"Keep it to yourself." He walked out and left me with a hanging jaw. Anger began to stir inside of me. Who did he think he was to act so rudely to me?

I straightened my gown and took a deep breath before stepping into the church. It was huge and had a kind of feeling attached to it. I stood to take in the place with my eyes and noticed that people dropped their hats here before going further into the church. I remembered father telling me about the part of a Catholic church named the narthex–it had the vestibule where people shook off snows, kept hats and umbrellas. Also for procession gathering. Those sessions with father paid off.

I proceeded into the nave and swept my eyes over the crowd for Hazel and Debby. Hazel waved and gestured for me to join them. The nave was divided into four section and it was where the congregation sat to receive a message from the man on the altar.

My stomach felt uneasy with the eyes that watched me when I made my way to Hazel and Debby. I looked around and saw people crossing themselves with what I figured to be holy water.

A man dressed in all white climbed up the pulpit and began to address the congregation-my lids became heavy, threatening to hug themselves and take me to sleep. A memory of my father pinching my arms made me snap them open. At least, the good thing about being in this school was that it prevented father from seeing and tormenting me. He always said it was bad to sleep in church and that sleeping church meant I was being controlled by the devil.

"Let's bow down our heads for prayers." He raised his hands to the sky and everybody's head was lowered except for mine. he crossed himself saying. "In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. It's time to ask for forgiveness all ye children of the lord."

The church became silent and the crowd made shuffling noises by getting on their knees. I went down and placed my knees on the knee pad, still looking around-obviously confused about what was going on.

"We have sinned and are not worthy to be called your sons and daughters." He started with his eyes shut. I blocked out his words and downloaded the interior of the church with my arms resting on the chair in front of me.

I glanced over at Hazel and Debby who were kneeling with their eyes closed and repeating after the man on the pulpit. The ever obedient Debby. I averted my gaze to the other side of the wall and felt a little weird.

My bowels churned and I felt a slight headache making its way down my right ear. Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation at the back of my neck and rubbed it. I was certain that a pair of eyes were on me, my neck involuntarily turned to see who was staring.

My eyes widened when they fell on the statue of a woman in all white, standing still by the entrance of the church. Her hair was black and long to her waist and it covered her entire face. I averted my gaze to the front and moved closer to Debby, feeling cold hugging my body with all it's might.

This was why father always warned me to keep my eyes shut whenever a prayer was on. My throat went dry and my heart was slowly caged in the cell of fear.

"Please, God." I prayed in my heart with my eyes closed. "Make her go away, I wouldn't leave my eyes opened next time." 

The prayer was over and we all sat on our seats. The preacher man administered to us and my butt became sore. This was my problem with long services, I usually become tired and begin to tone down the voice of the preacher.

My eyes wandered of to the window on the left hand side on the wall and a small frown crawled up my face. I rubbed my eyes and blinked rapidly. There she was, standing with her back plastered on the wall and her hair still covering her face. I closed my eyes and shook my head then slowly peeled them open. My heart almost jumped out of my mouth when Debby placed a cold palm on my wrist.

"Christ!" I yelled, gripping my chest.

"Calm down." She shushed me and I noticed my little exclamation drew attention. "Sorry." She apologized to the scowling eyes and they averted their gazes back to the man on the altar.

She brought her mouth to my ear and whispered. "Are you okay? You seemed white awhile ago."

"I saw someone standing creepily by the corner." I whispered back with horror in my eyes.

"Where?"

"Look slowly to your left." I instructed. "The red window"

She obeyed and her brows bumped together in confusion. "All I see is a window."

"What?" I snapped my head up and noticed it was empty. Must be my head messing with me.

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

I walked into the class I was supposed to have my first lecture and sat on the front seat, the one closest to the door because I read on a particular website that sitting next to the door is a good thing when you have to be in time for another class.

The professor came in and handed each and everyone of us the syllabus with other papers and stuffs in it. My stomach grumbled and searched my bag for a chocolate chip. I came across my goal list for today and sadly, I've not ticked anyone out.

First one on my list was to make one friend today.

"According to Catholic tradition, the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ." He explained and backed us to write on the board.

This was the perfect time to eat my chocolate chips. I brought one out of the plastic and hastily inserted it in my mouth.

He turned and swept his eyes over the students. His eyes lingered on my face so I stopped chewing and had an odd look on my face.

"Miss-" he hesitated with cocked up eye brows, waiting for whoever he was addressing to tell him her name. "You."

He pointed at my direction and I turned to look at the person behind me with the chips still secured oddly in my mouth.

"You." He snapped his fingers and pointed directly at me.

"Me?" I spoke and sounded funny because of my occupied mouth. My skin crept and I could feel a fat lump in my throat.

"Yes." His phone rang out loud and it took his attention from me. He glanced down at it.

This gave me the time to stand and swallow the chips without chewing. Tears filled my eyes when I struggled to push it down my throat.

"Why are you eating in my hall?" He questioned with dead eyes and I noticed just how neatly carved his beard was.

Finally, the chip went down, but got stuck. I cleared my throat with my head lowered.

"You're miss?"

"Hephzibah." I managed to say with my throat closing up. Coughs escaped from my lips and I reached up a hand to clutched my throat.

Whispers erupted from the other students with eyes burning holes into my skin.

"Are you okay?" A person beside me asked, but I couldn't reply. I was too busy trying to breathe.

"I can't breathe." I gasped, hitting my chest with my fist.