Escape: Heaven’s Temple

THE SILENT DEATH

“What is happening here? Are you all fighting?” Sister Anasha asked them. When the nuns arrived, they also saw the strangulation Emery was doing to Steph. “Look, Sister! Our leader is harassing me physically!” Steph shouted. She acted begging in front of the nuns when she saw them. She also tries to cries to make it more realistic that she is hurt by what Emery is doing to her.

"Emery, take your hands off her," Sister Chloe ordered her. She removed her hands slowly but the anger is still in her face. She glared at Steph. “I am just punishing her with my own hands because of what she did to Angel. She bullied her and even harassed her physically. That’s why I also harassed her. For her to know the feeling when she is hurting other people,” Emery explained to them.

“Even though she did that, you don’t have to punish her using violence too. Steph, I don’t want you to hurt other kids here. The moment that someone tells me that you hurt any of them, I will punish you. Do you understand me?" Sister Anasha said. Steph just nodded to her and glared once again at Emery.

“Your parents are already outside and waiting for you. All of you can go home now and be back again tomorrow,” Sister Chloe announced. Some other kids were all excited to go home. They ran and went outside. Steph, on the other hand, did not leave immediately. She waited for the nuns to leave. Emery, Angel and Kate were about to leave when Steph stopped them.

“I will make sure you pay for what you did to me earlier, Emery. You are younger than me but you act up like that. Do you think you are someone who’s powerful and as if you imagine who you are. It's not because you live here in Heaven's Temple, you are the one to follow by everyone. You should not be feared, because you are just a simple child with no family. So maybe you live here because your parents left you. They have abandoned you so that’s why don’t have parents with you now. Poor you.”

Steph made Emery even angrier. When Steph saw the anger on Emery's face, she was even more excited. It just means that Steph has succeeded in making her angry. Emery was about to kick Steph when Kate stopped her. She held it in her arm. “Stop fighting with her, Emery. You will only waste your time when you pay more attention to someone like her. Also, you will not benefit if you talk to her. You will only get angrier,” Kate said.

Emery took a deep breath then they turned away and left Steph. They even heard the child's annoying laugh. When the three of them arrived at the garden, they checked to see if Angel was okay.

“Are you okay? Is there no pain in your body?” Emery asked her.

Angel shook her head. “I'm not in any pain, Emery. Thank you for defending me against that bad kid. I hope the Lord will punish her for the evils she commits.”

“She had a bad temper even though she is still young. What about when she gets older? Maybe she can do more bad things to other people,” Kate added.

“I will not let them oppress Angel again. Angel doesn’t deserve to be treated like that,” Emery said.

“I'm used to being treated like that by kids. Mommy doesn’t do anything for those kids either and she knows their parents are rich. Mom also just lets me in the house, so she was even happier when she found out that the kids had to come here. Only our drivers who pick me up on our way home. My mom does not even bother to look for me or ask me if I was okay here,” Angel said. Her two friends felt sorry for her again.

The sadness of Angel's life. That's how she feels from her parents, and other children treat her even worse.

In Emery's mind, she was even more angry because of what Steph and her friends were doing to Angel. “That is why they are here in Heaven’s Temple, so that they can learn proper manners and so that we can all grow up well. But from what I can see, Steph's behavior is only getting worse. Even the first day, she had a problem with the two of you and Angel,” Kate said again.

Emery sighed, “Let's just force ourselves to ignore her. As much as possible, don't answer or talk to her about anything she says about you. Let the Lord punish her,” she told her friends.

If it was true that the Lord would punish bad people and do bad things, he could have punished Steph. Even when she was young, she had to learn from her mistake. As a child, she should have been punished. Angel was a good child and she should not have suffered in her life now.

When her friends got home, she ate dinner as well. She also slept early that night. The next day, the children were again taught another prayer and how to worship the Lord properly. They do everything at once, as well as Emery. They are already doing what she used to see the elders doing. Proper kneeling and bowing of the head before the Lord was taught to them. They can’t go wrong and they have to do it right. They also need to be together while reciting the prayers that have been taught to them. The nuns were amazed at the skill of those children, except for Angel who just sat on one side and watched them. She could not follow what the children with her were doing, so she was left alone.

The nuns put the children to rest first. Steph, on the other hand, heard Angel say the prayers incorrectly and seemed to make a joke of the prayer. “Why are you praying like that? It seems like those prayers are just a joke to you,” Steph commented.

Angel ignored her. In her mind, she was following Emery's order to her yesterday to ignore or answer Steph no matter what else she said. Angel just keeps saying every prayer even if it is completely wrong. “Hey, talk to me. You’re really crazy. Don’t you know that it is a sin about what you are doing now? You are desecrating the prayers of Heaven’s Temple,” Steph said again.

Emery and Kate first got something to eat and drink for the children with them. That is why, no one will save Angel now. Because she ignored Steph, the girl felt annoyed to her. Steph saw the place where children like them were not allowed to go.

"Do you want us to play, Angel?" Steph asked Angel. She stopped mentioning prayers and immediately looked at Steph. "What are we going to play?" she innocently asked. Steph grinned slightly. It's because it's quick to get fooled a special children like Angel.

“Let's play hide and seek. What do you want? Are you the bet or am I the bet? When you are the bet, I will be the one you will look for. But when it comes to me, you have to hide and I will look for you,” Steph explained to her.

Angel was immediately excited, "I want to find you and you will hide!" she shouted excitedly.

Steph smiled. She thought that everything was going according to what she was planning right now. It was easy for her to fool Angel around. “Then you have to count one to ten and then you will find me. I will hide there so find me there. I gave you a clue so you won't have a hard time finding me, okay?” said by Steph. She pointed to the place where the hallway with many doors was. There also they could not go or enter every room that was there.

“Okay, sure! I'm going to start counting,” Angel replied happily.

She turned around and started counting. Steph ran but did not go there. She hid in another part of the church, so that Angel could not see her. When she saw that Angel had finished counting, she watched her. Angel went to the hallway pointed out by Steph. Steph slowly followed her.

“Steph? Where are you? I'm looking for you,” Angel called to Steph. She almost laughed when she heard what Angel was saying. In her mind, she was overjoyed because she was fooling Angel. She felt happy because of what she made Angel do.

When Angel see no one in the hallway, she thought of entering one of the rooms. “Isn't she hiding inside? Let me look inside,”she said to herself. She was about to open the third door when she stopped. “But the nuns here say we can't go in... But I have to find Steph. I shouldn't lose to her,” Steph heard Angel said that to herself.

“She’s really crazy. How come a person like her was born in this world?” Steph whispered to herself while laughing.

Angel opened the door and Steph quickly ran there. She closed the door, which is why it was locked. Angel quickly panicked inside the dark room. She could no longer open the door so she felt scared.

“Steph? Steph? Is that you? Get me out of here! I’m scared...” Angel cried inside.

"Did you see where Angel is?" Steph heard Emery's voice looking for her friend. Steph quickly ran out of that hallway. Angel also stopped opening the door when she heard a voice calling her name inside the room that she was.

"Angel... Angel..."

"Who are you?" Angel asked. She could see no one because of the darkness. The voice she hears is the voice of an old man and she is scared. “Don't hurt me. I am kind and I am a good kid. I don’t do anything bad to others,” Angel said to the old man that she heard.

“You are not kind. You have been told that you cannot enter the rooms here but you have not complied. Because of the mistake that you made, you will be punished,” said by the old man's voice again. He even laughed which is why Angel was horrified. She sat on the floor because of the extreme fear and panic she was feeling. She covered her ears and shook her head. She doesn’t know what to do anymore and just wanted to escape.

"I'm kind... I'm kind... I’m a good kid. Don't hurt me," she begged. But in an instant, Angel suddenly disappeared.

There were no traces of wounds, bloods and no body in that room. She disappeared from the world and quietly lost her life. No one even knows what happened to Angel.