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Inessa
I'm alreadythrough with my chores for the week by the time mid day comes around. With no one around to distract me I can really get what I need to do done. Unfortunately, there's really not much to do in a convent besides pray and read. I've prayed until I found my mind wandering and I've read until I just could keep my eyes on the words any longer. I decide the best thing for me to do is to just walk around the building take a tour while there's no one around. It's not often that I'm here on my own without someone breathing down my neck.
The loud howl of the night wind forces me to pull my jacket around me tighter, there's going to be a storm any day now. The weatherman said it was supposed to come yesterday but as of yet nothing. Still the frigid air is always around to let us know just how much of a cold snap is waiting even with there isn't any snow fall.
Living in Alaska isn't for the faint of heart.
Walking down to the main floor I look out the back window at the empty courtyard and shiver as the shadows of the statutes that usually bring me peace in the daytime are splayed across the floor in a sinister way. I see the back gate swinging precariously back and forth. I must have left it open when I went to go put out the trash. I push the door open and as quickly as I can I brave the freezing cold and run out to the back gate. I quickly close and latch the back gate. My hands are already a step away from icicles but the time I get back to the door back into the warm convent.
I stand there at the door for a second with my hands under my arms trying to get even a bit of warmth back into them. I send up a silent prayer for anyone that might be homeless tonight. That kind of cold isn't something anyone should have to endure. It pains my heart that I'm in here walking around with nothing but space and there are people outside right now without anything to their names. It's not right and I wish i could do something to fix it. Something that would truly make a difference.
Walking into the kitchen I open the fridge and pull out the apricot jam that Sister Marie makes. It's one of the small pleasures that we all have in here. Even Father Joseph has been known to come in for a nice helping with his morning toast. if We hadn't taken a vow of poverty I'm sure Sister Marie could sell her recipe and make a pretty penny.
I grab a clean spoon out of the draw and pull out a healthy spoonful of the jam, not even bothering to find a piece of bread to put it on. Instead, I just paste it right there on my tongue and let the rich sweetness explode over my taste buds. I head asked her at one time what it was that she used to make this taste so good, and she replied that it was only a secret that her and Jesus knew. If I didn't have faith in the almighty, I would have accused her of being full of shit.
Still, however way she makes it, I'm just glad she's allowing us to partake in it.
I rinse the spoon and scoop out another healthy helping, but this time as I raise the spoon up to my mouth, I hear a long creak coming from down the hallway.
The spoon stops midway to my mouth, and my eyes scan the surrounding for what could have made that sound. When I don't see anything right away, I try to brush it off as just the wind or the old bones of the structure stretching with all the wind that's going on outside.
I push the jam the rest of the way into my mouth, and just as I'm sitting there taking it all in, I hear another creak down the hall. This time I need to get up and investigate it.
It wouldn't be the first time that an animal of some sort has made its way into our dorms, but the last time a raccoon was in here, they tore Sister Ruth's room right up and basically ate through her bedding. It was a mess for a few days until we caught it and sent it back out into the wilderness.
I put the lid on the jam and slide it further onto the table. I walk silently in the direction that I heard the noise, and suck in a breath when I hear another noise. There's something in here, for sure. I'm grateful for my soft sole shoes and the fact that no one else is in here because I don't want to scare whatever animal is in here with me. I'd rather get a good eye on what I'm having to get rid of them for it to run out scared and attack me.
I turn the corner and peer down the hallway that is lined with our living quarters, and am surprised to find that all the door are open. That doesn't seem right? How could an animal open all the doors?
I hear a deep groan and then something like clothing hit the floor.
Oh, no, this isn't an animal. Whoever is in here with me is a human being. I have nothing here to defend myself with. We don't carry any weapons, and there's no money here for me to give them if that's what they are looking for.
I take a step back, convinced that I need to get out of here before whoever it is figures out that I'm out here, and they come for me. Just as I take the first few steps backward, the door is pushed further open and am Man steps out.
That light-brown hair and strong, muscular build is burned into my memory. I know who it is before he can even look up. When he does, his eyes go wide and that persistent smirk on his face widens into a full smile.
"Inessa." He says my name like it's an erotic moan. That startles me out of my fear.
I turn and run as fast as I can, not towards the kitchen but upstairs where I know I can lock myself in one of the sacrament rooms and call for help. He won't be able to break in, and I know I'm not going to be able to survive out in the cold, not tonight and not with no one around for a few miles. Everyone who is anyone is off at the festival right now.
"Inessa, don't run, I like it too much when you run." His voice echos off the wood walls as I rush to remember my way. I don't want to cross paths with him again, but the convent is like one big old maze. I move quickly up the stone steps and turn down the hall that leads to the secure rooms where the father and mother superior keep all the religious items that are deemed worthy and blessed.
I grab hold of the doorknob and turn, but the door doesn't budge. "Oh no, God, please." I cry and pray when I realize the door is locked. I didn't think they'd lock the door behind them when they left, but it would make perfect sense for them to do so.
I run down the line of rooms trying to remember where the next safe room was. The thumping of boots coming up the stairs causes me to panic and try to find a place to hide, no one of the doors will open, so I pull back the long drapery of a decorative table that we keep flowers and the bible on top of. It's not very large, but it's long enough for me to hide myself under the cloth.
"Inessa. Don't make this hard, beautiful. There are not many places that you can hide. I just want to talk to you. Didn't I behave myself the last time that we were in each other presence? I can be good, just come out and talk to me." He says as he walks by me and I cover my mouth trying to get myself to stay as quiet as possible.
I can't see under the cloth, but I can hear his shoes clomping along in front of me and then to the side of me before he turns and walks down the stairs, cursing under his breath as he does so.
After a few seconds, I don't hear him anymore, and I pull myself out of the hiding space. I tip toe from the top floor back down to the bottom floor. When I don't hear him, I assume that he's gone outside the way he must have come in through the back gate.
Just as I am about to breakdown in relief, I hear him behind me.
"My lost lamb, you can't run from me." he says, and I take off like a woman possessed. I run faster than I've ever run before, straight to the outdoors. Cold or not, I'll take my chances. Unfortunately, even my fastest isn't enough to outrun Mr Reese.
Before I can take three steps outside, he catches me and wraps a hand over my mouth as he lifts me off the ground and drags me to my room. It's the last one in the hall, and it's already been look through from what I can see. ."
