Eight

Elisabet felt uneasy. The new white thing they had dressed her in was of a strange, scratchy quality, and the room she was in was unfamiliar and huge; only the faces around her she knew. Mother had given her to a Friend, who held her now, with a smile that made her look slightly ill.
There was a man dressed in black, a Stranger, who talked using unfamiliar words and gestures. She recognized her name and something that sounded like “part of the glory of heaven that has strayed down to earth”, but that didn’t make any sense to her. Then there was noise, loud and intrusive, and some kind of strange song sung by a lot of voices. Elisabet guessed that maybe there were some more people around she couldn’t see. They also seemed to speak all together; the sound sent shivers down her spine.

When her Family moved through the unfamiliar room, Elisabet stared at the curved ceiling high above her. It had pictures on it, which didn’t seemed well-thought-out to her, since they were too far above to have a close look. They stopped soon, and there was a familiar smell in the air. It reminded her of evenings at home and dancing shadows.
Suddenly the Stranger loomed above her. His fingers were rough and raspy on her skin as he moved them across her forehead in two intersecting lines. Elisabet struggled on the Friend’s arm indignantly, but nobody interfered. She breathed a sigh of relief when he turned away again to speak to her Parents, but before long he was back, smiling at her and nodding to the Friend. The hands holding her shifted slightly, transporting her away from the body she had been leaning against and towards the Stranger. Elisabet wailed, unhappy with this turn of events and her sudden vulnerability.
A moment later her screams echoed through the huge room. The stranger had spilled water over her head! Cold, wet, disgusting water! She couldn’t believe how the Family was so calm around her, smiling even.
“I baptise you in the name of the Father; in the name of the Son; and in the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen,” said the Stranger while dampening her head, but she hardly heard the words over her own cries.