To Know

Chapter 32

Seraphina knocked on Elaine's bedroom door once she got back. The night was a violet velvet curtain that covered the sky with glitters of stars scattered across it.

"Who is it?" Elaine's voice asked a few metres away from the other side of the door.

"Seraphina."

Muffled footsteps, walked up to the door and then it clicked open to reveal Elaine on the other side. She looked through the gap between the door and the wall and the opened the door to full. Then she rested her head on the wooden door to lean against it.

"It happened again, didn't it?"

She took a step out of her room and headed to Seraphina's room along the hallway in their dorm. She followed, lightly touching her ribs. A sharp jab of pain stabbed into her.

Once she sat down on the edge of the bed, she pulled her blouse out of her skirt and lifted it up to reveal a long thin bruise that went close to horizontal across her ribs.

"What the hell happened?" Elaine took a seat next to her and caused a slight dip in the bed.

"I got pulled into the table. Is it just a bruise?"

Her eyes glowed their bright green and her palms of her hands had an aqua blue glow. She placed it over her ribs and shook her head.

Seraphina's head fell.

"Sorry, I meant yes. It's just a bruise," she replied after looking up to her.

She let out a sigh. "I don't know why I was so worried. She didn't do it with her ability, but it really hurt. Plus, it was near my rib. I didn't want them to be damaged."

Elaine nodded. "Did you end up discussing summer camps?"

"Yes, but she called it stupid. She wants me to do an internship over the summer instead."

"Do you have to stay at home for it?" Elaine asked, trying not to let hope enter her voice. Or pessimism.

"Yes, unfortunately." Their eyes met. "But they're on work trips ninety percent of the time, so... They're not really around."

Elaine nodded.

"Over a year ago, you used to want to be perfect," Elaine said before glancing away from her and to a wall. "Well, not really want – you acted liked you needed to be perfect. Was that due to your parents? Did John help you break out of it?"

"It was. They always wanted Leilah and I to be the perfect children. To be the best representations of them. They didn't even look for her when she ran away, although I guess it was pretty obvious that she ran away.

"John did help me in a way. He helped me see that it was okay to relax and reward myself, even for minor things." She lightly laughed in irony. "I may have gone slightly overboard with that."

Elaine smiled to herself as she glanced away to the floor. "Yeah, it felt like you jumped off the deep end."

"That's because you disliked that I changed."

"You were the strongest in the school and suddenly you didn't care."

"Why does it matter if I'm strongest? It's not like I'm different to everyone else."

"But you are different."

Seraphina sighed. "Thank you for your help. I need to contact my sister now."

"Won't she tell your-."

"No, she doesn't live with them. She isn't in contact with them either." She gave Elaine a silencing look. "My mother texted her on my phone and I need to clear what happened up."