4.

Mary Kate Benedict in her own way was always destined for something special. Like Samuel Lemmontine Fontaine, a name alone can suggest so many things. For Sammy, without knowing him you might guess by his name that he is involved in show business most likely as a performer, an entertainer who croons his way into the hearts of many. In his own right perhaps, Sammy is a performer but his business not in show business.

For the name Mary Kate Benedict, without knowing her, if you were to guess that she may be inclined to lean towards a religious calling then yeah, of course you would be right about that, perhaps however more by circumstance than by chance or want. She simply oozes a religious nature in a very positive way. As with Samuel Lemmontine Fontaine, Mary Kate Benedict could just as easily have succumbed to darkness as she instead chose to devote her life to the light.

The summer of 1975 was a hot one where Mary Kate was from. The other thing about that summer was how family life declined for her, it had been declining long before that summer came along, and the summer itself just hurried things along to the point where it also brought things to an end.

Early on in the year of 1975 Mary Kate overheard her parents arguing. They had argued before, most every couple do, any couple never to argue would be an extremely rare thing, but nothing from before compared in any way like the particular argument on this particular night and the argument on this night frightened an eight-year-old girl. The arguments soon became more and more frequent to the point that Dad moved out before the summer had a proper opportunity to show itself.

Mary Kate was devastated. For an eight-year-old, having to understand why things are what they are, can both be easy to understand and quite difficult to understand. She loved her dad as she also loved her mum, but she didn't want dad to go. If she could choose between having her dad home or not having to deal with the almost nightly arguments, then could she really choose? Perhaps she could. Anything could be better than the fighting, but she did miss her dad. He would still be around and in her life, just not living in the same home.

Yeah, things may have been coming apart since the beginning of the year, perhaps even before that though by the second day of August things really began to come apart. About six in the evening on this day, while up within her own bedroom, Mary Kate caught sight of a shadow.

The shadow first appeared on the floor and it held the shape of a person. There is no one else in the room apart from Mary Kate. She looked around and could not find anything which could create a shadow and she was pretty sure the shadow was not her own. If anything, it might just belong to a man but as far as she knew Dad was not around. Mum was downstairs and yeah; dad hadn't been home in a couple of months. Any time she had seen him of late, she had been brought to him.

Things really got weird when the shadow moved up upon a wall before moving slowly across onto another wall. It really got frightening when the shadow stopped and its head appeared to turn to directly look at Mary Kate, it was so frightening that it made her scream and had her go run to find her mum.

Mum does what any mother would do; she calmed her daughter and attempted to come up with plausible reasoning as to what her daughter may have seen. A week passes, a week that has a little girl see a shadow over and over again. It is in her room on the floor at first like before then it moves onto one wall, then another. On this occasion, a week after first seeing that shadow, Mary Kate watches as it appears to leave her room completely.

Soon Mary Kate can hear voices speak, voices coming from downstairs. One is her mum for sure and the other belongs to a man ... dad? Has dad come home? Mary Kate rushes to the top of the stairs, eager to see her dad, if it really is him, but the voices prevent her from going any further. There is arguing once again. That other voice, the male voice, it doesn't sound like dad. He hasn't been gone so long that she would forget what his voice sounds like, and it couldn't change so much either within those previous few months to so so completely different as this voice surely does.

No, that male voice does not belong to her dad; it belongs to someone else, the shadow perhaps? No, it can't be that either, though what if it is? Mary Kate begins to head down those stairs; she wants to protect her mum however as soon as mum gets wind of her daughter coming down the stairs, Mary Kate is ordered back up to bed.

The arguing becomes more intense. There is no point in an eight-year-old girl getting into bed for it is going to be some time before she gets some sleep on this night especially with the arguing as it is. In fact, it is going to be quite some time in general before she will get any kind of regular sleep.

An hour or so passes, she smells it at first. Is something burning? The arguing too, it has gone quiet. Mary Kate moves to her bedroom door and opens it. Thick black smoke begins to waft in. she moves out into the hallway. The staircase is on fire, not just about on fire but quite full on.

'Mom' Mary Kate calls out, 'mommy.'

There is no reply. Where is her mum? And what about that other person too, the shadow person? Mary Kate makes an effort to head downstairs but that is not going to happen unless she gets severely burned doing so. It is back into her bedroom for Mary Kate. She must get out of the room; she must get out of the house.

As clever as an eight-year-old girl can be, Mary Kate Benedict takes her bed sheets and quickly ties some knots. She secures one end to her bed on throws the other out her window. Fairly soon Mary Kate Benedict is out in her back yard safe and unharmed. Unfortunately, this only lasts for so long for as the home she had lived all her eight years within goes up in flames an explosion occurs and it knocks the child to the ground.

When Mary Kate Benedict awakes in hospital, she wakes without her mother as she also wakes without her sight. Her eyes had been injured in the blast. Attempts are made to find her father and when he is found it is on the end of a rope.

An only child and now an orphan too, Mary Kate Benedict is taken in at Saint Bridget's Convent where she both struggles and adapts. Becoming a Sister is a calling, and this convent is surly a place she feels is home.

Twenty-five years pass. In the early hours of one morning in particular, Sister Mary Kate is woken from her sleep. At first, she believes she is still caught in a dream but soon realizes she is indeed awake. She can hear the sound of a baby's cry; it sounds both near and far. She lies on her back for a moment or two and the baby's cry continues to sound out with the strangest of echoes that has her question as to if what she hears is real or some sort of a recording.

Sister Mary Kate cannot help herself and if a child is crying out then she must do something as it more than seems that no one else is coming to the child's aid. She stands and moves towards the door of her room and calls out the names of a couple other nuns. There is no response and the child's cries louden.

She begins to move towards the cry, feeling out her way to ensure she doesn't trip and fall. At the end of the hall, she is in she turns to the left and continues on. There is a nursery towards the end of this hall, and she moves toward that nursery while picking up a little speed in her steps.

'Don't worry child, I am coming' she speaks, her words not being reacted to by any other soul in the convent.

The instant Sister Mary Kate opens the door to the nursery she is taken aback. She can see a light, a glow and despite this feeling as if it were something in her mind's eye, she can't help but react to it.

She can see a glowing light ... but how can this be? The crying has stopped but there is still a murmuring sound, some sort of gurgle coming from the same spot she is sure the light so happens to be. Sister Mary Kate is compelled to move towards the sound, to move towards the glow.

She picks up a child, an infant girl no more than just a couple of weeks old. 'Hush now child, everything is just fine' she speaks while cradling the baby. The door to the room creaks opens behind her and Sister Mary Kate turns. 'Mother Superior ...'

'My dear ... how did you know who I am? I could be anyone ...'

'It is a miracle ma'am ... for the first time in twenty-five years ... I can see.'

Sister Mary Kate and this infant ... this day in the convent is not the only thing, will not be the only thing to connect them ...