The Box, Chapter 4
The Box is a short story I wrote in 2020. It inspired my second novel, Can You Be.
This is Chapter 4.
House South of Broad, Charleston, SC
Read below or watch/listen to the video at the bottom of the page:
Naina walked to the Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street after work with the crystal sphere in her purse. That Tuesday evening, August 6, it took her ten minutes and thirty-three seconds to walk over. She knew the streets of downtown like the back of her hand, and she often counted either the steps or the time it took her to get from one place to another. Naina created personal challenges to entertain herself, slowing down or quickening her pace to ensure she reached in a predetermined time or number of steps.
She often spent her evenings at the library. It was quiet. She didn’t mind the homeless who hid in cool comfort from the sticky heat, or the bow-tie-wearing older gentleman sporting a walking stick who jetted in on his golf cart to read the day’s edition of the Wall Street Journal. People there kept to themselves. It suited her.
Naina stayed until closing at 8 pm that evening as she did every time she went to the library. But other than that, she didn’t do as she usually did. She didn’t look for the latest romance from Nora Roberts or In Death series published under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb. She didn’t hide the book she was reading in between the stacks such that she could find them when she came back. Naina didn’t take any books home. She didn’t want to bring the germs in.
That evening, she needed to learn about crystals. She found The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall and compared her crystal to all the images in the book. The only two blue and white crystals depicted were an angelite and a blue lace agate. Then she compared it to all the crystals in Crystal 365 by Heather Askinosie, indicating her crystal was an angelite.
She felt a tinge of excitement to learn that angelite was found in India, amongst other places. Angelite facilitated having a connection with the angels. She looked around her but saw no angels. The crystal could bring a sense of peace and help to heal from pain.
Naina learned that spherical crystals increased self-awareness and integrated the mind, body, and spirit. They were used as windows to the past or the future. Naina stared at the ball hoping to see something. Beyond its opaqueness, there was nothing. Orbs were signs that spirits were trying to interact with you and helped people feel they weren’t alone. She looked around again and there was still no one around her.
The next evening after work, instead of going to the library, she braved the evening King Street crowds and walked to Cornerstone Minerals to confirm that the sphere was an angelite. They did. On her way back, she stopped by the Earthbound Trading Company for a final confirmation.
While she cooled off under the ceiling fan in her apartment, she stared at the sphere, hoping for it to speak to her or bring about that sense of peace and connection to the divine it promised. Maybe that was the change she longed for. Alice told her she would feel differently once she turned thirty. Apparently, everyone did. Naina thought maybe that would help fill the emptiness of her life.
Magic happened around her. Not to her. Others lived in happiness and togetherness. Others had families and friends. That is what Naina considered to be magical—those things that most people seemed to have so easily. Maybe the crystal would come alive when she wasn’t paying attention, or when she wasn’t around. She stared at it some more. She held it in her hand, hoping she could see a spark. There was nothing. She imagined it would take flight coming alive like the snitch in Quidditch. Maybe it would happen when she slept.
She decided to test it. That night, she plucked a hair and laid it carefully on top of the crystal. Naina sneaked a glance at the crystal before turning the lights off to confirm the hair was still there. When she woke up the next morning, the angelite sat on top of its silk bag in the box on the counter, just as she had left it. The hair hadn’t moved.
Watch or listen along below: