Heartbreak Hotel

T E N

“WHAT?!”

OPHELIA NODDED in confirmation, eyeing Claudia’s shocked face. Her eyes were a little wider than usual, her mouth slightly agape with confusion. Claudia moved back slightly, rubbing her hand over her chin with disbelief. “Jesus,” Claudia whispered.

Ophelia noticed that patients were looking at them sideways. And rightfully so, they were still standing out in the cold despite the fact that they were told they could go back inside, as well as the fact that they were whispering in the corner of the room. “Let’s go. I’ll explain once we get to the room.”

And so they walked. They followed the crowd all the way towards the now-working elevators. Once catching it on the way up to the fourth floor, the two girls hurriedly made their way back to Ophelia’s room. Upon them entering, Ophelia shut the door and sighed, gesturing for Claudia to take a seat on the bed.

Ophelia mirrored her actions by sitting cross-legged across from her, placing her hands on her lap and exhaling shakily. “I overheard two people. A man and a woman. The man’s name was Doctor Khalid, and the woman’s name was Jeanine. They were talking about a guy and a girl, Sean Giordano and Alyssa Hafaki.”

Claudia’s eyes were still slightly wide, and she was breathing heavily.

“They said that the two were planning this for weeks, and the fire was just a distraction so they could escape.” Ophelia explained, watching as Claudia’s expression dropped completely from her face. “They escaped, Claudia. They were talking about how the FBI is involved now-- that they’re a federal threat or something.”

“Jesus Christ…” Claudia trailed of, not knowing what to say. She hadn’t been here for more than six months, but she was sure that this was the first occurrence that she’d heard of. Someone breaking out was simply unimaginable, Claudia doubted that they wouldn’t go far before they’d get caught. While the death penalty was not used in Washington state, there was a few exceptions, this being one of them. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Listen, you can’t tell anyone what I just told you.” Ophelia said, “I mean it, Claudia. If this gets out, we’ll get in trouble.” It was obvious that the staff at Heartbreak Hotel was trying to keep this under wraps. If this spread, this information, it’d cause an outbreak, and the officials would not hesitate to squash it… or whoever spread it in the first place. It could be catastrophic.

“Okay,” Claudia said absentmindedly. She felt… shocked and surprised. “I need to go, I feel sick.”

Ophelia looked at her worriedly, “Are you sure? Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Claudia muttered, looking down at the bed sheets. “I’ll talk to you later, Ophelia.”

Ophelia watched in confusion and concern as Claudia rose from the the bed, slightly wobbly as she headed to the door. She opened it and slipped out, letting the door click behind her. Ophelia sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, trying to clean her ears out from what she heard. It was the best that she try to forget it, it would only cause her trouble in the future.

She got up and headed to the drawers, about to rummage through her clothes so she could shower, when she heard the floor creak from right behind her. Ophelia turned around, her heartbeat spiking when she noticed Orion leaning against the door. “Jesus,” She bit out, “How long have you been there for, you creep?” She was playing it off cool, but in reality, she knew she was screwed.

Ophelia prayed to God he hadn’t heard her tell Claudia what she witnessed. She wanted to snort-- fat chance of that. The weirdo was probably eavesdropping on her from her bathroom. Did he ever get tired of looming over her? She doubted it, he probably got a kick out of nearly giving her a heart attack.

He stood up straighter, his spine lengthening fully to show his tall, towering height. Orion wore a scowl on his face, clearly not amused by her snarkiness. He took a stride forward, his long legs making their way over to Ophelia who seemed tiny in comparison. She swallowed hard, resting her hands behind her back to hide the fact that they were shaking violently. Ophelia was scared of him and what he could do to her.

“You’re on damn thin ice, Angara,” Orion hissed, his black beady eyes working hard to intimidate her. It was working. “You better keep your mouth shut.” His thin lips were pressed into a straight line and his structured jaw was set in a firm lock. He was clenching his teeth hard enough to break them.

Ophelia stood straighter too, trying hard to match his lankiness, but it was no use. She angled her head upwards, hazel eyes ablaze with daringness. “Or what?” She retorted. She was playing with fire and was only going to end up being burned. This was stupid, but she’d rather die than let him have the satisfaction of knowing that he managed to knock her confidence down a notch. She simply wasn’t having it.

He leaned down, so close to her own face that even an inch more would cause their skin to make contact, and just when she thought he was going to move back, he shoved her. Hard. He’d had enough. Ophelia was thrown backwards on impact, her shoulders and head hitting her drawers hard enough to make her ears ring while simultaneously letting out a scream. Her face had hit the edge of one of the drawers, and she could taste the metallic crimson liquid filling her mouth. She didn’t doubt a bruise would form.

He still towered over her with power, but she could only see the outline of his blurry body. Her vision was temporarily impaired from hitting her head so hard, it was giving her a headache.

She didn’t understand. If she was just submissive, it wouldn’t have had to come to this. Why didn’t she get that? But no, instead she decided to open her big mouth and talk. Talk, talk, talk. That’s all she did ever and Orion was sick of it. He was tired of being talked down on by a little girl-- his self-confidence had been stomped on by her, and it was time he got her back for that. The rejection, the disobedience, she’d finally gotten what she deserved. It was about damn time, too.

“If you tell one more damn person, Ophelia, you’re going to regret it.” His voice was level and calm, just as it’d been on the first day he was assigned to her. “Open that big mouth one more time, I dare you.”

And with that, he left, leaving her aching body on the floor.

--

Ophelia wasn’t sure how long had passed, but she could no longer see the daylight peering through her window curtains. It must’ve been at least two hours and her neck felt like it’d let her head fall off from how stiff it was. She’d been stuck at the same uncomfortable angle for what seemed like forever, and everytime she tried to move, she felt unbearable pain in her head and shoulders.

She’d thought about screaming for help, but what then? Someone comes in and reports the situation to the officials? Would she say that Orion did this? Ophelia doubted anyone would even believe her-- she could barely believe it herself. Even if they did, she’d have to explain a possible motive behind Orion’s actions and she couldn’t tell them that it was because of a conversation she overheard.

A sudden knock at her door caught her by surprise.

“Who is it?” She weakly called out, voice cracking.

She heard shuffling.

“Uh-- hey. It’s Jude. I don’t know if you’re still mad at me, but I wanted to say sorry.” Jude rested his head on her hotel door upon not hearing her reply after a few seconds. “If you don’t want to talk to me I understand.”

“No, I-” Ophelia squeezed her eyes shut, “I’ll let you in, just one second.” She assessed how she was still in the same position Orion left her in, propped up against the drawers with her legs sprawled out and her arms limp.

Jesus, how would she do this? She had no clue. She moved, wincing when a sharp pain stabbed her in the side of the neck. She bit her lip hard and tried moving herself even more, so that her neck wouldn’t hurt so much, but because her shoulders couldn’t support herself, she fell flat on her back and head which caused her to let out a scream of pain.

“Ophelia? Are you okay?” His heart was slamming against his ribs. What was wrong?

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She blew out a harsh breath, she couldn’t even use her hands to wipe the tears spilling down her faced. She was covered in sweat, and her hair was matted with some blood. “Give me a sec.”

Attempt number two.

This time, she tried to lift her head, but after an excruciating pain in her spine, she let out another screech, laying limp against the floor again.

“I’m coming in,” Jude told her.

Ophelia’s eyes widened, “Jude, no.”

She wouldn’t be able to stop him. The door was left unlocked after Orion left and she hadn’t been able to get up to close it properly after him. There was nothing preventing him from walking right in and seeing her position on the floor. What would he say? He’d have questions-- one’s Ophelia couldn’t answer. How was it even possible to explain something like this without telling the obvious truth? Her patron assaulted her-- there was nothing more to it.

That thought brought on another. If Orion was able to hurt her so easily, with one flick of the wrist, imagine what he’d be able to if he was actually angry. She didn’t think he was incapable of killing her: after all, he was an insane, obsessed privileged white man in the possession of great power over a woman. What was stopping him from using it?

His voice brought her back to reality, “I’m coming in, Ophelia.”

And then she heard the lock click and the door knob turn.

T