The Chamber of Sins

“I didn’t know she is a nun. Was.” His fainted voice said something unintelligible, making the doctor’s forehead frown.

The silence was overwhelming, and the young man felt the need to continue without being invited.

“We met in a bar two months ago. She said she likes my calmness and needed someone to be there for her. I have never asked her about her private life, and she was very discrete.”

“Had you met in a hotel before her death?”

“Yes. We always met in hotels, especially the one on Charleston Street - Starry Night. Amber didn’t want me to go to her house, and I live with my two little brothers and my poorly grandmother. So I couldn’t bring her to my house either...”

“Were you not curious about your lover’s life? I mean, I would,” the doctor underlined. “Had she never done or said anything suspicious?”

The young man thought for a few seconds. Finally, he swallowed excessively and asked for a glass of water. After drying it, he wiped a few drops from his chin.

“Now that you mention, there was something. Amber would always get messages that would upset her. She would then end our date and leave in a hurry. I had asked her once where she was going, and she didn’t call me for weeks, so I've never done it again. I was in love,” the boy whispered and started sobbing.

The doctor seemed to finish the interrogation, and turning his back on them, he left the room with no greetings. Lionette put her purse on the chair and came closer to the boy.

“You saw nothing weird at Sister Eveline? Sorry, I meant Amber. Like strange behaviour? What about money? Did she ever complain about money?”

“She always had money on her, lots of cash,” the boy confessed. “She was normal, most of the time, until she would receive that message and start behaving strangely, like being afraid of something or someone. And then would leave.”

“Have you never asked about it?”

“Amber wouldn’t answer. Instead, she would stare through me as if I were invisible. She didn’t like to be interrogated.”

“Did she use to talk on the phone in your presence?” Lionette asked.

“I think it was once or twice. Never understood what she was saying,” the boy said, his gaze directed downward in search of a past long gone.

“Are you sure?” Lionette stressed.

“Maybe, one time,” the boy said. “She said something about founding a treasure, which would value a lot. It made no sense. That's it,” the boy said, his features sallow.

There is someone else, somebody that she was afraid of, Lionette concluded. I need to return to the orphanage. Something is happening there.

The woman left the room confused, not before texting Emily the conclusions. She didn’t receive an answer, which made her heart twinge. She will return another time and visit her acquaintance.

Lionette was putting the phone in her handbag when someone blocked her way.

“Lionette!” Robert said. “I was looking for you. What is this place?” he asked as he was peeking at the nurses in white.

“It’s a hospice,” Lionette rattled.

“I know it is a hospice, but why are you here?” Robert said.

“Why are you here?” Lionette replied.

“Dubois told you were here. Do you know someone who is hospitalised here?”

The boy’s question made the woman grimace.

“I do indeed,” she muttered. “What is so urgent?” Lionette asked as she went up to the next floor, followed by the boy. She changed her mind about visiting. “You could have called,” the woman said.

“I tried, but I couldn’t reach you. I need your help. Dubois told me about the existence of the ultimate weapon against demons, and I want it.”

“Do you call this urgent? Is there an attack?” The woman said, glaring at the boy’s shrugging shoulders. “Anyway, I can’t give it to you. You are not ready yet,” she continued as she was counting the doors in her mind. Finally, finding the right one, she put her finger on her lips while looking at Robert.

Robert helped himself from saying anything and followed her. The room was sunk in darkness, and Lionette pulled the curtains off and let the natural light brush the floor and the walls.

Robert got startled by the patient moaning.

“Who is it?” he pointed at the sheets.

“She is my daughter, Clare,” Lionette replied.

“So, you have a daughter. What happened to her?” the boy asked, avoiding going by the bed.

“A curse,” the woman answered bitterly, and she sat on a chair next to the bed.

Robert remained by the door while studying the room. The predominant colour was grey, shadows of it spreading in the large, cold room.

It wasn’t the best moment to talk, but he needed to cover the stony silence between him and the woman he had known all his life.

“We ran away from some demons yesterday,” he said, smirking. “To Heaven,” he completed.

Lionette stopped from replacing the pillow case and glared at the boy.

“Heaven, you said?” she asked, her voice cold as ice.

“Aha,” Roberts said, suddenly needing to flee the room.

“What is Heaven like?” The woman exhaled. “Have you met any angels?”

“No, I didn’t. I had seen only some archangels and a lyre in the middle of a large room. Actually, I haven’t even entered the room. Protocol,” he sighed.

“A lyre?”

“That is exactly my thought,” Robert sneered. “What is a lyre doing in Heaven? Decoration purpose only?”

“Like this one?” Lionette came closer and showed him a picture. It was a rudimentary sketch, drawn awkwardly on an irregular surface.

“Very close,” he said, squinting his eyes. “Derek said it contains all the dead people’s sins. Its capacity is incommensurable. Who drew it?”

Lionette didn’t respond, her face turning pale. Instead, her glare bounced between her phone and the white wall by the bed.

“What is going on?” Margo asked, her body materialising through the door.

“I'm sure yet,” the boy whispered.

The patient moaned, and Margo came closer, curious about the invalid person lying in the hospice bed. It was a young woman; her suffering face was strangely familiar to her.