Chosen to Rise; Destined to Fall

Chosen to Rise; Destined to Fall

Part One: The Awakening

Chapter Two

- The Prank -

The rain poured from the heavens, soaking the ground and forming large puddles in the gardens. Tom and Vincent, however, were undaunted by this gloomy May weather and ran outside, playing tag in the rain. Henry joined in after awhile and the chase intensified. Shawn watched from the shadows, not wanting to become soaked through, almost wishing that he could go out and play, if only he wasn't so worried about getting dirty. Joseph, of course, was sitting up in his room, writing yet another letter to the parents he just knew were coming to pick him up. Every once and while, he would glance out the window and watch as the three boys ran around, laughing. Then he would sneer, roll his eyes, mutter, "Pathetic," and go back to his letter.

"You can't outrun me forever!" Henry yelled, trying to catch Tom and Vincent, who thus far had eluded him.

Vincent and Tom, however, had very different ideas and had found a hidden spot beneath a large bush. They sat down on the damp ground. "Okay," Tom whispered, grinning as he watched Henry stop and look around, trying to find the two boys. If everything went according to plan, Henry was going to be "It" for quite some time. "Now, he's here," Tom said, drawing a dot in the dirt to represent Henry. "Sister Mary and Sister Rosemary will be in the classroom, going over tomorrow's lesson plan." He drew a quick sketch of the convent and placed two dots where the two nuns were. "Joseph will be in his room," he said, drawing another picture, "Shawn is watching us from the overhang, and Abbess Catherine will be patrolling the eastern halls as usual. Now, that leaves Sister Sarah, Sister Gwendolyn, and Sister Tabitha to worry about . . ."

"I heard Sister Sarah and Sister Gwendolyn talking about praying in the chapel in the afternoon, so they should be there," Vincent said, drawing two dots inside the 'chapel'.

Tom nodded. "Okay, good . . . now what about Sister Tabitha?"

Vincent shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Tom frowned. "If anyone sees us, this won't work. Hmm, I wonder," he mused, biting his lip and looking over the drawing.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" they heard Henry yell. Vincent looked up and saw that Henry was now near the front gate, quite a bit away from them. Vincent looked back at Tom, who was still examining the picture.

"Hah," Tom said quietly, grinning. "I don't believe I forgot. Remember yesterday when we were walking past their common room and Sister Tabitha and Abbess Catherine were sitting in there, talking?" Vincent nodded. "Well, they were talking about today and Abbess Catherine was giving Sister Tabitha some advice on what to do while visiting the convent in Birmingham . . . so that's where she is! I was wondering why she wasn't at breakfast . . . but now I realize she must have left this morning."

"Brilliant," Vincent said, grinning. He looked down at the crude drawing. "Okay, so we do it now?"

Tom nodded. "But we're going to need Shawn to be the lookout, to make sure no one is coming."

"Right."

"Let's go." Making sure Henry wasn't looking in their direction, Tom erased the drawing, and the two boys crept back to the convent as quietly as they could. Vincent, backing up against a wall, made a soft noise to catch Shawn's attention, who saw him and gave him a confused expression. Vincent motioned for him to come over and when he did, Vincent quickly explained their plan.

"I don't know . . . that's not very nice . . ." Shawn said quietly.

"Oh, come on, Shawn," Tom said, stepping up behind Vincent. He looked down at the small boy, who barely came up to his shoulder. "It's not going to hurt anyone and it'll be fun!"

"But I don't want to get into trouble."

Tom clapped Shawn on the shoulder, his long fingers nearly covering it. "But that's the beauty of it. If you look out for us, then we won't get caught . . . we'll all have a bit of harmless fun. What do you say?"

Shawn looked down, shuffling his feet. "Well . . . if you're sure we won't get in trouble."

"Have I ever misled you?" Tom said, grinning innocently.

Shawn looked at Tom with a sarcastic expression of 'Should I answer?' but only said, "Okay, fine. But if I see a nun coming, I'm telling you and then I'm leaving."

Tom shrugged. "I never said you had to stay. Thanks!"

Tom and Vincent began walking down the long corridor, deep in discussion, their hands waving animatedly. Shawn trailed behind, shaking his head and muttering, "Why am I always the look out . . . one of these days, I'm going to get caught . . . I don't believe I'm doing this." But there was a small smile on his face as he looked at the two boys. The very best of friends . . . inseparable. I wish I had close friends like that . . .

Tom and Vincent, meanwhile, were discussing their plan. "Okay, so you have the screwdriver?" Tom asked.

Vincent nodded, patting his trouser pocket. "Right here."

"And do you have the key to the shed?"

"Yep."

"And you're sure all the nuns are where they're supposed to be?"

"Positive."

"Brilliant," Tom said, grinning. "Now, time to get to work." He turned, gave the signal to Shawn, and he and Vincent turned down the corridor and entered the dining hall. There was only the long table, with eleven chairs lining it. Tom knelt down by the first chair and, taking the screwdriver from Vincent, began unscrewing all the screws that held the cushioned seat on the chair. Removing the seat, he set it down on the floor and proceeded to work at the next one. Finally, between the two of them, he and Vincent managed to carry the cushioned seats out of the convent and to the shed where all the wood was stored for the winter. Since the nuns never came out to bring in the wood (that was the boys' job), this would be the last place that they would look.

They piled them in the corner and then, signaling Shawn to make sure Henry was still walking around the garden, crept back into the convent and headed for the nuns' common room.

Vincent peered around the corner and, giving Tom's a thumbs up, they crept into the room and proceeded to remove all the seats from there as well. But this time, they also removed the cushions from the couches, leaving only the bare wood. Grinning at each other, they snuck the cushions out to the shed and then locked it. Thankfully, it had stopped raining.

"They're going to be in for a shock come dinner," Tom said with a broad grin.

"Definitely," Vincent said, grinning just as broadly. Then they felt someone tap their shoulders and they froze. Slowly turning around, they came face to face with Henry, who grinned.

"You're 'It'," he said, smirking.

Vincent and Tom looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Henry asked, crossing his arms.

"You'll see," Tom said mysteriously. Then he tapped Henry on the shoulder. "You're 'It'." Then Tom bolted, Vincent quickly behind as Henry chased after them.

* * *

Tom and Vincent had just changed out of their muddy clothes and were heading out of their room when Joseph passed by them. He glanced behind them and, looking at the pile of brown clothes hanging out of the laundry basket, he sneered. "Disgusting," he said, lifting his nose. "You would think you would at least have some common sense not to play in the mud like pigs."

"You know what, Joseph," Tom said, glaring at the boy who was nearly as tall as him. "I don't care what you think. At least I know how to have fun. And at least I know that I'm going somewhere, somewhere big, and you . . . are not. You're going to be stuck in an orphanage for the rest of your life, only having your miserable self for consolation. If you don't want to be all alone when you are older, I suggest you tune your attitude and take a few notches off of your arrogance meter." Tom turned, grabbed Vincent, and walked away from a very stunned Joseph.

When they reached the dining hall, they bit their lips to keep from bursting out in laughter as they watched the nuns look at the de-seated chairs, muttering in confusion. "Where have they all gone?" Sister Gwendolyn asked, looking around as if the room would tell her where the cushions were.

"Someone unscrewed all the seats," Sister Sarah said, examining the chairs.

Sister Mary spotted the two boys and walked over, looking at the two boys. Although Tom was nearly as tall as she was, her stern gaze never faltered. "Abbess Catherine wishes to speak with you."

Tom and Vincent glanced at each other and then followed Sister Mary up to the head of the hall where the Abbess stood. Sister Mary left the two boys standing in front of the Abbess.

"I would hope that neither of you had anything to do with this," she said sternly.

"Of course not," Tom said, placing an innocent look on his face. "Why would we remove all the cushions so you had no place to sit?"

"It seems that all the seats have been removed from our common room as well."

"Do you know where the seats are?"

"I was hoping that one of you might be able to tell me," she said, looking at both of them in turn.

"Why would we know?" Vincent asked innocently.

Abbess Catherine frowned. "I'm not in the mood for your games." She looked over their shoulders, spotting someone. "Shawn! Please come over here."

"Oh, brilliant," Tom muttered, looking at Vincent, who let out a soft groan.

"Shawn," Abbess Catherine said, "do you know where all the seats have gone?"

"Um . . ." Shawn said hesitantly. He glanced at Tom and Vincent, who both gave him warning glares. "I . . . n -"

"I know where they are, Abbess," a loud voice said and the three boys turned to see Joseph standing smugly in the doorway. He held up the key to the shed.

"Vincent!" Tom hissed.

"What?! I didn't give it to him!" Vincent whispered back.

"Then how did he get it?"

"How should I know? The last time I had it was in my pocket!"

"You dolt!" Tom groaned. "We left the clothes in our room. Why didn't you grab the key?"

"I forgot!"

"Vincent!"

"Tom!"

"Care to enlighten us, Joseph?" Abbess Catherine said, an eyebrow raised. Tom and Vincent both glared at Joseph venomously.

"Of course, Abbess." Joseph looked pointedly at Tom and Vincent. "It seems that two of your more . . . less than satisfactory boys have removed the cushions and placed them in the shed."

"And who would these two boys be?"

"Tom and Vincent," Joseph said, as if he was announcing something extraordinary.

Henry walked in at that time, about to say something, but then he stopped, seeing the seat-less chairs and the tenseness between Joseph, the Abbess, Tom, and Vincent.

The Abbess turned to face Vincent and Tom, the look on her face leaving no room for argument. "I want to see the both of you in my office immediately."

"Yes, Abbess," they said quickly and hurried out of the room, glaring at Joseph the entire time. Joseph just shrugged and handed the key to the Abbess.

"Thank you, Joseph," she said and left the room.

"Anytime," Joseph said quietly, grinning smugly.

* * *

Tom and Vincent stood in front of the Abbess in her office, completely silent. "I am very disappointed in the both of you. Playing a prank like that!" She shook her head. "And what do you think the Lord would have to say of this?" Neither of them spoke. "Well?"

"I would ask his forgiveness, Abbess," Vincent said quietly.

"It was only a harmless joke," Tom protested.

"Harmless, perhaps, but that still does not negate what you have done."

"I'm sorry," Vincent said.

"You will both take the cushions and place them back on the chairs, and once you have finished that, you will clean the entire dining hall and the common room. And, after that, you will go to the chapel to pray for forgiveness for what you have done."

"Yes, Abbess," they said in unison.

"You may go."

They left and headed back to their room. "That horrible prat!" Tom cried, punching one of his hands into the palm of the other. "Why did he have to go and tell on us?"

"He had to get back at you for what you said earlier."

"That snob will get what's coming to him," Tom said darkly. "He needs to learn his place."

"Tom, don't do anything rash," Vincent warned, slightly nervous at the dark look on his best friend's face.

Tom smiled, the dark look disappearing. "Of course not. I'm not stupid. I'm just saying that people like that always end up getting what they deserve. Horrible people like that will never be happy."

"Very true."

* * *

"Shawn, I am especially disappointed in you," Abbess Catherine said, looking at the small boy that stood in front of her. "To think that you had anything to do with that prank. I thought you knew better!"

"I'm sorry, Abbess." Shawn bowed his head. I knew it! I just knew we'd get caught! Drat!

"You will join your fellow pranksters tonight to help clean the dining hall and our common room, understood?"

"Yes, Abbess."

"You may go."

Shawn nodded and retreated quickly out of her office, heading back to his room. Why did I agree to help them? Sooner or later, I knew that they would get caught. And now . . . now the Abbess looks down upon me and I can't bear that. She's like another mother to me and her confidence in me means all the world. I can't believe I betrayed her trust. I'm so angry at myself! I should never have gone through with it! Suddenly, a huge portrait hanging on the wall fell to the ground with a loud crash, startling Shawn from his thoughts. He glanced at the huge portrait, swallowing. I didn't touch it! Why did it fall? He backed up and ran for his room.

* * *

"Okay, so here's the plan," Tom said that evening as he and Vincent lay in bed. Henry, Shawn, and Joseph had gone to bed already and were sound asleep. Henry, of course, had congratulated them on a brilliant prank and that they did it without getting caught . . . and they would have gotten away with it if Joseph hadn't tattled on them.

Tom stretched his sore muscles, extending his legs. They had cleaned the dining hall and the common room until it had shone and it probably wouldn't have been as bad if Sister Rosemary hadn't been watching over them the entire time. They didn't speak a word and Shawn, who had been cleaning along with them, hadn't said a word the entire time and afterwards, they had tried to apologize, but he seemed nervous about something and had scampered off before they had a chance to talk.

"I can't believe you're planning the next prank when we got caught!" Vincent whispered, shaking his head and chuckling.

"Well, this time, we'll make sure a certain person doesn't leave the key were a certain snobby two-faced prat can find it."

Vincent rolled his eyes. "Point taken. So, what do you have in mind?"

Tom laughed quietly and quickly explained his plan. Joseph snorted and they both froze, watching as he rolled over in his sleep, but he didn't awaken.

They let out sighs of relief and looked at each other, smiles on their faces. "Tomorrow morning we can talk about it some more."

Vincent nodded. "Definitely."

"Good night, Vincent."

"Good night, Tom."