Arcanum

9

After Halloween it seemed like time was just flying by without stopping. Maybe it was because we covered so many new things in our courses, maybe it was because the exams were steadily approaching or maybe it was a combination of both those things. We tried our best to still all spend time together, but it was getting more difficult as we were all getting bogged down more and more with assignments and exam preparation. I spent many sleepless nights worrying about making study plans that I ended up being way too tired for the next morning.

Once in a while I wondered whether Iphigenia had found something interesting in that notebook of hers, but I kind of doubted it. If she had found anything she would have said so. Maybe she hadn't even looked at it yet - I knew that she was very busy lately. She basically lived in the library, more so than anyone else from our little group. Faye was slowly starting to take her place, as she was spending more and more time with us and away from the people in her courses.

I liked having her around, if I was completely honest. Sure, her dreamy behaviour and the airy way in which she would talk could be really annoying, but since she was studying different subjects from us, she could bring some interesting insights into our work. I wasn't sure whether I was only imagining it or not, but I had the feeling that my essays and my research papers were much more interesting ever since she joined our study groups. They definitely were getting graded much better.

I did miss Iphi, however. She had pretty much the same kind of knowledge that all of us had (only much more than the rest of us combined), but there was always something about the way she figured out which angle to go for with every assignment and how to structure them that I found fascinating. With her being busy with her own work I found it very difficult to get these aspects right. Iphi was still helping us out where she could, but most of the time she was so entranced in her own research that she didn't really notice what was going on around her.

There was one evening when we all managed to sit together and enjoy some wine again. Ever since Allen had moved in with me, it seemed like our home had become the place where we would all meet up. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't mind it either. It meant that I didn't have a long way back home after whatever excess we had that evening. And Allen didn't have to worry about how he was going to pay for a taxi back home, so it seemed like an ideal place. It wasn't as big and extravagant as Ruben's home, but it fit the five of us and it was convenient. If we were planning a big party again, we could still use Ruben's place for that.

That evening we were just sitting there, all of us kind of drained from the workload in university right now, sipping our wine and barely talking. We were all too exhausted to make conversation and to be intellectuals, but it didn't matter. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, which surprised me. I never found it easy to be around other people and to be silent and alone with my thoughts, but at that moment it seemed to be the easiest thing in the world. I wasn't sure why that was. Maybe I just didn't have any energy left to be nervous due to the silence.

"Do you all have any plans for Christmas?" Faye wanted to know, her warm and earthy voice piercing the silence and shaking all of us out of our trance. Allen was the first to react. He shook his head.

"Nope. I think I'll stay here, take care of the flat and all. I'm sure as hell not going to go back to see my family. Too expensive and they'd just give out to me. I'll save myself the trouble." he told us. I had expected he would do something like that and it honestly made me kind of sad. I had always liked to spend some time between the holidays with Allen when we were back home, because it seemed like an easy way out from all the stuffy traditions and customs my family insisted on. But I could understand why he wouldn't want to go back home. If I had been in his place I probably would have done the same thing, especially after upsetting his father like that.