In a high-rise apartment located in the inner city, a girl came awake as she smelled burning.

She glanced at the window on her right, letting in a little light – the day was too drab for anything more than a little light. Eventually she spotted the burning object: a card she had on the windowsill. With a yawn, she walked over and placed a hand near the flame. It began to dwindle and then vanished, leaving a scarred, burned card.

Outside was something far more sinister. The girl saw rushing water, gathering around the sides of the building, almost coming in through the window, and as far as the eye could see, everything but the tallest buildings had been completely flooded. She squealed and sat below the windowsill, rubbing her eyes before checking again. Upon a second look, there was no great flood and everything was as it should be.

Serafina Gunn breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the other side of the room to fetch her phone from her bedside table. Several messages already? She wasn’t usually so popular. With a smile, she replied to her best friend.

 CJ Hello, friend. How are you on this fine morning?

Hi!!! Sorry I missed this, Im good thanks, you? SG 

 CJ I foresaw that you were asleep. Sorry if I bothered you.

No no its fine! It was something on fire that woke me up actually. SG 

You know how it is! SG 

Once she was dressed in a small denim jacket, crop top, tight-fitting jeans and a pair of slick sunglasses, Serafina switched on the television and hopped back into bed to watch some television. She had been watching a series for a while now that had completely engrossed her; all she was waiting for was the season finale and she was just a few episodes away.

 CJ Yes. You really ought not to set things on fire. Especially if it’s happening in your sleep.

I know, I know, Ill do something about it! SG 

 CJ Aside from that, did you have a vision this morning?

Yes!! Everything outside my flat was flooding!! SG 

As she sat and watched the show, messaging Cassie at the same time, she began to ruminate, as she often did, on her life and friends. She was well-liked amongst the group, and was considered a friend to most of them. The only person she didn’t know as well was Zack, and she didn’t talk to him as often as the rest of them. Even though everyone liked her, she often felt like she was always running behind them when it came to chats – she rarely frequented the group chat and everyone always seemed to chat to each other far more than they did to her.

Still, she was an incorrigible bundle of joy, so thoughts like this never kept her down.

 CJ Heh. That would be concerning, considering you live… how many floors up?

17! Same as my age, now that I think about it. SG 

 CJ How quaint. You know, we did have this conversation several months ago. On your birthday, do you remember?

Oh!! So we did, sorry! SG 

 CJ Don’t worry about it.

 CJ Anyway, my vision was two eyeballs in the bath as I was going to bed last night.

Oh jeez… not fun! SG 

 CJ No, not particularly.

 CJ Regardless, what are you doing today?

 JC hey Fin, you busy later?

Cassie just asked the same thing!! I’m so popular today! SG 

 JC are you surprised? you’re like the only member of this group with any personality, haha.

Whoa, thats not true Joseph!! SG 

 JC of course not.

 JC though, upon careful consideration of the Dudebro Constitution, you straight-up are the Most Moist Galsister.

Oh my god what SG 

 JC holy shit, that sounds so ridiculous. here, I’ll link you to it.

 JC geoff wrote this absolute atrocity

Outside, it began to brighten up, just a little. Serafina stretched out in her bed as the first trailing fingers of the warm sunlight began to dance on her back, and she groaned in a peaceful bliss. Outside her room, she heard movements – probably her mother and her mother’s girlfriend – and turned the volume on the television down slightly. She did not want them to know she was up yet.

It wasn’t that Serafina particularly disliked the pair of them: Julia, her mother, and Amie, her… significant other? Whatever you were supposed to call them. She just found something intensely dislikeable about their lovey-dovey relationship and the way they spent almost all of their time together. It was often an embarrassment to be in public with them, and Serafina hated the spotlight, or any kind of attention.

People at college were never nice about her having homosexual guardians, either.

 JC here it is.

This is the most unbelievable thing I think Ive ever read. Why. SG 

 JC please don’t ask me.

 JC you know how geoffrey is sometimes.

I suppose. SG 

 JC you OK?

Yes, of course! Sorry, Im just watching TV simultaneously, I must be getting distracted! SG 

 JC oh right, OK then. do you want me to leave?

Its fine!! What are you up to today? SG 

Going shopping with my moms later, why? SG 

 CJ Ah. I thought we could video call for a while, is all.

Oh man!! Sorry!! SG 

 CJ Don’t worry about it. There’s always tomorrow. Right?

Right!! SG 

 CJ There’s always another day to repair the damage of yesterday.

… SG 

 CJ …Um. Sorry. That was probably not the wisest thing to say.

Its fine. Please dont repeat things he said in future though. SG 

Serafina sighed at her phone. She did not enjoy being reminded of… him. Trying to stay focussed on her television show, Serafina ignored her phone for a few minutes. She was enjoying the current episode; the male lead had just confessed his love to the female protagonist as he was dying, and she had sworn to avenge him on the girl who, possibly in a fit of jealousy, had struck him down. It was truly an epic tale of love – not like most of Serafina’s relationships.

There was something fiery about her that meant she struggled to keep down a relationship. Her naïvety also meant that most of her boyfriends, and a few of her girlfriends, had taken advantage of her in the past. The majority of her school life had been a miserable experience, with heartbreaks happening one after another. Her parents never really cared either.

They still had each other, she thought bitterly. Whatever happens to me, they still fucking have each other.

 JC out for breakfast with my uncle. he likes to have quality time on weekends.

 JC uh. sorry if that offends.

No, no! You really think I mind that much? SG 

 JC well, I mean… you do complain about them never giving you any attention.

 JC and you complain about that pretty regularly.

 JC i’m just saying, if you want to talk, I’ll listen.

Thanks. Its not a problem, really though! SG 

 JC if you say so. Anyway, what are you watching? Some new trashy drama show?

Got it in one!! SG 

 JC man, I don’t know how you can watch so many of those so frequently.

 JC when do you ever get your work done?

Uh, whenever I can!! I should probably do some now tbh! SG 

 CJ I am an awful excuse for a best friend.

Cassie its fine!! SG 

Come on, lets talk about something else. SG 

 CJ Did you have something in mind?

BOYS!!! But not the shit kind. SG 

 CJ Oh no. Don’t say it.

SO!! Howre things going with adonis??? SG 

 CJ I told you not to call him that.

 CJ But things are going… acceptably. We spoke recently. He seems to like me.

Like-like?? SG 

 CJ I’m not sure. All the clairvoyance in the world couldn’t help me figure out what he’s thinking.

The episode came to an end and Serafina switched the television off. The season finale would wait until tonight, when she could ensconce herself in her blankets, bring a few snacks, and have an enjoyable Saturday night. For the time being, she elected to finally get up for real and eat. It was mid-morning, and she decided that she could do with some breakfast. She left her room and walked down the corridor into the main room of the apartment, texting as she did.

Hey, I just had a great idea! We should ask Lola!! SG 

OMG I bet shed read his mind and check for us!! SG 

 CJ …You really have some strange ideas. But I suppose if you want to ask, it wouldn’t hurt.

Yes! We are so doing this ASAP!! SG 

 CJ But let’s wait until, you know, she’s occupying the same continent as him, shall we? We’ll be on the group chat soon enough, so we can just ask afterwards.

If you say so!! SG 

Julia and Amie barely even looked up as Serafina walked past them to the adjoining kitchen. She fixed herself breakfast – cereal, nothing of interest – silently and ate it quite quickly. As she did so, her phone beeped using a different tone. Curious, she picked it up. It was the group chat. Not really in the mood to talk further, she observed the conversation.

Group Chat [Snapple Bottom Jeans] 

[Zack , Lola , Joseph , Cassie , Geoffrey , Serafina ]

 ZL Hey everyone. Wow, I forgot how dumb the group chat name was. Jesus Christ.

 GS that was me i think

 GS i forget the context tho

 LZ Yeah, wow, I vaguely remember that. I haven’t been on the gc for a while.

 ZL We are all here, right? Roll call.

 LZ …uh, yeah, I’m here.

 JC yes.

 CJ I’m here.

Here! SG 

 GS i think that’s everyone

Serafina finished her breakfast and walked away. “I’m going out.”

“Be back later, see you!” her mother replied. She sighed. She couldn’t expect much more than that, could she?

“Alright.”

 ZL Impressive. When was the last time we were all on?

 LZ My birthday. Remember?

 JC ha! i do remember that. we spent like four hours talking about, essentially, fucking nothing.

 LZ Heheh. They’re the best kinds of chats.

 ZL Anyway, you know how we’ve all been having these weird visions?

 LZ ?

 ZL I spoke to Raziel about it. He says once we all believe him, he’ll tell us everything he knows.

 CJ I can confirm that we will be helping him in the future.

 ZL So, that being the case, what do we all think about this?

Serafina made her way up the stairs outside the apartment, walking past an endless array of numbered doors. She arrived at the roof and strode out, viewing the cityscape laid out before her. It was slowly becoming more sunny as she sat and stared. She loved the view of the city in the mornings; the way that the sunlight would glint off of the glass windows of the buildings, how the skyscrapers stretched their fingers upwards across the landscape and how the distant rumble of traffic produced a calming backdrop for her thoughts.

She often wondered what she was supposed to do. Every day felt like another busy load of nothing. Another chance to get things wrong, and to what end? She still didn’t know. She didn’t like going to college every day, going home, watching TV and going to bed. It wasn’t bad… just unfulfilling.

Serafina let out a long sigh and slumped against the wall around the edge of the roof, leaning over the side, letting her eyes trail a lazy path through the roads down below.

 LZ If Cassie says it’s genuine, I’m not going to argue with her.

 LZ But… it just seems so ridiculous, you know?

 JC absolutely. but hey, cass has never been wrong before.

 ZL That’s what I figured. So… are we going to make a new chat with Raziel and Mizar?

 CJ It’s inevitable, really.

 GS yeah lets go

 ZL Right. On it.

Serafina put her phone back in her pocket and turned away from the roof. Time to go out for real and get a coffee somewhere; it wasn’t yet time for shopping. It had been a long while since she had worked on some of her art. She had never been taught art properly as she didn’t believe in the schooling system, but she had been drawing for most of her life and some often told her that she was good – those who were lucky enough to even see her art. Serafina had a major lack of confidence in her abilities, especially taking into consideration her best friend’s incredible artwork. She rarely showed anyone her work, and she preferred people not to mention it.

As she walked, she heard her phone beep again.

 ZL added  SG to Group Chat [Psychic Double Reacharound]

[Zack , Lola , Joseph , Cassie , Geoffrey , Serafina , Raziel , Mizar ]

 ZL Everyone’s here. Raziel, Mizar. Start talking.