The Numbers on Our Arms

Chapter 32

Seraphina shut the door behind her and slid down to the floor, her knees coming up to her chest. She took in a deep breath of air and held it to a count before she let it out.

They actually got a wedding planner. Why was everything happening so quickly?

Tears streamed down her face. It was still only a year away. Her last year of school. A lot could happen in that time.

Her phone pinged and she looked at it. A text from John. And he was asking if she wanted to talk.

She took to her shaking feet and headed over to her desk. She opened it up and got onto the video call up and saw that John was online. When she called him, he picked up close to immediately.

"Hey, it's good to hear from you," he said to her.

"Yeah, it's nice to hear from you." She scrunched up her eyebrow in confusion. "But we only called the other day. It hasn't been that long."

"We used to see each other everyday, spending almost all day with each other. It's quite different now."

"How did you survive during my suspension?" she questioned with a laugh.

"You may have noticed, I barely did," he replied, shaking out his own laugh as he brought his hand up to his face.

"I know, but you're at home now. You have other people around you – and those people like you. They want to be around you. What's up now?"

"Can I not be concerned about you?"

"I'm fine, John. It's not that bad here."

"You make it sound bad," he replied before he turned his voice down to a whisper. "Sera, you threatened to runaway last time. You are still mentioning running away. You don't make it sound that good there."

"I've survived here for seventeen years; I can last a few months."

"A few months can be a long time."

"Can we not discuss this anymore? I'll mention something to you if it gets any worse."

"Do you want to set up a code word?"

"Okay." She smiled to herself. "If I talked about it snowing here, you know something's wrong."

He laughed. "Okay, that's a good idea."

"How is your dad?"

"Distracted with writing. He has a deadline coming up for something and he is focusing on that. I'm doing most of the cooking currently."

"Isn't your dad the better cook?"

"Hey, don't say that. You love my cooking."

She smiled to herself. "I found it interesting that you were able to cook for yourself and it actually taste good."

"I'll teach you how to cook next year."

"Are you not sharing a dorm with Blyke again?"

John paused. "I actually kind of was. When I initially pressed it with Headmaster Vaughn., he still wanted me to stay in the dorms, but that was awhile ago when the threat was still obviously lurking. I wouldn't be surprised if he had other reasons too. I don't know what he would think about it now, though I have come accustomed to sharing a dorm with Blyke."

"You could be good friends you know. Out of all the people I know at school, you two are the most alike."

"I think Blyke would be insulted by that."

She muffled her laughter with her hand. "But you know what I mean like, you both are highly into fitness and sport and you both care about your friends a lot. And that's not even counting your physical similarities. You could pass for siblings to someone if you wanted to, though maybe cousins is more realistic."