24 [Episode 8]

She felt a strange energy guiding her that day. After sending the e-mail she put on some music and got out of bed, went to the kitchen and started the coffee maker after which she headed to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She really liked what she was seeing. The Sara that was smiling back from the mirror was more or less perfect, even with the curl not hiding that ugly cut anymore. Nevertheless she knew it had to be hidden because the others won’t understand it and will just stare at it and feel either pity, either think about mocking words.

A short sound let her know that the coffee was ready. She didn’t even blink, she just smiled and nodded. “This is it Sara, let’s get down to business! Let this be the first day of the rest of our life!” She went back into the kitchen, poured the coffee in a big cup, took the ashtray and headed back into her room, took her laptop closer and lighted up a cigarette. She opened the internet browser and tried to find some blueprints for the town’s cathedral. Tons of results were generated which made her raise her right eyebrow without being discouraged because Sara knew she had the perseverance needed to achieve her goal. She spent 5 hours at the laptop surfing through web-sites and almost 2 packs of smokes. She did not find anything useful so she took a moment to think. “Screw this, internet sucks sometimes! I can just go and check out for myself!” She got up and went back into the bathroom, put some makeup on, not too much thou because she just hated the feeling of chemical stuff on her face and because she knew that her face and skin were perfect just the way they were. But still, some makeup will make her even prettier. Then she took her black leather jacket, her snickers on, a pair of glasses, her wallet, the keys and left. The weather outside was lovely even for an autumn day so instead of paying a lot of money on a cab she decided to wait for the bus.

She finally got there, the cathedral was right in front of her. The 48 crosses on the 4 pillars at the entrance were just a proof of how huge the structure was. The actual building process started many years ago, in 1906 and lasted for 9 long years. A massive earthquake in the 1940’s collapsed one of the towers but after reconsolidation, the cathedral was once again new. Like any other Christian building, the cathedral was filled with symbolism and important faces with the rank of saints. “Aw man, pagan stuff everywhere... But no! They all claim that their religion is the only one worth following! Bullshit! 48 crosses, 4 pillars, obvious pagan symbolism!” The massive doors at the entrance were almost always closed so the only way to get in was through a small door situated on the cathedral’s right side. Once she stepped inside she couldn’t help not feeling weird, remembering her years spent at that church, in almost total isolation except for the other nuns. She had a strange instinct of making the cross sign with her right hand but she fought it easily. The paintings were amazingly alive and once inside you could almost feel that all those saint’s eyes painted on the walls were pointed straight at you. Sara smiled as she felt it and switched her point of interest from the paintings to the walls. She was curious where the main structure columns were located, she needed to know exactly where the strong and weak structural points were. Sadly she was no architect but she was smart. At that hour in the entire cathedral there were only 2 other people: a couple. The girl was on her knees praying towards the altar and the boy- pretty good looking, Sara considered- was just behind her with both hands deep in his pockets having that “C’mon already!” look on his face and no faith in God at all. “That’s my type of guy!” While staring at him Sara did not notice the bump on the floor and bumped into it, falling down on her knees. The boy turned his head towards the noise and when he saw her falling down he took his hands out of the pockets in a shy attempt of helping her but then abandoned the idea when he realized that the distance was too big and that she’d be up on her feet by the time he gets close to her. His girlfriend also looked and smiled, thing which irritated Sara a lot. “I’ll come there and wipe that stupid smile off your face with just a simple move you stupid girl!” She got up in a few seconds feeling a little bit embarrassed and then looked towards the altar from which a priest just entered the huge room. She started walking towards him with a “I could eat you alive” look:

-Hello father, said Sara with her head facing the floor!
-Hello, the priest answered!
-Father, I have a curiosity. I suppose you do know all about the building, am I right?
-Yes I do, it had been passed down from generation to generation, answered the priest with a warm, whispered voice.
-I am doing a project for my class and I decided I should chose the cathedral as the most important building in town. I want to ask if you: where are the strong and weak structural points of the building?

Surprisingly the question put a smile on the priest’s face and he decided to give Sara a tour, pin-pointing each spot, each column and introducing historical facts or architectural mistakes. “I am a genius!” Sara thought as she was paying attention to the priest’s indications. She could already picture everything in her head and on the spot everything made sense and it seemed quite simple. Sara knew that it wouldn’t be that easy thou, she knew that an ingenious way was needed to ensure the success of the plan. Nevertheless, the first phase was complete, she found out exactly what she was looking for. “Check!” an imaginary pen inside her head was writing beside a small action plan written on an imaginary piece of paper.

-Thank you very much father! This is all I need for a good grade!
-I am glad I could help you. God bless!
-Right! Bye, said Sara as she turned her back smiling with evil thoughts inside her head!

As she was walking towards the exit she couldn’t help not looking again towards that boy and she was amazed, she almost skipped a heartbeat when their looks met halfway. “Uh, damn boy, stop looking at me, imma blush!” she thought as she rewarded his look with a cute smile. Sara then started walking fast towards the bus station, almost as fast as the scenarios in her head. So many ideas, so many possibilities, so many ways towards success were running inside her head that she needed to get back home faster so that she can put pen to paper. Anyway, Sara spent the entire road back home thinking about the biggest challenge of the plan: getting the raw material that will do the trick. It wasn’t as if she could just go to the store and ask for it. “No worries, chemistry is my friend or at least it will become my friend. I will create my own magic stuff!”


To be continued...
P.S. Sper sa fie mai lizibil textul aranjat asa./ I hope the text is easier to read organized like this. Thanks Alex for the feedback!