The Sun and Moon

Part 6

{Cheryl's POV}

'Welcome to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy,' a nun said.

I was stood in front of the grey, stone reception area. I don't remember how I got here.

'Have some water, you look dehydrated,' she said, handing a cup of liquid to me. I wondered how someone could look dehydrated but I didn't question it. I was scared of her.

The room began to spin, I began to shake and my eyes began to blur.

Then everything went black.

~~~

Rattling. Clicking. Like a clock. I opened my eyes. I was in a grey, stone room, my body trembling all over. I'd been changed into a red, smart uniform and my hair was in pigtails. Someone must have undressed me. Had they done anything more? I felt a cold tear roll down my cheek, but I wasn't sad. I was angry. But too weak to do anything. Drained of energy. My eyes were blurry, unable to make out details.

Clink. The door unlocked. I heard the safety seal peel away as it opened towards me. A metal trolley rattled its way through the door, a number of medical devices on it.

I stood up from my bed before feeling how weak my legs were, so I sat back down, pushing myself as far back on the bed as I could out of fear. Trying to get away from the people entering my room.

A male nurse put the trolley just inside the door, and a nun came up to me, sitting on the bed. I couldn't make out her facial features as my eyes would only focus enough to see her stone cold, smile-less expression. My breathing grew shallow, taking sharp, sudden breaths whenever one would come in, terrified of what she would do to me.

Reaching up towards my face, she wiped a tear. I tried to jerk my face away but it was as if my muscles and my brain were speaking a different language.

'Oh you poor child,' she said in a soft tone, maybe she isn't as bad as I am imagining, 'there's nothing to be afraid of, Sister Woodhouse is going to help you,' she told me, I was relieved.

'Thank you, Sister Woodhouse,' I gasped, still trying to catch my breath.

'Yeah, she's going to rid you of all those naughty demons,' she continued, I frowned, confused, 'the ones making you think such awful, unnatural thoughts.'

The panic came back, but stronger this time, the nurse began heading towards me holding a huge needle.

'Today, you must rest,' Sister Woodhouse demanded, taking the needle from the nurse, 'tomorrow is when the real work, the conversion, begins,' she finished. I finally realised why I was here. My hideous mother. The nun took the cover from the end of the needle, almost looking to be enjoying this.

My breathing became faster and more shallow. The nurse shut the door with a loud clink. Bringing the needle towards me, a sick smile appeared on the nun's face.

I pushed myself against the bed, but it was no use. A sharp pain pierced through my upper thigh, followed by the feeling of a cold liquid. It felt as though it was burning me from the inside out.

As I started to feel tired, I tried to fight it, trying to stay awake, to not let the drugs take effect on me. But it was no use. Before the nun even left the room, I felt myself pass out, everything going black once again.

~~~

I woke up to the sound of the heavy, metal door opening. Daylight was beginning to seep into the room through the small window. Sister Woodhouse entered my room, along with two muscular male nurses. Without telling me what was happening, one nurse grabbed me by my right arm and the other by my left. 

After kicking and screaming for a solid minute, i realised it was no use and I'd be better off saving my energy.

They carried me outside. No one else was there. They put me down in the middle of a huge field, it had random holes in.

'Your job for today is to dig a hole,' the nun told me, 'it should be 6ft deep, 2 1/2ft wide and 8ft long.' I instantly recognised that as the size of a grave.

'I expect you to be done by this evening, until it is you will stay out here and you will not come in for food or water,' she demanded. I was already so hungry, I don't remember eating anything since i got here.

Once she had handed me a shovel, her and the nurses left me alone. Again.

~~~

I'd been digging for what felt like days, but judging by where sun was, it had only been about 8 hours. My body was shaking, my limbs feeling as though they had enormous weights tied to them.

Eventually, i scooped up the last pile of dirt, feeling the uncomfortable shovel rub against my huge blisters for the last time.

Heading into the building, I immediately walked towards the water fountain, filling up a plastic cup and feeling the cool liquid go down my dry throat as I swallowed. It was so refreshing.

'Miss Blossom,' I heard someone say in a stern voice. 'Have you finished digging?' She asked, I turned around once I realised that it was a nun.

'Yes, I just finished so I came in for a drink, please could i have something to eat?' I begged.

She gestured for me to follow her, my legs felt as though they couldn't make it very far, so i hoped that it would be close. 

'Sit,' she demanded, so i sat at the empty cafeteria table.

Shortly after, she came towards me with a bowl of food in her hand.

'These are left overs from dinner, eat this then go to bed,' she told me as i began eating the cold mush that had been given to me. It looked terrible and tasted even worse, but I didn't care, it was food.

As instructed, i finished eating and went straight back to my room. When i was inside, I collapsed on the bed, every muscle aching. I slowly felt my body release the tension that has been building up in it all day.

The worst part was that I knew the next day would be no better.

~~~

'Jason?!' I questioned, sitting up on my bed. The door closed behind the familiar figure. He came and sat on my bed next to me, his red hair perfect and his pale skin the exact same tone as my own.

I tried to hug him, but he jolted away, staring at me as if i were a stranger, rather than his other half.

'JJ, what is it?' I asked him.

'You've done a bad thing, Cheryl,' he told me, I was confused. 'Having a crush on your best friend, let alone a girl, that's a terrible thing to do,' I was so ashamed, not even the nuns had made me feel like I'd done something wrong, but hearing it from my brother just forced me to accept that I had messed up.

He left shortly after. I didn't even get a chance to hug him.

~~~

Author's notes:

Sorry that this is so short, I wanted to do it all from Cheryl's perspective but I didn't want it to get boring, so I decided to just keep it short.

Do you guys want me to start doing little notes at the end of each chapter? I don't know if anyone would really care about what I have to say 🤷‍♀️.