Ophelia (13 page)

“You need to tell him the truth, Ophelia,” her bodyguard
interjected.

“You
didn’t
actually take the serum?” Eduardo asked
hopefully.

She shook her head and laid her left hand on top of his own.
“
Mi amor
, I have been keeping a secret from you for many
years. I hope that in time, you will find it in your heart to forgive me.”

His eyes closed. “Please don’t tell me that you killed
someone.”

Ophelia waited until Eduardo had opened his eyes and was
meeting his gaze before she said,
“I am not human.”

Her husband dropped her hand and nearly flew off the couch.

“Not human in the
traditional
sense, anyway,” David
amended.

Eduardo eyed her warily before returning to his seat.

“Shortly after taking control of Osborn Scientific,
I discovered ‘Project Rose’.”
Ophelia took a deep breath.
“My father was experimenting with genetic engineering prior to my
conception. I was the result of Project Rose.”

“You’re…you’re…” Eduardo sat back and closed his eyes.

“I have had neither the time nor the
information to analyse the experiments that came after Project Rose, but I
believe that I am the precursor to the human performance enhancers. I believe
my father developed them because after working with my genetics, he realized
that the performance enhancers would be less time consuming.”

“Once implanted, the egg would have to take…and then there
was the risk of miscarriage,” David mused. “Not to mention having to wait for
many years before the results would come to light.”

“What is different about you?” asked Eduardo.

“I do not look twenty-eight…and I do not
know how much further I will age,”
Ophelia explained.
“I
am more agile than the average woman, smarter, faster…and an excellent
markswoman, too, thanks to David.”

“You’re also very strong,” her bodyguard pointed out. “I have
you to thank for these stitches and my broken arm. There was…a fight…before you
lost consciousness.”

“Your differences will make it difficult to treat you?”

Ophelia, reeling slightly from the revelation that she had
wounded her bodyguard, took several minutes to answer her husband’s question.

“It is the serum,”
she explained.
“Dr Chrysler said that they will put me into an intensive treatment
program…therapy for my psychological issues will begin when it is clear that I
will survive.”

Startled, Eduardo leapt to his feet. “You’re not staying
here!”

“Wonderful,”
Ophelia said dryly as
David blocked the door.
“I am glad to see that you are acting
like the man I married.”

“You are in a mental health facility, for the love of the
Goddess! You shouldn’t be talking about
survival rates!
”

“Neither my
athair
nor my
deartháir
lived more than a few months after taking the serum. No one knows the actual
life expectancy because the project ended after Dr Stromm was murdered.”
Ophelia watched her husband carefully, but made no move to bring him back to
the couch.
“
Athair
was
extremely
angry after I
drank the serum. I sent you to the guest room for several nights because I
could not sleep—his visits were frequent and his mindset livid. I could have
died within seconds of drinking the serum due to inappropriate utilization or
because it wreaked havoc on my genetics!”

“I will not allow you to commit yourself!”

“Am I supposed to live a tortured life
simply because
mi esposo
cannot bear the idea that I may come to harm in
seeking wellness?”

Eduardo moved closer to David, but did not reply.

“Are you willing to take the risk that your wife might kill
someone the next time she changes personalities?” David’s voice was frosty. “If
not this time, then the time after?”

“What am I to do when the visions, the
nightmares and the personality changes become too much? When you made your
grand pronouncement, did you consider the fact that without treatment, I may be
driven to suicide?”

Eduardo inched closer to the door and the bodyguard rounded
on him.

“If I have to take Ophelia to the emergency room after a
suicide attempt, you will
never
see her again.”

Several weeks later

“Ophelia?”
David gently turned her away from the window. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve asked if I’ve seen Eduardo since you were admitted.
You’ve asked about Osborn Scientific and how often Dr. Welker stops by with an
update. The only thing you
haven’t
discussed is how you’re being
treated.”

She didn’t reply.

“I’m going to stay here until I get an answer,
mo chroí
,”
David said at length. “Even if I have to negotiate with the administration to
let me stay beyond visiting hours.”

“I’m being raped,”
Ophelia whispered.

He moved to the couch and gathered her into his arms. “How
long has this been going on?”

“I was ‘visited’ four times in the first
week, three times in the second and twice this week.”

“What did Dr. Chrysler say?”

“We
cannot cater to the whims of our patients,” Edmund snapped. “We most often find
that delusions of rape are nothing more than a part of the larger illness.”

“Have you put cameras or staff members in her room to make
sure that nothing is going on?” David demanded.

“That would be a violation of Ms. Osborn’s privacy.”

“Even if I were to sign off on it?”
Ophelia asked.

“We don’t have the equipment needed to establish a
‘stakeout’—”

“Perhaps you don’t realize the severity of the situation,”
David interrupted. “Ophelia, please share your story with Dr. Chrysler.”

~*~

Shady Rest’s “rehabilitation levels” were the first thing Sara Dodge
explained to me when we started my tour of the facility; so it surprised me
that first and second level patients received first water closet privileges
before bed. But after I waded through the woman staring at the far wall and the
girl gabbling at the dustbin in French, I understood—at my level, everyone was
still running roughshod. I washed up, returned to my room and had begun to
undress when I heard male voices in the hall.

A husky man ploughed into me, nearly
knocking me into the steel desk bolted into the wall. Before I recovered my
wits, a second man snatched me off the floor and dropped me into bed, heedless
of the fact that my nightgown was up over my knees. I tried to sit up but the first
man held me down so that the second could cuff me into bed.

“What are you doing?!” I cried. “Do not
tie me down…I am here voluntarily! I am not a threat to anyone!”

But neither of them heard me…they were
too busy debating whether they should lock me up. I cried out again, but a
meaty hand quickly fell across my mouth. The second disappeared for a moment
and when he returned, Nurse Dodge followed him. I seized my opportunity and bit
my captor so hard I swore I could taste blood.

“Tell them to untie me!” I shouted. “I am
here voluntarily, remember? I signed the papers myself!”

The nurse muttered something about the
men being trained professionals as she dragged a small machine into the room. I
tried to argue with her, but Sara ignored me as she stoically unwound a long
hose. She signalled to the technician with the uninjured hand, who swept in and
held my head immobile as she attached a snug-fitting mask. I yelled again, but
the mask was effective at muffling my voice; even more so when the nurse turned
a dial and the machine roared to life.

I watched the three of them file out,
stunned. None of them looked back…the deadbolt shot home…I was alone. I tried
to pray, but whatever was coming through the mask quickly drew me into its
misty embrace.

The lock released after a few hours, but I was too drowsy to
respond. After a moment, I struggled to open my eyes, but there was only
darkness. I took short breaths in an effort to remain conscious, but nothing
moved and the machine swiftly compelled me to sleep. I did not realize that I
was not alone until I felt the mattress sinking a short time later. By that
time, it was too late…my panties were down around my ankles.

~*~

“Were
you able to identify your attacker?”

“When I opened my eyes the first time, he looked
like my father…the next, like my brother…when my eyes finally cleared; it was a
man in something like a gas mask.”

“Norman and Harry Osborn are
dead!
” Dr. Chrysler
seemed to take particular delight in emphasizing the last word. “I’m sorry if
that comes as a shock to both of you…but I shouldn’t be surprised…Mrs. Miraz
told me that you shared the delusion that Dr. Osborn was still present in her
home!”

“Ms.
Osborn
needs a rape kit and access to birth
control,” David snapped. “Whether the rest of House Osborn is living or
deceased has nothing to do with the fact that the Ophelia is in danger.”

The bodyguard waited a moment for his words to sink in. “But
I’m sure the litigators of Dr. Osborn’s estate would be
thrilled
to
discuss how you’re subverting his daughter. In a court of law.”

Edmund glowered. “Any other demands?”

“You could start by talking
to
me
instead of
over
me.”
Ophelia’s voice was crisp.

The doctor motioned for her to continue.

“My bodyguard will take the other bed in my
room.”

“We cannot allow non-patients to reside at Shady Rest.”

“Then you will hire independent security professionals as
part of your staff!” David snapped. “One of either gender to stand sentry
outside Ms. Osborn’s room and a woman to take the second bed.”

“We need the other bed for our patients,” Dr. Chrysler
argued.

“Then we will pay the difference!”
Ophelia interjected.

“The candidates will be vetted by me, in the interest of Ms.
Osborn’s safety,” David added.

Edmund made a surprising gesture of acquiescence.

“I will have Dr. Carpenter send a nurse tomorrow to take a
rape kit,” the bodyguard said to Ophelia. “I will also request a prescription
for birth control.”

“They won’t get past the front desk!” Dr. Chrysler barked.

“I am sure Dr Carpenter’s nurse will have no
problem examining me once the board of directors learns that there is a
malpractice investigation pending against you and Sara Dodge.”
Ophelia’s
smile was poisonous.

March 2008

Eduardo
felt his stomach churn as he watched the couple kissing under the willows. His
eyes lingered a moment longer before he found himself on his hands and knees,
retching into a flowerbed. An early spring breeze ruffled his hair as he sat
back, nearly muffling the voices of the couple, who had started to walk back
toward the Institute. Eduardo paid them no heed…he would pretend to be
examining the plants, then come to visit Ophelia another day.

“Eduardo?” a familiar voice asked.

His stomach rumbled again as he realized that his fears were
true. A hand landed on his shoulder, but Eduardo didn’t turn.

“David, please help him inside.”

~*~

“Nothing
appears to be wrong.” The infirmarian clicked off her penlight and stepped back
to get a better look at her patient. “Did you eat breakfast this morning, Mr.
Miraz?”

He nodded.

“Maybe it’s only stress, but I think you had better make an
appointment with your doctor, just to be on the safe side.” She stuffed the
light into a pocket and headed toward the door. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

The infirmarian was scarcely out of the room before Eduardo
shot David a nasty look.

“Out!”

“I believe I’m fine where I am.”

Ophelia’s eyes darted back and forth for several minutes
before she was certain that neither her husband nor her bodyguard intended to
make the first move.

“Please excuse us,
corazón
. I believe
we need to have this discussion in private.”

It took Eduardo a moment to realize that he was no longer “
corazón
”.
He slithered back to his seat as David gave Ophelia a long, pointed kiss before
sauntering out of the room.

“So it’s true.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I saw the two of you kissing beneath the willows,” said
Eduardo. “I hoped that I was mistaken, that the two of you walking back to the
building moments later was a coincidence.”

Ophelia did not seem to have a response to this.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” he demanded. “That since
I’ve been gone for ten months, I wouldn’t come back and you could get away with
having an affair?”

“Mr Laurier drew up the divorce papers late
last month,”
Ophelia replied quietly.
“After I found
out I was pregnant, it took my counsellor a little while to add the possibility
of ending the marriage to our already full discussion list.”