One Shot: Scene of the Missing Choir Children

“Emily, what’s wrong?!” Robert raced over to the girl, laying a hand on her crouched body convulsing blood onto the church's red carpet.
*Cough, cough!* 
Blood splattered from her mouth. She inhaled, pressing her pale fist against the floor to lift her face. Emily looked at Robert as she fought to suppress any misery she revealed - a useless attempt. Robert noticed that recently, it was getting harder for her to walk as she used to. Breaks were becoming all too often, and she would have bouts of hunger, and periods where she would even go as far as to cook up some vermin found in the Vatical pipes.

“I…” She let out, her eyes watery from the violent convulsions “I don’t know… But I just need rest. I’ll feel better when-”

“Feel better when you rest another five minutes?!” He snapped, “People who cough out blood need more than just a five-minute break! Something is terribly wrong with you!”
Emily gave a pitiful look at Albert, as she used the last bit of her strength to hoist herself up onto her feet, an action that nauseated her. She hunched over as of she was about to throw up the little bits of scrap she ate but managed to hold in the urge.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” She shot a brief glance at Albert.
“And why do I doubt that?! Look, if you know something I don’t, tell me! Because lately, you’ve been slowing me down!”
“You think you have it hard?! The both of us have been wandering this overly massive church for - how long now?” She sarcastically eyed the roof, “5, 6 months? Yea that sounds about right! So, I’m trying to hurry along as fast as I can, okay?! Because I don’t have much time left!”

Albert froze. His brows, once arched with stress, calmed down a little. The red faded from his cheeks. “So you do know…”

Emily’s labored breathing halted. Her eyes dilated as her mouth dropped. She said too much. She shut her eyelids tightly and pressed her lips, she turned away as if muttering a silent curse, or a prayer. But Albert knew it was regret. A look of regret that was all too familiar.
Albert would see that same look of grief worn by other girls in the choir before they fell into silence, then self-isolation. After that, it would be a month or two until they seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.
“Emily…” He muttered, “What happened back there?”

“I…” He took in a deep breath, “It was near Saint’s Return Month. Me and my choir had to practice for the special songs we were to recite. Though, I was out of key in the part where we had to sing 'And the holy father, with grace he took his son'- you know, the really high-pitched verse no one can sing?" Emily let out a weak smile. "I butchered that bit, and Father Murphy noticed…”

She paused. Her eyes avoided his all throughout. Mumbling a few words he couldn't quite make out under her breath, she continued, “He said that me and a few others would have to join him later on in the day for extra practice, to perfect our voices. Turns out that was a lie… I was the only one there… along with that bastard Murphrey…” Tears boiled from her eyes. The trembling in her voice forced her to take a moment, turning away from Albert’s look of pity - a look she came to loathe. She let her quivering lips take their toll until she could finally muster the control to speak again.
“And he…” She already knew Albert was on to her. She gave up trying to hide it. She turned to him, suddenly screaming past the wall of grief, “9 MONTHS ALBERT! I had nine months, and now what do I have left?! 3, 4 months!? I can’t have this baby Albert, It’s already killing me!”
“Emily, I”
“I wish there was something we can do, but this is out of our hands! I just… want to go outside before this is over. I don’t care if the air is as polluted as they say. I think I’ll be able to breathe for the first time, even if I’m inhaling ash. As long as I’m out of this hell we were adopted into, I’ll be glad! Glad for the first damn time!” Running out of breath, her body lay limp for a moment on Albert. He held her up by her shoulders, but she instinctively slapped away his arms from her.
“Emily, I’m so sorry-”
“I never asked you to be sorry…” Emily sounded as if she would have screamed if she had the energy, “But I do demand we keep going because I… won’t get any better. Unless… God would find it okay for you to heal me this time around?”
She turned her eye toward him with a glint of hope that stabbed him brutally in his deepest being. He tried healing her before, but for some reason he didn’t understand, his power didn't come through.
The very power of heaven… can’t heal a sickly child… why?

But Advents are… unpredictable. Their power works one moment, and the next second it deactivates. Maybe…

Albert hesitantly approached her and laid one arm around her shoulder, and the other hand hovering above her head that bent down slightly in languor, and spoke silently to heaven, not daring say a loud prayer in fear he’ll only make himself look like a fool.

Albert tightly shut his eyes like a boy wishing for some childish miracle.
God, she doesn’t deserve this… Neither of them does… just make this easier… make this painless, or tolerable at least…
5 seconds passed… 10 seconds… twenty… 30 seconds of pure silence. A tear rolled down Albert’s face.
Emily brushed his grasp away and toddled forward as if her bones could barely hold her boney, paling form.
“It’s fine,” She said, “That’s just how the world works. Some get miracles, some just get the consequences of their actions.”
“But it wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault I didn’t put that needle in his throat when he slept.” She halted her steps, half facing Albert with tired eyes “...Sorry. You shouldn’t be hearing that from me… Let’s just go, yea?”
Albert was struck off guard. His eyes fluttered as he cleared his throat, “Yea… yea let's go.”

---

A scene I came up with yesterday. This would take place asides from the main events of Heartwell, however, Albert and Emily do play a crucial part in bringing the church to its knees by exposing their mistreatment of the children, as well as the satanic rituals and ceremonies they secretly perform deep within the labyrinthine palace. 
This story centers on two children wandering this massive structure, revealing secrets, and surviving countless terrors hidden within the walls of the Church.
Themes include: Secrecy, Injustice, Hope, Abuse, and Freedom