Sister Edith and the Unknown

January 9th, 1941

Shortly after breakfast had ended, Ines left with Charlotte; they looked for Madam Clémence with dozens of questions in tow. However, a couple of minutes after entering her office, they left shortly.

"You can go on ahead," Charlotte said. She tugged her hand out of the younger girl's grasp and averted her eyes. "I need to look for Madam Lilian."

"…Madam Lilian?" Ines repeated, curious.

Her skin was colored a delicate hue of red from Charlotte's grip.

"Yes, Madam Lilian. Rest assured, I'll be back around noon; neither you or I will be penalized for missing the noontime attendance. You can go look for-" She paused and waved her arms around in thought, "That newly hired orange-haired smiling Sister you speak so fondly of."

"I know!" Ines exclaimed, "I wasn't worried about being penalized, I was— never mind. She's— Her name is Sister Edith, not that."

Charlotte turned around, her back facing Ines as she tidied up her appearance, "Sister Edith, Orange-Haired Sister, same thing."

"Charlotte…"

"Alright, alright!" The older girl said. "Sister Edith, I know. Whatever. I'll be back by noon. See you then, Ines."

Before Ines could say anything else, Charlotte left and slammed the door shut before her.

"…Well, okay. See you later, Charlotte," Ines murmured, waving at the door.

For a while, she stayed in their shared bedroom, fiddling with her bedsheets as she processed the events from earlier.

Education, was it just going to be taught like that? That easily?

No matter how many questions she had, Ines couldn't find the answer to her own questions; so at last, she finally got up and hopelessly began searching for Sister Edith in the White Lily dormitory.

It wasn't like she had anything better to do anyway.

Along the way, Ines saw many children running through the halls followed by Sisters trailing after them, a soft smile on their lips.

"Are you looking for someone?"

Ines nodded, "Yes, I'm looking for Sister Edith."

"Sister Edith?" The Sisters paused and tacitly looked at each other before one finally said, "Well, she changed rooms a couple of days ago."

Another Sister nodded in agreement and added, "Yes, I heard about it from Sister Rosalie. Sister Edith should be in room 324, the third floor in the main building—you won't find her here."

"Oh! I also heard about that matter a while back. Don't linger on that floor for too long though, you may encounter trouble."

"You may get penalized!" Another Sister chipped in.

Beyond Ines' peripheral vision, another Sister who stood nearby paused after hearing the mention of the third floor.

"…Room 324, the main building," Ines parroted, she paid no mind to the mention of penalization and bowed, "Thank you!"

The Sisters nodded. One bowed back, and the other said 'you're welcome.'

"Would you like one of us to take you there?"

"No thank you," Ines declined.

Ines was certain she had memorized parts of the building by now; the dining hall was also in the main building, and she was just there merely an hour ago.

The young girl waved goodbye and left. Skipping down the hallway, she left the White Lily Dormitory.

It didn't occur to her that she had never been to that stairwell before, just that she had one goal in mind: to head to the Third Floor of the main building and to find Sister Edith.

"How lucky, this stairwell seems to be empty," Ines said.

Compared to the route she usually took with Charlotte to get to the main building that was filled with life, children blocking off the entrances, and Sisters and Madams rushing up and down the stairwell in a hurry through all hours of the day—here, she did not encounter a single soul.

Ines ran up the stairs at first, but after some time when her legs had become sore, she began skipping.

When even that became tiresome, the young girl began walking at a snail's pace.

Weary and tired at last, Ines wanted to throw herself back down the spiraling stairwell and to lay down in her bed.

'Just where is the exit? How much further must I walk?'

Her legs were sore, and her motivation had vaporized.

Ines was about to head back downstairs and call it a day, but when she cocked her head upwards in a last-ditch effort at looking for the exit, she spotted a burning candle wick; it lit up an old dingy door she was absolutely certain was the way out.

In the spur of the moment, Ines dashed upstairs and swung open the door.

'Is this the main building?'

'What floor am I on?' Ines pondered as she scrutinized her surroundings.

The walls looked unfamiliar; they were a washed-out shade of sandy yellow, and there were no windows either.

The only source of light were candles that looked to be on their last leg, and it was nearly barren of decoration save for the oddly placed empty plain-white flower cases marking the end of each corridor.

How eerie.

Compared to the refined yet vibrant halls and floors she had grown used to, it was awfully stifling to breathe let alone wander alone here.

The halls were tightly compacted, with only enough space for one person to pass through at a time—or two, if both were children.

There were no signs with room numbers either, so the young girl could only wander around in search of a staircase leading to another floor.

After an unknown period of time, Ines stopped wandering and she stared blankly at her surroundings.

"Haven't I been here before?" The young girl mumbled to herself.

Ines could've sworn she had seen those yellow, washed-out patterned walls before—oh, and that empty flower vase too.

'Perhaps every hall on this floor looks the same.'

Thump.

What was that? Ines jumped at the sudden noise.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

No reply.

Her breathing was short and labored, and Ines spun her head around frantically.

She stood still and unnaturally tense.

Her green, beady eyes darted around the dim hallway in search of a shadow of a person hiding behind the thin walls, or perhaps even a rat who had snuck out of hiding in search of crumbs.

'Why am I so anxious anyway?'

It wasn't like she was breaking any of the rules, Ines consoled herself.

Surely, it was a rat or something. Or, perhaps she had imagined the noise—being stuck on this floor for so long was beginning to get in her head.

'I should find a staircase and get out of here soon.'

Spinning on her heel, the young girl was about to dash down the corridor when a glimmer of gold caught her eyes.

'Has that painting always been there?'

There was no decoration of any sort on this floor, so the ostentatious gold-framed painting stuck out like a frostbitten, sore-blue thumb.

The longer she stared at the painting, the stronger her urges to get closer to it became.

With cautious movements, Ines slunk towards the small, gold-ornate painting as if she were entranced.

Her hands shook uncontrollably as she clawed for the painting only to no avail—it had been nailed to the wall.

After a moment of ceaseless tugging, she let go of the idea of possessing the painting and she turned her attention back to the painting.

'...She looks like me.'

In the painting, there stood a scrawny girl in the same place Ines was standing now.

And in the painting, she was all skin and bone, and her face was an ugly blob of colors that could only be described as hideous—a monster even.

Though Ines couldn't see her face, she couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia and familiarity when looking at her.

It was as if she was looking at herself.

'But, who is that behind her? Who is she?'

Behind the figure in the painting whom Ines heavily resembled, there stood behind her a young girl who looked to be no older than seven.

Like Ines, her face was incoherently painted as if the artist were in a rush. She was a blob of dull colors with only her hands being properly painted.

In her hands, she held a small handbell that the nobility typically possessed.

'That's weird.'

Squinting her eyes, Ines scrutinized the painting which became clearer by the second.

The splotches of paint rotted off the canvas at a speed quick enough for the human eye to see and behind was a fresh layer of art.

January's frigid breath receded through the cobblestone walls, and Ines faintly shivered at the oddity of the situation and the claws of winter against her exposed skin.

'It's cold.' In an attempt to regain warmth, she rubbed her hands together. Ines wanted to flee, but her eyes remained glued to the painting like she was hypnotized.

In the new layer of art, the young girl's hands were wrapped around the scrawny girl's throat.

Ines shook and trembled.

She could not look away, yet from the corner of her eyes, she could faintly see a golden handbell by the corner of the hallway.

Shadows slowly crept out under the Sun's blind eye, they climbed up Ines' lanky limbs and they chewed at her consciousness.

"Ines?"

Ines screamed.