Serenity (Forever Book 1)

by India R. Adams

Jolene’s refusal to answer is the answer.

  Josh grabs his mouth. “No!”

  Looks like another baby girl has been deflowered.

  Skyler drags me out of the house as Jolene and Dereck fight Josh for his phone.

  “That son of a bitch, he—my baby—Freako Train—give me my damn phone!”

  I love Josh making a big deal of it, as he did with me. Sky giggles, saying she loves it, too. It helps make the monumental act feel as if it was truly Skyler’s first time. In our hearts, it is.

  Sky links arms with me as we walk to where her mom’s car is parked. She’s beaming. “It was wonderful, Serenity. Everything Roc promised it would be. How can someone so big be so kind and gentle?”

  My head leans on hers. “I’m so happy for you.”

  She pauses then says, “Serenity, I told the police.”

  I stop walking and look at her with nothing but unquestionable pride.

  Sky shrugs. “It’s nothing, really. It’s been so long, but Roc thought it would help me… ya know… heal.”

  Her strength astonishes me. “Did it?”

  Her eyes well. “It did. Roc took me in to the station, and I filed a report. They told me I was brave, even after all this time. And that it was the right thing to do. They’ll watch out for someone of his description and try to keep other women safe.”

  My arms fly around her in a heartfelt rush. “Oh, Sky. What a role model you are. I want to be Skyler O’Donnell when I grow up.” I walk her across the quiet street, but before I put her in her mom’s car, I have to hug her one more time. I’m so freaking proud of her!

  We’re holding each other as she says, “I love my life, Serenity.”

  I burst into tears, because yes, Skyler O’Donnell is awesome, and healing from some old, devastating heart injuries. That’s why it makes no sense when the car hits us. No noise comes as it crashes into us. The front of the car pushes our legs out from under us. No headlights, no warning at all. The shock keeps any pain from registering in my body or heart. Skyler and I roll onto the hood, smashing into the windshield.

  More than just glass is shattering. Our lives are, too.

  The two of us stay as one while we roll over the roof of the car. Flipping through the air feels so unnatural for me. I see Skyler, a glimpse of the car, Skyler, and then the concrete that we can’t avoid. Still clinging to one another, we slam onto the road. I can actually hear it when delicate skin meets the ground at such speed.

  Stunned. I’m so jarred that I’m not sure which reality I’m in. Is it the one where Sky is finally finding closure from unspeakable trauma, or is it the one where we’re finding closure of a whole different kind? In shock, I’m not sure whether the car is now driving through the yard or circling to come back to where it was before hitting us.

  Begging my mind to comprehend what just happened, I open my eyes. My angel is staring at me, her blue eyes waiting for me. We lie on our sides, mirroring each other. Our legs rest on one another like we’re simply in bed, snuggling as we love to do. There are no questions in her eyes, as I’m sure she sees in mine. I think it’s because of the kind, gentle, invisible presence behind her, reassuring Sky that everything will be okay.

  There’s no struggle except for her body trying to pull in air. I will my body to get up and help my dear friend, but no movement occurs. The communication between my body and mind is severed. All I can do is watch her watch me. So that is what I do.

  She is timeless. “Serenity?”

  “Yes, Sky,” I quietly choke out, sensing doom as never before.

  Her fingers painfully drag her hand to mine. “I love you.”

  I find comfort in her touch. My eyes well. “I love you, Sky.”

  “They’re telling me, I… won’t leave you.” She struggles to swallow.

  My fingers try to grasp her but falter with such a simple task. “I don’t want you to.”

  I know she is, though.

  “Jasmine—Jasmine… Serenity.”

  Her mind is slipping away.

  Tears fall on the street. I begin to beg for mercy. “Please, Sky—don’t go.”

  Her eyes don’t see me anymore. “Goodbye, my sweet.”

  Just like that, my childhood friend, my Skyler, is gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Heaven and Hell

  Numb.

  The engine of the car that hit us still runs when I hear the door creak open.

  I am numb.

  Sky and I quietly lie in the road, as if placed there in order to flow with traffic. There is no traffic, though. Just Sky, myself, and whoever is slowly approaching. Blood, her blood, races to me, to blanket me. To show me that the glow that made her shine so bright is never to be seen again. The cold night makes it possible for me not to see the vapor as her warmth drains from her lifeless body.

  My will, my will to live is slipping from me.

  A shadow of a young man moves as a familiar muffler rumbles in the distance. Approaching headlights begin to glisten in the red wetness that now consumes me, my whole body, my soul. I am not afraid of the driver. He has done all the damage possible. Skyler is gone.

  The young man runs away. I hear Rocco’s concerned voice as he walks around the car at our feet. “Josh, wait, I think someone’s hurt.” Rocco is still on the phone with my Pops, being teased and harassed for bringing joy to the one who is no longer with us. It’s like a dream state to know all this before my friends do. “Hey,” Roc says to the one running away. “You can’t leave—”

  Rocco’s heavy steps vibrate in my ears—along with his screams. “Josh! It’s the girls!” He drops to his knees behind Sky, and for some reason, my ears begin to ring, shutting out all noises. How his presence is changing my physical state, I don’t know, but it is. Though, I don’t have to be able to hear to know someone is shouting in absolute horror. I see it in the way Rocco’s neck strains and his cheeks quiver, his lips violently twisting as he tries to speak the awful words. A cell no longer in his hands, he leans over Sky, placing his hand between us to examine us closer. He touches me, saying something I can’t hear, but when he sees he has left blood on my face, his expression is the most horrific one I have ever witnessed.

  More tremors of frantic footfalls vibrate through my body. The Crew is running toward us, toward destruction. Rocco’s shaking, bloodied hand turns to show what can only be described as… death.

  Dereck’s knees hit the ground behind me. The silk blanket, his bright white shield, fights its way around my cold body. With its protection, I have my first care—my first desire to survive this. Dereck’s face hovers over mine. I’m aware I’m unable to move. I know I’m still staring into my best friend’s hazed-over eyes. But what I didn’t realize is that I have stopped breathing. Not until Dereck yells, “Breathe! Serenity, pull in air…”

  His words echo in the tunnel I’m trapped in.

  “Now!”

  I do as he demands and force air into my lungs, causing excruciating pain to parts of my inner body.

  “Yes! Do it again.”

  But it hurts.

  “Baby Doll, now!”

  I inhale, enduring the fires burning me from the inside out. I feel as if my mind is running from me, like Sky’s blood from her body.

  “Oh God, that’s my girl. Keep breathing. Help is coming.”

  My eyes close… My head slightly moves, and I open my eyes. Skyler’s open palm is now lying in front of my face. Josh and Rocco had rolled her to her back, and that somehow jolted me in the process. Examining her fingers, they look deformed, battered, and crushed—my eyes close. No, no, no… Her hand was under my head. I hurt her hand! My eyes open to study my own limp hand lying between us. It is unharmed compared to her mutilated—I close my eyes. No, no, no…

  I feel all the pain in
the hearts of my loved ones, so I reopen my eyes, trying to stay present so they have only one Shorty to worry about. Josh’s lips are curled, his face is red, and his tears fall to Sky as he performs CPR on her. Jolene is beside him, crying into her cell phone while relaying information. Skyler’s open eyes stare at the Wise One pressing on her chest, fighting for her life, but I know she no longer sees him. So much blood is running from the now-evident injury to her head that I’m enraged with myself for not sacrificing my hand as she did for me. How can one tiny palm change the outcome of who lives and who dies? I want to curl into a ball and scream from the agony ripping through me, but I can’t. My body is useless, refusing my every command.

  My eyes close…

  “Serenity, breathe!”

  My eyes open as the air I no longer want forces its way inside me. I wish Dereck would just let me go. Then I wouldn’t have to see her blond hair being lifted from her blood. Rocco has hysterically pulled her from the street that took her life, leaving a stunned Josh on the ground. Jolene follows Teddy Bear, touching Skyler as Rocco cradles the limp body to his chest. They huddle and scream to the lifeless…

  My eyes try to close again, but Josh is suddenly in front of me, kneeling in Skyler’s blood, yelling something to me. I study his lips.

  “Fight!”

  He’s demanding I fight, but I don’t want to. The need to follow Skyler is a necessity. My heart says so. I guess the decision isn’t mine to make.

  Dereck’s focused voice is in my ear. “Breathe. Breathe.”

  My eyes close as my lungs pull in air, against my wishes.

  His tears fall on my face. “Thank you. Good girl. Just keep breathing.”

  My eyes open to those damn blue and red lights that I have vowed to never see again. They have shined off my house, my new home with Dereck, the ambulance as my husband was driven away, and now off my friends. Josh is grabbing Rocco’s shoulders while begging and pleading for him to release Skyler to the officers surrounding them. Teddy Bear becomes a gut-wrenching animal in the wild, refusing to let her go. A paramedic flashes a pen light in my eyes, temporarily obliterating my view of the god-awful scene. When I can see again, Josh is holding Sky, and Rocco is on the ground with several officers forcefully holding him there. Jolene crumbles to the ground as Josh gently lays Skyler on the waiting stretcher. Paramedics work feverishly on my friend.

  My eyes close…

  Destiny and I are in darkness, watching a single candle burn between us. I cannot hear the sounds surrounding my body outside my dream, but I can feel the pain of Losing Sky. I—can’t live without her—

  “You won’t be,” Destiny gently says.

  “I’m going to die?” I ask with hope.

  “No, but she is with you.”

  Destiny is mistaken. This spiritual creature doesn’t understand. The flame between us begins to grow. She says, “The flame is like you.” The fire builds and builds. Destiny studies me, the flame reflecting in her eyes. As the flame continues to grow, it becomes so bright, everything goes white—

  My eyes open as my body jolts over bumps in the road. The ambulance siren blares. A frantically working paramedic yells, “I got her back.”

  Dereck’s face is soaked with tears, his palm on my forehead. The relief in his eyes is palpable. “There she is,” he says. “Keep breathing.” His expression speaks volumes. If I die, Dereck Hamilton will die.

  My dry throat scratches as I whisper, “I’m a flame.”

  My eyes close…

  The stretcher races fast through a hospital hallway. Dereck runs with us, holding my hand, watching me. My stomach suddenly leaps from my body. Dereck faces me in a hurry. “She’s going to throw up.”

  Before we come to a complete stop, I heave my dinner all over myself.

  Dereck forces my body to the side while being told, “Sir, don’t move her!”

  “She will choke, goddamn it!”

  He’s right. I’m gagging on Faith’s homemade ravioli. Once I’m breathing again, I’m rushed down the hall, feeling so drained that my eyes close…

  In a white, vast space—no walls or confinement of any kind—I hear humming. Although there is a spirit before me, I can’t remember how I know this. But a knowing, a trust has me asking the one who hums, “Where am I?”

  It’s as though nothing exists but this transit of sorts. Even though there is no floor to stand upon, a woman draped in a dark covering steps out from behind me and answers, “Where you need to be.”

  “Will I be staying here?”

  Her smile, calm and gentle, brings a sensation. I believe it is called a… memory.

  “No, my Sugar Plum. In fact, it is time for you to search for the light that belongs with yours.”

  “How?”

  She whispers, “Listen.”

  Somehow, I know this word well. What I hear is a faint plea. “Come back to me.”

  A pull—a recognition tugs on me. The covered one gestures for me to follow this tug. I grab her hand, relishing the tingling throughout my fingers.

  “I’m coming to you,” she says, pointing again.

  I release her and travel through energy with much love and knowing till I’m stepping through a film of blindness. As I do, a longing returns. Me… I am someone. He, the one I’m searching for, he’s a someone, too. A path of blue light presents itself, so I take steps toward the someone I now need. As I walk, his memory passes through me. Dereck. Now knowing what I’m missing, I run toward it, faster and faster, seeking his hold.

  “I think she’s waking up” comes from a distance.

  It’s him. Run faster.

  “I’m here. Waiting for you. Come back to me.”

  A beaming light—a beacon—is right in front of me now. “Heaven?”

  A voice trembles. “No, baby. Just me.”

  The arms that can pull me from anywhere engulf my body. His hair caresses me as my face is placed on his shoulder. He holds me, and his divine smell and warmth have me sighing in bliss. “Heaven.”

  Dereck is fighting emotions. “You’re my heaven.”

  I inhale him. “I was looking for you.”

  He gently lays me back down, touching my face. “You found me. You always do.”

  A doctor and nurse rush in behind Faith, who must have gone to get him. It’s Dr. Milan. “Hello, Serenity. Welcome back.”

  “Hi.” I smile at him. Nice light.

  “Who’s this standing next to me?”

  My eyes glue to her. “Faith, you have a beautiful light around you, too.”

  She graciously smiles as she bows her head. “And you, baby. And you.”

  Dr. Milan examines me. “Someone missed you.” He points at Dereck. “Who’s this who has missed you so much, Serenity?” He says my name, then studies me.

  Does he not think I know my name?

  I smile at the love of my life. “Dereck. This is Dereck, and I missed him, too.” I glance at the doc. “Michael, why am I here?”

  He’s checking my eyes with a light. “Don’t remember how you got here?” Again, he studies me.

  I shake my head but stop. A throbbing pain throughout my whole head makes me wince.

  Michael says, “That’s okay. It happens. I’m glad you remember me, though.” He looks at the nurse with a chart in her hand. “Partial short-term intact.”

  She writes something.

  Then he tells me, “You were in an accident, so we’re watching over you. Is that okay?”

  My hand touches my forehead that wants to explode. “It must have been a bad accident. My head hurts.”

  Dereck’s eyes well, telling me how concerned he is.

  I reassure him, “No worries, Dereck. Look, hot doc is on the case.”

  Dereck attempts a deep inhale
while Michael pats his shoulder. “That’s right. Didn’t know I was hot, but I’ll take what I can get. I see you’re in pain, Serenity, so we’re giving you a little something that might make you sleepy. But don’t be afraid…”

  My eyes are already closing.

  Dereck panics. “Wait, she just woke up—Serenity?”

  A beeping sound wakes me, but I can’t open my eyes. At least, I don’t seem able to at the moment. They’re heavy, almost as if drugged. My nose crinkles at the clinical smell invading my nostrils. And I’m cold. I feel empty and cold. The warm hand that grabs mine is welcome. His voice, even more so.

  “How are you?”

  “Dereck, where am I?”

  “Can you open your eyes and tell me?”

  I look around with burning eyes. I feel like that commercial, “Dry eye?” My head hurts, and I feel incredibly foggy. “Umm, a hospital?”

  His other hand lies on top of mine, already being held. He’s nervous. “That’s right. Do you know why?”

  I hesitate because I feel clueless. “N-No. I don’t know why.”

  If it’s possible for eyes to shake in their sockets, that is what Dereck’s are doing. “You were in an accident, so you’re resting at this hospital.”

  “Did I wreck Blue Bonnet?” He swallows hard. I gasp. “Sky? Is she okay?”

  Dereck’s trembling hand points next to me. “Did you see the pink roses over there? Cali and Chloe brought them for you.”

  A beautiful, over-the-top bouquet of flowers sits on a small table with stuff Dereck must have brought from home. “Dereck, they shouldn’t have, but wow, those roses are glorious.” The itching in my eyes is becoming too much. “I think I have to rest for a minute.”

  “Okay,” he whispers.

  An unfamiliar noise, like a chair scraping a hard floor, wakes me. My eyes are heavy, not wanting to open, and that’s scaring the hell out of me. Am I in a vision? Am I in danger? Something feels terribly wrong. I don’t move, hoping to be invisible. The hard mattress under me is definitely not Dereck’s. Where is he? The only thing I feel thankful for is not being cold. In fact, I feel weighed down by all the blankets on top of me.