Assignment #10 - Wes Davis - The Taking

"You feel that?"

"Feel what, sister Alexandria?" 

The ripe nun tugs at her once pristine collar now dampened with sweat, "the sun's too hot for a night like this." 

"Worry not, sister. It's just the end of the summer heat."

"Sister Olivia, it's October. The heat has been long gone."

"The summer is taking her last breath. Respect that, Sister Alexandria. Besides, you know what's been happening these last dreadful nights. This heat may be God's way of saving us."

With a grunt she tugs at her collar once more. She shields her face and wipes her sweat soaked brow. Sister Alexandria wasn't wrong, it was unusually hot for an October night. The moon sat too high in the sky and the air was too thick for the chill that was present only hours ago. 

~ 

The air in the convent almost hurts to breathe. Sisters reach for fellow Sisters and join one another in prayer. May this heat last only until the sun kisses the horizon. May the night be short and sweet. May the night pass just as it would without the broil of the heat fogging the rainbow-colored windows tainting the dark cloaks that adorn the shoulders on the few women left. May the missing sisters return to the convent safe. 

"Let us pray." 

Every night, as the sisters have joined in prayer, they never open their eyes the same. The hands yearn for the touch of another as their prayer steals away one sister after another. Every night, as the last amen is uttered and the eyes flutter open, a sister is missing. The depictions in the glass that embolden the already ancient decor stare down at the five remaining sisters with a dread that borders on fright. Their brows furrow and eyes water, colorful tears cascading down the windows and soaking into the soft stone, now laden with humidity. 

Sister Alexandria clears her throat and begins the prayer. They mutter with her, voices low and droning. The world seems to scream around them, the holy pictures in the stained glass windows screaming for them to run, run away, far away. The world spins under their closed lids. The screaming of the walls seems to settle down. But with the screams, Sister Alexandria has stopped her prayer.

"Sister? Please continue." Sister Olivia mutters, "please, please, please," before long, the words are desperate and fraught with fear. Sister Olivia opens her eyes and breaks away from the group, startling the other women into reality. 

"Alex?" Sister Olivia knew she was never supposed to call her sister that name, but she didn't care. She, just like all of the ten other sisters over the past two weeks, was gone. Sister Olivia's mouth was stale as she chokes out the death sentence, "its The Taking."