Thank you to all those who have left feedback for this story. My muse abandoned me for a while but now making up for it with two chapters.
UPDATE: Some editing made for this chapter. Thank you for reading. :)
The Great Silence had already begun when she heard an urgent knock on her bedroom door.
"Sister Julienne, I am truly sorry to bother you but…," Jane breathlessly spoke, having never quite lost her nervousness just yet.
"You're needed urgently downstairs."
She was already grabbing her dressing gown as she followed Jane down the corridor.
"What is it, is it an emergency? A patient?" she asked, concern written all over her face.
Jane stopped and looked at her wordlessly for a few moments.
"It's Sister Bernadette, Sister. You better come quick."
~.~.~
She could only be so gentle as she carefully wiped a washcloth over Shelagh's pale, tear-streaked face, taking care to only dab at the angry red welt on her cheek.
They brought her to her old room, she and Jane, careful not to wake the other nuns. Thankfully, Nurse Lee and Nurse Miler were away on call and Trixie was asleep.
Jane brought hot water, soap and towels, carefully laying them on the dresser. She stood in the half-opened door, looking at the sad little tableau before her eyes, before nodding to Sister Julienne and closing it.
Shelagh never made a sound but her eyes continued to well up with tears, running down unceasingly on her cheeks.
When Sister Julienne made to remove her blouse, the sleeves snagged on her fingers, and she made a small cry.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Shelagh," she apologized.
It was then that she saw the bruises on her wrists, the small cuts on her palms, some still fresh, others starting to scar.
"Oh…"
She could not look away, could not comprehend what she was seeing.
In her weathered hands, she took Shelagh's wounded ones, clasped it to her chest, and looked at her in the face.
"Oh Shelagh, my darling," was all she could murmur.
And Shelagh, her blue eyes now dull and looking lifeless, finally looked at her in the face. And there was only pain, regret and fear written there.
"I had to get us away," she spoke so softly, the words catching in her throat. "He's suddenly a stranger to us."
Her hands shook as she gripped Julienne's.
"I had nowhere else to go but here, Sister."
"Help me," she whispered brokenly.
She fell into the older nun's arms, her whole body wracked with sobs, her bleeding palms staining Sister Julienne's dressing gown.
And her heart, both their hearts, broke into a million little pieces.