal's best friend Stacy paused, searching for the right words. "I wanted to say that your eighteenth birthday is in two days. What are your plans? And please, don't tell me you're going to go off into the woods to look for injured animals again." The sheer fear on Stacy's face was too evident to ignore. She had a major phobia of animals, and had never volunteered to help them with Crystal for the same reason.

Crystal on the other hand had gone lost in those oceans once again as she got reminded of what the creature in her dream told her. It said that she will get to know some of the truth on her birthday so it meant there were only two days left when all that waiting would come to an end, that easily?

Something in her was telling her it might not be as easy as it was sounding like.

“Again!” Stacy shoved Crystal once again and this time she looked just exhausted and not just annoyed.

“No-- No! I am not planning to do that. I actually have not thought much about it, I haven’t thought about it at all.” Stacy pinched her nose bridge and shook her head; her friend was going to be the death of her.

“Then leave it to me. Let’s gather all our friends and party all night.” Crystal immediately shook her head; she had a feeling that it would be disastrous.

“No way, just come to my house with Sasha and Eman. We will do some baking and have fun by ourselves. No big drama.” Stacy rolled her eyes but agreed to the idea since Crystal was the birthday girl.

...

Crystal walked aimlessly towards her home, her mind still consumed by the creature from her dream. Its words echoed in her mind, and she couldn't help but replay every detail of the encounter over and over again along with other dreams, trying to relate them somehow.

As she walked, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to the creature's words. What if the answer she was searching for had been right in front of her all along, and she simply couldn't see it? Or worse, what if the answer would be presented to her, and she wouldn't recognize it for what it was? Her head was just bursting with such questions that seemed to have no answers.

Lost in thought, she suddenly heard a bush rustling beside her, more violently than the wind could account for. She spun around, her senses on high alert, and saw the bush shaking harshly as if something was deliberately trying to get her attention.

"Is anyone there?" she called out, trying to sound brave despite her racing heart. The rustling stopped abruptly, and Crystal tilted her head in uncertainty; a shiver ran down her spine.

She flinched and gaped when a small creature bounced out from the bushes and stood right in front of her feet. She was about to step back but stopped seeing the tiny size of that creature.

It was as small as a hamster, with a face like a cat, a body like a bunny, ears like a bear, and a fluffy fox-like tail. The creature was pure white with a baby pink collar around its almost invisible neck. Crystal wondered how that tiny thing was able to make such a powerful jump out of those thick bushes and not to mention make them shake like a rumble of thunder inside.

Crystal hurriedly looked around, making sure that there was no one else there because there was no one in the world except her who would not freak out looking at a strange creature in front of them, and she needed to make sure that there would be no commotion.

When she found no one around her, she finally looked back near her feet while sighing in relief. Humans are certainly kind-hearted in a fraction, but there is no guarantee that kindness would be extended to something so unfamiliar to them.

The creature lifted its head up, looking at her with its completely black eyes with no white sclera around, and blinked twice. Crystal almost squealed at the cute gesture. It was like a fluff ball was placed in front of her.

Unlike real bunnies, it was able to sit on its legs and gestured for Crystal to get down to its level. Although it was almost impossible, Crystal complied without any questions asked about what in the world was in front of her and how it came there, and proceeded to squat down, leaning her face further down to take a closer look.