FIVE
Tressa
My footsteps echoed on the wooden floors as I wound my way through the hall and down the last Stations of the Cross. Moonlight slivered through stained glass as snowflakes swayed on the wind outside. I pushed my hands into the sleeves of my bulky sweater, warming my skin from the outside in.
A gust of air made the vestibule doors shudder, chilling the tip of my nose and quickening my booted feet. Father Bastien was usually around before now, locking the adjacent outer doors just after the sun went down. Maybe he’d gotten caught up with work tonight, though.
He’d been spending a lot of time in the tiny office upstairs, desk and lamp and boxes of church records at his feet.
I wasn’t sure what he was doing, exactly, but whatever it was, he did it with all of his focus.
He’d walked like a ghost around the rooms, my eyes only catching his long enough for a brief nod before he was on his way. It wasn’t a bad thing, so much as I’d become accustomed to a more cordial-leaning friendliness over this…cold war.Could it be called that?
I didn’t think so.
Not when it was only my heart feeling the chill.
Pushing through the vestibule doors then, I found the outer doors cracked open, Lucy’s sneaker wedged deftly in the doorway to prevent it closing.
“I didn’t realize you were out here.”
Lucy whipped around, eyes big in the soft moonlight.
A dark shadow over her shoulder moved away, icy eyes piercing my gaze before skittering off. “Is that someone you know?”
Lucy nodded, pushing the door closed and ducking around me.
“Do they need help? We have plenty of blankets and food if—”
“No, he doesn’t. I don’t even know how he found me.” Her voice was just above a whisper, some chill buried deep inside echoing through my bones.
“He? Was he bothering you?” I ventured softly.
She shook her head quickly, but her chin trembled, betraying her brave face. “He’s from my high school. I hadn’t seen him for a few years until we ran into each other at a party a few weeks ago. We spent time together, but then we lost touch. Until lately. Lately, he’s been finding me more. Tracking me down, and I’m not easily trackable.”
“Has he ever threatened you or…?”
Lucy’s dark eyes narrowed, then she looked down at the floor, head shaking. “No.”
“If you ever want to… Well, I’m here. For anything at all. Okay?”
Lucy nodded, littlest of smiles turning up her lips.
She’d never looked so young, despite the few short years that separated us.
“I’m going to grab my jacket and go back to the house.”
I nodded, sighing as I watched her small form retreat down the last Stations of the Cross.
Something about her soul struck me as sad, still healing, in need of so much love.
I hoped I could help raise her up to the woman she could be.
The bells high up in the tower chose that moment, the top of the hour, to chime, echoing around the old stone walls and sending vibrations through my nerves. That calming, soothing sensation I hadn’t known I’d missed. My mom had moved us in and out of so many houses that this, this sound, this feeling filling me right now, felt more like home than anywhere else ever had.
I settled down into the nearest pew, my body melting into the cool, glossy wood.
I sucked in soft breaths, fingertips shuttling across the bottom edge, shoulders sinking down into the ancient wood before I let my body go, straightening my legs and shuttering my eyes closed.
