Children of the Clergy

Season 2 | Episode 9 | Memories

"You know what you need to do, Doughy."

Seren jolted awake, sitting up right and panting hard. She was drenched in a cold sweat and her head was aching.

"Doughy?"

She jumped again at the voice in her mind. A silent tear ran down her cheek as she recognised the nickname, forgotten times flooding back into her head.

She laughed as Seren coughed on the flour that had been flicked onto her face."Sorry, sorry. I didn't even realize you were there."

She stopped kneading the bread dough for a moment, patting her hands on her apron to get the flour off and kneeling down in front of the small girl. Gently, she brushed the flour off Seren's cheeks, startling when she coughed again. "Sorry." She giggled.

After cleaning the rest of the flour off, she continued squishing and kneading at the witch's cheeks as if they were also made of bread dough.

Seren giggled and she smiled back. "Just as soft as bread, Doughy." She joked.

Seren laughed at the new nickname, grinning up at the older woman and trying to pry her hands off her cheeks. "Muuuum." She wined, pretending to be bothered by it.

Seren chuckled slightly as the scene played in her head. It had only been a few years ago but it felt like forever to her. Her mother was her everything. But now she was gone.

Her face sank to a frown again, thinking back to that fateful day. More tears began brimming her eyes as she thought back to a moment she desperately wished to forget.

"Mum!" Seren yelled again, pounding on the door to her mother's room.

She'd told her that she'd be trying to commune with a powerful demon today and many of the siblings from their ministry had come to help. But it had been hours now and she could hear the chaos inside her mother's room, where the communion was taking place, and she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

"Mum!!" She screamed again, hoping to Satan that someone inside would hear her and let her in.

There was a terrible sinking feeling in her heart and she could see a small sliver of blue slowly fading from inside the room. She'd seen that light inside her mother before but it was usually bright and sparkling. In that moment, it almoust seemed dull. The light was dying down and, although she didn't know what it meant, Seren knew it wasn't good.

She pounded on the door over and over, finally feeling it slide open. She glanced up into the room and froze.

Her mother was lying in another witch's lap, blood dripping from her nose and a deep gash running all the way around her head like a halo. She opened her eyes for a moment, meeting Seren's petrified gaze. "Doughy?"

And the blue light faded.

Seren felt it in her heart like a stab from a knife. It cut her from the inside and her soal ached as tears streamed down her cheeks. All she could get out was a whisper, desperate for a response. "Mum?"

Seren felt the gentle embrace of Sister Aria even before she'd realized that she'd woken her. "Shhh, it's okay, sweety. You're okay."

The young witch let herself succumb to the aching in her heart, breaking down and weeping into the sister's arms as her emotions overwhelmed her.

She could feel the soft hand strocking her hair and the steadying arm around her but she wasn't at all processing what was being said. It was all just noise to her as she desperately tryed to fill the void in her soal with the warmth of her magic, only to feel her energy drain and her sadness cascading through her again.