𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒚𝒎𝒊𝒂 | 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.

𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐜𝐨𝐧

Carmela sighed, closing the old romance book on her lap, and dusting off her dress from the invisible stains. Perhaps, this is her fate. She is condemned for wanting to live when everyone wants her to die. "In the last line of my favorite novel," she solemnly began as the servant waiting in her room began assisting her to leave the room.

"The witch escaped her cells." She stopped in her tracks, her emotionless eyes wandered at the children running around as they played under the sun. "But when she thought that she was finally free from the inescapable room, she realized that everybody betrayed her," she added as she locked her blank crimson eyes to her friend and butler, "how familiar, isn't that right, Benedict?"

Her friend only gave her a hardened stare, ushering her to carry along the way out of this hiding place. "I suppose you'll never believe me, so I'll carry on with my side of the story to our journey of my death."

"Do you remember when we were young kids, away from our parents when we suddenly encountered a young child the same age as us?" Carmela looked to him, hoping to refresh his memories and stop this madness. But there wasn't an inch of emotion hidden in his façade, he had fallen deep within that wrench's curse.

"We fed her some strawberries we stole from the kitchen away from Reginald the baker. The funny thing was that the child we fed years ago had the same hair as Amelia." Children sprung from the door when she stopped her statement, curiously listening to her ramblings of the past.

"Sister Carmela!" They began, pulling on her simple carnation dress that she managed to stuff in her worn-out bag of clothes. Finally, some emotion thawed away a portion of her frozen heart. "Benedict," she addressed him with a soft tone she only used to him when they were young.

"As for my last order for you," she said as she carried a young girl in her arms, facing towards the window,  just in time to see a white dove flying in the sky.

"What is it, mistress?" Benedict asked as Carmela faced him to see a crack in his expression, something she haven't seen for a long time.

"I want you to take care of this orphanage. This have been a home that welcomed me when I was on the run. Now that I'm going to face my death, no one's going to protect the children." Carmela gave the little girl a peck in the forehead and arranged a young boy's button on his shirt to look more presentable. "I'm afraid that once I'm gone, these children will weep. Surely, you're going to protect them, Benedict."

There was a lone tear in his eyes, falling to his cheeks. Carmela smiled, at least Benedict has the grace of shedding a tear when she's gone. Her hands wiped away the tear, hugging him tight before she left the children a small bag of jewelry she kept.

"I'm off now, children. Listen to Sister Lisa, eat your meals at least thrice a day, and don't forget to pray before going to bed." As she kept saying her warnings, tears kept falling down her cheeks. She's going to miss them so much, she just wished that she could have seen them being adopted by a loving family. "I am going to miss you all so much."

"Why are you sad, Sister Carmela?" One of the children asked, tugging in her carnation dress. "I'm going away for a while. Don't worry," she replied as they started walking towards the wooden door of the orphanage.

"You'll come back, right?" Carmela heard them shouted from the doorway, and turning back, she happily waved them goodbye and whispering in the wind of how much she loved them. "Remember your promise, Benedict," she begged as Benedict only assisted her to the last ride at a carriage.

"...Yes." Carmela only gave out a sad smile to him, facing the window of the carriage to the bright blue skies. A peaceful day to end her demise. No one's going to miss her even if she tried to expose the truth at the masses, not even her loudest shout could change their mind.