Serenity's Dreams

Chapter 1

Recollection.

Monday's are my favorite days. You get to shake off the too long weekend, forget all the nonsense and drama of the week before, take a fresh look at a clean slate and get back to work! For some reason, this morning I felt like taking a walk. It was ten and I was a little hungry, so I left my office. Walking down the hall and out another door that seperated the Empoyees Only area from the rest of the building, I paused and took a deep breath, looking around.

There was almost never a time when I walked out those doors and didn't stop dead in my tracks to stare. I had built this place with my buisness partner almost five years ago and it had taken off better than I ever dared hope. A Health club and Luxury Spa, this facility was part gym, part spa, with a dash of healthy cafe and extensive library. The locker rooms were also widley apreciated as one of the sleekest accets of Shades of Serenity. But she wasn't a Health Club to me. Serenity was my baby. She was all I'd ever wanted to do with my life, since I was a teenager. The high ceiling and sky lights were letting in a soft midmorning sunlight and I gazed across the open smooth marble floor to the cafe, smelling roasted tomato soup from here.

The Library entrance was the double doors about fifty feet to my left along the wall. They were wide open. I thought about going and seeing my Brother, our Librarian, but after a second's hesitation I figured he wasn't hungry. He almost never was. Or, if he was, he never did anything about it. The archway in the wall byeond that as the room curved led to the front lobby. One of the Membership Reps was standing on the threshold with a young couple, intent wonder on their faces. I smiled, seeing that they were well on their way to falling in love with this place before their tour even begain. I headed straight across the open space, thinking about food when my ear piece beeped.

I sighed. 'Out of the office two minutes...' I thought, reaching up to click a button.

"Beca." I answered.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had that proposal for the Winston Account?"

"It's all but spell-checked. You'll have it by noon."

"Wonderful, and how does it look?"

"Well, Chistina, I think you'll see when it arives on your desk. What are you in the middle of?"

"I was thinking I would break, actually. Wanna get a snack?"

I grinned. "What to do want?" I stepped into line behind a member as she ordered a salad. She was rail-thin, something I didn't encourage in my proffessional opinion, but dispite Serenity's code of balance...... Well, balance looks different to different people and that's balance in and of itself.

"A grilled beef and cheese sandwhich sounds amazing."

"I'll order. Meet me on the deck in ten." The woman in front of me swiped her membership card to put the meal on her account and thanked the order-taker. I took her place at the counter and smiled. "How are you Jason?"

"Hey! are you already at the cafe?!" I clicked my ear piece off and Jason smiled back. He was a good kid, just seventeen, but pretty mature.

"Well this morning. Better than yesterday."

I raised an eyebrow. "What happened yesterday?"

"I didn't have to work." His smile was light and joking, but there was soming sad under there. I knew he had dropped out of highschool and was taking a few comunity college classes. His dad was all the more family he had, but I got the impression that no mater how kind Jason was, the two of them didn't really get along. I chose my words.