An Unholy Redemption Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Lucifer had walked aimlessly all night through the dimly lit streets of London, resting only to ask a couple of people for directions. Finally, he stood in front of a door of a huge house, a few miles out of the city of London. Above the door was a gold plaque which read: Sanctuary House. His attention was drawn to a flowing fountain in the middle of a large lawn, which had recently been cut. It was surrounded by rows of tall pine trees, all lush and green, reaching for the skies like soldiers standing on guard. The house itself was not so well looked after. Wooden window frames were old and falling apart. Cracks in the plaster rose from the ground like veins showing through skin. He’d started to approach the door when beneath his foot a loud squeak sounded. He’d stood on the head of a battered old doll. Its hair was almost blonde, except for the stains running through it. She was wearing a blue dress and hair ribbon to match. “Damn thing,” he said under his breath as he angrily kicked it to the side. Lucifer’s fist boomed repeatedly on the heavy door. It was not long before he heard the sound of feet running towards the door, and then there was silence. Impatiently he waited for a while then lifted his fist again for a second attempt. Just then a bolt rattled from the other side of the door and the door slowly opened as far as the still attached chain would allow. Lowering his head to look through the gap, Lucifer could see nobody. “Hello, is anybody there?” he shouted.

“You can’t come in, you know,” a little girl’s voice said. He looked down to see half of a little girl’s face looking up at him, as she hid behind the door. Lucifer could see the twinkling of a sky blue eye nearly covered by long ringlets of blonde hair. “And why not?” he replied impatiently. Lucifer could now see her face and her nose was sticking through the opening. She was wearing a blue dress and her hair had a blue ribbon almost identical to that of the doll. “You have to knock three times,” she shouted. “It’s the rule.”

“Well, I don’t follow rules. They are for sheep and people who want to be led -” He was in mid-sentence when the door slammed in his face, Lucifer clenched his fist in anger and shouted, “Look little girl, I don’t have time for this!”

“Knock three times and I will let you in. It’s the rule,” a muffled voice sounded from behind the door. “What is so important anyway about three knocks anyway?”

“It says in the Bible: knock three times and heaven you shall enter.”

“Well I don’t believe in heaven but I’ll play your stupid game if I can eventually be allowed in.” Reluctantly, he slammed his fist against the heavy wooden frame three times.

“That’s better,” she said. The door opened again, but only to the length of the chain much to Lucifer’s annoyance. He looked down again at the girl who was smiling in appreciation of Lucifer playing her game. She giggled. “Now you have to solve my riddle and give me the secret password, then -” Lucifer interrupted her little speech. “Look, I won’t tell you -”

The door again shut hard in Lucifer’s face, Lucifer dropped his head in resignation.

“Okay, okay open the door and give me the riddle, I’ll try to solve it.” The door slowly opened to reveal a cheeky grin. “Very well, here goes,” she said. “I am her, she is me, she is small, I am tall and a speechless friend she will always be to me. I wonder what the password could be?” It didn’t take Lucifer long to work out she was talking about the doll which lay on the floor next to his feet. “I guess the password is ‘doll’ as you keep looking at it. You have to try harder than that if you don’t want to give the game away.”

Smugness made its way across Lucifer’s face at the thought of having a victory over this little girl. The feeling was short-lived. “Wrong,” as the girl replied, “You only have one more guess. You were close though.” Begrudgingly, he picked the doll up from the floor and studied it for a while by lifting up its skirt, looking at her shoes until finally parting her hair where he noticed some writing stitched on the bald head: “If I am lost and lonely, please return me to my friend, love Jemima.”

“Is it Jemima by any chance?”

“Hooray!” she shouted.

“Angela, what are you doing out of class? And why are you standing with the door open?” said an adult female voice behind Angela. The little girl turned around to look at the person spoiling her game. “It’s a stranger and he gave the right knocks. He knows the secret password. Can he come in?”

“Get away from there”, the woman said. Lucifer tried very hard to peer behind the door. As he leant forward, Angela snatched the doll from his hand and ran off down the corridor. The chain fell against the door and the door slowly creaked open. Lucifer’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped as the door fully opened. “Hello, how can I help you?”

In front of Lucifer stood a woman, cautiously not trying to look into Lucifer’s eyes. She looked as if she was in her mid-twenties and wore a long black gown and a white hood which almost covered the whole of her head apart from her face, around her neck hung a silver crucifix. Lucifer found it hard to speak. After all, she was the last person he would want to be standing in front of. “I’m not sure I’ve come to the right place,” he said, handing her the white card.

“Yes, this is the right place, Sanctuary House, the local orphanage. Who or what have you come to find?” she asked politely as she handed him back the card. “I’m looking for Sophie. I was told I could contact her here.”

“The only Sophie we have here is Sister Sophie, but I doubt she’ll see you because she dedicated her life to God after having her heart broken a long time ago.” The nun looked curiously at Lucifer, staring at his long black coat which was still muddy from the events of previous evening. “What did you say your name was?”

“It’s Luther. You have to tell her Christopher sent me, because I’m lost and I was told that if she saw this card she would recognise it.” She stood there for a little while longer trying to decide. Lucifer forced a smile in an attempt to reassure her. She finally relented and stood aside, inviting him in. “If you wait here, I’ll go and find her.” As he watched the nun quietly walk off down the corridor, Lucifer’s attention was drawn to a picture on the wall. It depicted the crucifixion. He studied every detail and looked up at Jesus’ sorrowful face. Nobody really knew what you looked like, I remember you well and all those happy times we spent together. Yes I enjoyed tormenting and tempting you in the desert. How I smiled at your fall from grace, especially when your people turned against you, wanting your blood by torturing you on the cross and what for? What did all that forgiveness of sin and that awful word love accomplish? Nothing! It only delayed the inevitable where man would destroy man throughgreed, corruption and the best of all religion. “Excuse me.” Lucifer’s thoughts were interrupted by the quiet voice of returning nun. “Sister Sophie has agreed to see you, please follow me.”“Can you please give me a one second?” He turned to face the picture again and bowed his head respectfully. When he noticed the nun had turned around to give him some privacy, he lifted his eyes and whispered under his breath. “Don’t go too far, brother. I’ll be seeing you again soon, once I find my way back into heaven after defeating God’s plans. I’ll find you and this time I won’t be so kind.” He then raised his voice. “Thank you sister for your patience, I’ve finished now.”

“Very well, it’s just down here.” She turned and started walking down the long corridor with classrooms either side. As Lucifer walked passed one of the doors, he felt someone watching him. He turned to see Angela again. She spoke in a sad whisper.

“I know who you are, and how it feels to be lost and unloved. I don’t care what people have said about you in the past, you see there is still something good in you.” Lucifer stopped and glared at Angela. She gave him a perfect smile which lit her face up; her eyes shone as if she had a soul of an angel. She then turned and ran off down the corridor with Jemima lovingly held under her arm. “Angela, Angela!” The nun had spotted her running down the corridor. “That girl is so naughty and is always getting in trouble, not to mention missing most of her classes. We don’t know what to do with her, she has no discipline. Believe me if she wasn’t living in this house with God’s blessing, I would say she was the devil’s child.” As the little girl’s figure faded in the distance, Lucifer made a mental note that he had to get this girl on her own and ask her what she meant about knowing him.

“I don’t know, I think there’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of a free spirit. Sometimes it’s good to walk away from the rest of the sheep, experience life in a different light so to speak.”

“Hush your mouth, Luther; I wouldn’t let Sister Sophie hear you say that. She takes great pride in how well most of the children behave and believes that no one will always stay bad. That’s why she’s taken Angela under her wing to try and improve her behaviour. Here we are.” They stopped outside an archway with a wooden door. The nun knocked on the door and waited for a response.

“In you go.” Lucifer nodded and walked past the nun who shut the door behind him. Sitting in a bay window behind the desk, an elderly nun was half facing the window, looking out at the sunlight. “Please, come in and sit down,” Sophie said. She didn’t turn from the sunlight. Lucifer noticed she held the white card pressed against her chest. She was looking up at the blue sky and smiling thoughtfully. Lucifer remembered how Christopher had kept the same card in his chest pocket and how he had looked up at the sky in the same way. With a deep sigh, the nun finally turned her chair around, placed the card in a golden box on her desk and slowly lifted her eyes to meet Lucifer’s. Lucifer was struck by the piercing blue eyes looking at him. He had only once seen a shade of blue like that before and that was the light which surrounded Michael and his army of angels. “Relax,” Sophie said calmly, “you look a little anxious, like you have just seen a ghost. Please tell me, how is Christopher? I haven’t seen him in over thirty years.”

“He is dead,” Lucifer replied, emotionless. The nun closed her eyes and bent her head in respect. After a moment’s pause, she opened her eyes again, this time filled with tears.

“Did he die in a safe place? And was it peaceful? I pray to God it was so. Were you with him?”

“Yes, I was with him at the end. He went very peacefully and just before he died he gave me this card and whispered to me, ‘Go to this address, Sophie will help you find what you’re looking for’.” Lucifer was hoping the nun would offer a clue so he knew where he needed to be or what he should do next, but she simply nodded. “Hope you don’t mind. I took the liberty of ordering some tea for us. I feel we have so much to talk about, so tell me how I can help you.”

“No, wait one second. I first have to know the connection there was between you and Christopher in order to help me understand my chance meeting with him and how I eventually ended up here.”

“Well, I don’t know where to start.”

“The beginning would be nice,” Lucifer grunted impatiently.

“Quite the impatient one, aren’t you? You sound just like Angela, demanding something straight away. Well, the first time I met Christopher, his name was Matthew. We were both in our twenties and first became acquainted in our local church. I haven’t always been a nun, at that time I was a naïve girl looking for my place in the world, so I thought I’d give God a chance. It was after one of the services that Matthew introduced himself to me. I’d noticed him watching me and he took a chance to ask me if he could buy me a cup of tea.”

“You were leading an exciting life then?” Sophie’s mood changed and folded her arms in defiance, “If you are going to interrupt me I won’t continue.”

“Please, continue,” Lucifer said, oozing insincerity.

“I don’t know why, after all he was a total stranger, but it felt like I had known him for years after. He was also very polite and handsome. Besides it felt right, does that sound odd?” The nun continued without waiting for Lucifer’s reply. She had now stood up and was looking out of the bay window again.

“I remember looking into his eyes as we sat opposite each other, drinking our tea. Matthew explained he used to be a reporter for a national newspaper, but after seeing so much violence and sadness, he had decided it was not the right job for him. I would never forget seeing the sadness in his eyes. He was like a lost soul who needed rescuing. We talked about everyday things, but what struck me the most exciting about him was his enthusiastic talk about coincidences and signs. He told me about a book he was reading, I think it was called To See the Unseen.

 

He explained that the book talked about how everything is planned out for us; all we have to do is look for and follow the signs. It also contained meditation techniques to enable us to be able to tune into these signs more efficiently.” Sister Sophie stopped her narrative at the sound of a knock on the door. “Come in,” she said. The nun who had first greeted Lucifer was entering the room carrying a silver tray of tea and an array of biscuits. “Thank you Sister Phillipa, on the desk here would be fine.” Lucifer watched as she steadily carried the tray past him to lay the tray down. “Sister, will you please take Luther’s coat to the laundry room for a wash. It looks like he has been fighting in the mud with someone.”

“No,” Lucifer replied with urgency, “it’s okay, I would rather keep it on. It is something that is mine and mine alone.”

“Don’t be silly. It can be washing while we talk. And otherwise I won’t elaborate anymore on my story. You can collect it after dinner this evening. You will stay for dinner won’t you?”

Again before Lucifer had a chance to answer, Sister Sophie carried on. “Good, that’s settled.” Sister Phillipa stood next to Lucifer, waiting for him to remove the coat. Reluctantly and wanting to know more of the story he stood and started to unfasten the buttons. As she took hold of the coat, Lucifer did not release his grip but looked into her eyes to see if there was any womanhood left in this nun. Had she given herself totally to the God, or did she still have any dormant desire for the embrace of the man?

“Thank you, sir,” she said looking deep into his eyes in full knowledge of his intent. Lucifer then let go of his hold knowing she was a total devotee of her religious faith.

“Will that be all Sister Sophie?”

“Yes, thank you Sister.” Sister Phillipa paused at the door as Lucifer addressed her.

“Make sure it’s cleaned well and do me a favour and make sure you don’t wash it with holy water.” She gave Lucifer a puzzled look at his strange comment and closed the door behind her. “Luther,” Sister Sophie called out to get Lucifer’s attention, please if you don’t mind, everyone in this house is taught to be polite to one another. I would appreciate it if you would extend the same courtesy.” He nodded with a wry smile which caused him to wince in pain, he had nearly forgotten about the wound on the back of his head. “Are you okay, Luther?”

“It’s nothing just a wound I suffered at the hands of a mugger. Every so often it gives me pain.” “If you like, we can get our matron sister to have a look at it for you?”

“No!” Lucifer snapped because of the fear of people messing about in his head with their mortal hands. Realising he had raised his voice he now spoke in softer tone. “The hospital has given me the all clear.”

“I will continue with my narrative,” she said. “After our drink in the café he walked me home and asked if he could see me again. I agreed straight away and we exchanged telephone numbers. We started seeing each other on a daily basis and finally agreed to get engaged. It was one of the happiest days of my life, a date was set when we would exchange our vows and agreed to save ourselves.” The nun went a slight shade of pink at the sexual connotations, making Lucifer smile at the nun’s obvious embarrassment.

“So you were married?”

“Oh no. In the months leading up to the wedding Mathew started acting strangely and totally out of character.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well he became more distant and we started to see less and less of each other. He would often make up elaborate excuses for why he could not see me. Also, Matthew became very aggressive towards me, especially when I asked where he was going or why he couldn’t see me. It was on a cold November night when I decided to follow him from his house to find out what he was up to. I followed him in my car for about half an hour until he left the main road and drove his car down a small country lane leading to an old estate mansion.