The Crystal 2 by Jones M (reading cloud ebooks .txt) 📕

"Wait, what?" Zane exclaimed in disbelief, but Emery ignored him.

"...but he crushed them when he told me days later that he had a girlfriend."

Emery turned her glassy-eyed stare at Zane. "You have no idea how much that hurt me."

"Emery..." Zane spoke, unsure of what to say.

"I know that you didn't know about that. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm mad at you. You agreed to the dare. You did it, knowing fully well that you had a girlfriend."

"Emery--"

"You were my first kiss, Zane. As mushy and immature as it may sound, I was kind of expecting you to reciprocate the feelings. But you didn't. The damage had been done."

"Emery, do you know how..."

"...embarrassing this looks?" Emery finished for Liam before she laughed. "That's the thing, Liam. I don't care what any one of you thinks. Once I'm done talking, you will all be dead."

That reminder had me tensing again.

"Where was I? Oh, yes. I'm mad at Zane."

Emery levitated to Zane before punching him on the face. He groaned out in pain.

"Thanks for that you asshole."

Then she slapped him, the hit sounding through the room.

"And you," Emery unexpectedly turned her attention to her cousin. She flew to her and slapped her, and Selena cried out in pain.

"If you had given me another dare rather than kissing Zane, I wouldn't have felt bad when he told me he had a girlfriend."

"Emery! Stop!" Justin yelled at her. "It's not her fault! It's not Zane's fault. How were they supposed to know you loved Zane?"

"Oh, please. It is their fault. Every bad thing that had happened was because of all of you guys," she glared at everyone in the room before flying back to the ground. "The thing with Zane wasn't as bad as what happened next: Bianca came. I swear that bitch hated me from day one. I didn't understand it until today. That bitch didn't want to lose Zane, and so she thought of everything to throw me out. For instance, that first incident where she claimed I had slapped her for no reason. I did slap her, but it was because she insulted me first."

"Emery--" Harry went to speak, but Emery cut him off.

"Skip forward to the part where I was stabbed, and Liam decided not to use his powers on me to heal me."

My back tensed as I turned to face Liam. He too was scared.

"I'm not mad about that. You couldn't expose magic to Bianca and the other people in the building. But what made me angry was the fact that I stayed in the hospital for a month because of those stab wounds.

A freaking month.

That was, like, the second time I was in a coma in my life! Like, what the hell?"

Emery had summoned a fireball on her hand. She continued speaking, "Once I was discharged, I told you guys that Bianca tried to kill me."

"Emery, we are sorry--" again, Harry was interrupted.

"I had been stabbed, and I had stayed in that freaking hospital, under a coma, for a freaking month. I expected sympathy from you guys. I expected rage at what had happened to me, and I expected someone to tell me that Bianca was arrested. What I got was a stupid reason," Emery shook her head. "You all said that it was an erwich who tried to kill me. You fucking idiots!"

She sent the fireball to the wall on her right. It exploded, the flames licking the wall before disappearing.

"If they wanted to kill me, they would have done it a long time ago! I lived in New York for crying out loud! I was even on tour with you guys! What about that time I was alone, moaning for my mother? Was that not a good time for the erwiches to attack and kill me?"

I wanted to smack myself on the head. Emery was right, and her saying all those things made me feel stupid.

"A murder victim knows its killer. You should know that senses are heightened during a time of fear and danger. I wasn't making it up when I told you Charlotte had been sent by Bianca to kill me. I told you guys, but you did not believe me."

Tears started pouring out of Emery's eyes.

"And you idiots," Emery said, pointing at Selena, Justin and Erick. "You defended poor Bianca and were willing to drop the friendships we shared.

You were willing to throw away everything over fucking Bianca and stupid erwiches!"

Emery remained quiet for a few seconds, her rage being shown by her trembling body.

"Did you have the dream around that time?" she asked Erick.

Erick waited for a while before replying, "Yes, but it was a month ago."

Emery got angrier, if possible. She soon used her powers to drag Justin, Erick and Selena towards her. The chains rattled as they straightened from the pull they faced.

"Why didn't you check the dream?" Emery asked with fury.

"We thought--" Justin went to speak.

"You didn't think!" Emery yelled at Justin. "You should have checked if it was a true vision the moment you had it, Erick! We could have avoided all this mess!"

Despite what was happening, Emery was right. I had no idea that there was such a thing as checking a dream. If I had known, I would have told Erick to do it to avoid any mistakes like the huge one we had made.

"Emery--"

"Shut up, Justin!" she sent them flying back to the walls behind them as she yelled. They made such an impact on the wall that I felt the vibrations. Selena screeched while Erick and Justin groaned in pain. I turned my attention to them, noticing that they looked pained but somewhat okay.

"And that was when you decided I was an evil witch, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Erick answered without hesitation. "There is no denying that we were awful to you, Emery. You did not deserve what we put you through, but will what you plan to do to us solve anything?"

Emery remained quiet for a moment.

"No, it won't. I know that killing you won't rectify the things that went wrong in my past; I'm not stupid. But at least I won't have to see your faces ever again. Besides, I plan to destroy Crystalia after I kill you. So, where was I?"

She looked at us with a smile that frightened me. It was as if she had not threatened to kill every witch in Crystalia.

"Oh yes! You decided to stop being friends with me. I had no one but the people who bullied me. You know, I thought I could trust them, but what happened next was a regret. Thinking about it, it was a stupid to even fully trust them.

You see, we went to Australia, and I had stupidly planned to find out what Bianca had been hiding. I knew she was a criminal, and I wanted to find out what she did. If only I had kept my distance and done my research elsewhere... Anyway, things got in the way. 

It was on that day that everything went wrong. It was the day that I would live to remember. I can even still picture it in my mind. Do you idiots know which day that was?"

None of us replied, and Emery released a dark chuckle.

"Well, let me jog your memory. You guys were still on tour. For me, things started going wrong with a simple tweet. Bianca had taken my phone and posted something insulting about you guys," she waved her finger at me and my bandmates. "I don't know how she did it. I mean, I was in the hotel in Australia, watching a movie and minding my own business when the five of you came into the room and started yelling at me."

I soon recalled the events of that day. My eyes widened, hating to even think about it. It had been a horrible day for Emery, but it had also been a horrible day for everyone. Apart from Liam getting into an accident, I realized we had messed up so bad.

"You guys insulted me without a second thought. I was hurt, and so I went out to take a walk. I thought of leaving the tour because Bianca was there and you seemed to trust her more than me. If only I was that smart... " 

Emery trailed off with a shake of her head before adding, "As I was walking, I came across two sketchy guys. I had no idea why I talked to them in the first place. I mean, the three of us were in a deserted alley."

Oh no. I felt I knew where Emery was going with what she was saying.

"It didn't matter because I later found out that Bianca sent them."

I recalled the video that Emery had shown to everyone in the concert.

"They..." Emery trailed off as she stared at something in the distance. I also noticed that tears had started to form again in her eyes. She shook her head as if trying to clear the overwhelming emotions she was currently enduring.

"They grabbed me."

"Emery, you don't have to go into the details," Ethan told her with a sympathetic voice.

"They pushed me against the wall... slapped me when I tried to resist. It was awful, and I was panicking. I couldn't think for a while because... because.. they touched me there..." she trailed off, openly crying in front of us.

I felt both fury and sadness for Emery. Those who did that to her were lucky they were in jail because if I found them, they would be dead.

"They even touched my breasts when I begged them to stop. I remember the way they tore my shirt open and carelessly took off my bra. It hurt, and I yelled at them to stop."

I was struggling not to hear the details.

"They even slipped their hands into my pants and forced their fingers--"

"Emery!" I yelled, cutting her off while begging her to stop.

"I was fortunate because I used my powers and managed to escape before they got any further."

The rest of us sighed in relief.

"Even though they didn't get far, that experience was traumatic for me. But then, that did not compare to what Zane and Harry did. Did you know I drew blood after you kicked me in the crotch, Zane?"

Almost every head turned to face him. Zane couldn't meet anyone's eyes as he looked down at the ground.

I was still mad at Zane and Harry for beating Emery. The video of Emery's abuse came back into my mind, and I wanted nothing more than to shut it out. I also wanted to drive my fists into Harry and Zane.

"Anyway, I came back to the hotel suite and I saw you guys with the police," Emery continued as she wiped the tears away from her face.

There was silence in the room as we digested what she said. It was confusing for a moment. 

When was that day? When did that happen? If I recall, the only time we were with the police in a hotel suite in Australia was when we thought Emery...

My eyes widened in shock.

Emery looked at us with a glare. When she saw my expression, she smirked.

"Ah. Logan figured it out."

Everyone tried to face me with confused glances, but I was too busy being shocked.

No.

No.

NO!

I hoped Emery was saying that to make us feel bad. I hoped she was just saying that to hurt us. I wished what she said was a lie, but with the angry look on her face, there was no denying the truth.

"I was still shaken by what had happened to me when I entered the suite. I even planned to avoid talking to you guys because I was going to pack and leave as soon as I entered the suite. Bitchy Bianca was going to get her wish!"

"Emery--" Harry spoke, but Emery interrupted him.

"But then, she wanted more. She played you guys like a doll, making you dump the 'fact' that I had tried to kill Liam in a car accident. What a memorable day it was for me, wasn't it?"

She