“Seraphina!” Rebecca stood on her tiptoes as she tried to see Seraphina Medina, but she was long gone. “That wasn’t good,” Rebecca looked at Marcus. “What do you think, Marcus?”
Marcus shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it had to do with her training today? Maybe Reeves is trying to spice up her day?”
“By having her get on our house?” Rebecca didn’t seem convinced.
“Hey.” Reeves ran up right behind Rebecca and Marcus. “Have you seen Seraphina Medina?”
“Sure did,” Rebecca pointed to her house. “She was up, and now she’s over and somewhere else.”
“She is climbing houses?” Reeves wasn't pleased. Her need for moving should be great, but she should have started to calm down. If she had still been moving, then she must have been hiding her true need for burning energy inside for at least a couple of days. “It will be hard to even reason with her right now." Well, at least she reached her rush. He ran immediately after her.
Reeves stopped and looked back. Jackson was waving and yelling him over. “What is wrong?”
“I’m able to access anything from anywhere on my virtual devices. My virtual deck inhibitor on the house is messed up.” Jackson pointed to the top of his house. “I think I know why.”
“Oh no,” Reeves yelled to the top of Jackson’s house. “Seraphina Medina.” Reeves looked around for a way to get up. “Jackson, can I come inside?” Jackson opened his door, and Reeves leapt inside. Once he was close enough to the top he went out a window and hung onto the trimming. “Seraphina Medina, that is not safe,” Reeves tried to warn her as he pushed himself onto the roof. She had got on the roof and was now balancing on the virtual stopping program beacons. Bigger and rounder than a satellite, she was balancing with her hand on the top of the sphere. He safely pulled her off.
“Safe? What? Huh? I gotta move!” Seraphina Medina started to wrestle in his arms. “I gotta move, I gotta move, I gotta move, let go, let me go, let go!”
Two days of hiding her need for more movement. No, at least five or six days, Reeves realized. She had denied it so much that the need had overwhelmed her. Her body craved nothing but physical motion and her mind could not even be reasoned with at the moment. “Take a deep breath.”
“You take a whatever,” Seraphina struggled to the side to try and climb through the window that Reeves went through. “Move it, leave me be, I have to move!”
“I know.” Reeves let her go and watched her take off into the window. He quickly went after her, and in a short amount of time, both were out of the house. Before Reeves ran off after Seraphina, he had stopped to talk to Jackson. “Jackson, get Rebecca and Simps and meet me at the park.”
“Yeah in just a second,” Jackson said as he stared at his device. He snapped his fingers. “Dangit, almost.” He smiled sheepishly at Reeves. “On it.”
Reeves caught up to Seraphina. “If you want to keep moving, you need to follow me. I will lead you to where you need to go.”
“How long is she going to keep running around the park sidewalk?” Simps complained. “It’s making my eyes hurt.”
“I don’t know.” Jackson answered as he watched Reeves and Seraphina running around the sidewalk. “I never thought she was fast, but she just changed overnight.”
Reeves ran by as Jackson and Simps spoke. Seraphina had changed overnight? Oh no, that wasn’t true, she had been hiding her true talent for at least a week, performing to about half of what she could. She must have fought off her urges for far too long; she was so deep into her need for energy release now. “Okay Seraphina, let’s try some cartwheeling?”
“Too slow,” Seraphina gasped. “I need more, I need faster, I need something!”
She needs to calm down. Reeves kept up with her as he tried to figure something out. Right now the sidewalk that looped around the small park was no test, the only thing giving her any challenge was Reeves running beside her. If he quit, she might take off to try and find something more difficult but dangerous, like the adult playground. “How about somersaults?”
“No,” Seraphina yelled. “I just need to run, I need to run, I need to move, I need to run.”
Reeves looked around for something else to coax her to quit her running. Seraphina may have been more physically fit than when she started, and her adrenaline may have been pumping to allow her to keep going, but she was human, and her body needed a break too. He had hoped she could get through it with enough exercise, but her need was too strong. The only thing he could do would seem cruel, but it had to be done. “Time to stop.”
Seraphina grunted and squirmed as Reeves grabbed her from behind. “Let go!”
“Take a deep breath, you have to calm down,” Reeves insisted as some of the residents ran over. “You have to try and find your balance. I know you want to move, but you need to find better ways that your body can tolerate. Humans aren't invincible, Seraphina.”
“Let go.” Seraphina refused to listen as she struggled to get away. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t-"
Everyone watched as Seraphina tilted her head back and screamed.
Chapter 17
Reeves didn’t say a word until she stopped screaming. “Breathe.”
Seraphina took a deep breath and then another. Her body had to move, it was an itch that no matter how hard she scratched, it only itched more. Now, she could take another breath. Her body was winding down like an old-fashioned wind-up doll, losing her energy and the need to move. The relief was short lived as she felt the physical result of everything she had done. Every muscle ached; even muscles she didn’t know she had. Her throat was so dry and sore from lack of water. Even her own bones were ready to crack under her own body weight. “...ooh.”
“It’s okay, Seraphina Medina, your body overworked itself," Reeves said, "I think it’s time we have a talk now that you can listen.”
Seraphina couldn't grant his request though as her conscious slipped away.
Reeves bounced his feet as he checked on Seraphina once again. He could not risk her waking up and taking off again. He had gone ahead and cleaned her dishes, vacuumed her house and even dusted the whole place to keep busy while he waited on her. No time to play, so might as well do something useful.
He had been in the middle of cleaning windows when he heard her move, and he proceeded to her room. “Good afternoon, Seraphina. Beautiful day?” Seraphina gave a slight moan as Reeves went to her side and gave her some water he had poured. “Here you go, this'll make you chipper again.” He picked up some grapes that had also been beside the water. “These too. They'll be easier to swallow for you.”
Seraphina groaned as she sat up. That act alone must have taken effort as she drank some water and ate a few grapes. “Ow.”
Reeves couldn’t help a chuckle. “What do you expect? You’ve been through houses, climbing houses, and you’ve run so much that you’ve probably run across Hidden Secret at least a hundred times. Don’t worry, some food and water will make you feel better in no time.” He watched as she struggled to get out of bed. “Why didn’t you bother telling me when you first felt all that energy? You could have saved yourself some trouble.”
“I was an idiot," said Seraphina as she ate another grape. “I didn’t want you thinking you were getting closer to winning because you’re not.”
“Yes, of course not.” Reeves didn’t believe her. He stood up. “First of all, don’t run as fast as your body will carry you. The more you do, the more your body will crave it." He got on the ground and started to do push-ups. “Don’t go as fast as you can, moderation.” He slowly switched to sit-ups. “Moderate.” He stood back up. “If you can, try doing little activities. Things like the swing and the slide would give you some breaks." He smirked. “Activities we wanted to do near the swing and slide would be great for moderation too?”
Seraphina didn’t respond, knowing what he was hinting at. “What do you mean though, moving is like caffeine now?”
“Well, not exactly.” R
eeves said. “Moving is great, but not a whole lot at one time, understand?"
“Yeah.” Seraphina tried getting out of bed. “Start running as fast as you can and, you’ll be balancing on top of a house’s virtual deck program inhibitor.”
Chapter 18
Seraphina knocked on Timothy's door. She stopped training long enough to see Timothy since he called. She saw the door start to open. "So, what's the big emergency Timo-"
“Me.”
Seraphina saw Tracy behind Timothy and her smile faded. “Hi, Tracy.”
“Hi, Seraphina.” Tracy smiled almost the same way. “How are you?”
“Fine?” Seraphina said suspicious of the way her sister said that statement. “What are you doing at Timothy’s?”
“She moved in,” Timothy said. “She did it, she made me. She threatened to have me hurt.” He pointed at Tracy. “You have no idea what your sister can do.”
“You’d be surprised.” Oh Seraphina knew her sister would be a problem if she found out, but she didn’t think she’d move into Timothy’s. Things were not looking that well anymore. “Tracy, you really don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?” Tracy placed her hands on her hips. “That you’ve been off your medication on purpose for a bet? A bet to make that big lug go on his medication? Sounds great, sounds humane, he needed to be. It’s safe there,” she growled. “You are caving though, and that’s not OK. You are going to get yourself hurt that way.” She pointed at her sister dangerously. “Seraphina, you need to get back on that medication, or we’re gonna dance.” She burst out into a chuckle. “Not the way you want to.”
Seraphina took a step back. “Tracy, I know you're upset and scared, but you don’t need to be. I told you the truth, and I promise, I’ll be fine.”
“No one’s fine when a donut can kill them,” Tracy growled. “Why did you take this bet?”
“The Champion refused to leave her alone. He bugged her and bugged her and bugged her,” Timothy answered for her. “It was against her will.”
"Timothy," Seraphina squinted at him. "You told?"
“Anonymous letter from someone concerned," Tracy answered. "So, the hottie is the real one to blame? Well, he’ll get his then too. You’ve got eight days to make up your mind.” She turned her attention back to Seraphina. “I’m giving you one chance right now, Honey.” Tracy warned her. “Don’t go against family. Say you’ll go back to the medication today and I will leave your whole life alone. You can stay and live in Hidden Secret all you want. Come on, Seraphina, do what’s right.”
Tracy. Oh no, Tracy wanted her on it so much she wasn’t only angry, she was gonna fight against it. Seraphina took a deep breath. Her sister wasn’t exactly the most innocent of people. Whatever she had ever wanted, she always got in the past. It didn’t matter what it had been. She even knew people who, if she couldn’t get it, they could. If Seraphina was smart, she’d give into her wishes. Tangling with her was not something she wanted to do. But she didn't know if she wanted to go back. Timothy's words and Reeves words had mixed up in her mind so much since she began the bet. Seraphina took another deep breath. How far this would go, and how she would fare, she had no idea, but she couldn’t give in. Not until she figured it out for herself. “I don’t want to go back to medication yet, Tracy. I’m sorry, but I’m finishing this bet, and that’s all there is to it.”
Tracy stared at her as if she were mentally imbalanced. “Is this affecting your brain too? Are you slowly becoming insane? Seraphina Medina Johnson, are you going to take me on?”
Seraphina didn’t respond quickly. “I don’t know if I want to go back, for sure.”
“Fine!” Tracy put Sammy back down. “You could have made this a lot easier on yourself, but I guess if you want to play the hard way, then we’ll play.”
Chapter 19
Seraphina ran home, knowing the first thing Tracy would want to go after. She took out her keys to try and unlock the door. “She beat me.” Great, now she’d have to reason directly to the owner of the estate. She found a payphone and then received a brusque grunt and rude 'who is this'. Definitely a busy man, no time for even a hello. “Hello, I’m Seraphina Medina Johnson, a renter of-”
"Already dealt with the situation. The new owner, Tracy Johnson, will legally allow you to take out your stuff without hassle, ask," the man had said before he hung up.
“Well, I’m homeless.” Seraphina shrugged her shoulders. “My sister bought the house I was renting.”
“Is that legal?”
Seraphina saw Rebecca appear by her side. “She was renting it for me, so technically, yes.”
“Uh oh,” Rebecca said, “What about all your things?”
“She’ll let me have it, but where would I put it?” Seraphina tapped her chin with her finger. “Maybe I can move in with . . .” she rolled her eyes. “That’s why she moved in with Timothy.”
“Your sister moved in with Timothy?” Rebecca gave her a weird look. “Are you serious? Can you rent another place?”
“No,” she admitted. “I have no money. Tracy did everything for me.”
“Your homeless and you have no job to do anything?” Rebecca asked. “What about Reeves?”
Oh, that one was easy. “Forbidden to stay overnight in a Champion Tower.”
“Oh yeah, I remember,” Rebecca said. “Well? Then, now what?”
“I don’t want to give up yet. I want to see this through, make the decision on my own. I can’t be homeless on the streets though. Can I?”
Rebecca went to her house, but Tracy was already there, with a cherry cheesecake. Marcus took it, and assured Rebecca that Tracy was only doing what she felt was right for Seraphina. Same thing as Reeves was doing. At most, he could let her sleep on the floor.
Rebecca looked back at Seraphina as they walked away. “Sorry, Seraphina.”
“It’s okay.” Seraphina was in the middle of a handstand and flipped back up. For some reason, even though she was homeless, a little playing around seemed to make her feel better. “I’ll figure out something I’m sure.”
“Her sister is living with Timothy?” Reeves tried to keep Seraphina Medina still, so she would calm down, but he lost control of her as he had tried to understand what Rebecca said. It didn't make much sense, maybe he had heard her wrong. “Are you absolutely sure it's Timothy Varmen?”
“Mmhm.” Seraphina giggled uncharacteristically. “Tracy is, well, she’s different. She doesn’t want me on this bet, so she’s going to make it hard on me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’m a loner right now.”
Reeves clicked his tongue on the top of his mouth. “You’ve been kicked out of your house, but you're still okay?” She had slipped into the last stage of their condition. He called it ‘good vibes’. It didn’t matter what happened, it would take a ton to make her angry. It had been years since Reeves had become upset until he trained Seraphina Medina the first few days. Even he could not resist that. Now that that torture was over, it'd be a long time before that happened again.
“I am homeless, but I have a couch I can sleep on.” Seraphina chuckled. “It’s weird. I lost my house and all my support. I should undoubtedly be upset, but all I can think is, I have a couch. It’s a good thing.” She outright laughed. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You've got good vibes.” Reeves explained. “Congratulations, you have almost made it through the training.”
No money. No house. No credits like the other residents to take care of her, yet happy as could be. The good vibes kicked in just in time. She was even starting to hum. Okay, her sister had provided everything for her. If Reeves didn’t find a way to get her taken care of, things would get worse. “She is going to need a couch for one night. I’m still a Paladin, I should be able to get her some kind of deal.” Champion Paladins were the lowest level of hero but having it to his name should get him some basic help for her.
One night on Marcus’ couch and Seraphina would be fine.
> Rebecca groaned as she saw Seraphina spread out on the little couch. Her head and feet both hung over at an awkward angle. In order to get any sleep, she would have to scrunch up her body tight. “Marcus?”
“That’s all we have,” Marcus reminder her. “Goodnight, Seraphina Medina. Hopefully everything will be better in the morning."
“It’ll be okay,” Seraphina yawned. “Things will get better somehow.” She picked up her pillow and blanket and placed them beside the couch. The ground looked more comfortable than the couch.
Rebecca and Marcus were about to get ready for bed, when someone knocked on their door. Who could that be? Rebecca went over to look out the window. She gasped and quickly opened the door. “Reeves?”
Reeves had nothing but a pillow and a blanket. He was wearing an out of sorts plaid, striped green shirt with brown shoes. “Hi?” He chuckled. “Got room for one more?”
“One more what?” Rebecca asked. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“Well, I need a place to stay. I’m on probation,” Reeves admitted. “You see . . .”
REEVES HAD ALREADY got the okay on a financial agreement for temporary housing. Seraphina only had to endure two nights without a home, like he thought. Afterwards, he would be able to take care of her. A little bit of financial trouble wouldn’t keep him from saving Seraphina. As he went to sleep though, the intercom over his bed spoke.
“Emergency message. Mandatory check.”
Reeves proceeded to get up. A mandatory check? He trotted over to his computer room. It was a rarely used room, he didn't know much about computers. He booted it up and then checked his profile. “I don’t believe it.” He stared at the screen. “Probation?” He quickly fetched his phone and dialed a specific number. There had to be some kind of mistake. After checking with number after number and getting rerouted to different offices, he finally found his answer.
Reeves Page 13