A month later...

26th of November, 1968

A month passed extremely quickly. Just like a summer breeze. The November days were slightly colder than the October ones. 

Frank left Howards' mansion as he got back at his home in the near neighbourhood in Boston's countryside in the beginning of November shortly after Halloween. He healed from Briarcliff's traumas and stopped having nightmares. The last nightmare he had was more than ten days ago. It was more than a horrid one. It reminded him of his old foe. The man dressed as Santa Claus, however, known as the murderous Santa Claus, Leigh Emerson. 

Flashback

10 days ago...

1964

Hours after Frank's neck was slit by the possessed Mary Eunice with a sharp, silver razor, luckily, he survived the suffer, pain that he experienced. After his throat was slit, instead of being instantly dead, embracing the demise, one of the inmates who passed their path as they saw the motionless body, laying on the cold, dull floor. One of the inmates informed one of the sisters about the unconscious security guard, thereafter he was transmitted in the infirmary as he laid on a warm, soft matress as his body from the shoulders and below was blanketed with plain white cotton blanket. He was being surrounded by nobody else but Mother Claudia, who was supposed to supervise him. Jude and another nuns paid a visit to the infirmary to see the wounded man as Jude was the sole sister who actually cared about him with Mother Claudia along.

All of a sudden, his nostrils smelled a pungent scent of medicaments as his shut eyelids trembled, opening his eyes as his vision emerged blurry, looking around his surroundings, thereafter gasping inwardly in pain as his throat's slit wound stopped bleeding shortly after the occured mishap. 

The elder nun stood beside his bed on his left, her warm, benevolent winter blue eyes looked down at the younger man. A small, humble smile shaped on Claudia's wrinkled face, relieved of beholding Frank still alive and recovered from his trauma.

"Oh, Frank. I am so relieved you are awake." The old nun stated serenely. 

"W-what happened and why am I here in the infirmary?" Frank's azure blue eyes met with another pair of blue ones, locked into one another's gazes. The security guard was beyond perplexed and couldn't really put a finger on how he's in the infirmary and why.

"You had a terrible accident, according to one inmate who informed the sisters to take you here. You were unconscious." Mother Claudia responded seriously. 

"Oh! Mother Superior, I remember perfectly who slit my throat."

"Who it was, dear child?"

"It was Mary Eunice herself."

"She?" The elder nun was beyond dumstruck to hear all this especially from Frank. Initially, she didn't the security guard, despite she noted something leery in the young nun's demeanor lately. 

"Yes, Mother Superior. I truly meant it. There's something that possesses her body. Something unholy." Frank said as his brutal honesty prevailed his physical strength.

"Hmmm..." Mother Claudia was pensive as she hummed quietly to herself, thus somewhat believing the security guard's words, in spite of, on other hand, she thought he was exaggerating. She knew for plenty of years not only Frank, but also the young protege Mary Eunice, known as the deliriously innocent, pure and bashful nun. "How are you feeling now?" She furthered as she changed the subject as she didn't want to argue blandly with the wounded guard. 

"I am better, thank you." He answered as he wiped his clammy forehead. 

His slit's trace slight blood stained around the spot where he was accurately attacked. 

In the interim, Claudia was about to leave the infirmary, leaving Frank to rest peacefully on his bed, without peeling another word afterward, leaving him unquestionably with his own thoughts by himself. 

A handful of minutes after the elder nun fled out from the infirmary, Frank's hand escaped from the blanket as he managed to move up to the slit spot, his fingertips fumbling delicately the wound of his silky, sensitive throat skin. He uttered silently:

"Oh my god! Does it look so bad?"

Then he got from the bed as he unwrapped the blanket away from his body, walking up to the infirmary's front door as he established in the long, almost eternal Briarcliff's corridors. 

He attempted to tidy his own thoughts after the happened, figuring out and assimilating the events before his unconsciousness. The smitten young nun was before him, thereafter swiftly sliting his throat with a single swing with her lethal, compact razor as he lost consciousness and control over his body, blood flowing down from his digged in skin's location. The last thing he recalled from everything was he landed on the freezing, foul floor. 

He walked through the long, profound hall as he was all alone. Until he heard feminine whimpers, coming from Jude's office as he recognized ideally whose voice was. It was Jude. His loyal and long time friend. Prejudices dwelled in his mind as he commenced to think that she was endangered by something. 

As soon as he approached her office's door, his hand reached down as his mammoth hand met the cool doorknob, the glass door swung open as he moved up in her office, beholding the poignant scenery of opened armoire with the canes that the middle aged nun uses to punish the rebellious inmates. One cane was missing from the armoire, as a result of sitting on the wooden desk. There was no one as he sighed a dissatisfied sigh, screaming Judy's name out loud. Sufficiently to be heard. 

"Jude? Jude?" Frank yelled as he searched for her everywhere in her office. There was almost no trace of her. No trace. He lost hope in himself as he surveyed one of her favorite places of Briarcliff where she spent her desolated times by herself with no one around. Further, he didn't hear any voices or noises. 

Once he studied her office as he wandered around, then he determined to check in her en-suite bedroom though he walked up to the ajar door, tapping faintly as he awaited for her response. No response. Then he rapped again and again, hollering her name over again.

"Jude, please? Are you alright?"  His heart diminished its heart beat's frequency as he sensed prejudices were expecting him. His fingertips caressing her ajar door's glass, feeling beneath his fingertips its coldness.

When he pushed slightly the door as he snuck up in her en-suite bedroom, he glimpsed down as he gazed her laying,  immobile body as her habit's buttons were opened as her ravishing red négligé was evidently visible, toying with Frank's frantic sapphire blue eyes. Her wimple tossed on the floor as her long glossy wavy golden hair ruffled around her head, framing ideally her angelic face and shaping a holy halo with its brightness. Her body was covered in bruises and wounds as she laid on her back, her legs spread and hands resting on her chest.

The security guard opted to not admire enough her grace though he swallowed hard when he beheld her with her unbuttoned habit, exposing her smooth, creamy skin with a bloody red slip hugging her luscious curves. Her ruffled, wild honey hair. On other hand, the bruises and the wounds over her arms and legs nauseated him. His heart raced as it froze right away. Whilst his blood's temperature dropped drastically as icy blood boiled in his body.

"Judee!" He cried her name as he walked up to the small bed, surveying her unconscious body as he noted her heart was beating yet, releiving him. He grabbed her shoulders, rocking her. "Jude, please wake up!" Frank failed to wake her up, despite his attempt. Igniting tears of grief over Jude's vulnerable condition and abhor over the monster who did this to her, began building to well down his pale face. She didn't react at all.

Frank was a potent man with his own feelings and emotions. Nonetheless after seeing his beloved colleague even partner at work in such distressing indescribable condition, he wanted to bawl his eyes. He was her long time, loyal and only friend of hers she has had in her life with Timothy though the security guard didn't like the Monsignor at all. What if Jude passed away or never wakes up sooner or later!? He didn't want to leave her here but he urged to flee out of her en-suite bedroom, peeping at the both directions of the hall as he saw a tall masculine figure, dressed up in conservative dark clerical attires with pale skin. It was Timothy Howard himself.

The young priest walked in the long, extended corridor until he reached Jude's office as he beheld Frank, recognizing something unusual behind his mask. He halted to walk as he stood in front of the security guard.

"Anything wrong, Frank?" Timothy questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"Mhm." Frank replied desperately as his exclamation sounded like a whisper.

"Inside Jude's office?"

"Exactly!" In the meantime, he nod his head as he let the younger man entered in the nun's office as Frank closed the door as he held the doorknob.

After the both honored with good reputation men were in Jude's office, Timothy looked around  in scrutiny as he wore a grimaced face, a grotesque frown. He wondered what Frank actually meant with his words. The juvenile priest spinned around her desk as he marched sluggishly, noticing the only cane that was out of the armoire. Initially, he thought Jude punished bloodily cruel one of the inmates. Theb he scratched his eyebrow, asking Frank:

"I cannot see the problem with exception of the opened closet with canes and one cane missing from its collection." Timothy exclaimed emotionlessly.

"Father, you should see this." Frank grabbed him softly by the arm as he guided the younger man to the en-suite bedroom though it was obnoxiously inappropriate to touch him since the monsignor remained staunch to his vows.

When Frank showed to Timothy by releasing his hand from his arm, the priest covered his mouth with one hand as boiling tears began building in his chocolate eyes. He has never seen Jude in such condition. So pregnable. So powerless. So exhausted.

She was deliriously strong woman with tough stamina and versatility. She wasn't strong physically but sufficiently tough to wound Leigh in self-defense if he is actually the monster who wounded and bruised her. 

"Oh my..." The young priest stuttered as he moved up to the bed where Jude was lying motionlessly, swallowing hard after beholding her visible injured marks from her collarbones to her feet. He was nonplussed and speechless, unable to utter a syllable fluently. He crouched down to Jude's unconscious body, scrutinizing it carefully and detailed. 

Suddenly she stirred up, fortunately. She opened her eyes as her vision appeared blurry. She shook her head as she rose slightly her body as the both men gaped her with astonishingly overwhelmed faces, relieved she was awake and still alive. They were content she wasn't murdered or bruised more gravely. She gasped in pain as Frank was inches away from the bed whilst Timothy inches away from her face. 

The nun's elbows propped her body as they set on bed's soft mattress, flopping with a hand her apart of her untamed curly golden hair strands, thereafter attempting to catch her breath as she looked at the gentlemen, offering them a bright, amorous smile spread across her naturally rosy-coloured lips. Her smile brightly contrasted by the way she looked right now. 

Frank and Timothy were incontestably surprised to behold a nun in such horrid condition. Especially Jude. Frank thought it was Leigh though he was absent when she was physically assaulted by the murderous Santa Claus man, institusionalised in Briarcliff for killing eighteen people from five different families. He knew about Leigh better than Timothy does. 

"W-what are you doing here?" Jude looked up at the both gentlemen who encircled her with their presence as she murmured quizzically to them, feeling almost powerless to utter a word.

"You don't look well, Jude. You should be in the hospital or infirmary until your wounds and bruises heal." Frank responded honestly.

Jude emitted a painful sigh, wiping her sweaty forehead with her forehead, sensing her soft, however, injured skin brushing against unblemished skin. Her heart froze as she was being surrounded by two adorable and amiable men with different beliefs and purposes. She truly appreciated their company though she prefered Timothy a little too much because he was her love interest for a long time. 

"Oh." 

"Frank's right! Your right place is in the infirmary now." Timothy clarified anxiously. He was tremendously worried for Jude's health rather than for anything else. 

"Now?" She questioned as without questions or exceptions the both men approached her bed, lifting her as they held her lightweight body as they fled her bedroom and her office, afterward walking in the corridor. 

Jude was feeling more secure with them though she thought it wasn't appropiate a priest to touch another part of her body than her hand. Timothy wasn't actually sexually experienced man at all. He has always been devoted to God, serving to him as his angel since very young age and origining from an aristocratic, affluent British family. Her heart melted once the both men held her in their protective arms, escorting her to the infirmary where she belonged now, subsequently healing and combating the crude wounds and bruises.

"Who's that monster who did this to you?" Timothy asked bashfully as he mustered up sufficient courage to ask her about her condition, expressing his concern for her since she's part of the mental institution and its staff.

"It was Leigh...Leigh Emerson."  She answered breathlessly.

"I am not surprised such a murderer like him did this to you." Frank exclaimed.

"I know but there's more to tell you about him."

"Go ahead!" Timothy ordered. 

"Well, I spoke to Dr.Arden in the kitchen about arrange a meet with Mary Eunice to visit my office but instead of receiving her as a visitor, it was Leigh Emerson and being locked in my office by Arden and Mary Eunice. Not only the murderous Santa Claus toyed with me as he canned me with one of my canes..." She swallowed a solid lump in her throat as she spoke the bitter truth, her braveness prevailing the consequences of their reactions. "...moreover,he tried to rape me. Despite my protests, I-I was beaten by him physically and injuring my body until I didn't fall asleep by an accident. I can remember I feel mightless to fight him physically." After hearing these words, the both men were almost numb after listening to the middle aged nun complaining about one of the viciously vigorous inmates who was hospitalized in Briarcliff. Furthermore, amidst them Leigh himself. Frank commenced to abhor even more the disgusting patient, disguised in Santa Claus's suit. Whereas Timothy believed his rare bird and being utterly disgusted by the inmate himself.

***

22nd of October, 1968

After Frank woke up after the terrifying nightmare, he opened relucantly his drowsy winter blue eyes, realizing it was just a bizzare nightmare. It was in the middle of the night as he was being encompassed by its loneliness, the darkness in the room and warmness of its blanket that blanketed his shoulders and below. He rather realised he was in his old friends' house, sleeping in a spacious, medium sized, homelike room. Warmness comforting his body instead of stenching smell and cold climate surrounding him just like in the madhouse.

"Thank God, that's not real!"  He murmured piously to himself, blinking spontaneously. 

In the meantime, he heard loud, embarrassing, passionate cries, coming from the second floor. They were Jude's. He ideally recognized her voice. Timothy's steamy, loud cries didn't make an exception either too. They mingled with Jude's ones. 

The former security guard scratched his scalp as he thought to himself:

"It looks like somebody isn't sleepy at all."

He was worried if their love-making process was about to wake up the children. Luckily, they were profoundly asleep.

***

26th of November, 1968

Nowadays...

The day before, it was Jude's birthday as she called Valerie to look after the children tonight, whereas she and Timothy go somewhere to celebrate its prominent occasion as they go in the same restaurant where Jude's first pregnancy in first semester she witnessed and felt her baby's first violent kicks in her bump as the couple had a romantic dinner back then. Three years ago. After their romantic dinner in the restaurant, they returned back at home as they poured themselves some alcohol, consequently intoxicating themselves and making love to one another. 

Howsoever, today Jude and Timothy's plans were different. They decided to take with themselves Ellie, Tristan and Agnes Jude on a hike in Boston's countryside woods and hills. 

Today was midst the fewest days of November where the bright sun exposed, looming in the clear, lucid, cloudless sky. 

All of them wore warm, comfy clothes as they were on hike. Jude decided to go on her mother's grave, marking 40th anniversary since her death. Fortunately, Timothy helped her in finding some wild flowers with which she can place on her mother's grave, in fact to respect her spiritual eternity and physical mortality. Her birthday was actually so controversial day, in her opinion.

Crucially because she lost her mother when she just turned eighteen years old. 

After crossing the woods, they went uphill the verdant hill, blanketed with green, fresh grass. The twins and Agnes babbled to themselves and asked plenty of questions their parents due to their inquisitiveness. 

"Mama, where are we going?" Ellie asked boldly as her soft voice molted  her mother and father's hearts.

"Sweetheart, we are going to your supposed to be grandmother's grave." She replied laconically as she sensed the melanholic grief overtaking her heart again as icy tears began builiding in her hazel eyes which were focused on her path. 

The little girl abided quiet as she completely understood her mother's brief explaination. 

"She would love three of you very much if she was still alive." Timothy declared as he held Agnes in his secure arms whilst Jude had the twins in her own, equiped with rucksacks on their backs. 

"Of course, she would! She was a marvelous, inspirational woman." The former nun said in velvety, somewhat desperate voice. Every time whenever somebody remind her of her mother or something that has to do with her former family, it upsetted her. 

To be continued...