I see how the priest changes his expression into anger when he finally gotten what he truly deserved. It's nothing major like stripping him off from his title, banishment like me, just isolation for a month and repent. The nun, however, didn't bother showing how displeased she was that the punishment was too light for the sins he committed. She did bring up my banishment to the High Priest, he was quick away to shrug it off saying I committed even more heavier sin and that I should suffer for it.
Still it doesn't surprise me, I'm actually okay with it. Because I plan to leave anyways, this place limits all the opportunities that God is trying to give me. As long as I'm here I'll only feel like a prisoner digging my out. When the High Priest sees his way out, the priest was immediately taken away from his room and to get locked up. They try to keep him away from me, afraid that he'll lash out again. Before he disappears away from the corridor, I can see how his eyes glare at me.
Then I'm guided towards my room followed by the nun. While walking, she repeatedly apologizes that I didn't bother responding. She probably took my silence that I'm mad at her for failing miserably because she finally went silent which I appreciate. I open my door with haste, my hands itching to grab my bags and go. But the nun stopped me before I can grab anything.
"Elene," She calls out to me, grabbing my arm firmly enough to stop me from taking another step. I look at her with my eyebrows raised. She gulps. "I-I'm sorry to ask this for you but can you stay for a little while? I wish to discuss something with you."
"What about, sister?" What does she want to discuss with me? Judging from the shakiness on her tone, it's something that made her scared.
"About... Uh," She takes a single glance at the door, checking every single corner if someone's listening to our conversation. "About the rumor."
Oh.
She looks at me with a newfound courage but I can feel how her grip trembled a litte. "Did you really do it?"
Should I just show her?
It would be fun to see her scared, after all I'll be leaving any moment. Aside from her nagging, apologies, and not respecting my space it would be great to give her a parting gift.
I give her a small smile before opening my empty small drawer, but there's something attached above. The evidence but I'd like to call it blade of repentance. I turn to show her the knife tainted with blood. I can see how her face loses its color and she finally gave in, kneeling into the floor, shaking furiously.
"What's wrong, sister?" I mockingly gasps. "I am just trying sate your curiosity, am I not?" I slowly walks towards her back, in my every step my heeled shoes clack into the wooden floor, and slightly bends down, caressing her exposed neck to the front with the sharp blade. "I admit it wasn't fun ruining my uniform, it wasn't fun hearing her screams, and it wasn't fun to hear her unfelt apologies to the God. So I decided to cut her tongue, thinking that's it's useless and it will probably do good since she always talks blasphemy, calling God's name in vain, and badmouthing us. It was a huge mistake from my part," I let out a frustrated sigh whenever I remember that scene. "How can she complete the steps towards repentance if she doesn't have a tongue?" I laugh at my own stupidity. "And from my mistake, she died. It's probably best to talk to God personally than to me. The only thing that confuses me is how did the rumor started? I was so sure that we were on the confessional booth alone in the middle of the night."
The nun jumps in shock when I pressed the blade deeper into her skin, she tried to bite the pain away, not making a sound but as weak-willed nun just by seeing a small drip of blood, she lets out a sob. I gave her a hearty pat on her head before finally taking a backward step.
"Does that answer everything, sister?"
My question was left unanswered. And that ticks me off.
"Sister?" Something in my voice made her break out crying.
"Y-yes... That is a-all."
I guess that will suffice. I grab something from my pocket before offering her my black handkerchief. She only looks at it, confused.
"Are you really going out in that state? I've been called evil once but I still feel pity from time to time. You really tried your best today, and I appreciate that but sometimes your presence is too much, you know? I may have gone overboard but at least you're not dead. That's something!"
I waited for a few more seconds and finally she accepted my offer, she wipes it around her neck then to her wet face. I grab my bags, preparing to leave.
It's probably okay for me to visit that priest right?
Hmm, I think about for a few more seconds before finally deciding that it's a waste of time and he's a waste of my time and I shouldn't waste more time. I look at the nun again and it seems she's finally getting better, calmer.
"Thank you." I mumbled, not really knowing what to say and simply leaves without bothering to hear her answer. It's better not to, after all what I did to her? I'm surprised that she didn't curse me.
My eyes widened in amazement when I walk around corner to corner, seeing the town in broad daylight is better than seeing it at night. There's a lot of couples walking side to side, children getting dragged by their parents, and various of cars shining from the light of the sun.
How come I didn't think of this?
I really haven't seen the true beauty on this town since I'm always busy in the mornings tending to our garden, sometimes in the cemetery cleaning every inch of the tome, cleaning inside the church, and other church-related that always ends in nighttime before I can finally look outside. I didn't even think that I can look in my window before attending to my duties so that's my mistake.
A dirty kid bumps into me along the way, and we stumbled into the ground. Thankfully, I wasn't bruised and my bags are safe but the kid is checking his bruised arm.
That must've hurt.
Good for him that I read some books in my free time in the church library, hiding some books in every dark corner that the others let me borrow. After all that learning I gained some little knowledge. I let out an exasperated sigh before grabbing my water bottle and tearing little cloth on my skirt. The boy looks at me curiously. I smiled at him and beckon him closer to me.
He obliges. I dampen my tore cloth with water and wipes it around his bruise, ever so gently and when it's finally clean I tear another fabric of my skirt and ties it around his arm.
"Does it still feel painful?" I look at him and my face turns sour when I saw his runny nose, sliding down his lips before licking it. "Yep, I should go. Careful now kid."
I continue to walk, almost making it out to another corner when I heard the kid yelling something.
"Thanks you!"
And I continued in my journey smiling even though there's a lingering doubt inside my head, wondering which step should I take first. Get some money or find some place that suits me so if I have the money I already know where to go. It seems my stomach have other plans when it started to growl that attracts attention from other passerby. My face heats up in shame as I walk faster then I bump into someone's chest, vibrating in laughter.
What's wrong with people today bumping into me?
Pairs of hands catches me on my waist before I could fall again onto the ground, and my heart almost feels light when I realized that I'm okay and I didn't shame myself for the second time. I look at the man that's towering me and blocking the sun behind him.
"Are you okay, sister?" He asks, his voice laced with concern when he look over my being. "You look like you just got mugged. That would be incredibly ill of them to mug a nun."
I gave him a small smile before tapping his hands away from me, feeling deeply uncomfortable when he just touched me even though I should be grateful.
"Thank you, and may the Lord bless you, kind fellow." I tiptoe to touch his forehead to bless him. It seems my nun instinct just came in when someone calls me sister. "Fortunately to say, I am fine and no one has tried to harm me. I only bumped into some child and made him scrape his arm because of my own clumsiness. It's only my responsibility to help him ease his pain a little."
His cheeks redden when I gave him my blessing but quickly hides it away by covering it with his left hand discreetly by scratching his cheek.
"That's very kind of you, sister. B-but I'm not trying to say that you're bad either considering that you work for the God... " His brows furrowed in frustration. "N-now I'm just rambling... ugh..."
Maybe he can help me, with my current situation I need to use every advantage I could take.
I put on my saddest expression, gripping my bags tighter. "Yes, it's sad to say that people uses children to steal by deceiving other people nowadays. I was about to grab some food when I just noticed that my purse is gone, then that's where I realized that the child has already stolen it from me."
He seems to take pity of me though he stayed quiet as if he's trying to think of something, then he hold out his hands. I looked at him questioningly, but I already know that I successfully captured his conscience.
"Let me help you then, sister. I can't just let you go after what happened. And please let me treat some food, if that's okay?"
"Bless you, my dear. I would deeply appreciate it."
We came into a halt in front of an expensive looking restaurant. If the sun is bright then this place is brighter. With the help of the glass you can easily look inside and it's packed with people — rich people to be exact. Men in suits, women adorned with shining jewels, and the furniture inside the place already looks expensive enough. The only downside is the name of the place.
iroah
With the letter J hanging to the side. It would be a disaster to see it fall into a person and get stabbed by its sharp glint of glass. It looks like gold too. How much would it cost if I pawn it somewhere?
"It's sad to see that Jiroah finally forgot about this place. But it's still crowded, can't blame them if the food is too addicting makes it more harder to stop coming here."
He led me inside, and two waiters and a waitress walks towards us, greeting the man beside me.
"Mister Gaser! Have you come to dine?" The waitress asks, wearing a big smile and I swear I see a small flush on her cheeks when she sees Gaser came in. She notices me, or checking me out before her smile completely wipes out from her face.
Gaser notices the change of her expression and introduces me to them. "This is–uh..." He looks at me, probably realizing that he didn't know my name.
"Sister Elene." I offered them each a smile and the girl's face relaxes when she heard my title. Maybe just confirming my identity, as if my uniform wasn't convincing enough for her.
A tired waiter came rushing towards the three of them, clearly in need of help and he rushing towards the kitchen along the other waiters since the girl offered us her service and led us to a isolated table, which is strange but it's okay since it's becoming too suffocating when there's a lot of people, with their murmurs, and clanking of utensils. The waitress each give us a gold-trimmed menu which took me by awe, like seriously is everything here made by gold? Then why is the church only made by wood?
My brain spins in circles trying to understand this foreign food, imagining what it look like, what it tastes like, even the drinks sounds fancy and definitely harder to say. Gaser somehow notices my confusion, and for a second I thought he would laugh at me instead he only gave me a comforting smile.
"Shall I order?" He offers.
I'm not stupid enough to refuse so I just let him take over. He briefly looks at the menu before saying something I didn't understand then the waitress took our menu, then rushes off. That's where I notice Gaser for the first time, not just a towering figure that protects me from the harsh sunlight but a person. He looks like he belongs here, wearing a dull black suit, looking professional and all. He looks quite handsome too, makes it more better to look at his face.
I didn't know that it's relaxing to see new faces from time to time. Not just an old man in a robe rambling something from the bible, or a solemn looking people as if they've lost their souls doing their duties.
"Oh! By the way, how old are you, sister? Or is it something that I shouldn't ask?" Gaser asks looking quite curious.
I stayed silent for a moment, furrowing my brows trying to remember how old I am or just the date of my birth. Birthdays aren't really something special in the church, we only pray for one hour and together we thank the God for giving us another year in servicing him then we continue to do our own things. It's been also a long time that someone asked me for my age besides that one time when a strange looking man who visits in Sundays approached me and just asks what my age was. I wasn't stupid enough to give someone my name especially if they're really attending the mass.
"I think I'm twenty."
Gaser's eyes widens in surprise. "T-Twenty?! You're that young? I-I mean how did you even become a nun?"
"I was adopted by a priest, there's no surprise that I will end up being a nun. Fortunately to say that I ended up liking it and not to mention the benefits." I let out a small laugh then continues. "Though just earlier I got kicked out from doing my job. They didn't even see me off nor say their goodbye then I'd probably sleeping in the streets tonight."
"O-oh... I'm so sorry to hear that, sister."
"It's okay. This is probably a sign that God has given me. More new opportunities, more obstacles to test my faith and devotion, and meet new friends along the way. I should thank him right now for letting me meet someone as kind as you, Gaser."
He scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I didn't know that a nun like you could be so charming. And please don't call me Gaser, it's actually my father's surname. It's funny how we kept talking when you don't even know my name." We both laugh in unison, already feeling relaxed in each other's company. "I'm actually Wran. It's nice to officially know you, Sister Elene."
We continued to talk, eat, and drink until it's night. The place have become less crowded, and the staffs are already cleaning. Without wasting any more time, we leave the place, with Wran leaning drunkenly on my shoulder. I'm proud of myself to successfully getting himself drunk so I can rob him with no problem. It seems that luck is on my side too when Wran's wallet is peeking out on his back pocket. Wran slightly stumbles along the way giving me the chance to discreetly grab his wallet then help him up again.
"I should go. Will you be okay here, Wran?" I said while stuffing his wallet inside my bag. I mentally smile how heavy it was. He's loaded so there's not really a problem when he lost some of it right? I'll consider this as a donation of my service towards the church.
He mumbles something inaudible then I slowly guide him to lay on the ground since I got what I wanted from him. He's very generous too. I'll be sure to remember his kindness he's shown me today. I touch his forehead giving him a quick prayer, then I left.
It took me some time to locate the bus station but here I am, waiting for own bus that decides in which place I'll go. I didn't know how tiring this is but considering all what happened today, I could only congratulate myself for surviving this long and even acquired lots of money that will help me for a few days. Then hopefully I can finally find a place to stay since sleeping on the streets is definitely not ideal for me. I only know how to deceive and not fight which makes it more dangerous if Wran realizes that I stole something from him.
It's not like we'll meet again.
Right...?
