"Please, Caleb, just stop the car." He looked over at her with a look of grim puzzlement illustrated upon the canvas that is his face. "You'll never find Serenity," Darlene continued.

Caleb's expression changed from happy to angry in less than a moment. He slammed his feet on the gas pedal as Darlene's anxiety begun to course through her veins.

"You can't tell me what I can and cannot do!" Caleb gritted his teeth, the look in his eyes unrepentant, and Darlene knew that she should never have questioned his abilities.

Darlene bit her tongue to stop herself from coming up with a retort. "I-I'm sorry, Caleb;" she huffed, and begun to retract her tears. "It's just that I feel there'll be no success."

"You know, Darlene; there was a time when I used to be just like you. I used to be a pessimist, never an optimist, but then I met Serenity."

Caleb stopped the tears from streaking his face and put the keys in ignition and started the car again.

"We're going to find her whether you like it or not." His voice wasn't as grim as before because Darlene knew Caleb's motivations.

Serenity slammed the glass of liquor down in unapologetic anger. Flashes of her childhood begun to reverberate throughout her mind. Her mother was evil and so was her father but the only one that was really and truly there for her was Caleb. It was like he was a respite from the danger. It was like he was the escape from the unimaginable horror.

"I know exactly what I need to do." She slurred. She had finally realized something she wouldn't have realized under different circumstances.

"I need to find Caleb," Serenity begun to lose her balance on the bar stool she had been sat on. "I need to find Caleb." She felt herself fall to the floor with a resounding thud.

Darlene looked to the side of her and saw the trees as they flew by. As she did so she wondered how her life would be like fifteen years from now. She asked herself if she would have fulfilled all her life's wishes, if she would have conquered all her worst fears, and every answer that she replied to herself with was a resounding no.

She knew if she hadn't spoken up and objected to Caleb's train of thought that she would be living with the grim consequences for the rest of her life. She knew someday Caleb would discover the secret she knew Serenity had long kept but she hoped it would be much later rather than much sooner.

"Caleb, I really, really don't think finding her is a good idea." In response, Caleb looked over at Darlene with irritability buried deep within his pupils. "What if you're shocked or disappointed by the outcome?" Darlene reasoned. She knew she would have to apply reason to this situation or she'd never get anywhere with this man.

He giggled, chuckled, then cleared his throat. Darlene looked puzzled, as if she had seen a stampede of goats in Antarctica. "Thing is I'm not going to be disappointed. In fact, when I find her, I'm going to be happier than ever before. I would know then that this God they speak of is wholly real and that he performs miracles to those who deserve it."

"Serenity probably never told you this but she was arrested not once but twice for the same crime." Caleb looked over at Darlene with betrayal, heartbreak, even bemusement. For once he didn't look scary or frightening or intimidating. He looked vulnerable and susceptible to heartbreak or nostalgia. It was almost as if Darlene was seeing a reformed Caleb.

"When she first moved out of her parent's house she was desperate for money-" Darlene begun, but Caleb huffed in denial. "What? I'm telling you the truth. If you don't want to hear it that's your choice but just know the lady you love really isn't the lady you think she is."

"Serenity was a beautiful princess. She was the lady of my dreams. Anything you say about her is invalid." Caleb denied all truth. Little did Darlene know the truth was lost on her.

TO BE CONTINUED