I follow a very pre-planned routine in life which is mostly determined by my schedule. It wouldn't be surprising if somebody came and told me I was the only girl in my class who wasn't fun at all and attended all the lectures and labs because she had no other work to do. I admit. Clearly I don't have a friend I would like to hang out with or any other plans of breaking rules or such. Apparently I left all my people in my own city only because I wasn't allowed to be with them while I was there. I sit in a couch near our reception waiting for my classmates for the second half of our schedule which was a lab.

*            * *             * *

Exactly at 16:30 every Tuesday Visca's elder sister Veronica went for a tuition with her mom who gave Naomi's little sister lessons on vernacular at around the same place. That is the only time of that day that Visca used to either sleep or watch anime series. Just about 17:00 her cell vibrates on the PC table.

An unknown number flashed on the broad screen. 

"Hello?", she interrogated.

"Hey.", came an enthusiastic but half asleep, scratchy voice which she recognized immediately. Her heart skipped a few beats as a warmth of familiarity ran throughout her.

"Oh my God already?", she shot right up and stood alarmed.

"What already?"

"Well never mind."

"Okay. What's up?"

"Not much. I was into this Anime."

"Okay so I'll call you back? You busy?"

"No no they're downloaded. I can watch 'em later."

"Okay. So where's everybody?"

"Sis in tuition. Mom at Naomi's."

"You don't go to your friend's place?"

"She goes there to teach her little sister. I don't wanna hang around there and bother everyone."

"So their comfort is more important to you than your own?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that."

"Yep I kind of anticipated this would come."

A few minutes passed in silence.

"Do you like femdom?", asked Steven suddenly. Visca felt a faint glint of chuckle in his voice. It was somehow beautiful. The way he spoke was beautiful. His voice was beautiful. It was neither hoarse nor soft, but soothing enough. It wasn't exactly loud but masculine. It was just perfect. And it felt home.

"You there Visca?", he asked.

"Umm "fem" what?"

"Femdom."

"What is that?"

"Check it in the dictionary if you have one back home."

"Hold on."

"No wait. I don't think you'll find it in the dictionary."

"Okay then?"

"You got the internet."

"I need to wait for mum to get back. Lem'me check the dictionary meanwhile."

"Right."

She took out a small, dusty pocket dictionary from her cupboard and started looking through pages and turning them hastily. Back again to the previous one and towards the front again.

"You're right.", she sighed finally closing it.

"I know right."

"Although I have no idea about the pedigree yet. But why do you have all these strange words that you want me to search about?"

"Oh just, trying to get to know you."

"Well...Don't you sleep during the day?"

"Oh yes of course, I just woke up."

"And first thing you did was call me?"

"Apparently yes."

"Whoa."

"What about you? Don't you sleep?"

"At times yes. But today no one is home and I prefer to keep my fandom away from people. So 'Fairy Tail in secrecy'."

"So you don't want them to know you watch them?"

"No they do know I watch them but I prefer solitary these days."

"I'm not sure if I got that one right."

"Better off like that.", she said uncomfortably flipping the dictionary in her hands.

She didn't know whether he understood her mental disagreement on talking about herself but he quickly changed the topic and they chatted for a little more of random stuff before hanging up. Visca opened the logs. Right beneath his number a "37:59" peeped and she smiled. She tapped the options and saved a new contact as "Him".

*            * *             * *

The two hours lab got over in one and a half hour. I walk back to my hostel campus with two of my classmates. They talk among themselves as I succumb to my playlist. Nothing is more painful than climbing up four storey after a long day. But as soon as I reach my room which is now locked. I flip my bag in front, take out the keys, open the door and let myself fall head on towards my bed at the extreme right corner of the room. I lay just like that as I slide the backpack down both my shoulders and take out the laptop from another bag beside my pillow. I sit up on support of the corner wall by my bed and open a document. I stop the music in my cellphone and sink inside the blanket reading a work of James Dashner. His writings, I believe can make me escape reality and bring me on terms with the fact that I'm lucky to be born during his time. Reading altogether is an escape though. But oh, only novels not the course books.

*            * *             * *

"How is your research progressing?", asked Steven two mornings after the call when they met before the assembly.

"I'm not into violence so no pedigree and I still don't get femdom."

"So then you won't take my revenge for me? We are besties right?"

"Who said you do that stuff for your best friends?"

"Okay if you say so. But why do you need revenge at all?"

"Mental peace.", joked Visca.

"You live a life right now. You breathe everyday without the fear of dying. What kind of peace do you need now?"

"Okay, hey?", frowned Visca. "What's with you?"

"Did you love him?", Steven stared.

"Excuse me?', her face portrayed the old discomfort instantly.

"See. It's just that I don't think you can take revenge on someone you ever loved. Like, can you hurt someone you loved?"

Visca stared back. She didn't remember how long she stood there. Whether she went to the assembly at all. She didn't remember who left the place first. Whether she watched him walk away or whether she ran from the situation. All she knew was that his voice still rung in her head as she went to bed that night. A peaceful and calm, yet trembling voice. She was curious why it trembled but afraid to know what it could possibly hide. It suddenly struck her how a sense of responsibility swept her for the first time in life. Strangely she only remembered running away from such things before but for a moment that day she wanted to be the one to heal that trembling soul.

*            * *             * *

Around 21:00 I sit in my study table and open the first half lecture notes to give it a thorough reading or copy the important ones in my own notes. Just then I hear muffles outside the room and I look at the wall that covered the room door at right angles. My only room mate Blanchet walks in after a fraction of seconds.

"You're late."

"Yeah, I stopped by Alex's room."

Alex was her class best friend and although she spent most of the nights on our room, her room originally was on the first floor. 

"I don't get how you manage your friendships staying seven seas away."

"Thank god it's not literally seven seas away 'cause I don't take time forgetting people."

Both of us laugh a bit before she instructs me to carry on my studies after which Alex comes in and they sit down to complete their own assignments.

*            * *             * *

A science workshop came up one day out of the blues. Visca ran out to check if all the other sections were scheduled to visit too. Unfortunately Steven's section wasn't one of those visiting the workshop. From outside his section she recognized his newspaper printed bag but he wasn't in sight. She started to turn around and saw him coming from the other side. He stopped right in front of her.

"So, you going for this workshop?"

"I can stay back if you want me to."

"Stay Visca.", he smiled as he walked back towards his classroom while still facing her.

The moment he stepped inside and turned around disappearing, Visca felt her cheek muscles contract. It didn't take even a second for her to relax them as soon as she realised he had been smiling all this time. 

*            * *             * *

I lay on my bed after dinner, resting both my legs on the wall while scrolling down the news feed in my cellphone. My blanket gets warmer slowly but my hands still feel cold. But I don't feel like getting up to either switch off the fan or the air condition. A picture pops up my timeline. A sweet friendly picture of two of my school friends I didn't know much. A lot changes while we grow up. Complete strangers can become really close in a matter of seconds. That's how human relations work.

But have you ever witnessed a small beautiful spark? The beginning of everything is always just as beautiful but it doesn't take long before it turns into fire. A life threatening fire. Could be an accidental one, could be by purpose or intention too. But no one might have lived without witnessing a small spark turn into a wild fire. 

*            * *             * *

"What's wrong VIsca?", asked Steven.

"Nothing."

"Then what are you mad for?"

"I don't feel like talking, why?"

"But what have I done?"

"I don't know! Now leave me alone."

Visca stormed into her classroom leaving him all alone in the long corridor. He stayed there right behind her for a little while until she finally saw his shadow leave. She wanted to go back outside and tell him all the strange things she had been thinking of for the last few days. How she was already so used to being with him that first thing she did after entering school was finding out if he was around. How he was the one thing her eyes always looked around for. How he was the reason she started coming to school at all. That it was around him that she wasn't afraid of smiling anymore. She had just too much to say and too little words to be able to express it. She could just go tell him he meant so much to her that she was already afraid of losing him. And that she hadn't had the courage to have such feelings since a long time now. She could tell him she pretended to be angry to see if he could walk away, to see if she could give that part of her to him which could be broken. 

But for the time she pretended she did not care. For a while she let it go to know how long she could survive before it became an addiction.

On dispersal that day she was talking to Alex in the corridor while waiting for the bell when from the corner of her eyes she saw Steven come out of his class and pause suddenly to stand there abruptly. Visca was facing him but looking at Alex. Yet she noticed him stretching his hands up to his ears as a gesture. Visca ignored. He started towards them and she had heard a faint "I'm sorry.." from him when the bell went off and she never knew what else he was about to say or do. The crowd separated them too far away to be able to hear anymore. 

Holding hands with Alex she somehow managed to come outside and they walked away towards her bus to home.

*            * *             * *

Blanchet switches off the lights of their room around 01:00 but I stay up still fiddling with my cellphone. After a few minutes I put it away and rub the itchiness out of my eyes. I close my eyes for sometime and pull the blanket up until my face is completely inside it. It's warm in here. And dark. My eyes remain closed but I now see pictures in my mind. So real it's almost as if I'm actually watching it. A boy of around seven or eight. A dark but cheerful face. I remember seeing it somewhere. He had a jacket on. It was probably winter. He had a hint of shiver on his face but smiled it away. He seemed tough but sensitive. And all of a sudden the picture disappears. I recall seeing it on my phone. It was the childhood picture of a friend of mine. Soon my thoughts drift away as heavy sleep enter. I no longer have the memory of any such picture.

*            * *             * *

For two days Steven did not come to school. Visca kept going around his classroom but never saw him there. She would only stop looking when someone from her class told her he hadn't come. And then came the weekends. She held everything up til then but got desperate to talk to him somehow. So that Saturday evening she took the opportunity of being outside and packed up her courage to call him. 

Steven picked up the call but said nothing.

"Hey.", she started.

Silence.

"You there? Can you hear me?"

"Yes.", came a lousy and sleepy response.

"You haven't been coming to school for two days in a row. You okay?"

"What's with you? Why do you care?", he said in a sad rather than angry tone.

"Look, I'm sorry for last day I wasn't angry at you I swear."

"That's okay. It doesn't matter."

"So can we be cool please? I'll tell you everything when we meet."

"It's okay you take your time. And we were always cool. Come on."

"Thank you very much. Will you be coming on Monday though?"

"I don't know, let's see. I'm a bit sick. So if I'm good, yeah sure."

"Alright then get well soon."

"Thanks."

"I'll hang up now. Got a tuition."

"Oh okay. See you then."

"Yeah bubye."

*            * *             * *