We The NUN

The Journey

        I looked out the window, savouring the sight of the gardens and meadow uphill. I wasn't ready to leave but, I had to. I clenched my fingers around my crucifix and closed my eyes. I didn't want to cry cause it would only sadden Father and after all, I couldn't deny my destiny.

           Ever since I started having these visions my life has changed. My senses have become sharper and my skin has become paler. Father cried the day I first told him about my visions. At first he seemed so happy and proud but after the mass that day, precisely the meeting he had with the Most Reverend, he became sad. Although he never showed it in front of me, but I could hear his silent cries from my room at night. I never  quite understood the reason for his tears untill two days ago.
         Father told me that I was a white dove. Apparently, these are people with holy foresight. They could predict the future by their visions. We could predict the future wether good or bad but it depends on the vision and it's interpretation. I didn't understand him until Sister Sally talked to me.
        She enlightened me about the special gift I have and how I'm very lucky to be blessed with it. She said I'll go to a hidden parish in the south were girls of my kind were kept, away from the world and all of it's troubles. She said I would be honored and invited to troubled parishes for help and I could even be invited by the Pope to stay in the Holy Mansion.

     It all sounded very nice until she got to the sad part. I wouldn't be able to see father for a while. She said my kind would be too busy to visit smaller parishes like ours. She said I may never be able to see Father anymore as 'the Doves' required guidance of higher Nuns to harness their sights and be able to interpret their visions correctly. I finally understood the reason for Father's tears.

          Father Anglus wasn't my biological father and neither was he related to me in any way. I was orphaned at birth. I was a product of fornication. My mother abandoned me at the steps of the church and my father was unknown. I did hear rumors of my mother being a popular actress but I never paid attention to it. I was with someone that loved me and that was all that mattered.Father Anglus took care of me like I was his own daughter.

        We didn't have High schools in the town so my education stopped at middle school. I was hoping of going to a near by town to continue my education but Father couldn't handle the financing so I decided not to go.
       I didn't really have any ambitions so I didn't bother myself.

          I was thinking of joining the girls scout of the town in helping people but 'the visions' had other plans for me.

     I would be spending the rest of my future in the church premises and going on occasional retreats. I may never be posted to populated Parishes with vibrant people as I would need solitude. The noises there may cause hitches in my visions, as I was told.

       I heard a knock on the door that jerked me awake from my thoughts. I got back to packing my things.

    " Come in."  I yelled.
 
   It was Father. He might have come to check if I was done packing.

    "It seems you are really eager to leave me." He smiled, sadly.

    " That's not true Father. You know the trip to the southern parish is a long one and I wouldn't like us to reach at night."  I told him, packing more white gowns and a few toiletries.
Father sat on my bed and watched me lock up my suitcase.

   " I think I'm ready now Father." I said with my suitcase in my hands.

  " Ok, let's go then. We don't want to be late for the prayers."  Father smiled in pain. I could feel him holding back his tears.
      Father opened the door and locked it behind him. When we got down the stairs, I began looking at all my childhood pictures that were hung on the living room walls. I would miss staring at them. Father noticed it.