After a couple of muffled cries and teardrops, Elisabeth found she had left her rosary and hairband on her person when she passed out on her bed. She scanned her drab, square room compacted with one bunk bed, a twin-size, and a dresser shared between all three roommates. Her two roommates slept soundly.

What a strange sight to behold. The news reported that morning that—since it was so freakin’ beautiful—then it was supposed to stay freakin’ beautiful, including that night and the following day.

Elisabeth kicked the sheets off her feet and went for the window.

Fog. Fog everywhere! She'd never seen so much fog swirling around before. I mean, yeah, midsummer storms weren't unusual, neither were weathermen being totally, utterly wrong at their weather predictions, but this was too much!

Lightning shot with a bang.

Elisabeth gasped and fell back, landing hard on her rump. She checked to see if she woke her roommates. They were still cozy in their beds. Although, as much as she hated the idea of waking them up, her biggest concern was her asthma flaring up again. She ran to her dresser and snatched up her inhaler. Blasted remedy never worked well enough for her. After composing herself, Elisabeth smoothed out her night gown and pulled up her white tights while watching the water run down the lace-framed window panes.

Elisabeth suddenly realized she was very thirsty.

If she was caught outside of her bedroom after curfew, then Sister Gudrun, that old Sister as pious as a radiant prune and armed with a ruler, may sentence her to scrubbing the floors. Again. However, the more Elisabeth weighed her consequences... the more a childlike mischievousness bubbled within in her.

Now we see the secret side of her that the sisters and shrinks had struggled to strangle out with their strict rules. Elisabeth could be quite the mischievous one. Some argued it was just in her genes, cuz there was no way anyone so well-behaved one minute could possibly become so brash the next. Mainly for Sister Agneth's sake, Elisabeth succeeded in meeting everyone's high expectations concerning her quiet obedience; however, tonight, she was in mourning.

And she was gonna get some water, dammit.

At the whim of her rash decision, Elisabeth slipped on her fuzzy slippers and crept for the door.

A haunting lullaby of feigned innocence whispered in her ears.

  It dances, be-ba-boogeyman,

           Around our house, 

            dee-diddle-dum,

  It dances, be-ba-boogeyman,

          Around our house.

Elisabeth’s shoulders rolled back, pinching her stiff spine. She furrowed her brow at the follow-up of silent giggles from her tormentors.

“Ooh!” went one of the giggling girls. “Is the ‘angel’ actually gonna sneak out after hours? You’re gonna get in huge trouble if you get caught.”

“No,” said the other with a sly smile, “what she should worry about most is the boogeyman. You want to get caught by the boogeyman, Elisabeth?”

Elisabeth ignored their remarks. She creaked open the door and strained her ears for anything else rattling besides the entire house. The girls kept singing:

            At night, it brings 

               the good child

          Apples in a little bag.

  It dances, be-ba-boogeyman,

           Around our house.

To their sardonic tune, Elisabeth snuck out.

If Elisabeth had looked out her window three minutes later than she initially did, she could have clearly seen, powering through the downpour, a mushroom-shaped figure.

A figure that kicked open the bolted gate into the closed community and dragged itself into the courtyard.

It glared at Elisabeth’s window with its two beaming red eyes...

But... Elisabeth’s timing wasn’t the best. The teen instead took those three minutes to quietly descend the stairs.