Crystal called her mother and had her pick us up from DSVC. We stayed at her parent’s house. They lived in a large house in a suburban area of Del Sol Valley. Crystal has a pretty big family. She’s the oldest of four girls. They appeared to be a very happy family. Crystal’s mom and dad were always very nice to me and treated me as if I were another one of their daughters. Her parents were both from Sulani, and they had these very beautiful accents.
I didn’t ask Crystal about her weird mood regarding Brian until Sunday while we were packing to leave for Britechester.
“Crystal aren’t you upset about actually catching Brian with another girl?”
“Not really.”
“Why not? Didn’t you care about him?”
“We had some good times, but I wasn’t shocked.”
“I know, but I would’ve still been upset.”
“Chantal, I have to be realistic with myself. I wasn’t going to give him the goods so I knew it was a matter of time before he would get it from somebody else. Even if I was sleeping with him, he still would’ve done it.”
“If you feel that way about it, why did we come up here? Why not just leave him alone and let him do what he’s gonna do?”
“Because I didn’t want him to think he was getting over on me. Next time he saw me, he was going to act like he never cheated.”
“So?”
“I can’t deal with that.”
Crystal saw the look of confusion on my face. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
She led me out of the house. We began walking down the street of her neighborhood.
“Have I ever told you about my mom and dad?” She asked once we were down the block.
“Not much. Just about them being from Sulani and stuff like that.”
“Well, when I was twelve, my dad cheated on my mother.” She paused. When I didn’t respond, she continued. “I would answer the phone and this woman would be on the phone saying she had the wrong number. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but I did notice that it never happened when my dad answered the phone, only when it was my mom, me or my sisters. After months of that happening, I figured it out.”
Crystal stopped talking to wave at some people passing by across the street before she continued. “I went to my mom and told her that I thought dad had a girlfriend. She told me I was being silly. At first, I didn’t think she believed me. After a while, I knew that she did from the start. She probably even knew about the affair before I figured it out. I stood by expecting it all to hit the fan. I just knew she would confront him with it after he began coming home later and later. But she never did. After a while, my mom began to have health problems. Nothing serious, but little stress-related things like blood pressure and headaches. Still, she never confronted him. I remember feeling cheated. He was deceiving all of us, but I was helpless to do anything about it. My mom let him get away with it and it pissed me off. Eventually, the affair ended, but my dad walks around here thinking he got away with it to this day, and that hurts. No apologies, no regrets. He walks around here as happy as he wants to be, and my mom and I are left holding his secret in.”
“So do you see why I couldn’t let Brian get away with it? I needed to see his face when he found out I knew about it. I needed to know that he regretted getting caught. I couldn’t live with myself if I knew he thought he was fooling me. I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t help it. It just sort of helps me deal with certain things.” Crystal stopped and we turned around and began walking back towards her parent’s house. Suddenly she stopped walking and sat down on the curb. I could see her eyes tearing up. I sat down beside her and leaned closer to her, so she’d feel my presence. We sat there like that for a few minutes.
Labels: Window Eyes Window Heart Window Mind - Part 1
