Lightning flashes across the dark sky, thunder soon following, covering even the loud sound of the rain hitting the ground. Not so far away, a faint sound of waves crashing against a rock wall.

Lighting flashes again, and briefly illuminates a slim figure slumbering down a small hill, more or less following a sinuous dirt road; not so far away, at the end of the dirt road (now a muddy road, under the incessant rain), the lighting also illuminates a modest-sized stone building. The bell-tower at the top of the building, and the decorative cross at its length, clearly sets it as a monastery, standing still under the torments of the sky. And upon seeing its silhouette, the figure on the muddy road, a woman in her early forties, finally give herself a pause in her frantic running; for the silent monastery not only stills the torments of the sky, but momentarily stills the torments inside the woman's spirit.

A creak of a nearby tree branches makes the woman jump in fear, and she resume running, running as fast as she can, toward the monastery.

As the faint light of its entrance finally becomes a bright spot in the night, the woman finds herself on its porch, facing the wooden doors. Looking frantically over her shoulders, staring wildly beyond the fierce battle of the elements, she knocks with all her might and what is left of her strengths.

Steps are heard on the other side of the doors, and the latters creaks open, revealing an old woman dressed in a typical nun dress, holding an old-fashioned lamp; the nun looks with no small amount of shock and surprise at the frantic stranger.

"Poor lady, what are you doing in this weather? Please, enter!"

The nun barely finishes her sentence and opens wider the door that the strange woman crumbles at the doorstep.

"Oh dear God! Mary! Mary, please come and help me with this poor woman!!" the nun cries out inside the monastery, closing the door after struggling to pull the stranger inside.

The sound of crackling woods, and it characteristic warmth slowly brings Eset to consciousness. She opens her pale green eyes, and stares right at a wooden roof, crossed with great beams; she realizes she is lying down on a wide couch inside a modest living room, a great fireplace brightening one side of the wall. She hears whispers, and when she groggily turns her head to look, she sees three young nun staring at her both compassionately, but also somewhat excitedly; she figures that she must be the first stranger they saw since awhile. When the nuns realize she's awake, one of them rise and leave quickly the room, no doubt to warn the owner.

Eset rises softly on an elbow, her whole body crying in pain after all the running. One of the two nuns left hurries to her side, a cup of warm milk in her hands; she smile kindly at Eset, presenting the cup:

"Please, my lady, drink this. It will warm you."

Eset accepts graciously; she realizes that it has been ages since she drank something as modest as warm milk. This thought generating others, she suddenly remembers the reason behind her flight. Tears quickly rise to her eyes, and as she almost drops the cup, luckily caught by the nun beside her, Eset falls back onto the couch into a foetus position, crying all her fill. She faintly hears the door open, and a few seconds later, soft and warm hands rest themselves upon her shoulders, and an old woman's voice softly comforts her:

"There, my child. Let it all go, you are safe here."

Moved by such a kind gesture, a simple one that she had yet spent so many years without, Eset clumsily catch the old woman's arms, visibly the superior of the nuns; understanding the intent behind such an action, the nun pull her into a hug, murmuring words of comfort. Feeling safe, Eset truly let go, and she cries, the tears running down in stream along her chiselled cheekbones, into her long messy grey-brown hairs, until a numb darkness invades her mind, sending her into a surprisingly calm dream.

********************** As the bell resonate, signalizing the end of lunch, Eset watches as the sisters and nuns dutifully cleans their tables in a flawless and organized manner. Two weeks she has now been the guest of the monastery since the night she collapsed on its porch. She doesn't remember much for the first two or three nights there, though some of the nuns present filled her in. There wasn't much that happened, she later learned, for she had pretty much only cried most of the times; and the nights seemed to have been terrible, for the nuns recounted that she constantly mumbled intelligible words. But since a good week and a half, Eset decided to busy her troubled spirit, and worked at repaying the kindness of the sisters and nuns; she helped them with their chores, and doing so, felt a bit of peace returning.

Now, she was watching as the sisters left, starting to feel that it was time that she faced her demons. Seeing from afar the Mother Superior approaching the hall, Eset makes her choice. She approaches the old woman, the latter smiling at her with her usual kindness and compassion, and ask:

"Mother Superior... about what you told me before... I would be ready."

The Mother Superior smiles broadly without a word, and leads her kindly toward the far end of the monastery.

Within a few minutes, Eset finds herself inside a soft-scented cubicle beside Mother Superior's, separated by a screen through which Eset can barely see the sister's face. Breathing deeply, her hands instinctively knotting themselves in a mixture of emotions ranging from grief to shame, Eset looks up briefly, silently praying for strength, and expires as briefly. She closes her eyes, a small tear making its way to a corner:

"Bless me Mother, for I have sinned."

*********************** Sunlight floods the alley filled with terraces, soft chatters filling the warm air of the after-morning, delicate clinking of porcelain cups and utensils upon plates breaking the soft silence. A tall and slim man in his late thirties, blond haired combed toward the back with already few grey strands, walks elegantly within such a beautiful view, his ice grey eyes piercingly gazing across all the strangers, searching. His face finally light up as his gaze fall upon the target of his heart: a woman also in her late thirties, her delicately chiseled face brightened by pale green eyes and framed with long brown hairs. She is seated at one of a café's table, examining her appearance within a small pocket mirror, her summer dress flowing with the soft winds. As she rise her head, replacing her mirror into her purse, her gaze meets the man's, and she smiles brightly. He approaches her table as she rise, and when they meet, he bows slightly and give a delicate kiss on her hand, before both sits down, him still holding lightly her hand, her smiling as brightly and fondly.

"12 years ago, I met a beautiful man... If only you could have known how amazing he appeared..." Eset remembers, her cheeks blushing, though not quite out of fondness. "He was full of ideals, of ambitions. We both came from noble families, but it was the only times when we both did not cared for it. He had plans, of course, and he slowly got able to climb up the ranks around the time we got married. Then... then came my gift..."

A painful cry resonates across the white sterile rooms and hallways of the hospital. Choked sobbing follows, and yet another painful cry. After an eternity of that awful music, another kind of sound suddenly still the air...

"You did it, madam! You have a beautiful girl, and she is fine!" the nurse says proudly, presenting a small and chubby pink baby to the exhausted mother, who is however too tired to rise.

"Look at her, Eset," her husband softly and proudly say, taking the child in his arms and leaning against his wife, delicately sliding it into her arms.

Tears of joy falls on both their faces as they gaze at their first child, bundled and carefree in her parents' loving hold.

"Around that time, I started noticing that he had started to alter his ideals. The ambitions remained the same, but the means to which he was ready to go to reach them... However, I kept telling myself it was my misunderstanding of how the system of his business worked. And when he would fill me in on some of the details, it always made sense. Also, our little girl was growing steadily and fast, and if one thing didn't changed, was how she was our world, and how we loved her. All arguments, all debates, the outside world... it just faded once she clumsily walked into the room, all smiles."

Eset pauses, emotions and memories clutching her throat, and she kneads even harder her hands, as if transferring the pain.

"Take your time, my child," the Mother Superior softly comforts her from across the screen.

Eset takes another deep breath, and resume talking, though her voice is now shaking.

"When she reached 7, we started to see that something was terribly wrong... Her skin aged considerably... she started losing hair, and she..." Eset pauses briefly to wipe a tear, "The doctors finally diagnosed her with progeria... an extremely rare genetic disease in children, where they... age rapidly. The doctors gave us the average life expectancy, 13 years... We were devastated... Our little girl, with only 5 years left, and during those five years, old age symptoms would hit her..."

Moonlight floods a well-furnished room, enveloping in its soft glow a small figure sleeping soundly in her bed; her mother watches her with her green eyes, vitreous with the many tears she cried for days. She occasionally strike softly the falling greying brown hair of her daughter, staring helplessly at the unusual wrinkled skin... Turning her head toward the closed door of the bedroom, as if making sure no one was watching or approaching, Eset falls slowly to her knees, links her hand together, and her face straining with despaired determination, begins to whisper a prayer.

Not two minutes pass, that the door opens, and her husband enters softly; upon hearing his entrance, Eset rise in surprise, almost in guilt. Her husband's icy eyes harden in silent anger, and as silent as he can as to not wake their daughter, he takes Eset by the arm, and leads her out.

Once in the living room, far away from the child's bedroom, Eset stays silent, her teary eyes cast toward the floor, as the man yells at her, his own eyes flaring, as if he just got her doing an inexcusable action.

"When we learned of our daughter's conditions, and of the lack of treatment for such a disease, I, against all odds, started to pray for a miracle from God," Eset continues, "I knew that it was ridiculous, but I couldn't think of anything else to do; she was my world, my joy..."

"Why was it ridiculous to pray?" the Mother Superior kindly interrupts.

"Because... because God didn't grant such miracles," Eset softly explains, her cheeks going red.

"What made you think so?"

Eset doesn't know what to answer; especially that for quite some time, she wonders whether the result would have been less terrible, even if God hadn't answered her prayers, than the alternative path she accepted.

"I am sorry, my child; it is not my place yet to say such things. Please continue your story," the Mother Superior softly say, understanding Eset's silence.

Eset breathes again, and resumes, her voice shaking in anger at each passing sentences:

"My husband... I mean... ex... he was furious at me for believing in such impossibilities. As the weeks passed, and our daughter degraded, he came to believe that it was my state of mind that affected her health... I couldn't believe my ears, but he started day after day to truly believe it. He dug several researches and papers proving his theory, shoved them into my head, and tried to persuade me that it was all my fault... At that time... I didn't say anything, because no matter what, no matter the words that were cutting me deep, I didn't want to leave my daughter if she only had five years... I kept secretly praying, often got caught and his reactions weren't... kind... but I only cared for her..."

Her voice chokes as a knot forms in her throat, and her hands knots even harder, the knuckles white under the strain.

"Then, one day, my wish came true... but not by God."

********************** A knock is heard on the mansion's entrance door, and Eset warily rise from her chair, where she had been napping for a short moment; opening the inner door, leaving the outer one locked, she gaze at surprise at the man standing on the porch. He is short and extremely slim, dressed in a casual suit; but Eset feels a cold chill run across her back as she stares into his unusual eyes: emerald green under full sunlight, but turning almost to gold when shaded. Trying to look away from his whimsical stare, she can't help but wince at his bright orange hair, messy and in spikes. The stranger cocks his head and smiles amusingly at her examination; he finally pulls out an official-looking card and shows it to her:

"I'm Scott Johnson, from Public Relations. Is your husband home?"

"No, he isn't, he's at work. How can I..."

"Ah well, I'll wait for him inside," Scott cheerfully interrupts.

"I'm afraid you'll have to come back tom..."

"Nonsense, he'll be home in about 10 minutes, so I'll wait."

Eset freezes, as she knows her husbandís careful schedule; how did this stranger?

"Ma'am? I did show you my card," Scott amusingly say, his head still cocked, still smiling.

Eset reluctantly opens the outer door.

"Please be quiet; my daughter is ill and resting."

"Yes, I know. Don't worry, I won't make a sound," Scott reassures her as he swiftly pass her and walk to the living room, settling on a brightly coloured sofa.

Eset has another cold chill at the stranger's words; but she can't quite protest, as his governmental card was genuine, as far as she could see, and any which way, her husband would soon return and settle this. No one stayed long, or argued, under his icy eyes.

"Do you want a refreshment, while you wait?" she asks politely.

"Nah; you guys don't have what I like," Scott answers in a bored manner, looking at his fingernails.

Eset wonders what to do, so she hesitantly asks:

"So what brings you here; what kind of business do you have with my husband?"

"Hmm? Oh, its just about work; we've noticed some exceptional talent in him, so I came to make a deal."

Before she can reply, Scott cocks his head toward her, his terrifying gold eyes looking down on her despite his seated position:

"No need to concern yourself with such trifles, ma'am; women can't anyway understand business as much as men. So just walk upstairs look at your sick kid and leave business to the capable hands of your husband."

Eset flashes Scott with anger. How dares he address her that way, her, a noble woman? She is about to ask him to leave, but then remembers how this man must probably know well her husband and have already planned a meeting. She glares at the stranger, and without a word, leaves the living room; as she does so, she hears him snicker softly. Swallowing the thoughts and not-so-nice words that springs to her mind, she rejoins her child. Better to take care of her dying ray of sunshine than argue with a moron; she'd just have a word with her husband when it is over.

"My hus... ex-husband, came home not far long after, and they locked themselves up in his office. When that orange-haired guy left, my husband joined me with a bright smile, and told me that our child could finally have a chance of being cured. I was skeptical, of course, too much, and I asked him what sort of prank that stranger pulled to make him believe our child could be cured, when the latest technology couldn't nowhere near accomplish this miracle. He assured me that it was true; and that the only thing I needed to do, was trust him and obey his directions completely... Since it was a lost cause, but so was my child, I figured nothing could be lost by accepting this ridiculous prank... I wanted a miracle so badly, I could not bear lose my only gift of life... So I welcomed the newfound but odd miracle with open arms...

>> The next night, my husband told me that he'll bring our child to those who can cure her. I tried to follow him, but he firmly refused, saying that I wasn't allowed, considering my 'mental state' that went against the 'set laws' of that awful place..."

"What was that awful place?" the Mother Superior asks gently, curious.

Eset can only shake her head, as if trying to forget the images:

"I can't... I can't... Those devils..."

"Never mind," the nun softly interrupt. "Forgive me for asking; please say only what you wish to say."

"Weeks passed by, endless days where my child never came home, and I was never allowed to see her... I doubted, and my husband hated me for it. He yelled at me, asking me how I could so easily pray to a non-existing God for salvation, while doubting actual people that were hard at work accomplishing that miracle... I still wouldn't stop doubting, though, until an afternoon finally came..." Eset starts once more to cry, "He came home... holding her in his arms... my child, young, once more... smiling a smile as bright as the sun... all her symptoms, gone... One of the next days, while he's at work, I brought her to the doctors just to be sure... they are baffled, but their verdict is unanimous: she's cured! Not even just in remission... completely cured... an actual miracle... a miracle... given by these disgusting, cold-hearted demons... who used our only weakness to corrupt my husband and make him..."

Eset cries fully now, and the Mother Superior, unable to let her be like this, so alone, moves to her cubicle and holds her in her arms.

"... demons... these bastards... they took away and corrupted the only two things I ever cared for... they took my child... and I let them corrupt her with their filth... her life in exchange for her soul and my husband's... I let them do so... all because I couldn't give her up..."

"You are not to be blamed, poor child," the Mother Superior comforts her. "All humans faces obstacles they cannot always surpass... Wanting to keep what's precious to you is nothing but human nature. But from the moment you realize what your weakness is, you decide from now on what actions you take and accept the responsibilities. But tell me, child... what made you come to our humble monastery? Understanding briefly what was required of you in exchange for your child's life, you must have been forced to abandon God? And why isn't your child with you?"

Eset's fists clenches until they are livid white, and a mixture of rage, grief and shame makes its way to her delicate features.

"... that bastard... I lived for two more years with her, but grew more and more distant with my hus... with him... I did what he required of me, I did not trust those that blackmailed and corrupted him with our daughter's life and what they would do to her if I disobeyed... After some time, he began to believe in my sincerity, and he started to confide some details, never enough of them though, about the terrible work he had been appointed... And one night, he allowed me to meet them... those who cured her..." Eset shivers in genuine fear, "I hid it surprisingly well, but back home and alone, I allowed my terror to surface... they were demons pure and simple... and I gave them my daughter's life... is she cursed? So I made preparations to take her and bring her to some relatives, away from that whole evil... and three weeks ago... I came home... she didn't ran to me as she always did... she was nowhere to be found... I found... him... in the kitchen, rinsing some plates, as calmly and as nonchalantly as one could get..."

The rest of the sentence got spat out, as Eset become livid with rage:

"He... he... he turned to me, smiling with those disgusting cold eyes of his, and told me... that to perfect her cure and stop... stop any chance of remission... he gave her to those blasted demons... so they could train... train and RAISE HER!!!! MY child!!!!"

The Mother Superior let her go, and watches with concern as Eset punches in rage the wall of the cubicle; her heart goes out to the mother... How would she herself have reacted in her position. She dreads to think what Eset did afterwards, but can't exactly blame her either. Her child was stolen by her own father, and placed... God knows where and with whom... Eset said 'demons'; somehow, the Mother Superior doesn't doubt that the title is accurate.

"I became so angry..." Eset whispers, as she collapses back on the bench and in the nun's comforting hold, "... I know now I shouldn't have done so, but... He took my child! He took her, without telling me, and gave her to... gave her to them... gave her to a life in Hell... I picked up a nearby knife..."

"She'll be in good hands; her training, physical and mental, will help her metabolism and genetic material surpass the underlying and still lingering progeria..."

A metallic sound behind him stops the tall man in mid-sentence, his hands deep in the sink and the foamy water; he turns round, curious, and his jaw drops. For the first time since his life, he feels fear. Eset faces him, her eyes filled with tears, yet burning with the greatest and most terrible fire he ever faced. Her right hand is trembling as it clutches firmly a kitchen knife; her usually beautiful and delicate features are distorted with pure rage. She mumbles uncontrollably:

"Ho... how... how... she... how... dare... YOU??!!!"

She lunged forward with both hands clutching the knife, raising and lowering it toward her shocked husband. He barely has time to counter her attack with a plate, but her surprising strength makes him stumble backward; Eset doesn't lose any time, though, and in a movement quicker than he can counter, she slashes with her right hand; his icy grey eyes closes instinctively, his hands move forward in a futile defence, and the next instant, a searing pain burns right through his left shoulder, bringing him to his knees. His mind muddles with the excruciating pain, his right hand flies to his shoulder in an attempt to stop the warm oozing wound; he hears the knife fall to the floor, about the same time he himself collapses on his right side. He weakly opens his eyes, and watches in a blur as Eset brings her hands to her mouth, choking a silent scream, her eyes wide in horror. She approaches slowly and shakily her wounded husband, and despite her horror at her actions, and her rage, pain and grief slowly make their way up to her eyes, she sees in his that he's shocked at what could have brought her to do this; it burns her that he genuinely has no idea.

"You... bastard..." she seethes through her clenched teeth, before giving him a weak kick in the ribs.

Her eyes wells even more with tears, tears of pain, rage, horror, and shame all at once, and without a look back, she runs with all the speed she can muster out of the house.

She wakes her personal butler, and urges him to take her as fast as possible to Cruithinia, her childhood country; seeing her distress, he accepts without a word.

Two days later, once the pair are well within Cruithinia, a storm breaks, making the roads unusable. Although her butler suggest they pass the night at an inn, Eset fears that her husband... no, they... might come for her, if they aren't already there. For some reason, she suddenly remembers from her childhood that not far from where they are stranded, there's a monastery; for the same unknown reason, she knows that it will be the safest place for her, for they will never dare go near it. She gives all her money left to the butler as a farewell gift, as well as giving him his leave, and he promises he'll be careful to leave no traces as to where to find him or her.

Lightning flashes as Eset runs down many hills to the general location of the monastery; she is relieved when she finally hears the sea crashing against the cliffs, and somewhere far in the darkness, a small light is burning. With all her remaining strengths, she covers the remaining distance, and collapses on the building's porch. She fall slowly to the darkness deep within her mind as she barely hears the door open, and a woman's voice shouting:

"Oh dear God! Mary! Mary, please come and help me with this poor woman!!"

********************** Four weeks after her confessions, the bell chimes, signalling the end of the morning prayers. The Mother Superior rises first, and faces the group of nuns.

"Today, I will need each one of your to lend a hand on the preparations for the donations of tomorrow. Separate in groups of your choice to prepare the jellies, breads, and fresh cheese. Our humble brothers and sisters will need all we can give them."

The nuns agrees cheerfully, and leave the hall; but the Mother Superior walks toward one side, where Eset is nervously waiting.

"You can partake too in the event, my dear child," the nun kindly tells Eset.

"I wasn't sure, since I'm not a nun," Eset answers.

The Mother Superior put her hands on the woman's shoulders:

"You are nevertheless a Sister to us; all souls are welcomed here in the monastery, for any reason they require to be here. You do not need to follow us yet in our faith; you have yet to find yours, and this takes time and dedication from none other than yourself. I told you, you are welcome here as part of us for as long as you will wish."

Eset smiles softly; her green eyes turns sad, though.

"Do you think... Well... I don't know whether I can be forgiven for what I've done and allowed; but she... my daughter, in a few years, will remember nothing of the life she had with me, the life before Hell... and will probably be lost in a path she wasn't meant to take.... But it's not her fault! She's helpless, she can't know what else could have awaited her... Do you know if..."

"If her soul can be saved?" the nun finishes her sentence; Eset nods softly. "Yes, I believe she has that chance. All souls have the song of light deep within them; and God has the beautiful ability to make them, once in a while, listen to that song. If your daughter one day hears that song, as she will certainly do, she will have the possibility to cling to it and be saved. She only needs to accept that song of light over the darkness surrounding her."

Eset smiles a bit more brightly, and she nods in understanding, a tiny speck of hope burning in her bright eyes.

"And Eset?" the Mother Superior smiles with kindness, "you are already forgiven for your sins; you heard that song, and you clung to it, and it brought you here. To safety. And though I cannot tell the future, as God wants us to shape our future with our own hands, I will tell you this with certainty: you will see your daughter again, and she will be once more your gift of life."

Eset hugs the Mother Superior, her tears falling as the nun holds her tight. She is finally at peace; and the nun is right. No matter the past, she can shape the future with her own hands now. No more hiding, no more shame.

**********************

The moonlight floods Eset's bedroom through the window. Eset kneels in the light, and looks toward the starry sky; she links her hands, and with a soft smile, prays out loud, knowing this time that no one will shame her for it:

"Dear God. Thank you for giving my daughter her full life. I know it wasn't you specifically who delivered it, but I think that demons and angels are two side of the same coin: yours. So... I pray of you:

>> Give my daughter the strength and courage to go through the challenges she is facing, and will face. And when she will be ready... let her hear your song. Help her find again her path toward the light. Please... allow her soul to be saved. Amen."