Under Your Spell | A Mafia romance

Chapter I

Delilah

It was a cold and gloomy morning, I was hurriedly walking through the corridors of the convent, the daily prayer would begin in a few minutes and I could not be late. I entered the small chapel where the sisters were already positioned in their seats. The Mother Superior gave me her stern gaze, I just sat down and kept my head down. The priest began the prayer, pressed the rosary between his fingers and fervently repeated the mantras.

I am never late for prayers, I am always the first to wake up and I go to the kitchen to help prepare breakfast together with Sister Mary and Sister Magdalena, they are good and help me with everything I need, however, this morning, I ended up being late, I don't know what happened to me, but I slept too much. Of course, I know there will be consequences, but I'm hopeful the Mother Superior will not look at the fact that I was the last to come in but understand that I made it on time.

After the prayer, we all went to the dining room, a large area with a large table and several chairs around it. I got to my feet to help serve breakfast. The priest and mother sat at the head of the table. The sisters responsible for preparing the meal and I served the food. In the kitchen, Sister Mary whispered in my ear.

"Why were you late today?"

"I don't know, I overslept."

"You  never did this..."

"I  know, but it looks like I took some sleeping pills, I just passed out!"

"I  was going to wake you up, but the Mother Superior wouldn't allow me." I then realised that mother superior was mad at me, and she is going to probably punish me, so I asked trying to hide my disappointment 

"Will I get punished?"

" I think so, she seemed really mad."

It was unfair, I just arrived at the last minute, I wasn't even late. But I couldn't do anything, I've lived in this convent for as long as I can remember, I've never had a family, I don't even know anything about the outside world, but to be honest I don't want to. In a few days, I will be 18 and I will tell Mother Superior that I want to become a novice, follow and live life to help people. My social work with orphaned children, like me, makes me very satisfied, I love helping them, teaching them, and taking care of them. I want to dedicate my life to it, becoming the bride of Jesus forever.

We finished serving breakfast and before we started to eat, all the nuns lined up and one by one, we kissed the priest's hand. When we were done, he said the prayer for the blessing of the food. In the end, we sat in our chairs and waited for the priest and Mother Superior to serve themselves first, so that we could start eating. As soon as they were finished, before I could take any food to my mouth, the Mother Superior spoke sternly.

"Delilah, get up and go to the punishment room, you will be fasting the entire morning thinking about your lateness today."

I got up and went where she said, I already knew the way, the punishment room is where I often stay, not because I'm disobedient or rebellious, on the contrary, I do everything I'm told, all the chores, I help where I am needed, I take care of the garden, the nuns' rooms, I even help in the convent secretariat organizing documents, but nothing I do is welcomed by the Mother Superior and some nuns. They find any reason to punish me. 

I walk steady to the room, holding back tears, crying is not allowed, this means weakness in faith, I need to stand firm and thank God for being punished, this means he is strengthening me for the hardships of life of total surrender. I entered the room and knelt on the hard, cold floor.

I stayed in that position all morning, praying and asking God for forgiveness. I was so hungry that I thought I was going to succumb, but I held on, a long time passed, I don't have any idea what time its now, but it was probably close to lunchtime. The mother said I have to stay here the entire morning.