The Spiral of Acceptance

Chapter 6

Zinnia felt her phone vibrate and she picked it up to read the new message. For once, there was no mocking message from Kimberly, no gossip from her shallow classmates, no stupid gifs from her brother that made her jealous instead of laughing. There were only two simple, beautiful words - words that finally made her feel valued. She knew these were sincere - Zinnia could almost imagine the blue-eyed Arctic grinning at her and saying these words earnestly.

Thank you.

Sighing with relief that he was okay, she thumbed out another message.

Are you okay?

i'm NOT okay, i'm JOHN
i KNOW you
you are the girl arctic LIKES

Who the f*ck are you?
What have you done to Arctic?

i LIVE inside ARCTIC
does girl arctic likes LIKE arctic TOO?

Here Zinnia paused, worry coursing through her. Who was this John? She didn't even stop to think about Arctic liking her she didn't even let herself blush for a second.

Could it be...? Nervously, she typed out yet another message, this time re-reading it over and over again before sending it.

Hey John. I want to see you.
Where are you? I want to meet you so bad.

arctic girl WANTS john
john is at the CLASSROOM
it's YOUR classroom
john FOUND the way HIMSELF

Okay. Good job, John. Just stay there, okay?
I'll come and find you

john is WAITING
arctic girl come QUICKLY
john very IMPATIENT

Okay, I'm here
I can see you
I'm going in

Zinnia slowly approached Arctic - or rather, John. She still couldn't see anything foreign in him the boy - he looked normal.

She waited until he turned around and stifled a gasp. In one hand was a penknife, and on the other palm was a long gash sticky with blood. There was a feral grin curled on his face and Arctic's normally dull eyes were dancing with sadistic joy.

The two stared at each other - Zinnia in shock, John in curiosity. It was the latter who broke the silence.

"Are you the girl Arctic likes?" he cocked his head to the side, as if it was just a normal introduction of friends.

"He... Likes me?" breathed Zinnia  with all the cautiousness of a zookeeper close to a wild animal.

Arctic - no, John - nodded vigorously. The action looked strange on him, like a toddler blaming someone else for his mistake.