Chapter 6: Paranoid Crystal

Crystal was feeling uneasy. She was still at the square and heading towards the inn, but the feeling of someone staring at her with such a predatory and ominous gaze made her skin crawl. It made her uncomfortable and wanted to run away from that gaze.

'What should I do? I do not feel safe. Should I go to the forest and hide? No that doesn't seem safe at all. What to do? What to do?' Crystal was thinking fast while she walked around the crowded areas of the square, however, she only a few seconds of freedom from that predatory gaze before it catches her again on its gaze again.

'Hurry, make a plan! DO SOMETHING!' Crystal was very anxious and fidgety while she runs to the alleys of the town. Something feels off and she doesn't know why, as she kept going through the alleys, she felt the presence of over ten people going after her location. In haste, She hid on a corner and jumped to the roof. It was a good thing that nobody was around to see her jump up the roof like that.

"Where is she?"

"She was right here when I saw her!"

"The rest is a dead end! Where could she possibly head to?"

"Look at the corners! Every nook of the alleys! Do not miss her at all cost!"

'Humans...' Crystal doesn't know whether or not she wants to feel relieved or troubled. Those male humans that were after her were bulky, unruly, and dirty in appearance. From what she can deduce, they might've been working somewhere that needs manpower and human resource. The scars on their body seem to be from sharp objects and the way they were talking and walking shows that they were not from here. The question that was still bugging her is that where did they come from?

While watching them look from around the alleys, they finally gave up and went to the north direction of the town. She wanted to know who they were working for and why are they targeting her, however, She doesn't want to take risks because she is pregnant. Her top priority are the Twins' lives.

"Is this town not a safe place as I have hoped for? Should I really..." Crystal looked in the South direction where the three human kingdoms and the other creatures' land were located. Crystal put her hands on her arms and tremble with anxiety.

'This place doesn't feel safe, the three kingdoms of Humans, the Elves, Drawves and the Evil, everything is unsafe- everywhere is unsafe! Where should I go?' Crystal kept thinking ridiculous thoughts but she cannot stop herself at all.

Suddenly, She heard the windows open from below the roof that made her flinch and look in that direction in both fear and surprise. The young lady doesn't seem to notice her yet so she fled towards the other end of the alley, she looked down for any signs of human around before she hopped down the roof down the alley.

After that, she used her vampire speed to go back to the inn without looking back. James and Claire both looked at her with worry and surprise when she showed up earlier than she told them when she will come back and was bombarded with questions from the two children.

"I'm not feeling well, James, Claire. I shall head to my room first."- Crystal said and left towards the second floor in a hurry.

+

Midnight

Crystal tossed and turned on her bed, however, she didn't get a wink of sleep after she came inside the room. She threw up before losing strength in her body, and she knew it because of stress and anxiety.

"I'm only overthinking. This town is so far away from those creatures and the three kingdoms, how could any of those humans pose a threat towards me and the Twins? I must be delusional! I could just kill them and regain the peace- I can suck their blood and throw their corpse away from this town. That's good....That... T-That'll be... g-good..." Crystal wavers and clenches her trembling hands together, she was in shock for such murderous thoughts she was cradling inside of her mind.

"... These worries are not meaningless. Everything that I've been thinking is rational and true. I'm a vampire living as a human, with twins to support in the future. I am alone that'll brave my way to keep the twins and myself safe, everything I'm thinking makes sense... I'm not going crazy for nothing..." Crystal mumbled to herself before she practices breathing exercises that she knew from her original world. It helps her calm down and calms the tide of her raging thoughts altogether.

"...Alone... I need to do it alone... Alone... no one else but myself will look after the twins... Alone.. alone... alone..." Crystal mumbled to herself my kneading the back of her hands to ease her worries. Hypnotizing herself to be independent and never look for a spouse in this life. After she totally calmed down, she gently rubbed her belly and conversed with the twins.

"I apologize, my twins, did I scare you just now? I hope you can forgive your mother this once. The tension, anxiety, and fear that crept into my system earlier made me lose myself for a while. But I am now back to who I really am. I apologize if I made you both worry." Crystal said to the twin while gently rubbing her stomach.

'Mommy, I was scared!'

'Mommy worried me a lot!'

'...sister why didn't you copy my words just now?'

'Talk about it next time, Mother is our top priority!'

'Oh, right... Mommy, I was worried too!'

Crystal felt the light shifting of the twins inside her belly that made her ticklish and happy. This is better, turn her attention and energy to the twins, and nothing else would matter.

"I've been paranoid since I am alone in a new and unexpected world that is far from being similar to my original world. There are many things that I am unaware of and the lingering fear of death after I died the first time. I want to have a bright and happy future with you both, so please grow up healthy, caring, and lovable children of mine." Crystal finally smiled her natural smile and chuckled at the twin's wriggling inside of her as if answering her every conversation with her.

She looks outside of the window, the bright moonlight was shining down from her closed window, easing her worries further and making her to sleepy and tired. She draped down the curtain, and lay back down in her bed, with a clean, white blanket over her body. She yawned for a second, with tears gathering at the corner of her eyes before she wiped them off with her finger and relaxing on her bed. Her body started to get at ease, her breathing slowing down and consciousness ready to sleep, and soon, She arrived in deep sleep.

+

Crystal was inside a familiar room, it was so familiar that it made her skin crawl and her throat tighten in nausea.

"T-This is-"

Suddenly, a loud noise appeared in front of her that made her flinched back in a hurry. It was piles of paperwork, and the person who "delivered" it to her station was glaring daggers at her.

"The 'Boss' wants you to finish that paperwork within today! If you can't do that, then you're fired!" The man said and left with a haughty look on his face. Crystal trembled while sitting on her swivel chair before slowly approaching the table to work on it already. She sat there for a long time, not talking to anyone else, watching the paperwork get higher and higher and her ears filled with the Manager's scorn and insults about her.

'I want a break...' But she cannot do it, because she's just wasting time.

It was the end of her shift, and yet she still hasn't finished the piles of paperwork at her desk. When her coworkers were already ready to leave to go back to their respective homes or have fun outside, she was there alone, by herself unable to leave because of these issues.

"What is this?! Why are you still not finished?! Why are you dawdling here for?! Work faster! Harder!" The manager was still there to pester her and belittle her while working.

Crystal endured, working harder day by day, getting almost no sleep on several occasions, and doing her best to get her job done. However, the manager was still not satisfied, he kept yelling at her, rejecting some of her proposals, and making her do ridiculous things inside the working place. Her other coworkers, of course, saw the absurdness of that manager's requests, however, they kept their mouth shut and they're turning a blind eye from her demise.

She still kept enduring until it reached the point of no return. The manager tried harassing her, she was tired, hungry, and hopeless at that time that she almost thought that she will lose her virginity and honor because of her scum manager. However, a cornered animal will fight its predator when it is in danger, so she did. She used her heels to made his third leg bleed heavily, slapped his pig face till t swells, and used her heels to punch holes in his fatty body. She beat him to death, her rationality coming back and she stared at the bloody mess his body made.

"I... will kill you! Crys-tal!!!" The manager said but Crystal only stared at his dying form.

"I would've loved to do this to you... too bad I know it's just a dream of mine." Crystal said to the dying man before blinking her eyes twice, She was back in her "real world", The Helios country.