Tangled With A Priest

 Ivie closed her eyes and slowly got up, wishing there had been a time skip and she did not witness that day. How many times had she cursed her luck that day? She had heard the voice enough times to know that the face would be angry, Sister Gabriel's face was always angry. 

 "Sister." She tried to make her voice sound groggy. 

 "You're not sleepwalking, Ivie," she said. "Are you here to meet your boyfriend, you spoilt thing?"

 Ivie rolled her eye internally, no wonder her name suited her. Sister Gabriel was not her real name, it was Sister Gabriella, but she was strict, everybody in the convent at St. Stephen was strict, as if they believed the students would be better shaped if handled with that strictness, and hers was a masculine strictness that JohnMary decided she was better off as a man and so he started calling her 'Sister Gabriel', and soon the name stuck and became rife. 

 She did not reply, only stared at her with dropping eyes as though she could not stop her eyes from closing. From afar, she could see the cat jumping on the chairs, moving farther and farther from her. It stopped to look at her one last time before it disappeared into the darkness. What a sly creature, Ivie thought as she continued her pretense. 

 "I believe in God, the father almighty…" she began reciting the Apostle's creed and turned around to leave. 

 "I know you're not sleepwalking," Sister Gabriel said, exasperated. She grabbed Ivie's hand and stopped. 

 "…..who was conceived by the Holy Spirit…." She stopped when she felt the grip on her arm and blinked instantly. A wave of dizziness hit her as the chairs slowly disappeared, the tables vanishing, Sister Gabriel merging with the air and she found herself standing at the start of a staircase. It was no longer dark, the bright light told her it was day time. 

 She looked around, confused for a bit. Then she saw Sister Gabriel in a black soutane coming from the lobby. She should hide, she should look away before the Sister would see. But her feet was rooted to the ground and she couldn't move. As she neared, Ivie filled with dread at what would happen, but the Sister merely went through her to walk down the stairs. Ivie felt her body float for a while as they merged, and she watched, amazed that the Sister could not see her.

 Following her, she stepped carefully, keeping a distance. Sister Gabriel hurried down the stairs and as she waved her hand, Ivie noticed the paper in her hand. It was white, small and squared with a writing at the top she could not see. She squinted her eyes to get a better look at the the heading but the Sister was waving her hand more swiftly. She quickened her steps, almost running and when Sister Gabriel reached the end of the stair, she slowed down and Ivie could see what was written on it, it was a five letter word; Sorry. 

 "Are you okay?" Sister Gabriel removed her hand from her shoulder and Ivie jerked to reality. The Sister stared at her suspiciously. "You're really sleepwalking. I'll give you that benefit of doubt, now go back to your room before I change my mind."

 Ivie looked fazed, blinked a few times to clear her head. The Sister shooed her, encouraging her to go and she as if under compulsion walked to her room, her eyes foggy. When she got to her room, she retrieved the jug from her bedside table to find it empty. Good, she had gulped the entire content during her first round of fright. 

 She mulled over her vision and felt like she had seen that heading somewhere, she just couldn't place where. Why was the Sister with it, what was it about? The thought kept her awake all night that. She did not like to read so much meaning into the visions she saw, but she knew that they weren't mere trances. 

 She tossed around the bed all night, trying to demystify her worries and woke up with eye bags thirty minutes into her sleep. She only slept for thirty minutes and it was day? Maybe she should just ditch school the entire day and face whatever punishment awaits her. The knock on the door told her otherwise. 

 "Oh," she groaned into her pillow. "If you're Gaga come in, if you're not Gaga come back later."

 The door opened and Gaga walked in. "Wakie wakie, sleeping beauty."

 "This sleeping beauty needs sleep more than any stupid Prince Charming coming to kiss her awake."

 "We're meeting our new form lecturer today, and splendid, you look like a ghost."

 "Thanks for the compliment, I needed that." She sat on the bed. "We're in postgrad year, too old to have a form lecturer."

 "Tell that to the Dean. You know this is a convent school, we have to top our game to avoid the rumours that circulates in other schools."

 "At least the other schools does not have incessant suicides," she sighed. 

 "Not now, Ivie. What kept you awake all night?"

 "I'd rather not say. Send one of those undergrads with my food, I'm sleeping in during breakfast period."

 "You're not going to miss today's introduction, are you?"

 "Yeah, whatever." She curled back on the bed and succumbed to sleep. 

 When she woke up, she cursed at the time. How had she slept so much? She quickly took her bath and as she dressed, she took bites of the food Gaga left on her table, God bless her soul. 

 Of course she had no plans of missing the introduction, she was a bad student in general school life, but was very decent in class activities and grades. First impression mattered to her, and she didn't want to be absent on her first day, or worse, late. But she was already late, her wrist watch reminded her well enough. 

 She threw a gum into her mouth as she left her dorm, willing that everything about her encounter the night before would escape from her memory, although what had kept her awake still tugged at the back of her mind. She shook her head, deciding to lay it to rest for the time being. 

 She opened the door to the class and got in, late. But it was not her lateness that had her stopping, it was the priest, the supposed form lecturer who stood in front of the class. 

 Father Chibuike spared her a glance. "Join the class if you're for the class," he said dryly. 

 She walked to her sit, not stopping to greet his morning well. Talk about first impressions, hers with this priest was beyond redemption. So he was going to ignore her now after he frustrated her yesterday? Well, he'd better tell his stray animal to do same. 

 "Like I've said before," the priest said, "my name is Chibuike, it means God Is Strength…."

 Ivie paused to wonder if he liked his name or what it meant. Or both.

 "…I'm very much fascinated by names and their meaning, heard a very interesting one yesterday, Ivie."

 She paused to wonder what he was doing. 

 "….what's even more interesting is what it means, bead. You see, I thought about it while I was studying, how can a name means Bead? Then I asked myself what bead meant, what it signified." 

 He looked around the class to make sure he had their attention, his eyes lingering last on Ivie who wished he would stop talking about her and what her name meant. 

 "Bead signifies wealth, royalty, prestige and something valuable. I've come to conclude that the name is very unique. Isn't that right, Ivie?" He smiled at her. "And while you're at it please dispose that gum, I wonder if you don't have a gum ache with all those chewing you do."