04

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The names mentioned by Father Christopher had rang a bell in her head but she was too tired to think of anything else. And besides she was not even sure which name it was which reminded her of something.

It was already late and all she wanted was to rest her tired mind. Tomorrow was going to be another day, she convinced herself. Who knows maybe she would get back her memories or at least part of her past and she would find out her identity.

“Oh you poor thing,” cooed a female voice and she turned round to be greeted by two bug women who looked at her like she was some lost puppy. “I am Mother Katherine,” the one who seemed eldest introduced herself and she felt another pang at the mention of the name.

Katherine. Did it mean something to her ? But before she had time to ponder over the matter. The other woman advanced her extended hands to her introducing herself as Sister Margaret. They looked nice and she smiled back for their benefit.

“I’m.. sorry. I don’t even know my name,” she said and Mother Katherine winked at her.

“That’s not a problem, love. We will call you Mary until you find your real name. Now, come with us. We will show you around.”

Kate was happy to oblige and thanked Father Christopher profusely before heading for the convent rooms.

“We have a local doctor but he comes only on Sunday mornings and we had to wait for another week for his consultation,” Mother Katherine was saying and she nodded in guise of appreciation. It was more than she could have asked for. “We could call him over so that he could examine you though.

“Oh no, thank you for that. I feel a lot better already and I don’t want to burden you with my presence. I am grateful for this shelter. And I’m willing to get some work done in some guise of payment,” she told them and they both tusked in unison.

“Oh, I insist,” she quickly put in when Sister Margaret opened her mouth to protest and refuse her proposition more probably. “I hate being idle so I’d better make myself useful around,” she assured him.

“Fine. But this is God’s home. No one has to work to stay here. Come let’s arrange for your room,” he said.

It was nothing fancy. It was a small room filled with dirt as no one had used it for some time as the two women told her. But she was thankful for having a shelter to sleep and had no time to mourn about her life. She was no whimpering female who would complain at the first challenge life threw her way.

No, she was made of sterner stuff than that and she was glad of who she was turning into. It was a nice feeling discovering herself and liking her personality. She was proud of the woman she had turned out into and she believed that all the credit went to her parents who must have done a wonderful job with her.

Thanking the two women one again, she placed down her bags and decided to postpone the arrangement of the room for the next day. She hated disorder, she realized but it was too late to start cleaning up the room. She was dead tired and all she wanted to do was clean herself and get some decent sleep.

Before Mother Katherine left her, she asked if she could get a shower and was led to a small bathroom where there was no shower but a pail of water.

After having carefully washed her hair to avoid hurting herself on her wound, she wiped off herself and changed into her white t-shirt. It was long enough to cover her thighs and she had checked her room before going to the bathroom. It contained a lock and she would shut herself in the room for the nights.

It was not that she was not feeling safe. As Mother Katherine had said, she was in the house of God and had nothing to fear. But her initial fear would not fade and her instincts were telling her to be on her guard.

Sneaking back into her room, she locked herself and finally sat on the bed feeling much better. Raking a hand through her long hair, she bent her head in her hands and tried to jog her memory one more time. And along came the usual excruciating pain.

But instead of rejecting the pain like she had been doing, she welcomed it. And buckled under the force of it when her mind came up with a complete blank. She was going to give up when suddenly she had a flash of herself standing in front of a full-length mirror wearing a beautiful wedding dress. Her famous wedding dress. And she was smiling.

As quickly as it had appeared, the image was gone and when she searched her memory again, there was nothing but a blank. And her head was reeling from all the concentration. She had to stop or it will driver her crazy.

After taking some painkillers Father Christopher had given her, she rested her head against the pillow and pondered over her new discovery. She had been a happy bride. How was that possible ? When her hunch was telling her that she had been running from the groom.

Well, not her hunch but every possibilities led her to believe that there might have been trouble in paradise. Maybe she had been happy for the wedding. Before discovering the truth of her fiancé most probably.

Her mind still full of those thoughts, she dozed off and suddenly she found herself in front of the mirror again ; the very one she had just seen. And she could feel her heart filled with happiness. It was unmistakable the way her heart was light with bliss and she was admiring herself in front of the mirror.

When suddenly her white dress was filled with something red oozing out of her body and she looked at her reflection in shock. It was blood. Somebody had stabbed her in the back and she could do nothing about it. All she could do was stare at herself losing so much blood.

But she was not dead. She was still looking down at herself with some kind of wonder on her face. And she mouthed something. Something which sounded like “Aye” but she could not make out the whole word.

There was blood everywhere. And she heard a sadistic laughter behind her. In a daze, she could not make out whether it was male or female and when she whirled to see the person, she woke up with a start.

Beads of perspiration ran down her temple and she frantically searched for comfort but found herself alone in an unfamiliar room. Out of pure reflex, she wanted to scream but felt like someone had stuffed cotton in her mouth. And she was trembling like a leaf. Like somebody wanted to kill her.

Trying not to panic, she wiped her tears and squinted her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. There was no one around. She was alone in a small shabby room. Sagging against the pillow in relief, she realized she just had a nightmare and remembered her misadventure and how she had landed in a convent. Calming herself down, she gripped the mattress on both her sides and tried to breathe normally.

Her heart would not stop thudding though and she replayed the nightmare in her mind over and over. Was it true or was her subconscious playing tricks on her ? Had someone tried to kill her ? Was that why she had run from the wedding ? Or was there something else ? Something more serious ? Something she was refusing to see ?

She tried to remember the name she had cried out during her nightmare but could not even remember the syllable. It was frustrating how one always forget the most important thing in a dream. Finally, she gave up trying to make out what happened ; she had to stay strong to face whatever was waiting for her in the future. But she had to figure out what had happened before the one who was trying to hurt her found her out.

Eventually, she concluded sure that whatever had happened to her, it had something to do with blood. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could see blood everywhere. And she could even smell the foul smell at the back of her mind like it was engraved or something.

Which meant that only one thing ; she must have run from something very very serious. And with that thought in mind, she rushed to the bathroom throwing up all the food which she had ate earlier.