A Hard Place

Chapter One : A Beginning

Kamran Hashemi met Crystal Mendoza at the Itsula town fair when they were nine and eight respectively. Kamran had been wandering about, eating a strawberry ice cream cone when he had caught the sight of a lanky curly-haired brunette furiously whacking at rainbow painted moles. He will always remember this scene in vivid detail. 

Her small rosy lips stretched wide in the most inviting of smiles, the setting sun shining behind Crystal's head, giving her a natural angelic halo. He remembers that she won herself a huge stuffed seal that day; she named it Mr. Whiskers.

Mr. Whiskers, now faded and slightly tattered from age, lies beside her in her too large hospital bed. Kamran looks through the hospital room window at Crystal's sleeping form. He arrived a bit too early and is not allowed in yet. 

The swathing sheets and oversized hospital gown seem to just swallow her up and make her look even more like the girl Kamran remembers. The girl Kamran loves. But this Crystal, the one that is now thankfully asleep, is not that girl.

It began with small headaches that later morphed into full body seizures. The doctors kept reassuring Kamran and her parents that they were 'lucky' to have caught it so quickly. That Crystal would be back to herself in no time.

It's crazy how easily people can lie to your face.

It's been nearly eighteen months since Crystal checked in to the hospital, and she hasn't been Crystal for ten of them. After five months of being scathingly insulted, apathetically dismissed, and overall physically and emotionally hurt by the woman he had once loved, Kamran couldn't take it anymore.

He took a year off of medical school to be with Crystal, and if he doesn't go back, he will lose his full scholarship. Kamran is emotionally and mentally at the end of his rope; he does not feel like he has the capacity to be a pseudo grieving husband at the ripe old age of twenty-two.

This is the line of thinking that swirls around the young man's brain as he walks the hospital hallways, waiting for visiting hours to begin. He turns a corner back towards Crystal's room as his phone vibrates in his pocket. Looking at the screen he sees that he received a text.

Mama Mia: Hey Babe! You excited to meet my parents tonight?

Killa Kam: I don't know if I can make it.

Mama Mia: . . . K

Mama Mia: Is it the hospital again? For a volunteer they have you working a lot.

Killa Kam: Yeah, they're just really understaffed.

Mama Mia: Lol dang, well my parents will understand.

Killa Kam: Are you sure? Tell them I'm so sorry.

Mama Mia: Dude, you're literally volunteering. In a hospital. You're a freaking saint.

Killa Kam: Nah, this is really all just a cover for my secret jello addiction.

Mama Mia: Yeah, sure Mother Theresa.

Kamran smiles to himself a little before he is startled by a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Mr. Mendoza looking down at his phone reading his texts. There's a pained silence before Mr. Mendoza looks up at Kamran.

"Are you meeting her parents today?" He says in a whisper. Kamran can only nod.

"Good luck," he gives the boy a hearty tap on the back as he continues in a nostalgic voice, "I remember when I met Josephine's parents. I nearly pooped my pants."

They share a quick laugh that doesn't reach either of their eyes. That's when Mrs. Mendoza, or Josephine as she insists Kamran call her, comes around the corner and envelops Kamran in a hug. Even though he towers over her now at six feet tall, he still feels very much a boy as he melts into her hug. She feels like safety and warmth, and he's always felt guilty of letting her comfort him.

"I am always so happy to see you here!" she pulls back to look at Kamran fully in the face, "Crystal's loyal knight!"

Kamran smiles stiffly then replies, "That's me."

As she goes back in for a hug Kamran meets Mr. Mendoza's eyes over her head. The older man gives a slight shake to his head.

It's crazy how easily people can lie to your face.