Stolen Time

A painful reminder

"Seraphina, you're awake!" Elaine called out to her the moment she exited her bedroom. Seraphina had seen her sleeping on the couch in their common area when she woke up last night but didn't have the strength or mental presence to think about why. Thus she just went to take a shower and change into her pajamas falling back asleep immediately the moment her body hit the bed. She couldn't believe she was sleeping in her normal clothes before that. Grimy and disgusting after coming back from...

...from where exactly?

She suddenly felt dizzy to the point she had to steady herself on the doorframe, just like right after she woke up last night. She reached for her head which was now throbbing with pain. What was this even? She couldn't remember the last time she was sick. It must have been many years ago when she was still well into her childhood.

She remembered being alone in her room, lying in bed and twisting and turning in fever while her parents were who knows where and her sister was away in her own boarding school. She could easily recall how cold she felt left alone completely with only the servants checking on her occasionally. Her fever was nothing life-threatening according to her mother's words so it didn't warrant any special attention from her or anyone else in the house.

The coldness from the memory prompt found its way to her current thoughts seeping into her bones as a numbing sensation, a grim reminder. The chilly feeling made her shudder. She hated remembering those days. The proximity of her family tended to make everything worse. That house was no home to her. It was only home to loneliness, pain, and expectations she could not possibly live up to weighing on her like shackles.

It was different now though, she reminded herself. She was away from that place at least. And more than all now she had-

Pain flared in her mind making her clutch her temple with a yelp.

Something wasn't right. She felt even sicker now. It wasn't even some normal type of illness she remembered. She never had anything like this before.

Or did she?

It was hard to tell, she sensed something was very wrong with all her being yet she couldn't clear her mind enough from the fog of pain to even start to pinpoint the cause.

"Seraphina!"

She finally realized Elaine was calling to her when she grabbed her arm with so many things flickering through her eyes. Worry, desperation, and another strange, yet familiar emotion that seemingly didn't belong with the others.

What was it?

She half expected another pulsing pain to pierce through her skull which appeared to happen whenever she tried to think about something, but fortunately, it didn't come. She let out a shaky breath instinctively slipping out of Elaine's hold.

She didn't know why but it felt like it burned her. Did she not like Elaine? Thinking about it she didn't particularly like anyone. She somewhat liked Remi maybe and that was it. But still, what reason did she have to practically rip her arm out from Elaine's grasp? It felt like it was an ingrained reaction but she didn't know why and found herself too sick to truly care at the moment.

Maybe it had something to do with Arlo? She had a special distaste for him, but again, couldn't put into words why, and now wasn't the time to find out.

Looking up she saw Elaine staring back at her. Her posture held a nervousness to it. Her shoulders were tense, her lips pressed together and she kept fidgeting with her now empty hands. Did her rejection hurt her roommate this much?

She looked at her a little longer before she finally decided to stop thinking about those things before she had a chance to find out more about the reason behind her current state. Elaine seemed worried, so maybe she knew something about the source of her dizziness and surging pain.