“No, it’s not red!” Seraphina couldn’t help it as she exploded. Of all the nerve. “Leave me alone, what is with this damn question?!”
Reeves and Rebecca were both shocked by her outburst as she ran off.
“Uh oh,” Rebecca looked at the ground as if she had done something wrong. “I must have said something upsetting to make her curse.”
“It’s not your fault,” Reeves assured her. “Sharina asked this morning and she was far from happy with her too.” He looked ahead at where she had been, but she had already passed the corner.
“Why get so upset over such a trivial question?” Rebecca sighed. “Maybe she doesn’t like me anymore? Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean to interrupt her, I just wanted to know.”
“Don’t take it hard Rebecca, she hasn’t been herself all day,” Reeves comforted. “She’s been solemn and feels funky today.” That was a mild statement. Her whole body radiated anger, regret and depression in such high amounts.
“Oh that’s because she’s pregnant, Reeves.”
Reeves and Rebecca both turned to see the Marcus.
“Yes,” Marcus insisted. “That’s why Timothy is proposing. Has he proposed yet?”
“No.” What? “Pregnant?” No way! She didn’t. She couldn’t. Well, technically, she could. It would be a form of exercising- Not Timothy, nuh, uh! Couldn’t be. She wouldn’t do that. She’d said so. Plus, they’d kissed and done some heavy relationship things. He definitely took good care of the woman. I didn’t mess this up, she loves my presence. Timothy couldn’t have snuck back into a relationship; they were too different! Seraphina Medina refused to get with anyone right now, life was too stressful. “Where did you hear this from?”
“Oh, I heard it from Sharina, Sharina heard it from Emily, Emily heard it from Amanda, Amanda heard it from Daryl, and Daryl heard it from Jackson,” Marcus insisted. “A new resident born in Hidden Secret. It’s been quite awhile!” He chuckled. “First a proposal, then a wedding and now a baby. Hidden Secret is becoming exciting isn’t it?”
Rebecca looked stunned as she watched Marcus walk off whistling. “That can’t be right, Seraphina’s not pregnant.” She looked up at Reeves. “I had a talk with her yesterday, girl stuff, but I know she’s not pregnant, Reeves.”
“She can’t be.” Reeves agreed. Where did these rumors start? Rumors with children spread like wildfire, it was about the only drawback to Hidden Secret. “Rumors shouldn’t be spread so fast; they could really hurt someone.” Like him. Maybe her too from the reactions. Now he was regretting not talking to Timothy before. He should have gotten over the past and had a small conversation. The simple gossip from before was now much worse.
“Yeah.” Rebecca looked at the time on Reeves’ watch. "If Timothy was going to propose, he would have at least shown his face. Maybe I shouldn’t have been quick to judge that what Timothy said had to do with a proposal? She was already wearing a new ring.”
“Maybe so,” Reeves nodded. “I think there is something going on with Seraphina Medina today, but I don’t think it’s got anything to deal with these rumors.” He waved back to her as he took off. “I’d better go catch up with her again.”
Why in the world was everyone asking her that question? What did it have to do with anything? As if things couldn’t get worse, she heard a yell say her name from behind. She looked back and felt like yelling. Oh great, it was that Sharina Little again. If she wanted to ask the same question, she was going to scream. Seraphina stopped and looked at her. “Yes?”
“Oh, I have another question for you.” Sharina got out her notepad again. “What kind of cake do you like?”
Okay, that’s it. Somehow, they knew. “Timothy.” Seraphina glared at the ground. He must have leaked something! She ran off as quickly to his house. How dare he do this; he knew how vital it was to her to keep this secret. “Timothy, get out here,” Seraphina yelled as she banged at his door. “Timothy Varmen!” Timothy stuck his head out of his door. “Who did you tell?” Seraphina’s hands were shaped into fists by her sides, a lot of emotion making them tremble. “Who?”
“Tell what?” Timothy looked downright confused. "Why are people gathering around us?"
Seraphina noticed it too but chose to ignore it. “Timothy, who did you tell about this day?”
“No one,” Timothy assured her. “Who would I bother telling?”
“Someone knows.” Seraphina said through gritting teeth, her voice was seething. “They’ve been asking cruel questions out of the blue,” She moved her feet uncomfortably. “Somebody’s playing a sick joke and I don’t like it.”
“No one knows, it’s in your head.” Timothy crept out of his door and walked over to her. “Can I ask you a question?
“Finally!”
Timothy and Seraphina both looked at the crowd. The permies, the tempies, and everyone between was gathered around them.
“What do you all want?” Timothy yelled angrily. “Go away.” He looked at Seraphina. “Did they follow you?”
“I told you, someone told something.” Seraphina looked at the ground. How could this be? How could a sector do this? This sector? They might think that enough time passed by and they were curious, but it didn’t. It didn’t matter how much time passed by, she couldn’t handle it. A whole sector stalked her for what happened. Oh, how could it possibly get any worse?
“Seraphina Medina!” Sharina caught up with her. “I’m sorry, I was ignorant before and I wasn’t thinking. Of course, you can’t have a normal cake.” She looked back at her notepad. “What kind of cake could you eat? I know some talented bakers, I am sure we can come up with-“
She couldn't say it.
“-a white, perfect, old-fashioned-”
Not a pleasant woman like her.
“-cake.”
Seraphina couldn’t take it anymore. That’s it, she was done with it. Timothy, the Paladin, it didn’t matter. Screw Hidden Secret she wouldn’t be a resident much longer. She had to get out, she had to get out of it. Now.
Timothy’s mouth dropped as he stared at Sharina. “Even I have never been that cruel.” He looked at all the sectors people. “What is wrong with all of you?”
“I think I can explain.” Reeves ran up right next to Timothy. Considering how fast he had caught Seraphina running, he knew he had made significant progress with her, lousy mood or not. “Timothy, are you proposing to Seraphina?”
Timothy's mouth dropped father than it ever had before. “What? No!”
Good! “So, there will be no wedding and Seraphina Medina is not pregnant?” Reeves finished. It was time to end this gossip thread.
“What?” Timothy looked aghast. “No, what is wrong with you people?” He glared at everyone then looked over at Reeves. “Reeves, go after her. Explain what happened and bring her back.” He pointed to the left. "Children and gossip, I swear."
Reeves looked around. “I don’t even know where she went.”
“You have to go to the Cambria sector," Timothy said, "it’s fifty miles outside of Hidden Secret.”
“Why would she be there?” Reeves had to ask.
“It’s her home sector from when she was younger.” Timothy answered bitterly. “Go to the street North Harper in it.”
It could have been a hoax, but he didn’t think Timothy would try anything involving Seraphina Medina.
Chapter 15
Seraphina dusted her small hands off at the door. She and her sister, Medina, had come back from a run around their little sector Cambria again. It was small and didn't even have paved roads yet. If you went out far enough though, you could see the gates of the private sector, Hidden Secret. It was supposed to be like a giant amusement park of fun for kids, with no grownups. No one in the colony didn’t know about Hidden Secret. Seraphina would have wanted to work there some day just to see it, except her life was already being mapped out with Medina.
The dust blew up on them as they ran home, and they were trying to brush the dirt off be
fore going inside the house.
Seraphina entered first, just a bit quicker than her sister. She saw Tracy stick her tongue out at the table, and she reciprocated. Tracy was stuck in a white dress against her will.
"You finally decide to come home?" Tracy asked in a snob manner. "It's your birthday, and you still can't stick around?"
"Oh, come off it, Tracy." Medina crossed her arms. "We need to move; you don't get it."
"Yeah, well, I don't want to be some stupid hero when I grow up anyway." Tracy leaned against the table. "It's all stupid."
"It's not stupid," Seraphina’s mother said as she came into the room. She smiled at Seraphina and Medina. "Heroes can change the world and having heroes in our sector could really bring some business to Cambria."
"We're not heroes," Medina reminded her. "We just have some extra strength, that's all. Shawna down the street thinks it's something in the environment."
"Well it's not, I can tell that you will be heroes. Your true powers haven't kicked in yet." She left the room a moment and retrieved some gifts. "Are you ready to open your presents before you leave again?"
"Sure," Seraphina and Medina said at the same time. They sat down next to each other, each in their usual red and blue outfits.
"Oh, wait! The cake. I made it just for you two." Their mother left a second and brought out the cake. "One piece before we open presents. Then we are celebrating tonight by leaving in a shuttle!” she said excitedly. “We are leaving to colony 43842, AKA the Calibri Colony, Honeys! We are going to a stadium to watch real live hero trials."
"I don't want to watch hero trials," Medina said. “They’re scary enough.”
"Yeah, and I don't want to eat cake," Seraphina protested.
"Uh uh.” Their mother wasn’t putting it up with it. “We have shuttle tickets and everything is paid for. Now, I condone your new behavior every day, but not today. We are going to see the hero trials and you are eating your cake."
"You guys are such pieces of work," Tracy said as she reached for a plate. "Who turns down seeing the next Adventurers in action in the sector and birthday cake? Spoiled brats."
"Tracy does have a point," their mother argued. "Now sit down and relax." She went over and started cutting their pieces out. "We are eating cake."
"Cake is disgusting," Seraphina said as she turned her nose up to the dish. "Forget it, it makes me want to barf."
"Seraphina," Her mother scolded her. "Do you know how long I worked on this cake? You are starting to get some of your powers, and by next year, you won’t be here. Your scholarships are approved, and you’ll be attending a potential Champion Adventurer school, all the way on the other side of the globe. We’ll hardly see each other. So please, for me, have some cake? Let's enjoy this birthday."
Seraphina grimaced and looked at the cake that her mother had placed in front of her. A year ago, it looked good. This year, it looked slimy. It was normal, but it wasn't right. The frosting on it was pure white buttercream frosting. The top was covered in white sprinkles, and the inside was vanilla, with a line of buttercream on the inside. It must have taken hours to make, and she felt some guilt.
Taking her fork, she took a small smidge of the frosting and tried it lightly on her tongue. As soon as she did, her stomach turned! Repulsed, she dropped the fork and turned away again. "I can't, mom! I love you, but I am not eating that. Would you eat a cockroach if I picked it up off the floor for you? That's what's it's like."
"Oh, that's sick," Tracy complained as she wrinkled her nose. "Seraphina, you are a spoiled brat!"
"I don't care what you think of me, I'm not eating that." Seraphina looked over at Medina who was poking at the cake. "You don't want to either, do you?"
Medina looked at Seraphina, then at her mother. She dug into the cake with her fork and placed it in her mouth. " . . . yum."
Seraphina scoffed but didn't give in. "Can't we move to presents?"
"We are not leaving this table," her mother said firmly, "until that cake on your plate is gone, Seraphina!"
"I'm twelve years old, you can't tell me what to do," Seraphina said.
Medina grumbled but slid the cake over. "I'll eat it."
"Whatever." Seraphina crossed her arms.
“Seraphina Medina?”
Seraphina stared at the open window of an old house in Cambria. The trimming needed painting and the paint needed reapplied. The yard was covered in weeds and dead grass, in need of desperate care. It was apparent no one had lived there in years. “Had to chase after me, didn’t you? Can’t leave me alone for even half an hour.”
Reeves looked at the house in front of him as he approached closer. “Was this your house?”
“When I was smaller,” Seraphina admitted. “Reeves, I’m leaving.”
“By running again?” Reeves grinned at her. "I have been able to take my eyes off you in the past and catch up, but after I talked to everyone you were out of Seraphina. I’m proud of you, I didn’t know your progress had come this far.” He looked at the house. “I had no idea you used to live this close to Hidden Secret too.”
“I mean I’m leaving Hidden Secret,” Seraphina said more clearly. “Tonight, this bet is over.”
“Over? Something's wrong.” Reeves knew something had been wrong with her all day. “If you tell me what’s wrong, maybe I could help you?” Seraphina gave him a creepy look and had a strange, sad laugh. “I help everyone, I'm a Champion Paladin. Do you want to talk about it?”
Seraphina gave him an odd look, as if debating something. “Do you like cake?”
“Not really,” Reeves couldn't help but laugh. “I don't have a sweet tooth for things that could kill me.”
“I love cake. Wedding cake, Christmas cake, special event cakes, and no special reason cakes.” Seraphina stared into the kitchen window of her old house again. “Every cake but birthday cake. Today’s my birthday, Reeves.”
“Your birthday?” Reeves smiled and patted her back once. “Well, Happy Birthday.”
“Don’t say that. I haven’t had a happy birthday since I was twelve years old, and I never will again.” Seraphina turned around and looked at Reeves. Her eyes sparkled with wetness; he knew she'd been crying. "Reeves. There's something I need to ask you. Have you ever witnessed death by cake?"
"This is pretty," Seraphina said as she lifted out her new blue dress. The top wasn't cut super low, but it did have a little arch. She had complained to her mom that she was twelve and still had baby dresses all the way to the top. "Thanks, mom."
"Yeah, well, you are growing up." The tone wasn't as loving, but Seraphina understood. She was mad about the cake.
"Ooh." Tracy smiled and hit Seraphina playfully on the shoulder. "My little sister is going to be a hottie."
"Tracy, don't talk like that," her mother said. She looked over at Seraphina. "You're too young to be a hottie."
Medina laughed and looked at her own matching dress in red. "Thanks, mom."
"Oh, you're welcome Medina." She patted her head. "Go ahead and get dressed. I'll grab the camera. After some pictures, we'll head to Calibri."
Seraphina and Medina both took off to their rooms. When they came out, each had on their dresses with matching colored shoes.
"Okay," their mother said as she zoomed in the camera. "On the count of three."
Medina began to choke. Seraphina rubbed her back, asking if she were okay, but Medina couldn't respond. Her mother and Tracy came over as the choking grew worse.
"Come on, honey, what is it?" Their mother held Medina as she continued to choke, not gasping. “Medina?!"
"I'm going to call the doctor," Tracy said as she headed for the phone.
“Medina." Seraphina held her hand.
The coughing and gasping became more violent, as she lunged away from them and threw herself to the ground.
The emergency vehicle and personnel quickly made their way in and pushed Seraphina and her mother out of the way. Shrieking, they refused to leave, but were carried ou
t. Seraphina wailed against them the hardest, her super strength making it harder. She was kicking and screaming so much it took two to try and carry her out. Before she was out, she had stopped.
Seraphina watched what was left of her sister’s body hit the floor.
She closed her eyes and gulped, trying to get the dryness out of her throat as she retold her story. “I should have stopped her. I should have known that letting her eat that was wrong. I should have done something, but I did nothing. My twin sister died a horrific death because of me.”
“It was an accident,” Reeves bent down beside her. “Your mother didn't know, and you didn't know. Only your instincts were warning you, and you were coming into the condition. You're older now; everything has changed the risk factor.”
“How can you say that?” Seraphina frowned. “What if you had taken more than one bite when you first figured out something was wrong? Where would you be now? Do you think you'd be here, advocating for no medication? So many people have died of JNSQ and never knew it. I believe that. All the mysterious deaths that happen every day, at least some must be JNSQ. Unless your body is in perfect harmony with your stomach, you die of eating. They'll never say it though, I don't get it. Scientists don't get it. No one gets it! We will never understand, it just runs our life.”
“Okay, I know.” Reeves had to give in. “You are right, no one understands. It's a balance somehow. We'll probably never know how it occurs or why it occurred, but death by JNSQ or death by medication are our two choices. JNSQ is not a big deal to me, I watch everything. Death by medication is certain, and it limits life. It limits what we can do so much. It’s not even a life anymore.” Seraphina reached in her pocket and pulled out an old magazine clipping, then handed it to him. Reeves read the article. “Your mother and you were accused of murder?” He couldn’t even continue.
“Yeah, not accepting that the cake killed her, people said that battery acid had been poured down through Medina’s throat.” Seraphina looked away again. "Don’t like the description, try being there. Try holding onto your own sister as she was coughing up her own . . .” She turned back to him with an odd smile. “Still gung-ho that no medication is the way to go?”
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