Into the Light (The Light, #1)(77)

I nodded, noticing how her hair was secured at the nape of her neck in a low bun. Staring at her slender frame, I recalled how she’d helped me at the hospital, getting me in and out of bed. The turtleneck sweater she wore under her scrubs accentuated her long neck. I reached for the necklace Jacob had placed around my neck, seeing the same cross on her. On her feet she had warm boots, and I wondered if she wore running shoes in the clinic. Her footsteps had always sounded different from Jacob’s or Lilith’s. I took her hands in mine. “Raquel, I didn’t remember what you looked like. You’re so pretty.”

She smiled and lowered her chin. “Thank you, so are you.”

Touching my hair, I said, “Not anymore.”

She turned to Jacob, who was now standing. I craned my neck upward, seeing how tall he truly was.

I’d hoped that my sight would reveal the answers I’d been missing, allowing the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place, but it didn’t. Instead of its shining light on my life, everything was suddenly more foreign. When Jacob nodded at Raquel, I started to ask what they were planning, but stopped myself.

“Honey,” Raquel said, “when Brother Jacob told me what happened, I offered to help.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think anyone can help.”

“It really is cute. It just needs to be evened up a bit.”

Jacob squeezed my shoulder. “I told you it was going to be all right, and I said it was cute. Need I remind you that I’m always right?”

I could tell by his voice he was joking; nevertheless my cheeks flushed as I lowered my chin and said, “No, I believe you.”

“Good, Dr. Newton and I’ll go out to the hangar for a little bit and let you two ladies do the beauty parlor thing. Then I need to return Dr. Newton and Raquel to the community.”

My pulse quickened at the idea of being alone, especially now that the Commission meeting was surely done. Before I could say anything, Dr. Newton spoke, and I turned his way.

With my eyes down, I noticed both of the men’s shoes. Jacob wore boots, work boots with a hard sole. Those were the boots I’d heard pace my hospital room as well as walk the wooden floors of the living quarters. Dr. Newton wore shoes that too had a hard sole, and slacks as opposed to Jacob’s jeans. Dr. Newton was older and shorter than Jacob and had gray in his thin hair. He was rather nondescript—neither handsome nor homely.

“Sister Sara, is anything blurry?” he asked.

“No.”

Raquel opened the curtains. No wonder they did such a good job keeping the sun out, there wasn’t any, not really. I looked to the clock, the one with the hands I could feel. It was nearly noon, yet it looked like dusk through the windows. “It’s so dark,” I commented.

“That’s what happens in the dark season,” Jacob replied, as he turned on lights. “It won’t start getting lighter, well, until . . . February.”

I shook my head.

Shouldn’t some of this be familiar? February? What month is it?

“Sister, let me look closer at your eyes.”

Dr. Newton shone a bright light directly into them. He then asked me to read a few things at various distances. Though I was thrilled everything was working, the strange sense of wrongness I’d had when I first awoke was back.

When Raquel and I were alone, I asked, “What month is it?”

“It’s November, but December is coming fast.” She squeezed my hand. “I’m so excited that you’ll be home soon. There’s so much happening with the holidays around the corner.”

I stood.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To find a mirror.”

“Oh, no.” She giggled. I really have missed her. “Not yet. Let me work a little bit, then you can.”

I scrunched my nose. “Is it that bad? Come on, be honest.”

She squared her shoulders, and her petite frame stood tall. “You know I’m always honest, brutally, even, and I agree with Brother Jacob, it’s cute. You’ll probably start a whole new trend.”

I sat back in the chair. “Oh, I’m sure. Can I be the one to cut Sister Lilith’s?” I quickly covered my lips with the tips of my fingers as my eyes opened wide.

Shit! I was so overwhelmed, I wasn’t filtering.

Raquel came close and whispered, “Only if I’m the one who gets to hold her down.”

We both stifled our laughter.

When she first brought out the scissors, I had to remind myself that this was my friend and we had Jacob’s approval. Ignoring the sounds, I concentrated on my breathing. Soon Raquel had me forgetting about the scissors. She clipped and chatted, talked and snipped. Every now and then she stood back and assessed. The pieces of hair that fell to the ground were short, an inch here and half an inch there. Seeing them reminded me of my ponytail. I’d looked for it this morning, on the vanity where I’d left it, but it was gone. I was sure Jacob had thought he was helping me, and I didn’t say anything, but I missed it.

While she worked, Raquel spoke about the other Assembly wives. There were twelve of us altogether. I couldn’t keep up with all the names. One named Deborah was expecting a baby very soon. I was confident that I’d be able to spot her in the crowd. Another named Esther had recently had her second. Apparently she was very tired, especially with her time away from her job coming to an end. I learned that the Assembly wives didn’t sit together only at service, but that twice a week, during prayer meetings, we met separately with the Commission wives for study. Even the word Commission made me bristle.