THE PERFECT WOMAN

Compiled by 3DSP Scribe, Jami Bunton

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Twenty girls held their breath as the dorm matron walked slowly in between the rows of their beds. As she passed by, each girl relaxed back into the safety of their beds. One girl, however, didn't pass inspection so easily.

"Get up," the dorm matron cried out as she roughly pulled the girl out of her bed. The girl stumbled, her long white nightgown twisting around her legs. No one moved a muscle as the girl glared at the dorm matron with hatred. The dorm matron forced the girl into the center of the room and began circling around her.

"And what is this?" the dorm matron asked coldly, holding up a silver locket. A flicker of recognition passed through the girl's eyes, causing the dorm matron to sneer. "So it is yours. Hhmm."

The girl snorted. "So? What are you going to do if it is?" She tossed her hair back out of her face. The dorm matron's eyes grew stony at the opposition. She turned form the girl and motioned to the attendant at the door.

"Emiliana!" the girl in the closest bed hissed at the girl in the center. "Are you stupid?! You know personal things are forbidden! Don't argue with-"

"Renata. Take her too." The dorm matron told the attendant loudly. Every girl in the room sucked in a breath as the attendant quietly moved forward to get Renata out of her bed.

"No!" Emiliana protested, throwing herself in front of Renata to block the attendant. "She didn't do anything! Don't make her go to the brick house!" Emiliana frantically looked at the dorm matron. "Me! I'll go to the brick house for twice as long! I won't fight it! I promise!"

The dorm matron laughed. "Oh, Emiliana." She smiled condescendingly and lifted her chin at the girl. "Child, you're so naive. You? Go to the brick house? Don't joke with me! It's practically your second home." Emiliana stared at the dorm matron with a blank expression.

What could she mean? Emiliana questioned inside her head. What is she planning?

"You won't ever be going to the brick house again. Where you're going, Emiliana," the dorm matron smiled, "well, that's a far more interesting place than the brick house." The dorm matron's face hardened. "And you won't fight going there either. Get the two of them." The attendant took hold of Emiliana's arm and pulled her backwards as she lifted Renata out of her bed. Emiliana struggled against the attendant.

"Keep them separate! I want another attendant in here!" the dorm matron yelled as she moved towards the doorway. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around. She looked back at the girls still in bed frozen with fear. "Girls," she said peacefully. "Breakfast will be served in twenty minutes."

The dorm matron walked out of the room, flicking the switch to the right of the door frame up to introduce their eyes to incandescent electric light.

Renata wondered how long she had been in the tiny confines of the brick house. Had only hours passed since the attendant had thrown her against the inside of the back wall while the dorm matron watched from behind? Or had that been days ago? Renata had no idea. All she knew was that she was starving, and so thirsty. She felt as if the wall were closing in on her, making it hard to breath. How had they handled it? She wondered about the numerous other girls who had come and gone from the brick house before her. How did they manage to last inside here again and again?

Renata's breathing increased rapidly, coming out in tiny gasps. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged herself tightly. Tears came to her eyes and she began to cry. She wanted out. She wanted to go home.

Emiliana sighed heavily as the car drove down the road. She looked out the window at the passing trees and buildings, seeming to not care where the car was headed. In the back of her mind, however, there was an inkling of an idea about the place she was being taken to. She remembered overhearing a conversation one day between two of the teachers at the school. They had spoken of "the church," and hinted at it being something more than a church. Before Emiliana could hear what the place really was, the dorm matron discovered her. That was the second time Emiliana spent the night locked in the brick house.

The car turned down a road on the right and Emiliana watched a pristine, white church come in to view. 'Eternal Father of the Sea' was emblazoned on the front. A chill ran down her spine.

The lock on the car door clicked up, and Emiliana stared at it. She swallowed before reaching for the door handle. Never before had she felt such fear, such apprehension about what could happen to her. Never before had she really cared.

Two women dressed as nuns came out onto the porch and stood, waiting for Emiliana to be brought up to them. The attendant that had accompanied Emiliana prodded her back to make her move forward. Nervously, Emiliana di.

"Welcome," the nuns said to Emiliana. "We have been waiting for you." As one, they each extended an arm towards to door behind them. Instantly, it creaked open. Emiliana peered inside, and then glanced back at the nuns. They offered no solace. She swallowed again, her throat dry. Silently, Emiliana took a shaky step forward and entered the church. The door closed behind her, leaving her alone in the darkened foyer. The nuns stayed on the porch, talking with the attendant. Emiliana couldn't hear them. She turned around the foyer in a tiny circle, studying the walls. They were dark too, and empty. No announcements. Nothing. What kind of church was this?

"Aaah!" a scream tore through the silent building. "Please, oh please, no!" The hair on the back of Emiliana's neck stood up as she listened to the desperate sobs being choked out. She moved in the direction of the noise, wobbling to a stop when men in long white coats thundered down the hall past her, getting closer to the screaming person. Emiliana listened to the screams and begging continue as the men attempted to subdue the person.

Then, with a loud crackle, charged electricity ripped through the air and the screams stopped.

Behind her, the door opened and she spun around to see the nuns enter the church. Their eyes narrowed at the men bringing a girl by on a stretcher.

"Can't you be quieter?" the nun closest to Emiliana snapped. The men paused and nodded meekly to her.

"Men. Ha! So inefficient," the other nun laughed. Emiliana looked back and forth between the two groups. The nuns turned to her. They studied her, and then, before motioning the rest to move on, pulled one of the men in white coats from the group. Emiliana was shoved towards him.

"She's your charge," the nun who pushed her said. The other pulled the bolt on the door and locked it. "Make sure she learns her lesson." The nun sighed, sounding fatigued.

Fear coursed through Emiliana like a fire. For the rest of her life, she remembered the feeling of that fear. It was the last thing she truly felt before her emotions were torn away from her, and all she came to know was pain, anger, and bitter sadness.

The end of time. That was the peoples' understanding of The Event.

It was unexpected - the people were completely unprepared for its occurrence. It claimed lives immediately, and without a moment of hesitation. No one was safe from its grasp.

The Admiral's House Boarding School for Girls was among the first groups to fall prey to the force of The Event. And in a way, that was good for the institution.

For years, rumor and mystery had surrounded the school. What was its true purpose? Was it really just a respectable southern finishing school, or was it something more sinister like the rumors suggested?

When The Event struck the school, it took with it those in power - whether by death or by fear. The Event effectively ended their reign of terror, and the few surviving innocent girls were free. They would never experience the fear, pain, and torture of the school's true intentions. They would never know what they really were.

Emiliana sat, numbly staring out the window of the empty church - if that's what it could really be called. Emiliana hadn't been in the "church" for more than an hour before she learned the truth of it, and the boarding school her parents had banished her to. Idly she wondered if her parents knew what they had done to her. She wondered if they cared, and were worried about her. She wondered if they were gone too.

Her lip curled as she recalled the torture she had been subjected to. It was ll because she did not fit into the little mold of the perfect woman. The perfect woman the school wanted to create. While this unknown entity tore through their world, Emiliana hoped those who heartlessly punished her got what they deserved through The Event.

It's only a dream, Renata thought. Just a dream. That's not really me down there in the dirt. That's not really me locked in the brick house. Pale. Limp. Cold. Dead.

"Emiliana."

A hand came down onto her shoulder, making her flinch from the heat. She looked up and saw Marcella, the oldest girl in the church: the guise of the school's torture facility.

"Emiliana, we were wondering what you were going to do," Marcella questioned. She motioned back to the other girls. "We've decided. We're going to go try to get the others. To save them. There's no one left to stop us now! They're either dead or run away!"

Emiliana looked at the others. To her, they looked so fragile. They had no color, no strength it seemed. She avoided looking at their eyes. No matter the determination they tried to show, she knew their eyes would betray them. Their eyes would betray all of them. None of the girls had any feeling left. It had been stolen from them.

She stared at Marcella's shoulder. Slowly, she began nodding, and swallowed.

"I'll go," Emiliana said. "I'll go. I can't leave the rest of them there too. We don't know what could happen to them. We don't know..."

Marcella smiled, wide and blinding. Emiliana chanced it and looked into her eyes. She shuddered at what she saw.

An all consuming inferno raged deep inside Marcella. Emiliana wondered how long it would take for it to consume them all. Would that be their end, their defeat? Or would that blaze carry them to victory? Would Emiliana stay alive long enough to find out?

She brushed the questions from her mind and stood, joining the ranks of the girls. With them as her guides, Emiliana shook off her past, and let the idea of revenge control her.