Sisters of Mercy

Chapter 1

The hallways to our dormitories were always dark. Even with the dim lights that were lit up across it it always scarier to walk at night. Other people said it was a way to minimize movement at night. Or maybe it enables them to hide within the walls without us noticing them.
At the time that you would think they were asleep, one would just emerge out of the almost darkness with their sinister smile on—one that you would only see at night and never during the day— and simply nod at you. Not in greeting but as a sign that they were watching your every move. We weren't allowed to go to the toilet in twos so sometimes I would just hold it till morning.

When I first came here I thought all those rules were just scare tactics, to try and keep us in line. I had made one friend a few days before and when I woke one night the darkness scared me so I decided to wake her.

"Alice." I shook her softly. It didn't take her much to wake up. Maybe she, like me, also found it hard to sleep in this place.
"What?" She asked when she realised it was me.

"Can you walk me?" I whispered.
"What?" She couldn't realise that I was whispering and she was making much noise. If we were the only ones in the dorm, as we called them, then maybe it wouldn't have been a problem. But there were 12 beds lined up in a line on one side and the other side our drawer and stuff directly facing us. I could hear movement amoung other beds, probably as a result of her voice disturbing their sleep.

"It's too dark." I said "I'm scared."
For a moment she sat up in bed looking at me like I was crazy. Then she squinted her eyes. "It's the middle of the night." This time she whispered.
"I know that's why I'm scared." She wasn't reacting so I pulled her up. "Come on."
"You're gonna get us in trouble." She said.
but she fell in step beside me and here I was already breaking rules in my first week.

We walked through the door and down the dimly lit hallway. At the end was a junction, one turn leading to the bathroom and the other outside. I was scared with every step I took because I was always worried someone was going to come out of the shadows and we would be in trouble, but none of that happened. In fact everything went well. We didn't see anyone in the hallway and all the way to the bathroom.

"I told you all those rules were bullshit." I said to her when we were leaving the bathroom. I could tell by her smile that we were going to be best friends. Someone so sinister like me, I couldn't ask for more. On our way back we were walking more comfortably since we knew no one was there 'to watch us' as they told us the first day that they would.

We were still talking, whispering though but giggling nonetheless, when we both stopped in step at almost the same time. The light in our dorm was on. All the other dorms had no light except for ours. Another one of their rules, no light in the dorms after eleven. It was almost one. On instinct I walked slowly towards the dorm and there it was, on the door, my worst nightmare. Maybe all we had heard was true.

There were many rumuors surrounding the forms of  discipline in this place and none of them pleasant. After all disciplinary measures aren't supposed to be pleasant. Even before coming here I always heard the same rumors and it only increased once I got here.

Beating was to be expected but apparently it was the least of our worries. The kinds of punishments people talked about always gave me chills but before they had been nothing more than rumours. But right now those previously fake rumors were turning to flesh right before my eyes as I came face to face with Sister Eunice standing at the door.

She had a smirk on her face which was a very rare feature on her. In another life Sister Eunice could have been one of those 'it' girls, a pop star or an Instagram model. She had a perfectly symmetrical face and full thick lips. She was slender and tall, towering above both me and Alice. I wonder why she would waste these looks by becoming a nun. I could only imagine all I could be capable of if I looked half as good as that.
I stood there not knowing what was going to happen to me. I could hear a gasp escape from Alice's lips the moment she laid her eyes on her.
"Come on in girls." She said with a smile. Like a hostess inviting us into her house for an exclusive party. For a moment I questioned my sexuality even though I knew in that moment that we were so screwed.