It was just a another normal day that most teenagers experienced. In other words, it was mostly boring and the sun was using its rays to torture us with heat. Instead of shutting myself in the house, my friend had convinced me to hang out with him at the library. Knowing what we usually do, we would end up walking around town and visiting the antique stores or possibly even the Farmer's Market seeing as it is Saturday today. However, someone else was going to be hanging out with us today. He had been stuck in his house for about a week and a half because my mother hadn't stopped by to pick something up from them. Thankfully, she finally took care of it so our other friend could hang out. His name is Crisco by the way. Yeah, I know his name is weird but his parents thought it was a good name for him. My other friend, the one that convinced me to hang out, his name is Jacob. I've known him since the seventh grade. We met in band class. Seeing as we both played the flute, we became quick friends. It wasn't long until he transferred schools and I didn't see him for about a year. And then we finally started talking again after we found out that we were going to the same high school. We've literally done almost everything together.

             Anyways, I had arrived at the library where we planned to meet up. I was the first one there so I found a comfortable chair to sit in and pulled out a pencil and a notebook. I tried to think of something to draw but nothing came to mind so I went on to try writing a story. That plan failed as well. I set my pencil down and rubbed my hand on my forehead. I heard a voice call my name. I looked up and noticed that Jacob had just arrived. He was wearing his iconic bright-orange shirt with the Adidas logo located on the left breast area of the shirt. He was wearing navy blue non-denim shorts and a pair of black sneakers. The neon-green backpack he was carrying contained books about crystals, stones, and magic. Some of his personal journals were in the bag as well. He hardly lets anyone see what's in most of his private journals because they contain some of his darkest secrets and desires. At least that's what I think he writes in them. I don't really have any intention of invading his privacy. he respects mine so I respect his in return.

             I attempt to start a conversation by greeting him but he has his headphones in so he can't hear me. He continues to walk past me to the table that was located a little to my right and he sits down in one of the chairs, finally taking out the headphones and setting his phone down. His eyes were filled with tiredness as he looked in my direction. I stared back with annoyance in my eyes. I saw a grin begin to form.
             We both burst out with laughter, breaking the staring contest.
             "This is why we're friends." He says while picking up his phone again. I let out a small giggle as I proceeded to pick my phone up as well. I scrolled through my apps, trying to find something to do but there was nothing.
             "Hey Jake, can I look at your crystal book?" I asked after putting my phone back in my lap. He looked up at me from the video that was playing on his phone screen. He stared at me for a solid minute before reaching into his backpack and pulling out a dark blue paperback book. I reached my hand out to grab the book but he snatched it away. I looked at him with anger. I knew why he wouldn't let me have the book.
             "What do you want Jake?" I asked irritably. He smirked.
             "I want food." He replied. I grunted and reached into my bag for the Skittles I had packed before leaving my house. I told him it's the closest thing to food I have and we exchanged the items. I don't know why but I enjoy looking through this book. Basically, it talks about how a large variety of stones, crystals, and metals have some sort of magical or healing properties. I've actually committed myself to try and acquire a large quantity of these stones and crystals for my own personal purposes. 

             For example, crystal quartz has many uses which include healing, alerting consciousness, and magical purposes. It's a widely known stone that's mostly used for amplifying any kind of energy that one individual may possess. 

             The book explains many other stones that are like crystal quartz. And according to what I've observed from the contents, stones and crystals aren't the only objects that have healing or magical properties. Metals can be used for that kind of stuff as well.

             "Crystal, you have got to look at this." Jake said, breaking me from my haze. I sat up in my chair and leaned over to observe what Jake was talking about. He was reading an article on his phone about a fire that had been burning outside of our town for about two days. I read a few sentences and I started to get a little concerned.

             "How did that happen?" I asked worriedly. The fire had grown a lot bigger in size which meant a lot of people were in danger.

             "Well, we're all gonna die." Jake said sarcastically. I looked up at him and nodded in agreement.

             "When is Crisco going to be here?" I asked out of the blue. Then my phone screen lit up, showing a message from Crisco to the group chat we had created on a social media app extension.

             'Guys, you have to come out front and see this.' The message read. Jake and I exchanged looks of curiosity before we packed up our stuff and hurried outside to see what was going on. When we did make it outside, we couldn't believe our eyes.