Perfectly Broken

Chapter 3

This blonde haired plump girl was shouting obscenities, kicking her legs out, thrashing her arms around, and spitting at anything that would come close to her face. The attendants had obtained strong grip on her arms and were dragging her down towards the steps. Unfazed by the tight hold they had she made contact with one of the attendants' shins and he groaned weakening his grip on the girl. She then tried to wiggle out of the hurt attendants grasp, succeeding and attempted to punch the other male attendant. Elena was jealous of the tenacity of the girl, how could she become as fierce? The unhurt male attendant grabbed both the girl's arms, turned her around so that her back was to his chest and bear hugged her arms to her chest, she in turn tried head butting his face, kicking out also in the process. Quickly to avoid another injury the hurt attendant grabbed the girl's legs. In this whole process both male attendants said not one word, it seemed like they knew how to react in unison. Just as Elena thought the girl would release herself again from the grasps of the two men, a petite older refined woman came out of the mansion, walked sharply over to the girl and stuck a needle in her leg. The older woman whispered something in the ears of the men, and walked back inside without a word to Elena or her parents. Eunice seemed unphased of the scene, Elena was taken back how calm Eunice and the unknown woman looked during this process, Eunice didn't say one word to the attendants and no emotion of shock or disbelief was on her face. Once Elena's parents regained their composure and Eunice stated "those things are bound to happen, this doesn't happen every day but we do get those kind of girls in here once in a while. You know those wild unruly girls do not know how to behave and, the sedative is absolutely safe for her. That one has become too much of a handful." Eunice shook her head, and looked disapprovingly back at the now limp sleeping girl that was about be put into an oncoming van. Elena's mother gasped and stated "why do the nuns have needles? Isn't that a safety concern? Where are they taking her?" "Of course we have a needle on us with a sedative just in case, we just carry the one at a time, there would be no time to gather one up in emergencies like that, it's very well hidden on us and I assure you that no one would dare touch a nun like that here. The girl is going back to her home of course, the parents were informed of her unruliness" Eunice looked rather offended by her questioning, rather than letting her continue on with the assault of questions, Eunice looked at her watch, "WE really have no time for any more questions, I'm afraid we will be late even before we get through the doors. Let's make haste, please come along now." She then turned on her heels, and continued her journey upward.

After what seemed like an eternity we reached the front doors, they were giant double doors about 12 feet tall and 4 feet wide doors, each door had a large knocker with a lion on it. "For safety we keep these doors locked after 9 pm." She grabbed one of the door knobs and pulled mightily on the door, revealing a large staircase with several workers running to and from. Servants were bustling around cleaning, carrying various trays of items, sweeping the steps and moping the marble floors. Besides the servants, Elena noticed 5 girls descending down the steps with their stilettos and chic dresses with a grace that no other pregnant girls could manage. Elena inwardly groaned, another clique, just what she needed. The 5 girls stepped down the stairs with unbelievable grace despite their protruding bellies, when they reached the bottom they walked around them, ignoring their presence as if they mattered not.

Eunice huffed and rolled her eyes at the girls "those are girls that you should not be around Elena, they are not nice girls. I'll have a nice girl show you around and orient you to our ways. Hmm, let me see, ah I know, Mary would be a great assistance to you." As if she settled all of Elena's problems by this Mary, Eunice nodded matter of factly to herself and continued towards their destination. "Okay now let's come along, the office is to the left of the staircase." Elena's mother whispered to Elena, "Those girls look similar in dress as the girls you left at home. Maybe you should try to befriend them, it would give you a good image." Elena was annoyed by her mother's constant need for a good image, what in the world would it matter what her image is in here? Wasn't this temporary anyways? Oh, she hoped so, if her mother thought she could remain her for more than a year, then she was sadly mistaken. She would make drastic measures to leave if it came to that.

Eunice and her parents were already standing next to a side door of the foyer before Elena realized that she was daydreaming too long, her mother and Eunice were impatiently tapping their feet as they waited for Elena to come to her senses. She reddened and quickened her pace to their sides, "ready to meet the Superior again, Elena?" Eunice asked with pride. Elena thought "again?" Elena could tell that this woman was Eunice's main inspiration to being here by the beaming that was evident on her face. Eunice knocked timidly on the door, a raspy stern voice replied "Come in, Eunice." Eunice opened the door with haste and beckoned them inside. As they stepped in cautiously, Elena saw sitting in the middle of the room behind a giant oak desk was a small petite woman that appeared to be around 70, her grey hair was wrapped in a tight bun, and she was wearing a black suit dress. The exact woman she saw out on the steps just 5 minutes prior. She did not appear to be a nun at all, in fact she looked like a retired businesswoman. "I have been expecting all of you, please do have a seat." She motioned to the three leather seats with a causal hand wave as she walked towards a beverage cart at the wall. The head mistress busied herself pouring drinks, as if she was making tea for old friends. Elena was intimidated by the old woman, everything seemed well played out by the old woman, as if she was playing a game of chess and she had a sneaky suscpicsion that she would be a primary pawn. "So, Elena" the old head mistress calmly said while she had her back turned to Elena, "what do you think of it here so far?" Elena could feel that this was a loaded question, the calm state around the question did not defer her from her first conclusion that the old mistress was a snake waiting in tall grass. "Um, it's a rather large estate, and expansive, I haven't seen enough of the institution to make a clear analysis of it." "I see, we will have to remedy that won't we? Please do have a seat, treat this room as your home. Oh, by the way my name is Mother Superior Olivia." The head mistress made a tray of beverages and carried them to the desk, putting them in front of the now seated parents and Elena. Somehow Eunice disappeared while Elena wasn't watching, that didn't seem out of her nature though, seeming to be the type to always be moving, running from one errand to another. Elena's parents were discussing particulars with the Mother superior about Elena's care and future at the Covent, Elena paid no heed to them until the head mistress pushed across stacks of papers the big oak desk, "sign these papers, and you will be done with the preliminaries." To Elena it looked like something out of a horror movie, where the devil asks you to sign your soul away, the dramatic effect of the head mistress pushing the large stack of papers across the big oak desk finalized this imagery.

Unaware of demise, her parents nodded and quickly whisked out signatures, as if they were signing to buy a car or a receipt, not to put their daughter away for a year in a large scary convent that just had a girl being dragged away screaming. Elena wondered why she didn't scream also, and shout at her parents to stop, to demand them to take her home or grab the pens from them? Though she felt she deserved this fate, she didn't react at all because she supposed that this would be best for her parents, if they were so eager to get rid of her, she would stay and no longer be a liability.

"Well." Her mother stated while standing and shaking the hand of the head mistress, the "well" sounded like a finalizing word, her mother turned and looked at her, awkwardly reaching to embrace Elena. The moment would have been endearing if they both knew how to hug each other, however it appeared more like two strangers embracing for the first time, stiff and awkward. Her father also reached to embrace her, but this was entirely different he grabbed her in a giant bear hug, picking her up and squeezing, Elena hugged back as much as she knew how. Elena wasn't surprised by her father's embrace, he would have random acts of affection throughout her childhood. Elena thought that it was perhaps like her father remembered that she existed at times and would counteract his forgetting with larger than life embraces.

Both her parents backed up, stood and looked at Elena with a hint of sadness, "well, we can't talk to you for about 6 months, that's part of the policy here with the no phones rule and how busy we are," her father stated with guiltiness. Elena paled at the reminder of no phones but she regained her composure when she remembered that she wanted to distance herself from her past and it was a good step in that direction. "We will talk to you as soon as we can, we will make sure the town doesn't know of your true whereabouts," her mother said while walking towards the door. Both her parents gave one final look as they closed the door behind them leaving Elena alone with the Mother Superior. The door thudded shut, symbolically shutting a chapter in her life, Elena stared at the door for at least a minute before slowly turning around and facing the beast.