Love at Dawn

38.The Fate of Sister Agatha

Plymouth, too, embraced the brief summer of this year. Fiona noticed that her blue uniform had seemingly grown shorter overnight.

"You've grown quite a bit, Miss Fiona," the nun in charge of the boarders said with a smile. "And blossomed into an even comelier young lady, I must say."

On this August night, Fiona tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep due to the oppressive heat. The chirping of insects and the song of the nightingale outside seemed magnified countless times. Restless, she turned to her side and decided to open her eyes, gazing into the nocturnal landscape beyond her window.

After a while, the little girl faintly heard a woman's voice singing. At first, she almost believed it to be a figment of her imagination. She strained her ears to listen, as the ethereal voice carried both sorrow and longing, as if it were the lament of a distant soul.

"Fairer than Apollo's radiant gleam,

My love, a vision, beyond any dream.

His eyes, like diamonds, his crown of gold,

I grasp his trembling hand, our love to hold.

But alas, they severed my beloved's head!

Oh, how I yearn to cradle it instead.

Upon my knee, I'd place that pale brow,

With countless kisses, my love I'd endow.

I'd plant it in a pot with utmost care,

Watered day and night with tears of despair.

From that burial soil, a miracle may arise,

A blooming poppy, in vibrant disguise!"

The eccentric lyrics sent Fiona into a shivering state. The haunting melody drew closer, while the other girls in the room remained immersed in sweet slumber.

Just as Fiona began to question whether the song was nothing more than her illusion, her gaze met a pale face outside the window.

Veiled by a cascade of ebony locks, the face appeared worn, burdened with grief, yet undeniably beautiful. It belonged to a woman clad in a flowing white nun's robe - she clearly was no longer young, but her expression seemed frozen in the throes of girlhood.

Fiona heard no footsteps, yet the woman approached the window, pressing her slender hands against the glass, peering into the collective dormitory of young students. Rather than observing the room's surroundings, it seemed as if she were still delving into some hypnotic dream world. Her large, vacant eyes stared into the abyss, seemingly oblivious to Fiona's gaze.

Strangely, Fiona found herself devoid of any sense of terror. She silently beheld the apparition in white, seemingly affected by the woman's peculiar and chilling beauty, evoking a sense of melancholy within her own being.