| MARGARET - LOST FROM HER MIND [ part 17 ] Sister E looked at the window, the sun was setting. She sighed. Although the information was meagre she now had a name. Ashref. He was probably related to the ancient priests to have a canoptic vase such as Margaret described. But now there was something that Mahut would want to see because she had to do something. Sister E called to the girl sobbing in front of her. “Margaret, rest and relax.” ‘Mahut arise for Nut is claiming Ra and the prayer should be said’ Mahut, in Margaret’s body, pulled herself up and followed Sister E into the Egyptian room, she quickly went to the statue of Ra and knelt before it. ‘Oh great Ra. We pray for you, may the goddess Nut be fruitful while you travel and we will greet you in the morning when Nut gives birth to you’ Mahut chanted and then she looked at a fresco of a night sky showing a woman’s face. ‘Nut we beg of you to give birth to Ra, we need his light and countenance. Nut I Mahut beg this of you.’ Sister E also knelt before the fresco and thought back. ‘Nut, mother of Isis, Osiris, Seth and Nepthys. Hear us. The night doth come and Ra descends. Promise us that you will deliver the god Ra and that the day will come. I call upon you as a priestess of Isis your daughter.’ The sun set and the twilight descended. Sister E looked at Mahut. ‘And the Goddess Nut did swallow Ra, making him walk in the underworld until he could be born again from Nut. In this way are gods born and the world will continue.’ They remained like that for a few minutes and then Sister E stood, Mahut followed suit and followed her Priestess out of the room. Sinister and Dexter were outside waiting for them, they bowed as Sister E approached them. “Your pardon mistress, but as it is dinner time, we thought that, we’d take Margaret to the dining room. That’s if you’ve, finished with her.” The two of them said. Mahut smiled at them and looked at Sister E. ‘Priestess, do they know what they are saying?’ Dexter smiled and then said, ‘Of course, but then we’ve had to learn a lot of languages as well!’ Sinister just looked blankly at her twin. “The girls have split some languages between themselves; Dexter will understand Hebrew while Sinister can speak some Latin!” Sister E explained. “Go with them Mahut and take food, but none of the other girls can help you to perform either, so eat without fear.” The two girls grabbed the hands of their new friend and ran off, they passed Jonas who had opened the door for them and smiled at the trio as they ran. “Why did mistress call you Mahut?” Sinister asked. “Because that is my name!” Mahut answered. “I was born in the land you call Egypt and served my god Ra in the temple.” “So where’s Margaret?” Dexter asked. “I’m here as well, and so is Margaret! We’re all fine at the moment, but separate.” The two girls stopped running and pulled their friend to a halt. “Let’s get this straight, you are three people in one, is that what you’re saying?” the girls asked. “Yes!” was the aggravating answer, “Why? Just because you two are one person in two bodies doesn’t mean I can’t be three people in one body does it?” Margaret’s humour was showing. “Oh! So you’re like Pauline. She’s got several people inside her and they take over when needed.” The twins said. There was a moment of silence as Margaret spoke with the others inside her, this was a new experience for all of them, to talk to each other, unknown to any of them the restraints placed by Roger were starting to shatter. “Not quite. I mean, I know what you’re on about, but this is different.” Margaret said and then her body changed slightly. “I am Mahut, I was placed within Margaret’s body in order to rid her trainer of the original Margaret and to help train her replacement.” Then she moved slightly again, “I’m a copy of Margaret, I’m almost like her but there’s bits missing, I rely on Mahut to help me with those bits.” “Well I’m Dexter and I’m hungry, so come on triad and move. . .” “. . . Yeah! ‘Cause dinner won’t wait!” Sinister finished. And they took Margaret’s hands again and ran. “Why are you always running?” Margaret asked them. “Well we would walk, but you never know what you might miss out on, so if we run, we get there sooner.” The pair said. Margaret just smiled and shook her head but ran with them. ---- In the dining hall the area was quiet; Sinister had told Margaret that talking wasn’t allowed except in the dormitories, they were supposed to be polite young ladies, even if some of the lessons were designed to prove otherwise. On the tables the cutlery was set out earlier by the class designated to work as servers, and woe-betide the girls who fouled up this duty! At one table there was a plate and a knife. On the plate was two pieces of dried toast also on the table was a 2 litre bottle for water, it was empty! Sitting at the place was Emily she was crying as she sat there looking at her meal. Beside her was Danielle, she had her arm around Emily and was talking quietly to the girl. A teacher was walking toward the pair, she stood behind Danielle. “Danielle, what are you doing?” she demanded. Danielle stood up and faced the teacher, “Please Mistress Rachael, Emily requires some water to help her eat her toast, may I get her some?” The teacher shook her head. “No Danielle, Sister E ordered that Emily should learn that lying is a serious thing. But I will allow her to get her own liquid to wet her mouth!” Emily looked at the teacher puzzled and raised her hand, “Please Mistress Rachael, what is it you mean?” The teacher smiled, “You’ve done studies of desert conditions Emily. How are the nomads known to keep their mouths damp?” Emily thought for a moment and went red in the face, “I couldn’t do that Mistress Rachael!” The teacher smiled at her, “Then you will have trouble eating your meal, won’t you Emily. Now Danielle you will return to your meal and leave Emily to make up her mind!” The teacher walked away from the group as Danielle sat back down and obediently started to eat. Dexter took Margaret to a table which had three places set for them, the first course was soup. Margaret closed her eyes and Mahut opened them, she smiled at the two girls facing her and then started to sip at the soup, although it was as if someone was prompting her to use the spoon. When the plates were empty a girl came round and picked them up, bussing them away to the kitchen, looking around Mahut could see Emily raise her hand and a teacher walked to her. Emily then took the empty bottle, got up and was escorted out of the area, to return some minutes later with liquid in the bottle. The server brought out the next course for the girls, Mahut looked up at the girl serving and smiled her thanks, the girl hesitated and then smiled back, but she quickly went back for more plates. It seems that all eyes were focused on Emily as she started to ear the first slice of toast, she had cut it in half and started to chew away in an effort to work up enough saliva to help swallow the bread. But she almost choked with the effort, finally she reached for the bottle and poured a small measure of the liquid into a glass which she raised to her mouth. The dropping of a pin would have been heard as Emily’s shaking hand tipped the glass and poured the liquid into her mouth. She made a face but swilled the liquid around in her mouth before quickly spitting it back into the glass. A murmur of sighs could be heard around the hall as she put the glass back down on the table. Emily’s face was even whiter as she swallowed the toast that had remained in her mouth. She sat back in her seat looking ill. Danielle touched her arm and looked reassuringly at Emily, encouraging her to continue. Emily nodded and took the next piece of toast. This time her mouth was still moist enough to allow her to finish it off. The general level of noise in the dining hall had increased, and the various teachers started walking around, imposing areas of quiet. Then Emily reached for the second slice of toast and then her eyes looked to the roof as she kept chewing away. She tried to swallow but couldn’t, she reached again for the glass, once again all eyes were on her, the liquid was taken swilled around her mouth, but this time she inadvertently swallowed – this was accompanied by a general gasp from nearly all the girls in the dining hall. Emily gave a sob, got up from her seat and ran from the hall. A teacher started to follow her but Danielle raised her hand. Mistress Rachael looked at her and nodded; gratefully Danielle got out of her seat and ran after Emily. ---- A glance from the teachers moving around the hall brought calm to the girls and their attention returned to the food, although many glances were directed to the empty places and the offending glass. The three girls looked at each other and Margaret just shrugged, they had all been through that routine several times, so it hadn’t affected them. The sweet course was brought out and devoured by the girls, they sat back in their chairs waiting for the teacher to pass by and allow them to leave the table. As they left the hall, Danielle and Emily came back in, they took their places and Emily went back to eating her toast, tears could be seen on both girls’ cheeks. The trio now had some time before it was curfew. “We hope you don’t mind Margaret, but we have to practise our music, you can come and listen if you wish.” They said to her. Margaret, now in control, smiled and nodded, then she asked, “Is there enough room for me to practise my ballet?” The two looked at each other before answering, “That’s okay, you can use the stage.” The three girls grasped hands again and ran to the theatre auditorium. Once they got to the theatre Dexter led Margaret to the stage and asked her if she wanted any particular music played. But Margaret smiled and said she would dance to any music they played. As she began to limber up, she didn’t notice the video cameras, or the lights that appeared on them. Dexter called out from the keyboard, “Margaret are you ready?” “Oh yes, whenever you start!” Margaret replied. The music started up, Dexter was playing the keyboard with its myriad of instruments, while Sinister played the flute. The music they started with was ‘The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’, Margaret smiled as she heard this and started to follow the movements from the ballet, while she was dancing she noticed that she was moving with an ease that she’d never had before. After a while the music subtly changed, it was still the tune but with something else added. Margaret noticed the change and her dance altered as well, with more jumps and twirls. While dancing Margaret glanced at the two girls playing, Dexter was smiling she mouthed ‘more?’ and Margaret nodded. Dexter then changed the tune completely, now she was playing ‘The Trout’, a nice slow piece which Margaret floated into the slower movements using the grace that the steps gave her, she started to breath slowly, recovering from the rush of the previous music. Dexter had been watching Margaret closely, she had noticed that her friend was moving too fast and was in danger of tiring herself out, the change in tempo was better for her, more relaxing. Sinister was taking her cues from her twin, their seeming ability to know what the other was thinking was now really working for them. Margaret was now relaxed and, again, glanced at Dexter and nodded showing she was ready for a change. Dexter smiled and started to play a polka, a fast busy tempo. Margaret gave herself up to the music, dancing her very soul out! Sinister and Dexter watched her dance to the music, they knew she had been through a lot and had decided to bring the dance to an end. The polka music changed and then went into a slow beat which Margaret soon recognised as the Boléro by Ravel, the changes in the music allowed her to dance as if she had choreographed the piece. The music gradually built to a crescendo and as it finished on the last cord Margaret crumpled to the ground exhausted. Dexter turned off the organ and Sinister put her flute down, the girls went onto the stage, to where Margaret still laid panting away, and helped her to her feet. They then bowed to the camera and slowly left the stage and the theatre. The girls returned to the quarters assigned to Margaret and placed her almost sleeping body onto the bed, they went to leave but turned back and joined her, the three girls were asleep before the curfew bell sounded. |