The Last Survivors

Chapter 12: confession

As they returned to the safe house, a palpable tension hung in the air, thick with unspoken words and unresolved emotions. Seraphina's demeanor had shifted, her once warm and welcoming presence now replaced by a cold and distant facade.

Phoenix tentatively approached her, a concerned expression etched on her features. "Seraphina, are you okay?"

Seraphina's response was curt, her voice devoid of its usual warmth. "I'm fine," she replied, her gaze fixed firmly on the ground.

Despite Phoenix's attempts to bridge the growing divide between them, Seraphina remained distant, her walls firmly in place. Each attempt at conversation was met with icy silence, leaving Phoenix feeling helpless and alone.

But it was Bastien's presence that seemed to cut the deepest. Seraphina's anger simmered just beneath the surface as she avoided his gaze, unable to shake the feeling of betrayal that gnawed at her insides.

Bastien sensed her resentment, his own guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders. He knew he had made a choice that had hurt Seraphina, and he couldn't bear to see the pain reflected in her eyes.

As the hours passed, the rift between them grew wider, each moment of silence stretching into an eternity of unspoken words. Seraphina retreated further into herself, her heart heavy with the weight of her own emotions.

As Phoenix and Bastien continued to press Seraphina about what was wrong, their concern only fueling her simmering frustration, Seraphina felt herself teetering on the edge of an emotional precipice. The weight of her own turmoil became too much to bear, and with a sudden surge of raw emotion, she snapped.

Tears welled up in Seraphina's eyes as she unleashed the torrent of pent-up emotions that had been gnawing at her soul. "I'm tired of pretending like everything's okay!" she cried, her voice echoing off the walls of the safe house. "I'm tired of feeling like I'm not enough!"

Phoenix and Bastien recoiled at the intensity of her outburst, their expressions a mix of shock and concern. But Seraphina was beyond caring about their reactions. She had reached her breaking point, and nothing else mattered but letting her feelings spill out into the open.

"I'm scared," she admitted, her voice cracking with emotion. "Scared of losing the people I care about, scared of being left behind, scared of being forgotten in this godforsaken world!"

Her words hung heavy in the air, the weight of their truth reverberating through the room. And then, in a moment of vulnerability that she couldn't take back, Seraphina's gaze locked with Bastien's, her voice trembling as she spoke the words she had kept buried deep within her heart.

"And I'm in love with you, Bastien," she confessed, her voice barely a whisper amidst the chaos of her emotions. "I've been in love with you since the moment we met, and I can't keep pretending like I don't feel anything anymore."

Silence descended upon the room, broken only by the sound of Seraphina's ragged breathing and the distant moans of the undead outside. She braced herself for their response, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for the inevitable fallout of her confession.

But in that moment, surrounded by the ruins of their shattered world, Seraphina felt a flicker of hope ignite within her. No matter the consequences, she had finally spoken her truth, and that was a weight lifted from her shoulders that no amount of fear or uncertainty could ever diminish.

Amidst her tears and choked sobs, Seraphina found the courage to articulate the pain that had been festering within her for far too long. "Your flirting," she began, her voice trembling with emotion, "it makes me feel like I'm invisible. Like I'm just some afterthought, standing in the shadows while you two..." She paused, struggling to find the right words to convey the depth of her anguish.

"You have no idea how much it hurts to watch you two together, laughing and flirting, while I stand there, feeling like I'm not even a part of the equation," she continued, her voice breaking with each syllable. "It's like a knife in my heart every time I see it, a constant reminder of everything I'm not and everything I'll never be."

Phoenix and Bastien listened in stunned silence, their own faces reflecting the weight of Seraphina's words. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the soft echo of her tears, a poignant testament to the depth of her pain.

"I know I can't control how you feel about each other," Seraphina choked out, her voice barely above a whisper. "But please, just... be mindful of how your actions affect me. Because right now, I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of loneliness, and I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending like everything's okay."

With her confession hanging heavy in the air, Seraphina buried her face in her hands, her tears falling freely as she waited for some semblance of understanding and acceptance from the two people she had come to care for more than anything in the world.

Bastien's voice broke the heavy silence, his tone measured yet tinged with sadness. "Seraphina, I... I need you to know that I don't have feelings for you in that way." His words hung in the air, a painful admission that cut through the tension like a blade.

Seraphina felt as though the ground had been ripped out from beneath her, her heart sinking with the weight of his rejection. She had known deep down that her feelings for Bastien might not be reciprocated, but hearing it spoken aloud was a bitter pill to swallow.

Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to compose herself, the sting of tears threatening to overwhelm her once more. "I understand," she managed to choke out, her voice barely above a whisper. But the hurt and disappointment simmered just beneath the surface, a wound that would take time to heal.

As the reality of Bastien's confession settled over them, the room grew heavy with unspoken words and unfulfilled desires. Seraphina wiped away her tears, steeling herself against the pain as she faced the harsh truth of their situation. In that moment, she knew that no matter how much it hurt, she slowly walked out of the room not saying a word to either of them.

Once Seraphina had left the room, the weight of her departure hung heavily between Bastien and Phoenix. Neither knew quite what to say, the silence stretching between them like a chasm.

Bastien broke the tension first, his voice heavy with regret. "I never wanted to hurt her," he confessed, his gaze fixed on the floor. "I just didn't realize..."

Phoenix reached out, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Bastien, you couldn't have known. None of us could have predicted how she would react."

Bastien nodded, his expression filled with a mixture of sorrow and guilt. "I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to bear."

Phoenix squeezed his shoulder gently, offering him a small, reassuring smile. "We'll give her some time. Maybe she just needs space to process everything."

Bastien sighed, a heavy weight lifting from his chest at Phoenix's words. "Yeah, you're right. We'll be here for her when she's ready."

And as they sat together in the quiet of the room, they both silently vowed to do whatever it took to support Seraphina through her pain even if they caused it.