❝ Why do I feel like I'm just a chapter in your book while you're my entire story? ❞
❝ Well, you're obviously wrong, because you're my entire novel, cover to cover. ❞
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A blank canvas. That's how my life was. Until she took my hand...
23. chapter twenty-three: what's wrong with having breakfast before serious criminal cases?
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Nurse Joy woke us all up and ushered us to eat. She even changed some of my band-aids, but when she approached Serena, all I heard was quiet. Not a word seemed to be exchanged, and that had me desperately worried for the girl's mental health.
Back when we were young teens, going through bullies together, we had no comforting support. Professor Oak's second camp had been far away from where I lived. Serena was no exception to that.
Her mother, Grace Yvonne, was traveling across Kanto for work, and her father had been in Kalos all along, buried in his job. Serena had no siblings, no friends, and I found myself in her.
I found the way she feared flashes and sudden noises similar to my own phobias. I found her sadness equally devastating, her ecstasy my euphoria. She was my pillar of support, and I was hers.
Back then, Gary was part of the Pallet bullies, a name we gave to those harassing us. He knew what was right and wrong, but it wasn't until Professor Oak himself lectured him, one fine day after catching his grandson calling us names, that he changed for the better. I couldn’t have been more thankful to have him in my life.
That summer camp taught Serena and me a new side of life—a page that had been unturned until then. A chapter on just how cruel people could be about something you don't possess. A lesson on how what others thought of you was a reflection of their true self.
I never liked those days. Those dark, gloomy times were dreadful to wake up to. Every time, I saw the same sniggering fellow pass by, commenting on how I was nothing but an unlucky curse. I didn't complain, but deep down, it was killing me. I didn't realize how it was killing Serena too, even if we weren’t the same person.
And the look she gave me every time she was afraid of someone with negative energy approaching either of us was eerily reminiscent of the one she wore early this morning.
That scared me to the very root.
We had been summoned to the boardroom after breakfast. Albeit staunchly against the order, Nurse Joy had no option but to let us go. It was against her morals, but nobody cared about others' beliefs anymore. The world was outright cruel, and I was only seeing a glimpse of it.
Our walk to the boardroom was strenuous. I was accompanied by Gary, on whom I was mostly leaning for support. Clemont and Sophocles didn’t need any, but Trevor had a broken rib and was trotting behind with Tierno at a slow pace.
Serena, on the other hand, didn’t seem to require as much physical support as Trevor or me, but by the way she was hugging herself and shivering, I could tell she was terrified at the idea of interrogation. Just what did they do to her yesterday that she stopped trusting the entirety of humanity?!
