Degrees of Separation | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Four - Right Where You Left Me

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I wash off the remnants of Killian's touch in the Black Lake.

The sun has long since dipped below the horizon, the stars finally having come out to play as I wade further into the depths of the stuttering waves.

I liked coming out here alone at night. It gave me some semblance of peace; it was a way to gather my thoughts, my feelings— ground myself into nature. It was one of the only times that I truly got to be alone anymore, and I revel in the warmth of the lake's touch as it wraps me in its tendrils of night, allowing it to swallow me whole.

I wade a bit further out than usual, until the castle was distant, nothing left but a silhouette against the violet skies.

The winds pick up, carrying the sweet scent of summer now engulfed by the warmth of falling leaves. It brings forth the call of autumn— my favorite season. It was the biggest time of change as the trees molt and make a new home for regrowth.

It was the longest season between spring and winter; life and death.

It's where I felt I was stuck anymore. Almost as if I were drifting into purgatory; awaiting judgement from the greater good.

And as I float on my back, staring up at the sky, I reach my fingers towards the stars and start to wonder if this is what they feel like stuck up there all alone. Floating; lost. Always on the brink of explosion.

I lose track of time as I allow myself to just... be. There's no pressure from anyone, or anything. Existence in and of itself does not feel like a burden; the magic within my veins does not weigh me down until I am withered and worn.

There was just... nothing— nothing at all. No worries, no problems.

Just me.

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[Past — Fifth-year — September, 1890]

"The infamous top duelist— afraid of a little water?" Sebastian Sallow— infamous pain in my ass— yells out from his spot in the water.

The Black Lake ripples as he moves his arms to keep himself afloat, flashing a wide toothed grin that I can feel settle deep into my chest from where I stand atop the dock. I stand watching him, shaking my head before crossing my arms against my chest, lips tilting into a smirk.

"Not a chance, Sallow!"

"Well, come on then! Let's see those swimming skills!"

Next to me, Ominis snickers, trying to hide the fact he'd just openly laughed at me by slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Ominis, jump in with me." I knock his elbow with my own, and he looks to me as if I'd just asked him to do the impossible.

"I'm not a big fan of swimming, you know— kind of terrifying, actually," he says dryly, waving a hand in front of his face.

I only roll my eyes before they land back onto Sebastian's, who is watching me with a curious brow, still bobbing in and out of the water.

"He doesn't swim!"

"Well, he's going to today!" I yell back, already in the process of kicking off my boots. I'd just began shimmying out of my skirt when Sebastian dramatically covers his eyes with one hand.

"Merlin, are you crazy?! Keep your clothes on!" He chuckles, and despite his words, I see the way he widens a crack between his fingers and peaks anyway.