Chapter 18
Three years earlier, Bruce was on his return to what he liked to visualize as his quarters when he stopped halfway where he usually did. From his position, he could see the University Convergence shrouded in the vast and flat bulk of tall grass. He heard the distant bell slowly breaking through the resistance of the air and reach as far as his ears with its tone gradually increasing enough to break through them in the sharpest of the waves.
He moved back to sit on the rocks that functioned as the wall of the walkway that shielded the stretch of the trees. He heard the noises of apprehension that echoed much more faintly and relaxedly, and the wave of students poured out with identical clothing and activity.
Bruce did not look at them for long: he would wish to look at them as they came out for a source of joy, but immediately afterwards, he would become too overwhelmed. Instead, he would stare at the sideway on the left that was protected from the sun by its dampening roof: no one ever used it out of fear embellished by their department.
Bruce felt something on his arm. He instinctively held Selina from her shoulder as he turned his head. Selina buried her face into his embrace as others walked by, seemingly oblivious.