Mother Felicia looked up at that moment, dropped her pen and smiled up at them as she took off her reading glasses, folded the handles and gingerly placed it on one of the opened files. The chair creaked noisily as she heaved her weight off it, stood up and came around the desk to meet them. "Sarah?" She asked, smiling.
"Yes ma'am." Sarah replied.
"I received a call four days ago that you'd be joining us today. It is my pleasure to finally meet you." She took Sarah's hand, shook it then added, "I'm mother Felicia but you are to call me Mother."
Sarah nodded, noting to herself that it would seem rather weird addressing a strange woman as Mother when she had never said the word in the past several years ever since her mother's demise.
"We have made preparations for your arrival and stay with us here. Sister Gladys will give you a tour around the grounds and be your chaperon for the next few weeks, teaching you all you need to know, because I'm sure that you weren't catholic from birth?"
"Not at all ma'am." Sarah said.
"Very well then, you sure have a lot to learn. Our doctrine is rather different from the conventional churches you might be accustomed to." She gave a single but loud clap of her hands. "Gladys, make our newest sister comfortable in the family!"
Sarah didn't miss the sly smile behind the wide grin Mother Felicia gave Sister Gladys and also a deep-knowing look that carried a lot of hidden meaning accompanied with it too.
After sister Gladys nodded in quite response to the abbess, she turned to Sarah and smiled, gesturing with a hand towards the door. "Please, shall we begin your tour?"
Sarah nodded in agreement as Sister Gladys walked past her to open the door. Sarah was however unable to keep an unwavering smile as she glanced at Mother Felicia from the corner of her eye who remained standing on the spot, watching them leave with a look in her eyes that she couldn't decipher.
After Sister Gladys gently closed the door, Mother Felicia's smile suddenly vanished as if it was never there to begin with. Her expression was suddenly hard and unpleasant and the look in her eyes twisted into a sinister one.
She glared at the door for a moment, walked to one of the smaller lower portraits on the wall, pressed an inconspicuous button and the portrait whirred open like a door, revealing a hidden drink cabinet. She took out a bottle of whiskey and a glass cup then pressed the button again to conceal her secret mini cellar before returning to her seat and sitting down.
"Well, it's just about time we had some fun around here..." She muttered to herself with an evil smirk as she poured herself some whiskey into the glass cup.
* * *
After the tiring tour, Sister Gladys led Sarah to one of the sleeping quarters where several of the nuns inhabited. After walking down the deserted hallway, they approached the door of a room. Sister Gladys knocked then entered the room without hesitating. Sarah followed, finding herself in a large room containing four bunk beds of which only three of the beds were obviously occupied by different women.
The women who were quiet and immersed in reading, looked up from whatever catholic books they were reading to curiously stare at them. The women were clad in the same casual clothes, more like plain sleeping gowns they wore in their leisure time, but it was still uniformed. One of the women slipped off the top bunk and approached them with a smile.
"Sister Gladys?" She said with an inquiry look fixed on Sarah
Sister Gladys half-turned to regard Sarah as she spoke to the woman. "This is Sarah, she's new. Mother has instructed me to inform you ladies to make her comfortable and show her the ropes. Is that clear?" She said the last sentence loud enough for the others to hear.
"Yes, sister." They chorused in unison, but one of the women who was Asian showed little reluctance in her response with a cold look fixed on Gladys.
Smiling in satisfaction, Sister Gladys said to Sarah now, "I leave you in good hands, Sarah. I must return to tend to other duties. If you need anything, they'll tell you where to find me."
"Thank you." Sarah replied.
Sister Gladys offered her a single nod and exited the room. When she was gone, Sarah stood awkwardly for a moment, watching the quietly women stare back at her in scrutiny. Then another one closest to her, sitting on the lower bunk, stood up and smiled warmly, breaking the weird silence much to her relief. "I'm Sister Anita, this is Sister Florence..." She gestured to the first woman who had approached her from the upper bunk, then she finally pointed at the last woman sitting on the last bunk bed. "...and that over there is Sister Yin."
Sarah craned her neck to see the last woman, just noticing that the women were of different races. Anita was an African-American, Florence looked Mexican and Yin, the reluctant one, was Asian and didn't look too friendly.
"Welcome to our dorm." Florence stated. "Secretly, we call it Bridget's dorm."
Sarah sat down on the unoccupied lower bunk across the room from Anita's. "Who's Bridget?" She asked with little interest. What she needed right now was rest and it might seem rude if she just ignored her new roommates by staying mute, and besides, if she really wanted to enjoy her new life here, she had to make a good and long-lasting first impression. She wanted to make friends and would hate to be considered a snub.
The three women exchanged glances now but when Anita who seemed to be the leader made no attempt to answer her, Yin finally spoke, "We will tell you when it's the right time for you to know."
Sarah gave them curious glances but it was obvious that they weren't going to shed more light on what they meant and even though she suspected that the women were hiding something from her, she kicked against pressing any of them for more information in order not to seem too inquisitive.
Ever since she stepped into the premises of the convent, she had since had a lingering nagging feeling that something was definitely amiss in this convent and it was something she sure didn't want to find out about. She had had enough drama in her life already and she was in no mood for more.
Averting her attention from the women, she looked around the large room. The four bunks were arranged opposite each other in with a wide aisle between them for occupants to freely move around. A set of eight built-in wardrobes was at the far end of the room with name tags on each door except one and Sarah figured that would be hers.
She squinted as she tried to read the names from where she sat; the names of all three women were there on the doors of the wardrobe but two more were included which read Bridget, Layla, Eva and Cheryl, Monique. The last wardrobe carried her own name and she guessed the courier must already have deposited her luggage in it. She was baffled by the number of wardrobes. If there were eight wardrobes, then there should be eight women in the room not three. Where were the other five?