5. Sisi
5
SISI
PRESENT DAY
" W here exactly does it hurt?" Sister Magdalene asks me, and I lower my head slightly, feigning pain in my stomach.
She makes me stretch on the infirmary bed while she pats around my abdomen.
"Here?" she asks, and I give a low moan of pain. Her brows knit together in concentration. "What about here?" She moves her hand lower, and I react to the motion by squeezing my eyes shut.
Stepping away from me, she shakes her head, pursing her lips and regarding me pensively.
"I think we got a new shipment of painkillers in the back. Let me go look for them," she eventually says, propping me against the pillows and leaving the room.
I almost feel sorry for what I'm about to do, since Sister Magdalene is a sweet lady. She can be a little grumpy, but she's never been anything but nice to me.
How I wish she would have been in charge of the infirmary when I was younger .
All the injuries I'd collected over the years have created a mosaic of scars on my body. Maybe things would not have been so dire if she'd been...
I shake myself from my musings. I came here with a purpose, so I can't linger.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I move toward the medicine cabinet, opening it and browsing the labels.
I'd borrowed Catalina's phone and researched on the internet exactly what I needed to do. After my last confrontation with Mother Superior, I'd decided to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Besides a few warranted jokes here and there, I'd mostly kept out of trouble. Keeping to myself and doing my chores, I'd tried to avoid a conflict with another Cressida. But somehow I'd still come under Mother Superior's scrutiny, and out of nowhere she'd decided to double my workload.
I'd never been one to scoff at my chores, since I know that everyone does their part to benefit the entire community. Be it kitchen or cleaning duty, I'd always done my best to do my job properly.
This time, however, the amount of chores that Mother Superior had assigned to me has been too much. Her reasoning? I'm done with my education, so now I can dedicate my entire time to the community.
For a week, daily, I'd been assigned to help prepare the food for breakfast and lunch, and then clean the classrooms in the afternoon when the lessons were over. It had worked fine in the beginning.
But as more work accumulated, I started operating on automatic pilot like a robot. I didn't even realize how one day slowly turned into another, my focus dimming, my strength fading.
Until the moment of reckoning, when Mother Superior had sent me to clean her office. Slightly sleep-deprived and with my muscles strained from all the effort, I'd been a little absentminded as I'd tried to clean everything thoroughly.
When I was cleaning her desk, though, I must have bumped into one of her vases because one moment I was focused on dusting the surface, the next I'd been scared out of my mind by the sound of something falling on the floor .
When Mother Superior had come to check on my progress, she'd taken one look at me cleaning the pieces from the floor and she'd gone off in a tirade.
I'd taken it all, since it had been my fault the vase had broken. But she'd had to hit below the belt.
"I don't know why we took you in when not even your parents wanted you," she'd said smugly, and I'd tried my best to not show how much those words affected me.
She'd continued to spew more insults, and the entire time I could only think about how this is supposed to be a place to worship God and do good deeds. The entire mission of Sacre Coeur is to help others, yet Mother Superior and her army of nuns have only shown me that if you don't fit a specific mold of helpless , then you're not worth anything to them.
They are always invoking a higher moral standing, criticizing me and Lina for the circumstances that had brought us to Sacre Coeur, often forgetting to look at themselves and how their own behavior toward us doesn't make them any better.
Well, let's see how high and mighty they are in a less ethical situation.
My eyes roam around the rows full of medicine until I find what I'm looking for.
Pocketing the entire thing, I quickly scribble down a note for Sister Magdalene implying I'm all better, and then I dash out of the infirmary.
It's already dark outside, so I try to blend in the shadows, going straight for the church and entering it without anyone seeing me.
It takes me a while as I ransack the altar area, but I eventually find the container with wine. Unscrewing the lid of the bottle of pills, I read the instructions, measuring what dosage I should add for the intended effect. I calculate the grams against the perceived volume of the container and then I get to work.
Taking a knife from the altar table, I start crushing the pills into as fine a powder as I can. When I've done that to the recommended dose, I add the powder to the container and I stir it well .
Putting the wine back in its place, I leave for the dorm.
The following day, we all go to mass. The priest starts his sermon, and I can't help the giddiness inside my chest at the thought that those women are finally going to get what they deserve.
I barely pay attention to the prayers around me, my thoughts focused on the result of my plan. Too bad, though, that it will not be immediate.
"Sisi, what's wrong?" Lina asks me when we return to our room.
"Nothing." I give her a smile, even though inside I'm a little too impatient. I take a book and sit down on my bed, attempting to distract myself for a while.
It's only a few hours later when we go pick up some fruit that we hear of the wondrous thing that's come to pass.
All the senior nuns, including Mother Superior, had developed a rather nasty stomach ache, after which they'd promptly closed themselves in the bathroom.
There was one problem, however, in that there were not enough bathrooms available for the nuns, and some of them had to relieve themselves in nature.
"Good God, are they alright?" Lina asks the sister who'd relayed the news.
"Not all." She shakes her head, her lips pursed with worry.
"But... how could this have happened?" Lina stammers, looking concerned.
"Indeed," I feign surprise. "How could this have happened? And all at once?" I shake my head, trying to emulate their expressions of consternation.
"We don't know. The few that didn't make it to the bathroom were mortified. Poor souls," she says before glancing around suspiciously, "they used the bushes in the grove," she whispers conspiratorially.
Both Lina and I gasp at this piece of news.
"How terrible," Lina adds sincerely. Of course she'd feel bad for those nuns, even though they are the same ones who'd terrorized her before.
It's not a surprise, however, when Mother Superior, once she'd gotten her bowels under control, asks everyone for an emergency meeting.
I'm still chuckling on the inside, especially when I see all the victims in one corner, looking rather worse for wear.
My upper lip is constantly twitching as Mother Superior proceeds to talk about the incident as if it had been a sacrilege.
"Whoever did this will be punished." Her voice booms in the room. Everyone is quiet as she stares us down. But then, in the silence of the room, the growly sounds of a stomach reverberate in the air.
One of the senior nuns looks up guiltily, before dashing out of the room and presumably in search of a toilet.
I can't hold my laughter anymore, and a tiny giggle escapes me. Lina's elbow makes contact with my side as she gives me a look.
Luckily, it's promptly masked by Mother Superior's voice as she continues her speech.
"We've investigated the infirmary, the only place someone could have gotten the laxatives from," Mother Superior continues, removing the bottle of laxatives from her habit and holding it up. "It's missing half its contents. We know someone among you did this. If no one admits to it, then we will have to make Sister Magdalene bear the punishment, since the pills were under her care," Mother Superior says smugly and Sister Magdalene pales.
"But," Sister Magdalene starts, but Mother Superior is not having it.
Placing a hand up to stop her, she addresses the room once more.
"You have five minutes to reveal yourself. If not," she nods at Sister Magdalene, who is immediately resigned to her fate.
Damn! I didn't think it would get this far. Certainly, I didn't think Mother Superior would put the blame on Sister Magdalene.
Sister Magdalene's eyes meet mine from across the room, and I know I can't let her take the blame for something that's entirely my doing. Besides, I can add a little something extra to my revenge.
Taking a step forward, I exit the formation and address Mother Superior directly.
"I did it," I admit. "I put the laxatives in the wine."
Mother Superior's eyes sharpen on me .
"I should have known it could have only been you ." She spits the words, but I'm not deterred.
"But," I start, dragging my gaze around the room, "why is everyone else fine, then? Everyone partook in the communion wine. How come only a select few developed issues?"
At my words, she looks like she's been struck.
People start whispering, asking the same question I did. Why were they fine when the senior nuns were not?
"If you look on the box, you'll find the instructions as to how to consume the pills for them to be effective. Yes, they were in the wine. But only if you drank a certain amount of wine would the laxatives have worked," I point out, almost proud of myself for not faltering.
"How much wine did you drink, Mother Superior?" I ask, a little cheekily.
"How... What... You," she sputters, her eyes bulging in her head.
"What, it's true. You must have imbibed quite a lot... I wonder, isn't that a sin too? Succumbing to vice... tsk, tsk."
Her face becomes a mottled mass of red as my words sink in, and everyone gasps when they realize that I might be right.
"Assisi! You're grounded!" she yells, stalking toward me.
I move back, but I'm already one step in the grave, might as well jump all in.
"What about you? Or the other nuns? Shouldn't someone punish you for getting drunk on communion wine?" I know I'm overstepping a lot of boundaries and breaking a lot of rules in this moment, but as everyone stares at me, stupefied, I can only smile.
"Shut up, Assisi!" Mother Superior catches up with me, her hand circling my wrist as she tries to drag me out of the room. Lina looks at me with worry in her eyes, but I shake my head at her. This is my mess.
"Why? You're not so high and mighty now, are you?" I speak louder, addressing the other nuns, too. Mother Superior is dragging me by the hand until we're out the door.
"You've really done it this time, Assisi," Mother Superior continues to chastise me, but I can't find it in myself to care.
Not when she throws me into the dark, barren room I'd come to associate with all my punishments, not even when she tells me I'm going to spend all my time here until I repent.
When she locks the door behind her and I'm left in the chilly chamber, I take a seat on the floor, bringing my knees to my chest for some heat.
"Ah, but how can I regret it?" I mutter to myself, a smile playing on my lips. Just the sight of the senior nuns looking embarrassed in front of everyone had been enough. Because I'd proven my point.
Not even they are above reproach.