In A Dark Mirror

Four

Slowly the nightmare faded, and Afric realised that the hand stroking her face was not at all Death’s. Instead it belonged to Heather, who sat over her bed, whispering to her.

“Sorry, did I wake you again?”, she whispered.

Aifric had lately managed to keep her nightmares silent enough not to wake sister Immaculata, who otherwise would come over and punish her.

“No, I woke you!” Heather smiled mysteriously. “And by the looks of it, I didn’t interrupt anything, right?”

Aifric shook her head. “Not really. I had another bad dream.”

“More of a nightmare, from the sounds you were making. Come on, get dressed!” Heather tore away Aifric’s sheet.

Aifric was mystified. “What? It’s the middle of the night!”

“A few minutes before midnight. Come on, you don’t wanna be late!”

Aifric wondered what could be this urgent in the middle of the night. But, still sleepy, she obeyed. They sneaked through the dark corridor. In the dim light Aifric saw that the ladder that led to the attic was down.

“What if Sister Claire hears us?” She whispered.

“Shush!” Heather hissed. “She won’t, relax.”

Silently Heather sneaked up the ladder. Reluctantly, Aifric followed her. In the Attic, all girls where assembled. Everyone looked a bit sleepy, but even Mary-Jade was there.

Mercedes beamed at her: “Surprise!”

Before she realized what was going on, Mercedes hugged her. “Happy Birthday!” The girl laughed.

Aifric had tried to push the thought of her upcoming birthday as far away as she could, for the past few weeks. Last year, she had a sleepover with her friends. They wore pyjamas, drank a lot of fizzy drinks and stayed up late. All this seemed like a story another person’s life now.

After Mercedes finally released her, she looked around. Near the window, a candle was lit. Beside it, was a cake. The cake was a tiny and very simple tray bake from a supermarket, but it was chocolate-coated and sprinkled with almonds. Something of the sort that was strictly forbidden in this house.

As were birthday-parties. Mother Agatha considered celebrating the day of one’s birth to be vanity.

Heather made her way over to Aifric, gently pushing Mercedes out of the way, so she could hug her friend. “Happy sixteenth, love!”

She led Aifric to the cake and the candle. “I know, it’s not much, but at least we’ve got a candle. And, well, cake.”

“Were did you get it from?” Aifric wondered.

“It’s from the same miraculous place were my ciggy’s come from.” Heather grinned.

“You nicked it?”

“Of course I nicked it. You’re not going to get all moral on me, are you? Because I’ve got the penguins for that!”

Aifric shook her head.

“’Right then, blow the candle, make a wish!”

Aifric looked around, then sighed, and blew out the candle.

“Did you make a wish?” Aislin asked curiously.

“She’s not supposed to say, silly!” Mercedes said. “Otherwise, it won’t come true!”

Aifric sincerly hoped that it would. All she had wished for, was to make it through her birthday. A task that would turn out to be harder than she thought. They sat together for about an hour, eating the cake, and the other girls were chatting away happily.

Aifric did not participate in any of their conversation. Her mind wandered off into the past, where she had been celebrating her birthday with her family. She remembered her mam’s smile, and how Eoghan had smeared the chocolate coating of the cake all over his face.

The memories made her head swim. Why wouldn’t she cry? She sighed. Best not to think about it. Heather had taken the seat to her left, and now put an arm around her.

“Maybe this was not such a good idea.” She said.

“Sorry, I’m such a party-pooper!” Aifric whispered to her friend.

“No problem. This sounded like a great plan, when Mercedes came up with it. I didn’t have in mind, that it might stir up some memories.” Heather responded.

“I’m OK, just, let me sit here for a while, and don’t expect me to talk much.”

The celebration was small, and of course it didn’t last very long. All of them had to get up at five-thirty in the morning; and the excitement of secretly staying up so late wore off; especially Aileen and Aislin were nodding off before it was one o’clock. Heather stashed the remainders of the tin-foil-tray in some secret hideaway, were she usually hid her cigarettes. Then they climbed down the ladder, and saw that the little girls got back into bed.

When the three older girls stepped back into the hall, they saw a figure standing on the stairway. It was Sister Immaculata.

“Shit!” Heather murmured. She took a quick look around then stepped in front of the other girls.

“What is going on here?” Immaculata boomed.

Heather stood in front of her. “I thought it would be a nice idea, to sing a little birthday tune to Aifric.” She said, in a strong and steady voice.

“At one o’clock in the morning?” Immaculata asked.

“Yes, sister. I thought it might cheer her up. She always so sad.”

“And then you thought waking her up in the middle of the night, would be a good way to make her happy?”

“It was worth a try, wasn’t it?” Heather returned chiefly.

“Don’t you dare to talk back to me, young lady!” Immaculata was not amused. “Who else is behind this?”

She looked first at Aifric, then at Mercedes, who tried to hide behind Heather’s back.

“No one.” Heather said. “This was my idea of a surprise. I woke the girls up, and thought they would participate in my little serenade.”

Immaculata looked at Mercedes and Aifric again. “Is that true? And don’t lie, the Lord sees through you!”

Bravely, Mercedes nodded. It was lucky that it was so dark, otherwise Immaculata would have seen how she blushed. She’d never been a good liar.

“Magdalena?” Immaculata now stood in front of Aifric now. It took a long while until Aifric reacted. She still wasn’t used to being called by her new name, and her mind was somewhere else entirely.

“Answer!” Immaculata cried.

“It was as she said.” Aifric managed to say.

Seemingly content with the answer, Immaculata turned her attention back to Heather. “You will explain yourself to Mother Agatha!”

As she led Heather away, she turned to Mercedes and Aifric. “You two! Back to bed!” She commanded.

When Aifric didn’t move, it was Mercedes, who took her hand, and led her back to the dormitory.

“Everything will work out fine.” She explained. “Heather knows what she’s doing!”

Mercedes tried to sound more confident than she was.

Aifric didn’t see Heather again until breakfast. She was limping, and when she sat on her place, she grimaced, as if she was in pain.

“Are you OK?” Airfic asked carefully. “What did she do to you?”

“A good spanking” Heather said light-heartedly, as if she’d been invited to a picnic.

“I’m sorry.” Aifric whispered, as they laid the table. “And all because of me!”

“Nonsense,” Heather brushed her off. “None of this is your fault! And it was definitly worth it!”

Aifric was confused. “Worth a spanking?”

“If we don’t have a little bit of fun in here, and break the rules, we’re all getting bonkers!” She held her finger to her temple and made a cuckoo gesture.

Aifric just sighed. “Too late.” She thought to herself. “Far too late.”

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