"Leave it," Sera said in a cold, flat tone.
The woman grew irritated by the lack of reaction.
Despite her hair being grabbed like that, Seraphina's expression didn't change.
She wanted to see fear in her eyes—to see her scream in pain, but all she got was a cold, blank stare.
Still, she didn't give up.
"What if I don't? What will you do? Who will help you?"
A cruel smile twisted her lips.
"Even your family abandoned you."
Sera froze.
Her expression cracked slightly.
'Got you.'
The woman smirked.
Just when she was going to insult further, she saw the hair tie tucked neatly in Sera's hair.
"Well, well… who gave this to you?"
Before Seraphina could react, the woman yanked it free.
Sera's long, jet-black hair fell loose, cascading down to her waist.
"Why don't I keep this to myse–"
Her sentence was cut off shortly.
Seraphina grabbed her wrist and stared at her.
Her eyes were the coldest the woman had ever seen.
"Give it back."
Her nails dug deep into the woman's skin.
"I… won't," the woman hissed through the pain—
But there was a tremor in her voice now.
Because Seraphina wasn't expressionless anymore.
Her face was twisted with an emotion none of them had ever seen on her—raw, desperate anger.
The woman felt a sick sense of satisfaction. She wanted to see her break even more.
By this time, even her two friends were nervous.
They didn't know why, but looking at Seraphina's face, they couldn't help but back away.
Her eyes had turned lifeless—almost empty.
Instinctively, they took a step back, unease crawling up their spines.
You could even call the first woman brave, since she didn't back down, stubbornly holding her ground as the tension in the air thickened.
That was when Seraphina finally snapped.
She could barely contain her anger.
"GIVE IT BACK TO ME!"
She shouted, her voice echoing through the entire hallway.
Her voice was filled with anger—and something close to madness.
The woman flinched violently, her bravado shattering at once, finally losing her grip.
The hair tie slipped from her grasp and hit the floor.
Seraphina dropped down, grabbing it immediately, clutching it to her chest with trembling fingers.
"What is happening here!?"
The guard from earlier came running at the sound.
He stopped before them when he saw the scene.
Seraphina was on the floor, clutching the hair tie against her chest with a trembling hand—her gaze fixed on it as if it were something sacred.
The three women stood a few steps away, fear written plainly across their faces.
The first woman looked humiliated—shaken that she'd been intimidated by someone so frail.
Before she could burst out, the guard stepped toward them.
The women went silent.
"What is going on here? And why aren't you in your rooms?"
The guard interrogated them.
Seraphina said nothing and stared at the hair tie, holding it tightly.
The first woman claimed that Sera had started the fight—and that she had stolen her hair tie.
The guard, suspicious, asked the other two women.
They nodded quickly, stammering out the same lie.
He sighed, clearly not convinced.
When he mentioned checking the CCTV, panic flashed across their faces.
The third woman broke under the pressure, blurting out the truth out of fear of extra medication.
After that, he shooed them away and escorted Seraphina back to her room.
If it had been any other staff, they wouldn't have cared.
They had seen similar behaviour almost every day—patients pushing, shoving, mocking one another.
Most of the staff barely bothered to intervene, stepping in only when things went too far or if someone got seriously hurt.
But the guard was new to this job, and he wasn't used to the chaos in the facility.
So, after seeing Seraphina's situation, he felt bad and stepped in to help her out of goodwill.
***
After entering her room, Seraphina sat on the bed, staring intently at the hair tie the unknown boy had given her, tracing its shape with her fingers before finally putting it aside.
All day, she remained in her room, alone and quiet, occasionally mumbling to herself as her thoughts drifted endlessly to Aiden, replaying the memories of her son over and over again.
When night fell, the facility's loudspeaker echoed its usual announcement, and the gates shut with a heavy metallic clang.
The lights dimmed out one by one, leaving long shadows creeping across the walls.
She lay down on the thin, hard bed.
It was far from comfortable—a stark contrast to the standards she had once known, but she had long grown accustomed to it, just as she had grown accustomed to everything else here.
She closed her eyes.
"Goodnight, Aiden." she whispered, her hands moving in a gentle hugging motion toward the empty space beside her.
Talking to him—imagining him—was the only thing that kept her sane.
***
"Goodnight, Mom," Lucian mumbled in his sleep, unaware.
It had been his habit as a child—something he did unconsciously, especially after recently recovering fragments of his childhood memories.
***
In her mind, a small boy with bright eyes smiled up at her.
"Goodnight, Mom."
Seraphina's lips curved into a faint smile as she wrapped her arms around the illusion, holding him close.
And with that fragile, imagined warmth, she drifted into sleep.