Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 9

Forward 15 years...

Two months passed by so quickly, Ella thought to herself. She and Millicent were moving out of their summer apartment today. They had taken a couple of classes at the community college there, and lived in the apartments, because they were right down the road from the school. The landlord Mrs. Bekwith was the owner of the tiny apartment complex. She was an old friend of Millicent's Aunt Mary, so she let them stay there for free. At first, Millicent was the only one that was going to take the summer classes and live in the apartment. However, Ella was insisting on doing things outside of the convent now that she had turned 18. Mother Christina had no choice but to let her do as she wished. She hoped in doing this, Ella would decide that life in the convent was the best option for her. Aunt Mary knew about the mother's dilemma with Ella and thought it would be a good idea to let her stay with Millicent and take the classes. This way, Millicent could help keep an eye on Ella, and she could also mentor her while she was adjusting to the world outside, even though it was only for a short time. Millicent knew how sheltered Ella was, and she knew being in the outside world was going to be somewhat of a shock to her. The two girls had known each other all of their lives, but Millicent had been raised in the secular world and was quite familiar with the challenges it could hold. Of course, the thought of living outside the convent, even for a short time, was thrilling to Ella, and she was super excited for this new adventure.

Getting used to classes at the small school was pretty easy for Ella. She had been taught by nuns and priests all her life and was advanced in a lot of the subjects that were offered there. She had taken a writing class and a college algebra class there, and she breezed through both of them. Unfortunately, fitting in with the other students in her class was not as easy. It wasn't that they weren't nice to her, but she often times didn't know what to say to them or how to strike up a conversation with people her own age. Millicent was in two different classes, so Ella didn't have her in there to help ease the awkwardness. Anyway, the summer quarter went by so fast, it didn't matter that much. Millicent did have a couple of friends that would sometimes come over and study with her, and the four of them would occasionally go out to eat and had seen a couple of movies together. They weren't really her friends, but they were nice to her and included her in everything that they did. They had a hard time understanding the idea of being raised in a convent. Ella tried to explain it to them, but she felt as though they treated her like she was already a nun. Not that she was going to be one...she just didn't know.

The girls had been boxing up their stuff and packing their cars most of the day. Ella was going to go back to the convent, but she was going to stop by Aunt Mary's and stay there for a few days first. Millicent was going back to the school that she normally attended and lived at most of the year. Ella didn't know where that school was, but she knew it was far away. She didn't get to see Millicent as much now since she started going there, and she really hated that. It was about four o'clock now and she knew Millicent was going to be leaving soon. She had a much longer drive than Ella, and she was stopping at a friend's house that lived a couple of hours away. Millicent would spend the night there and then leave early the next morning to finish her trip. Ella was a little nervous, because she hadn't been driving very long, and then, she mostly only drove to school and back. She did drive to the apartments from the convent and that was the farthest she had ever been. At least she would be basically going back in the same direction because Aunt Mary's was on the way.

The time came to say good-bye to Millicent. Ella hated to see her go because she had enjoyed their time together. Millicent had always been her best friend and she missed her when she was away at school. They were walking toward Millicent's car, when Mrs. Bekwith walked out of the office to greet them. Millicent tried to give her the apartment key that she had, but the older lady told them both they could keep them, because she was going to get the locks changed out anyway, like she always did between tenants. Millicent had a quirky fascination with keys and collected them, so she was happy to keep hers. Ella didn't have hers with her at the moment, but she told Mrs. Bekwith she didn't really want it so she would give it to her before she left. Soon Millicent was pulling away from the complex and Ella stood in the parking lot waving goodbye to her friend. When Millicent was completely out of sight, she went back into the apartment to finish up her last bit of packing.