Laura

Laura.

By Joe Nelson.

Detective Jimmy O'Hallorhan stared at the classical design of Trinity Hall. The orphanage’s religious connotations brought back unwanted memories from his own childhood and sent shivers down his spine. Anger surging through him, he quickly lit up a cigarette. The sudden intake of nicotine calmed his agitated brain.
From the shadows of the doorway, a figure dressed in black emerged. It was an elderly nun. Jimmy hated nuns.
         “May I help you?” Her frail voice asked.
Jimmy flashed his badge. “Detective O’ Hallorhan, I’m investigating the disappearance of Billy Finnegan.”
Over twenty years as a detective had taught Jimmy to notice when someone was about to feed him a line of bullshit, it was written in the eyes. The old bat was about to do it now.
         “I’m afraid we don’t have anyone by that name here Detective.”
         “Right” Jimmy replied sarcastically. If the old bitch wanted to play it that way then the game was on. “Take me to see Laura.”
Jimmy noticed the nun’s reaction at the drop of the name. It was a subtle twitch that only an expert would have seen but Jimmy saw it as plain as day. The reaction was fear.
         “We don’t-”
         “-Don’t bullshit me sister. I am not a man you want to fuck with.”
The nun recoiled at the sudden use of foul language before smiling politely and leading him inside.


As they walked through the old corridors, Jimmy thought of his youth. It was a hard time spent inside the walls of an orphanage not dissimilar to Trinity Hall.
It was there that he had been subjected to the cruelty of the Catholic Church. The beatings, the humiliation and the sexual abuse. Those that were supposed to help him only ignored his plight or worse.
He had given up on religion long ago. It seemed to Jimmy that the closer one got to God the more sadistic they became. As far as he was concerned every child in Trinity Hall was just a victim waiting to happen.
         “Through here.” The old nun’s voice broke his thoughts, returning him to the present.
         “The Chapel?” Jimmy asked, confused. It was nearly midnight. Surely the children should have been in bed.
         “Laura likes it here.” she replied, her voice shaky.


The old wooden doors swung open to reveal a hundred faces all staring at Jimmy. All the children and all the nuns sat in the candle-lit hall as though a service was in session. The combined force of all their eyes on him was unsettling to say the least.
Jimmy stared at the altar, his brow furrowing in confusion as he noticed a throne where the alter should have been and a broken crucifix lying next to it.
As his eyes adjusted to the change of light, he could see a little girl sitting peacefully on the throne and playing with a doll.
He turned to the old nun, a silent question on his mind that he never got to ask.
         “Who are you?” A girlish voice called from across the hall.
         “I’m Detective O’Hallorhan. I’m here about-”
         “-Billy?” The little girl answered.
Jimmy gulped and nodded slowly. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
         “I didn’t like Billy. He pulled my hair and wiped boogers on my dress. So I made him go away.” She giggled.
What the hell? Did this kid kill him? What the fuck is going on here? Jimmy’s mind reeled under the implications.
He turned to the old nun again, she was looking silently at the floor. Her submissive posture intended to avoid the child’s gaze.
         “Someone’s been telling on us.” Laura screeched. Her piercing voice resounding throughout the room.
The sound of sobbing came from amongst a crowd of nuns and Jimmy noticed the face of who was crying. It was Sister Marilyn. She had come to the precinct the day before with information about the missing boy. She had been hysterical at the time and amongst her frantic ramblings one of the only words that made any sense to Jimmy was a name; Laura.
Laura stared at the young nun and wrinkled her face in an expression of anger. It would have been comical were it not for what happened next.


Sister Marilyn’s sobs turned to whimpers, the whimpers to begging before she screamed at the top of her lungs.
In over twenty years on the force, Jimmy had never heard a scream so terrifying.
Tears of blood ran down her face and she gripped her head, shaking violently as though she were experiencing a seizure.
Jimmy could only watch in silence as the young nun continued to scream and writhe as rivers of blood ran from her eyes before finally collapsing in a lifeless heap on the floor.


        “There. All better.” Laura said cheerfully, returning her attention to the doll.
         “What the fuck just happened?” Jimmy shouted, his voice trembling. It was his turn to be afraid now.
         “Please don’t…” The old nun next to him pleaded.
         “-You said a bad word.” Laura yelled, before giggling.
Jimmy drew his revolver and aimed it at the girl.
As he readied the sights on her tiny frame his mind raced. He questioned his own eyes. Had he just witnessed what he did? Was he going insane? Could he really snuff out a little girl?
Those questions were answered with the sudden pounding of his head. His vision blurred and he started to shake. The revolver clattered onto the floor and he could hear the childish laughter of Laura echoing in his ears as the pain became more intense.
His stomach lurched and he fell to his knees, voiding the contents of his stomach on the chapel floor.
The smell of fresh vomit stung his nostrils and warm tears ran down his face. Wiping them away with his hand, he noticed that he was crying blood.
Begging for the pain to stop, Jimmy clawed at the floor, unable to walk.
Laura’s smile was the last thing he saw before his whole world went black.