Side Stories - Fia Drake Soul Hunter

Rebecca St. Martin

She stood behind the haggard old nun, her backpack pulling at her shoulders, her suitcase on the floor beside her. The nun, who had introduced herself as Sister Agnes, was trying to gain the attention of the Mother Superior, who was, in turn, berating someone Rebecca couldn't see. Whoever was receiving the dressing down was standing in front of the broad, physically imposing woman, obscured by her frame.

"Sister Agnes," the Mother Superior turned to face them, visibly surprised by their presence. "Sister Bernadette tells me one of the orphans has gone missing in the night. Were you not responsible for Miss Drake?"

Sister Agnes' face fell. Fiammetta was missing? "I was, I am...Mother Abigail, this is Rebecca St. Martin. From Indiana? You spoke with her father regarding her situation..."

"What? Oh, fine, show her to her quarters then return immediately so we can figure out what to do about Miss Drake's disappearance. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother Superior." She manually turned Rebecca, her hands on her shoulders, and steered her away from the office. "Bless that child," she muttered, leading Rebecca very quickly down the hall, quickly enough that Rebecca had to practically run to keep up. "If she's run away, she won't be found." She turned her head as she spoke, directing her words toward Rebecca, although they really didn't mean much at all to Rebecca. "She could be hiding in the courtyard..."

"I beg your pardon?" Rebecca St. Martin had found the right pace to keep up with the nun and speak to her at the same time. "Who are you talking about, Sister? Has something happened? Is it safe here? Are there other children here?"

Sister Agnes didn't acknowledge Rebecca or her rapid fire questions, only kept walking at the same breakneck speed. Rebecca tried again, with similar luck.

They began to ascend a staircase when another nun approached them. "Sister Marguerite, I need you to show Miss St. Martin to her quarters."

"Where...?" The newest nun attempted to find out what, exactly, she was supposed to do with this child. Agnes didn't give her time to finish the thought before pushing Rebecca and the few belongings she had brought with her, toward her. "I have to ... tend to ...something." She peeled off from the other two, without fully finishing her thought.

The confused nun turned to her new charge. "I'm sorry about that, dear, where was she taking you?"

Rebecca shrugged.

"Let's rewind a bit. Who are you?"

"I'm Rebecca. My parents sent me here."

Realization flashed over Sister Marguerite's face. She took Rebecca's hand, tenderly, in both of her own. "My child, are you..." She dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in. "...with child?"

Rebecca nodded, her eyes and chest burning as she held back her tears. She had never hated her parents more than she did in this moment. In fact, she couldn't really remember ever hating her parents. But in this moment, fifteen, pregnant, in a state she'd never been to before, facing a nun she'd never met, she couldn't think of anything she wanted more in life than to see them suffer.

He was so handsome and charming. She loved him and might never see him again. And he would never know that he had a child, somewhere in the world. She would carry this baby and the nuns would tear it away from her, handing it off to someone else. And then she would go back to Indiana in time for the next school year as if nothing happened.

Her parents would put her in a different school. She couldn't go back to Saint Anne's after this. Everyone would know. Their reputation would suffer. She would have to go somewhere else. Somewhere no one knew her parents. Maybe public school.

She wanted to keep her baby. She wanted to know her baby, to hold it in her arms, to be a better mother than her own mother. What kind of monster sent her child away out of shame? Rage flared in Rebecca's chest, pushing aside the grief and she made up her mind.

She met the nun's eyes, eyes much kinder than those of the weathered woman who had picked her up at the airport, and let the tears fall. "I don't know what I did wrong," she sobbed. Sister Marguerite pulled the girl into her chest and rubbed her hand soothingly over her long heavy brown hair.

"Come now, my child. We'll make you comfortable. Then we'll figure all of this out." She turned Rebecca and pushed her, gently toward the stairs.

****

Rebecca held her swollen belly with one hand, struggling in the dark room to fold her clothes with one hand. She had only come here with a few things that she would need after the baby was born. As her belly had grown, the nuns had dressed her in robes, forgoing the cost of maternity clothes. The pregnancy had been hard on Rebecca's young, small body and she'd been in bed most of the last six weeks.

But the time had come and she was not letting them have this child. She packed up the clothes that she had not been able to wear, comfortably, in four months, without turning on the light in her room to avoid alerting anyone to her plan.

The morning she had arrived, the nuns were in a frenzy. An orphan had done exactly what she was doing right now, stealing out in the night to escape this place. Rebecca had heard whispers of the girl for the first few weeks; she was separated from the orphans, for the most part. She had a private tutor while they were sent to public school. She was alone in her own wing of the convent, had her own dining area. The last six months of her life had been the loneliest she could ever remember and the child in her belly had, so often, been her only companion.

Despite being separated from them, Rebecca had snuck out to the wing where the orphans lived. She had tried to make friends with them but they were a tight knit group, having known one another since they were toddlers. They had been kind to her but not accepting or welcoming and eventually she had stopped visiting them. Tonight she wondered if they would notice that she was gone from the convent completely.

She finished packing and gently lifted the suitcase to the floor. It was heavier than she had expected and her belly complained loudly. She bit down on a scream and pulled out the handle to roll the suitcase as far as she could. She hoped the sound of the wheels wouldn't wake Sister Marguerite, the only one of the nuns who had her quarters in this wing. Rebecca wondered if, when she was gone, Marguerite would move back to the main wing with the rest of the sisters or if that was her permanent home. She'd never bothered to ask, despite Marguerite being the only one to show her any kindness.

She opened the door, her belly screaming, and stepped into the dark hallway. Straight into Sister Agnes' crossed arms.