NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 13: Dismissed
"You can't chase us out on the streets just because we went for a party. That's not right!"
Head Nun Gagadel, who was doing her best not to snap completely at these disobedient, ungrateful mortals she had fed and raised ever since they were little, stood at the top of the stairs. Everyone gathered at the bottom as Head Nun Gagadel stood tall and proud, her horns poking out of her head, red eyes glaring down into the souls of Kira and Eve standing behind her in shame.
"You dare tell me what is right or wrong? Was it right when you both disobeyed me and the angels by sneaking out to indulge in an unholy celebration, and that too at the Red Palace two nights ago?"
Eve's hands around her bag tightened as her eyes remained on the floor in shame. Kira matched Head Nun Gagadel's stare with an equally venomous one.
"For hell's sake, there was nothing unholy about the party at the Red Palace. You all just sit here and believe in a bunch of lies some winged creatures of light tell you and that's it?"
"I am not going to stand here and argue with a teenager that gave up her virginity just so she could attend a party with a demon lord."
Kira bit down hard on her bottom lip, her eyes darting to both Maya and Gwen, who had not only told the head nun about how they sneaked out to attend the Devil God celebration at the Red Palace but also about her desperate affair with Demonlord Raha. The betrayal in Kira's eyes burned more than ever, and she wished she had never once thought any of them were worth it.
"You have not only lost your place here, in this home, but your chance at redemption with the angels. You could both go live and try to survive or die on the streets now for all I care. I just don't want two corrupt and terminally ill brats corrupting my other children and drawing us all further away from the light. You both should leave."
Kira couldn't believe Head Nun Gagadel would be serious about chasing out whoever participated in the Devil God celebration. It wasn't that she regretted going to the Red Palace to have fun for the first time in her eighteen years of living in Hell, but surviving on their own and on the harshest and poorest streets of Hell seemed overwhelming, even for someone over twenty. And the head nun looked like someone who wouldn't take a few pleas and let them stay. Kira tried hard to hold back her tears as Eve remained silent, still not uttering a word since she regained consciousness.
"Klara?" the head nun called, and Klara stepped forward to hand her a glass-like, perfume-shaped bottle filled with pale-white pills meant to make Eve's sickness better. The head nun handed the bottle to Eve, who accepted it in silence, thereby fueling everyone who was still kept in the dark about her condition.
"It would only be wicked of me if I should hold this from you regardless of your reckless behavior. I have always seen you as the good and well-behaved one. The one who should know better and acknowledge the ways of the angels and understand why all of this is… wrong, Evangeline."
Tears clouded her now pale and tired eyes as she continued to stare at nothing.
"You should have been a better big sister to them all and not join them in doing what is not. Regardless, I have decided not to punish you based on your present condition. Your illness would never stop me from throwing you out there on the streets if it means preserving the heart, mind, and body of the rest of my girls from both of you."
"Illness?" Kira whispered aloud as she turned slowly to face Eve, who now had a small tear rolling down the side of her left cheek. Everyone grew interested, all eyes falling on Eve in both shock and confusion as to what the head nun meant by Eve being sick.
"You only have less than three years to live anyway, so life on the streets wouldn't be that hard for you for long."
Both Maya and Gwen gasped, bringing their hands to their mouths in disbelief. Kira was the most stricken by the news. She stared at her elder sister, eyes wide and teary, lips parted with no words coming out.
Still, she said nothing but held onto her bag as if anticipating the moment she would step out of this place.
"I wish you both the very best, and I pray the angels guide your steps and hearts closer to the truth," the head nun said after a long moment of silence following the revelation. "You are both dismissed."
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"Is it… really… a terminal one?" Kira asked again, eyes fixed on the girl walking alongside her as they journeyed to nowhere in particular. "Are you really going to die in three… was that the reason you were so weak at the party and bleeding nonstop from your nose?"
Kira stopped walking when Eve wasn't answering any of her questions. She held Eve back and turned her around until they faced each other. The perfume bottle containing her survival pills was firm in one hand as her luggage hung from the other.
"I am so sorry I got you into this mess, Evie. If I had known you were sick and that you couldn't handle so much stress… I swear that I wouldn't have forced you to come with me. I would have left you all by yourself, and the only person that would be getting kicked out of the house today would have just been me…" Kira's voice broke into a sob. It pained her so much that she had to move back and cover her face in shame. She had even made a terminally ill person walk in tight, hilly shoes down a long road all the way to the Red Palace with little to no shame.
"I am so sorry…" she choked out. "It still doesn't matter if I didn't know, but…"
Eve stepped forward to pull Kira into a hug in the best way she could. She was also just too heartbroken to tell her to stop crying and forget everything. Even if possible, she should forget she ever heard about her condition, and they should all just pretend that everything was okay.
"It's like the angels are out to get me for my sins, and I have really not done anything wrong to deserve this. We even got thrown out of the party we suffered so much to get into by the king himself…"
Eve's arms just remained around her sister in remembrance of how that party that was supposed to be life-changing turned out to be a big nightmare.
"But don't worry…" Kira pulled out of Eve's hold to look at her with new, hopeful eyes. "They would have to do better than this to completely break me. We will survive, Eve, and I promise never to let anything happen to you. I will take good care of you and find a way to cure your illness and prolong your life," she sniffed, and Eve just stared, beginning to like and notice something about her dear sister. "Alright? I still remember the road that leads to Demonlord Raha. I will beg him to marry me as his third wife so I can get enough money to take care of us. And if he disagrees to have anything else to do with me, I will work for him until the day I gather enough money to shoulder all responsibilities for us and our healthcare, alright?"
She said it like it was easier said than done.
"Don't you worry, Eve. We are going to be safe. I promise."