I tried to not smile, but I couldn’t help but let one corner of my mouth turn up. Lettie always did have an adventurous and mischievous soul.
“Attention!” one of the nuns shouted as she swept through the room. “Attention, ladies! Bath time! Cover your skin in the holy water. We don’t have time for you all to waste. One hour until decision time.”
“Come on, this is our chance, Hannah,” Lettie said, tugging on my sleeve.
I rolled my eyes, but gave Lettie a push and we headed off down one of the nearest empty hallways. As we ran, the shouts of the nuns and the mumbling of the women faded.
“Where are we going? I hope you have some sort of plan,” I whispered as we ran, our bare feet not making a sound.
“I saw another hallway with a doorway at the end when we first entered,” Lettie whispered back.
We turned another corner down another empty hallway. I was clean, had energy, and felt my adventure spirit come back to life as we ran like silly schoolgirls. It was the first time in a very long time I didn’t feel the fear of the scratchers knocking. I allowed a smile spread onto my lips as I ran down the hall beside Lettie.
After some amount of running and many turns down this very large church, we arrived at a single room at the end of the hallway, just as Lettie described. The door didn’t have a handle, but it didn’t bother us. Lettie merely kicked the door open and it fell aside. We quickly stepped in, shutting the door behind us.
“Look at this room. It must have been the choir practice room or something. It doesn’t look like anyone has been in it for quite some time.” I turned and noticed a large organ in the far corner covered in dust. “There’s a church organ. I used to play,” I whispered with delight. It had been close to a decade since I sat at one—the day I became a sinner and denounced God—but my love for the instrument never faded.
Lettie smiled widely. “Go play something. I’ll lean against the door and make sure no one comes.”
I nodded and stepped forward, brushing my blonde hair behind my ear. I sat down at the organ bench and jumped when it creaked loudly. I glanced back at Lettie who gestured for me to go on. I knew we would only have a little bit of time before someone found us. There was no way to disguise the deep, booming sound of an organ. But fuck it.
I turned back around and faced the array of keys, ones that were covered in a thick layer of dust. I swept my hand down the keyboard to get rid of most of the dust and coughed while doing so.
“Any day now,” Lettie teased in a whisper.
With my back to her, I blushed a little and readjusted my hair again. Then I placed my hands over the keys and waited, waited for the energy to ignite my fingertips. Then, I was off.
My fingertips grazed each key with a certain caress and music flowed out of the organ, sounding like a symphony. Even though it had been years, the music I produced sounded like it always did… haunting, eerie and yet very beautiful.
I hit every key with the right amount of weight and the music grew from loud to soft, from soft to loud. The sound of the music filled my rotting, decayed soul. Lifting me up, and up, and up.
“Hannah!” Lettie shouted.
I dropped my hands from the keys and turned around to look behind me. My eyes widened. Lettie had stepped away from the door, only because the door had been forced open. A man stood in the doorway.
A priest.
A stern look on his face. Fury covered his entire rigid face.
He held Lettie by the back of her shirt, and Lettie looked utterly terrified. She shot an apologetic glance to me.
“I’m sorry. We were… we were just—” I began.
“You both are supposed to be in the intake room, not in here!” the priest snapped at both of us. Still holding onto Lettie’s shirt, he stalked forward and yanked me from the organ bench, pulling me forward.
The priest yanked both of us down the hallway, and as we stumbled, I cast one last glance at the choir room, knowing I would probably never get to play on that organ again.
“You were supposed to be keeping watch,” I grumbled as the priest yanked us down the hallway.
“Your music was too loud. I couldn’t hear whether anyone was coming or not,” Lettie whispered back, her voice filled with venom.
“Silent! Both of you,” the priest growled.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked, not appreciating how the man was handling us nor the way he spoke.
“I’m bringing you to the alter. Lucky you. Since you both are already out of the intake room, we might as well continue on to the next phase. I’ve wasted enough time as it is.”