Asylum

It licked its way across her skin, slowly, creeping, as if not to wake her up, sneaking through her open lips to settle inside of her, where it would grow and destroy her, replacing her with a new, improved girl. It would consume her, eventually, one day. But that day was not today.

                Rosa had high hopes of becoming the Superior of the convent she lived in, of being leader of the convent. Sister Rosa had dedicated her life on Earth to The Lord, teaching others about him and preaching his holiness. But ‘it’ ruined those hopes. But Rosa could never be Superior, unbeknownst to her, with ‘it’ residing inside of her.

Ravishing Red.

Ravishing.

That sounds devilish, Sister Rosa thought, maybe she shouldn’t. She had found a tube of deep, blood red lipstick in the drawer of a desk she found. Makeup is bad. But something was luring her into trying unholy things and she’d quickly hidden the lipstick in her clothes and thought she’d been good her whole life, a part of The Lord’s kingdom, so what was different now?

‘It’ was.

Because of ‘It’ Rosa, had new ideas, ideas that weren’t normal for her. She had even thought about revealing skin. She had never thought of revealing skin, even around her family, but they were gone now, for good. And now she was here. Maybe she should see the Father about her compulsive desires, see if he could help her.

Speak of the devil and he may appear, or in other words, the Father will, for he stood in the doorway of Rosa’s room with his hands behind his back. He was a very old man, with thinning, white hair and a gaunt face with so many wrinkles it was hard to tell if he had his eyes open or closed. He was an average sized man, but despite his frailty, he packed a whole lot of power in his body.

 “Father! I was just thinking about visiting you, how convenient, now I don’t have to search the whole convent for you,” Rosa replied. Father just looked at her confusedly.

“Is... That… is that makeup you’re wearing Rosa? Where did you get that?” Father asked as if he were about to blow a fuse.

Rosa stared at the Father, ‘It’ whispered in her mind that he was not acting like a man of God, he wasn’t even dressed like a Father would, that he was possessed. Maybe he had the devil in him? Oh god, she thought, what if Satan has possessed the Father? I must release him from Satan’s hold, Rosa thought.

“Father, I would never wear makeup, it’s wrong,” Rosa lied, sitting on the bed and fiddling with one of the springs, making it loose. “But I do want to talk to you,” she carried on. “I have something bad inside me; I felt it, just after my parents died. It seduced me during the night and took over my body, my mind and now I think it’s taking over my soul.” As she said the last word, the spring came loose and she hid it behind her back, straightening it, as she stood up to face the Father.

“Rosa, you’ve been here since then and we have cured you, that’s why I’m here now, but you have to take these to get better and then we can see everyone again,” the Father told her calmly, pulling his hand slowly from behind his back. In one hand he held a small white cup with water and pills in the other. Rosa started to walk towards the Father and started to sob,

“I’m so sorry, Father. God, forgive me,” she whispered as she lunged at his neck with the uncoiled spring, stabbing deep into his throat and tearing it across sideways as if it were merely made of paper. The Father fell to the floor, clutching his neck and then, the blood drained out of him, his blood as red as the lipstick. The Father is free from Satan now, and smiled.

“She attacked him! She killed him!” Someone was yelling. “Rosa has killed the guard!” the voice repeated, getting closer.

“Jesus, she really is as crazy as they say she is,” a new voice stated in wonder. “Oh man! did Wallace end up giving her her meds before she… you know… killed him? I can’t work in this Asylum when they don’t take their meds. Especially her!” The voice carried on talking.

But Rosa didn’t care about what was being said, she had pulled out the deep, blood red stick and covered it with the blood from the Father. It was an exact match, she thought happily as she coated her lips with brilliant red. ‘It’ had finally consumed her wholly.