The Crystal Chronicles: Cursed

Buried Shangri-la

"Matt what are w-"

"Shh."

"Don't-" Matt covered my mouth with his hand.

"I said shh. Will you be quiet for five minutes and enjoy something, woman?" Matt whispered in exasperation before he let me go. Wiggling away from him. I begin to mutter that he doesn't have to be rude, but before I can finish the room slowly begins to light up on its own.

High up on the ceiling little blobs begin blowing in different fluorescent blues. One by one, they slowly light up the space. I gasp as the cave above becomes like the night sky. I find myself sitting up and reaching towards the thousands of bright orbs. Eventually it lights up enough to showcase the entire room. A small gasp escapes my lips when my eyes land on the pool of water. The little creatures above make the water glow. The pool surface has been transformed into a breathtaking shimmering turquoise. The whole scene is unreal. Mythical... It's simply too beautiful to belong in this world. Matt giggles and I spin toward him with my eyebrow raised.

"What?" I defensively demanded.

"It's nothing. I just find it cute that you gasp at everything new and beautiful." Matt shrugged. My arms react instantly to his comment. I push him and look away.

"I'm not doing that!"

"Oh really?!" Matt playfully dared. "You gasped when you saw the glow worms start to illuminate. Then you gasped when you saw how many different colors there were. Finally, you gasped when your eyes hit the water. Let's add those up: one, two, three," Matt counts them off with his fingers, "small gasps at simple things you found beautiful. I think that's cute." I shoved Matt again, but this time I chuckled with him. After all, he is telling the truth.

"Maybe you are right, this place is beautiful." I slowly slide closer to Matt and lay my head on his chest. We admire the glow worms in silence for a while before I whisper, "How did you find this place Matt?" Matt shifts uncomfortably beside me. I roll away from him and prop myself up with my arm. I search his face for answers, but I see nothing more than wheels turning behind his eyes. Matt slowly looks away and stares up at the creatures above. It takes him a long time before he finally let out a shaky breath and began his story,

"When I was young, my father purchased most of the Grand Canyon from the government. He signed a contract to build bunkers hidden inside its vast stone walls in case of a nuclear strike. My father was big on first-hand knowledge. He used to bring my brother and I with him after the project had started. He wanted us to learn how to oversee the construction crews and data charts." He paused and his face cringed as painful memories surfaced, "I used to talk my older brother into sneaking off. Back then I couldn't stand still. Him and I used to play hide and seek in these tunnels while the workers built the bunker. We would use rocks to scrape the tunnel walls to find our way back. The scratches made it simple to follow the others trail. The games became predictable, boring." Matt paused and ran his hands through his hair, "One day, I made the brilliant decision to not mark my pass." I gasped but Matt shrugged his shoulders. "I was confident I could find my way back. After months of playing down here, I believed I knew these tunnels better than anything. Turns out I was wrong," Matt chuckled, "I ended up getting lost.

Wound up here." Matt gestures toward the cave, "At the time it felt like I'd be stuck in this place forever. As it happened, I was only down here for a day. My mom was the person who found me. She cried when she saw me. I cried when I saw her. It was an emotional moment. My father, however, was furious when I emerged from the tunnels. My mother said it was because he was scared for me. Needless to say, after that day I wasn't allowed at the construction site without my mom. We couldn't come up that often, but mom tried to make time at least once a month. Each time we visited father, my mother would take time to bring me back here. Back to the place where she found me. We'd have lunch. Play games. We talked for hours, laughing the entire time." Matt's voice shakes. My heart nearly breaks, but Matt continues, "Years past. The bunker was completed, and we stopped coming. By the time we needed the safe house this place had faded into the back of my mind. After my mother died, I had nearly forgotten that it was here. I locked myself away and threw everything I had into running our colony,