Warm sunlight falls across my skin and I can help but lean as close as I can to it. I must look like an idiot standing here with my face pressed to the bars of the window but I don't care, it feels heavenly.
"Miss Winters, get away from there before I'm forced to remove you!" The guard growls behind me but I make no attempt to move. This is the first time I've felt any semblance of the outside world since my arrival in this hell hole and even just one more second is worth the pain that will come later.
"Don't Frank; let her have this." At the sound of Mary Eunice's soft voice I turn and smile at the woman.
Grumbling, the guard backs away. "I need a cigarette, you can handle yourself down here for now sister." The door closes loudly behind him and I turn back to the window letting the rays warm my face once more. "Thank you Mary Eunice." I whisper, not sure if she understands the gift she's given me.
"You're welcome Miss Winters. I knew you'd like it in the bakery. I find the windows and relaxing work to be cleansing." The nun gathers ingredients from various cabinets and sets them up on the table.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Sunday is the Lords Day, no work should be done, but it's the perfect opportunity to show you the bakery without getting in the way."
"Do you really believe that?" Turning away from the window I sit beside her at the table. "In God I mean. Do you really believe that this is how he'd want his children to be treated?" My voice is soft, not accusatory and Mary Eunice seems to take my words seriously.
With a sigh she tucks her hair behind her ears. Her cheeks flush a light pink and her eyebrows wrinkle up in a concentration. A little quiet giggle escapes my lips, I never realized how adorable she could be.
"That's a difficult question Miss winters. Of course I believe in God and in the importance of the work we do here, but lately the treatment has gotten so intense. I wish there was a way to help these poor people without having to use methods like electric shock or hydrotherapy but there isn't. It has to be this way."
"No it doesn't."
The next few moments pass in silence with me mixing the dough and Mary Eunice pondering thoughtfully. I seem to have trouble to her. She gets up and paces around the room while fingering the cross around her neck. Mary leans against the wall next to the window; the light touches her features making her blue eyes sparkle in her exposed hair glimmer magnificently gold. Again I'm shocked by her beauty.
"You're not like the other patients Lana. You don't seem to need guidance. You make me question and this is so confusing for me."
"That's good Mary Eunice, not everything should be blindly followed. There are other options."
"Like what?" Her words are heavy and I feel like she's talking about more than just religion and ways of treatment.
"Like compassion, kindness, love. You showed me such kindness since I got here and it is the only thing that keeps me from giving up entirely." My heart pounds as I join her next to the window and the look on her face makes the breath catch in my throat.
"Lana…" she smiles at me even though her eyes are cloudy with tears "You have flour on your face." She tenderly wipes it from my cheek with her thumb and leaves her palm cupping my face.
It's happening even before I know it but all of the sudden our lips are pressed softly together. My hands are lightly tangled in her gorgeous blonde hair pulling our bodies flush together. Our lips move in delicate dance that makes my head dizzy and my stomach contort into knots.
Just as quickly as it happened it's over. Mary Eunice doesn't pull away in disgust like I expect her to, instead she leans even further into me. The feeling of her body against mine is even better than the sunshine, it makes my insides warm. It's like I can finally breathe again. "You aren't like the others either my sweet."