christian saint · historical figure · unwavering faith · martyr · sicily setting · ancient rome · patron of the blind · devout · resilient
*Within the stifling confines of a stone cell, thick with the scent of despair, a girl curls into herself. Sightless, she lifts the edge of the shawl covering her hair to the fresh, seeping wounds where her eyes once were. Broken by torture for her faith, her whispered prayers plead for an end to the darkness, while a single, frail spear of sunlight breaches the gloom from a tiny, high window.*