Preamble Two: Gabrielle's mama, Malena
The baby with the surprisingly thick black hair arrived at the orphanage’s doorstep completely unannounced, which was not a rare occurrence. It was mostly status quo for the area’s facilities in the dawning years of the 20th century. So, naturally, when the girl arrived, the nuns took her in without hesitation. Some of them were a bit frightened by the girl. Her large nearly black eyes never broke their gaze and her hair… how could it be so thick at such an early age? It’s thick waves needed daily brushing to prevent unmanageable tangles and this was not an easy task. Her caretakers often needed to run brushes over the girl’s scalp with so much force that surely it caused pain. But the harder the strokes, the happier the girl seemed. Whenever a brushstroke required a hard pull that was sure to bring tears to the girl’s eyes, she only looked deeply into the nanny nuns’ eyes and smiled widely, appearing to be on the verge of laughter. There was something in that grin, hair, and unwavering stare that did not sit well with some of the sisters. It frightened some to the point that rumors circulated concerning the possibly unholy nature of this little girl. Others thought these rumors ridiculous and superstitious. Perhaps for these reasons, she was given the name Magdalena, and the more sympathetic nuns saw to it that she was officially known by that name’s abbreviated form: Malena.
As Malena grew older her natural beauty and intelligence became apparent, and in chapel she was a favored pupil who never caused any trouble and excelled greatly at her studies. She preferred to be alone and did not play games with the other girls. She chose to sit at her desk and draw pictures during any and all of the free time that she was allowed. Her drawings were on a different level than the drawings of other children. Not only were they free from common depictions of flowers, friends, chapels, and other imagery that was available to her everyday senses. Instead, she drew only what can be called symbols. And not the Catholic symbols that were in her field of view daily, everywhere she went. They were symbols that none of the nuns had ever seen before. The more superstitious of the sisterhood were incredibly suspicious of the origins of the Malena’s symbology. Some openly complained that they were demonic, or worse. But the masters did not take heed. Malena was an intelligent, mostly obedient child, and they saw no need to stifle her creativity or talent so long as it did not cause disruptions among the other children.
In her teens, Malena blossomed into a beauty of a young woman that was unparalleled at her institution. The thick waves of her hair fell cleanly down her back, as they were too time consuming to braid, and too thick to tuck into her headscarf. She grew taller than nearly all of the sisters and she was forced to wear an oversized frock, because the protrusions of her breasts, hips, and calves from clothing in her size was considered distracting and not-at-all pious even by the more liberal nuns. One day, at age sixteen, Malena was sitting in her classroom, Bible open in front of her, when one of the suspicious nuns stormed into the room and angrily dropped a pile of dozens of Malena’s drawings on the desk of the presiding sister. The drawings were eerily perfect depictions of one large circle, evenly flanked by seven smaller perfect circles. Inside the larger circle was a clear, nearly photorealistic drawing of a newborn baby with a peaceful look upon its face and large dark eyes. This image shocked everybody who saw it and Malena was asked sharply what it meant. She replied that it was a child that she saw in her mind. As for the circles, she simply found that they framed the child beautifully. Late that same night, Malena was awoken from her sleep and given a satchel with a small amount of money, some clothing, and a carved wooden crucifix. Malena simply stared at the sisters who roused her. Nothing was said as she was hastily dressed and whisked outside and into a carriage driven by a man wearing a low brimmed hat that obscured his features. He did not respond to Malena when she asked him where she was being taken so she sat back and watched the sunrise, and the countryside roll by her at a quicker pace than she had ever seen. The carriage arrived in a small town square, paved with cobblestone and surrounded by many humble buildings. Malena sat on a nearby bench, examining the contents of her satchel wondering what she should do next. As the afternoon sun shone above her and people had begun to stare at her as they walked by, Malena decided that she must choose a direction in which to walk. Before she stood to go, she pulled the wooden crucifix from her satchel and laid it on the bench, for she did not know how long she would walk and found the thing to be unnecessarily heavy.