CHAPTER 7 — Coincidences
717 Words
The first week of lectures was nothing like Seraphina had imagined.
It was louder.
Longer.
And somehow, everyone already seemed to know where they were going except her.
“Left,” Maya said confidently.
Seraphina followed.
Thirty seconds later, they were standing in front of the Faculty of Agriculture.
“We’re not studying Agriculture.”
Maya frowned at the building.
“…I knew that.”
“You literally said ‘left’ with confidence.”
“I was confidently wrong.”
Seraphina laughed.
“I’ve noticed.”
By the second week, campus no longer felt enormous.
It still felt confusing.
But it was becoming familiar.
She knew where the library was.
She had discovered the shortest route to the cafeteria.
She even knew which lecture halls had working fans.
Small victories.
One afternoon, after a long lecture, Maya stretched dramatically.
“If one more lecturer says, ‘This will be in your exam,’ I’m going to cry.”
“You’ve said that every day this week.”
“Because every lecturer has said it every day this week.”
Chloe laughed.
“You two complain too much.”
“We’re adapting.”
“That’s not adapting.”
“It is emotionally.”
The girls stopped at a small kiosk near the faculty building.
“I’ll buy water,” Maya said.
“I’ll come with you.”
“You wait here,” Chloe told Seraphina. “We’ll be two minutes.”
Seraphina nodded.
“I’ll survive.”
“You say that now.”
She leaned against a low concrete wall, absentmindedly watching students move across the courtyard.
A football rolled past.
Someone shouted across the field.
Two lecturers argued over parking spaces.
Everything felt… ordinary.
Comfortably ordinary.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from her mother.
How’s school? Have you eaten?
Seraphina smiled and typed back.
I’m fine, Mum. Still trying not to get lost.
Before she could press send…
The wind changed.
It wasn’t strong.
Just… sudden.
Cool enough to make the tiny hairs on her arms stand up.
She looked around.
The trees were still.
The flags hanging outside the administrative building hadn’t moved.
Yet she had felt it.
A breeze that seemed to belong only to her.
She frowned.
Weird.
Then it was gone.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Seraphina jumped.
Maya laughed.
“I’ve been calling your name.”
“Sorry.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
She hesitated.
“I just thought I felt…”
“What?”
She looked around again.
“…Nothing.”
Maya handed her a bottle of water.
“University is already stressing you.”
“Probably.”
The moment disappeared as quickly as it had come.
By evening, Seraphina had almost forgotten about it.
Almost.
That night, rain tapped gently against the hostel windows.
The room was quiet except for the sound of pages turning.
Chloe was reading.
Tessa was asleep.
Maya was scrolling through her phone.
Seraphina sat at her desk, organizing tomorrow’s timetable.
Her pen slipped from her fingers.
It rolled beneath the bed.
“Seriously?”
She knelt down and reached underneath.
Her fingers brushed against the pen.
Then…
A tiny silver pendant.
She frowned.
It looked old.
Much older than anything a student would normally own.
“Whose is this?”
She held it up.
Maya looked over.
“What?”
“This pendant.”
The three girls stared at her.
“What pendant?” Chloe asked.
Seraphina blinked.
She held it higher.
“This one.”
Tessa frowned.
“You’re holding your pen.”
“No…”
Seraphina looked down.
The silver pendant was gone.
In her hand…
Was only the blue pen she’d dropped.
Silence settled over the room.
“You okay?” Maya asked carefully.
Seraphina forced a small smile.
“I…”
She looked under the bed again.
Nothing.
No pendant.
No silver chain.
Nothing except a little dust and one missing sock.
She let out a nervous laugh.
“I think I’m just tired.”
“Definitely,” Maya said. “Get some sleep before lectures start haunting you.”
The girls laughed.
Seraphina laughed too.
But later that night, lying awake in the darkness…
She couldn’t stop thinking about one question.
If it had only been her imagination…
Why did it feel so real?
- Writer
