Justice?

Immersion in the 'Well' at midnight when a full moon shines in a cloudless sky and speaking aloud the name of your intended partner for life was supposed to bind that person to you forever. Countless are the young women who tried to secure the man they desired and within those countless numbers were a few who succeeded by luck or guile and their success helped perpetuate the legend. Our young virgin, for virgin she was and in her completeness she fulfilled the first requirement for the bargain to be struck, fought long and hard with her Catholic upbringing, twice setting out on a night of a full moon only to return home wearied with doubt and scepticism. Finally, she set track determined to prove the legend to be folly. As the church tower in near-by Knaresborough chimed the midnight peal, she slipped from her clothes and immersed herself fully in the bitterly cold water of the 'Well' and rose gleaming in the light of the full moon, water cascading from her head and shoulders, dripping from nipples taut on her breasts, chanting the name of her beloved.

She stood for a moment, mind screaming from the shock of the water, hands smoothing water from her hair and turned to climb out noticing a trick of moonlight that seemed to light the entrance to the cave alongside. She heard a voice speak to her and whilst it appeared to come from the cave, she knew the voice was only audible in her head.

"What you are you willing to give up in return for this favour?"

She showed no shock or even surprise at being spoken to, accepting the Catholic belief that miracles happen and that she had found a way through her prayer and practice to achieve a miracle of her own. Within eighteen months, she married her man and a year after that fell pregnant with the first of three children born into a blissfully happy family.

The daughter came home infrequently. The order did not like the young ones to stray too far, too many temptations in the world, too many diversions to snap at even the most compliant of novices. Allowed just two home visits each year this visit marked her twenty-first birthday. The family rejoiced in her homecoming, even for just a few short days, and her very presence in the family home seemed to bathe them all with contentment and happiness. The mother smiled at the scene in the sitting room as her daughter told tales of the convent to family and friends, eyes bright, speech bubbly and vivacious even wrapped in the garb of the Church. Part of her mind wandered back to that fateful night when she sealed her bargain with the soul of her first born. Her daughter knew almost from the start that she was destined to take up orders and pursued her Catholic faith with feverish enthusiasm, a shining example to her contemporaries in her devotion not just to the Church but also to her community. She could not help but feel pride in her daughters' career and had long since shed any 'guilt' about her own action on that night, confident in her belief that she had spoken with the Lord and the path he had chosen for her daughter was perfect for each.

- - # - -

The police had all but given up investigation into O'Brien's brutal death. All investigative work had drawn a blank, a rapist was dead, and he could harm no more girls. Even within the highest ranks of the force there was little desire to 'waste police resources' to find the perpetrator. All that changed six months later; another suspected abuser discovered dead in his car at the back of a supermarket on the outskirts of Hatfield, his penis shredded.

Just like O'Brien he delighted in the girl he picked up, pretty, sexy and curvaceous in a light summer dress caught in his headlights as he drew alongside her, she almost seemed to be waiting for him. He too was surprised by her compliance with his demands, he preferred them to be fearful, took pleasure in forcing them to his will pushing their mouths down onto him. This one seemed quite keen to blow him, helped him undo his trousers and expose himself, hair tumbling around her face as she lowered her lips to take him.

He sat bleeding, aware he would die, oblivious to pain and saw a Nun through the windscreen of his car. He thought she was giving absolution until she smiled and the light of the full moon revealed teeth sharpened like razors; and he screamed, his scream echoed within the confines of his head pounding at his brain as he sat alone trapped fast within his car, unable to move, and watched himself slowly bleed to death.

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