Escape: Heaven’s Temple

PRAYERS

"Emery, where are you?" Sister Anasha calls Emery. Emery is now cleaning her bed after using it. Sister Anasha entered her room.

“Good morning, Sister Anasha. I'm just fixing what I slept on before,” Emery replied. The nun nodded slightly at her after seeing what she was doing.

“All right. When you're done with that, fix yourself. The bathroom is there at the other end. Can you take a bath by yourself?” Sister Anasha asked her.

Emery nodded quickly. “Yes, Sister! My Mom and Dad taught me how to be independent even though I am still young. So I can take a bath alone,” she said proudly.

Sister Anasha smiled at her. "Because they taught you on how to be independent when you were young, they left this world and they disappeared early," she replied.

The joy on Emery's face suddenly disappeared when she heard what the nun said. "They didn't also want to disappear early and leave me alone here in this world. That is not the purpose why they taught me on how to be independent,” Emery explained.

The nun smiled again, "Don't worry, because I will make sure you are happier here," she said. She touched Emery's hair and gently stroked it.

“All right, Sister. I'm going to take a bath,” she said.

“All right. When you have finished taking a bath, go upstairs so we can eat together.”

Emery nodded and picked up her belongings then went to the bathroom. This is the first time that she will go to the bathroom at other end. She took a bath yesterday upstairs, so she was surprised earlier that Sister Anasha told her in the other end of the bathroom that she is taking a bath now. When she got there, no other people is there except from her.

She did not feel any fear. Especially and she doesn’t believe in ghosts or whatever creatures. She believed what her mother taught and told her while she was still alive. Those kinds of creatures are not true at all. Emery is more afraid of life than those who have died in the world.

She was quietly taking a bath when she heard someone speak in the bathroom. She thought there was no one there earlier because it was quiet and she heard no water pouring. But she noticed that there was a cubicle that was closed. She heard the woman's voice from there. She says something that she can't understand.

“Al tercer día resucitó de entre los muertos; subió a los cielos y está a la diestra de Dios Padre; desde allí ha de venir a juzgar a los vivos y a los muertos. La comumión de los Santos en el perdon de los pecados la resurrección de los muertos y la vida eterna.”

What is she talking about?

In Emery's mind, she wondered what the woman was saying. She also intended to approach it but she could not. The woman's voice sounded old. Seems like she was just whispering what she was saying. Until as time goes on, the woman inside the cubicle says louder.

“Al tercer día resucitó de entre los muertos; subió a los cielos y está a la diestra de Dios Padre; desde allí ha de venir a juzgar a los vivos y a los muertos! La comumión de los Santos en el perdon de los pecados la resurrección de los muertos y la vida eterna!”

Emery gasped and didn't know what to do. She felt scared especially and she could not understand what the woman was saying. She seems to be speaking a different language. Sounds like that woman was possessed or something. Then the cubicle door opened and the woman came out crawling.

"Ah!" Emery shouted in shock. She was sitting up in the tiles and not knowing what to do when the woman looked at him. Emery was scared and wanted to run out. The woman looked at her quickly and crawled closer to her.

"Get away from me!" Emery shouted. She tried her best to stop the fear that she is feeling at the moment. She stood up and the woman held her feet.

“Don’t touch me!” Emery shouted and fought back to the woman. She immediately run away to her but the woman touched her feet again, stopping her to run away.

The woman kept on saying something that Emery can’t understand. It’s getting louder and louder, that’s why Emery’s ears are now hurting because of her voice. It’s like her ears are being cracked because of what’s the woman is talking about.

“Stop! Stop it, please!” Emery cried out.

A few minutes later, the door of the bathroom opened and Emery saw Sister Anasha and the other nuns going inside of the bathroom. Some of the nuns immediately run and went to the woman. They keep her away from Emery. Then Sister Anasha checked Emery’s body. She’s just half-naked right now because she still not finish in taking a bath.

“Are you okay, Emery?” Sister Anasha asked her. Emery nodded but still looking at the poor woman right now. The nuns were already hurting her. She’s still saying a different language even though the nuns are hurting her body.

“Why are they hurting her physically?” Emery asked. Sister Anasha looked at the poor woman. “They are punishing her because she’s bad. She tried to hurt and harass you. That’s why they are hurting her,” she answered.

“But she didn’t do anything to me because you already went inside here to rescue me. Please stop hurting her now. I feel guilty,” Emery told them. She’s now about to cry while watching the woman looking at her.

Emery breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the nuns had stopped punishing the woman. Sister Anasha is already helping Emery out of the bathroom. She wrapped a towel around her because she hadn’t finished her shower yet. Emery was just quiet and still couldn't believe that's what she saw. She did not expect the nuns who were with her today to be so cruel in punishment.

Up to the other bathroom, she was still silent. Sister Anasha had finished bathing her. “Are you okay, Emery? You have been quiet for a while,” the nun asked her.

Emery smiled slightly, “I'm fine. I just didn't expect that the nuns here would punished the woman earlier like that,” she replied.

“Please don't think that we are bad people just because of what you saw earlier. We only protected you. So no one can hurt you while you are here.”

“But the woman just touched my foot earlier and I was not hurt. For me, what happened to her punishment earlier was very bad,” said Emery. To this day, she worries about the woman's condition earlier.

She may have a brain problem because something has happened to her that has traumatized her life. Then she ended up like that just because of me.

In Emery's mind, she felt sorry for the woman before. The nuns in Heaven’s Temple were thought to be kind, but when she witnessed what had happened earlier she was having doubts.

“She still did bad things to you, Emery. What is being done to the wicked people? Shouldn't she be punished?” Sister Anasha asked her.

"Yes, you're right."

"All right, get dressed and I will wait for you at the dinner table."

Sister Anasha had left, so Emery organized herself. When she finished getting dressed, she went upstairs. She saw that all the nuns at the table were waiting for her. They all looked at her while smiling. She thought that she would see children there like her, but still none. She was also embarrassed to ask the nuns with her, so she just smiled back at them.

"Sit here," Sister Anasha ordered Emery. Emery was seated in the middle. Surprisingly, Emery just followed them.

"Let's pray."

Emery was about to do the sign of the cross when Sister Anasha stopped her hand. She shook his head at Emery, “From now on, you need to learn what you should and should not do. The sign of the cross is incorrect. Don't do that next time,” she explained. Emery frowned and looked innocently at the nun.

“But Sister Anasha, that’s what my parents taught me. Since I was a child, I have been praying like that. Don't you have another religion?”

“Religions are not real. There is only one thing you need to know and learn. The lord you worship is wrong, Emery. You need to listen to me so you know more about right and wrong.”

“What should I do now, Sister?”

“For now, just listen to us first. I am sure that when you stay here for a long time, you will learn our prayers as well as what you still need to learn.”

Emery never spoke again and just listen to them. The other nuns just watched Emery. Even they think they are keeping the girl. Sister Anasha had already begun their prayer. They all held hands, including Emery's hand, around the table. They have already started praying.

“Bendícenos, Señor, y estos alimentos que vamos a recibir de tu generosidad por Cristo Nuestro Señor. Señor, Tú que das el agua a los campos, la tierra a las plantas, el fruto a los hombres, danos bendito este alimento, para que vuelto fortaleza, te podamos servir mejor. Así sea. Gracias Señor por estos alimentos. Bendice las manos que los hicieron. En el nombre de Lord. Niñito Lord, nacido en Belén. Bendice estos alimentos que vamos a comer y bendice las manitas que los prepararon. Bendícenos Señor, a nosotros y a estos alimentos que por Tu bondad vamos a tomar. Bendice a las personas que los prepararon. Da pan a los que tienen hambre y danos hambre de Tí a los que tenemos pan.”

Emery couldn't understand everything they were saying. They also seem to repeat those words over and over again. Their prayers are in a different language so Emery is confused about how she can learn that. Especially since she did not understand the meaning of those prayers. Even what they worship Emery does not know. She remembered the woman in the bathroom earlier as if they were saying the same prayer. Suddenly, she had a thought.

Could it be that what they are praying for is what Sister Anasha showed me yesterday that they call ‘Lord’? But she was not really the Lord that my parents had known and introduced to me. Also, was the woman praying earlier in the bathroom?

“I will give you a copy of each of our prayers. What you have heard before is only prayed when at the dinner table. You still have many prayers that you need to learn so that you do not grow up to be a bad person. We will teach you good manners here and we will not let evil spirits touch you,” said Sister Anasha. Emery did not realize that they had finished praying.

Emery just nodded at him then they started eating. Emery suddenly thinks that the place she went to may not be an orphanage. She is too innocent to be in that kind of place. She felt that something is weird in that place and also to the people that were in his surroundings. But she does not have any choice but to keep up with them, because she had no where to go.