Chapter 7 - The Mercy Cage

Charlotte - New York City, 1900

Charlotte - New York City, 1900

Prologue // Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6

His hands gripped so firmly on my shoulders, if he squeezed any harder, my bones would shatter under the pressure. We waited outside this mansion, staring at the big, wooden doors, until a nun, whose height rivaled my father’s, opened the door. Where had he brought me? In school, I had caught whispers of girls talking about a mansion filled with nuns, and that Eleanor, the lady in our class whose belly bloomed over the course of the year, was taken there and never seen again. Her family was no longer invited to the parties my mother and father held, vapid celebrations where they talked of the latest fashions and attempted to marry us off to the young man whose family had the most desirable estate. 

“Here for laundry?” Asked the nun. Who would come here for laundry? This seems disastrously out of the way for someone to come for their laundry. The population is sparse here in comparison to the other neighborhoods I have seen in Manhattan. Tightening his grip, my father replied, “I am seeking reformation for this young…” He paused and I felt a sharp sigh leave his lips, which sent a shudder down my spine, “Sinner.” He finished. I couldn’t help but tense my lips.