Chapter Eight, Masked Man:

Abandon. Serena would abandon him. *Serena will abandon

me just like my parents did. Just like everyone abandonded me,

she will too,* Darien thought in despair. He sat down on his

couch and put his face in his hands and began to cry, sob

actually, tears running down his face and snot running down his

nose. He sniffled and just cried like a little child letting

all the years of abandonment, years of losing his family,

years of friends abandoning him and people giving him a hard

time at the orphanage, years of all this pain seeping out

through his eyes in the form of tears. Full of force,

everything just hit him and he bawled on the couch.



Later that day Darien went out, and to get his mind off

everything that had hit him last night he went to the lake. He

stood beside the water. Serena he knew had been at the inner

scout meeting earlier today, and now he knew she was going to

the arcade with Mina and Lita. So he had some peaceful time to

himself to reflect. He stood looking out at the water and

breathed a deep sigh. He had homework to do, so he knew he should

be heading home. But the ripples in the tranquil lake soothed his

soul. So he stayed awhile longer.



The next afternoon Darien went to the museum to look at

the paintings and get his mind off of his past.



As she turned the corner, Amy bumped into somebody. She

jumped back, her cheeks flushed and her head looking down in

embarrassment. "Oh I'm so sorry, so sorry," she repeated

breathlessly.



"No problem Amy. I didn't know you were going to the

museum today. Fancy meeting you here," said the tall Darien in a

light pink shirt.



"Oh Darien, so nice to see you. I'm here with my after

school history club," she said.



"Oh I see, it's really an interesting historical

display," he commented.



"Really?" she asked as the other kids began entering the

area as well.



"Sure, I'll show you around all right?"



"Great!" she said enthusiastically.



"You know it's really nice to have someone to share this

with. Serena doesn't really appreciate the finer things in

life," he confided.



"That's no secret," Amy giggled. "Ah well we love her

just the way she is."



"That we do," Darien admitted, a grin on his face at the

thought of his other half.

That night Darien read a book in his apartment, leaning

back in his comfy chair to lose himself in a good story. After

finishing the book sometime later, he sat in front of the

fireplace and watched the dancing flames. The sparks shooting up

into the air, and he was reminded of Raye. Raye was intriguing

but meant nothing more than a friend to him. He knew she had

grown up without her parents too, so it gave them something in

common. He knew she understood what it meant to struggle to be

independent on all on her own without the support

of either parent since one was dead and the other absent. Still

she had a grandpa that cared for her as much as any parent

would. No one had ever taken Darien from the orphanage. So he

had grown up with other kids and with staff members who were

just there for the paycheck. No real parents figure at all and

that left a gaping hole in his heart, his soul. He also had a

lot in common with Trista he reflected. Two lonely, solitary

figures, but she had had parents hadn't she? He wasn't really

sure. Perhaps he should have had the most in common with

Lita who had also lost both parents and in an airplane crash

instead of a car crash. He didn't feel like he had a whole lot

in common with her though except for perhaps the independent

nature and knowledge of living on one's own they both had. He

was glad she didn't have to go to one of those horrible

orphanages. Maybe that was the difference between them...his

parents had died when he was much younger, and he had had to

have a whole new life devoid of meaning at that horrible

orphanage. And worst of all he couldn't remember. Couldn't

remember a single second of his time with them. Did it hurt more

to remember? Or was it some kind of a comfort to have the good

memories to warm one's heart? He wasn't sure, but he knew at

the very least he ached for just one memory, one thing to

remember his parents by.

The next day he was looking forward to going ice

skating with his beloved, but she was grounded it turned out.

Still he didn't want to ruin the whole evening, so he did go

ice skating with Amara, Michelle, Hotaru, Lita, MIna, and Raye.



Darien lifted Raye up into the air and spun her around

on the ice. They were all out for a fun time of ice-skating.

Everyone that is except Serena who was grounded and Amy as

well as Trista who were reading. "Do you think Serena will be

jealous when she hears about this?" Lita asked in a teasing

manner.



Darien dropped Raye, who landed on her butt. "You

better not tell her," Raye hissed.



Lita laughed. "Relax, I won't," she promised. "But it

would be hilarious if I did..."



Raye glared at her. "All right. All right. Calm down,"

Lita said, her hands up in the air.



Amara lifted Michelle into the air and spun her around

longer than Darien. "Ha," Michelle said. "My love is better

than yours," she teased Raye.



Darien blushed and Raye glared at her as she stood up.



Hotaru and Mina were practicing their spins together.

The next day while the others were having an all scout

meeting, Darien wandered through the park, dreaming of his

beloved Serena and the future he hoped they would have

together. He sighed in contentment at the thought of her.

Later that day his beloved came over to his apartment

to spend some time with him, and he relished every moment with

her. "Darien," she purred, hanging onto his arm as her long

blond pigtails almost got in the way of his mouth moving

towards hers. They kissed passionately, and she lay in his

arms on the couch in bliss. They relished every moment alone

together.

He lay down in his bed, but sleep would not come.

Beads of prespiration ran down his face as he restlessly fell

into a nightmare. He woke up suddenly, gasping for breath and

running out onto his balcony to cool off and think privately.

He sighed and brushed his feet along the ground, feeling it

beneath him and reminding himself that it was only a

nightmare. *Serena would never leave me,* he silently

reassured himself. His breathing was still ragged as he tried

to take slow, deep breaths. Inside his soul was a missing

piece, a piece that couldn't be filled by Serena or any of

his few friends. A piece that only his parents could fill.

But they never would. And he knew this but still his soul

ached for a mother to hold him, a father to pick him up.

Parents or even one parent. Someone who meddled in his life

and cared about where he was, what he was doing, how he was

doing. Someone who would help him out, not leave him all out

in the cold, cruel world to fend for himself helplessly. Well

perhaps not helplessly because he had made it hadn't he. Had

his own place, paid his own bills, was making his way

through school. But who could he share these things with?

Serena and his friend Andrew perhaps, but it wasn't the same

as the love of parents that he had never experienced.

To Be Continued...