9. Seraphina
9
SERAPHINA
“CLIMBING MT. KILIMANJARO IS A BITCH… OR SO I’VE HEARD”
I stay awake through the night. With my eyes closed against the morning light, I run my fingers through Sviato’s fur, listening to the gentle rustlings of Vee as she rises from bed. When I hear her cane tapping closer to the living room, I sit up straight, loosing a yawn so violent it scares Sviato. His yellow eyes widen, his ears flat against his head as he sniffs my mouth, seemingly disturbed by the sound my tiredness drew from my lips.
Savyne hops onto the couch, swatting at her brother’s nose and drawing an irritated growl from his mouth.
“That’s enough, children,” I scold, booping Sviato on the nose. He rears back, his mouth slightly parted at the indiscretion, and his sister uses his distraction to jump on his back. They both tumble to the floor in a mess of fur and claws, and I just shake my head, standing from the couch and heading into the kitchen to wait for Vee.
She smiles when she sees me, though it dims slightly as she takes in the deep purple beneath my eyes. “You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”
A sheepish smile tilts my lips. Vee shakes her head with a tut, shuffling over to the fridge.
“Can I make you some breakfast?”
My stomach rumbles at the mention, but I still shake my head. “I’ve gotta get going. Maggie is probably so worried. I was supposed to sleep there last night, but…”
Vee tuts again. “You worry too much about that girl. You should think about yourself more, Seraphina. Your wants. Your needs.”
I frown. “I do.”
Vee raises a brow.
“Okay, maybe I could a little more… but Maggie needs me more than I need me.”
Vee sighs but says no more on the issue. “Okay. But I’m sending you there with more tincture—and I don’t want any lip about it,” she adds, grabbing a copper vial from the cabinet and shoving it into my palm. Her fingers fold around mine in a rare moment of contact, and I smile gratefully at the elderly woman.
“You’re too good to me, Vee.”
“Pah.” She waves me off, releasing me shuffling back to the stove. “You’ll be back next week?”
“Like clockwork,” I say, heading over to the tigers and giving them some goodbye scratches. “I’ll miss you guys,” I whisper, tears forming at the corners of my eyes. “If I could take you with, I would.”
Sviato grunts while Savyne paws my face playfully, and I lean down, giving them each a forehead kiss before straightening and heading to the exit. I wave goodbye to Vee, but she’s busy over the stove and doesn’t see me.
“I’ll be seeing you,” I whisper.
If I knew they would be some of the last words I spoke to her, I might have chosen them more carefully. But I don’t.
And I leave without looking back.
An hour later, I’m taking the steps up to Maggie’s and my apartment on the south side of Moriton. I knock twice and press my ear to the door. When I don’t hear any footsteps approaching, I sigh, pulling my purse from my shoulder and beginning the game of “find the keys among all this unnecessary crap.”
I’ve barely shoved my foot through the door before a pair of arms are thrown around my neck, and I stumble back into the hallway to support the weight of my roommate and best friend, Maggie. A neon pink aura bursts from her shoulders, swirling and mixing with beautiful hues of gold around her head, like a halo.
Large pupils ringed with cobalt shine up at me, the beauty of them only matched by the gleaming white smile plastered on her freckled face. “Nina!”
She squeals happily, embracing me once more before pulling back fully. A flaming red curl falls onto her face, and she blows air out the side of her mouth in an attempt to get it back in order. It has the opposite effect, and more unruly strands join the first, covering her left eye entirely and sticking to her glossed lips.
“Stupid mane,” she grumbles, unhooking an arm from my neck and brushing her hair back with a pout. “I’m one more hairball away from shaving it all off.”
“I’d reconsider that one. I’ve seen you when your hair’s wet—you don’t have the head shape for it.” I eye her warily, trying to discern if she’s joking about the hairball situation. Deciding I don’t want to know, I start the process of prying the needy koala from my body.
Maggie continues to pout, the neon pink dimming as she pulls her limbs off and allows me to step into the apartment. The scent of old wood wafts up my nose, and I close my eyes as a sense of calm washes over me. Home away from home. If only the landlord would allow two tigers to live here with us…
“Where were you last night?” she asks, her aura darkening to magenta as she steps over to where I’ve plopped onto the couch. “I thought you were coming here after you saw Ivan?”
“I… went to visit Vee.” I decide not to tell her about the man in the woods, not wanting to dim her light any further. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was so tired, and it must have slipped my mind.”
“Oh!” She claps her hands together excitedly, all the worry vanishing from her face as her aura brightens. “How’s grandma Vee? Did you two have a nice time?”
She sits next to me on the couch, pulling her legs beneath her as she waits eagerly for my response. I reach out and pat her on the head, my lips mirroring her infectious smile.
“We did. She fed me and we watched Casablanca before I passed out on the couch. It was nice to see her and the tigers.”
She lies down, resting her head in my lap and looking up at me with her big, excited blue eyes. “How are the fuzzy killers? I wish you could bring them over for visits like when they were cubs.”
I laugh, remembering how I used to sneak Savyne and Sviato inside in a portable crate when they were small enough. Although the tigers never really gave her the time of day, it never stopped Maggie from trying to win over their affection with treats and promises of undying love.
Like house cats, tigers are just picky. Half the time, they don’t even like me—and I’m their mom. Maggie understood this, and I think that's the reason she never gave up on trying to make the twins notice her. Of course, now that they’re too big to sneak into the apartment building, she hasn’t had the chance to try and win their affections. And it’s probably just as well—an uncomfortable adult tiger is a lot more dangerous than a cub.
“Savyne is good.” A smile forma at the thought of her. “Still terrorizing her poor brother every chance she has. And Sviato is a force to be reckoned with, but he still lets her walk all over him like when she was bigger than him—it’s the cutest thing.”
“You’re killing me!” Maggie groans. “I so want to snuggle a tiger now.”
“Coming from a person who’s never woken up with a face full of tiger drool.”
“I would gladly take the drool for a chance to love on those two cuties. You’re just ungrateful.” Maggie sticks her tongue out, and a laugh bubbles from my lips.
“You’ll just have to come and visit them. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”
A wave of regret courses through my veins as Maggie’s face drops. She turns to the TV, her bottom lip quivering with barely restrained emotion.
“Magoo, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking?—”
“It’s not you, Nina.” A pulse of deep blue replaces her normally pink aura. “It’s me. I wish I wasn’t this way. I wish things were different.”
I shake my head, pulling her tiny body into my arms and hugging her hard. “Don’t say that. You are perfect just the way you are.”
Maggie suffers from severe Agoraphobia, which makes it impossible for her to leave the apartment. She doesn’t have anyone other than me to give her company, and so I know these past few weeks I’ve been busy have taken a toll on her mental health.
Being two years younger than me, Maggie has always been like a little sister to me. The things we’ve been through… there’s no one on the earth that’s experienced the horrors the Sanctum put us through. It’s why she’s so closed off, so terrified of the world around us. It makes sense to me, and the fact I’ve neglected my big sister duties causes a ball of guilt to harden in my stomach.
I gaze down at her, brushing her hair back from her forehead. “I love you with all your quirks. If you didn’t have them, you just wouldn’t be my Magoo, would you?”
She giggles as I pinch her sides teasingly, the sound filling the air bringing a smile to my own face. What I said was true—she is perfect the way she is. And I’ll stick by her side no matter what. It’s what I’ve always done. What I’ll always do.
Suddenly, Maggie springs upright, all her earlier laughter dying. “Oh my! Look at the state of our poor plant!” She jumps up from the couch, hurrying over to the window with silent, pixie-like movements. She crouches by the browning Monstera with a pinched expression marring her pretty features. “How did this happen? I watered it last week!”
I push up from the couch, stopping silently at her side as I place my hand on her shoulder again. This time, she looks up at me with a frown and tears building in her beautiful ocean eyes. “I’m so sorry, Nina. I really tried to keep it alive.”
“It’s okay. It’s just a plant.” I decide now is not the time to mention the soil looks bone-dry—as if it had never been watered. Besides, I know the dead foliage isn’t the thing that’s actually causing her distress.
“Magoo… you’re my favorite person. My best friend. And I think you’re perfect just the way you are… you know that, right?” I whisper, reaching up and dragging my hand down the back of her unruly red curls. “Nothing could ever change that.”
“I know,” she murmurs, dropping her hands to her lap and picking at her cuticle. “I know and yet… I still wish I was less of a burden on you.”
I crouch next to her, placing my hand atop hers as memories of the past try to push their way out of the dark. “You’re not a burden , Magoo. What would make you think that?”
Her eyes flit toward the window. “You work so much to support us, and when you’re here, you’re always so exhausted, but you never sleep. I just… I feel like I hurt you more than I help you lately. And that’s the last thing I want, Nina. After everything you’ve done for me?—”
I reach out, pressing my finger to her lips. “Magoo, I do it because I love you. Taking care of you is not a chore or a burden for me. If anything, having you here gives me something to look forward to—knowing I get to come home and be myself with you. In fact, I’ve been thinking about taking a week off. A vacation is just what I need—days spent here with you, eating shitty takeout and watching your favorite boring as fuck geographic TV.”
Maggie brightens slightly, the tears shining in her eyes now ones of happiness. “Can you… are you sure you can do that?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you’re not just doing this for me?”
I hold out my little finger to her, even though I know it’s only half the truth. “Pinky promise.”
She hooks hers with mine, a great big smile finally reaching her eyes. It causes my heart to pinch, and as I watch her skip toward the couch, I know I’ve done the right thing.
I help her stand and we move to the couch. I turn on the TV to whatever channel was playing last, pretending to pay attention to the show as my mind swirls, trying to figure out a way for me to be at the apartment more often.
First, I’ll have to cancel Sunday with Tommy. Then, I can move Mark to Tuesday afternoon and be home for dinner. Oh, and maybe I could ? —
“Oh my God! That’s so fucking cool!” Maggie gasps, breaking me from my thoughts as she slaps a hand violently against my knee. “Look, Nina! Those people are literally standing on top of that mountain! And look at that sunrise!” Her eyes stay glued to the screen as she watches the panorama of the couple watching the sunrise atop Mount Kilimanjaro.
“The sunrise from Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is said to be one of the most beautiful—and rare—sunrises a person can witness. Hikers travel hundreds of miles on rocky cliffs, sometimes taking several days to reach the summit, all to catch a glimpse of this beautiful spectacle of nature.”
“Nina… I want to see that,” Maggie breathes, her eyes shining with a glimmer of raw desire. “No, I need to see that. Write this down Nina—before I die, I need to see the sunrise from Mount Kilimanjaro.”
I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. “Magoo, you literally hate exercise. Now you want to climb up an entire mountain?”
“To see that in person? Hell yes,” she says, a nod accompanying her determined expression. “I’d do anything. Even if it means I have to take a couple of rounds on a stair-stepper.”
“I think that’s the least you’ll need to do. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is a bitch… or so I’ve heard.” I laugh, nudging her shoulder fondly. “And hey, if it helps, I can train with you. We can do a whole schedule to make sure you’re ready to climb that big ole rock.” So few things really get Maggie interested in leaving the house, so if this is the thing that finally gives her the desire to try, I’m going to go with it a thousand percent. “Hey, I’ll even buy us one of those fancy stair-stepper machines.”
“Really?” Maggie turns to me, her eyes bright.
“Pinky promise.”
Maggie and I nestle into the couch cushions, and before long, I feel my lids droop. It’s been four days since I’ve slept, yet when its sweet embrace tugs at my conscience, I fight it with everything I have. But it doesn’t matter—sleep always finds me one way or another.
And with it comes the memories.