Chapter 2: The Mysterious Present
Later that night, Richard was just chilling with his video games and having an enjoyable time. Fortunately, his mom came in and sat next to him.
"Do you remember what today is?" his mom whispered in his ear.
"Oh yeah. I forgot. My birthday is tomorrow." Richard exclaimed.
"Come to the dining table. We have a surprise for you." his mom said.
Richard was very interested by this, and he pause his game and walked to the dining table. He saw that his mom and dad were sitting at the table waiting for him. In his dad's hand was a small red gift box with a bowtie on it.
"Happy early birthday, Richard." he said. Richard was shoked by this gesture.
"Thank you dad!" he exclaimed.
He took off the lid to see a shiny, clear, crystal inside. He picked it up, and stared at it. As Richard took a closer look, he saw that there was not even a single scratch on it. It was the most beautiful thing he saw in his entire life. It was the shape of a diamond, and it sparkled like a rainbow.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"I got it at an antique store. The owner said that someone else deserved to have it so we got it for free. He even said that maybe it might be put to good use on day." Bob explained.
Richard tried to imagine what good use this crystal might have. Could it be rare? Would it probably make the family rich? Is there something that might be special about it? Who knows? He had no idea what things could happen with this special treasure.
Richard was delighted to have something that was worth it for his early birthday. He ran back to his room, and put it in his desk drawer. He sat on his bed, and he wondered what things he could do with the crystal. He was exhausted from all that thinking so he quickly fell asleep. Fortunately, he had no idea that something else was happening at Earth, but in a different dimension.
The competition was very fierce as two sled teams were racing. Steele and his team were side by side with another. As Steele struggled to keep up first, he looked at one of the other sled dogs running. He got a very big grin as he got an idea.
He nearly bit the dog, and it caused the whole team to stumble and all fall down. Steele's team kept running to become the winner.
The other enraged musher shouted, "STEELE!"
As one man saw the team pass by, he raised the pistol and shot. It was the three-mile mark.
The next morning, it was still snowy. Richard woke up, and stretched and yawned. He quickly ran to his desk drawer again to check his crystal. He carried it back to his bed, and he stared at it. He kept wondering what the man meant by "putting it to good use". He observed it again and noticed that it stuck out from what most crystals looked like.
Richard put it back on his desk, and he laid on the bed again feeling bored. An hour passed by, and Richard still didn't know what to do. He didn't feel like playing his video games or anything like that. He nearly wished that there was no winter break at all.
Suddenly, he saw a faint glow coming from the crystal. He rubbed his eyes to double check. It was glowing all right. His jaw dropped as it got brighter and brighter, but it then suddenly stopped shining. Richard was mind-blown as he just found out that the crystal is magical.