Serenity is Death

            She was not incompetent. 
She was a very intelligent young girl, but it was frequently disregarded as such because she was slightly mad. She would sing. When she sang, everyone would least expect it, and everyone in the room would say it was the worst possible moment. She was different. She stood out in the crowd as a bright, smiling, singing face. Her name was Serenity Powers.

            Serenity was never shy. She would stand up on tables and dance just because it was fun sometimes. She was smart as a whip too, though her smartness was most regarded in her short temper. She didn’t care much for people telling her what to do, especially when they told her not to sing.

Serenity Powers attended Avon High School, home of the Spartans. She was a fairly good student, but she had to meet up with the guidance counselor, Ms. Mentzel at precisely four o’ clock to talk about her “problem”. No one other than her parents and those two truly knew what her problem was. All they knew was Serenity swore she never had a problem, she just knew she loved to sing. She was a good girl, minus the temper and an even better singer.

She had one close friend. Since she held onto many childhood things, she always referred to frosty the Snowman on the issue of friends. “One friend is plenty.”

That friend was Griffin Meyers. He had known Serenity practically since birth. The two grew up together. The two loved each other. It wasn’t particularly a strictly friendship love, Serenity loved to kiss Griffin’s cheek, but it wasn’t quite a romantic love yet either.

Griffin was balanced. He was not overly logical. He was illogical enough to think he understood Serenity. He loved her in a deeper way than anyone else could. He understood Serenity better than herself, or so he would like to think. He once said “One cannot glance upon her with logic and yearning to understand, one must look at her with love and imagination to truly understand her.” In his eyes, he saw her with both and by his logic, he understood her fully. He would’ve never guessed how elusive her true behaviors really were.

Griffin and Serenity were in the same grade, had all the same classes and were pretty much inseparable.

Our story begins on a stormy morning in April.

Serenity saw Griffin emerge from his smart car. He popped open an umbrella. Serenity came dashing through the water like a bat out of hell, even with the blinding rain. She didn’t slip or fall. She just kept racing through the rain to Griffin and his umbrella. Griffin stood, patiently knowing that she was going to steal his umbrella or better yet, make him share.

She was sopping wet.

Griffin started out the conversation with. “Hello Serenity.”

Serenity smiled. “Hi Griffin. May we share your umbrella?” she asked.

“For you I will.” He responded. Serenity grabbed the handle where his hand was.

Griffin glanced at her hand, then her. She was singing Umbrella by Rihanna now. She was gone mentally. The two found the blurred vision of the school, blurred by dumpster trucks of rain.

Once under the awning, Serenity took Griffin’s hand. Since she didn’t normally hum (humming is annoying) Griffin didn’t recognize who was humming I Want To Hold Your Hand, the Across the Universe version. She tugged is hand, guiding him to their first class. Griffin pondered if this was the day he had been dreaming of.

See, since he recognized girls as more than just carriers of cooties, Griffin had always had a fascination in Serenity. He never quite figured out how to act on his love for her. He tried to love other girls, but they just weren’t the same. Serenity Powers was special in every meaning of the word. He loved her from her big blonde curls down to her painted toenails. At the time, he knew they were pink because she wore a matching dress the previous Friday. Her eyes were a warm brown, like chocolate. Her figure was proportionate and healthy. She wasn’t too skinny or too fat, she was just healthy.

He regarded her as nothing less than his soul desire. All he ever asked from her was her love, and he would give her the world in return.

“Later,” Griffin thought, “I will bring this up and she will say she never grabbed my hand.”

Serenity knew better. She had seen the other girls and didn’t like the stealing her best friend. She had a crush on Griffin, but it was definitely not as strong as Griffin’s love of her. But she knew if that crush were going to be acted on, she would have to do it soon.

Serenity was singing Falling For You by Colbie Calliat under her breath and under the sound of the rain. She never sang so softly. She recognized this might be more than just a little crush. Griffin heard her. He knew this was odd for Serenity, she normally sang so loud, people in China could hear her.

When Serenity sang the chorus the last time “I keep spending all my/ Time just thinking about you/ I don’t know what to do/ I think I’m falling for you/ I’ve been waiting all my/ Life and now I’ve found you/ I don’t know what to do/ I think I’m falling for you.” Griffin stared into her brown eyes and slowly moved closer to her lips. She stared into his blue eyes. She finished the song and when she did, he kissed her, but she had twisted so it was her cheek he was kissing.

Griffin was a bit confused. “Serenity, what is up?”

“I love you too much to not have a romantic first kiss.”

“Wouldn’t any kiss with your love be … Wait you love me?” Griffin’s train of thought derailed a bit in that sentence. He sounded shocked when he thought of her loving him.

“Of course! Now lets go have a real kiss in the rain!” Serenity exclaimed

Griffin knitted his eyebrows. “It is thundering and lightning, we could get killed. I don’t want to get either of us killed.”

“But it will be romantic!” She protested.

“But we could die! I love you too much to let you kill yourself.” Griffin responded.

She said, “It’ll just be a couple seconds.”

“Okay.” Griffin was beating himself up inside, knowing Mrs. Mentzel would do her fair amount of beating at four o’ clock.

They walked into a courtyard area where in this weather one would need at least an umbrella to go out there. Griffin kissed Serenity. It was a beautiful kiss. Griffin or Serenity would never have a kiss that felt like that ever again. It consisted only of lip, but it was still the best kiss either of them had ever had. Serenity started the second kiss with a whole lot more tongue in it, when Griffin heard a clap of thunder. Reluctantly, he stopped kissing Serenity and made sure they were both safe under the covered area. The lightning struck, but they were safe.

Serenity wriggled out of Griffin’s grasp with the umbrella.

“Serenity, I don’t want you to die! I don’t want to die either. Why do you insist on gambling your life with the likes of Thor and Zeus?” Griffin yelled over the rain.

Serenity yelled, on an unrelated topic “I want a duet in the rain!”

“Maybe later, but I just heard thunder…” Griffin started, trying t talk her out of the rain.

“Thunder won’t kill you silly!” She responded.

“Yes, but lightning could.” Griffin responded.

“Come on, Griffin! I’ll be your best friend!”

“You already are my best friend.”

“I’ll be your wife!” She exclaimed.

Griffin had no idea what compelled him to go out and risk his life, but he did. He stood in the rain with her and sang Come What May from Moulin Rouge.  It seemed to be tempting fate to sing “Come what may/ I will love you until my dying day!” when lightning could strike at any moment, killing them almost instantaneously.

“Of course.” Thought Griffin as he heard the thunder rumble. He knew he had to pick between himself and Serenity. He instinctively wanted to protect both, but he knew that was impossible. He wanted to shove her out of the way as the lightning struck in a strong bolt of electric energy, but he knew she wouldn’t move. This day in his life he would contemplate hours upon hours, days upon days years upon years contemplating.

What he did do was say, “I love you Serenity, never deny that. I would love to save you, but how can I when you don’t want to save yourself? I love you so much and I really feel like an ass for letting myself do this to you, but I can’t let your insanity kill me. I will never feel the same way about anyone else, I swear upon it. The guilt will eat away at me until I grow insane enough to commit suicide. I love you, Serenity.”

“You are going to go aren’t you?” She asked.

Griffin nodded and gave her a kiss. He went to the protected area.

“You jerk! I spent the better part of my life with you and you would just let me die like that?”

“Not without touching last words.” Griffin responded, quite confused. “And I know you well enough that you are impossible when you want your way, no matter how horrible it is for you.”

“I am. So give me another kiss before I really go kill myself.” She responded.

Griffin grabbed her by the midsection and twirled her so she was in his arm. He locked his other arm around her so she couldn’t go run back out again. “Why the hell do you want to die?”

“This world is so unhappy! Poverty, war without reason, hatred, Hell would be better than this world.” She responded.

“I am calling Mrs. Mentzel right this second.” He responded. A huge bolt of lightning struck.

Griffin called her on his cell phone. She just happened to hear the whole conversation via a speaker in his backpack. She was always implanting things on Griffin’s backpack.

Mrs. Mentzel asked, “Why the HELL do you want to kill yourself?”

“I just… I can’t stand the pain and agony in this world anymore. Music and love are the only things keeping me alive and they aren’t enough anymore.” She responded.

She took out her metal lunchbox, and made sure Griffin’s umbrella was nice and metallic, which it was.

She said, “I love you, Griffin.”

“No! Don’t do this!” Griffin exclaimed, “I love you!”

He tried to talk some final sense into her, but Mrs. Mentzel touched his shoulder. “You know she isn’t going to give up. Go give her a real final kiss and then come back.”

So Griffin ran out quickly. He swung her over and gave her a passionate kiss. He ran back quickly.

In the second Griffin entered the area where he was safe, the lightning struck. It was headed for the lunchbox and the umbrella. Both were in Serenity’s hand. Serenity experienced a huge surge of electricity (enough to power a small house) running through her whole system. That was the last thing she felt.

Griffin broke down into tears. “All my life I’ve loved her and the one day I get it right, she kills herself!” He kept wailing.

She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead very quickly.

The funeral was exceedingly short, considering only two family members and two friends came. Her parents came, along with Griffin and Mrs. Mentzel. The gravediggers, and preacher were there too, obviously.

Once the gravedigger did his job, Griffin jumped into the grave. The casket wasn’t even put in yet. “She wanted me to die for her, so I will do what Hamlet didn’t have the balls to do. I will be buried alive with her.”

“Under her?” The gravedigger questioned. “I mean it may be more comfortable to die on top of the casket.”

“No, I want to be crushed into oblivion because of her, it was at my hand she died. I want it to be at her hand I die.” Griffin responded.

He laid down, closed his eyes and thought of her.

“What in the holy hell are you thinking, Griffin?” Mrs. Mentzel exclaimed. “I told you to leave her alone so a good kid like you wouldn’t die or lose his mind to a crazy girl like her!”

“I am saving myself from the pain of her loss and the guilt.” He responded.

“Get him out of there!” Mrs. Mentzel yelled to one of the gravediggers.

Griffin was assisted out of the grave. He dusted himself off. He shook the dirt out of his hair.

“I really hope she didn’t pass on her crazy to you. Sweetheart, don’t reference Hamlet when you are setting yourself up to be Ophelia. Don’t make her insanity drive you insane.” Mrs. Mentzel started

“But I could’ve saved her…” Griffin interrupted.

“But you needed to save yourself. In those last moments, that wasn’t Serenity. Her insanity took over. The girl we had known was already dead and being taken over by pure insanity. My husband died a couple of years ago. I picked myself up, dusted myself off and became the first black Jew I know. I found my lovely current husband sitting beside me in my synagogue. I wake up every morning and I am happier than when I was with my old husband. I feel even better I am alive. Just believe Griffin. I know you can believe in her. I saw you do it for her, now do it for you.” In all the years Mrs. Mentzel had been a guidance counselor she had never given such an inspirational speech.

Griffin nodded. He nodded a bit quicker. “Yeah, I can survive. I still have my whole life ahead of me. I will need professional help to do so, but still!”

“That’s the spirit and I will do it for free.” She exclaimed.

Griffin smiled. “If you could handle Serenity, you can handle me.” He responded.

Mrs. Mentzel helped him through, and even gave him a golden retriever puppy to keep him company. Griffin named it Blondie for her blonde fur and her wagging of her tail whenever a Blondie song came on the radio.

Griffin never ended up finding anyone else other than Serenity, but he raised a good size golden retriever family with Blondie. He got another dog so the two could have puppies, which they did, multiple times. The puppies were like his children. Whenever any of the dogs died, he would have a short service burying the ashes, and say a bit about the dog. He kept doing this (the dogs had many generations by this point) for fifty years. He was sixty-seven when he died. He was seventeen when the love of his life died before his very eyes. He was a survivor.

He was a survivor and she was competent. Together they would’ve made a lovely couple, if only she stayed out of the rain. Just keep this in mind, couples. None of this would’ve happened if they just stayed out of the rain.