Crystal's Run

Chapter 1
Crystal's Run

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Chapter Description: A shopping trip turns into a desperate dash for freedom

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Crystal’s Run

By Penbumble

The toddler girl sat far back against the gleaming vinyl back cushion of the adult desk chair that her legs were stuck out straight in front of her on the hard seat. Her guttural sobs were heaving her body as she looked at the painted cinder block walls of the shopping mall’s security office. Her eyes were streaming, as her ragged heavy breathing made her lips puff in and out repeatedly, making an uncontrollable ‘buh’ sound. The tears trailed down her face to land on the little white flowers that decorated the smocking on her crisp periwinkle cotton dress that billowed out around her sturdy chubby toddler legs. Her plump hand gripped the large metal arm rest as her eyes moved over to stare at the door as she saw as an unyielding barricade to her only avenue of escape.

“Calm down, Honey. Someone will be along to get you soon.” The mall security officer said from the other side of the desk in an effort to calm the little girl. “Let’s see if I got something that will make you feel better.” He added as he rolled back slightly from the desk and pulled open the top drawer.

The little girl shrunk back as the door to the security office opened. Another security officer walked in and stopped by the chair as he saw the distraught toddler peering up at him with desolate sad eyes. He closed the door behind him as he looked up from the chair to the officer behind the desk.

“What’s going on?” The younger tall man asked as he began to step toward the desk.

“Lost child.” The seated officer said without looking up from his search. “Ah, here we go! I knew we had some of these left.” He triumphantly pulled out an ancient safety lollypop from his desk drawer. He stood up and walked over to bend down in front of the chair with the child.

“There’s a good girl. Look what I got for you: a lollypop! How about that?” The man said with mild enthusiasm aimed at the toddler, holding out the cracked and crumbling candy in the bent and tattered wrapping.

Crystal stared at the pitiful looking candy being offered her with incomprehension. She was almost at the point of screaming with anxiety as her emotions were assailing her. She had to get home. She had the antidote to the youth formula her cousin Rosemary had slipped her. She was working against the clock and could not afford to be distracted, especially by tiresome mall security guard waving old disintegrating candy in front of her face.

“No.” Crystal pouted as she pushed the offensive sucker away. She pointed to the door as incomprehensible childish babble fell from her lips.

“Wow, I must be losing my charm.” The man said as he stood up. He looked down at the toddler who was still weeping and patted her leg. “Okay, baby. Your mommy will be here soon.”

“No! No Mommy!” The little girl beseeched as she held up her hands to cover her eyes as she bellowed through her tears. “No Mommy!”

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Just a week earlier, Crystal had just pulled the apple crumble cake out of the oven placing it on the stove top to cool. As she pulled off the oven mitts, she smiled at the thought of the small dinner party she was hosting that night. Life could not be working out any better since moving to the coast. She had met a great guy and work couldn’t have been going smoother. She had just finished working out the kinks of the youth formula for her health and beauty aid company. She was planning on celebrating tonight with her boyfriend, Jonathan and her cousin, Rosemary and her husband, Walt. As she walked around the dining room table making adjustments to the candlesticks and center arrangement, she thought about her cousin.

Just transferring into a new R&D laboratory assignment on the coast for her company a few months ago, she was short on family in the area. In fact, her cousin, Rosemary was the only family on this side of the country. She didn’t know her second cousin, Rosemary very well. She was much older and they had only seen each other a handful of times in the past at a few large family events. If it hadn’t been a phone call from Rosemary, she would have never known her cousin lived in the area. Rosemary was about fifteen years older than her, she and her husband just crowding significant middle age. The crows feet and the gathering of gray hairs at their hairlines bespoke the years that had passed for them. They had also recently moved into the area a few towns over from one of the large urban cities on the coast. They had just sold his successful dental practice and she had retired from teaching high school science as they were looking forward to early retirement. They had just purchased their dream home with a sprawling acreage that would have been the perfect place to raise a family. It was a real shame that they had never had children.

Later that night, as the two couples sat around chatting at the table after dessert and coffee, Crystal brought up her latest achievement at work. Rosemary leaned forward, as she began to ask questions about the formula. She jokingly asked if the discovery could help Walt and her escape the aching joints that seemed to plague them now. As the women got up to take the desert plates back to the kitchen, Rosemary surprised Crystal with her well rounded knowledge of bio-chemical science, as Rosemary began to ask more and more in-depth questions about Crystal’s research. Rosemary found Crystal’s project fascinating and praised Crystal for her achievements. Under such flattery, Crystal could not help but brag a little bit more about her project, detailing the intricate details about it such as the ratio to body mass and resulting effects. Crystal even took out the small sample of the undiluted form of the pinkly iridescent formula from her purse and handed it to Rosemary to examine. Rosemary’s eyes studied the liquid as she tilted the bottle, watching the pearlescent formula shimmer in the light. Crystal blushed upon hearing Rosemary’s gushing praise and turned back to the sink. She was so abashed by the shining praise that she didn’t see her cousin not return the bottle back down beside her purse.

The women joined the men in the living room for a glass of port that Rosemary and Walt had brought as a gift to finish the evening. The men, who had been getting along splendidly, stood up when the women returned to the room. Rosemary volunteered to play bartender, telling Crystal it was only fair after providing such a wonderful meal. Crystal sat down on the sofa next to Jonathan, filled with warmth at finding such an accepting and pleasant family member in the area. Pulling out the wine glasses, Rosemary filled two of them with a couple of inches of port behind the bar. She walked around the bar and came toward the sofa, handing them purposefully to Jonathan and Crystal.

“Where’s mine?” Walt asked as he looked up from his chair up at his wife.

“Oh, it’s coming.” Rosemary said as she walked back to the bar and soon returned with two more glasses.

Before sitting down, Rosemary raised her glass in toast to Crystal’s achievement. After clinking their glasses together, Crystal smiled over the edge of her glass as she took a sip. Jonathan winked at her as he swallowed a sip of port. A few more toasts along with the brightly entertaining conversation and soon Crystal became aware that the wine was affecting her much more strongly than usual. With few sips still in her glass, she leaned over and clumsily placed her glass on the table besides Jonathan’s empty one. She looked over at Jonathan who was lying bonelessly against the back of the sofa with a gentle smile on his face. She slumped back on one elbow as she drunkenly looked over at the couple across from them. The last thing she remembered was Rosemary staring at her and coming closer.

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As she rode in the stroller being pushed through the mall, Crystal went over the last few days in her head. When she woke the next morning after the dinner party, she found herself in a strange bed in a room she did not recognize. Her hands came up to awkwardly push her hair back from her face but did so with such gusto that it made the hair swirl wildly around her head. She pulled them away to stare at the chubby digits in front of her. Looking down, she found herself in a toddler’s bed in a little girl’s room with pale lavender walls. There was a toy chest, an activity table, stuffed animals and a closet filled with precious little girl dresses. A younger and vibrant Rosemary walked in through the door, after moving the baby gate aside in the doorway.

“Time to wake up, Precious girl.” Rosemary sang as she came toward the bed.

“Huh?” Crystal uttered as she stared open mouthed at Rosemary.

“Come on, now. Mommy says it is time for sleepyheads to greet the morning.” Rosemary said as she perched herself on the edge of the bed.

“Mommy?” Crystal echoed, stunned. She opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed to fade from her mind as she looked at Rosemary’s maternal grin.

“I think someone is still half asleep.” Rosemary cooed, as she smoothed her little girl’s hair down with her hand. “Let’s get up and get dressed.”

As Crystal sat in the highchair, picking up the oat loop cereal and cut up banana in her fingers and bringing them up to her mouth, she tried to recall what had bothered her when she had awakened. Something wasn’t right, but as hard as she tried to comprehend the situation, inevitably something would drag her attention away. She looked at the large terry cloth backed plastic bib that covered her front, seeing the remnants of her breakfast that did not make it into her mouth. When Crystal looked over at her Mommy, she had a momentary awakening. Rosemary now appeared to be in her early twenties instead of the backside of forty. Crystal decided to see if she could reason with Rosemary as she approached with a green and white sippy cup of milk. She was surprised to find that she was unable to communicate well with only a few basic words interspersed amidst the babble. Only a few one syllable words came out correctly, but did nothing to further her conversation. Confused, Crystal sat back in the chair as she looked up at Rosemary’s maternal smile beaming down at her and lost herself in it.

A few days later, Crystal sat in her car seat; she saw them pull into the new Rockcoast Mall. It was the newest major shopping Mecca that had recently opened in the area, boasting the most exciting stores and entertainment venues. Crystal brightened when she saw the area they were in. She knew this area. The new mall was only a few blocks from her house, the house she had when she was an adult. The situation she was in suddenly clarified in her mind. Rosemary had spiked her drink with the youth formula and turned her into a toddler. If she could somehow get away, she just might be able to get back to her house. Luckily, she had not informed Rosemary that she had also brought home a sample of the reversal formula as well. Thinking about her house, she remembered where the key was hidden by the back step. If she could get there and get in, she would be back to her adult self in a matter of hours. She looked down at the chubby toddler legs that extended in front of her in the car seat. It would be a stretch to go a couple of blocks on these legs…but what were her options? If her adult self did not show up soon, all her belongings in the house would be disposed of. The antidote would disappear forever, leaving her in this state of second childhood. It was getting harder and harder not to think like a toddler. The window of this opportunity would soon close, so she better take advantage of it now while she could still think as an adult. If not, she was going to have to resolve herself to being Rosemary’s little girl and grow up all over again.

Rosemary parked the van in spot under some shade trees. She got out and opened the backdoor on the opposite side as Crystal concentrated on her plan. Before she knew it, Crystal found herself being lifted out of the car seat and being placed inside a stroller. Rosemary fastened the belt around Crystal’s waist before pushing the stroller over to the mall’s entrance. It was a typical weekday at the mall, it was not overly crowded but there were still a number of shoppers strolling through the mall. As time passed, Crystal became aware that Rosemary rarely took her eyes off her. She knew that she had to get Rosemary to relax her surveillance. So, she leaned back in the stroller and feigning sleepiness and concentrated on keeping her energetic body still. The entire time she pushed her thumbnail in the palm of the opposite hand, so she didn’t accidentally drift off. Hopefully, Rosemary would become so overconfident, Crystal could make her escape. Eventually, the awkwardness of threading the stroller through the racks without waking the sleeping child became too arduous for Rosemary. Leaving the stroller at the end of a rack, Rosemary turned her back to the stroller as she stepped a few feet away. Crystal knew this was her chance. Keeping her eyes on Rosemary’s back, her fingers plucked at the buckle on the strap, sliding a tiny bit free with every other pull. With a little luck more than strength, she was able to loosen the belt a few inches.

Crystal wiggled her way out of the strap and soon was standing flat footed next to the stroller. She looked over at Rosemary who was holding up small outfit up in the air comparing them. She had not noticed the flurry of activity at the stroller behind her. Crystal dove in between some racks away from Rosemary, hoping her smaller size would make it difficult to find her. A few seconds later, she was several racks over. Crystal knew that she had to be careful; an unattended child seemed to gather attention.

She froze under a rack as she heard Rosemary speak to a sales associate, still unaware of her escape. As she crawled under the racks, Crystal knew that time was running out as she heard codes being rung out in the store, any one of them could be about her. From her vantage point several departments away from the mall entrance, she could see two large associates standing at the entrance from the department store out onto the mall. They could easily delay a lone child from wandering out into the mall. For a moment, Crystal froze and didn’t know what to do. If she walked out alone, she would surely be nabbed by one of them. Then she saw her chance, a group of about fifteen children of various sizes on some sort of excursion at the mall were walking through the store. There was a man with a clipboard leading the group with several chaperones at the back of the pack. That’s when she saw a rather pudgy older woman leading two boys down the aisle at the rear of the group. She was only forty feet from the exit to the mall. The younger of the boys looked to be about three, who was toddling along with his hand being held aloft. The woman had an older boy of about nine by the elbow and was busy lecturing him about appropriate behavior. Without hesitation, she crawled out from under the rack of clothes and hurried up behind the group. She grabbed the hand of the three year old who turned and beamed at her, happy to see someone of his size. Luckily, the woman was so busy lecturing the older boy; she never noticed the tag along on her little group.

As the group got closer to the entrance, she could see the associates nod at the group as they passed. Out in the mall, Crystal waited until the group got to an area filled with more people, she let go of her new little boyfriend’s hand and broke away from the group. Her little friend looked back to see where his new friend had gone but was easily tugged along as the group made their way toward the cinemas. Crystal wandered over to a bench were several children and their mothers were gathered, hoping to lose herself in the multitude of children. She hoped that as long as she stayed with other children, that an assumption would be that she belonged to some other parent that was present.

As she stood there, Crystal knew she had to get down to the south east exit. It was the closest to her neighborhood. It was still several hundred yards away from where she was. She knew she had to be careful or she would be swooped up by a caring adult. She looked around for a vehicle she could use in her escape. That’s when she saw them, a mother pushing a stroller with an older child moving toward the direction of the exit. The woman was busy looking at the store fronts as an school age girl was walking beside the stroller. Crystal knew that if she timed it just right, she could follow them without their knowledge, appearing to be a lagging tot. As they passed, Crystal waited a few seconds before she started behind them.

To Crystal’s relief, her plan seemed to be working. She made sure to keep enough distance so the woman and her daughter wouldn’t notice her but anyone else would think she was part of their group. The only thing that disturbed Crystal was the slapping of her hard sole shoes on the painted concrete floor as the progressed through the mall. Her coordination was so clumsy, that the only way she could walk was to stamp down a foot in front of one another. As they passed the last few store fronts, they came up to the exit to the parking lot. Crystal began to walk slower and increase the distance between her and the woman with the stroller. Finally, she drifted over to the wall by the hallway to the exit. She watched the unknowing accomplices move farther away as she stood against the wall.

Concentrating on keeping her breathing level, she hugged the corner of the wall where the exit corridor joined the main mall. She waited for some people to pass by, so she could trot after them; however, since the mall was not that busy on a weekday, she saw that no one was going to the exits. She was aware that the lone presence of an unattended child would surely be noticeable if she stayed where she was. She decided to take her chances as she looked to see if anyone was watching. Peaking around the corner, Crystal peered down the corridor at the glass doors alight with the bright sunshine from outside. From this angle she could see through the parking lot, across the busy street and over to the rooftops of the houses in her neighborhood.

Crystal tried to pace her heart rate as she thought about her goal. It was a long shot, but she had to try. She thought once she was out the doors, she could thread her way through the parked cars. Yes, the road was going to be a challenge, but if she timed it right, she could get across. Then it was just a matter of cutting through some yards until she was at her backdoor again. It was now or never. The sound of her hard sole shoes made a harsh echoing sound. She began to walk slowly, almost meanderingly pace, but as she got closer to her goal, her excitement seemed to overwhelm her. The sound of her shoes slapping against the painted concrete floor as she got closer and closer to her goal. With an almost triumphant whoop, she made it to the doors. Her hands slapped on the glass to open the doors. They did not react to her momentum but stayed solidly shut. She pushed with all her might and the only response was a slight wavering of the door. Without thinking, she yelled her frustration as she repeatedly slapped the door with both hands.

Suddenly, a pair of large hands appeared around the sides of her chest and turned her around. She reeled back against the large hand on her back as she looked into the well meaning face of a man in the blue mall security uniform who was kneeling in front of her.

“Well, little missy, who do you belong to?” The security officer asked amiably.

Crystal sucked in her lower lip as she stared stunned at the large man questioning her. The man looked around the area for adults, but didn’t see any.

“I bet your mommy is looking for you. Let’s go see if we can find her. Okay?” The man said as he straightened his legs and placed his hands under Crystal’s armpits.

The guard brought her up to his shoulder and slung his arm under her bottom, while keeping the other on her back. He turned around and began to march back into the mall. As she say the glowing doors which represented her only hope of going back to adulthood become smaller and smaller in the distance, Crystal began to struggle in the guard’s arms.

“Aah! NO! NO!” She yelled as she kicked her feet as she pointed desperately back to the doors. The guard only patted her on the back and bounced her on his arm as he continued his progress back into the mall, deliberately ignoring the increasingly louder screams of the child in his arms. He just figured that she was suffering from a typical reaction of babies to strangers. As soon as she was reunited with her mother, everything would be alright. Her scream turned into a wail as the guard held her against his chest as he turned to go back to the mall offices. Crystal realized that she would never get back to her house now. She was indeed trapped by all the well meaning adults who assist lost children. She leaned her head back and howled as her goal slipped away which only earned her a patronizing pat on her diaper.

So, here she sat. She was imprisoned in the mall security office until Rosemary came to collect her. The doorknob clicked and began to disengage as Crystal sat frozen in her chair. A mall officer had opened the door and was leaning inside from the hallway. Directly in front of the door was Rosemary, who was standing there with the grateful smile of a mother upon the safe return of her child. Rosemary let out a huge sigh of relief as she came forward.

“Christy! Don’t run off like that. You scared Mommy.” Rosemary said as she kneeled down in front of the chair and attempted to gather the little toddler into her arms. Crystal pushed away Rosemary’s arms and clung to the arm rest.

“No! No!“ Crystal said as she half heartedly kicked a leg to keep Rosemary at a distance and turned to the officers, with pleading eyes. “No Mommy. No.”

“She certainly isn’t afraid to say her mind.” The officer behind the desk joked.

“Christy will be two next month. No is her favorite word.” Rosemary said with a knowing smile as she smoothed the small bundle strapped to her chest. “It is just a phase. We are still trying to adjust to some changes in the household.”

“Oh, I see. Congratulations.” The guard stood up, smiling and tilted his head. “Who do you have there?”

“This is Johnny. He is almost seven weeks old.” Rosemary said as she smoothed the back of the baby in the sling pressed up against the front of her body.

“NO!” Crystal spat as she glared at Rosemary.

“Oh, I see what you mean. I think someone is a little jealous.” The guard said, with raised eyebrows as he looked at the little girl.

“Typical sibling rivalry behavior.” Rosemary said with a shake of the head. “The books say it is to be expected when the first sibling arrives. Eventually, she’ll grow out of it.”

“NO!” Crystal demanded as she kicked her legs on the padded seat of the chair.

“Thank you for taking such good care of Christy. I don’t know how she got away so quickly.” Rosemary smiled as she shrugged her shoulders and then stood up.

“Typical story- they’re gone as soon as you turn around. You wouldn’t believe how many kids we locate a day here.” The guard commented as he stood up from behind the desk.

“Well, I hope this is our one and only time, we have to avail ourselves of your services.” Rosemary said gratefully as she put out hands to pull a wriggling Crystal out of the chair.

“That’s our job.” The guard looked at Rosemary and back to Crystal. “Do you need a hand? It looks like you’ve got your hands full with those two.”

“I think we can manage. Her stroller is right outside” Rosemary smiled as she took Crystal’s small hand in hers and started toward the door. The other hand was cradling Jonathan’s head.

“NO! NO!” Crystal yelled as she turned back to the chair and held on to it.

“Come on, Christy.” Rosemary carefully leaned over and tried to pull Crystal away from the chair. Crystal grabbed the metal bar of the armrest and placed her forehead down in stubbornness. She planned on giving as little cooperation as possible.

“On second thought, maybe you could help me with her.” Rosemary turned to the guard and smiled. “I don’t want to pick her up while I have the new baby in his sling. “

Smiling knowingly, the officer came around the desk. He bent over the recalcitrant toddler, firmly disengaging her hands from the metal bar arm rest. The guard hoisted her up to his chest. Crystal kicked and screamed as she found herself manhandled taken back down the hallway and strapped once again into the stroller. Her short vocabulary dissolved into angry screams as she writhed against the stroller’s waist strap.

"Wow! She got some lungs.” The guard announced as he stood up after securing a squirming Crystal back into her stroller.

“She’s doesn’t do well when we vary from our schedule. She is really a good girl, most of the time.” Saying that, Rosemary dug into the large diaper bag that was hanging on the back of the stroller. Pulling out a pacifier, she deftly slipped it into Crystal’s mouth.

“Mmf” Crystal’s wails were cut short as her mouth instinctively began the rhythmic pattern of sucking on the pacifier. Her troubles seemed to melt away as the comfort of the pacifier soothed her overwrought nerves. She began to relax against the back of the stroller as she zoned out. There was something about a house that tugged at the back of her mind, but it was too much trouble to dwell on that. As her eyes glazed over, Crystal decided that she would rather just lie in her stroller and let Mommy take care of everything. She was just a little girl and the world was such a big place. Mommy could do anything.

“Well, you seem to handle that well. Are these the only two you have?” The guard asked as he saw Crystal become much calmer.

“Oh, for right now. My husband and I believe in large families.” Rosemary simpered as she thought about a little bottle locked away back at their house.

“Large families, huh? That’s nice. Not nearly as many as there used to be.” The guard approved as he nodded his head. “It’s a lot a work, though.”

“It’s the best job in world” Rosemary enthused as she looked lovingly at the two little ones in her care.

 

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