A Couple Steps Back

Chapter 1

As much as he was worried about his return to school, especially since he had left on a terrible note with such short notice, the day hadn't been too awful. As a matter of fact, it was a lot more normal than it had been for a long time for John, whose spiraling sanity caused the entire school to be shaken to its core. A wild card like him was hard to control once let loose, but finally, things had been tamed down to manageable levels.

Now all that John had to do was make sure it doesn't happen again.

As he was dismissed from his final class of the day, he stepped out of the classroom to be greeted by an awaiting Seraphina, whose shoulder was leaned against the wall. She tilted the opposite direction, now standing up straight, so she could approach him.

"Glad to see you made it out alive."  She grinned to him.

John gave off a scoff before he turned to face the hallway, now walking. Seraphina followed beside him.

"I'm quite surprised, actually, not about the alive part, but- how casual things have been. Sure, the odd glances and some people nudging themselves away isn't what I call normal, but. . ." John started, before Seraphina finished the rest for him.

"But it's better than what it was before?"

He looked to her before giving a nod.

"Much better."

Seraphina stared ahead for a moment, and silence fell between them before she continued, saying,

"You shouldn't mind the glances and how people avoid you. You're a God-tier, and now everyone knows it, so people tend to stay away anyways-"

"Unless they're an idiot."

John couldn't help but to snicker at that.

"Yeah. . .we've met a lot of idiots in our days, huh?" He asked, although he knew the answer, turning to walk down the steps.

"More than we should. But it's unavoidable. You and I know that, us being from both the top and the bottom."

As they made it to the bottom of the stairs, now going around to the next set so they could reach the bottom floor, John had gone silent. The statement Seraphina had made was right. No matter where John was within the hierarchy, on the top or the bottom, he was always given different glances and reactions to his presence. None of them were ever good. He knew that not everyone was going to like him, that's with all things, but did it really have to be this way? If you are on the top, you aren't truly respected; you're feared. They only give you respect because you could beat them otherwise. If you are the bottom, you are judged. The lack of respect makes you feel as if you're another being, like you're not one of them. You're beat around like a ragdoll and expected to accept it. You couldn't fight back anyways.

The reminder made John feel sick. Sick of all of it. The way their society ran itself made him want to drive his fist into every single one of those-

"John? Are you alright?"

He paused, then continued.

He took a moment for himself, inhaling deeply before exhaling, allowing his body to relax. There was a slight ping a pain from his palm, and when he looked for the source, he noticed nail marks.

"I'm fine. . .I just got lost in my thoughts."

Seraphina stopped, causing John to stop walking as well. He turned to her with a quirked eyebrow before she spoke once again.

"You don't have to keep everything to yourself anymore. If you ever need to talk, you can rant to me. You know I won't judge you."

She approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.