Chapter 1: Father William
Chapter 1: Father William
Rumors were everywhere about the big-name new priest, William West.
He was the new priest at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where all the aspiring nuns were.
He was the principal, so to speak, of the school for aspiring nuns.
I've heard a lot of comments about him, that he's a very religious man, accustomed to spiritual things, which is why he's famous (although I've never heard anything about him until now), that he's very attractive in appearance, and that he's a bit scary, that his presence is intimidating, and that his gray eyes seem to devour your soul.
I couldn't confirm anything because I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I had to go to my parents house for a week for a relative's funeral, but when I came back it all started.
I met him that night and my life changed forever.
Sunday night Mass was a few minutes away and almost all the seats were filled, as they are almost every Sunday, but everyone was waiting for the new Fr. William West to come out.
"Celeste," said the Mother Superior, "come with me."
I followed her without retort; the Mother Superior was in charge of all the aspiring nuns like me, whom she respected, and I always liked the fact that she thought of me in everything; I was practically her right-hand man, and she saw a bright future for me as the next Sister and possible Mother Superior.
I aspire to one day mentor other women on this path.
As we left the hall where Mass was celebrated and entered the hallway of the main office and into Mother Superior's private office, she held out three long metal tubes and handed them to me, which I took quizzically.
"I need you to take this to the auditorium and leave these tubes there, Brother Richard will need them there in order to start moving forward with the renovations in the morning."
"Now? I mumbled that Mass was supposed to be starting and I wanted to see Father William who everyone was talking about, plus I was just imagining how tiring it would be to climb up seven flights of stairs with this.
"Yes, do it quickly so you can get to Mass before it starts." She said and walked away without further explanation.
I sighed.
Therein lies the downside of being the right hand man for everything.
Of course, whenever Mass was celebrated, the pressure was on, and now that they were building an auditorium on the seventh floor, the pressure tripled.
I carried the tubes towards the stairs and climbed up one step at a time trying not to drop them, they were heavy and by the time I got to the third floor I could feel my soul bearing down on me and I decided to take a break, when I got to the top I turned the tubes over and was going to put them on the floor but I didn't realize that someone was coming towards the stairs and I punched him in the head and knocked him on the floor.
"Sorry, sorry, are you okay?" I said, setting the pipe aside before approaching the body lying completely unconscious on the floor.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
I covered my mouth with my hand when I saw the elaborate clothing he was wearing; it was a sacramental garment, which meant I had murdered Father William West.
...... Damn, damn.
...... No, stop it, I shouldn't curse.
I groaned. But why do these things happen to me?
What am I going to do now?
They're going to fire me for murdering him.
"Oh no."
I had to think this through, I approached him and knelt beside his body, placing a finger under his sharp nose, I could feel the air coming out, his breathing was slow, but the important thing was that he was breathing. I put my ear to his chest and underneath all that fabric I could hear his heartbeat.
He was alive.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father." I mumbled and started to pat his cheek to see if he'd respond, but he didn't do anything.
I needed him to do something.
"Father William," I insisted, "Wake up!"
He didn't comply, didn't wake up, and I slapped him harder and harder.
Suddenly I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I panicked; Father's body must have disappeared somewhere.
"God."
...... Speaking of bodies disappearing, I already look like a serial killer.
I grabbed him by the armpits and started dragging him as hard as I could, he was so heavy. I walked into an open office, closed the door, and laid my father down on the couch, letting out a tired sigh.
"Father ......" Once again I uselessly tried to wake him up, if I didn't wake him up now they would come looking for him and see the mess I had made and I would be in big trouble.
I stood up and started hitting his chest with my palms as if I was doing CPR, but then I remembered that's what's used to revive people, well, maybe though ......
It was.
Water.
I looked around and saw a vase with flowers on the table, I quickly walked over to the vase, took out the flowers, grabbed the water bottle, and poured the water over Father William.
Suddenly, Father William opened his eyes and sat down on the couch and started coughing, reacting I screamed and leaned back in shock, slipping on the water that had fallen on the floor and falling on my butt.
He brushed the excess water off his face with his hand, it was the first time I noticed his face, I mean I was so worried about him waking up that I didn't notice how attractive he was, thick dark eyebrows, square jaw, full, perfectly shaped lips, and rich lashes framing mysterious gray eyes.
Wow.
As aspiring nuns, we're usually indifferent to a man or his beauty, but he was a marvelous man because I'd never seen anyone so dazzling in my life that took my breath away.
Now I finally understand why they gossip so much about Fr. William West, he is just ...... impressive.
He looked around as if he didn't know where he was and then gazed his gray eyes at me and my whole world disappeared, it felt like I was being trespassed and I couldn't remember how to react.
Never in my life have I been so intimidated by anything, let alone anyone, but here I was, shaking and my whole face red.
Father William stood up from the couch and walked slowly toward me. I gulped heavily and got up from the floor in reaction. I wasn't sure if he was upset or not, but he definitely wanted to know what was going on here.
"Father, I'm sorry," I began, "it was ...... I was the one who accidentally hit you with a couple of iron pipes, and because I didn't see it, you fell and didn't react, so I had to pour water on you, and I ...... You're still here. Well, time to get back to Mass."
He stopped a long way from me and frowned at me.
If eyes could kill ......
"Did the beating hurt?" I continued to ask.
He didn't answer me and continued to look at me with that flirty look.
I gulped heavily.
"Can you talk?" I asked, not understanding if he was deaf or what.
"Of course I can talk, I froze when you said that." He finally spoke, his voice low and intimidating.
I bowed my head, my hands trembling.
"I'm so sorry, Father." I whispered.
"Apologizing doesn't take away your incompetence." He continued.
I gulped again, I knew I'd done wrong, but I was surprised he'd responded to me in such a grumpy way.
"Uhh."
I took a deep breath, not even looking up.
"I know, I'm sorry ......" I was about to say, but he cut me off:
"Don't ever come near me again, idiot."
I clenched my jaw, I knew I'd done wrong, but my father's attitude was rather angry, not that of a man filled with divine love.
I looked up and met his gray eyes again, I felt an inexplicable pressure in my chest and for some reason my heart was beating uncontrollably, as if something strange was happening around us, as if the circumstances had suddenly become small and closed the distance between us.
My father took a step toward me and I stopped breathing, but he seemed to react, taking two steps back before turning and leaving the office.
I let out the breath I was holding.
But ...... What the hell had happened?
I couldn't stop shaking.
I walked over to the couch to recover from what had happened.
What a terrible first impression, I had to make sure I was out of his sight for the rest of his stay here or I risked bothering him again and getting kicked out of my biggest nun's dream.
But confusingly, fate had other plans for me.