April 12th, 1960

Jude stood, her arms folded, looking out her Briarcliff office window. It was storming and she watched the rainfall fiercely. It was that day again. It came every year, it was inevitable and she couldn't stop it no matter how hard her mind willed her to try...Jude clenched her locket in her hand, running her fingers over it repeatedly. It was a circular locket…it was simply too painful to have it be a heart. She'd had it wrapped around her neck and hidden under her habit for years now, and even she never took a glimpse of what was inside. Never.

Now on this day, a big part of Judy wanted to open it, but another part couldn't bear to look. She was torn. The seemingly tough middle-aged nun, bit her lip, feeling disarmed as a few tears begin to roll down her cheeks. It was uncharacteristic of her to cry. The pain of life had been so harsh she thought she'd stopped a long time ago. Jude sniffled and wiped the tears away gently with the back of her hand and then the tips of her fingers. Now it was all better for appearance sake. She was waiting for someone it had to be.

Jude gave up and opened the locket once she realized the tears weren't going to stop falling unless she met the demand of her most stubborn side. She didn't like doing this. It stressed half of her to the maximum level and gave another part of her such great relief. She sighed mournfully when she saw the old little picture, which had been made old by time but preserved well from being under the glass of the necklace.

"Oh my baby, I wonder how you're doing." She whispered an octave too low for anyone to have heard her even if they'd wiretapped her office. This was something between her and God alone.

Jude turned sharply, startled by a knock at her door. She quickly stuffed the necklace back inside her habit hiding it away from the world once again.

"Come in." She called, sitting back at her desk and putting her glasses on, pretending that she'd been looking at one of the many stacks of papers that lye there.

"Sister Jude." Sister Mary Agnes began, poking her head in the door. "I've brought you the new Sister."

"Fine, send her in." Jude replied somewhat more coldly than usual.

Jude had been carefully contemplating what that particular day met to her as she'd been waiting for Mary Agnes to bring her the new girl. Jude didn't look up as Mary Agnes let the girl in and shut the door behind her, leaving the already intimidated young nun alone with the head of Briarcliff. Jude looked up suddenly to see the girl, who although nervous, smiled sweetly…too sweetly…Jude knew immediately that she was full of complete innocence and that life for her here might not be the easiest.

"Sit down Sister." Jude began, opening the girl's file. The girl sat down quickly, wanting very much to do everything she'd been told to do obediently.

She'd received the file a day or so before but hadn't bothered to look before now. She raised an eyebrow, wondering why they'd possibly decide to send such a young nun to Briarcliff. A mental institution hardly seemed like the place for a girl that was so sweet and who was really still a girl from the looks of it.

Jude was, to say the least, very skeptical about her and didn't think she'd end up keeping her here. She belonged in a convent or an orphanage….or even in a home somewhere, cooking dinner for a husband…but not in a mental institution it just didn't seem quite right. And on top of it all there was something else about her…something that reminded Jude of something, or someone, but she didn't know what…

Nonetheless, Jude began her evaluation of the nun in the way she always did, by reading her file to her and beginning to ask her questions in a manner that suggested she had serious doubts about her placement. This was Jude's standard procedure for new incoming nuns regardless of whether or not doubts even existed.

"Mary Eunice McKee…"

"That's right." Mary Eunice was nervous but had decided to make a wholehearted attempt at being amiable, something, which Jude had already decided counted against her, at least for asylum life…

"It says here you applied to come to the asylum." Jude was curious about this.

Timothy had been her reasoning for choosing this particular assignment and she wondered what this girl could have seen in the concept. It was far from glamorous, or even rewarding. Working with children that's what she thought would be rewarding.

"Why the asylum, a home, a jail even for the mentally ill, for ax murderers…for the most egregious of sinners…why the asylum when you could've gone to an orphanage or even just stayed in the convent?"

"Sister, your not the only one whose questioned my decision…but you see I felt strongly called to work with people who, unlike most children, and church parishioners, need to be saved from themselves."

Jude thought this was an interesting answer. The girl was indeed young; didn't she realize that everyone needed to be saved from themselves? Her included.

"I can understand a calling Sister." Jude began. She was preparing to refute. "But, it says here you only became a nun a year ago…your 25…"

"No. 26 now." Mary Eunice smiled at the correction.

"Ah yes, born April twel…fth,1934…."

Jude stopped very suddenly as she read the birth date back to her and just paused, careful to show no real reaction beyond stopping. It just couldn't be? Could it? Jude put her paper down and took off her glasses, looking back up into Mary Eunice's eyes, deciding to look over the girl again. Mary Eunice watched Jude carefully, wondering if she thought she'd seen her somewhere before. Jude's investigation left her feeling melancholy and stunned at the same time. She reasoned that it just couldn't be. At the same time, she was unsure if she'd be able to speak now.

"Your birthday is today?" She managed.

"Yes." Mary Eunice was happy about this. She liked birthdays. Jude paused again to search Mary Eunice's face.

"I think we're going to get along just fine." She said suddenly. God worked in mysterious ways, there was always the chance that it could be, after all.

Mary Eunice beamed, she didn't think this 'interview' had been going well so far and was sure she'd be rejected. At the same time, she had a calling to be here and she knew God would make a way.

"Sister Mary Agnes!" Jude called.

"Yes Sister Jude." The third nun opened the door.

"Take Sister Mary Eunice to her new room and once she's settled in, take her to get acquainted with a patient, a gentle one…perhaps Pepper."

"Very well." Mary Agnes said. "Come along Sister Mary Eunice."

Mary Agnes turned and left, expecting Mary Eunice to follow her. Mary Eunice scurried to the door excitedly. Jude would've wondered how anyone could be so happy to be there it was just unnatural, but she was consumed with her own thoughts.

"Thank you Sister! I promise I'll do a good job." Mary Eunice said, she was about to shut the door.

"Sister Mary Eunice come along we don't have all day." Jude could her Mary Agnes call from down the hall.

"Oh!" Mary Eunice seemed torn between obeying Mary Agnes and thanking Jude. "Thank you again!" She said uneasily and closed the door, leaving Jude alone with the rain again.

Jude stood and crossed to the window again. She enjoyed the rain, it allowed her soul to feel a little freer and let her think things out, although she'd never known why. Jude pulled out her necklace again and opened the locket, taking another look at the tiny little picture.

"No. It couldn't be." She whispered. "Oh yes, yes it could..."