Gabrielle couldn’t really see where she was going at first. She felt the clash of her body against Sister Marina, her hands clinging to her habit and pulling it off like the claws of a harpy before the old woman’s frame fell to the side. Used to this sort of exercise, Gabi had lifted her skirt a bit and wrapped it on her hip, so it wouldn’t get in the way as she jumped and dashed as hard as her little body allowed it. The other nuns didn’t have enough experience to ever consider that, and quickly fell into the mud.
Her body was moving on instinct alone, pushing back towards the Chapel with a very clear idea in mind: getting help.
“GABRIELLE! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!”
The Demiurge’s screams shook the whole forest, Gabi could feel her back quiver and her whole body tense as fear tried to take hold, but no. She couldn’t stop. Not now, nor ever!! Even as steps grew closer to her.
“Gabi! Please, you’ve done enough!” Baraqiel yelled, incapable of doing much more than being carried around like a sack of potatoes. “I don’t want you to get in trouble again!”
But to the girl, even the voice of that child felt distant, gone in a few seconds as she just kept on running with no regard for what could be on her way. Trees, bushes, rocks, she just climbed up anything she wasn’t strong enough to break through, feeling her lungs burning and her limbs growing colder and colder.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been running, it could have been but a second or an entire day, the notion of time was completely lost to the girl, just as her sense of balance. Her body wobbled on that desperate sprint, and she was sure that if she stopped to correct her posture even for a moment, everything would fall and crash. It was the initial impulse that kept her going, and that’s all she could count on.
She could only pray that she was faster than the nuns.
She could only pray that Arianna and Alejandra were waiting back in the Chapel.
She could only pray that the Demiurge’s hand wasn’t strong enough to yank her to a stop.
—
“Where are we going, Sister?” Asked Samantha, while the others formed into a long line outside of the kitchen, “Father said to wait for him at the kitchen.”
“Well, we are not waiting for him” Answered Alejandra, “I need you all to follow me, okay? Or else we are all going to get into a big, BIG trouble.”
Ale didn’t know for sure what was going on, why did Marina and Enrico rush after Gabrielle so desperately or why they told her to stay put while everyone else moved out, but she could feel in the air that the moment Arianna was warning her about had finally come. To see Ari herself arrive in a desperate haze only confirmed her suspicions.
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“Comrade!” The blonde nun practically jumped to see her friend, checking her up and down. “Are you okay!? Did you see the Fath–”
“Run.” Arianna said in the middle of a desperate gasp, taking a few seconds before trying to articulate again: “Take the children and run. They know everything Ale, everything!”
“Ari calm down. Who knows what? Is Genesis here?”
“Yes! But never mind them, they’re coming in the morning.” The desperate brunette shook her head. “It’sEnrico! He knows everything, he’s after—”
“GABRIELLE! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!”
The echoes of a wrathful howl shook the entire forest, while birds of all kinds flew away in search of shelter. The day was already darkening, stormy clouds covering it all and menacing with a new storm. The little girls began to whisper to each other, some worried for the mischievous witch while others more concerned with their own safety.
Most of them looked back at Kimberly, who for the first time in a while started feeling the guilt mounting on her back. Deep down, she knew that this had been because of her.
Samantha gently tugged on Alejandra’s sleeve.
“Is Gabrielle going to be okay?” She asked, her heart racing.
Arianna and Alejandra looked at each other for a moment, and remained silent. They had no way of knowing.
Before any of them could even try to lie, the little girl ran right into view from the rows of trees around the chapel, hair flowing and flaring red as she desperately gasped for air, clinging to the child on her back. The children panicked, for they had never seen Gabrielle as wild as she looked right then and there. Arianna tried to raise her voice, warn Gabrielle of the man running right behind her, reaching for her.
But there was nothing they could have done.
In a blur of motion, a huge hand grabbed Baraqiel by the back of their neck and pulled.
Gabrielle couldn’t compensate for the pull, her legs failed her and her body continued onwards, rolling painfully on the ground until she finally stopped when hitting the Chapel’s shed.
From there, everything was blurry to the little girl. Her body was bent in such a way that it hurt to breathe, everything looked upside down, her arms and legs didn’t move despite her orders. She could see, but not understand a word, as the man gesticulated wildly; he was barking orders, pointing around with his free hand before starting to walk towards her. Everyone was shaking, or was it her own world that shook then?
The man walked closer and closer, but Gabrielle couldn’t move an inch, she could only shake very slowly, carefully forcing her body back to a proper posture. Her bones made a disgusting sound when she finally turned her world back upside up… understanding returned to her ears.
“ —fied me for the last time.” The Demiurge was talking, carrying an unconscious Baraqiel on his back. “Gabrielle, from the very moment we found you, I knew you would be trouble. I forsake the day we decided to keep you around! I forsake the day we decided you deserved redemption! Witches like you only deserve punishment, and death!”
The girl could barely stand up, frozen in fear as this tower of a man came closer and closer, emotion flaring in his eyes. A dangerous emotion, one she couldn’t understand and yet her whole body feared just the same.
And then, three little girls ran to stand right between her and the powerful man.
“Wait, Father please!”
Samantha had been the first to run, but Kimberly was not far behind. Amber had been pulled by the arm by her friend, not really that interested… or maybe too scared to show any real emotion.
“Father please! We were the ones who told her to get into your room!” Kimberly admitted, to Amber’s absolute surprise. “It was a joke, we tricked her into it!”
Gabrielle would have gasped in disbelief when hearing that, if she had the energy to do so.
“Please don’t hit her, it was our fault.” Samantha jumped into that wagon as well, tears starting to roll down her eyes. “Please, please! Forgive her!”
He didn’t answer: the Demiurge just continued walking. Samantha moved out of the way, so did Amber; but Kimberly tried to stand up to the man, to call out to him just a bit louder, just a bit longer.
“Father, please!”
The man wasn’t thinking then. It was all emotion to him, all anger and desperation… So when an obstacle stood in his way, there was only one course of action in his mind.
He slapped the girl right out of his way, with all the strength he could muster.