The Crystal by Jones M (ready to read books .TXT) 📖

earphones that blocked her hearing.

Before my hands reached the dreaded earphones, my eyes caught something on her laptop's screen. It made me cease my approach. 

What the...

No...

I wanted what I was witnessing to be a nightmare. I hoped it was a nightmare, but that wasn't the case. 

I even wondered if I was asleep. To verify, I pinched myself and winced in pain. I looked around and noticed that I was not dreaming.

There, on Selena's laptop, were them. 

My freaking ex-bullies were in a band?

My eyes found it hard to focus on anything away from the screen. I had a hard time believing that it was them. How could it be them? I mean, they were mean and horrible towards me. I expected them to be repeating a class, not rock n' rolling in front of my cousin's laptop! 

I never thought they would become successful in life with the attitude that they showed. However, life likes giving people surprises.

My eyes decided to trail across the screen, looking for something other than their faces.

Ordinary Brothers – What Makes You Beautiful

If I needed a confirmation, the music video's title showed it. That and the fact that the people who bullied me were seen on every scene on the video. Selena replayed the video, not even bothered by my presence behind her.

I wanted to puke. The supper I had eaten threatened to escape my mouth like a shower faucet.

I know. Not a very good picture.

The people on the screen didn't look like them, but I knew it was them. Instead of the mean, angry looks that I spotted in high school, I saw boyish smiles and smirks. What made it hurt more was that they looked hotter than they did in high school.

I couldn't believe I was listening to their song! When I was listening to What Makes You Beautiful, I couldn't help but feel like I knew the voices. I couldn't put faces to them until then.

My attention turned to Selena who was bobbing her head and moving her shoulders to the music video of my ex-bullies. I was suddenly angry with her. I was mad that she was enjoying their music. 

But then, I had no reason to be mad at her. I never told her about what they did to me in high school.

Tears threatened to escape my eyes at the unfairness of the situation. I realized that it made me kind of feel immature, but I didn't care. There they were, enjoying life and not paying for the suffering they had caused me. They probably got paid a lot more than Selena and I earned in a month. 

I was jealous. Realizing that, I brushed off the thoughts of anger towards my ex-bullies. They did not deserve my time, and they were not in my life.

Well, they weren't physically in my life. Could I really continue living without the mention of them affecting me like they currently were?

Shrugging my thoughts, I went back to my bed where the nightmares that had stopped a year ago made a reappearance.

***********************************************************************************************

Harry's P.O.V

"I am tired," Ethan said as he landed on the bed beside Liam. The gang and I had just landed in the US after our scheduled plane flight from the UK. We were then led to a hotel in Los Angeles where we would be staying in for a couple of days.

It was our first tour in the US. My friends and I had gained a lot of popularity. I thought it was only in the UK, but the number of tickets purchased for our USA tour seemed to prove it otherwise.

"Get your own bed," Liam mumbled loud enough for me to hear, but Ethan didn't budge. A smile tugged at my lips at the sight of them. 

"Harry!" Logan screamed as he entered the room. Liam groaned out loud.

"Would you keep it down?"

"No," Logan said to Liam before turning to face me. "Isn't this exciting? We are on our first US tour! I can't believe it, mostly because we'll get to be in New York! Do you know that I've always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty up close?"

"Yes, I do Lo—" before the conversation continued, Zane popped into the room.

"I've found her!" Zane yelled as he entered the room. My eyes turned to him as my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Who?" Logan asked, mirroring my facial expression. Liam and Ethan sat up on the bed, realizing that they were not going to sleep at that moment.

"Emery." My form tensed at the mention of the name. The mood that was once good immediately turned awful.

"Why were you looking for her?" Liam asked with an edge to his voice.

"I wanted to find her so that..."

"So that you could what? Beg for her forgiveness? Are you out of your mind?" Logan exploded.

"No —" Zane started.

"It's a miracle she hasn't told the paparazzi about what we did to her. We aren't even sure if it is her! For all we know, she could be dead."

Zane gave Logan a glare as tears threatened to escape his eyes.

"Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't go on with the guilt of what I did! What we all did!"

"Well, neither can I, Zane," I replied. "We shouldn't even stir up trouble. Let's leave it at that," I said before heading to the bathroom. I closed the door behind me just as Ethan and the rest resumed arguing about the dreaded subject.

I sat on the toilet seat as I rubbed my head due to a headache brought by the sudden onslaught of emotions.

I was angry with Zane. I didn't want him to look for Emery. In fact, I did not want any one of us to have anything to do with her. It was bad enough we bullied her in high school and almost killed her.

My mind replayed a memory I wished I could forget. I tried to push it away, but it stayed with me.

*****Flashback*****

"Oh no," Ethan gasped as he let the metal rod slip from his fingers. "What have we done?"

Emery's body was still. She wasn't moving an inch. Most of her form had become swollen. I gasped in shock as I kneeled to place a hand on her head.

"Guys, we took it too far this time," Logan said.

Emery's nose remained broken as blood continued to ooze from it. I placed a hand on her wrist and I barely felt her heartbeat.

"Emery?" I whisper-yelled at her, trying to get her to get up. However, she didn't even move a muscle.

"What are we going to do?" Liam asked with his hands behind his head. 

"Hey! Who's there?" someone shouted. We all tensed before we sprang into action.

We all started to run. Suddenly remembering something, I ran back to the scene and grabbed all the rods. Someone was approaching with rushed steps, and so I ran to the others. They had stopped behind a building.

"Why did you go back?" Logan asked. "You could have been caught."

"If I left these, we'd be found out," I replied before we continued to run.

That was not one of my best moments. If I could rewind time, I wouldn't have allowed myself to hit Emery. However, I doubt my teenage self could accept that.

After the incident, the guys and I decided to change. What had happened to Emery spread around the school and the area like wildfire. It was even in the news. The principal had informed the school that Emery was in a hospital and in a coma. He had even visited her, and he saw that most of her form was wrapped in medical gauze.

It made the guys and me feel more horrible than we had felt.

It didn't help that the police were involved. They were determined to catch the assaulters and to imprison them for what they had done. It, however, took them a month to carry out the investigation. Everyone except the teachers and the principal had known what had happened, and they didn't say anything. The police were not able to find the culprits and they decided to drop the case. 

What the guys and I had done to Emery messed us up. It made us hate ourselves, especially since we had heard no word about Emery. Logan had gone to see her, but he was told she was still in a coma. 

It even looked like she wouldn't wake up.

The guys and I couldn't handle it, and so we came up with lies for our parents to have us transferred. My friends and I were separated, but I believed it was for the best at the time. About a year later, we met again on a TV show called the X-Factor. Even though we didn't win, we were able to form a contract with one of the judges and formed a boy band called the Ordinary Brothers. I thought that I could escape the past as soon as I became a musician, but I realized I couldn't. If something about what the guys and me did to Emery were to surface up in the celebrity news articles, the band would be destroyed.

My mind drifted back to the present. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself before I walked back to the others. I opened the bathroom door, spotting them close to each other as they still continued talking about the possibility of Emery being alive.

"Okay. Where is she?" I asked. I received mixed reactions. Zane was smiling. Logan and Ethan were confused whereas Liam was shocked.

"What?"

"Are you crazy Harry?"

"You can't be serious.".

"Guys, I know that it is a lot to ask from you, but it is important to know if she's dead or not. Maybe it will help us move on. If she's alive, we'll continue with our music."

"If she's dead?" Logan asked. I turned to look at him.

"We do the same thing. We can't stir up drama, and if my memory serves me correctly, she hates attention."

"Harry--" Logan started, but I cut him off.

"Look, guys. I know how you all feel about this. But wouldn't it be all better if we were done with it?"

The guys said nothing, but they nodded their heads.

"This is what I found out. She currently lives in New York with her mother and some girl named Selena," Zane informed us.

"The investigator—" Zane resumed, but Logan cut him off.

"Wait. The investigator?"

"Private investigator," Zane emphasised.

"You hired a private investigator? I didn't know you were this obsessed--" Ethan said, but I cut him off.

"Okay, we can discuss that after Zane tells us what he found out."

Zane reached into one of his jeans' pockets and pulled out a squared photo. We all huddled around it, and we stared at it in disbelief.

"What?" Ethan spoke in awe.

"I can't believe this. I seriously can't believe this!" Logan yelled. Zane proceeded to pull out other photos, and he shared them amongst us.

The first photo was of Emery working in a Starbucks cafe. Her blonde hair had been dyed red. She had a smile on her face as she served someone their coffee. The other ones were of her and another brunette girl, probably Selena, talking and laughing. The last one was of her smiling and unconsciously facing the camera.My mind found it hard to process it.

She was actually alive.

But what baffled me was the fact that there were no bruises on her skin. There were no scars or marks on her hands and face. 

Everyone was silent and I was sure they had questions on why she looked like nothing had touched her.

Could she really be a --?

"Maybe she had plastic surgery," Ethan suggested. The thought that I couldn't urge myself to finish quickly disappeared. What Ethan said seemed to make sense.

"I want to see her. When can we go to her?" Logan declared.

"Logan, are you crazy?" I questioned.

"Actually, he's not," Liam countered. "We have to go see her and sort out the mess of our past."

"But Liam--"

"I know, Zane. It will be hard. But we have to do it. We need to make sure our past doesn't reach the paparazzi, or else our careers will be gone within a click of a finger."

The rest of us were silent, but after a while, we nodded our heads in agreement to what Liam said.

***********************************************************************************************

One week later...

Emery's P.O.V

It was another day at work. Selena and I were teetering towards our last work-shift hour. It was a Saturday evening and no one seemed to be entering the cafe anytime soon. If such were to occur, Selena and I would be free to close the shop. Geoffrey was not in, and he trusted us with his business.

I was glad that no one was entering the cafe. I was about to tell Selena that we should close, but five people entered the Starbucks cafe. I visibly frowned. 

They all wore black hoodies and black sunglasses, earning themselves looks of suspicion from me.

"Who do you think they could be?" Rachel asked, and I shrugged in reply.

"I don't know, but I think they may be murderers."

"Who do you think they are?" Selena asked, butting in on our conversation.

"We don't know," Rachel answered, "but what I know is that they look slightly creepy."

"Do you think they're people hiding from the government?" I asked. Selena's eyes widened as another thought escaped her lips.

"Or is it... Ordinary Brothers?" I tensed at the boy band's name. I looked at the five people who sat at a table, waiting for service from any of us.

"Please," replied Rachel with a snort. "I doubt they would dare come out in the open. On the pictures posted online, they always travel with bodyguards."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"They need