Helena picks up a small rock she found in the cellar and scrapes it across the cold cement floor of the convent cellar, leaving behind a chalky streak. She's been in the cellar for about a week, but it's hard to tell being that she's been down there long enough to lose track of which day of the week it was. She was used to this - being put into the cellar; being in the darkness.
Helena tilts her head to the side, squinting to focus her eyes to see what little she could from the candlelight in the hallway. Again, she scrapes the rock across the surface beneath her feet and sees it does the same as it had before. Slightly amused, she continues to draw stick figures of people with dresses. Some with none. Some tall. Some more diminutive. But all in some strange way, identical copies of one another.
As she draws one with a dress on Helena mutters to herself quietly "And you'll be my friend. You will be my sestra," in an accent that oddly resembles a british one, Helena continues, "Yes. Sestras we shall be. I will protect you, and you me. Always and forever."
The sound of footsteps walking down the stairs that lead to the cellar where Helena resides is heard. Reflexively, she clenches the rock in her fist and scurries into a corner, away from the light, and away from whomever was now entering. Helena curls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs.
More softly now to herself , she repeats, "Always and forever".
For a moment there is silence and Helena crawls back towards the light. She reaches for the bars that trap her, and looks between them in the direction of the sounds she heard. For a moment, there's nothing but silence, but then she begins to hear something again.
"Helena," a voice echoed from in the darkness of the cellar, and Helena recognizes it immediately. Sister Anna. Fear surges through Helena, knowing what she'd done to her the last time they came face to face.
Soon, Sister Anna, or someone that resembled Sister Anna, steps out of the darkness. Her skin is paler, the shadows casted by the darkness in the cellar make her eyes invisible, her neck is bleeding and the white of her habit is stained with seemingly fresh blood.
Young Helena keeps her head down, not daring to look into the hollowness of the nun's eyes.
"Helena!" Sister Anna says, more demanding this time. Helena doesn't look up, instead she crawls as far away from the entity standing before her as the cellar allows. She covers her eyes and resumes the position she was in before. The little girl starts to mumble to herself. "The Lord is my shepherd I sh-"
"The Lord does not answer the prayers of demons, child." Sister Anna interrupts.
Helena starts rocking back and forth, Helena buries her head even deeper into her thighs and covers her ears, louder and quicker this time. "Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil."
Sister Anna starts laughing menacingly. Helena hearing this repeats the prayer over and over louder and louder as the the nun's laughter and hateful words ring louder in her ear.
"You are an abomination, you don't not belong here," Sister Anna exclaimed.
"I shall fear no evil for the Lord art with me" Helena says unevenly.
"You are from no God of mine!"
"Ye though I walk through the valley -"
"You are from man."
"Of the shadow of death."
"You are the product of sin!"
"I shall fear no evil!" Helena screams, and as each tear falls down her cheek, she scratches at it savagely.
"You are NOT MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! YOU ARE A DEFILED COPY!" Sister Anna screams.
Helena lunges from her spot at the spot toward Sister Anna, but as she reaches to wrap her arms around her to knock her to the ground, her knees hit the cement. No one's there. No one but her and her thoughts. Helena lays on the floor and cries even louder. She lets go of the rock that was in her hand and blood flows from her palm.
For a moment she's alone, and then she hears the sound of slow, steady footsteps walking down the stairs. She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes and goes into a corner, expecting the illusion to return. She trembles with fear and adrenaline. She may be afraid, but she's not too afraid to pounce on the next person that comes at her.
She hears one of the sisters speaking to someone, "She's the devil's child. She killed Sister Anna at feast. She spouts lies about having a family." The footsteps cease for a second and then continue.
"Everyone has a family, Sister," a deeper, steady voice replies. It's a man.
Helena, intrigued, creeps to the cellar bars to get a better look. Finally she sees the figure of tall man with curly hair and a black trench coat on. He's carrying a flashlight. He points it at Helena and Helena hisses at him. While the Sister jumps, the man looks curiously at the child. He's not afraid of her. Why isn't he afraid of her?
He walks closer to the little girl that now bares her teeth at him through the bars of her cell. He kneels down and Helena sees this as a threat and strikes him through the space between the iron bars. The large man catches Helena's hand before she could hit him, and pulls the rock out of her hand. He smiles at her. Helena relaxes her face, and for the first time you can see a child. Underneath all of the pain and shelling from all that comes from being the product of an internal and external war, you can see the face of a little girl that has been waiting for someone to just smile at her.
"Hello, little angel," the man says in a gentle tone. "What is your name?"
The man hesitantly reaches his hands towards Helena's face and wipes the tears from beneath her eyes. Helena looks at the nun, who now has a shocked look on her face, and back at the curly haired man with kind eyes. He holds her face in his hands, still through the bars.
"It's alright, I won't harm you. Tell me your name."
"Helena," the small child whispers.
"That's a beautiful name, Helena. My name is Tomas," A sinister smile spreads across Tomas' face, the smile of a devil, no doubt. "And I'm here to bring you to your family."