Glommy...

It's so dark here...

You will not be able to see anything here if no one enters this room without light up my

candle

Ding, ding dong

Oh, the time has come!

The sound of the grand father’s clock supposed to be an alarm, for the occupants of this

room to prepare for someone to enter this gloomy room. The old clock jingled at certain hours, I

don't know, I don't know when exactly jingled, what was clear when the sun's light had not

forced through the cracks of the old window.

Clicked cliked

Oh God finally, someone came and lit each of our axes. And yash look! we can see this

room as clear as crystal clear. Maybe you will ask why I called my name as a 'we'? that's because

I have three parts, that's right. We are candelabrum with three burning sticks, very commonly

used in Catholic worship rituals.

In this room we are the one and only source of lighting available, you might wonder if

there are no lights in this room? So here you go, the owner of this orphanage is quite stingy,

belive in me, not only for the orphans but also in the facilities, I think you understand enough

why this prayer space is made of minimum light.

"Sister Aphrodite, can you please get me incense ..."

"Alright Father..."

Sister Aphrodite immediately opened the cabinet located not far from the door and

returned to the small altar and lit incense. The fragrant aroma of incense spreads to each side of

this room, the distinctive aroma makes anyone feel calm in this room, without exception.

"In the name of the father of the son and holy spirit, amen"

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name ..."

"Thy kingdom comes ..."

" Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven "

" Give us this day our daily bread..."

" And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

Srek..srek...

"And don't put us in the experiment ..."

Srek..srek...

"And lead us not into temptation..."

Srek..srek...

“But deliver us from evil”

"Amen"
 One of the curly-haired girls did not seem solemnly following the Our Father Prayer.

Sometimes her little shoulder jerked up slowly, like fear and pain at the same time. Faintly out of

my light, I caught a purple patch into the blue that formed a segment of a finger to pounce on the

poor girl’s arm.

"Angel--good girl, as I recall, the Sisters and I always teach you all how to pray fervently,

I hope you can better take a stand in prayer."

"U-understand, Father"

I assumed the curly-haired girl was Angel, I don't think she's in a good condition right

now. I don't know if it's just my feelings, her little body is not as agile as the other friends.

Wait... I think I've met her before.

That girl and other blonde girl had entered this room. I don't remember what happened

back then because they didn't burn the candlewick when it was in here. The only thing I can

remember is the sound of crying out loudly pleading for something that happened to him to stop

immediately.

Oh God, if I had the expertise to see in the dark, of course now I would not sink into

curiosity, about what happened to him.

"Today's worship has finished, please go back to your rooms. Sister Aphrodite, please take the

children to bed, "

Anyway, if you haven't got a clue as to what room I live in. This room is located in the

corner of the second floor, the size is not too big, I estimate the size of about 4x4 meters - of

course, this is only my estimate. Hey I'm candelabrum with three burning sticks, of course.
Everyone should gather here to pray, but sometimes unexpected things are happening here, no,

don't force me to tell it now, dude, sooner or later you will hear the story.

There isn't much reliable lighting from inside this room, aside from the wick of the

burning candelabrum candle and the sun's light that is forced in through the air vents. To be

honest, this room is more suitable to be called a basement, because the light is very minimal, not

without any reason, here there are no windows at all.

Let me tell you a little secret. Actually, there is a window here, but, I don't remember

since when I never saw the window again, the last time I saw a man in a thick jumpsuit with a

toolbox come to the window and started to light the engine is very noisy with a spiral iron tip,

and carries thick plywood. If my guess is right, the window ‘disappears’ after the man with the

tool closes it with plywood.

Though I like the feel of this room when I first built it, it was bright, so that I could freely

see what was happening in this room. Inversely proportional to now, I can only stare at this

whole room at certain moments. More precisely during the prayer celebration, because surely the

fat-bodied man who is often called by the Father lit our fuse as a torchlight for this room.

Do you want to know what is the most interesting part of being candelabrum with three

burning sticks? Come here I'll tell you.

First of all, I'm warning that maybe this story will sound familiar or maybe not the part

that can be called 'interesting' to you, but in my opinion - as a candelabrum with three burning

sticks, this is fun work.

 Every day, from the moment the rooster crows, all the people with sleepy eyes together

come to my room. They all together offered their morning prayers, as a form of gratitude for

yesterday and asked for protection for today, something like that which captured their prayers.

After praying, they usually sing very soothing hymns for God. You have to know this, I

always like the happy faces of the sweet children when singing together, I like imagining a little

angel in heaven singing to me. A sweet smile and a hymn in the accompaniment of a song are

one of the best parts to a trident candle.

After completing the morning worship service, the children in the most prayerful group

would scramble to blow my candle wicks, if I was not mistaken if all the kids would compete

with each other to do that.

But hey! The best part is their little laughter always accompanies my morning. When

morning prayers are still routinely done, the window of the previous tightness is still there. So at

that time even though my candle axis was extinguished, this room was still full of sunlight. I can

still see my surroundings very clearly.

You know, if time could be turned I wanted to remain in that era, at the time when every

morning was filled with melodious voices and cheerful little angelic laughter. Now I seldom

heard cheerful laughter and happy applause during this worship session in the room.

I don't know if there is anything wrong with this room now, so they can be as cheerful as

I was, I don't know what happened to the other room. Either they are still cheerful like they used

to be or there are terrible thingd out there so they are what they are now. I hope those poor

children don't experience bad things.

 Indeed, until now daily prayers are still held in this room. But many things have

changed--a lot. You wouldn't believe that if I could tell you everything in detail it would take

days, no, I'm not joking. I don't know since when, but daily prayers are only done at night before

the children's bedtime, and that too not done every day. Most often they do it twice a week, the

rest I don't know, I hope they still pray elsewhere.

Drap drap drap

I heard someone with a small step towards this room, his steps like familiar, if I guessed right

this is the footsteps of the fat-bodied Father.

Krieet

"Jesus Christ! I almost forgot to take this book ... "

Exactly, that the man who people call as Father left his obsolete book in this room.

Fortunately, the book is not left forever. The man scrambled to get his book, before coming out

he had time to tear up the calendar displayed at the corner of the door, tear the paper on April 31,

after that the remaining paper with May 1.

Usually when May comes, children, every evening enter this room to say a prayer. But

this time the prayer is different, in May they usually say their prayers while holding a necklace

full of round beads with larger beads in some parts, and at the end of the necklace is given a

cross pendant. If I'm not mistaken, the name of the necklace is a rosary, as I recall, the children

named the necklace.

**

Ding dong ding dong

 The old grandpa’s clock is ringing, this time I think the children's schedule is for

learning. I can even remember all their activities at one time from this room.

Oh look the children, they have come!

Two sisters were seen walking along the line of the children into this room. I don't

understand why they study in this room long ago, I wonder if there isn't enough room out there

for their study? Plus the lighting in the room isn't good enough, I guess.

Each of them one by one enters this room while carrying a strand necklace with beads

and cross pendants in their hands. I still wonder what they will do with the necklace.

The older looking sister looked as if she would speak first.

"Good afternoon sweeties, so today, as usual, me and sister aphrodite will teach you all

how to pray with the rosary,"

The sisters began to teach the children to learn to use the necklace in prayer. A little

difficult I guess at the beginning, because for every one prayer you have to hold one bead on the

necklace, and each bead has a different prayer. And you must remember well what prayer they

should recite and which bead you should hold.

"Well, we start from one bead that is on the cross pendant, have you found where the

bead is?"

One of the young sister asked.

All children began to follow his instructions, looking for the intended bead. I'm not sure

about the expressions the kids are showing, I don't think any of them are showing exciting
expressions since they entered this room. Well, I don't want to get prejudiced, maybe they put on

an expression like that because they are so exhauted their playtime, don't almost all kids like

playtime?

One of the children seemed to hold sleepiness several times. Several times the light of my

candle caught him trying to cover his mouth so yawning wide. I'm sure this orphanage should

have a good time sleep at the children's bed here. But look, the fat boy I mean even looks tired

like a person who has to work hard all day. His eyes had come with tears every time his mouth

yawned widely. I think he tried to cover up his sleepiness, with several times he stared blankly at

the surface of the old wooden floor in this room.

"Ronny, I think you have passed enough sleep last night? How can you be sleepy like someone

who never sleeps? "

"I'm sorry, but I'm sleepy, Sister"

"Don't joke with me, you even slept early last night - you better prepare yourself, before I find

you are yawning again."

Ronny did not continue, he just nodded resignedly. The atmosphere in this prayer room

instantly became tense. The heat created by my candle made the atmosphere in this room even

tenser. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, the heat, darkness here completely killed the

feelings of anyone who sat in this room.

Regardless of what the boy felt, Sister Aphrodite and Magdalene continued to teach the

rosary. I wondered what the other kids thought about their attitude. The other children didn't

seem surprised at Sister Aphrodite's treatment of Ronny. Either they tried to look for safety, so
they would not go along with the woman's rebuke or indeed they did not have empathy for the

poor boy. What is clear is that, it is seems fishy about this situation.

"Sarah, you can read the prayer first,"

"Good sister," Sarah nodded her head in agreement, and read a prayer.

Usually, they sit facing the altar when praying this room. But this time they are in this

room sitting cross-legged by forming a circle and wood cross with a stand in the middle of them.

Maybe this makes it easier for them to learn how to use the rosary and find out who the next

reader is.

Sarah continued her turn, fluently she read sentence by sentence of Our Father's prayer,

as an opening for the rosary. If you don't know before, the rosary is a prayer for Catholics, which

is used as a reward for the salvation of Jesus. In short, in this reflection, the people involved must

read the Hail Mary prayer over and over until the beads on the Rosario are counted.

On Sarah's left was a boy sitting cross-legged, he looked the oldest boy in this orphanage,

I could see him because he had a bigger posture than the others. Sarah has finished the prayer

part, the boy's turn to continue his part. Sister Aphrodite looked at him carefully, I don't know,

like a strange look.

That boy did not immediately read the prayer. His gaze is blank, like someone who has

been hypnotized.

"Josh, honey, it's your turn," said Sister Aphrodite very softly, only this time I heard her

speak as softly as that.

"Oh, o-okay, sorry I—"

 "It's okay dear, can you continue?"

"Yes, sister"

Josh, he has a face with a Latin accent, his brown eyes really captivate anyone who sees.

"Our Father who is in heaven, glorified is thy name, come thy kingdom—"

"..."

"Forgive our mistakes—"

"Psst... psst you read the wrong prayer," one of the little boys nudged Josh's wrist.

Realizing there was something wrong with the prayer Josh was reading, he whispered softly to

correct the prayer Josh was reciting.

"What? I did not hear ... you are very slow, "

"Y-You read the wrong prayer,"

"Hah? Which part? "

"Ahem," Sister Aphrodite cleared her throat, with the intention that the two of them stop

the conversation during prayer.

Josh was more confused, he frowned.

The atmosphere became very awkward. The other children know that this is a disaster,

anyone who cannot memorize prayer properly will usually get swear and even punishment from

the sisters. For the sake of avoiding problems, most of them choose to remain silent and bow

their heads, as if avoiding problems, I mean, avoiding to interfere. Because anyone who dares to
cut his friend while praying, is good to remind if there is a wrong prayer or just talk will receive

the same consequences. They will not hesitate to punish you in a sadistic way.

Seeing no response from Josh, the Sister Aphrodite who had been waiting for the

continuation of Josh's prayer, finally looked up. Looking at Josh deeply, as if there was

something that wanted to explode from inside him. However, a strange thing happened, he let out

a long breath, then put on a gentle smile, pulling one corner of his lips up. For sake of God, this

is the most sly smile I've ever seen.

"It's okay Josh, maybe you can try next time and it should be better," said Sister

Aphrodite with a warm smile, if I may be honest, this woman is completely fake, I say so

because I know how cruel she is to children another.

Josh could not cover his pale face, his hands had not stopped shaking, as if he could

predict the nightmare he would face after this, to pay for his mistake for not being able to

memorize prayer properly.

Ronny was no less trembling, he was so nervous he did not notice the tip of his lip, from

which he had bitten, had already bled a little because it was too strong when biting. There was

regret in him for correcting Josh when he misread prayer. However, on the one hand he also

could not bear to see his friend confused without direction, and imagine Josh punished arbitrarily

by the caretaker of this orphanage. Ronny seemed to have prepared himself and mind, facing the

consequences.

The other children could only freeze to hear Sister Aphrodite's words, no one dared to

interrupt her speech. Although it was felt unfair, because usually if one of them did the same
thing as Josh would be punished right then and there. But alas, they can only contain this anger,

because they know that even fighting is of no use.

"Hey Ron, you continue the next prayer," Sister Aphrodite broke the silence.

Ron, the boy's nickname, was suddenly shocked from his reverie when he was appointed

to continue the next prayer. Stiffen his body and take a deep breath, like he prepared himself, so

that nothing bad happens to him after this.

"Our Father who is in heaven, glorify your name, come your work, be your will—"

"...”

Hem..hem..

"A-amen"

"Ron!" snapped Sister Aphrodite

"S-sorry, sister, I forgot the last part, I-I'm nervous," Ronny was unable to cover his

anxiety, his voice was nervous, I could see from the light of my candle, his sweat began to flow

from his forehead.

Sister Aphrodite suddenly stood up, I could see anger from inside her, even though this

room was dark, but the light from my candle was enough to illuminate some of the faces in this

room, so that i could see Sister Aphrodite clearly her wrath. He approached Ronny who had been

begging with his hands closed in front of his chest, begging for mercy. All attempts to beg

Ronny were useless, Aphrodite grabbed Ronny's left arm and dragged him.

"Sister, s-sorry I beg for forgiveness don't hurt me—"

 "Shut the fuck up, dirty pig!"

Without mercy, Aphrodite dragged Ronny's stocky body into the middle of the prayer

circle. Josh reflexively got up from his seat, his instincts seemed to say he had to do something to

Ronny.

"Josh! Do not interfere. Don't all of you ever interfere in my business if no one wants to

meet the same fate as this dirty pig! " Josh's guts seemed not enough to help Ronny.

Aphrodite forcefully dropped Ronny's body to the floor, with all his strength he held

Ronny, who begged for mercy so as not to move. Aphrodite was truly like a demon, her right

hand pressed against the chest of the poor boy very strongly. She began to look around, like

looking for something to vent her anger. Suddenly her eyes fixed on the light of my candle, I

could see the hatred from her blue eyes. Now her hand was trying to take one of my candles

forcibly, because my wax melt was too much attached to the handle of the trident, Aphrodite

who was impatient to decide to take all of my possession, the handle of the trident filled with 3

lit candles. I don't know what underlies this strange woman to do it but now she is pointing me

above Ron's head and tilting my hot wax droplets to head down on Ron's forehead.

"I didn't think you would be a hero to Josh who couldn't memorize prayers, even though

you were just as dumb! You think I'll feel sorry for you just like Josh?! For the sake of Jesus!

dirty pig like you do not deserve to be forgiven, you should remember my rules for not

interrupting while praying, now you must accept the consequences of your transgression! "

I swear to God, Aphrodite is really like Lucifer possessed. I'm sure her conscience was

covered with anger, my hot melt was slowly touching Ronny's skin, he could only cry begging

for mercy hoping there was mercy from Aphrodite or one of the children helping him. But the
other children chose silence, because that was one way to save themselves from the cruelty of

Aphrodite. I'm really sorry about Ronny, my melt fulfills part of his forehead. Ronny's tears

broke out holding the heat and stinging, I knew this would burn the skin slowly even if it didn't

hit the fire directly.

"Stop crying! Or I will continue to torment you! "

Ronny slowly cried hearing the threat, so that the sound of tears did not break the silence

he pursed his lips, I could see a speck of blood coming out from behind the lips bitten

sadistically by his small teeth. Half of my wax had almost run out due to burning by the fire from

the wick, part of my wax had melted away burning Ron's skin. Aphrodite slowly stopped the

action, seeing that Ron had endured pain.