Chrysalis (Dangerous Secrets)

by Francis, Rose

  “What did he tell you?” Brandon asked.

  “That I...that we...” Nicholas shook his head. “I couldn’t have Brandon!”

  “Okay, what’s the last thing you remember?” he said after a few moments. “When was the last time you remember seeing Winston and me?”

  Nicholas thought about it.

  “I remember we came home for summer, and were talking about pulling off one more major prank. We threw around some ideas, like planting a dildo in an embarrassing place on some girl, or cutting off all her hair. Faking her out on a kidnapping I remember Winston suggesting. But we didn’t go with any of those—not that I remember.”

  Brandon nodded, then sighed.

  “You’re right,” he began. “That’s how it started. The Pink Peer Prank—remember that? That was the original name.” He half-smiled but Nicholas was in no mood for reminiscence.

  “So anyway, what we later dubbed Final Project began as the fake kidnapping idea. It was pretty harmless—the girls would just be getting a big scare. But Winston,” he sighed again, “Winston took it further. He tried it out first, wanted to see how easy or hard kidnapping would be. It was easy enough I guess, he did it successfully. Except he didn’t stop there. He didn’t tell us this right away—in fact, he only told me some time much later. Anyway, in trying it out, he ended up raping the girl. She begged and pleaded with him to leave her alone, mentioned she was a virgin.” He shook his head. “Final Project ended up writing itself. Winston came to us after he did it and said he had tried out the kidnapping but had a better idea: sleep with a virgin, one way or another. We all accepted, after all, it’s not like assault was the name of the game. We had the rest of the summer to do it, at that point, two months I think. Anyway I got to work on it the traditional way: found a girl and tried to woo her. Winston helped us with that too, locating the virgins. He researched and found out who would be eligible candidates. He found out their romantic status, where they lived, who they lived with, how often they were alone...pretty much any aspect you can think of. We had several options. He had a list made up and the last three were, according to him, most ideal. I checked out the faces of some of the ones who made the cut and kind of liked this cutie with long dark hair who happened to be one of the ideal three. I decided I’d date her, sleep with her and went about trying to achieve it. You know how that turned out.” He smiled a little, touching his face where Maria had left her mark. “As for you—you took forever to take action. Winston offered to help you using the kidnapping method, but you told him you just needed time. So Winston picked Sydney for you. He showed you who she was and you liked what you saw but by the time you had decided to do it the normal, there wasn’t much time left. So Winny got all impatient and decided to help you out because she wasn’t the type who could be wined, dined, and sixty-nined in one week. Winston told you about her patterns, told you how he had watched her, knew the best time to get her. Then he went ahead and planned it for you.”

  Nicholas was grabbing at his hair, still trying to remember.

  “I’m sorry Nicholas,” Brandon said. “I wish it wasn’t true.” He paused. “Wait—so you mean you still don’t remember anything after all this? Nothing at all? I mean we figured you lost some of your short-term memory, but don’t you even remember being in the hospital?”

  Nicholas sat there, trying to sort through the chaos. He eventually stumbled across a memory...

  Winston and Brandon waited until the doctor left. Then Winston whispered:

  “I saw you got to handle things, saw the condom on the side.”

  Nicholas’s head was hurting but he was able to reply: “What are you talking about?”

  Winston inexplicably looked impressed, nodding in what looked like approval.

  “Good one! Already pretending it didn’t happen.”

  Nicholas shook his head.

  “Seriously man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Winston and Brandon looked at each other. Then Brandon spoke:

  “You mean to tell me that you don’t remember...”

  “Don’t say it!” Nicholas shut Brandon up quickly, the effort making his head hurt more, but all he could pay attention to was his sense of dread. “Look guys, I...I feel a bit disoriented. I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but it scares me. I don’t know what we did this time or how I ended up here with my head pounding, but something tells me I don’t want to know.” He looked at each of them in turn. “Please guys, don’t tell me.”

  Winston and Brandon looked at each other.

  “I remember a little,” Nicholas said.

  “Dude, that was some blow to the head.”

  “How did I get it?”

  “How do you think? Sydney socked you with a vase.”

  “Really? So that’s the real story behind this scar.” Nicholas shook his head. “I’m not even sure that’s the main the reason I lost my memories about it. Hell, I wish I could do it again right now—who’d want to remember this?” He gave a dry laugh. “I think I traumatized myself into amnesia.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Brandon said, looking disgusted. “Anyway aren’t you worried?About Winston talking? I mean they’ve got him for Sarah—who’s to say he won’t find it funny to tell on us?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Edward heard a light knock and looked up from his book, as if he would be able to see who was on the other side.

  “Come in,” he said, and the door opened, its frame filled by the slightly aged, slim man whose kindly eyes had always looked out for him. Samuel had been with them for as long as he could remember.

  “Sir, may I speak to you for a moment?” Samuel said in his proper British accent.

  “Sammy! Why so formal?” Eddie said, beckoning him deeper into the room.

  Edward noticed the lines around Sam’s light eyes, more crinkled than ever, worry making his face longer than usual.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Sir, you must forgive me, I couldn’t help but hear it. And I wrestled with myself as to whether or not to mention it, but I think you should know. Oh, but I do worry how you will react...”

  Edward found himself getting worried. It certainly wasn’t like Sam to dance around like this. “Sam just give it to me straight—what’s got you so worried?”

  Sam took a deep breath.

  “Well, first of all, I was there when it happened. That lady—Maria—she slugged that awful boy as soon as she was close enough. Oh, if only she had kicked him in his middle...”

  Edward nearly laughed but given the gravity of the rendition, he held back, knowing he wasn’t going to like whatever was coming next.

  Sam sighed again.

  “I overheard the ladies talking later that night. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I can promise you that...” Edward couldn’t stop a smile from escaping then since all their servants did was eavesdrop. Sam continued: “...I just happened to hear them as I was...checking the sprinklers. And I heard Maria say that...” Samuel looked at Edward, faltering once more, appearing to reconsider his decision but it was too late to turn back. There was no way Edward would let him get away now.

  Edward stared at him until he squeezed out the rest.

  “She said that he...he raped her sir,” Samuel said in almost a whisper.

  Edward felt his blood rushing as his body came alive, his heart beating even harder. He realized his hands had tightened into fists only when he felt his fingernails had made dents in his palms.

  “Sammy, are you sure you heard correctly?” he asked.

  His voice sounded different even to his own ears.

  Sam’s eyes had a different type of worry in them now.

  “Oh I knew I shouldn’t have told you sir, look at your eyes...I could tell you felt for the girl even if you were trying to fool yourself...” Sam took a deep breath. “Please don’t do anything sir, nothing that would bring trouble.”

  But Edward scarcely heard him. He was too busy trying to f
igure out how best to break Brandon’s legs and have it not traced to him.

  “There’s more sir.”

  Sam’s words filtered their way to Edward’s consciousness, gripping his attention. He didn’t want to hear the rest but at the same time, needed to, more than he needed to avoid it.

  “I don’t suppose this is something I want to know.”

  “You don’t sir, but I think you should help him.”

  Edward was confused.

  “Who?”

  “Your brother sir. You see, he was involved...Sir no! Stay! Not involved in raping that Maria girl, please let me tell you the rest. But promise me you’ll help him. He is confused, he is angry, and he is hurt. He is crushed really, you must help him through this. He’s got no one else...”

  “Sammy.” Edward’s tone warned him to continue.

  Sam sighed.

  “He...I’m afraid he might have done something similar to his girlfriend some years ago—Sydney. I heard him as I was passing his door talking to that Brandon fellow. When he was hanging out with those awful boys, it sounded like they made him...”

  “No one can make you do something like that Sammy.”

  “Sir please! You must not be so quick to judge him. I don’t believe it’s all clear yet.”

  “That’s enough Sammy,” Edward said over his shoulder as he walked past a frightened-looking Samuel to exit his room. “I’ll deal with this as I see fit.”

  It took him a while to find Nicholas and in that time, he had calmed down enough not to punch his brother as soon as he saw him.

  Nicholas must have caught the scent of his fury because his eyes glazed over in fear.

  “You know,” he said.

  “Know what Nicholas? About you and your sick friends?”

  “God, Eddie—I didn’t know, I swear! I didn’t remember—still don’t! I don’t want to remember doing that to her, and I’m still not sure I did.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  “Think about it Eddie. Knowing everything that’s gone down, you think things would have gone as they have? That I would deliberately seek out a girl I...I violated to date? How cruel do you think I am? Do you think I made up those dreams I told you about? I simply don’t remember any of this!”

  Edward felt his anger and disgust slowly being tempered by confusion.

  Then Nicholas increased his confusion tenfold.

  “What about you?” Nicholas demanded angrily. “You’re just as bad as us.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about man? I never raped anyone...”

  “Might as well have. You make girls feel like shit too. At least the ones I was with—they knew what they were getting into. But you deliberately pick the weak ones who end up falling for you or feeling like they’re your girlfriend. Then they feel like total shit when they realize you played them. How’s that with screwing with someone, huh? You think they don’t feel violated?”

  Edward laughed.

  “I can’t believe you just tried to compare the two. You must really be insane.”

  The thought had crossed Edward’s mind before, but he now wondered if his brother was truly certifiable.

  Nicholas stood there looking pained, breathing hard but silent.

  “How could I have done that Eddie? What would make me do that? What the fuck was I thinking?” He shook his head. “I keep going back and forth about it—on one hand, I really don’t want to remember. On the other, I seriously want to know what was going through my head. I’m not a monster Eddie, I don’t understand this at all.”

  Edward watched him closely in silence for a few seconds, then shrugged and averted his eyes. He felt a need to comfort him a little.

  “You were pretty questionable in those days Nicholas. Bad company I guess. Winston and...” Edward felt his mouth twisting as he spat out the next word: “Brandon were clearly not the best influences.”

  Nicholas half-laughed.

  “Like you said, I don’t think that excuses me...”

  “I never said it did. But it sure played a part, don’t you think? I mean, if you never got involved with guys like that, the thought would never have crossed your mind, and you wouldn’t have had the pressure to act on it, even if by some weird chance you had thought of it. Which I’m sure you wouldn’t have.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Nicholas said. Edward could tell he was latching onto it. “If only...”

  “No, Nicholas, blame isn’t on them. Why did you agree to it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Edward felt a pang of pity at Nicholas’s tone, growing with the tortured expression on his face. Nicholas ran his hand through his hair.

  “I don’t know. I wish I could remember...”

  Then it seemed a thought struck him as he straightened up a bit, looking more alert.

  “Oh my god.”

  He looked at Edward, but it seemed he wasn’t really seeing him.

  “Nicholas what is it? Jesus Christ you’re freaking me out!”

  “She does know,” he said.

  “Who, Sydney?” Edward asked.

  “I was wondering about it before, but I’m almost positive...But what if she doesn’t? Should I tell her? But she must know—she was asking me these questions earlier...Oh god, what am I going to do? What’s going to happen to us? She’s gonna hate me. I hate me! Why is everything so wrong? She...she was the only thing that was right...”

  Edward pretended not to see his brother’s eyes glistening.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  As Sydney pulled on her other shoe, Maria stood by her bedroom door, arms folded.

  “Sydney, I swear you’ve lost your mind. I don’t know how you expect to avoid him when it’s his sister’s birthday.”

  “I’m relying on the fact that a lot of people will be there and hoping I’m I’ll get lost in the crowd.”

  Maria laughed.

  “You? Lost in a crowd of blondes? I highly doubt that.” She paused. “Hey, maybe that’s what this is all about and you’re just pretending you feel so compelled by your promise to her. Yeah, come to think of it, I call total bullshit. I know you’re a stickler for promises and all, but methinks she’s a reasonable girl; I think she’d understand you not being able to make it. After all, it’s not like you’re best friends or anything.”

  Sydney remained quiet. Then she said, her voice barely above a whisper:

  “And what if I am? Going to see him I mean. I can’t avoid him forever.”

  Maria looked away then. She sighed.

  “I want to see Ed too. But are we ready to see them? That is the question.”

  They found themselves pulling up behind a line of cars as they arrived at the mansion. Sydney felt herself warming up in self-consciousness about her car since in front of her were nothing but Mercedes, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, Vipers, Lamborghinis, and limousines.

  “I feel like a pauper,” Maria said, echoing her thoughts.

  Valets looking like mad penguins in their black and red suits took care of the traffic and Maria and Sydney, after producing two forms of ID and being checked off the list were led inside.

  It didn’t take long for Sydney to spot Allison and point her out to Maria. Her hair was down and she was wearing a simple pink dress, golden earrings, and gold, strappy shoes with pink silky material woven in.

  “Wow,” Maria was staring at Allison. “She’s gorgeous! No wonder Eddie’s standards are so high—he’s surrounded by beauty. In every sense of the word,” she added, looking around the decorated house and the food lining the kitchen, dining room and family room. The arrangements were beautiful—the fruit palettes, the hor d’ oeuvres—they almost looked too good to eat. Almost.

  “Wait, is that what I think it is?” Maria asked, her eyes wide, staring. Sydney followed her eyes. “Seriously? A chocolate fountain? Sydney, I know we planned to stick together and everything, but I know you understand why you and I must part for...just a few moments while I acquaint myself with what wi
ll probably be the best chocolate I’ll ever have. Back soon, I promise.”

  Sydney knew it was useless to try and stop her, and she didn’t feel like following her either.

  She stood there and looked around at first, trying to stay alert and spot Nicholas before he could see her so she could avoid him efficiently, but the arrangements, the decorations, and the food, took her breath and attention away. As she was admiring a floral arrangement, she felt a tap on her shoulder and her heart caught in her throat.

  She turned as if someone had pressed the slow motion button on her body.

  She saw Allison’s bright blue eyes looking at her, a smile on her face.

  “Hi!” Allison hugged her as best as she could with her tiny glass of pink champagne. “I’m so glad you made it! Oh my god—Nick’s gonna be so happy. I’ll let him know you’re here. He’s right in the kitchen.”

  “Allison please don’t. I just came to wish you happy birthday since I promised you I’d come and all.”

  Allison giggled.

  “Yeah right. But if you don’t want me to mention it, fine. But you don’t stand much of a chance hiding here. Oh, try some of these,” she picked up something that looked like meatballs by the toothpick and handed it to her. “They’re delicious.” She popped one in her mouth then waved and fluttered off.

  Sydney tasted the meatball and had to resist the urge to spit it out immediately. It wasn’t that it tasted awful—she was just expecting something else to hit her taste buds and what did was so different from her expectations, it jarred her.

  She picked up a napkin from the table and emptied the contents of her mouth in it, stuffing the remainder of the meatball thing in her napkin.

  Thanks but no thanks, she thought. But those strawberries sure look...

  “Sydney?”

  Sydney’s hand stopped in mid-reach. She didn’t turn toward Nicholas’s voice but she did curse Allison, suspecting she was behind this.

  “Go away,” she said, but she knew it was not audible enough for him to hear it.

  “Sydney, can we talk?”

  His voice was like the patter of soft rain.