Serender: The Accidental Super Villain

Chapter 11

    Serender turned her attention to the television. She held her breath as she watched people across the many coasts mindlessly walk towards the direction of the island. She could still hear the loud crashes of air crafts against the force field. The covered her mouth with her hands. "Did I do this? Why was the..." Serender looked over at her mom. She was so consumed by the terror of seeing the the explosions she didn't realize how her mom looked like she was clinging to her last thread of life.

"Mom? What...what's wrong?"Serender finally asked.

Xander cradled Aiosha in his arms and kissed her forehead. The screams from the chaos filled the news. Stations in the affected area went off the air and other's picked up where they left off.

"I know you noticed already. " Aiosha whispered, then pointed at Serender's heart. 

"You feel it right? The strength of your song has gotten so strong. You probably didn't notice you were singing until it was too late. That song was my last song. I tried to hold on to it for as long as I could." Aiosha's breaths had become shorter and her voice lower.

    "The moment you sang the last word, I died. I'm sure of it.  That's why the shield was down. I'm not complaining though. I'm glad I was given these last few minutes or hours to say my goodbyes." 

Xander rocked back and forth with Aiosha on his lap. "You don't have to say anything to me. You are my everything. I took one look at you and I knew.. You were my destiny. " Xander's tears flowed from his eyes and his nose. 

    Serender pushed her mother's hair out of her face then kissed her forehead. "I'm the worst. Maybe I shouldn't have been born. I ruined your beautiful life." 

"Honey, you are our beautiful life. You and your dad gave me the strength to live this long. Don't ever think you took anything from us. I love you so much."

"How long is this going to continue?" Serender asked while whimpering.

"This could last until the last person on earth dies or it could last 3 days. I don't know." Aiosha said to Serender.

"I think you should grab some of your favorite things, along with something to remember us by." Xander placed his hand on Serender's shoulder and said.

"Wait..What?"

"Honey, steady yourself and do as I ask." 

Serender slowly stood up and back pedaled towards her bedroom. She could barely see through her tears. "This may be the last time I see my parents." She repeatedly thought. She wanted so badly for her gut feeling to be wrong but she knew her mother was dying but she didn't know it was because of their curse.

    Serender gather several pictures of her mom and dad along with a necklace they gifted her for her 12th birthday. She picked up her water proof backpack and filled it with clothes. She didn't have any shoes but after all was said and done she might not need any of it.

    When she walked back into the dining area,  her dad continued to tentatively watch the news. 

"Oh no." Xander sat forward with his mouth agape. The president of the United States had come on the TV.

"We have pinpointed the origin of the sound causing this massive hypnotic disturbance. We have our bomber heading in that direction. We do not expect additional casualties. Unfortunately most people in the vicinity have already perished. May God help us all."

Sirens blared throughout the country. 

"Serender!!! Get to the treasure trove NOW!" Xander screamed.

"Daddy NO!"  Serender yelled back unable to contain her deep sadness.

"Honey there's no way I would be able to fly fast enough to escape the blast. I want to spend my last minutes with your mother. Do you understand? We need you to live."

"Daddy!" Serender continued to cry then she looked down at her mother. She had already passed away but her dad was still holding her limp body. 

Her heart sank into her chest. She felt like she was drowning in the deepest depths of despair. "Go NOW!"

Serender snapped out of her trance and hugged and kissed her dad. She threw her back pack and ran full speed towards the ocean. Xander held his wife as he watched the war head leave its silo. Then he looked back at his wife's calm face. She was finally able to rest. "Don't go too far, my love.  I will be there soon. Wait for me" .

    Serender jumped into the water. She wasn't even sure she could turn into her siren form. If her mom hadn't drilled the location of the trove into her head over the past 10 years, she wouldn’t know exactly where to go. [Mommy...] In the midst of her sadness she had reached the entrance to the trove. Not only that but she was also in her siren form. It was like breathing, it came naturally.  

    She maneuvered through the darkness. She could feel the treasure calling to her. She could also feel a heightened anxiety telling her danger was coming. She swam through the caverns at top speed. When she finally arrived at the security point. She pushed her finger into the hole and the cave slightly shook. She felt a needle poke the tip of her finger and the cave opened for her.

She quickly went in and  the door closed behind her.

Serender floated in a small dark room. “I don’t remember anything about this.” She whispered to herself. Soon the water started to drain out of the room. Her legs reformed  while a door opened to her left.  As she walked through the door before she could take in the enormity of the treasures in the room, the island shook violently. Her connection with her dad was gone. “Daddy!” She screamed at the top of her lungs and fell to her knees in a pile of gold coins. 

She laid on the coins in the fetal position as the ceiling continued to rock back and forth. She was  now officially alone in this world.

After the rumbling and shifting died down, her tears continued to flow. She couldn’t catch her breath and debated if she wanted to.  Her dad told her he needed her to live. “Why though?” She whimpered. She could feel a storm brewing in her heart, a song of violence but filled with yearning. A yearning that could only be tamed by the death of the rest of the human population starting with the president of the United States of a f*****g America. The person who sentenced her father to death, to die in an inferno holding her beloved mothers cold body. 

Serender’s cries echoed in the seemingly infinite caves.  It felt like hours had passed when she finally unclenched her body. She turned onto her knees slightly slipping on the coins beneath her. There were  mountains of currency, gems, jewelry, paintings and other random things including a whole pirate ship covering the floors of the cavern.

“This is why mom could always get what I needed.” She said to herself. Then the realization that her library was gone caused anger to surge within her again.When she took several steps into the vastness her heart pounded hard. She could sense her mother. [But how?} She started looking around the cavern. There was something there that her mother had to have imbued with her siren powers. She walked deeper into the cavern following her heart. Has she decided on which way to turn, her fluttering heart became accompanied by butterflies in her stomach? She stopped to take a breath. The feeling was becoming overwhelming. The closer she got to the item the more her heart jumped and raced in anticipation. “What is it? Where is it? Mom?” she whispered into the darkness.

Out the corner of her eyes she located a podium holding a letter that floated in a beam of light. She made haste towards the letter. It smelled like her mother. She hand beautifully signed Serender’s name on the front of it. 

“When did she make time to bring this down here.” Serender opened the letter and read it.  The first two pages were rules to survive against all odds in the world. The next page was directly from her. She apologized for not telling her that she was ill and went on to talk about seeing Serender grow up. Serender spent most of the time clearing tears from her eyes. At the end her mom and dad had signed the letter with love.

    Serender sat on the ground next to the podium,  she knew it would be irresponsible to go back to the surface. The bomb used by the American president would have a super high radiation signature. The events of the days had worn her heart and body thin. She closed her eyes and floated off to sleep.