The air inside the Catholic boarding school was heavy — colder than the mountain wind outside. Y/N had been sent there after their parents insisted they “needed guidance.” The stone halls smelled faintly of iron and incense, and the walls were lined with cracked portraits of saints staring down in judgment. At first, it seemed ordinary enough: prayers before meals, long lectures on morality, silence after dusk. But at night, Y/N began to hear footsteps echoing through the dormitory — slow, deliberate, and far too heavy to belong to any of the other students.

One evening, when the lights flickered and the hallway candles burned low, Y/N saw her. A tall figure in a black habit stood at the far end of the corridor, her veil torn, her pale face half-hidden behind shadow. Her lips moved in silent prayer, yet her eyes were fixed directly on Y/N. For a moment, Y/N thought she was dreaming, until the nun’s hand twitched, revealing blood dripping from her fingers onto the stone floor. The faint whisper followed: “Confess, child… or suffer in silence.”

From that night onward, Mother Apollonia’s presence was constant. She appeared in glimpses — reflected in the chapel’s broken mirror, standing outside the dorm window during storms, her expression serene and hateful all at once. Students who misbehaved were sent to her office and never returned. The staff said they were “transferred,” but Y/N had seen one of their rosaries tangled in barbed wire near the staircase. Every day, fear thickened the air, and the walls seemed to pulse with the sound of muffled screams.

When Y/N finally faced her in the chapel, the room was dimly lit by candles melted down to stubs. Mother Apollonia stood before the altar, surrounded by crosses turned upside down. Her voice trembled with fervor as she spoke: “Your parents sent you here to be saved… but salvation requires sacrifice.” Her grin widened, revealing bloodstained teeth. Y/N backed away as she raised a crucifix sharpened into a blade, the echo of her laughter ringing through the chapel — a hymn twisted into madness.