2 Chapter 2: Sera's Dilemma

“You are one of a kind, Ms. Sera, one of a kind. You’re too good to us unfortunates. Will we see you again next week, I hope?”

Sera smiled back at the hunched over man, his arms filled with the fresh fruit she’d brought. His eyes alight with admiration and joy. Sera had to admit, there were few sights that made her happier.

“Of course! You know I come by at least once a week, Eli. You take care of yourself until then,” she assured him as she patted the mangos lovingly and turned to leave the Hastings Shelter for the Homeless. It was the last stop of her very long day.

She took off into the early evening, her feet leading her through the winding and barren scape of the the ruinous city she called home. It was a place that should have been abandoned, given up on long ago. It was difficult for most to make a life here.

Sera began her work at 7am every morning, rain or shine, usually the former. It was the motivation that kept unpleasant thoughts and worries to the back of her mind.

‘If I’m too busy to think, I’m too busy to be anxious,' she would repeat often to herself.

Sera’s greatest investment and fulfillment in life was her charity work. She found it the most gratifying experience she could have ever hoped for. Her obsession with saving lost souls started at a startlingly young age.

‘Or so my mother claims.’

The smallest most insignificant creatures, to the highly threatening dangerous beasts of mankind, both garnered her attention. It was never too late, in Sera’s opinion, to make a change. To take a chance.

It was the driving force of her entire being and she took it quite seriously.

Many, in her own circle, dubbed her as “odd.” The unfairly wealthy, unhappy and discontent with their own lives, always seemed to enjoy remarking on hers. As if they took especially vicious pleasure in taking down one of their “own.”

‘My “friends” and acquaintances feel no shame in gossiping behind my back…even sometimes to my face. They claim it's too bad that a girl gifted with beauty is wasted behind garbage and labor beneath her status.’

Sera took a deep breath, attempting to calm her rising temper. Couldn’t they see what their generational greed had done to her beloved home? Even as a child, Sera was not like the others growing up around her. She wasted no time on the frivolity and arrogance that high class society so willingly offered her.

To Sera, being born of a mother who was considered one of the most successful figures on the entire island, a real estate tycoon by her own right, was something of a hindrance.

Sera had no interest in shopping, showing off, or socialite gatherings. Plus, she found most of the people who resided in her “wealth bracket” to be duller than damp moss.

‘There’s simply no challenge in that kind of life. No pay off. No gratification in leisure when there is so much work to be done,’ she mused as she wandered the desolate city.

Having the resources to choose her own path in life led Sera to social work. She believed in it as she did the people of her city. Given, the city, really the entire island, was somewhat run down and not exactly the safest place to live but this city was hers and she would make it the very best version of itself.

Such few families controlled the wealth here, and since no one else seemed inclined to care, Sera took bettering the “whole” upon herself.

‘I will stop at nothing until there is real, significant change,’ she promised.

With that thought, Sera lifted her head a notch higher and crossed the street in search of a place to eat dinner.

She watched as evening travelers hurried on their way, either to or from work. She spotted a few children playing on the broken swings of a sad-looking playground. The regular calls of vendors advertising their goods around every street corner sung to her ears.

Sera loved exploring the city. There were winding staircases that led to nothing and old ruins placed throughout the city from a forgotten time. There was also an incredible movement of underground art amongst the decay and poverty. It was an expansive place, spread out like a giant chessboard…a city that thrived in insolation.

Sera snorted to herself, ‘It would have been considered urban 100 years ago.’

But it was magical somehow, even in its gloomy despondence. Though the sun rarely shined, and clouds made their permanent home over the fog-ridden terrain, the city still breathed life. Sera always seemed to stumble across a hidden gem that made her feel as if she’d been transported to another realm.

She was a perpetual dreamer.

She often ate alone and enjoyed it that way. Growing up on a large estate with a single parent who was often working or away on business, made childhood quite lonely. Sera never blamed her mother for her drive, it was she, from whom Sera acquired her ferociously passionate spirit.

Hestia Hastings did everything in her power to make sure their small family was comfortable enough for their next seven lives. Years ago, Sera made the mistake of asking about her father. Her mother burst into tears at the very question and so Sera never brought him up again.

‘But life is good. I cannot complain.’

Her mother had endured sleepless years and time away from her only child in order to secure their future. Sera, in turn, promised to put their wealth to good use and Hestia allowed her the freedom to do so.

‘Well, until now’.

Sera’s smile fell from her face as she turned down a narrow alley littered with trash. She spotted a few homeless people huddled under blankets and perched outside of tents. A woman and her small child sped past, barely glancing in Sera's direction.

Sera's mind wandered in a way that allowed her feet to choose their own direction. This was a regular occurrence as Sera tended to be as absent-minded as she was fierce. The spontaneity and curiosity that dwelt in her soul could not be curbed. Her kind smile and warm, welcoming presence put even the most bitter of humans at ease.

Her mysterious violet eyes were always burning with an unasked question. She always wondered about the color of her eyes. She suspected it was a rare gene. In her mind, this distinction had allowed her to separate herself from the rest, from the accepted norm.

It gave her wild thoughts that maybe she was meant for something extraordinary. Her gaze turned East, out towards the rumored marshlands...it was supposedly a mystical place. After all, she’d grown up hearing stories about those filled with fantastical powers. The ones, in the not so distant past, that had been a part of this world and had wielded great magic.

That was long before Sera was born, but she always found herself fantasizing, gravitating towards the ancient and unknown. She felt excitement even though these creatures had not been seen for quite sometime...

‘It is a real possibility that they are out there. Hidden but not forgotten. Waiting, for someone like me, to discover them.’

The last of the rush-hour crowd made their way past Sera. She briefly imagined schools of fish swimming upstream while she fought her way against the current in the opposite direction. The afternoon sun was turning itself a deep red as it disappeared behind the massive “Hastings Apartments” at the Northern edge of the city limits. A lonely and unforgiving place. A chill ran down her spine as the wind blew a coating of dust, as unattainable as the past, in her direction. In that moment, Sera realized it was her own heart that was feeling heavy tonight.

‘Five years. I haven’t seen him in 1,825 days.’

Not since their massive fight outside the courtroom, minutes before he was sentenced. He’d looked at her with desperation, pure devastation. It had taken every inch of her courage to remain unaffected and strong as his brilliant cobalt eyes pleaded for her to believe him. Sera cringed, her face burning as she thought back to that day.

'Our last day together.'

The man who had been her closest friend, the only person in their circle that she thought understood her, even liked her. He praised her work in charity, even supported her by showing up and taking interest in each of her causes…

‘What happened? Where did it all go wrong? And who is he now?’ she wondered.

There was no telling what five years of prison could do to a man, especially one who was accustomed to an extremely privileged and luxurious life.

‘Will I even recognize him? Can I trust him again after he committed such a pointless crime?'

She still couldn’t wrap her head around it even after all this time.

Sera gazed at her surroundings, realizing she wandered into familiar territory. She passed a strip of several small businesses that closed months ago. The boarded up windows and peeling paint were like daggers to her heart.

'The city really is getting worse despite my unrelenting efforts to patch it up.'

Sera’s steps felt heavier and heavier with each city block she slapped, the buildings becoming more and more distanced, as if life was slowly trickling off the map on this side of town. Sera wandered aimlessly, mulling over her complicated personal life.

Several pairs of keen, red eyes watched her from the interior of the dark and dank buildings she passed. Sera took no notice, her thoughts consumed with the work she still had to complete.

‘The restoration and expansion of the homeless shelter, plan the charity gala,” she recited each task in her head.

Sera glanced at a rotting billboard with faded lettering. A handsome man with a wicked grin stared back at her, the words unreadable beneath his face. It reminded her again of the man she was promised to.

‘You're torturing yourself, stop it.’ she chided.

He would be released from prison any day now and the prospect of having a face to face conversation with him was unbelievably nerve wrecking. Especially since she’d not visited him once or responded to any of the letters that he sent. For five years, he wrote to her once a week. Sera knew that soon she would no longer be able to put it off. This was the only thing her mother ever asked of her in Sera’s entire life:

‘Give herself to Lonny.’

Sera’s overwhelming sense of being trapped was quickly dispelled from her mind as her gaze connected with a small and shabby diner set back off the sidewalk. She narrowed her eyes as she spied the sign in the window. The diner...

'Fish n Chips.' Yes she knew it.

It had been here for as long as she could remember. Not once had Sera chosen to eat here, but in the moment, that was not really her focus. No, for it was the first time she noticed the diner was organizing a food drive.

‘I must have walked by here a hundred times…I’ve never seen a sign before, surely I would have…’

Sera pulled herself from her musings and strode purposely towards the front door. She yanked it open with the intent to banish all problems from her mind.

‘Time to put myself to work.’