Chapter 8
Having taken Aiden by the hand, the Abbot walked him into the monastery. The heavy wooden door creak against its hinges, just before striking its timber frame with a loud thud. Perhaps it was fear that altered his perceptions, but Aiden quickly saw the monastery as being much larger from within its walls than from outside. From the woods, it was by no means a simple shack. A monastery, after all, must be large enough to accommodate both its residents as well as their basic needs. But once inside, Aiden was struck with the feeling that something was different. Yet, it was something his young mind was not capable of defining.
There was no courtyard and beyond its wooden door, Aiden was entirely cut off from the world. The Abbot silently directed Aiden's attention down two hallways. One to the left and right. Becoming more aware of what would be his new reality, he began crying. His parents were dead and he was unable to understand why. Certainly, God would not play such a cruel joke, using His followers as tools of death. His weeping quickly drew the Abbot's angry, piercing gaze and was soon followed by a sharp slap across his face that knocked him to the floor. The lesson was clear. Never speak. Ever. In any religious order, monks took a vow of silence. A vow that is taken very seriously and the consequences for breaking that vow were, apparently, quite severe.
The Abbot motioned Aiden up from the cold stone floor. His face was streaked with tears as he cautiously got to his feet. He made sure to stand just beyond the Abbot's reach, in the event of a second assault. Stretching out his other arm, the Abbot directed Aiden down the left hallway. The silence was deafening. The only thing that made any sound at all was the soles of the Abbot's sandals. The monastery had been constructed without windows and without the presence of sunlight, the rooms and hallways were illuminated by torch. So, while the monks slept at night, the monastery became a very alien place. Dark, cold and silent. An odd circumstance for a group whose dedication to God was expressed through the Archangel Uriel, guardian of God's light.
Aiden was shown through the torch lit hallway, past the doors of the monk's cells and to the kitchen. He was silently directed to sit at the dining table as the Abbot retrieved some food and a wooden bowl of water. Setting them out in front of him, the Abbot circled around the table and sat down directly across from him. Aiden was eating moments after the food touched the table. How little he'd been given did matter. Two slices of bread and an apple. It was meager rations for a monk, but a feast for Aiden. To be given something that amounted to next to nothing was far better than nothing at all.
The Abbot sat silently across from him. With an entirely emotionless expression, he watched as Aiden ate his food, drink his water. When he was finished, the Abbot rose from the table, stood near the doorway and motioned Aiden out. He was walked back down the hallway, past the entrance to the monastery and to a candlelit room, whose door had been left open. This was Aiden's cell and it locked from the outside. From evening to dawn, the monks were not allowed to leave their cells. If sleep became an issue, they would sit and read the Bible or lose themselves in prayer. Life would become a series of rituals and self-denial, giving one the opportunity to see beyond one's singular insignificance and stand in the presence of God. This would be Aiden's new life and once the door to his cell had been closed and locked behind him, it did take long for Aiden to feel his own insignificance. He sat on the thinly covered bed and silently wept. He understood why his parents gave him up. But, what he didn't understand was why the Abbot had them killed.
He was forced to restrain his grief, so as not to be heard. The adage 'silence is golden' does not simply apply in a monastery. In a monastery, silence is mandatory. Aiden quietly cried himself into an exhausted sleep, shivering beneath the beds single thin blanket. A lit candle was his only source of heat and he let it burn throughout the night. Its flame glowed with an eerie stillness, illuminating the stone walls with a steady dim light. Before drifting off, Aiden's last clear thought was of walking next to his parents. Although they had lived in squalor, Aiden was, at least happy. He had the benefit of childhood ignorance as a shield from the real world, where people dropped dead in their tracks almost daily. If they were very fortunate, they died in their sleep, a merciful hand reaching out through their dreams and pulling them toward a more restful world.