The Forsaken

Chapter Seven - A Peculiar Pair

Gwen anxiously pulls at the hem of her skirt as she walks through the corridors of St. Paul, making her way toward the all-too familiar office of Father O’Brien.

Everywhere she looks she sees the images from her nightmares springing to life before her waking eyes. She walks past a classroom and sees the room engulfed in flames, smoke bellowing out of the open doorway into the hall. All around her, children wearing pajamas are running in a panic, screaming, and frantically clawing and shoving against one another to get out of the burning building.

She steps into the front foyer with trepidation, the walls and the floorboards ablaze, the roar of the fire loud in her ears. She hears voices and turns to see some of the ghost like shadows of Sisters, still dressed in their nightgowns, ushering children down one of the back passages and away from the inferno. Her mind, her every sense fills with the heat and the noise of the raging fire all around her. Her mouth goes dry and her every pore seems to sweat from the imaginary heat.

A hand grasps her shoulder. With a shriek, Gwen whirls around to see Mother Sullivan looming over her.

“What’s the matter with you, Marianne? Not up to some mischief again, are you?” Mother Sullivan questions with an interrogating tone while squinting suspiciously down on thin, little Gwen. “Answer me when I ask you a question child,” the large woman, demands. Gwen, still shaken by the images from her vision, has trouble finding her tongue.

“I was just going to see Father O’Brien, Mother,” Gwen replies hesitantly. Just then, Father O’Brien steps out of his office. Gwen turns away from the Mother Superior and starts to walk toward the Father, but suddenly she becomes dizzy, her legs giving out beneath her.

Gwen finds herself on the floor, the Father by her side. He scoops her up into his arms. Carrying Gwen’s slender, limp body, he takes her into his office and sets her down in the large, comfortable armchair next the window. Feeling weak and nauseous, Gwen lies back in the chair and closes her eyes. Father O’Brien turns to the Mother…

“Quickly, fetch a glass of water, please,” he orders, not bothering to see if she obeys. He focuses all his attention on Gwen. Reluctantly, Mother Sullivan leaves the room.

“What’s wrong, child? Have you had enough to eat today?” Father O’Brien asks, gently.

“I’ve had another vision, Father.” Gwen opens her glazed eyes, speaking in a distant voice.

“Have you now? Is it the vision that’s causing you to be so ill, my child?” Father O’Brien takes one of her hands in his and pats it tenderly.

“Yes, it was like this last time, but it went away. I’ve been having the same vision for a week.” Gwen takes a deep breath to steady herself.

“Please, will you tell me what you’ve seen?” The Priest asks earnestly.

“Fire in the hall, outside, in the classrooms, down the hall, all of St. Paul in flames,” her voice sounding dark and far away.

“What nonsense!” Mother Sullivan exclaims. They both turn to see her standing in the doorway. The Father retrieves the glass of water from Mother Sullivan, returning immediately to offer the refreshment to Gwen. She drinks, the cold liquid reviving her.

“It’s true!” Gwen looks the larger woman in the eye with defiance.

“Don’t listen to her, Father. Marianne is a compulsive liar, a thief, and a cheater. I have tried many times to correct these flaws in her, but she is willful and bad natured to the core. I will have her removed from your sight, and she shall not bother you again,” Mother Sullivan moves to usher Gwen away. The Father stands in her path.