Door tap interrupted the occupied Sister Molly, who was recently praying her soul out in front of the altar as she was being encircled by other nuns and a handful of priests.

As she was approaching the double wooden doors, she sighed and wondered who was currently disturbing the middle aged woman of the cloth.

When she was diving barely any centimetre approximation with the double door, she pushed it and realized lastly who was the intruder. A man in police uniform stood before the double door. Grotesque frown crawled on his face. His cold winter blue eyes pierced a glare into Molly.

What Sister Molly felt was her heart racing as the anxiety hit her abruptly. She sensed an impending heart attack, due to the cop sudden presence.

"Good evening, how may I help you?" The nun enquired enthusiastically, playing it cool outside though the exasperation and self-consciousness were boiling inside her, cooking its toxicity.

"Good evening, Sister! I am there for one priest under the name McKenzie." The police officer responded dryly, emotionlessly. In the meanwhile, he abided obnoxiously serious and professional, without giving hopes for optimism and affable conversations.

"Oh," The sister of the church gasped as she felt presence in front of her who was prying. It wasn't a nun. It was Father McKenzie, who has just raised eyebrows in perplexion, idly biting his bottom lip. Meanwhile Molly turned to the younger man as she couldn't help, nonetheless, flinch and clamping a hand behind her mouth, abstaining from mumbling a swear word. "Oh, Alexander, you have a special guest over there!" She furthered.

"Seriously?" Alexander rubbed his head as he took a few steps until he was alongside his tutor. The older lady nodded her head, affirming her seriousness. "Okay, okay!" He snapped curtly, shifting his sapphire blue eyes to the police officer. "Good evening, sir! It seems there's an occured issue so that to bring you over there."

"That's right, Father! We should talk in private because as I know already, Sister Molly was interrogated months ago by the authorities, taking its place there." Casey cautioned gravely, scarcely changing his tone until he turned to the elder nun, offering her a sham smile, distorted on his lips. "Sister, could you please leave us with the Monsignor?"

"Yes, sure!" The holy woman answered, walking away from the endangered territory where the policeman and the man of the cloth discuss grave questions. 

As soon as Sister Molly fled, Casey gestured Father McKenzie to leave the hallowed facade without warning him where they shall go and talk in private. 

When Alexander followed the cop's instructions, he escorted Casey up to the backyard of the local church, rambling under the moonlight, dropping its pale light below them, illuminating their faces and figures. 

The night, itself, was serene unlike some other nights. Mystic. Unexplainable. Quiet. The twinkling stars in the nocturnal sky embodied the extraordinary beauty of the nocturnal atmosphere and the night in general.

"So sir, are you going to enquire me over Briarcliff and my deeds?" Alexander posed the question beyond soberly, barely showing any kind of an emotion in his speech, glimpsing for a while at Casey's face. 

"Oh, Father! That's not the reason why I am here." Casey retorted, glancing back at the younger man, arching an eyebrow.

"Then what are your motives, bringing you here to speak to me in person?" The juvenile, aspiring priest wanted to acknowledge what the middle aged man brought him in the middle of the night and being surprised by his arrival especially after the authorities came over in the local church's area months ago, questioning Sister Molly. 

"Well, I know by far the Howards are generally hostile towards you as I know somebody who's part of this family."

"Oh, really?" The member of the clergy responded rhetorically, gasping boggled as he couldn't imagine somebody else to have a rancorous relationship with the Howards especially with the couple itself. "I find it hard to believe it, sir." They still sauntered leisurely, their eyes darted to the path which they have crossed with each took step. 

"Oh, come on, Father! Stop calling me sir and just address me Casey, okay?" Casey preferred to be addressed informally as he felt strangely platonic bond, yielding a compatitability though a couple of minutes haven't even passed fully and they just felt aura, uniting them as a vile bond that are capable of doing malevolent things to the others. 

"Alright!" Slight, timid smirk loomed on the priest's youthful, pale face. "Casey!" He called his name out loud fluently.

"Exactly! May I know your name, if you don't mind?" In the interim, the police officer's mammoth, veiny hands were in his cotton dark navy blue slacks' pockets. 

"Alexander Stanley McKenzie!" He declared his full name without being cut off in the middle of his brief sentence.

"Alexander, right?"

"Sure!"

"As far as I know, you are going to sue the Howards because Timothy hasn't signed the documents for Judy's release out of Briarcliff." Casey uttered mischievously through a smug, puckish grin, spread across his lips. 

"That's correct! It's against the law. They fled like mice out of the madhouse months before my election as a head of the mental institution." Hence, Alexander took a deep breath, inhaling the relaxing, sheer nocturnal air, cleansing his nostrils from the stenches. 

"I am not surprised what outlaws they are."

"But seriously, how you are hostile with them?" Alexander brought back the topic about his foes, opting to control his voice undertone.

"I am just hostile with them especially Judy is the main problem in this case." Subsequently Father McKenzie couldn't oppress a wicked chuckle, glancing back at the older man, casting an amused look on his young-looking face. Scarcely daring to peel a single word during his monologue. "The whore, who found a sugar daddy to ensure her a mansion and give him children who are going to be tramps like her." Casey carried on as he couldn't contain a growing, malicious smirk on his lips. 

"It's clearly apparent, Casey! I cannot lie she's such a freeloader," He paused to clear his throat. "And it's not occasional she is being surrounded by naive, flexible puppets who believe her nonsence instantly." 

"Exactly! I haven't accidentally thrown her away from my life. Well," In the meanwhile, he earned a puzzled stare by the man of the cloth. The former Jude's fiancé became somewhat uneasy once he peaked at the apogee where he hasn't plenty of opportunities to lie, howsoever, be himself and spit it out directly. "She used to be my girlfriend, we used to be such a splendid and loving couple." He confessed accurately without missing a single detail behind his previous relationship. 

Flashback

May 1943

"Hey, Judy! What brought you there again?" Casey asked the blonde who stood apprehensively beside him as her washing machine broke down again and relied on him to repair it as he was her last hope since she was struggling with the money. 

Judy knew Casey as she met him on her high school graduating party though she was sneered by her own peers, due to her frugal life and couldn't afford luxurious, exquisite garments for the ball but Casey pitied her back then and realized she was much different from their peers. Far from being a bully and disdaining the others whether for petty or clueless reasons. They befriended and liked one another as a company after the school's graduation.

They were close friends and she relied on him to repair her washing machine since she scarcely had any idea of engineering and repairing stuff. Further, in the past weeks she felt some kind of a thrill towards him and was gingerly falling in love with him. Their mutual feelings and emotions escalated.

"Well, this time the washing machine broke down again." She responded bashfully, her face all flushed, bathed in sanguine tint. "I know it isn't the first time coming for this." Judy proceed with her utterance, lowering her voice.

"It's alright. I will take care of the washing machine again as well." He forgave her for her banality. In the meanwhile, he approached her as she took a handful of steps back, not realizing what was going on. He extended his mammoth hand to stroke her mane of glossy golden curls, admiring her grace as her body temperature inflared suddenly, sending shivers down her spine of shyness and pleasure. In this moment, a sheepish, subtle smile honed in the corner of her naturally plump pinkish lips, radiating her glee and embarrassment in the same time altogether.

"C-Casey, what do you think you are doing?" The blonde questioned shyly. She was trapped by him, sensing the hard tree crust injured lightly her back as she wore her cotton floral white top with short sleeves and round neckline by resuming to take steps backward. She lowered her head. 

His other hand reached up for her chin, tilting her head to meet her hazel eyes, admiring her mesmerizing gaze. "Shu, shu, Judy! Don't be afraid of me!" He sensed her demureness, enveloping her entire body and soul with black bow of the fear, diffidence and iron-will, unable to escape its tight knot. "I got everything under control."

She didn't understand what he truly meant as she wasn't capable to run away. Millimetres divided their proximity as the young lady felt her friend's warm, fresh breath, faintly punching her face. Casey captured her soft lips in a deep, longer than the expected and sweet kiss as they reluctantly shut their eyelids like blinds.

***

"You had a nice love story!" The juvenile priest stated ironically through a malicious, sly smirk.

"Don't be such a joke, Alexander!" Casey teased him with his snakish tongue. 

"I know, I know!" The man of the cloth retorted. 

To be continued...