Escape: Heaven’s Temple

Heaven’s Temple

The nuns took great care of Emery when she arrived. The food she will eat is ready, as well as the new clothes she will wear. She was so glad because she felt so happy to be welcomed into her new home. She thought at first it was scary to live in orphanages because the nuns would be rude. But now, her adoptive parents are showing her something different.

“Thank you so much for accepting me here. I'm also glad to meet you all. I promise you that I will be a good child to all of you,” Emery said.

The nuns around her smiled. “It's good that you got a nice kid. I'm sure the Lord will be happy when he hears about it,” a nun told Sister Anasha.

"I always pray to the Lord!" Emery proudly told them. But the nuns just stared at her. Sister Anasha parted Emery's hair so that it would not interfere with her eating.

“Starting tomorrow, I will take you all over the place. You need to know the do’s and don’ts while you’re here. Do you understand that, Emery?” Sister Anasha asked her.

“Yes, Sister Anasha. I will obey everything you command me.”

“Eat a lot so I can take you to your room. You need to rest today because I know you are tired.”

Emery quickly finished her meal and then followed Sister Anasha to her room. She opened a door and showed the inside of the room. There was a bed, a table and a cabinet there. Her room was simple. “Come in and rest. I'll wake you up tomorrow so I can take you around here.”

Sister Anasha was about to leave when Emery suddenly took her by the hand. She turned to her, “Sister Anasha, where are the other children like me? I haven't seen them since I arrived earlier,” she asked.

“They are also resting because they are tired of playing. You also need to rest so that you can meet them tomorrow.”

“All right. Thank you, Sister Anasha.”

The nun had already closed the door to Emery's room. Emery approached the cabinet and opened it. She saw that her previous things were there, along with his new personal things. She was glad because this kind of person got her. The decision to flee from the DSWD was the right one. Especially since she wasn’t sure what kind of family would get her.

"If Mom and Dad were still alive, maybe I wouldn't have experienced this," Emery whispered to herself.

She turned off the light and went to sleep that night. She also felt tired because of how long she had walked before. The next day Sister Anasha woke her up early and bathed her. When she finished arranging, they went out but she still did not see any children in the area.

"We're going to the church right now, Emery."

Emery didn't speak anymore and just followed Sister Anasha. They climbed the high church because it had many stairs. When she arrived, she did not expect to see a strange kind of church. It was not like an ordinary church she used to go to with her parents.

As they entered a large door, she saw some elders kneeling and worshiping. She looked straight ahead at those they worshiped and saw that it was not the Lord she knew. The statues there were strange and she was also unfamiliar with the looks of the ones people worshiped. "What religion is this church?" Emery asked.

“This church has no religion. You need to know that the religions you know are not true. That was just made up by the people. What they are also praying for is not true. You need to get to know each statue that is here today because they are the ones you are more worthy of praying and worshiping,” Sister Anasha replied.

Emery stared at the statues there. She felt that those statues looked scary. She even heard the elders not understand the said prayer. She didn’t know if it was really a prayer or what. She just ignored it because Sister Anasha pointed to the hanging like a man in the very middle.

“That is the statue of our Lord. From now on, that's where you should pray, Emery. That is the true appearance of the Lord. Here in Heaven’s Temple, that’s what is believed here. So when you are still young, you need to know about it.”

"But Mom told me not to worship those kinds of statues."

“From now on, you will only listen to me and believe. There are things your parents don't know so I'm correcting them now for you. ”

“But why does the statue look so scary—“ Emery could not continue what she was saying when Sister Anasha spoke again.

“You must not fear our Lord. He will save your life when you are in danger. Go and apologize to him for what you said,” the nun demanded.

Even though Emery is already confused about what the nun have said to her, she just followed her. Emery has done nothing but follow through. She leaned slightly as she stared at the statue that was hung. "I'm sorry, Lord."

“That’s right. From now on, you should know how to pay respect to him. I will be the one to teach you on how to properly pray to him. Also, I will tell you the schedules for praying here. Is that clear to you, Emery?”

“Yes, Sister Anasha. I will follow your orders from now on. I will be always thankful to you for bringing me here. This is already my new home.”

But she still doesn’t sure if she will believe her about this Lord in her front or not.