The following day we accompanied Leonid and his mother to the church. After the prayer, we silently moved to Father Candido's guest room. Leonid gently knocked on the wooden door and there came a reply- 'Yes, come in.'
The voice was saintly and calm. Leo (I'm gonna call him Leo, from now on) he looked at us for a moment and walked into the room. From the look itself, we understood what it meant-"I will go and talk to him about this. You people stay here."
Leonid turned back to us.
"Sara, I will go inside and tell him about this, okay? You people stay here."- We agreed to it and nodded at him.
For a few minutes, I sat on the bench waiting for the door to open. But no it didn't. I waited, still it didn't open. I paced up and down the room, unable to sit for I was tensed.
"What if he would deny to help us?" Wait... What if he doesn't even believe us?
Christina jarred me back from my thought.
"Why are you tensed? It is alright."
I looked back at her but said nothing. Suddenly we heard footsteps approaching the door. I froze to where I was standing, Chris stood up looking at the door. The door opened with a creak and there emerged Leonid (with a handsome smile) and a priest. He was old, not very old....50, maybe. A wristwatch was on his left hand and a bangle on the right one. My eyes straight away went onto his face.
I looked at his face and I felt as though I had seen him somewhere. As though, I knew him very closely. But my brain denied my feeling- How will you know a man who you have never even heard about in your whole life?
His face was saintly, he had a rosary in his hands. Instead of glowing with a look of surprise, his face lightened with some other kind of feeling. A very unfamiliar kind of feeling. To me, it felt as if, he knew we would come to him. As if he knew that destiny would bring us to him(Ohhh, Get off these thoughts, Sara)
Anyways, Christina and I greeted him. He beckoned us to follow him into his room. His room was circular and small but comfortable. There was nothing much in the room. Just a shelf with some books that were very neatly arranged, a water dispenser, a small table on which stood a mug and a bottle of coffee powder. A bigger table with many books and papers stacked neatly at the side of the table, on the other side of the table was a pen stand, a holy cross and a photo frame(I couldn't see the photo, it was kept with it's back facing us.) He sat on his seat. I and Leonid sat, leaving Chris to stand.
"What are your names kids?"- He asked us (Christina and me)
I introduced Christina and myself
"This is, Christina. She is my friend. I am Sara."
He nodded his head gently and smiled(What was that for? We didn't tell any joke, did we?).....
Before I could process more in my mind. Father Candido Amantini spoke up.
"Leonid has told me that you, children are feeling intruding presence at your hostel. Has the either of you seen anything or is it only the presence that you feel?"- He asked
"Sara has seen something. A creature, right Sara?"- Christina spoke.
"Yeah, I mean I didn't see it, not the whole details, just the figure. It was very misty."- I replied.
"See, no one will believe your stories, Miss.-"
"Sara."- I said to him
"Uhh, Miss.Sara. Alsace, previous life, creatures, Ann, these stories are quite unbelievable. But I will help you. From your face, I can understand that something is thoroughly wrong in your hostel."
"Thank you, Father."- Leonid, Chris and I together said.
We didn't talk much. A few minutes and we were descending the great steps of the church when…
The weather changed all of a sudden. I mean it was unusual. We step out and all of a sudden the sun, which was shining brightly hide behind the dark clouds (That sounds crazy!). The wind started to blow fiercely. The weather was quite good with not many clouds, but now it seemed as though the clouds were called fro an assembly or something. All of them were there on the sky, trying their maximum to hide the sun. As if they had an assembly all of a sudden. We ran to our car as soon as possible and drove back to Leonid's house.
It started to rain heavily. Rains were not so frequent in Russia. And I felt it very weird. All of a sudden we descend the church's steps, there we go, it rains. Well, all these thoughts flew away, as soon as we entered Leonid's house. It was the smell of the Borscht, that made me forget everything.
*
The next morning we were having breakfast at Leonid's house. When a man, a very strange one, indeed came in.
He had come to tell us that, Father Candido was asking us to meet him immediately at his guest room. Without waiting to finish the food, we rushed to the church. We caught sight of him standing on the doorstep leading towards the church. As soon as he spotted us approaching him.
He said-"Good morning, kids. There is an urgent matter. Come on."- He said in a very tensed as well as excited voice.
"What is it, Father. Are we getting any clues or something?"- I asked.
"Maybe kid!"- He exclaimed. We took seats and he gulped a glass of water and spoke.
" I am not interested in lagging it so let me go straight into it. Every night, before sleeping I drink a glass of water. Yesterday too, as usual, I got hold of my cup of water. I was about to drink it when my eyes fell onto the clour of the water inside the cup. It was red. Yes, Sara as you've guessed. It had turned into a cup carrying blood instead of water. And yesterday I couldn't sleep even a wink, something stirred my mind continuously. I saw Alsace trying to kill Ann. And that was horrendous."
He stopped for a moment. All of maintained an awkward silence for some reason. None of us knew what to talk. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Even me. I was lost in thoughts. Doubts after doubts kept popping up in my mind.
Minutes passed. I despised silence. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, a voice issued from nowhere(Okay, I know it was weird but, none of were talking. Then from where did the sound come? Nowhere)
"You can't defeat me. I am powerful. More than what you think I am, Candido. This girl doesn't know the truth. She hasn't realised anything. You cannot plot against me, this time. This time, my master will aid his servant. I, a very faithful servant will be always protected by its master. Beware, Candido. BEWARE."- The voice was creepy and it was echoed. The sound was of a female and when she said BEWARE, all the hairs on my neck stood up. I felt a cold current passing through me. 'THIS GIRL DOESN'T KNOW THE TRUTH. SHE HASN'T REALISED THE TRUTH.'- These words...What did they mean? Was the voice talking about me? Or was she talking about Chris? What was to be realised? What was the hidden truth? Why did the voice address Father Candido Amantini as "Candido"? What was this mystery all about? All these questions made my head spin. My thoughts were put to a complete stop when suddenly I felt fierce wind slapping against my cheeks. All of us stood up. The wind was too fierce, that the books on the shelf fell and glasses smashed onto the floor. Father Candido, caught Leonid by his hand and beckoned all of us to stay behind him. We scurried to hide behind him. Chris clutched my hand and I clutched Leo's. A rush of mixed emotions flowed into my bloodstreams. Fear, anxiety, surprise, curiosity, anger...I felt many emotions which again made my head spin. The curtains started to sway vigorously. The candles were blown off. The clouds started coming over and it got so dark, like yesterday. I felt awfully sad ( I don't know why. I said you that had a mix of emotions, right? Maybe because of that).
The lights started blinking. Father Candido got hold of a holy cross which was the only thing left on the table. Everything else was blown. The corners of the room were darkening and we didn't fail to notice a dark shadow approaching us from the darkest corner of the room. We all turned towards the corner. There were echoing sounds coming from somewhere. The dark figure became darker and darker and we couldn't make out anything. The thing came nearer, and suddenly I felt two trembling hands squeezing my own hands (they were Christina's). But then from somewhere, a kind of light shone and its figure became clear. It was a lady in a long black dress, emerging from the corner. The more, she came forward the more she became visible. I realized that it was Alsace. I could never be mistaken in her case. I turned to look at Father Candido. He had his holy cross pointed towards the approaching figure. His hands had a firm grip on the holy cross.
"On the name of the holy Christ, getaway evil soul, get away from humans, restless soul. Go Alsace, tell your master that he has no power over the domain of good...Good cannot be conquered over by anything. Tell your master, Alsace. Go"- his voice was echoing in the room very loudly. The Holy Cross was burning her powers into ashes. She screamed and that made the shelf tumble over, and fall. The sound of glasses breaking accompanied by her scream, made my diaphragm explode.
She struggled in front of us, unable to move a step forward. She struggled as though whenever she stepped forward an invisible barrier was stopping her from doing so. And I think that she, at last, understood that the holy cross wouldn't allow her to move even a step forward. As to show her strength and anger, she raised her hands and banged the table upside down. She screamed in the top of her voice. Then suddenly stopped, she cracked a wicked smile. Her eyes had a kind of vicious look; a look which they never had. She disappeared into thin air, leaving us all, except me in wonder!! I had seen her, doing like that many times. But then something struck my head. A very salient thought arose in my mind. I took quick steps towards Father and said it to him.
"Father, I have done a big mistake. I have promised Alsace that she can enter through me at any time. It is because you were here she wasn't able to enter me. I have done a grave mistake. Father, please help me!"
His face contracted. His eyes were gleaming with an angry look.
He asked in anger-" Sara! What have you done? You have put yourselves in danger. It is just utter foolishness. How could you? You have put yourselves and your friends' life in danger. You keep this with you. This will protect you from evil."
He removed the bangle from his hand and thrust it onto mine.
"This is a protective shield for you. But keep this in mind NEVER GIVE THIS TO ANYONE, AT ANY COST!"
"Yes, Father Candido," I replied ensuring him.
He even gave me a holy cross. I slipped it into my pocket and gazed down at the bangle. On the bangle was written.
"On the name of the holy Christ."
We took leave from him. I was tensed about going back. Actually, during our semester breaks, people who wish to stay back will be there at the hostel and Ann and my roommates were staying back. And we had lied to them that, we would be going back to our houses. Now, what can we say to them if they ask us – 'Sara, Christina, weren't you people supposed to be at home?'
And we couldn't stay here too! And about going back home, at this time. I was sure Aunt Mary would make a fuss about it. And so, we decided to go back to the hostel.
To Be Continued...Stay tuned.