Silver stepped out from behind the wheel of his trademark metallic silver Lotus slammed the door shut and locked it behind him, pressing a button on his key chain to activate his car alarm. He turned away from the vehicle, and faced the one place in the world where he had always managed to feel secure. The New York City Museum of Art. As he began walking up the gargantuan marble stairs leading to the front door, he recalled how, over all the past years, this immense old building had always offered him a haven. He had come here to escape Hellfire Club life many times, had come here to mourn the death of his father in solitude, had come here whenever things got too hard on him. He pressed hard against the heavy glass door, and as he entered, the cool, air-conditioned breeze hit him invitingly in the face. He breathed in, and recalled all the times he had been here, from when he was a small boy to times like this, when he was a grown man searching for somewhere to just relax for an hour or two. He made his way through the lobby, ignoring the new employee behind the desk. One added attraction of the Museum had always been seeing Ms. Glynis, Jack Silver’s first ever crush. Years ago, she had been a beautiful young woman working behind the desk at the museum, teaching Jack about art and its wonder on many quiet days. Even though years had passed, she had grown older, had become a Mrs. Johnson and eventually a Widow Johnson, she had never lost her beauty, or Silver’s admiration. He had of course moved on, not struck by a child’s mad crush anymore, but he still felt a tingle in his heart whenever around her. It was about an hour until her shift, so he decided to view the latest acquisitions by the museum, as well as some old favorites, before he went for his traditional coffee and conversation with Ms. Glynis, or, as she insisted he called her now that he was a grown man, ‘Jill’. He quietly ambled through the old, glistening building, admiring, appreciating, or just plain hating. He came across one painting by a new, unknown artist, which he was astounded with. He wrote down the name on a slip of spare paper from his pocket, making sure to contact the artist later on to commission him for a few new paintings in the BHC lobby. He continued his tour of the museum, until five past four, five minutes after the time Ms. Glynis’ shift started. He casually walked up to the desk, surprised to see the same face of the girl who had been there when he had first arrived.

"Can I help you?" she asked in her squeakiest, friendliest voice.

"Um, yes. I thought Ms. Glynis would be here. Isn’t this her shift?" he asked in his perpetual polite tone. The young girl’s face turned from one of rehearsed, helpful politeness to one of condoling sorrow.

"You, um...haven’t heard, have you?"

"Haven’t heard what?" Silver asked, his heart suddenly jumping a step.

"Ms. Glynis died about three weeks ago. She was in town when some super human fight happened. She got so frightened she had a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital." Silver’s mind reeled. She was dead? It couldn’t be possible. He lost balance on his feet for a second, giving the girl behind the desk a scare as he began to tumble, just before he managed to re-gain himself and save an injury on the hard marble floor.

"Where...where was she buried?"

It seemed like a long drive out to the cemetery for Silver. The whole world felt like it was in slow motion as he gazed out the car window. His memories flooded him as his heart broke. He may never had had anything more than a platonic relationship with Ms. Glynis, may have had a crush on her for years, but she had always been close to his heart. He sighed as he came to the cemetery gates, sitting for several minutes behind the wheel of the car, before getting out. He slowly made his way through the thousands of plots, before coming to the most recent of graves. The dirt still lay atop the ground at her site, the marble tombstone perfect marble. Beside her, her husband’s old, weathered grave matched, the grass having grown over his share of dirt. Silver stood motionless of quite sometime, simply repeating her epitaph over and over in his head, his dry throat constantly trying to swallow. Finally, he stopped, and uttered

"Ms. Glynis...I wish..I wish..." a tear rolled down his cheek, as he lowered him self, face to "face" with the tombstone
"I’m so sorry. Good...goodbye." He finished, before he stood, and began quietly moving away. He walked through the cemetery gates, and back to his car. It was as while he buckled up that he remembered.

"She was in town when some super human fight happened."

"About three weeks ago."

"Three weeks ago."

Three weeks ago, he and some other BHC members had been battling the villain Mesmero in town. Silver had been cursing himself for fighting in public the whole time, for maybe jeopardizing the security of the club. He had, as always, been worried for the safety of by-standers, but he never believed that this would happen. Ms. Glynis was dead. He hung his head, pounded the steering wheel and sobbed dry tears. She was dead....and it was his entire fault. He would remain in the car for hours, too guilt-ridden to leave while he repeated the epitaph over and over again

‘We mourn this day, as a beautiful angel has been plucked from us by Heaven above.’

  Part Two by Gomurr