CRYSTAL BALL BROKEN

She stares at the crystal ball before her; unwilling to see, unwanting to believe. The future, HER future, that was so clear and sharp and positive had become bleak and cloudy and grey. She stares confusedly. Every fiber of her being resisting, denying, questioning... With the tip of her finger, she gently touches the crystal ball. It shimmers but the hazy image remains. She asks herself, "How can this be so?" Suddenly angry, she takes the crystal ball in her hands and shakes it hard as though it were a snow globe. She shakes the ball even harder with the wild hope that when she stops, the image would disappear and the happy future she once saw would return to her. When her arms finally became tired from the shaking, she carefully puts the crystal ball back into its velvet pillow. She closes her eyes and once more asks the ball, "Please, please show me my future." And to herself, "Please, show me the future you showed me before..." She is scared beyond belief. She wants to know what the ball's prediction is but at the same time, she no longer holds happy thoughts about tomorrow. She does not open her eyes for as long as she could and when her curiosity got the better of her, she slowly, slowly, opened her eyes. She stares. First inquiringly and then unemotionally. And then slowly, slowly, a silver tear falls from her eye. And then she cries. Silently. She cries with a thousand sorrows. She buries her face in her hands and cries her heart out. And then after she was spent, she quietly leaves the room never to return. She leaves the crystal ball. She leaves her future.

The crystal ball is broken. There is no hope.