1932
She didn't know what it was that got in her craw that Tuesday morning November 22, 1932 but it had happened nearly as soon as the sun cast its first rays scattered across her bedroom floor from under the curtains. She sat up, straight up in bed, looked over at the red and white party dress mama had picked out for her (as she had picked out everything else in her life for the girl up to that point) she looked at that dress, or maybe it was the ridiculous matching hat that went with it and said to herself. "Alright…I don't want to do this anymore." Kicked off the covers and had made up her mind not to.
In so many ways that was the best and worst decision of her life. She went to the window and opened the curtains and nearly shuttered at the expanse of vibrant green bending grass that she had never dared to cross in her entire life. there was miles of it…miles of green. Miles of a life she hadn't live. a breeze swept through that grass, tall as wheat, combed through it and she felt that breeze as if the window had no panes in it, cool…and electrifying. She could smell the air of freedom on that breeze. She held fast to the curtains on both sides, bosom sticking out and heaving.
"Serenity! Serenity!" She didn't hear the shrill voice calling her from just downstairs, too lost in the whispered voices of freedom that seemed to be calling her by the same name from the miles of green outside. A new beginning
"Serenity Stagebright you come downstairs right this instant when your mama is callin you!" even that didn't rouse her away. It was only at the soft wrap at her door frame and the baritone voice of the former governor, Clim Stagebright… her father jokingly saying "Warden's callin" about her mother Delilah Stagebright that she resumed back to the world she was forced to live in.
Warden's calling… could he have picked any more apt or telling words?
The maids came in then to fill the basin with warmish water and to get out the girls filigree over robe for her nightgown, she was allowed to have breakfast in her nightdress that morning but it was a rarity; a treat, her mother called it often with a scowl on the occasions that this luxury was allowed. But her long dark hair still had to be brushed out and re-braided and not a speck of dirt under her nails if she wanted to sit at the same table as her mother for breakfast.
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Her mother would often insist looking her over. And Godliness under her mother's definition was something cruel if standards were not met.
Serenity fidgeted, twisting her hands over and over as the old Cajun maid with ebony-hands lined with veins twined the silken hair into a braid almost seamlessly. Serenity recited the bible verses in her head she would have to recite. Three before every meal. She was shaky today, the verses were getting crossed and confused in her head, she couldn't make them clear. She even tried a few out loud.
"For God so loved the world that he gave us…no… his one and only…..no… eternal…Is this under John 16, or is it the book of Ruth?" she was tempted by the warn but beautiful bible on the edge of her vanity to look, but she knew that would be cheating…she needed to remember.
Only one verse came to mind, clearly and coherently, along with the person it reminded her so undoubtedly of.
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Percy Wetmore…
The maid's voice intervened on Serenity's thoughts, and her ever twisting, bitten and scared ivory hands. "Yous gon look so pretty in dat dress your mama laid out for you Miss Serenity, Mister Wetmore ain't goin to know what to do with himself. Oui, Tellement beau!"
If only that were true; Percy Wetmore always had not a doubt what he was doing with himself, better his position by any and all means necessary; she had hoped that when his Uncle had been elected as the new governor after her father that would be enough for him, but now her father was running for Senator and the fact that he was now in the position of governor's nephew it was the perfect incentive for both parties.
"That's just aces!" he had said when he had approached her parents…her mother mostly with the proposition and she had agreed to it.
Aces… that was the winning hand. Serenity half wondered if there was a hand in poker she could have to beat Percy's "aces" and get herself out of this match but the chips were already down.
"I'm going to die today." Serenity exhaled, not knowing she was vocalizing her thoughts.
The maid clasped her white shoulders affectionately. "Every girl is nervous when a fella gets on one knee 'fore her honey."
At the touch on her cold skin Serenity, clasped the black viney hand that had changed, and coddled, and cared for her all throughout her life and kissed it, then turning away from the mirror looked into the familiar brown eyes. "I want you to have my button collection when I'm gone Mama Helene, they're worth something I think and I want you to have them, and make sure Pa takes his medicine, please." There was no hesitation, no trimmer, she was absolutely certain…it had to be today, and there was something poetic about it.
"Shush child."
She would shush, by this afternoon she would shush forever in that beautiful mile of green.
"Well." Was the first thing her mother said when she reached the dinning room, expecting the bible verses right then and there. The shadows from the window panes looked very much like prison bars stretching across the floor. Serenity could hardly meet her mother's lifting gaze. She swallowed the dry lump in her throat as best she could.
"In the morning, LORD, thou wilt hear my voice; in the morning I lay thy requests before thee and wait expectantly. Psalms 5:3
But he said onto me, my grace is sufficient for you, for thy power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all to rejoice about thy weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on thee. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when thou art weak, then I am strong."
It is in thy weakness that God makes us strong. So we shalt always have challenges Corinthians 12:9-11"
"And?" her mother said impatiently, setting down the elegant tea cup she held with a clink. That one sound was nearly enough to make the girl loose her nerves and commit her ultimate sin right then and there, the sin she would surely burn for.
"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 " that one was an utter lie; there were no plans, no hope…not for Serenity.
Delilah Stagebright considered for a moment if the verses her trembling daughter had lied at her feet like a sacrifice were to her satisfactory. She was a woman of God of that, no one doubted. She was a woman of the highest regard in church, had been a woman of the highest regard as the governor's wife, and now to be a wife of a senator and a mother-in-law to a clearly rising young man. She was a desirable plump size, with clothes to match and a cold look in her eye.
And Delilah Stagebright always smelt of Honeysuckle perfume.
She waved her hand reluctantly as a sign that the girl could sit and dine, like an expectant dog. The girl in question was looking half faint and that she might have collapsed had she been withheld a moment longer. She looked less like a young heiress in the prime of her youth and more like a homeless vagabond dressed up in a fine nightdress on the verge of being a corpse; all be it a tremendously beautiful one. Her hand shook as she raised it to take some food, she had to clasp it with the other to hide it.
Her mother rolled her eyes and waved her hand toward the maid. "Serve her."
Mama Helene went to it, taking great care to fill the girl's plate, she half feared that if Delilah Stagebright ordered another week of fasting for her daughter to teach "the meaning of gratefulness" the girl would not survive it. This had been the first meal she had been granted to have in a week.
Moreover, the "temporary" renunciation of food in the church was ordered to intensify the expression of need for something greater — namely, God and his work in our lives. However, in the case of the daughter of Delilah Stagebright the "temporary" depravity of food came at more frequent and lengthy interludes as the girl had blossomed into a sin that her mother had yet to purge her of.
She was scares allowed to see the light of day beyond the panes of her window. Delilah saw that her daughter's gifr was the work of demons not angels. A demonic power over men. That little smile she gave was proof. And thus, the purge began.
Fasting for long intervals, no longer allowing the girl to attend church but study the scriptures from her room and teachings from her mother's own lips. Praying, recanting, scolding, repenting, beatings… savage beatings… all in the name of The Lord.
Serenity had taken this at face value; as she got gaunter and paler, as scars and welts began to surface over the years, her mother had said it was for the love of the lord, and for love of her mother she believed her. But it wasn't until her mama engaged her to Percy Wetmore did she realize her mother only did it out of blind hatred. Her mother hated her.
Her child was just another showcase of her esteem. Serenity's godliness, Serenity's mildness, her obedience, her silence, her aristocratically white skin, all of it a showcase. And Percy Wetmore was just the icing on the cake. He would keep up with her mother's…disciplinary tactics after they were married, happily.
He was going to propose to her on this day, at The Niagara Club, as a birthday present.
This was why Serenity J. Stagebright had decided on this day to take her own life, with her daddy's gun, out in the field.
But fate had something else in mind…
Fate had John Coffey, in mind.
The pairings will be: Paul/Janice Harry/OC Dean/OC Brutus/Narrator (duh) and proud to be the first ever Del/OC (one-sided) oh come on the guy deserves it!-slight Percy/Del (one -sided) but mostly Percy bashing
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