Heartbreak Hotel

F O U R

THE TWO OF them remained in silence and what Ophelia said turned out to be her parting words. She rapped her knuckles against the fire red door of Ms. Bordeaux's door, glancing at a fidgeting Jude once more before she entered. Ms. Bordeaux was a short blonde woman in her mid-40s, with thin-framed glasses sat on the tip of her button-shaped nose, her lips stretched into a welcoming smile and her blue eyes glinting cheerfully.

Truthfully, it was annoying to see someone so happy in such a shithole. How could the woman be so bright in such a depressing facility? Ophelia was typically extremely good at reading people's genuineness, but with Ms. Bordeaux, she couldn't tell if it was all an act or if she was actually this buoyant.

Ophelia's eyes narrowed at the massive jaws of candy that decorated the therapist's office. They ranged in color, from berry blue to taffy pink, and the containers nearly covered every inch of available counter space. She had no idea how the woman wasn't overweight or even diabetic with the amount of sugar intake that she ate on the daily. Ms. Bordeaux was talking to her, droning on about her mental health but Ophelia decided to ignore her and sit down in a comfortable recliner chair.

"Ophelia, are you listening?" Ms. Bordeaux's voice finally came into focus, becoming clear instead of a blur.

Ophelia looked at her, eyes trained on her face, looking extremely impassive and unbothered. "Yes." She lied.

"It says here, that Caspian DiMarzo was placed on house arrest for six months and was not deemed a domestic abuser even though he committed s****l assault, domestic and physical abuse." Her eyes were softer than before, staring at the dark-haired, freckled girl that had her head down. "Why just house arrest, Ophelia?"

"You know how it is with the law- if you're white you get off easy." Ophelia shrugged. But her stomach was twisting with nausea and her skin crawled with remembrances of his touch. "He did it to countless other women, but there weren't enough of us to build a strong enough case to get him jail time."

Ms. Bordeaux felt disgusted by the society that she grew up around. She was also fully aware that white privilege was still extremely prevalent, as it had been all her life. She also knew that she had gotten away with more things when she was younger that her ethnic counterparts wouldn't be able to. "What did he do to you?"

"You read the reports, didn't you?" Ophelia snapped.

Ms. Bordeaux shook her head, turning around in her seat at her desk, her hand reaching out to grasp the knob of a glass jar that contained various bright shades of lollipops. She reached in and plucked a fire red one, that matched the color of her door, and handed it to Ophelia. "Cherry." She smiled.

Ophelia muttered a thank you and tore it out of the packet, placing the candy in her mouth wrapping her lips around it. The flavor was indeed, a generic cherry, and exceptionally sweet.

"He beat me." Ophelia finally let out. "Countlessly."

Despite the saccharine flavor of the confectionary, the words that left were bitter on her tongue, creating an odd sense of irony. It hadn't been relieving to confess like many people had said it would be, it was actually quite unnerving. And the reality of it was drowning- strangulating even. But her face remained expressionless, although the internal battle was overwhelming.

"Okay, can you tell me what happened?"

Ophelia glanced at her lap again. "It didn't happen just once. It happened all the time, and if I said anything about it to anyone he said he'd kill me."

She began tugging on the ends of her dark brown hair. "Everyone thought that we were this amazing couple, but no one knew what happened behind closed doors." She blew harshly through her teeth. "My family thought we were in love. I was in love with him though, and he had used it against me to make me think that it was normal for someone to be abusive. He said that it was the way he was, and he was never going to change."

"Did he ever give you the option to leave?" Ms. Bordeaux asked, jotting down on her notepad.

Ophelia took the lollipop out of her mouth and stared at it blankly. She was all cried out, at the moment. She had grown insensitive to the topic, and the only times where she felt that she could let it out was at night. Her eyes narrowed at each and every air bubble trapped in the candy, small slices of oxygen gaps in the cherry red. "Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Caspian told me that if I didn't like the way he treated me, I could just leave. So I tried, but I had no one to turn to. He pushed my family and friends away and isolated me from any other human contact except for him. He knew that because I had no one else, I'd come running back. So in a way, I did have a choice to turn and never look back, but I had nowhere to go." Ophelia elaborated while her fingers began to tremble and her breathing began to speed up. "He beat me on the regular, so badly that often times I would have to go to the hospital."

Ms. Duboix set her pen down, "And the nurses and doctors didn't ask how you got so hurt?"

Ophelia shrugged, "I think they knew, but just didn't care."

--

After Ophelia's therapy, Jude went in and returned afterward. His eyes were rimmed with pinkish red, assuring that tears had been shed in his meeting. His mop of curly hair was falling into his eyes like he had run his fingers through it an umpteen amount of times. When he exited Ms. Bordeaux's room, he had a fire red cherry lollipop between his fingers, and he didn't speak much after that.

It was his thing, Ophelia figured. Listen, listen, listen. She didn't need to hear him respond to her complaining about this whole thing, or gossip about the other patrons or talk about her life outside of the facility, she just needed him to listen- and he was always great at that. Her voice was low, like she was walking on eggshells when she addressed him. Ophelia knew that his meeting with Ms. Bordeaux probably drained the rest of his emotions, and so she decided to talk about more optimistic things rather than her hate for practically everyone in the building.

"Where do you sit at lunch?" Ophelia asked.

Jude tugged on the corners of his sleeve, "I normally just sit in the corner or something."

"Alone?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"Do you want to sit with me and Claudia?" She offered.

Jude unwrapped his lollipop and placed the candy in his mouth, "Okay."

"Great! It's settled then, I'll see you at lunch."

--

"WATCH IT ASSHOLE!" Ophelia yelled, lazily missing a ball that was aimed at her face. She glared at the smug eighteen-year-old girl that had thrown it. Her and Claudia were currently involved in a game of dodgeball that was part of their daily gym classes. Ophelia's eyes were narrowed into slits, menacing and angry. "She did that on purpose."

Claudia let out a laugh, "You never told me how bad you are at dodgeball."

"How is this even a sport that people play for genuine enjoyment?" Again, Ophelia narrowly missed another ball that was directed to hit her in the face. "Throw another ball at my face again, and see what happens!" She threatened the grinning eighteen-year-old again. Ophelia craned her neck to see how excellent Claudia was at the game and watched as she caught a ball that was going to hit her.

"Claudia, can you pass me that?" She asked.

Claudia nodded, unsure, and handed it to Ophelia. "Why?"

"Watch this," She instructed.

Ophelia drew her right arm that clutched the ball behind her head and brought her left hand extended in front of her to aim. In one swift moment, her right hand that clutched the rubber sphere launched, drawing her directing arm backward and propelling the ball forward. She watched in satisfaction as the ball sliced through the air of the large gym and smacked the complacent eighteen-year-old straight on the nose.

"That's right!" Ophelia laughed, while Claudia's eyebrows shot up in shock.

Momentarily, the game halted. Each participating patient stopped their movements, teammates staring at Ophelia with surprise as the eighteen-year-old girl began wailing loudly. All eyes were on Ophelia, then on the girl and then back on Ophelia. Staff and hotel officials that remained on the sidelines, were scrutinizing everyone in almost silence. It would've been quiet if it weren't for the obnoxious howling that was clear over-reacting. The tension was so thick in the air, so evident that you could almost touch it.

"Ophelia." The baritone voice of Orion rumbled.

I'm so screwed, Ophelia muttered to herself.

"That- that girl just targeted me!" The girl shrieked. She was clutching her nose as her teammates consoled her.

"It's okay, Clementine." Another patient cooed while hugging her, sending a deathly look at Ophelia.

Ophelia let out a nervous chuckle, now sensing the severity of the situation, yet she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry at all. Besides, the unrelenting sobbing of Clementine was only furthering her annoyance- it's not like Ophelia hit her that hard, either. But yet, she felt unapologetic for what she had done, not even the slightest bit regretful or repentant. "Whoops?"

"I- I th-think she broke my nose!" Clementine howled, her face beginning to match the carrot red of her hair. "Look, it's bleeding!" True to her words, crimson liquid leaked through the cracks of her hand that was covering the hit.

Ophelia scoffed, "Oh, don't be ridiculous, I did not break your nose-"

"Ophelia!" Orion hissed. His legs take long strides towards her, the soles of his white leather shoes squeaking against the floorboards of the gym, shuffling closer and closer towards her. Ophelia's eyes were wide and surprised as Orion seems ten times more threatening than usual. His eyebrows are drawn together, dark and pulled together with anger, and his lips are pressed together with grim, forming a thin line.

Ophelia obeyed in silence as Orion's hand clamped around her forearm in a bruising grip, effectively dragging her through the broad blue doors that led to the elevators.

"Are you serious, Ophelia?" Orion snarled.

Ophelia rolls her eyes, "Please, I didn't hit her that hard."

"It doesn't matter how hard you hit her," He spat, still dragging her to the elevator. His hand reached out, shaking from aggravation and pressed the up button. "My forewoman was there, analyzing your behavior to see how well I was containing you."

A ding rung and the doors parted, and he continued to drag her into it. "I don't need to be contained," Ophelia sneered, recalling the tall dark haired woman with glasses perched on the tip of her hooked nose, glaring down the patients as if she were on some kind of moral and emotional pedestal. In a way, though, she was. She was part of the orchestrators that had masterminded this entire thing with the government.

"Like hell you don't." Orion snorted. He reached forward and pressed the fourth-floor button, then the doors closed and the elevator began to lift upwards. Ophelia felt the reminiscence of her first day here when her patron had brought her into the sleek glass cylinder that took them to her room. "If you think that today's actions were going without punishment, you were wrong." The words sounded darker coming from him than they probably should've.

Ophelia swallowed, keeping her gaze on the people on the bottom floor of the facility that seemed to be growing smaller and smaller the higher they went. "What do you mean by punishment?"

"Chamber arrest," Orion clarified, irritation still coating his voice. "You know, because of that stunt you pulled, I could be fired."

"Good," Ophelia retorted, "Then I won't have to see you anymore." She would've felt contempt if it weren't for the fact that she had no idea what chamber arrest meant. Was it like house arrest? It had to be. "What's chamber arrest?" She finally asked as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Orion strode out, Ophelia following in tail. "It's like house arrest, but for your room."

"For how long?" She asked.

A smirk played on his lips, "A week."

Ophelia nearly choked, "A week? What in the absolute hell?"

"Yes, a week. And you have to apologize to Clementine."

"Are you serious?" Ophelia gawked. "If your stupid ass forewoman was watching properly, she would've seen that Clementine aimed at my face. Twice." She huffed. "What are the terms of my punishment?"

They were approaching her room, "Can't leave your room unless it's for therapy, and you have to walk with me until your punishment is over."

"What about meals? Photography and art club?"

Orion lifted his shirt slightly to reveal the cord tied around a loop in his white pants that held onto a key. He pulled the key out and slid it into the slot, unlocking it before twisting the doorknob and shoving it open. "I'll bring them to you. You can't go to any extracurricular until your punishment is over with."

"Jesus, bellboy. You have a key to my room?" Ophelia couldn't even say she was surprised by now.

He gave her a pointed look, "Emergencies."

She rolled her eyes again, "Sure." The sarcasm was laced in her tone.

"You know," Orion watched as Ophelia shoved her way past him and into her room, plopping down on the bed and then he turned to close the door.

When he glanced back at her, he couldn't lie, the girl was undeniably gorgeous, and her flat stomach on display due to her top riding up was a siren call. "If I were anyone else, your disrespect wouldn't be tolerated." His voice dropped an octave from attraction as he neared her.

Ophelia raised her eyebrow, catching his eyes and pulling her shirt down before sitting up. "What are you going to do, give me more weeks of chamber arrest?" She was beginning to become more and more uneasy as he neared. Her fingers were clammy, tightening on the sheets with anxiousness when she saw him tower over her frame.

Slowly and carefully, Orion lowed himself onto one knee, his face leveling with her own, too close for comfort. Her desirability was too much to resist, allure too strong to ignore. Her eyes were wide and doe-like, hazel and innocent. "No," He whispered, his face now so close his nose brushed against her own, his breath fanning across her chin.

But Ophelia didn't want this, so as his lips moved to touch her own, she turned her face so that they would meet her cheek instead. Her eyes were closed, in fear of what'd she see if they were open. Was he angry? Sad? Indifferent? She didn't know, and she certainly didn't want to find out. But when he let out an almost laugh, a sharp, quick exhale through his nose, it sounded unamused.

Without having to look, she knew he was annoyed with her act of defiance, but she didn't want him. This was inappropriate, scandalous and downright odd. And her apprehensiveness and discomfort only heightened when she felt another bruising grasp on her upper leg that was exposed because of her gym shorts. "Look at me, Ophelia." He ordered. When she didn't comply, he said it louder. "Look at me."

With hesitance, she opened her eyes and narrowed her pupils at him.

"Why do you deny me? You know you want me." She caught his hand as it slid further up her leg, into unwanted boundaries.

Shoving it off, Ophelia glared at him. "Even if I were starved, depressed, alone and isolated on a goddamn island in the middle of the Pacific ocean I still wouldn't want you." She bit out.

He half-assed his laugh, another sharp exhale through his nose again. "I could get anyone I want to," Orion moved back, eyes still focused on her heaving posture as he walked away.

"And yet you hit on your mentally unstable patient?" She countered. "You know where the door is," She snapped.