Chapter 7
When night fell, Al and Krystal found themselves a nice camping
spot to rest on. They were lying beside a tree, looking at the stars.
Krystal pointed to some of them. "And that one looks like…a
mouse."
Al looked at the stars carefully. "Oh yeah, it does." Al saw another
group of stars. "Hey, look at those stars. They look like a snake."
Krystal giggled in agreement. "Yep." The kids took a deep breath.
"Rouge told me that those stars formed in a group are called
constellations."
"Constellations?" asked Al.
Krystal nodded. "That's what she told me." She sighed. "I kind of
miss her already."
Al sighed. "Really?" Then, tears filled his eyes, for he was
thinking about his family and thinking that they missed him so much.
Krystal saw him crying. "What's wrong, Al?"
Al tried to hide his tears by wiping them. "N-nothing. I just…had
something in my eye."
Then, Krystal figured out why he was crying. "You feel homesick?"
Al couldn't hide his tears anymore. "Yes!" He began to sob very
hard. "Why did I ever run away in the first place? It was all a stupid mistake!"
When Krystal heard that, she felt guilty for having him come along
with her. She felt so sorry for him.
She looked down to the ground. "I guess you must blame me for it
since I brought you with me." She began to cry herself.
Al calmed down and looked at Krystal. "No, Krystal. I didn't really
mean it like that. It's just that…I feel homesick, that's all. This had nothing to do with you,
really."
Krystal looked at Al. "Are you sure?"
Al nodded. "Don't blame yourself for it. It was my fault, not
yours."
Krystal wiped her tears away. Then, she saw a shooting star.
"Look, a shooting star!"
Al saw it too. "Wow. My mom and dad said that whenever a star
falls, it means you get to make a wish."
Krystal smiled and yawned. "Let's get some sleep." Al and Krystal
got into their sleeping spots. Krystal fell asleep, but Al was still awake.
"I wish for my parents to know that I'm okay," thought Al. "And I
miss them." Then, he went to sleep too.
While Krystal was sleeping, she started to have a nightmare. It was
when she lost her parents. They had been caught in a tornado and they died from it. It made
her cry. Then, she saw her sister, Rouge get caught in it too. She screamed in fear.
Before the tornado caught her too, she woke up and screamed,
"NO!!" Krystal panted so heavily and cried. She ran away from her spot and to a tree.
Al woke up, hearing Krystal crying. He walked up to her. "Krys,
what happened?"
"Oh, Al," Krystal sobbed. "It was scary. My parents and sister
were caught in a tornado. I was almost caught myself."
Al tried to calm her down. "Krystal, it was just a nightmare."
Krystal took small breaths, trying to get a hold of herself. "Oh, Al.
I wish I could make it go away, but I can't without Ruby!" She cried a lot more.
Al felt sorry for her, so he took out a fuzzy green stuffed monster
with blue and yellow horns. He handed it to Krystal.
"Here," he said, "take it."
Krystal took the toy and looked at it. "What's this?"
"It's my favorite toy monster. I always keep him by me, whenever I
have a nightmare. You need it more than I do."
Krystal took the monster and smiled. "Al, you're so sweet."
Before she could ask him something else, she blushed and hesitated. Then, she finally spoke,
"Um…do you mind if I…hug you?"
Al blushed but smiled at the same time. "Go ahead." Krystal
wrapped her arms around Al and hugged him. He hugged her back and smiled. It felt so good to
do that to her. They let go after a few seconds and went back to sleep.
The next morning, the two kids had already left the jungle, but they
didn't know that someone was following them. A mysterious vulture saw a red ribbon on the
ground and picked it up.
He smirked. "Well, Mac," he said, "it looks like we're closer to the
kids. We'll catch them soon, and when we do, we'll steal their gem and get rid of them!"
