Standard Disclaimer.
Chapter 1
Serena declared that life was unfair. It was official. She was absolutely sure of it. Gods, how she feared for her life. Every moment, she was not sure if she would live to see another day. She was only 19 for crying out loud! What had she done wrong to be born into such a turbulent century?
She wondered exactly what was wrong with the world and concluded that if it was anyone's fault it was the scientists'. Each country, bent on creating the perfect weapon of mass destruction, employed brilliant minds to further their own dastardly ambitions. And the funny thing was that people were all eager enough to spend billions of dollars on tentative bomb projects, but shamefully stingy when it came to making shelters for the helpless. It was just all so wrong.
Trudging to class, her mood was further dampened by the bleak monday morning. She paused suddenly, looking up at the grey clouds floating across an angry sky. She sighed, remembering the day when her parents died.
The camelot, the one brief shining moment one's life, is one's childhood. Carefree and blissfully untied to anything, childhood is one of the few blessings anyone could possibly recieve. To have such a gift taken away is the ultimate crime that can be committed against anyone. It's a punishment one would not even wish upon their worst enemy. And wishing to grow up too fast is another unecessary evil, paralleling suicide in useless magnitude.
Closing her eyes and eveloping herself in mental fog, Serena remembered the exact words she spoke on the day of her parent's death. No, death wasn't even kind enough to let her forget.
"Momma! Can we go to the beach today? I got a good grade on my project!" a four-year-old Serena held up a picture of crudely drawn doll. "PLEASE?" her four year old eyes pleaded with her mother.
Smiling warmly, the corners of her eyes crinkling, her mother replied, "Of course, my little angel, of course."
"YAY!"
The happy family packed beach materials in a plastic bag and piled into their station wagon. In a most endearing fashion, the family sang songs and told jokes as they drove toward their destination.
In the middle of a particularly physical song, "Bingo," Serena stubbed her toe on the seat infront of her whilst trying to clap. Her concerned father turned around, hearing her anguished cry.
In that fateful instant, a drunk driver driving in the wrong lane plowed headfirst into their car. Her father had been turned around, unable to swerve into another path in time.
Her childhood had been severed, never to be recoverd. She was condemned to face emotions and such harsh situations that many adults could not live through.
To this day she still blamed herself for their deaths.
In a flash of blinding light, Serena was knocked unconscious, her parents and the drunk driver instantly dying upon impact.
She remembered waking up in a stark white room, full of menacing machines beeping angrily at her. Looking at the contraptions around her arm and around her legs, her hands flew up to her pounding head. Feeling a huge peice of cloth wrapped around her head, Serena did what instinct dictated that all confused children should do: she called out for her mother.
Hearing her calls, a nurse hurried into her room.
Startled at her entrance, Serena stared at the nervous woman who was curiously wringing her hands. Finding her voice, Serena asked, "Where's my momma?"
Trying to think of a good response, the nurse lamely replied, "They're in a nice place, with angels!" unsuccessfully attempting to breaking the news to Serena gently.
"Oh." Serena felt better. Mommy had told her that angels were good creatures who protected good people. And since her mommy and daddy were good people, her parents were ok.
"So, when is mommy and daddy coming to pick me? I'm tired. I want mommy to tell me a story. Owie my head hurts. My boo-boo needs mommy's kiss. Mrs. Lady, can you tell mommy to come? When is mommy and daddy getting back from that nice place with pretty angels?" Serena continued in her small voice.
The nurse promptly burst into tears, unable to bring herself to explain anymore.
Serena was just further baffled.
She was still to young to truly grasp the idea of death. All she wanted was for her parents to come get her. It was much later, in an act of absolute cruelty that someone revealed to her death was. Up until then she had always had faith that her parents were coming, but had simply gotten lost on their way back from the place with angels.
Slowly, her tiny body recovered in that sterile hospital. The nurse had become quite attached to her, reading her bedtime stories and keeping little Serena company for the rest of her stay. But as happens with all good things, Serena's state of relative happiness was shattered when the hospital transferred her to an orphanage. Serena still recalled being confused when she saw the nurse crying uncontrollably one Monday morning when people in crisp suits came to take her to a "nice home with many children."
She remembered entering the orphanage, her frightened eyes wide, searching for a friendly face. Across the room, a pair of green eyes stared back at her. The eyes belonged to Erian Hallen, who was then 8 years old. In her he found a kindred soul, for his parents had likewise died. Despite the teasing he recieved, Erian soon afterwards became her inseprable best friend, constantly protecting her and comforting her.
Serena was close to tears remembering her short childhood, but began to brighten as she rembered the kindess of Erian. It was him that kept her somewhat happy during her childhood, and it was him that remained by her side. Even now, it was him with who she lived. She sighed. She didn't quite remember when she had began to fall in love with him.
Aware that she had reached the stone building of her University, Serena continued unhappily into her classroom. She sat quietly in her assigned seat, facing her political science proffesor.
Ten minutes later, after class began, the school sirens went off, scaring Serena immensely. For months she and her fellow classmates had been drilled in what to do in the event of a bombing threat. Unsure if the sirens were another drill or a real alert, Serena looked to her teacher. Observing the panicked look upon his face, she surmised that this was a real bomb threat. Upon being informed that this was not a drill, screams erupted from left and right. Serena's heart plummeted. The world war was going to begin? She and her panicked classmates ran to the center of the classroom and flipped open the stairs that lead to the bomb shelter. In a frenzied mass, everyone shoved into it.
Inside the shelter, the teacher tried unsuccessfully to calm his students down. He cleared his throat and shakily announced, "It seems that," he looked to his wsqu (war status quo updater) for verefication, "California has just been hit with a missile from France."
Someone from the back of the room fainted.
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Copyright, weepingmask (weepingmask@yahoo.com) 2002