"Well, Serena and Odette, I'm leaving both of ya since there's a turmoil," The former police officer pat lightly, affably their shoulders by getting from the tattered, old sofa as his daily agenda as tormenting and hectic as usually. He was snapped when the sound of opening double doors in the common room drew the 3 adults attention within seconds without reluctance. "Oh, here we are with the next visitors!" He whispered in Odette's ear as they didn't take their inqusitive, studious eyes from the both couples who united along. 

"I think I see Odette with one girl." Evelyn responded bashfully as the horde of adults were approaching the ragged, poor-quality sofa as Odette and Serena were seating, broke off the hug shortly before the both couples stepped up in the common room as a couple of lunatics glanced at the uninvited guests of the mental hospital. 

"Hi guys!" Frank greeted warmly the both families as he blocked their way after leaving the both young women transfixing their agitated looks on their youthful, milky faces on the horde of adults. The security guard offered them a sympathetic, humble smile, distorted across his lips.

"Oh hi, Frank! Did ya talk to Odette and this girl with her?" The native Bostonian enquired in wry manner by chewing her bottom lip in unsettled manner whilst Elsa was rubbing with her long, elegant fingers her curly hair as its fingers tipped its soft spots of her head. 

"Yeah, I did! Father McKenzie released the gal from solitary as a present for Odette. They comforted one another and told one another even their stories behind their commitment in Briarcliff." Frank commenced explaining as seconds before his monologue, he cleared his dry throat. In this moment, the other 2 men timidly ambled up to the couch as their mouths were agape, gaping at Odette and Serena. Their dark eyes were fueled as they glinted with sparks of endless compassion, tremendous sorrow and distress once they beheld them in despaired condition which contrasted what they used to be before being jailed in the mental institution. In the meanwhile, the former man of the cloth couldn't repress bitter, crystal dew, pooling his flimsy eyelids as tears betrayed to roll down on his cheeks as he quietly sobbed, incapable of resisting its rephensible picture which was portrayed, airbrushed with its somber nuances of the melancholic, horrific images of completely blameless, vulnerable, young women aa they the least deserved to be institutionalized in the horrid, sinister nuthouse.

"Odette," The both men lowered their velvet voices as they accentuated on their distressed spelling of the juvenile, aspiring singer's name. "Who's this girl with you? Is she friend of yours?" Timothy posed the question beyond calmly as he seated alongside his daughter, whereas Massimo was propping on the couch without sitting directly.

"It's Serena. My childhood friend." The young brunette replied plainly as it was stoic to her how Serena looked like while the former authority left the common room as Jude, Elsa and Evelyn joined the other horde of adults.

"Serena?" In the interim, Massimo and Timothy inspected as their eyes wandered up and down by scanning momentarily the other inmate. Their hearts were cracked on trillions of glassy, miniature pieces as if they were whacked with hammers. What Massimo knew about the other girl was she was another orphan who was being adopted just before Odette was conveyed in Florida's orphanage until the both men realized the other patient looked peculiarly similar or not exactly. 

"Oh, gentlemen! I'm so ashamed," The strawberry-haired muttered out by struggling to spell each syllable, covering her face with her elvish, smooth hands as they were greased in filth and poor hygiene.

"Don't be ashamed! We mean no harm, Serena. You seem an amiable girl." The former holy man clarified calmly without daring to touch Serena. 

"Do I look really look like," All of a sudden as Serena scrutinized, inspecting Timothy's handsome facial features within seconds until realizing it's her old friend's father especially by judging their hair color and certain enchanting facial features they shared in common. "A friendly one? I'm just like the rest of these poor souls, trapped in an asylum for the rest of their lives. You might perceive me as a kind of a danger."

"Don't be too formal, dear! You can call us by our names." Judy rationally replied by extending her petite, milky hand by offering a benevolent, brief handshake. She looked down at the young lady as her hazelish-brown orbs glinted sparks of inescapable, glacial sorrow, due to her unkempt appearance and her wry apprehension towards Timothy, Elsa, Massimo, Evelyn and Jude, herself. Reckoning herself with them. "I'm Judy, Odette's mother. And these with me are Timothy, my husband." The middle-aged Bostonian introduced her husband, offering the strawberry-haired lady a sympathetic, affectionate smile, dancing on her lips.

"It's my pleasure, Mrs. Howard!" The 3 adults shook their hands politely. "It's mine too, Mr. Howard!"

"Do not call us formally! It's just Judy and Timothy." The younger man said in honeyed voice by being fed up with being addressed formally as if he was a bizarre, compulsive stranger, invading her personal space.

"Oh, you're so kind!" The former members of the church said as one by attempting gingerly to stroke Serena's head though she evaded their touch since she had trusting issues, highly doubting even her childhood friend's parents. "Don't complain, kiddo!"

"Please, don't touch me, Judy and Timothy!"

"Give her time! She probably has trust issues." The German lady emphasized trust issues by winking at the other mother as she approached her husband, taking his larger, warm hand into her petite, smooth.

"For sure she has." The young brunette retorted by hugging Serena, opting to alleviate her due to the humongous stress, pressure and somewhat awkward situation where her friend was exactly located in.

"Serena? Sweetheart?" All of a sudden, the young woman turned to the other married couple once she heard the singer's firm, German accent as her eye glistened somber, bleak nuances of her recent feelings and emotions which thundered a vicious storm by noting their shining faces with benevolent, beaming smiles which distorted across their lips. "You shouldn't be fearful of us at any cost. We're Odette's friends and we mean no harm." She furthered with her explanation without trying to embarrass Serena, momentarily releasing a hoarse chuckle.

"That's our daughter Evelyn and that's Elsa, my wife."

"It's pleasure to meet you, Serena! Evelyn!" Evelyn briefly introduced herself by chewing her bottom lip with her ivory tooth, lightly bowing her head during the handshake by expressing her respect towards new strangers whom she was introducing herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Serena! We are Elsa and Massimo." After the handshake between the young females, hence, it was high time for the last handshakes up to now.

"It's mine too! Serena Langdon!" She nodded humbly her head as a vague, coy smile formed on her face.

"What they did to you these monsters?" Elsa asked concerned behind the story of her sewed eyelid and the partly-shaved head.

"Ma'am, you don't have any clue what my adoptive parents were capable of!" A sarcastic, fueled with woebegone strings which were fiddled of lyre. "They insanely ruined me and left me to rot there since I don't have my own rights or rather considered something less than anybody else."

Flashback

November 1961

"Serena?" Harrison yelled his adoptive daughter's name by searching for her upstairs while she  was pretending to be asleep, in order to avoid his bland, ignorant heated debates as she laid on her compact bed in her sufficiently spacious bedroom. "Serena Mother Fucking Langdon? Did I told ya," The middle-aged man stammered in ruthless, intoxicated voice by lurching, incapable of controlling his posture for a split second. As he opened her bedroom door after imposing the stairs for the second floor as he was inebriated after boozing four scotch glasses of rom at least, which was readily evident in his tone, speech. Chuntering his own words. The door creakly opened after his colossal hand met the doorknob, pressing it. 

In this moment, Collette wasn't home, due to the fact she's been busy with a lot of work this week, hence, rendering her daily schedule even more hectic. 

"Serena, Serena, Serena," Little did he know what she concealed in her jeans pocket by tiptoeing in her bedroom, making sure she won't wake up of his light footsteps as if a beast was approaching her bed though she scarcely believed in such fairy tales about werewolves, witches and so forth, besides their mythologies and legends. Her eyelids were tightly shut. "You little whore! What am I supposed to do with you?" Suddenly he rolled her motionless body as the strawberry-haired girl reclined on her back by being on top of her, wrapping his floppy legs around her waist, leaning down to her face by scrutinizing her pale, porcelain complexion in sly manner. "You deserve nothing than a punishment for being such a disappointment and shame." He whispered in her small ear as her hand plugged inside her jeans' pocket, fumbling for her pocket knife which she gathered earlier today from the kitchen, plotting Harrison's homicide. He licked her right cheek slowly, feeling by the way his berry-coloured, wet tongue greazing in clammy saliva her cheek, closing his eyes by relishing its moment of his torture. 

"Did you hear me?" The older man grunted by exhaling sharply as his rom stained breath brushed lightly her face as if wind blew it. In the interval, her hand gripped the silver pocket knife which was enough honed and getting it of the pocket, she waited for the perfect moment to stab it in the right area, thereafter marking a bullseye if she has successfully stabbed him as his requital is accomplished at last. "Look what kind of a lesson I'm going to teach you, you twat!"  In the interim, the young woman used the moment to stab him in his groins multiple times by kicking his heavier body of hers, getting rid off his corpse by pinning him, incessantly goring with the pocket knife as its edge was baptized in fresh, thick blood his ribs, right his heart until his heart halts functioning as her eyelid was already opened, sadistically surveying his downfall. 

"Here is your lesson ya stupid son of the bitch, fucking abuser, intrusive rapist! You human waste!" She spat on his face by sliting his throat as she perfomed a gore baptize of him as her slim fingers tipped the blood, consequently greazing it all over his face and certain body parts which were visible. "I'm baptizing you in the name of the gore baptize which I'm performing in the name of yar sins, criminal deeds which are damn overlooked by the authorities. Ya deserved to be imprisoned for the rest of your days for trying to rape a minor, ya bastard. Even killing you and touching an inch of your abominable being is worse than anything."

--- Few Hours Later ---

"What the heck is that smell of gore?" The dirty blond-haired lady whined in high-pitched tone after slamming the front door by removing her winter hat which capped her ringlet of dirty blond of silky undulate curls, descending down her mid-back. Her sensitive nostrils smelled the acute stench of blood, coming from upstairs which briskly overspread in the entire house, whilst her adoptive daughter was getting some sleep on her compact bed after hiding the corpse of her adoptive father under her bed. "What have you done, Serena? Serena, did you cut yourself?" Collette carried on by following the poignant stench of blood by going upstairs as her footsteps approached her bedroom by pacing in the hallway as its wooden planks flooring creaked with each took step. "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining!" 

Once she stood before her foster daughter's bedroom door, subsequently her hand tapped a couple of times on the old, wooden door by emitting sounds, keeping her wits about somebody else's presence.

"Serena! May I come?" 

No response. No reaction. Afterwards she rapped more frequently though she turned on the other side, inhaling inwardly by ignoring her mother's door knocks. 

Throughout the middle-aged lady pressed the doorknob as her hand met its old, rusty doorknob, pressing it until she came to the conclusion the blood's dreadful, pervasive fragrance reached her nostrils, toying her nose as her hazelish-gray eyes wandered up and down, scanning the room in quick glance until her eyes noted blood stains on her foster daughter's bedsheets. Suddenly she can hear Serena stirring up, coming to her senses lastly.

"Mom? What are you doing here? Didn't ya know before entering in my room you should knock?" The strawberry-haired girl enquired with drowsy voice as she inhaled softly, rubbing with her fists her eyes.

"I knocked, Serena. Aren't you deaf?" Collette replied dryly by casting a piercing glare at her foster daughter without averting her glare of her by strolling up to her as her chunks clicked against the carpeted flooring. 

"I'm not deaf. I was asleep." 

"So what are those blood stains on your bedsheets?" Without touching the stained bedsheets, Collette kept her wits behind the leery behaviour of the girl. "You've stained them with your period."

"Yes, I do." 

"A big laundry is awaiting you, miss! Until," The strawberry-haired didn't want her mother to figure out from where the vinegary blood smell emanated which might mortify her to bones. Furthermore, Collette crouched down by sitting on her knees beside the bed, unwrapping the bedsheet to examine under her bed by covering with a hand her mouth once her hazelish-gray pools saw the corpse of her husband. "Oh Jesus!" Her heart raced as it sunk, incapable of handling her emotions and feelings anymore, whereas Serena set free a wicked, sadistic giggle.

"It's not a laundry. It's called gore baptizing."

"How dare ya," Thereafter the older woman got up from the ground by snaking her callous, fleshy fingers around Serena's silken neck by piercing a glare into her chocolate brown eyes as its searing flame lit up in her irises. "To kill yar father, you little whore?"

"He tried to rape me again. What are you saying?"

"You're getting away with murder. The whores deserve nothing than being discriminated and humiliated. They are ladies with no morals and their own rights."

"You're a monster!" Serena opted to kick her mother in her groins as the both women gritted their teeth firmly. 

"You piece of trash, I'm fed up with ya! And you no longer belong in the society even there." The dirty blond-haired lady hassling as she raised her deep voice, grasping her fingers as they braced her recent victim's neck. "From now on, yar destiny will teach your lessons wisely by being jailed somewhere for mentally sick people like ya. I didn't know a monster even a mentally-ill girl would live under this roof until you fucking murdered Harrison, the love of my life."

"Screw you, you old hag!"

"Not only you're a liar, but also you're a murderer."

***

"Oh Jesus Christ! Look who're disturbing these girls again." Father McKenzie opened the double common room door as a vile, smug grin hugged his lips by whispering to himself, earning promptly the intruders' attention as well.

"Frank allowed us to pay a visit to them, if you want to know, Monsignor!" Massimo answered suavely by attempting to not taste the barbarous Monsignor's patience. 

"If you're here for another scandal again, I won't let you to hurt my daughter even more this innocent girl with the sewed eye." Timothy retaliated by glaring Alexander whose tongue clicked. 

"Timothy, please, don't argue with this asshat!" The native Bostonian tried to soothe her husband by placing on top of his broad, muscular shoulder her hand, kneading his shoulder as if she was opting to persuade her child to not fight other children, involving himself in a physical fight. "The things will get worse."

"The Howards and Dolcefinos are attacking me. How funny, Mr.Howard and Mr.Dolcefino! Why are you still there?" The head of Briarcliff approached them slowly by belittling them with his tone and manners, zinging in a circle around them especially the both older men.

"We wanted to see them. They're special girls and they're blameless." The Italian answered beyond calmly by opting to be as diplomatic as possible even with their foe.

Meanwhile Evelyn checked on Serena and Odette by making sure they weren't upset at all though they kept themselves cool on outside. 

"Blameless? Don't you think their stories before imprisoning them in Briarcliff makes sense to house such people like them? Especially who don't belong in the general population with their heinous deeds? Huh?" The man of the cloth dramatically, ironically guffawed by unable to control his storm of emotions. "Don't make me laugh ever again, intruders! Now get out of my sight before the consequences aggravate in your favor for your sake!" Without an ado, Evelyn and her parents, Judy and Timothy lowered their heads by Alexander's arrogance and menace caution.

"I'm so sorry, my darlings! At least, it was pleasure to see you for a while and chin up as always!" Elsa cupped Serena and Odette's jaws, tilting their heads to meet one another's stares. Afterwards she pecked kisses on their temples by stroking lightly their manes of tresses. 

"Just remember, girls! Keep your wits about this bastard and never let him to belittle you. Sooner or later we will find alternatives to get you out of this hellhole." Judy peppered their cheeks with light, feather, doting kisses by stroking their faces, admiring their facial features even if they lacked of any hygiene. 

"Don't worry, Judy! I and my angel Elsa will adopt Serena and get her out of this hellhole, whilst you go with Odette since she's your daughter."

In this moment, the other adults kissed the young ladies' cheeks and foreheads and pulling them in tight, warm and affable hug just before leaving the institution's area.

To be continued...

Author's note: Sorry for this sloppy chapter, nevertheless I wanted to update it as soon as possible after finishing Unholy Atonement my short book and that's why I delayed. Now you can kill me for making you to wait longer for a new chapter. jk😂

Alex xoxo✝💗💗