2 Corrupting Dreams

Sister Magdalena lay motionless in her narrow bed, covered only by a simple white blanket. Her hands, usually folded in prayer when she was awake, now lay cramped on her chest, as if she were trying to push away an invisible weight. Her narrow face was pale and fine beads of sweat glistened on her white, almost translucent skin in the dim moonlight that filtered through the small window of her barren cell. The wrinkles on her forehead and the twitching of her eyelids revealed that she was not sleeping peacefully.

Her hair, which she hid under the black veil of her coif during the day, was dark with wetness and stuck to her face and neck. Her lips, which murmured soft prayers during daylight hours, were now slightly parted, as if she were gasping for air in her sleep or silently pleading for help. Now and again a soft, unintelligible whisper escaped her mouth, as if she were praying or whimpering quietly, an echo of the disturbing dream that haunted her.

Her breathing was shallow and halting. She lacked the peaceful aura often seen in sleeping people. The otherwise gentle lines of her face reflected an energetic tension and deep inner restlessness. She tossed and turned unsteadily, the movements of her body under the thin blanket suggesting an inner struggle, a **** attempt to escape the horror of her dreams. Their arms flailed around as if they were trying to fend off an invisible attacker.

If you saw her like this, you could guess the inner conflict she was experiencing. Anyone looking at her in this state would have the strong feeling that Sister Magdalena was struggling for her soul in her sleep.

But there was no one with her in the tiny convent cell who could see her like this. Or was there?

The flimsy blanket covering her body slipped to the side as a result of her frantic movements, slid over the edge of the bed, surrendered to the relentless **** of gravity and revealed more and more of Magdalena's nakedness. As if pulled by an invisible hand, the flimsy fabric sailed to the ice-cold floor.