Write To Rank 2022 -- Contest Collection

Round 6 - Purple Belt: Hell

When I was young, I'd asked my mother -- forgive me, for I have sinned -- for what God had created me. I'd asked with childish curiosity, muddy eyes raised to her angelic face, pink ribbons from my dress clutched in my tiny fists. With ruby lips parting and chest inflating to accommodate more air, she'd fixed me with her ocean eyes, golden curls framing her slender face, and said:

"To serve the Lord and His Church faithfully, passionately, and in every fashion befitting a little girl like yourself."

She'd punished me then, for speaking without authorization is an offense. Now, sitting in my dormitory with the clean white sheets and the spotless walls, I run my fingers over my wrist, over the scar she'd made that evening. It wasn't as deep then, but I'd disobeyed the rules of the Church four more times throughout these ten years. Each time, the slices grew deeper and deeper, the flow of blood from the wound heavier. Sickening fear that they'd cut too deep sealed my vow of silence. I won't end up like my mother -- forgive me, for I have sinned. I won't end up like the other girls.

The blood, thick like tar and red like anger, has revealed my purpose for living, has crafted eyes for a girl blinded by an evil mission...

God created me to stop the Church.

"Remember: Janine, you break the mirror and hide in the closet. Amy, you cry out twenty seconds after the men check on Janine. I'll get the master key from the office."

I began my planning several months ago after they took Madison for speaking out of turn. Janine and Amy, the only seventeen year-olds left in this place, the "Detention Center" they call it. "Orphanage" is more fitting.

"We have one shot," I continue, the radio I'd stolen from one of the guards tucked against my shoulder like a musician would a violin. My eyes are still plastered to my wrist, to the cut that they'll open if they catch me, if we fail. If I wasn't so angry, if I wasn't so determined to break the cycle before anyone else could get hurt, I would've called it off. "If they catch you, fight and we'll circle back."

I release the button on the radio, shuddering and squeezing my eyes shut to stop myself from crying. The men in the masks. That's who'll do it, who'll come for us in their black gas masks and heavy boots. They'll drag us away and-

"I love you girls."

Janine's voice over the radio.

"See you on the outside."

Amy' voice, broken by static thanks to the distance between us, over the radio.

I take a shaky breath in, nodding to myself and putting my mouth against the receiver. "God protect us."

And, giving my wrist a final glare, I lower the radio and let it drop to the bed.

I sneak towards the door, my ear pressed against the wood. One second, two seconds, three. My heart is beating loudly, making hearing anything beyond it nearly impossible. But there it is: a harsh crash a few dormitories down. It's Janine, the mirror surely reduced to jagged pieces on the tiled floor and the girl behind its demise hidden from sight.

Seven seconds is all the time it takes for the banging of the doors to sound at the end of the hallway, for the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck to stand up when the heavy, eerie breathing of the guards passes my door. The shadows of their boots paint the tile just inside of my room, and I have to press my hand to my mouth to keep from-

"AHHH!"

Black and white static like that of a television invades my vision, the blood in body freezing and my mind giving way to panic. Incomprehensible conversation keeps from falling apart, keeps me focused on our mission, and heavy footsteps, again, pass by my dormitory. I count six shadows, six boots pounding into the tile outside.

That's when my blood really did freeze, when I did begin to truly panic beyond anything I could have imagined before: they split up. The guards split up.

A blood curdling scream rips through the hallway, chaotic din short to accompany it. It's coming from the left, just a few dormitories away from me.

"Please don't do this, please! I'm sorry, it was dark and I... no! Get away from me! Get away!"

I flinch so hard I see stars when something hits the floor beside me. Tears obscuring everything in sight, I reach ou, my hand closing around a razor: the only weapon I could find in a room so desolate. The plan... I-I have to leave! I need to get to the office and grab the key! I-

"Please, I promise I'll follow the rules! Just let me go!"

Trembling and choking back sobs, I open the door to my room, peering down the hallway. Shadows, large and threatening, dance against the wall just outside of Janine's room, deep voices ordering her to stay still, to repent while she still has time. All of it, all of it grows mute as I dash out of the room, sprinting towards the office at the end of the hallway.

The moment I reach the room, I duck into it, scurrying towards the desk in the space's center, for the corkboard nailed to the wall behind it. Keys, keys, keys, the entire wall is littered with keys. Frantically, I reach for them, looking for the one I need, the one we all need.

"Where is it?" I mumble through uncontrollable sobs, fingers skating over keys. Gold, silver, copper. Where is the copper key?! "Lord, please, please give me the key. Please!"

"I didn't do it! I didn't do it! Please don't do this!"

I shudder again, collapsing against the wall as the echoes of Amy's cries reach my ears, rattling my brain. I take just a moment to listen, to concentrate on the nightmare outside of the office, and discover that Janine isn't screaming anymore. She's silent. The guards silenced her.

And now they have Amy, too.

I scream. I scream so loud my heart stops and my throat bleeds. I scream so loud God above and Lucifer below can hear it. It's over. It's done.

We failed, and the Church will stand.

Booted footsteps, hurried, heavy, and daunting approach the office, six guards all wearing gas masks appearing in the doorway. One steps forward, one with a blade stained crimson, stained with innocence. My strength failing me, I slip to the floor, tears streaming down my face as I hold my wrist out to them.

"God wouldn't do this to us," I say, glaring up at the blade with a fire hot enough to incinerate my fear. "This is Hell."

The guards surge towards me, enveloping the room around me in darkness.