Reece's Haven

17

"Maybe we just found forever at the wrong time..."
– Nautica

❀❀❀

~ D O R O T H Y ~

November 1997

Sister Alexa suggests that she and I should walk outside and watch the sunrise together, just like how we used to. I comply half-heartedly. We leave her room at seven in the morning, wrapped in thick brown shawls. As we walk along the muddy path, I look up to see glimmering stars in the clear sky. I recall how I could barely see any stars back in London. A pang of pain shoots through me when memories of the awful ordeal from yesterday flash in my mind.

Squidge, squidge, squidge.

Sister Alexa stops, and so do I. She unfolds a waterproof picnic blanket that she carried all this time and spreads it onto the ground. While she sits down on it comfortably, I choose to lie down with my head resting on her lap. As she brushes my hair with her callous, yet gentle fingers, we watch the sun rising from the horizon, spilling the bright orange into the dark blue sky.

"I really missed this; you and I together like this," I whisper.

"So did I," she replies. "Are you feeling cold? We can go back inside."

"On the contrary, I feel better."

"What are you thinking about?"

There is a pause of silence, during which I bite my lower lip.

"...How impossible it is to move on," I sigh.

"Dorothy, it is not impossible. One day – and I am very sure that the day will come – you will look back on this moment of your life and be glad that you did not choose to give up. Remember, one can regret for giving up, but never for not giving up."

"...But I can't go back to London, Sister Alexa. I will die there if I do go back," I croak, my eyes and nose stinging.

"You have to be strong."

"I don't have any strength left."

"The Dorothy Sherman I know is the strongest person. I believe that you can face London and you will face London."

"But I'm known as Hampton's whore now," I say before I break down crying again, covering my face with my hands. "Even though I'm still a virgin. Heck, I've never even been kissed by a boy!"

Sympathetic, Sister Alexa bends down to wrap me in her arms in an attempt to appease my cries.

"Stay strong, Dorothy. It's only a matter of 6 months. Once you get into Imperial, you will be relieved and grateful that you managed to get through this period with great valour and–"

Her words cut off and she straightens her back. I look at her with a frown. She is looking ahead of her and I follow her line of sight before I pale.

"Dorothy... That car," she whispers.

A pale yellow car is heading towards St. Anne's boarding school at an insane speed. I purse my lips, unable to fathom how I am going to deal with the next obstacle coming my way.

"We should go back," she says, much to my dismay.

***

I wince at the sound of the door being slammed shut. How the car manages to withstand that amount of force without getting a single dent is surprising. Wearing the same outfit as yesterday, mother stomps towards where Sister Alexa and I are standing. Her hair is in a messy ponytail, her face is pale and her green eyes are bloodshot.