5
Juliet
I knelt on the flagstones before the altar. The stone bit my knees. I’d been kneeling for hours, but I’d kneel a hundred more. The church sanctuary was dark and stank of mold, but I’d always found comfort here. Before me on her pedestal, a statue of the Virgin Mother regarded me, a placid expression on the stone face. I’d often come to the sanctuary to hide from the cruel nuns and contemptuous friar. I look up at the statue and pretend I had a mother. She would be kind. She would care for me. She would never leave me as my own mother had. In my imagination, my mother’s face looked like the Virgin Mother’s, perfectly serene. Tonight, I imagined a touch of pity as I whispered my prayers.
Kyrieeleisonchristoseleison. Pleasepleaseplease—
A knock sounded on the heavy wooden door. T
