CHAPTER 5 — A New Beginning
783 Words
The suitcase wheel snapped off before Seraphina even reached the hostel.
She stopped walking.
Stared down.
Then stared some more.
The wheel lay a few feet away from her like it had deliberately detached itself from the suitcase.
Around her, hundreds of students moved across campus.
Parents carried bags.
Freshers dragged luggage.
Voices blended together in a chaotic symphony of excitement and confusion.
And there she was.
Standing in the middle of it all with a broken suitcase.
“Seriously?” she muttered.
A few students walked around her.
Nobody stopped.
Nobody cared.
Which somehow made the situation even more embarrassing.
“Great start, Seraphina.”
She bent down and picked up the wheel.
As if somehow holding it would magically fix the problem.
It didn’t.
“Need help?”
The voice came from behind her.
Seraphina turned.
A girl stood there holding two plastic bags and a half-finished bottle of water.
She looked friendly.
Comfortably friendly.
The kind of person who smiled like she’d known you for years.
“Please tell me you know where Hall C is,” Seraphina said.
The girl blinked.
Then laughed.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“You’re lost too?”
Seraphina released a dramatic sigh.
“Fantastic.”
The girl laughed again.
“I’m Maya.”
“Seraphina.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
Maya pointed ahead.
“I think Hall C is somewhere over there.”
“You think?”
“I never claimed to be certain.”
“Wonderful.”
“Relax. Worst case scenario, we get lost together.”
Seraphina couldn’t help smiling.
“That is not comforting.”
“It should be.”
And just like that, they started walking.
Thirty minutes later, they were still lost.
“At this point,” Seraphina said, dragging her suitcase behind her, “I think we’re actually leaving the university.”
Maya burst into laughter.
“We’re not leaving the university.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the gate is in the opposite direction.”
“How do you know that?”
Maya paused.
“Good question.”
“Exactly.”
Eventually, after asking three students, one security officer, and a woman who looked equally confused, they finally found Hall C.
The building stood tall and crowded.
Students moved in and out carrying buckets, mattresses, food containers, and enough supplies to survive a small apocalypse.
The atmosphere buzzed with excitement.
And noise.
Lots of noise.
“This is it,” Maya said.
Seraphina looked up.
For a moment, reality settled in.
She was really here.
University.
A completely different chapter of her life.
No Damien.
No secondary school.
No familiar routines.
Just something new.
Something unknown.
Something hers.
“You okay?” Maya asked.
Seraphina blinked.
“Huh?”
“You got quiet.”
“Oh.”
She looked back at the building.
“I think it’s finally sinking in.”
Maya nodded.
“Same.”
The registration process took forever.
By the time Seraphina collected her room allocation, her feet hurt and her patience was hanging by a thread.
She climbed the stairs with her luggage.
Then climbed some more.
Then even more.
“Why do they always put freshmen on the highest floors?” she complained.
“Character development,” Maya replied.
Seraphina laughed.
“I hate character development.”
When she finally reached her room, she pushed the door open.
Three beds.
Three wardrobes.
Three desks.
One ceiling fan that looked older than the building itself.
“Well,” she said.
“This is home now.”
Two girls were already inside.
One was unpacking clothes.
The other was arranging books on a shelf.
Both looked up when Seraphina entered.
“Hi,” the girl arranging books said.
“I’m Chloe.”
“Tessa,” the other added.
“Seraphina.”
Within minutes, introductions turned into conversations.
Conversations turned into laughter.
And before she realized it, the awkwardness began fading away.
That evening, the four girls sat together sharing snacks and stories.
Where they came from.
What they planned to study.
What they hoped university would be like.
“What about you?” Chloe asked.
“What are you hoping for?”
Seraphina thought about it.
For a moment, several answers came to mind.
Success.
Good grades.
A fresh start.
Happiness.
Finally, she smiled.
“I don’t know.”
The girls laughed.
“Fair answer,” Maya said.
Outside the hostel window, the campus glowed beneath the evening lights.
Students moved through pathways.
Voices drifted upward from below.
The university felt alive.
For the first time in a very long while, Seraphina felt something unfamiliar.
Not sadness.
Not regret.
Not uncertainty.
Hope.
- Writer
