In Charlie's Arms

38 • Plans

Seraphina had a fitful night of sleep. The stiff bed she was assigned to fought against her body all night, the springs having dug into her back.

At exactly 7:00 AM, the lights automatically turned on, in the same abrupt manner they had shut off at 11:00 PM the night before—an hour after everyone had been told to go to their respective rooms.

The whole situation made Sera feel like she was at a boarding school of some sort, where she was told when to go to sleep and when to wake up. She hated it, but the others didn't seem to mind.

Then again, why would they? This was their routine. They were used to it.

"We have an hour in here before the door unlocks," November informed her as the girl sprung up from her bed and grabbed Sera's hand. "Now, come on, let's get showers before the boys use up all the hot water."

Sera let the perky girl drag her into the bathroom attached to their room. It reminded her of a public restroom at a gym. It had three stalls, showers, and sinks and one long mirror that was mounted above the sinks.

Sera had pressed her thumb to it last night to check and see if there was a gap between her thumb and the mirror—a trick to see if it was one-sided or not. She had also scoured the bathroom for any sign of a camera before she used the restroom.

Thankfully, she hadn't found anything suspicious.

The bathroom was also home to a station in the corner that had a stacked washer and dryer, along with a bottle of laundry detergent on the ground next to it.

It was clear that washing their own clothes was one of the few freedoms they had.

They couldn't make their own food or decide when to go to bed, but they had free reign on laundry. It was odd, and made Sera's heart ache all the more.

For the next ten minutes, Sera took one of the worst showers she had ever taken. The water pressure was terrible, the soap and shampoo were unscented, and the water was lukewarm at best.

She missed her shower back at home, appreciating it more than she ever had. Thinking about it made her miss home, which of course made her miss her dog and then her family and then Krista and her job and her hobbies . . .

Sera leaned against the shower wall and allowed herself a few moments to reign in her aching heart before she wrapped the scratchy, white towel November had given her around her body and exited the shower.

She walked back into the bedroom to grab her clothes, but quickly had to look away when she saw November and Gigi changing out in the open, having a casual conversation with each other like they weren't stark naked.

She kept her eyes on the ground as she grabbed a pair of Gigi's clothes and dipped into a stall to change in. She didn't know if she would ever get to the level of comfortability that the girls were at in regards to nudity.

It made sense to her that they had grown up together and didn't care what each other thought, but it was still jarring to her.

When she left the stall, she noticed Fox staring at her in the mirror as she washed her hands.

"I was the same way," she whispered, her voice somehow carrying across the quiet bathroom over to Sera's ears. "I was 9 when I got here, and I thought it was weird how comfortable they are around each other."