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Chapter 4 - The Love of Coffee


Serena was kneeling next to a beautiful pond in the middle of a field. The sky was as blue as ever with absolutely no clouds in sight. A gentle breeze flew across the field, rustling the high grass. She breathed in and smiled at the perfect day. She bent forward and dipped her cupped hands into the water to drink. As she lifted the heels of her hands to her lips, lightning shot across the sky. Clouds immediately formed and the sky turned red. She heard a chainsaw rev behind her and turned to see a giant bunny with an ammunition strip across its chest, camouflage cargo pants, and a chainsaw in its hand.

She screamed, got to her feet and started running. The bunny hopped after her, gaining on her faster than she could get away. When she looked back again, the bunny was right behind her only this time it wasn't a bunny. It was Chase sporting whiskers and bunny ears. He was still hopping like a bunny which slowed him down and gave Serena enough time to get ahead of him. Suddenly, a door appeared in front of her. She flung it open and ran into a dark room, turning around and putting her weight against the door to shut it. She sighed in relief. Her eyes opened wide when there was a loud 'thump' on the door behind her. She turned around and backed away from the door into the dark of the room.

A bright light flashed down on her and doors from each side opened to reveal a clown. The clowns danced into the room and she realized they each had Mark's face. The thumping on the door got louder until finally it broke open and Chase hopped into the room. The clowns were dancing in a tight circle around her while Chase was hopping in a circle around the clowns. In every one of the clown's faces, she could see Mark smiling at her. A trap door opened up beneath her and she screamed as she fell through the floor.

Serena sat up in bed breathing heavily, causing Luna to jump to full alert and arch her back. Serena thought back over her dream. Then she started laughing, "What in the hell was that about?" She pulled the covers off and picked Luna up. Walking down the hallway towards the living room, Serena couldn't help but continue to laugh at the vision of Chase, with whiskers and long ears, hopping up and down like a bunny.

She checked the living room clock as she walked through to the kitchen and sighed when it read '8:02 a.m.'. She set Luna down by her food and went into the kitchen to flip the coffee pot on. Stretching, she headed back into the living room and plopped down on her couch. She pulled out the notebook that she had stored all of the paperwork in and opened it up. She took out her school schedule so that she could check it with Mina later and then flipped to a blank page to start practicing her signature as 'Liliana Avery'. After about 5 minutes of that, she heard the coffee pot click off and got up to retrieve a cup.

Adding French Vanilla creamer, she took a sip and moaned in delight. She headed back to the couch and set the coffee down. Luna tried unsuccessfully to jump onto the couch and after giggling, Serena helped Luna up and set her down next to her. Luna got onto her leg and then jumped up onto her shoulder where she laid down, letting one of her legs hang down Serena's back. Serena tilted her head, gently laying it against Luna and closed her eyes as her head was massaged by Luna's purrs.

She took up the notebook again and stared at the signatures she wrote for her new name before picking up the pen and signing the names of her previous identities: 'Renee Alcott,' 'Heather Ward,' and finally 'Brooke Maguile'. She was in the middle of thinking back on her different lives when there was a knock on the door. Her head shot up but she took a deep breath. 'Calm down, Serena. Seriously.' She closed the notebook and set it on the coffee table before she got up and peeked through the peep hole, with Luna still on her shoulder.

She saw Mina and by the looks of it she had walked right out of bed. Serena opened the door and Mina came in. With her eyes closed, she took a big whiff and followed her nose to the kitchen. Serena was about to shut the door when she noticed a white blur run in after Mina. Luna immediately jumped off of her shoulder and proceeded to chase Artemis around her apartment. Serena laughed and followed Mina into the kitchen to see her with her nose an inch away from the coffee pot.

"Uh, would you like some?"

Mina looked at her with tired eyes and nodded as enthusiastically as she could. "Yes, please! I could smell it all the way down the hall and since I hadn't smelled it before this morning, I just knew it was you."

She laughed as she poured Mina a cup and motioned for her to join her in the living room. Serena almost tripped when Luna ran between her legs followed shortly by Artemis. "Children! Calm down, seriously." Mina giggled and collapsed onto the couch. Serena sat down in the chair nearby.

"Oh, is this your class schedule?" Serena nodded as Mina sat up and looked it over. "Hey! We have Social Psychology together! Are you a psych major, too?"

Serena nodded again, "Yeah, I want to be a counselor. You?"

Mina shrugged, "I'm not really sure if I want to do anything with my degree. I'm actually working on a modeling career. I did some low-profile gigs in England and when I showed my portfolio to a modeling agency here, they hired me and have had me doing a lot of things locally and promise me that I have the potential to be a model on the national level. I'm so excited!"

Serena could definitely see how Mina could pull off being a model. She was absolutely gorgeous with the desired long legs and the flawless complexion. "I think you will do amazing at that! Let me know next time you have a gig and I'll come out and see you!"

"Sure, thing! Are you going to be looking for a job? I could talk to the agency to see if they're hiring!"

Serena hadn't really thought about it. The FBI is supplying her with more than enough money to live off of, but she might end up needing something to fill her time. "I don't know, I think right now I need to get caught up in my classes, but maybe later I'll look for one." Before there was any possibility of Mina asking a question regarding her previous employment, she changed the subject. "So, what are we doing today?"

"I don't know, it's your second day here after all. What would you like to do?" It looked like the coffee had revived Mina.

"Actually, if we could swing by the campus I need to pick up my books and I would like to know where my classes will be so I don't get lost tomorrow. I also need to go buy some kitty necessities, but after that I think I should call it a day so I can be ready for classes tomorrow."

Mina glanced at Serena's schedule again, "It's a big campus but I think I can do a tour justice." She stood up and finished off her coffee. "Shall I come back in an hour?"

"Yep, I should be ready by then." She watched as Mina walked to the door and called for Artemis. He was comfortably curled up with Luna and didn't budge. "Aww, they're so cute together!"

Mina just rolled her eyes and went to retrieve the love-struck cat as she waved and headed out the door.

Serena heard Luna meow sadly and went over to pick her up. "You found a boyfriend, didn't you?" She kissed Luna's nose and went into her bedroom to decide what she should wear before she started to get ready for the day.

An hour later, Serena opened her balcony door and a warm breeze brushed against her skin. The sun was out and added to the gentle wind, it was an absolutely beautiful day. She had decided on a knee-length white skirt that moved easily and a pink tank top with lace shoulder straps. She put her hair back in a barrette and brushed back a few fallen bangs with her fingers. She leaned out over the railing and looked out at the city while she waited for Mina.

Mina showed up at her door half and hour later. She was wearing tan capri pants and a white tank top, but her hair was still wet and she was barefoot.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, but I a friend sent a Youtube video link to 'I'm on a Boat' by The Lonely Island and I couldn't stop watching it!" At the blank look Serena gave her she continued, "You haven't seen it?" Serena shook her head and was dragged down the hall towards Mina's.

Her apartment was beautiful, but it was the many pictures hanging on the wall and sitting atop the mantel that caught Serena's eye. How she missed having all of her pictures displayed. Mina sat her down in front of the computer in her living room and clicked the 'play' button. (AN: Stop reading right now and go watch it! It's so funny and it explains the next paragraph. Warning: There is a lot of cussing in the video.) At the end of it, Serena was laughing. While Mina went into the bathroom to dry her hair, Serena watched it two more times.

"Mina, I'll meet you back over at my place!" She heard a 'K!' from Mina before heading back down the hallway. She decided to look into getting a computer and laughed when she went to her closet to pull out her pink flip flops. She heard a soft knock on the door and headed back into the living room. She opened the door quickly before waving her flip flops in front of her face, "I got my flippy floppies!" She laughed even harder when Mina did the same thing at the same time with her flip flops. Oh, how alike they were.

She folded her schedule neatly into her purse and put her flip flops on her feet before saying goodbye to Luna and shutting the door. They walked down the stairs and into the lobby to be greeted by Ken.

"Ah! Good morning, ladies!"

"Good morning, Mr. T!" The girls chorused.

"What are your plans for the day?"

"Mina is going to show me the campus and I'm going to get books for my classes."

"Sounds like you have a busy day in store for you," a woman came into the apartment building and headed to the desk, "Well, you two have fun!" He turned and walked over to assist the woman.

Mina drove Serena to campus and they walked around finding out where her classes were. Mina sat them down on a bench in front of the library and taking out a camera from her purse, she pulled Serena towards her and snapped a couple of cute pictures. After getting the books she would need for her classes, Serena and Mina practically skipped back to the car. It had been a very long and tiresome day, but the girls still found energy to be excited.

They drove to the pet store and Serena grabbed some extra food and kitty litter before heading to the toys section. Mina grabbed a laser pointer and handed it to her, "This is an absolute must for every cat owner."

"What do they do with that?"

"Oh, just you wait and see."

Serena laughed and picked up some hard catnip balls and something that had a round piece of cardboard in the center that cats could scratch on with a ball that goes around it in a circle.

Mina looked at that oddly, "What cat in their right mind would find that amusing?"

"I don't know, but let's find out!" With that, they left the store and drove back to the apartment. They carried everything upstairs and Serena opened up the new toys for Luna. Mina sat cross-legged on the floor and Serena turned the chair around so she could face the open living room.

"Let's try the round-circle-ball-thing first…" She set it down and Luna sniffed at it before swatting at the ball. Within a few minutes she was jumping all over it and pushing at the ball with her paw making it go around and around in circles.

"I should get one of those for Artemis!" Mina said through giggles. Serena in the meantime was trying to get the laser pointer package open. When she finally succeeded she jiggled the chain to get Luna's attention and clicked the button to turn it on. As soon as the red light appeared, Luna pounced. Serena had Luna chasing that light up and down the hallway, jumping up the walls and around and around in circles until Luna, quite literally, couldn't move because she was so tired.

Seeing Luna so tuckered out reminded Serena what time it was and caused her to yawn.

"You can't be tired already!"

Serena laughed, "Sorry, but I better call it a night – I have another long day tomorrow."

Mina sighed, "I'll be by around 8:30 since we both have a 9 a.m. class and I can drive you to campus." Mina went to get up and the second she put weight on her foot she fell back onto the floor.

"Mina! Are you okay?"

"I'm good! There will be a momentary delay in travel but the pilot has everything under control!" Serena laughed as Mina banged her foot on the floor and made funny faces when the pins and needles kicked in. She finally got up when the feeling came back in her foot and said goodnight to Serena.

Serena opened the package of catnip balls and tossed one on the floor for Luna before heading to bed.

However, when she finally got into bed she could not get to sleep. Why? Because she kept hearing Luna batting the catnip ball against the walls. After five minutes of listening to that, she threw off the covers and snatched the ball away from Luna. If a cat could pout, that's exactly what Luna would have been doing. "I'm sorry, but I need my sleep! You'll get it back tomorrow and you can play with it all day long." Serena put the ball up on a high shelf and headed back to bed.

~*.*~

"Brooke, don't be paranoid. Nobody is following us!" Serena looked back over her shoulder and she could have sworn someone had slipped behind the corner of the last building. Her heart beat faster. It had been well over a year and based on the past two times, she was on borrowed time until he found her again. She shook her head. She was just seeing things. Wasn't she?

Becky always walked Serena back to her apartment because it was on the way to her house and it gave the two more time to spend with each other. Becky was the only friend Serena had decided to spend a lot of time with, she had many more, but kept them at an arms length - mostly because she didn't want to drag someone else into her chaotic situation. She was already having such a difficult time accepting the loss of one innocent life, she couldn't bare to risk that happening to anyone else. Serena's heart ached to go back in time and change what had happened - Oh, how much she missed her…

She was brought out of her thoughts as Becky waved a hand in front of her face, "Earth to Brooke!"

"Sorry, what?"

"You zoned out there for a sec, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. No, I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind is all. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Of course! I'll be here at the usual time, see you then!"

Becky would not see her the next morning - She knocked on the door, but Serena never answered. Becky would never see Brooke again.

~*.*~

Serena opened her eyes and rolled over in bed. She tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill forth but in the end she couldn't deny them. When Serena struggled to go back to sleep, all she could see were the violet-speckled blue eyes that had once stared up at her with so much love. Serena held her pillow close as her body raked with sobs and she remembered the life that was ripped from her arms.


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