Althea Hay kept her eyes open.

Unlike the rest of her classmates who had closed their eyes as soon as Sister Mary had called for a moment of silence, Althea kept her blue eyes wide open. The vulnerability that came with the act of closing one's eyes was unwelcome to one such as her.

She had been raised in a house where one needed to look at the other straight in the eye if they wanted something. She didn't see the reason why she needed to play by different rules when it came to God.

Her other classmates had been plunged into a religious reverie. They were praying fervently, their lips moving rapidly but no words dared to slip out. Sister Mary thought that praying out loud was a show of pride - one of the seven deadly sins.

Althea let out a sigh as Sister Mary's head arose, an indication that moment of silence was over. The other girls, as if on cue, raised their heads simultaneously a second later.

"The Lord has heard your prayers for Father Cornelius," Sister Mary said with such affirmation that one would have thought she had a direct line with the Almighty Deity. Althea knew for a fact that the only direct line she had was to the pants of Brother Matthew - a young member of the laity in St. Augustine.

"Let us begin the lesson," Sister Mary said holding up her Biology book. It was Althea's turn to pray fervently that the Lord could make the earth swallow her.

One hour later and Althea knew for a fact that if the Bible didn't make one believe that hell existed then a Biology lesson with Sister Mary would. As she taught about reproduction she would stop every few minutes to fall into vehement prayer asking the Lord to give the girls the spirit of abstinence. The fact that she prayed while pushing and pulling on different students' heads was enough to put someone off sex.

She gathered her things and walked out of the class preparing to head to her next class.

"Althea! Wait!"

Althea cursed herself for not leaving the class faster. Having a conversation with her annoying classmate Fiona was one of the things she planned on avoiding. Before Althea could continue walking away Fiona's redhead was already bobbing beside her.

"I can't believe Father Cornelius has passed," Fiona said, barely keeping up with her long legged classmate.

She hoped that the mention death of Father Cornelius, a figure she had seen Althea talk to often, would finally start the long conversation she had always hoped to have with Althea. To her, Althea was a mystery book - one with different volumes and stories hidden inside other stories. The kind of book who's cover - a beautiful head of dark hair and blue eyes with legs that continued on for miles - couldn't help but entice you to try and read it. But, unlike a normal book, Althea's pages were highly exclusive.

"May the Lord watch over his spirit," Althea's response was robotic, they were passing Sister Lena after all. 

Fiona couldn't help but admire Althea even more. She was always so composed and anyone with eyes could see that she was a true believer.

"Yes, may the Lord watch over his spirit," Fiona echoed, lowering her head in respect. The action made her fall behind and she quickly hurried to catch up with Althea.

"Have you heard?" Fiona asked. She wasn't one to take part in gossip but they were almost to Althea's Maths class and she was grasping at straws.

For a single second, Althea's pace slowed. Fiona had caught her attention.

Fiona didn't plan on wasting that single second, "I heard the sisters talking - by accident of course - they were saying that Father Cornelius' death may have been a murder. Isn't that tragic?"

To Fiona, the moment before Althea spoke every other noise disappeared. She hoped that the surprise in Althea's eyes would mean that she could finally here something that didn't have to do with God falling from her red lips.

To Althea, the moment was filled with white noise before the surprise in her eyes turned to darkness and she said, "Fiona, the Almighty rebukes those who take part in gossip."

The overeager girl cringed and hung her head in shame. She hadn't imagined getting reprimanded but she should have known better when it came to Althea. She looked up to ask for forgiveness only to find Althea had already left.

Althea frowned as she walked into the classroom. The conversation with Fiona had not only been headache inducing but had also left a bad taste in her mouth.

She brushed the uneasy feeling aside. It wasn't like her to be floored by anything. She sat down ready to focus on Maths. She reached into her bag removing her books. As she slid her maths book out of the bag, another piece of paper fell out.

The paper had a drawing.

Underneath it the words the Bible holds the key.

Althea's shaky hand reached into her bag again. This time she removed a big Bible, the original Catholic Bible. She quickly sifted through the pages going to a book which she suspected was the source of the picture. In the middle of the book of Elijah the same photo had been inserted right where Elijah had been said to kill the prophets of Baal. The subtitle Elijah kills the prophets of Baal had been lengthened by the words and so shall I also kill the false prophets.

Tell me what you think about Althea? And what about Fiona? What do you think if the method of communication the killer has used? What does it say about them?