Free The Shards of Serenity by Yusuf Blanton

and a few more tears, I realized I had nothing left to lose. My ex-husband was dead, my step-father was in jail for life, my grandfather was locked away for dementia, my mother had followed an Egyptian man back to his country, and realistically, things had been over between Markus and me for some time. At least trying to get one of those things back would be a comfort, if even possible.
    The phone rang three times, before eventually I heard his baritone voice answer with a sexy light rasp. “Hello?”
    “Hello Markus, this is Serenity.”
    “The Serenity?! Serenity Davis?! Hold on, my heart’s palpitating. I’m gonna have to lie down for this one.”
    “You’re funny, Markus. But, yes. How are you?”
    Our conversation rolled on for two hours, as I shivered on the park bench and exchanged life information. I told him about what happened that fateful night, the amount of in-patient counseling I endured to stabilize myself, and my living situation in a women’s group home.
    “That’s great, Serenity. Are you happy there?”
    “I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the word, Markus, but I’m getting better. I didn’t have a bite to eat for twenty days after the trauma. They’ve got me back up to two meals a day which is good for now.”
    “Good for you - that’s amazing! So, we should get together sometime. Maybe for coffee?” he proposed, seemingly never shocked by my oversized baggage.
    “Coffee would be great, Markus. But, I’ve got to be home by nine o’ clock. My facility has a curfew,” I giggled, hoping the laughter would mask my embarrassment.
    “No problem. I’ll pick you up in two hours, and have you back well before the evening sets in.”
    “Okay, Markus. I’ll see you then.”
     
    As the phone clicked off, I experienced an overwhelming mix of excitement and reluctance. I knew Markus was the man my heart desired, and a part of me felt whole knowing there’d be another opportunity to build a future. But, another part of me - one tangled in doubt, damage, and paranoia - had me feeling as though “love” was beyond my human capability.
    If my stay at the group home had made one thing clear, it was that my mental condition was one of fragility. While formally waking up to the smell of coffee, work, and a busy schedule had maintained a sense of social normalcy in my life; waking up every day to women with shattered dreams, sleepless nights, and psychological diagnoses had yielded the opposite result especially when I realized I was no better or more well-adjusted than the worst of them. For the past months, my days had been spent in grueling therapy sessions where my full energy was exercised trying to articulate the memories that tortured my soul.
    Before allowing the unease to become a dysfunctional form of hysteria, I decided to brush myself off and get ready for my meeting with Markus. Although I knew the chance of failure outweighed the national trend of obesity; I had to at least give things another shot. Too much of my life had been stripped away from me involuntarily. Although perhaps haphazard, ill-prepared, or pessimistically executed; this was my attempt at regaining a fundamental part of my life.

CHAPTER TWENTY
    MARKUS GLENN

Serenity and I eventually did get back together after a six month break that nearly had me relapsing back into my bachelor ways. Just like our first time together - she filled my sense of emptiness with happiness, desires with passion, and loneliness with company. However, the transition from ‘something’ to ‘nothing’, back to ‘something’, was eventually too much to bare. We tried to pick up where we left off, as a couple that was happily engaged and had the future in our hands. But, the realities of her group home commitment stopped us from being able to plan anything. We tried going back to square one, and building a foundation of positive memories. But, her general distaste for the male gender seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times; whether