Sisters of Sorrow by Axel Blackwell Read Free Book Online Page B

sisters collected in the kitchen behind the stone archways separating it from the hall. Sister Dolores dragged a mop bucket across the floor toward the hall’s exit.
    Anna grabbed Lizzy’s sleeve and whispered, “You take the girls to the factory, Lizzy, I’ll be right behind you. “
    “Anna, no,” Lizzy whispered.
    “Do it, Lizzy. I promise I will be there in no time.” Anna darted off before Lizzy could protest further.
    She hurried along the wall, as inconspicuously as possible, toward Sister Dolores. The nun mopped around a section of floor near the corner. She was out of view of the rest of the nuns. Anna had never seen the sisters mop the dining hall. But, then again, she had never lingered in the hall after the whistle.
    The key in Anna’s shoe had worn the skin away in two places, and she couldn’t completely hide her limp as she scurried toward Sister Dolores. When she was close enough to whisper, the nun looked up from her mopping. She looked first puzzled, then annoyed.
    “Why aren’t you at the factory?” She demanded.
    Suddenly, Anna decided this was a bad idea, a very bad idea. She turned for the door.
    “Wait a minute. You stand right there. I asked you a question,” Sister Dolores said. “Why did you not go to the factory with the other children?”
    Anna tried to speak but couldn’t think of any words, at least not any words for Sister Dolores. For herself she thought, stupid, stupid, stupid…
    “You came to tell me something,” Sister Dolores said. “What is it?”
    Anna’s mouth bobbed open and closed like a clubbed salmon. She halfheartedly pointed toward the door. Finally, a thought came to her, from Jane, of all people. Tell her you get really confused ever since Sister Elizabeth hit you in the head. She said, “I get…” and abruptly stopped.
    Sister Dolores’s dull blue irises blurred and suddenly turned black. They faded to purple, then faded back to dull blue. “Tell me the truth.”
    Without the slightest intention of doing so, Anna said, “Abbess McCain knows you are a spy!” She clapped her hand over her mouth.
    “Who told you that?” Sister Dolores whispered, glancing quickly around the hall.
    “I…” Anna surveyed the empty room, then studied Sister Dolores’s eyes. “I overheard Abbess McCain talking with another sister. I don’t know which one. Are you a spy? Are you here to rescue us?” Anna asked, blushing to the roots of her hair.
    “Rescue you? Rescue you from what?” She sounded stern, but there was also something playful in her tone.
    “Sister Dolores!” Sister Eustace’s voice boomed through the dining hall. “What are you doing?”
    Sister Dolores’s posture slumped back to a cringe.
    “Oh, and look here, it’s Anna, who wears her shame like a medal!” Sister Eustace continued. “Why are you not at the factory?”
    Anna’s blush went paper white as she took up her mantra, stupid, stupid, stupid…
    “Oh, Ma’am,” Sister Dolores said, “Anna was only asking if she could have a bandage. Something seems to be wrong with her foot.”
    Anna’s eyes popped and her heart sank. Sister Eustace looked at Anna’s shoe. Anna shot a pleading look at the younger nun. Mischief twinkled in Sister Dolores’s eyes and the corners of her lips raised. But before Sister Eustace returned her eyes to Sister Dolores, the young nun’s face fell back into its desperately eager and subservient mask.
    “A bandage? Why would she be asking you for a bandage? Are you a nurse, Dolores? Is this the infirmary?”
    “No… no, ma’am,” Sister Dolores said. “This is the…”
    “ I know this is the dining hall!” Sister Eustace yelled. “Why would this pest, ask you, for a bandage?”
    “Ma’am, it is for her foot.”
    “But why you ?” she demanded, bellowing into Sister Dolores’s face.
    Sister Dolores stared into her eyes, petrified.
    “I’ll tell you why. This little wretch is playing you for a fool. She thinks you are weak. And do you know