Bolt

3

A discovery like this would change the world. There would be no further need to burn coal and trees or use gasoline that produced contaminants. No need to produce deadly chemicals that made batteries function. If the gem could be studied and the effects replicated, then the planet would have a free energy source that would never run out.

I have to find it first. She thought. She was frantic at the idea that someone with bad intentions might find it and turn it against the very people she was trying to help. Her hands clenched around the small, smooth stone. She had the key now. Even if someone could find the gem’s location before her, she doubted they could get in.

Kara took her eyes from the fire and gazed up into the sky. She felt so accomplished and proud of herself, and she knew, in the coming days, she will have achieved even more. All her dreams were coming true.

Maybe now, you’ll see me … She blinked, bringing the crystal stars into even greater focus. Thoughts of her family came to her bittersweetly. She loved them, and they loved her … But Kara felt unworthy, and she always had.

As she was growing up, her parents were incredibly driven and forceful. There were not many quiet family moments because everyone was always too busy. Her mother worked her way up to being a judge in the supreme court before Kara was twelve. Her father was a doctor specializing in cancer. Over time, her siblings had followed similar paths.

Her brother was a neurosurgeon, and her sister a pediatric surgeon. Both of them had worked their way into their chosen fields by the time they were twenty-five. To top it off, each of them had found time to get married and have children. They were all successful, rich, and extremely proud of their achievements.

And then there was Kara.

Kara’s fingers tightened on the stone. She was just as passionate and driven as they were. She just took a different path. Kara had always believed that studying the past could help build a better future. She was fascinated by the dawn of man and the early cultures. Archaeology wasn’t an easy field, and yet she showed a talent and enthusiasm few others could match.

In her family’s eyes, none of this was enough. Kara felt herself constantly falling behind, a disappointment instead of an asset. She felt like her work didn’t matter to them because she wasn’t saving lives or working to make the world better through law and politics. Her chest ached, and her eyes burned as she thought about what it would be like to get her hands on the tiger’s eye and finally show them her true worth.

This discovery would impress even them, she was sure. It was a black twist in her heart, this fear that her family did not see her passion as a purposeful future. For years in her younger life, her parents had set her up on a few dates. They made casual comments about how she could at least marry and have children if she didn’t want a decent career. She hadn’t liked any of the guys, and she felt like they hadn’t liked her. The last one had clearly been more interested in working for her father than in getting to know her.

This had led to her swearing off men, at least for now. She didn’t feel like she could be girlfriend or wife material if no decent guy wanted to date her.

She took a deep breath, held it, and let it go, slowly. She had never been enough. This had driven her to set out to conquer every challenge in her path. It meant a lot to her to do it alone, to be utterly self-reliant. Through this, she would show her family the value of archeology and the thrill of digging up the past to change the future.

A few of her compatriots walked past, asking her if she was okay. She nodded and waved them on. Everyone was heading to their bedrolls to get plenty of rest for the trek up the mountain the next day. Her crew was just as excited as she was, but she knew this discovery actually meant far more to her than it did to any of them. That was why she hadn’t let the key out of her hand since she had found it.

After a few more minutes of contemplating, she stood and stretched, dousing the flames with a scatter of soil, so they banked low into glowing coals. She went to her bedroll and curled up in her sleeping bag, holding the stone against her chest.

She was so close, finally. Her satisfaction at getting this far was clouded by the fact that she wasn’t quite there yet. Could the goal be ripped from her grasp? She pressed the stone even harder against her chest as if she could absorb it for safekeeping. She would not, could not, fail now.

Kara told herself that she wanted her parents and siblings to recognize the worth of her passion, archaeology itself. She wanted them to be impressed by the gem and to understand that it was only through careful study and lots of hard work in her chosen field that she was able to find it at all.

She knew, though, deep inside, that it was all a flimsy charade. What she truly desired was to be loved and valued. She couldn’t stand the looks on their faces, the barely disguised pity, the secret glances they threw at each other when they thought she wasn’t looking that plainly said, “She’s always been weak.”

Kara closed her eyes, listening to the soft sounds of the night falling around her. She thought she would be too excited to sleep, but it came quickly. Long days of travel, as well as the excitement, had gotten to her and sapped her of strength. Kara slipped into sleep with thoughts of the gem and glory in her mind. Not the great glory that would set her above others. She didn’t believe in that. But the self-made satisfaction that made her worthy and equal in the eyes of her family.