Finding My Will

Chapter 4

     I shot up out of my stupor, and looked around. I saw I was in a simple bed in a simple room. There was a chest of drawers across from me. Helen entered the room from the door across from me carrying broth.

     "How did you know to come?"

     "We just came to watch the wedding and catch up. We didn't know about the... commotion," she said. Suddenly my thoughts sprang back to Will. Had he been shot?

     "Where's Will? Is he okay? Is he here?"

     "We left while they were still fighting," she replied.

     "What? He didn't come with us?" I hopped out of bed. "I have to go find him!" Sick rose up to my throat and I felt panicky all over.

     "Not right now. Have some broth please," she said. Her face told me that I was not allowed to refuse, and I took a sip.

     "I don't have time for--"

                                                                                              ***

     Once again I shot up. This time I had a massive headache. The broth must have knocked me out. Helen walked in the room again.

     "How did you find out about my wedding?" I asked.

     "St. Jem heard about it in a letter from Priest Michaels," she replied.

     "Are you and Jem married now?" I asked, hoping to stall before she knocked me out with the broth again.

     Jem appeared in the doorway carrying a bowl of broth. "Actually we're," he paused, "family. You'll notice you're in a new dress. We've had to change you, I'm afraid. Your old dress was unclean. Helen put you into a new one." She nodded her head and exited the room.

     The dress I was in looked eerily similar to the dress Helen and the maids who helped her wore. I looked over to the chest of drawers and noticed, for the first time, a shrine of some sort to Jem. There were candles all around it.

     A man dressed in black robes appeared at the door. "Father St. Jem, is this our new pledge?" he asked.

     "No, no," he looked at me and quickly said. Leaning close to the robed man he whispered, "Not now, brother Peter." He hastily shut the door on Peter's face. He pushed me down on the bed which hurt my thigh, and said, "Pay no mind. Maybe you should take some broth." He stared at me until I downed the whole bowl.

                                                                                                ***

     This time when I woke I was not greeted by Helen. The door was closed. I got up and looked out the window. It was now well into winter. That meant I must have been here for weeks. In the far corner of the garden I noticed something quite peculiar.

     A group of robed figures stood (partly shrouded from view by a large set of trees) around what looked like a star encapsulated by a circle. This star was burned into the grass where snow had been cleared away. Their pointy, hooded heads bobbed up and down, and the sound of chanting reached my ears.

      I knew I had to get out of here. My thigh had mostly healed, so that wouldn't be a problem. I quickly gathered up my bedsheets and started tying them into a long rope of sorts. This room was on the second floor so it needed to be long. I moved my bed to the window, and tied the sheet to one of its posts. I looked around the room, and spotted a giant book by the shrine. It was titled, "Rules for Living by St. Jem."

      I looked at the window glass, and saw that it wasn't too thick. I backed up and hurled the book at the glass with all my might. The glass cracked and shattered. I threw my makeshift rope down and escaped.