I apologize for the slow start with this one. I'm working on a third chapter that will be longer. Thank you for reading!
The relentless activity of the day room was something that Lana used to her advantage. On the days she was strong enough to delve into the details, she found new material every minute-a patient abuse here, interesting backstory there. On the days when she was too fragile to absorb any more trauma, she faded away and let the chaos crash around her like white noise. The music, screams, banging, obscenities, and odor were all part of the opening chapter she was trying to scrape together, her mind still reeling from the cocktail of prescriptions and procedures. She saw Mary Eunice across the room and scowled. Just the sight of the willowy nun was enough to intrude on her shaky peace. She watched the sister's movements. Mary Eunice had once been someone who smiled, soothed, scolded, and placated. She was now someone who crept, scratched, hissed, and smirked. Her nails trailed over Mr. Spivey's shoulder as she grimaced in the direction of one of the other sisters. From a distance, Lana saw Mary Eunice's passage through the dayroom like a tornado. She was chaos, she was a spider, one of the many-armed Goddesses she'd seen in National Geographic.
At that thought, a set of baby blue eyes swiveled in her direction. Lana froze in fear as Mary Eunice walked slowly towards her. Her hips rocked at the base of her thin waist. Her composure was stony. Lana swallowed hard as the sister stopped.
"It wasn't that her body had changed," red lips hopped into a smirk for the briefest second, "it was her intent. Oh Lana." Mary Eunice cocked her head to the side with an insincere frown "How are you today? If I had to guess, I would say you were feeling prolific."
"Hello sister." Was all that Lana could muster.
"That's it? That mouth of yours is quite a filter. I might have to tell Sister Jude about all those little glances you've been throwing my way."
"No!" Lana exclaimed. She held out her hand, imploring. "Please don't. What do you want?"
Mary Eunice sauntered closer. "Some conversation. A story." She paused, "poetry." She smirked again, "You liked that, didn't you? Fancy yourself a wordsmith? An honest to goodness artist?"
Lana rolled her eyes.
"Come on now, Lana!" Mary Eunice plopped down in the neighboring chair and grabbed her forearm with both hands. "I'm tired of Mr. Spivey's fantasies. They're cheap and banal. I want to hear about your angst. Don't spare the details."
"There's something wrong with you."
"Ok fine. If you won't tell me, I'll be the narrator again. It's clearer without that lisp of yours. " Mary Eunice's eyes flickered closed. "She sucked the air out of the room and replaced it with all kinds of dread-razor blade apples and the like. Her hands on my arm were like a vice." The nun's eyes opened briefly. "That does sound like me. I'm quite strong" She tightened her grip and continued. "She was the pettiest of petty horrors, an irksome cliché with her straight back and blonde hair in the midst of our hunched and mumbled chaos. She somehow fit in, however; a virgin whore walking among us and providing comfort and hurt according to the whims of the moment."
Lana raised an eyebrow in Mary-Eunice's direction and was met with a scowl. Mary-Eunice opened her mouth to speak when the day room doors suddenly flew open and Sister Jude burst in with a flat, "Alright listen up!" Lana's spine straightened and her eyes flew to the older nun. Jude was on a tirade. No one spoke as she detailed the plans of the day. No one but Mary Eunice, who moved closer to Lana's ear and growled.
"Say it. I can hear those words in there, clear as day. I can hear them. Power, ferocity, swarm, footfalls. I hear them. Say them."
"I can't" Lana whispered. The fingers tightened.
"I'll report you."
"Sister Jude" she began in a rushed hush, "was many things, but I had never felt those things from another person. She was the same essence that vibrates across the dirt as the horses come running. She was a blunt force trauma, never the blade. She was a mouth of molars grinding you up."
"Stop." Mary-Eunice commanded, nearly hissing. "Stop it. She isn't those things. She isn't that. She's not teeth. She's not horses. This is melodrama."
Sister Jude whipped around. "You have something to add, Sister Mary Eunice? I'd just love to hear your input." Mary Eunice was silent. "No? How surprising. Anyone else have any bright ideas?" The day room was silent. Jude spun around slowly, sliding through the keys in her hand like a rosary. Turning on her heel, she exited as quickly as she had come.
Lana let out a breath as the music began its squeaky repetition.
"You think it's funny." Mary-Eunice announced in disbelief.
"You clearly know the answer to that query, sister." Lana said calmly, lighting a cigarette which was immediately knocked out of her fingers and ground into the concrete. She threw a bored glance in the nun's direction before turning her back and feigning interest in the repetitive splatter of head trauma against the wall.
"Trite, childish…petulant?!" Mary Eunice was quaking in anger. "I have lured thousands to my arms with nothing but a few well-placed words."
"Well you certainly picked the right vessel." Lana commented, looking the nun up and down, "But your execution is terrible. Why don't you go try to lure Mr. Spivey again. He seems like he's more on your level. You know, I was afraid of you at first, but you're different than I thought, sister. You're unbearably…"
"Don't say it." Mary Eunice warned.
"Simple."
The nun stood up with a ferocity that didn't fit her lithe frame. The air in Lana's lungs was suddenly thin. She gasped for breath. Mary Eunice slapped her heartily on the back, rattling her bones. "Miss Winters! Oh dear, maybe you should consider putting down the cigarettes." Lana choked and coughed, and Mary Eunice's palm seemed to burn through her thin sweater. "I hear you, Lana Banana." She whispered, breath tickling the other woman's ear, "And you're right. You've made a mistake." She tapped Lana's temple firmly with a fingertip before stalking away. Lana continued to retch as Mary Eunice left the dayroom, a scowl on her face as she listened to Lana's defiant thoughts. The audacity of the reporter propelled her into a flurry of rage that she took out against a wall, imagining Lana cringing with fear before her power.