Heartbreak Hotel

T W O

"YOU KNOW, IT'S stupid that they call it Heartbreak Hotel." Claudia stabbed a pea on her plate with her fork, the prongs hitting the ceramic so hard it made a screeching sound, causing Ophelia to wince. "It's not like they're ever going to let us leave. The whole Hotel enigma. Well, it isn't really an enigma, I guess. It's simple. They just don't want us to feel crazier than we are by calling it a mental hospital, even though that's what it really is."

"They treat us like criminals." Ophelia murmured.

Ophelia had gradually warmed up to Claudia as the days past. It seemed that her positivism, even if it was fake, provided a small piece of false hope if you will. It appeared that Claudia wasn't messed up as Ophelia, and for that, she was almost irritated. But nonetheless, despite the idiom that 'misery loves company', she was grateful another person didn't suffer as she did.

Ophelia had only been here for a few days. The mornings started off with Orion guiding her to the cafeteria where she hung out with Claudia for breakfast, then she would attend the daily required gym class. She found it stupid that the hospital tried to alleviate their patient's depression with gym, but nonetheless, it was still an attempt. Even if it was futile. Then she would attend other activities that were supposed to distract her from her mental state.

She was happy to see at least one activity she could actually stand. Art and photography. The photography classes allowed patients to sign out cameras and take them back to their rooms where they could print out the Polaroid looking pictures and hang them on their walls. She had also spent much of her time in art, acrylic paints a regular stain on her hands. It was the only thing she enjoyed other than talking to Claudia. Then they would have lunch and have the rest of the day to do whatever.

"Bellboy at two o'clock." Claudia murmured.

Ophelia turned her head to see Orion heading her way and let out a groan of protest. "How come your patron doesn't babysit you?"

Claudia snickered, "She's too busy getting drunk on whiskey behind the building."

"Lucky," Ophelia mumbled.

"The getting drunk part or the fact that she doesn't care about me?"

"Both," Ophelia replied.

Orion now stood at their table and glared at Claudia, causing her to shift in her seat. "It's Friday, Ophelia."

Ophelia raised an eyebrow, "And?"

"Ms. Armento," Orion reminded.

Ophelia masked her excitement with a frown. Secretly, she was happy to see the cute boy in her group again, but the thought soon darkened. She shouldn't be enjoying herself here. She had vowed to herself that she wouldn't do anything more than required, and this was just that. "Let's go then," Ophelia muttered.

Again, the two of them walked through the tall white doors and towards the psychiatric ward that was identical to how was last time. Orion complied. The contrast of the blue seating and the fire red doors was almost pretty. They would have been if they weren't placed in a psychoanalysis wing where supposed lunatics lingered. That was the tragically humorous part of it all, Ophelia found. Everyone around here was too sad to attack someone, they were too busy fighting themselves and their hearts. But others saw them as ticking time bombs, waiting to explode with wrath.

People were walking to Ms. Armento's room when they arrived at her door. Unlike last time, Ophelia made it on time. And she felt dread pooling in her stomach as she walked inwards remembering how she had made that stupid promise to practically tell everyone her sob story. She looked back once more at Orion, who had a stupidly wolfish grin on his face.

Sick bastard.

Ophelia trudged to her seat with apprehension and sat next to the same red-headed girl and dark-haired boy. She tugged on the inside of her cheek with her teeth, biting so hard with trepidation that she make out the flavor of the slight metallic taste of blood fill her mouth.

"Stop biting your cheek," He snapped. "If you have something to say to me, say it. I dare you."

The memory caused her to drop the bad habit almost immediately. Her hands trembled at her sides as her eyes scanned the boring white room with stupid abuse hotline flyers, but she was looking for someone. Jude. She shouldn't have been looking for him, really, but his face was appealing to stare at, as odd as it sounded.

After a few minutes, she heard the door knock. She turned her head to see him walking into the room, and she cursed herself when she felt the beat of her heart thud against her ribs at the sight of him. He was wearing a grey hoodie, contrary to the black one he wore last week, but still, his hair escaped from under the hood.

"Jude," Ms. Armento sighed. "You're late."

He offered Ms. Armento a small apologetic smile, dimples and all, that made Ophelia's stomach dip with desire. "Sorry." His tone was soft, his voice deep and honeyed.

"Hood off, Jude. Don't make me tell you again."

Jude pulled down the covering on his head, revealing his full head of curly hair. It was an unruly mess on top his head, some tendrils falling onto his forehead. The sides of his hair were neatly trimmed, assuring Ophelia that he was probably here for no more than two weeks.

"Okay, let's begin, shall we? Ophelia, why don't you start us off?" She smiled. "No need to worry. This is a judge free zone. What's said in the circle stays in the circle."

Ophelia nearly let out an obscenity. She was hoping that Ms. Armento would just forget about her and pick someone else from the group. But it seemed Ophelia had terrible luck, starting with meeting people. She always seemed to meet the wrong people at the worst times.

"Oh, okay." She felt every pair of eyes, especially the jade green ones burning into her skin and leaving goosebumps in its wake. "I'm Ophelia," She began, hearing small greetings from the group, especially a baritone one. "I'm here because someone broke my heart." Her voice was unsteady. "His name was Caspian."

The room was dead silent and the stares remained.

"We met because I had accidentally hit the rear of his car in traffic. Like really badly. So he got out of the car, and we talked over the conditions of his repair fee. He gave me his phone number and told me he'd give me a call. It developed into something more, I guess. Should have known he was trouble." Ophelia mumbled.

"Then what happened, Ophelia?" Ms. Armento asked, a piteous smile on her face.

"He abused me in our relationship. Physically and mentally." The words took a great amount of courage to let out. She looked at the ground. "I don't want to talk about the rest."

"How about I schedule an appointment with Ms. Bordeux for you?"

Ophelia's gaze on Ms. Armento wavered. "Who's that? Why?"

"One on one therapy, Ophelia." Ms. Armento said with a particular tenderness. "I know that Caspian must have done something terrible enough to you that you can't tell us. And that's alright. You can tell Ms. Bordeux everything and then still come here for our activities."

"Okay," Ophelia muttered.

Murmurs of reassurance then went around the circle, but they didn't heal the ache in Ophelia's chest. She felt the green eyes burning into her self-confidence, almost as if they were pulling apart the layers of her personality, scrutinizing them with concern. She raised her gaze from the white marble of the flooring and looked at Jude who immediately turned his head away upon her glance at him.

His cheeks flamed crimson.

The rest of the meeting was full of people taking their turns talking about how they had ended up here and what their life plans were if they were to ever get better, where they saw themselves if their hearts were ever fixed. Ophelia could only feel saddened for them, they all thought they would make it out of here. But most of the people in this group were broken beyond repair, and she knew she was one of them.

These people hadn't just suffered heartbreak, they had been scarred badly enough by thoughtless individuals who didn't care about others or their actions. Carelessness was a life sentence.

To care is to be weak. It was a principle taught to kids at a young age. If you care, you get heartbroken. And if you get heartbroken, you get hospitalized. It was one torturous death cycle. If you were going to invest your time in another person, always be cautious, and if you get hurt it's your fault.

If you are the one initiating hurt on another person, you don't face consequences. You would be applauded. For being stronger. For holding onto your sanity with tenacity. Unless you had committed a crime such as unlawful s****l intercourse or physical abuse to the heartbroken, you were free to walk the streets with your inflated pride, but even those were hard to prove.

Ophelia's jaw tightened as she stood outside Ms. Armento's now empty room. She leaned her head against the glass that bordered the bright red door as she waited for her stupid babysitter. He was late, for once. He normally didn't hesitate to follow Ophelia around like a second shadow, and she couldn't help but feel irritated. Every single person in here had a patron, too, but she was convinced none of them were as annoying as Orion.

"I think you forgot this."

Ophelia jerked with shock at the sudden sight of Jude. She thought she was all alone, but it seemed he appeared out of nowhere. "Jesus," She breathed. "You gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." He spoke quietly. Her eyes looked down at his outstretched hand that held her small, dainty gold bracelet that had slipped off her wrist without her noticing. She breathed a sigh of relief, and for the first time in a while. "It's okay. Thank you." It was mildly annoying to be so attracted to the boy. But anyone with eyes could see that he was one worth staring at.

"Ms. Bordeux is really nice." He fiddled with a loose string on the end of his hoodie.

Ophelia met his eyes, "Isn't everyone here?" Her voice was painted with frustration.

Jude shrugged, "I suppose."

They fell into an awkward silence. Now what? There was nothing else to talk about. She didn't know who he was, why he was here, or why he was even talking to her. He seemed like a cloaked mystery, waiting to be discovered, to be figured out.

"If you want, we can walk to the Ms. Bordeux's therapy meetings together from now on." He offered shyly, his cheeks still slightly rose.

Ophelia grinned, "Okay."