The Sister advancing down the stone corridor would have already seen my candle flicker. Snuffing it  was no use. Perhaps it would make me look guiltier. The stubborn little flame was honesty, of a sort.

She would certainly come to my room and berate me about the candle, whether I pinched out the flame or no. 

How much they cost, and where did I get it, did I steal it, wicked girl, I could set the whole place afire, silly child...



I hurried to hide the stolen paper under the mattress, and then sat with my Bible open, forcing my breath to dawdle in and out of my nose holes. As if I really were a sleepless innocent, intent only on practising my letters, and The Word.

The shadow moved closer.

I kept my eyes down, hardly seeing the words on the page.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path-



I am caught! The parchment laughed at me from it's hiding place. I dare not look to see if any peeped out, lest my very looking give it away.

My heart banged on his grill, demanding exit.

I gulped, a noisy thing in the quiet.

"Will you not look at me, Sister?" came the voice from the doorway. 

My heart stopped his clattering, and stood still for a whole moment.

Had I fallen asleep after all? The hour was late. I was tired. Bone-tired from the fasting, and chores, and the abominable mattress with too little straw. Might I have dreamed sitting up with my eyes open? Or was my mind playing a trick on me? Had I spent too long in my own longing, and gone mad at last?

These thoughts flew, one behind another, in a second only. My eyes hardly dared leap to confirm what my ears had dreamed. 

But I 

 look up, and there, in the doorway, was no Mother Superior, but a postulant, like me. A new girl. Come to take her vows.

But 

 like me, not really... because often I don't like me very much, but I would set the world on fire for that wry half-smile and quirked eyebrow.

"Julie!" 

I think a little piece of me left my body and watched. Shocked, disbelieving, and quite as sardonic as Julie herself. The moment I landed home, in her arms, it was with all of me. Even the invisible parts that pecked at corners of the grey sky where Julie wasn't.

For a terrible minute, there was nothing else in the whole world. 

She had come all this way, on her too-fast horse, and got herself in here... 

. And I! I was weeping over tatty bits of parchment. Wishing and wailing, instead of doing! What must she think of me!

Her hands were in my hair, and it felt so absolutely delicious I choked back a laugh, hardly caring that my cheeks were wet. 



. 

"I heard it was boring here," she said, "I thought you might need company." Her voice was usually bold, and carried, but tonight she drew velvet over it. It sounded all the more dangerous, and delicious in its softness. My heart started his banging again. He knew already what it took me another moment to see: 

Julie doesn't want to be heard. She's here in secret. She has a plan. 



Ah, but my Julie, make a plan? Perhaps. It is not truly her way. She trusts all the parts of herself to do the right things when the moment comes. She is watchful, and quick, and she makes do marvelously with whatever she can reach.

"I cannot look at you in the daytime," she murmurs, and I want her to keep speaking so that her lips move like that against my ear. "They must not see us together. They must not suspect. They must not catch us."

She draws back, and I am cold again. 

"We will be perfect." She brushes imaginary dust from her front. "We will be up before the bell. We will work harder than anyone."

"And then," I am whispering, so I lean closer to her warmth, the better for her to hear me, "When the time comes...."

Her eyes flash in the candlelight.

"Be ready."

Leave a comment, and I'll see you tomorrow!﻿

Thou Shalt Not Get Caught

Wednesday 16th April, Day 5, Story #5 There is another one before this, if you'd like to have a peep at that first. I'll link it at the end.

The Sister advancing down the stone corridor would have already seen my candle flicker. Snuffing it  was no use. Perhaps it would make me look guiltier. The stubborn little flame was honesty, of a sort.



Thou Shalt Not Get Caught

Wednesday 16th April, Day 5, Story #5 There is another one before this, if you'd like to have a peep at that first. I'll link it at the end.

About the Creator

L.C. Schäfer

Comments (10)

Keep reading

Thou Shalt Not Love

Thou Shalt Not Get Caught

Wednesday 16th April, Day 5, Story #5 There is another one before this, if you'd like to have a peep at that first. I'll link it at the end.

About the Creator

L.C. Schäfer

Comments .css-1svwz57-Text{display:inline-block;color:var(--text-default-mute);}(10)

Keep reading

Thou Shalt Not Love

Comments (10)