Hello, the author here! This chapter includes hints of violence (one paragraph), so read at your own discretion.
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January 5th, 1941
Ines walked for a long time.
For as long as she could remember, ever since she opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness. However, in the darkness, there was a sole glimmer of light, and so Ines began walking toward it.
When she got tired of walking for so long and yet being so far, she began sprinting in hopes of reaching the light quicker.
How long has it been? Five minutes? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? Half an hour?
Ines didn't know anymore. After sprinting for a while, she started running. However, even after so long, she could not touch the light; she could not feel the light. Despite the scratches and blisters on the soles of her feet that were proof of her efforts, Ines could only watch the light from afar.
After a while, Ines stopped running; she stopped skipping, and she began walking once more. But, after hearing the sound of her ragged breath and her ceaseless panting in the silence, Ines stopped walking altogether.
She dug her fingers into her scalp, nearly tugging out tufts of hair as memories from her childhood resurfaced. Caught up in her thoughts, she failed to notice the young woman in gold-lined robes who stood before her.
"...n't supposed to be--"
"Ines." The woman interrupted. Cupping Ines' face, she forced the young girl to look at her. She was faceless.
"Don't touch me!" Ines shrieked, trying to pry the faceless woman's hands off her.
"Don't-!"
"Ines."
Ines stopped screaming. She became docile as if she had never been upset- like she hadn't been shrieking and screaming her head off mere milliseconds before.
"What's the matter, Ines?"
In response to the woman's sudden appearance, Ines froze, and she gaped like a fish at the sight of the faceless woman. Her presence was like a pacifier of sorts, soothing and gluing back the pieces of the young girl's heart.
"What happened? Aren't you living a better life now?" The young woman asked.
Ines only stammered, unsure of what to say.
"I am, but-"
"But? Did something happen?"
"...No, I just remembered the past," Ines answered, her voice soft as a mosquito.
The faceless woman paused, then repeated what Ines said. "You remember the past?" Her words were enunciated and dragged out as if it were a difficult pill to swallow.
The glimmer of light flickered, then, it grew brighter.
"I do."
"I see," The faceless woman said, her hold on Ines' face tightening. "It's been a while since we last met. Would you like to talk? Where have you been recently?"
Ines pouted and wiggled her way out of the faceless woman's hold. "That hurt, Sette." She whined.
The faceless woman, Sette, lightly chuckled. "I apologize."
"It's okay," Ines smiled, "A nice woman took me in a few days ago. Sister Edith is what we all call her."
"Sister Edith? She sounds like a kind woman. Do you remember your first meeting? Where did you two meet? She must've been very nice for you to have such a high opinion of her."
"She is! Sister Edith is exceptionally kind, so kind that sometimes I don't know what to say, or how to respond to her." Ines nodded, her head bobbing up and down in agreement. "Where did we first meet? Of course, we met…" She trailed off.
"...I don't remember where we first met," Ines confessed. It was unusually cold that night; she must've passed out or fallen asleep.
The glimmer of light gradually grew brighter, eliminating the darkness that stood all around them.
But as though both parties had not noticed the irradiating light, they continued speaking.
"I see," Sette said.
"I was probably asleep," Ines added. "Um, Sister Edith also mentioned that I met Sister Clèmence that night, which is super weird!"
The more Ines spoke, the less she appeared like herself- the person she was before. The more she spoke, the more she acted like her age and less uptight.
"Oh? Why?"
"Madam Clèmence is super-duper pretty, so I would most definitely remember if we met! Even if I was tired, I would never forget such a kind and pretty lady!"
Sette nodded, "She sounds like a wonderful person."
"She is! Both she and Sister Edith are good people!" Ines smiled, her face a rosy pink. Tapping her feet, she tried to recollect the past. "Though, I wonder why I can't remember."
"Sette, do you think-"
"Ines. There is no need for you to remember," Sette said, cutting Ines off.
In response to such a statement, Ines blankly stared at the faceless woman. However, it didn't take long for the horror of her words to sink in.
"What..?"
When the faceless woman spoke, the darkness trembled and shook like flickering flames.
Her hair twisted and elongated, bursting out of her hood like exploding tides. Reaching far into the distance beyond what the human eye could see, Sette enveloped all that she could find with her hair. Devouring the darkness and all beings within it, leaving behind only remnants of the tenebrosity, shadows.
Ines froze, shock and anxiety coursing through her veins. Her legs shook uncontrollably at the sight of the silhouettes bound to the floor. What is that? Turning her head frantically from side to side, she looked for the owners of the shadows, yet they were alone.
The barren land stretched on for miles, and yet there was not a single person in sight.
"What- What are you?" Ines stammered, barely managing to cough out her words. This was something she had never seen before- it was something she wouldn't even see in her worst nightmare.
The longer she looked at the shadows imprinted on the ground— even the ground beneath her feet, the more they resembled decomposing human bodies. However, the second she blinked, they would all return to being obscured.
"I am Sette," the faceless woman said.
Once more, Sette reached for Ines' face. This time however, her hands no longer held any human resemblance; her hands, if they could even be called hands, looked like the claws of a reptilian beast mixed with the pigeons that ate off the streets with the peasants.
Sette's skin looked freakishly white like the common stones and pebbles that covered the mountain trail. Feathers of different shapes and sizes began sprouting on her flesh, from her legs to her neck- she could no longer be considered "human."
"Don't touch me!" Ines screamed, "Get away from me!
"Ines. Calm down, this is for your own good." The faceless woman said, her voice echoing into the distance. Gripping down on her shoulder with great force, Sette stuck her finger through Ines' forehead, reaching for her brain.
Ines stopped flailing around; she stopped moving and screaming completely.
Like a doll, she dangled loosely in the faceless woman's arms.
Her neck which would have snapped like a branch if it were reality unnaturally lolled to the side, whilst her spine stuck out of her back.
"Ines, forget this ever happened, okay?" Sette asked. Hugging her body with such affection and sorrow, a third party who never witnessed the cruel act would've believed Sette to be a grieving mother.
At this point, Ines could no longer speak as she had already awakened and returned to the real world. Despite this, Sette continued speaking, her voice quiet. She gently brushed through Ines' hair with her claws, and she bandaged the bruises and cuts on the sole of her feet with the bloodied feathers she tore off her flesh.
"Ines, don't stay in the dark for too long," Sette murmured, planting a kiss on the young girl's temple.
Sette remained in that position for a long time, holding the body of Ines that gradually crumbled and vanished, becoming one with the shadows and silhouettes on the ground.
"Come back soon, Ines."
Finally, the faceless woman got up and turned her head to look back at the glimmering light Ines had been chasing after.
"Ines," She whispered.
The glimmering light, which had grown increasingly bright, then detonated, shattering the dream state.
.
.
.
6:48 P.M.
Jolting up from the gatch bed, Ines let out a shaky breath. What was it? What was it that she just dreamt about?
Her head stung and throbbed as if she had been hit full force with a sledgehammer by a farmer who had been working in the fields for decades. Pressing down on her temple, Ines hissed in pain as the migraine hit her in full force.
"Oh, you're awake?" Madam Clèmence said, sitting down by her bedside.
Observing the state of the young girl in front of her, who behaved differently from before she had fallen asleep, Clèmence readjusted her circular glasses in thought. "Are you well?"
"Somewhat, yes." Ines nodded, meeting the eyes of the older woman.
Putting aside her pounding headache, she was doing better than before she had fallen asleep. In a way, she felt renewed, as if the dirty parts of her "inner heart" had been killed and cleaved off.
"That's good to hear. If you're doing better, could you please get off the bed? I have other patients coming in soon."
"Oh..! Yes, of course," Ines jolted up from the bed, running to the door.
"Don't forget your shoes." Clèmence reminded.
"Thank you for the reminder," Ines said. Running back to the bedside, she slipped on her shoes. However, seeing that Sister Edith wasn't in the room or outside the door, Ines hesitated for a moment. "Excuse me, Madam Clèmence, where is Sister Edith?"
Clèmence paused, putting down her clipboard. "Sister Edith… She is occupied as of now."
"Occupied?"
"Yes, occupied. I do not know when she will return or if she will return."
"Oh, I see. Thank you for letting me know," Ines said, bowing. Stepping out the door, she said a brief goodbye to the Madam, then left.
However, as soon as Ines stepped outside, she was met with the sight of three bloodied children accompanied by two maidservants and Sister Rosalie.
Noémie, Eugéne, and Odette, respectively.