Serendipity & the Serpent

Back To The Future (Epilogue)

You knew that you wanted to write about him, but didn't know how to execute such a daunting task properly. You wanted to honor him the best way you could, but felt as though you fell short every time. All of your ideas ran your imagination dry, and for quite sometime, you had fallen into a deep slump.

When you first saw Johnny at the grave, you remembered the feeling of your heart stopping completely. You hadn't seen him in decades, and there he was placing roses upon a gravestone.

You remembered hearing your heart beat pounding in your ears, your legs trembling, and your throat suddenly becoming dry. You heard the shakiness in your breath as you called out his name.

And when he looked at you, it was almost as if you fell in love all over again.

You remember the feeling of time stopping in its tracks when he looked at you. It was six years ago, but you still remember the moment as if it were yesterday.

He told you that he had visited Mr. Miyagi's grave every year on the anniversary of the All Valley tournament. He said it was the only way he could think of paying his respects for saving your life and his own that night. You admired this simple quality about him greatly, immediately feeling the rush of love overwhelm your senses the way it had when you were teenagers.

And while honoring your sensei, Johnny took the time to share his news on John Kreese, who had passed away shortly before you arrived to town. The information saddened you, knowing that you would never have the chance to redeem an uncle and niece bond. There was no relationship to salvage. You hadn't seen him since the night of the tournament, and you expected him or Terry Silver to show up in your life again someday, but they never did.

Reflecting on that moment, you also recalled an extensive exchange of story telling, filling each other in over the years you missed out on together. The two of you went out on various occasions just to talk and catch up. Most of these interactions of course, started by simply running into him at the grocery store, or even the gas station. The setting did not matter, what counted was that time continued to push you two together.

There were a lot of differences between the two of you now. Where you were financially, how well you took care of yourselves, and so on. Johnny told you about his past relationships, and also about his son, who unfortunately, was not in the picture. In exchange, he begged you to tell him about your life in New York City, and what it was like to be chasing your dreams.

But underneath it all, you were still just two kids in love back then.

And now, six years after reuniting, it was safe to say that feeling was still mutual.

You pulled your car into the strip mall parking lot. After you put it in park, you gathered your things from the passenger's seat, including your song journal. As you walked, you fluttered through all of your pieces, finding the most fragile and delicate page.

It took quite some time to overcome your writer's block, but nonetheless, you persevered. There was a certain collection of songs in particular that you had been working on during your six years of living in California once again. You hoped that one day, you could develop an album.

The lyrics, harmonies, and melodies all represented your emotions from the first day you stepped foot onto the California sand, up until your pencil would stop scribbling. You played all of the instruments for the tracks, including the baby blue guitar that Johnny had bought you, which would be considered vintage now. It was about your trials, your triumphs, and your sense of self understanding ever since you were thrown into a situation that changed your life completely. It was a coming of age delicacy, it was your story, one that you hoped to share with the world.

There were so many songs, all of which would come together to combine a lengthy discography. Seventy-one of them to be exact.

But there was one final epic that you wanted to conquer. The seventy-second piece in your history.

The epilogue.

You were a sucker for storytelling, it was what you most desired with your music. You let your mind drift to all of the possibilities as you pulled open the glass door in front of you, the sound of a bell ringing overhead as you stepped inside the confides of the building. Shouts of kids and young adults echoed into the space. As you pushed your pen behind your ear, you could even see them out of the corner of your eye, launching their punches forward.

You found yourself leaning against the white wall in the back, sinking to the ground as you stared at your empty page within the bounded leather of your journal. There was no easy way to conclude six years worth of song writing, all of which fit together like a puzzle piece, telling a story.

Letting your mind rest, you flickered your gaze upward and examined the scene before you.

The new Cobra Kai dojo was a place for children to defend themselves, learn to grow in confidence, and find a welcoming family and home. Sensei Lawrence wanted to bring it back for the better, giving it a good name.

And as you watched him stand at the front of the class, guiding his students with their punches, you grinned to yourself as he directed his left fist forward. The late afternoon sun leaked into the blinds, casting a perfectly blinding glow on his golden wedding band.

The gleam of it matched the sparkle in your eyes, the feeling of utmost joy and bliss filled your senses.

And when you looked back down at your journal, you took a moment to admire the ring on your finger that matched.

Time brought you back together as husband and wife, the two of you being each other's happy endings.

As you expressed the adoration of the ring, and the way it twinkled in the glistening California sunlight, an idea struck you. A title for your last and final piece.

You had found it amazing, and quite amusing, how time always seemed to find you. Whether you were hiding from love, or love happened to be hiding from you, time ignored your barriers. You put up your walls, trying to deny the tension, but it was useless and no match for such a massive element. At the end of the day, the clocks continued to turn, and everything was as intended. Even after all of these years, time brought you back to Johnny Lawrence.

You see, it didn't matter what you considered a happy ending, just as long as he was in it. It was simply by chance that he found you, and a great leap of faith that the bridge between you both had not collapsed under the weight and pressure of space and time. The two of you were like stardust, what once seemed small became a great source of light in your life.

And to think, it all started with a blonde boy giving you directions.

You had told Johnny long ago on the shores of a California beach, that nothing in your relationship was expected, however it turned out more splendid then you could have ever imagined. You wouldn't have changed your story with that Cobra for anything.

Confidence washed over you, a settling feeling covering your shoulders like a blanket of warmth. From the front of the class, Johnny caught your eye and sent a wink in your direction. Even after all this time, your stomach still filled with butterflies. With a smile, you directed your eyes back down to the empty page in your journal. And with an exhale of contentment, your hand guided the pencil across the blank canvas, your calligraphy flowing effortlessly from the tip as you wrote the title of your final song...

Serendipity & the Serpent