Chapter 4 – Desperation
and Renewal
Astra wakes up in a daze in a cell
room with a bed and dresser. The room has a strong stink to it and appears to
be a room a prostitute would live in. She sees that one of her arms is chained
to the side of the wall and her clothes are torn to shreds. With her senses coming
back to her, she sees that her legs and her left arm have been cut off and
tattooed for demonic possession. All these things that she sees make her feel enraged,
desperate, and distressed at the same time.
She bangs on the cell wall and writhes
in the bed as she tries to escape somehow. After a few minutes of this futile
escape attempt, the words for cursing her captors and Estella come to her mouth
but are stopped as soon as Estella enters the room. Somewhat relieved by this,
she ceases the thoughts to curse or hate anyone as Estella rushes to her side.
“Astra! Are you okay?” she asks.
“I don’t know. My body feels numb
and my nerves feel unhinged. How did you get them to let you go?”
“I…I do what I had to.”
“…of course you did.”
“I’m sorry, but I had no other choice.”
“Of course you had a choice!”
“I know, but I was too weak to make
it.”
“Then watch me make the right choice
when they give it to me.”
“I don’t think they’ll let you.”
“What?”
“They might’ve already…umm.”
“What? What did they do to me that
could be worse than all of this?”
“Don’t worry about that. What you
need to worry about is what they’ll do after. Actually, no. Just worry about
praying. I’ll try to do whatever I can to free you.”
“I’ve tried praying and this is
where it led me.”
“Astra, don’t say that. You’re
supposed to be a strong pious nun, right? That’s what I trained you to be.”
“And this is what it’s made us into!
Maybe I should make the same decisions you did for both our sakes.”
“No, Astra! You have to choose to
be better!”
“Shut up! What do you know about
being better?!”
Demons start to manifest from the tattoos
on Astra’s severed arm and legs. A giant demon head manifests from Astra’s arm
while two demon mouths with blade-like tongues manifest from her legs. The
demons whisper in her ear on what to do to obtain her freedom while
complimenting her devotion to God and how holy she is.
“You have to stop now! Control yourself!”
“I know more about that you filthy
whore!”
Astra uses the demon on her arm to
free her other arm. She then smacks Estella against the wall with it and breaks
open her cell door.
“Astra…wait…”
“I’ll show you true piety. I’ll
become an even better person than you ever were by destroying every sinner in
this Godforsaken place.”
As Astra heads off to kill everyone
in the building, Estella struggles to get up.
“I’m sorry, God, for being such a
failure of a teacher to Astra. Please, give me the strength to fix my wrongs
and become the person I was meant to be.”
Estella’s prayer is answered almost
immediately as her strength comes back to her. She gets up and goes to the
place where they are keeping Astra’s crucifix dagger. Meanwhile, Astra
slaughters everyone who she comes across, even the slaves who she deems too sinful
to live. Estella tries to ignore the screams and sounds of fighting while going
to the right room. There she finds the crucifix dagger.
“Are you sure you can do this?” a
demon whispers in her ears.
“You are no longer Mother Superior,”
another points out.
“God has long abandoned you to your
pride and lust. Astra will turn into what you are,” yet another says.
“We’ll see about that,” Estella says
as she stabs the crucifix dagger into her tattooed eye, stomach, and arms while
saying an exorcism prayer.
This silences the voices of the
demons and gives Estella some confidence.
“Thank you, God,” Estella says
while crossing herself and heading in Astra’s direction.
Astra has left a massacre of torn
bodies in her path with blood and body parts everywhere. Everything from pieces
of the wall, ceiling, and furniture have been used to flatten, crush, and tear
apart whoever Astra deemed to be a sinner. Eventually, Estella finds Astra in a
room filled with chains and the bodies of her victims stomping a body into pulp.
“Astra!”
“You!” Astra says as she quickly
turns around, “What do you want, ‘Mother Superior’?!”
“I want you to stop this! Don’t let
your demons take advantage of your weakness.”
“I don’t have any weaknesses! I’m
perfect the way I am!”
“Would a perfect person kill both
the innocent and guilty? Look at what you’ve done.”
“Shut up! You’re just like them and
you’ll end up the same!”
“God give me strength.”
Estella dodges Astra’s incoming
attacks while chaining her neck and limbs with the chains in the room all the
while loudly saying an exorcism prayer. She then uses the crucifix dagger on Astra’s
arm demon then the two demons on her legs. Estella’s prayer and faith severally
weaken the strength of the demons and this allows her to make them disappear
and bring Astra to her senses.
“There we go. You should be back to
normal for now,” Estella says while heavily breathing because of the fight.
Astra starts to sob and cry as she writhes
in her chains. Estella hugs her to calm her down.
“I felt the same when it first
happened to me too, Astra. I felt irredeemable and used every excuse I could to
justify my actions. We’re both sinners who need to do a lot of penance for what
we’ve done, and I’ll be with you it through it all. Trust in God and me. We’ll
become saints together.”
Astra’s crying stops as she puts
her head on Estella’s shoulder. Estella then frees Astra from her chains and
carries her to the horse stables. From there, they leave the building and head
in the direction of the nearest demon treatment facility. Thankfully, they come
across a patrol of exorcists who guide them to the facility where they are
treated. Over the next few days, they recover from their demonic possession and
regain themselves and cleanse themselves of their sins.
On one morning, Astra uses her
wheelchair made for her condition to visit Estella in her room. Estella has both
of her arms in casts, patches on her stomach, and an eye patch for her eye.
“How are you doing, Mother Superior?”
Astra asks.
“Haha, I’m doing fine. You don’t
have to call me that, Astra. I don’t officially have that position in the
Church anymore.”
“You can be if you come back to the convent.”
“That’s not going to happen for a
while especially in our condition. Did they fix that eyeshadow problem you have?”
“Unfortunately, no. I guess I’ll
have to carry this scar from my past for the rest of my life along with the
rest of my scars. Did they fix your hair problem? It’s still pink.”
“I don’t know I think I like it
this way. Haha!”
“You definitely aren’t coming back
to the convent then.”
The two women laugh as they begin
their day anew as they put their past behind them for a bright future that lays
ahead of them.
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment