Between the Stacks
9: Adventure
What's a Zine?
A zine is a small-scale, self-published publication, similar to a magazine, which can focus on a wide variety of topics. Zines are often used to share artwork and creative writing.
Between the Stacks is DeKalb County Public Library's Teen Zine. Each quarter, we open submissions for young artists and writers in our community to share their work.
The theme for this issue is adventure.
The Crystal by Reny
Part I
“RUN, SERENITY! Run!!!” my mind belted out.
My body, however, was paralyzed at the sight which overwhelmed me.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. I was like a dead body, cold and stiff, and my chest tremulously heaved up and down, tears slowly falling like the rain. They were like a curtain, blocking my beautiful hazel eyes. I tried to come to an understanding of what happened as I clenched my sweaty fists.
But there was only one explanation for such actions.
Greed.
I’d known for some time what was going on, but couldn’t really place my finger upon it. Little by little, I found traces of it in her behavior. But this was the first time I’d witnessed it myself. The planned, diabolical, and blatant deceit. The shameless and ridiculous demeanor. Such cruel, bold actions that I could hardly comprehend. I knew Melody and I hadn’t always gotten along, but…...
How could she betray me so casually as if she does this all the time? Were we not starting to get along just fine? Why did she betray me? We came all this way to find the Crystal of Imaginations to heal the inhabitants of our hometown, including my beloved mother, who was rapidly dying from The Sickness. This crystal was priceless. Is priceless. With such power, you could merely imagine whatever you wanted, and it would appear, or happen. Unknowingly, I’d stepped right into the trap my former best friend had set up for me in the cave. Rocks began falling from the ceiling and she, as swift as a cheetah, ran to the pedestal and lunged for the Crystal.
I cried out in anger and sadness, not only at her, but also at myself. How was I so naive? Why didn’t I expect such deceitful actions from a person like her? As I mentally rebuked myself for being so stupid, I saw her miss the crystal, and knock the pedestal over, sending a shard into her tendon, causing her to scream in a piercing tone.
My heart pounded in my chest, threatening to burst and escape it.
And I just couldn’t take it.
Everdeen Lindsey, 13
First Friday at So-Wa Malia, 17
The Crystal by Reny Part II
Fear clawed at my insides, but I ran to the luminous, purple, and dazzling object, caught it, and ran away as fast as I could. She tried to catch me by using her jet pack, but was delayed because of its lack of fuel, falling back down again into a… fisherman’s net hanging on the wall? Suddenly, as a newly fashioned arrow pierced her leg, another shrill cry echoed off of the walls, sending a shiver up my spine. Did she set this trap up for me when I wasn’t paying attention yesterday? However, she easily and quickly cut out of it, using her pocket knife gifted to her by her mom for her 13th birthday. (We’re fourteen.)
Melody fell on the ground with a loud THUD! and grunted. I winced, as I imagined how she might’ve felt. As much as I disliked her, I still somewhat had sympathy for her. She looked down at her limb and saw the blood flowing from it, and convulsed at the sight of it. With a dogged attitude, she pulled herself from off the ground and limped, her skin growing pale and her legs shaking. It was quite a sight. The most hurtful part wasn’t knowing that she was in pain, and it looked excruciating.
It wasn’t because me and her used to be friends, but what disturbed me was I knew it was for me. Her snare did not go as planned, and you could tell she was affrighted by the wild look in her eyes.
I gaped at the red, blood gushing out of her pallid legs before recollecting myself. At last, my tongue broke free of its chains, eyes widening and tears flowing like a river much more than they were before, and I grew enraged. Very quickly.
I approached the pedestal, much slowly now that she was hurt. My expression was stone cold, and bitter. Hurt. Ashamed. Angry. “You lied to me,” I said slowly and softly. My brown fingers grazed the gemstone as I admired its beauty. As the reality
began sinking in even more, I hysterically threw my head back and laughed. I was starting to lose it. Knowing that the citizens were dying from the disease was painful enough, but especially knowing my mom would, I just couldn’t take it.
My psychotic actions came to a halt as I noticed something had changed within me. The wind, which came from nowhere, began blowing harshly, causing even more rocks to fall from the ceiling of the cave. I felt a burning travel from the top of my head down to the soles of my feet. My eyes began glowing violet, and resembled Aang’s, the Avatar. My long, black 4c hair began drifting upwards, and even though she couldn’t hear me above the howling wind, her head tilted to the side in confusion, eyebrows furrowing into each other. “You actually lied to me.” My head whipped around to face her, and I began walking speedily to her. As soon as she saw my face, she gasped at my appearance, and clamped her hand over her mouth. “YOU LIAR! WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL?!?”
I didn’t expect what she did next. Diabolically, she began cackling like a madman. “Did you really think you could destroy me?” she yelled. She pulled a bluish-greenish powder concealed in a container out of her satchel, and I recognized the poisonous contents immediately. They were in Mom’s food, when Melody gave it to her as a “seasoning” for her chicken she was frying that night. “Where did you think the Sickness came from? You couldn’t possibly believe I’d help you heal others, did you?”
I nearly dropped the crystal in surprise. How did I not see this all along? I thought.
She created the sickness.
Fly High Lindsey, 13
Donna Summer Disco Party
Malia, 17
The Crystal by Reny Part
III
“What made you think I wouldn’t want to kill off all the inhabitants of the town, and then conquer it to create an evil army?!?” She slowly lifted her head from the ground, and looked steadily into my eyes. Hers were wild and crazy, and her blonde hair covered her face in a considerably maniac-like way.
Everything went quiet, and my face crinkled in confusion. “Wait. Why didn’t you kill me then?”
Her voice became unusually sweet and syrupy as she drew an arrow and a bow from her satchel, and began walking towards me. “See, honey, this is the whole point of what I’m talking about. You have to die. Right now. I merely used you as a tool to get what I wanted. And you fell for all of my tricks.”
I pointed to her leg, the blood now drying up a bit. “Considering the fact that you lost a lot of blood, and you’re about to die, I honestly don’t think you’ll get the job done. Plus, I have the Crystal of Imaginations…” I hardly got the sentence out before she shot the arrow at me, and I had to dive onto the ground just in time. It whizzed right above my hair, so my first instinct was to imagine a large sword to at least unarm her, and then a trap to conceal her and bring her to her house, but things didn’t go as planned.
As I tried imagining them, she held a glowing object in her hand that, for some reason, looked very much like….
THE CRYSTAL.
I was speechless. “How in the world do you have another crystal?” She cackled wickedly. “You have the fake version of the real one.
Thank you!
To all of our wonderful artists for sharing their work and to the DeKalb Library Foundation for funding this project.
Featured Artists:
Lindsey Reny and all of our anonymous artists!
Malia
