Opheliac

by J. F. Jenkins

  “Yeah, I’ll make sure he gets home okay,” Orlando said.

  Without another word, Alan was gone.

  “We were in space,” Gideon croaked out.

  “Yes.” Orlando held back a sarcastic comment and an eye roll. The kid was only expressing outwardly what he himself was feeling on the inside. Space freaked him out too. Instead, he put an arm around Gideon. “Come on, we’ll walk back to my car and I can give you a ride back.”

  Shaking his head, Gideon stood. “My house is that one.” He pointed to a small blue house with the back porch light on. A fence separated a nice-sized yard from the park.

  Orlando shrugged. “Oh, all right, then I guess I’ll see you at school.”

  “Y-yeah. B-bye.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” He gave a wave with one hand while he pulled out his cell phone with the other. Once he got the thing turned back on and in service, it buzzed to life. Four text messages and a missed phone call. The call was from his mom; she left a voice mail and was no doubt wondering why he hadn’t come home from school yet for the day. He’d left a note on the kitchen counter saying he was going to be home pretty late. She didn’t need to worry. When he checked his text messages he saw one from his sister, two from his mom, and one from Angela. First thing he did was open the one from Angela.

  “Going to THE doctor’s. Do you still have your llama pajamas?”

  He frowned. “What…?” Rather than text her back, he decided to call. Her message was too complicated to decipher via text. On the first ring, she picked up.

  “Orly, I need you,” she sobbed into the phone.

  Immediately, he started jogging across the park toward his car. “What’s going on?”

  “I…He…JD…” She was hysterical.

  “Okay, scratch that. Take a deep breath and tell me where you are so I can go get you.”

  She took a few deep breaths into the phone. “I’m somewhere between Morningtide High School and Main. Not sure where I am, but I could probably find a place once I get to a street I recognize.”

  “Stay on the phone with me and tell me where you are. I can try looking it up on my GPS,” he said. He entered his car and started it. Buckling as he pulled out of his spot, he headed toward his old school.

  “Okay,” she said quietly.

  “Think you can tell me what happened?”

  Angela let out a heavy sigh. “I hope so. It’s all such a blur. I was leaving cheer practice with my friend, and some guy I didn’t know offered us a ride home. She knew him and so I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. Beat walking. Next thing I know, I’m being kidnapped and taken to the Doctor through a tunnel. They were both his minions. My friend is one of the bad guys.” She started to sniffle again.

  I know how you feel. Only my situation is way worse. He wished he and Tait were only friends. “So then what?”

  “They put me in a chair and he was going to inject me again. Then JD came and…and…” The sniffling turned into full out bawling.

  “What street are you on now?” he asked instead, changing the topic.

  A few more deep breaths heaved through his receiver, and then Angela spoke again. “I’m walking down a residential street. Um, Third Avenue? Going…north. I’m going to turn left onto Mickelson. I know this road. It should take me to Gold Street.”

  “Okay, according to my map…” he said, punching a few buttons on the GPS display of his car. “There’s a restaurant a block up. Go there, get something to eat, drink, whatever, and I’ll meet you there.”

  “All right. Be quick. I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What do you mean?” He pressed harder on the gas, praying silently there were no cops nearby. Getting to the restaurant would only take him between five and ten minutes. That was five to ten minutes too long.

  When she was quiet for too long, he worried even more, his imagination going to every possible outcome it could. “Angela, what do you mean you don’t have a lot of time?”

  “I only have an hour,” she said. “Only it’s less than an hour now. Maybe half an hour? I’m not sure. I’m not sure how long I was in the tunnel for. It could be even less.”

  “What happens in an hour?” Why couldn’t she just say things straight?

  Or without crying. She was back to sniffling and choking back sobs. “They did something to me that’s going to make me forget everything from the past six hours.”

  What is wrong with these people? Why does everyone feel the need to mess with the brain? “I’m almost there. What about you?”

  “Just getting to the door,” she whispered.

  Sure enough, as he turned onto the street he found her walking to the restaurant doorway. He pulled up in front of her and rolled down the window. “Come on, I’ll get you home,” he said.

  She got into the car and buckled. Closing her eyes, she relaxed into her seat. “Thank you.”

  “I’m just glad I was back in time to get your message,” he said. “Did they do anything else to you? Besides mess with your head?”

  She shook her head. “No, they didn’t hurt me or experiment on me or anything else. JD…” She swallowed. “He got me out of there, but I don’t know what they’re going to do to him.”

  “Can you elaborate?” he asked. If her memory was going to be gone from anywhere to a few minutes or half an hour, he needed to get as much information from her as possible.

  “I’m so tired,” she whispered. “Can it wait?”

  If we wait, you’ll forget. Glancing over at her as he drove the short trip back to her house, he noticed how deeply she was fatigued. She could rest a little longer. Orlando parked on the street. Unbuckling, he faced her. Gently he touched her face. “Hey, we’re here. Wake up.”

  “Hmm?” Angela’s large, dark eyes opened and she gazed up at him.

  “We’re at your house,” he said.

  She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I can always count on you.”

  When she said things like that, when she was so beautiful and sweet, those were the moments he wanted to be with her the most. He forgot all about Tait. With Angela he had a deeper bond, anyway. I just want to know what I could have…Is it any different?

  “Ugh, I’m a horrible person,” he mumbled. Leaning in, he kissed her lips, intending for it to only last a second. When she kissed him back, he didn’t want it to end.

  She was the one who broke the moment. Tears were in her eyes again. “That wasn’t fair.”

  “No,” he whispered. “No, it wasn’t.” Especially because he liked it a whole lot more than he should have.

  “I…” She frowned, her skin turned a peculiar shade of green, and then the next thing he knew, she was throwing up her lunch onto the floor mat of his car. Some of the mess got onto the fine black leather interior. The smell would take forever to get out. But he couldn’t get mad at her over it.

  Karma, you’re funny. Shaking his head, he actually smiled as he got out and went around to the other side of the car to help her out of her seat. Carefully, he helped her unbuckle, then gathered her into his arms to carry her into the house. It took some balance and awkward maneuvering, but he was able to somehow ring the doorbell. When Cadence answered the door instead of Angela’s parents, he blinked.

  Cadence took one look at her and helped him get her inside. “Is she okay? What happened? JD left to get her. Something about the Doctor. Where is he?”

  “I don’t know where he is. As for her, she just yakked all over my car interior, so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one,” he said. He took a moment to at least wipe his shoes off before going to find Angela’s bedroom so he could lay her down. She was unconscious now. “Do we want to try waking her? Should we let her rest? She mentioned something about the Doctor wiping her memory of the past six hours.”

  “This could be a side effect,” Cadence said. She opened the bedroom door and pulled down the bedsheets. Orlando had never been in Angela’s room before. For some reason, he’d expected there to
be a lot of pink. Instead, he saw cream-colored walls and soft purple accents in the curtains, bedspread, and furniture.

  He placed Angela on the bed and tapped his lips with his fingers. The lingering feeling of the kiss was still present. “We’ll just have to watch her and make sure she doesn’t get sick anymore. Hopefully, it was a one-time deal.”

  The main house door opened and heavy footsteps clomped inside. Ready for anything, Orlando stepped out, wondering if perhaps one of the Doctor’s henchmen had followed him to the house. Who he found was JD walking to the kitchen—or rather stumbling to it. His entire body swayed as he got a glass of water. After chugging it down, JD raised his gaze toward Orlando and laughed.

  “I just did something really bad.” And then JD passed out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jaes paced the room. “I don’t understand what went wrong. Everything was set up perfectly. The captives were both compliant. How could there have been a security breach? One of the charges would not have done this, would they?”

  “I’m trying to figure that out,” Alan said. “I trust Gideon. He was the one who made the discovery in the first place. And Orlando is many things, but not a traitor.”

  “It was his girlfriend being worked on,” Jaes said quietly.

  “Ex-girlfriend. He told me he was fine with the idea of us rehabilitating them. He’s had issues with a few of our…procedures and the treatment of our charges, but sabotage? That seems a bit much, especially given his heritage.” Alan narrowed his gaze at Jaes, folding his arms in front of him.

  For a moment, Jaes stared down at the ground, his brow so deeply furrowed it made even Alan’s face hurt just watching him. “Does he know who his parents are?”

  “I’m not sure,” Alan confessed. “My father said he would be told. No doubt by his own parents. With some of his apprehension and the way he says some things, I’ve wondered if perhaps Orlando does suspect it.”

  “Do you think he would ruin things on purpose as a form of rebellion?”

  That thought had briefly crossed his mind. His charge was known to do things for the sake of attention in the past. Orlando would dye his hair, pick fights with his sister, and play Devil’s Advocate to just about anyone who presented an idea. To go so far as to mess up the operation so that his ex-love didn’t get hurt? That seemed like a far-fetched form of rebellion for the teenage boy.

  Shaking his head, Alan faced away. “I stand by my charges. Neither of them would have done something like this. How many of your charges did you bring aboard?”

  “I had two as well,” Jaes said. “And I trust them as well. So what now? Someone on the ship?”

  “There has been a leak.”

  “And only a few knew of this operation. The techs, the transportation monitors, and Sir Orioltogorthan. Well, and us. You’re the only one I’m certain isn’t the leak.”

  “I know you can’t tell a lie,” Alan said. “It’s one of your abilities. So just say it, that you aren’t the leak.”

  “I’m not the leak,” Jaes said quietly. The gaze he held on Alan was one of sadness.

  Alan nodded, trying to not be shaken by his friend’s emotions. “I never thought so.”

  “You just wanted to hear it for your own sanity,” Jaes mumbled.

  “It’s my way of showing I’m confident and believe in you. If I thought you were the leak, I wouldn’t want it confirmed by your actions.” He took a deep breath. “Did we make any progress on the rehabilitation at all?”

  Sighing and facing away from him, Jaes nodded. “The boy called Bean is finished. We were able to get all of his memories of the war from his mind. The only one we had problems with was the girl. She’s the more dangerous one. I’m sure having her brother out of commission will be a morale bust all the same.”

  “It’ll make her angry.”

  “That as well.”

  Alan chewed on the inside of his lip. “We’ll have Gideon look at the Ilotus again soon to see if he can find the information the Yumsaltanz seek about their missing royalty, as well as the documentation they’ll need to take the Gelandrosimbol to court. Not to mention whatever else we find. Do you still think we should go through with our plan to witness the Doctor’s deal with the drug buyers?”

  “Yes,” Jaes said. “We need to know who he is trading information with.”

  “Then not everything is a waste.”

  “No…not everything.”

  Without another word, his friend left the room, leaving Alan to stew in his own thoughts. Jaes may have believed his charges were trustworthy, but Alan did not. On his past mission working with Drone, Angela had suspected something odd about the young man. When it came to reading people, she was good at it. Drone had been on the ship. Unfortunately, Alan didn’t have the evidence he needed to connect the mishap with the charge.

  All the more reason to watch him closely, Alan decided.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tait held herself the instant she was back on earth. Teleporting and being in space was a lot to take in. The whole experience and being aware of what these aliens were trying to do to her caused her stomach to churn. Tears pooled in her eyes, not from the disorientation of traveling, nor from fear of losing part of who she was. No, her tears were those of anger. The red tribe had succeeded in capturing and wiping her brother’s memories clean of all things related to the war.

  She hated everyone involved in the process. The Alturans of the red tribe for taking such a cowardly approach to the fight, Drone for failing to save Payton from the aliens’ experimentation, and the Llama Kid for helping in the whole plan. The guy was just following orders, much like she did. For someone who liked to preach self-righteousness and about how letting the Alturans get away with their sometimes unethical treatment of the earth humans, he didn’t have any issues with letting them violate her brain and betraying their species.

  Drone walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched away.

  “Don’t,” she seethed.

  “Don’t make sure you’re okay?” he asked.

  “You left him there! You’re no better than anyone else!”

  He grabbed her by the shoulders firmly. “I was told to take care of you. Your brother was third priority on my list of objectives. Something went wrong while I was working in the computer system on the ship, so I had to focus on getting you out along with all of the information I obtained tonight. I had to do it all without getting caught. Sucks that your brother had to lose in this situation, but we can work on making him better again soon.”

  “No,” Tait said. A few tears trickled down her cheeks. She hated to cry in front of him. “No, Payton has never been good at this. It’s for the best he…he doesn’t have to be involved. He’s too soft. I know his heart is in it, but he just can’t handle some of the things we have to do.” It killed her to admit the truth. She’d miss her brother’s support. I just have to keep reminding myself that he’s going to be happier this way.

  Drone gazed down at her, his eyes narrowed and his body tense. “If you change your mind, I was able to retrieve a good portion of what they took from him. Whatever is missing is what was taken after we left.”

  “If I change my mind, I’ll let you know. What I want right now is what was taken from me.” She placed her hands on her hips.

  He laughed. “Sure thing, you can have it back. It’ll cost you, though.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “What? You thought I was just going to hand it back for nothing?” As he laughed some more, the moonlight danced in his eyes. “I never agreed to just give it back to you. I believe what I told your boss was that I would gather the information for her so it was possible for you to get back. Nothing in the deal stated that I would actually do so.”

  She glared up at him, her lips pursing as she debated whether or not to punch him in the face. “My memories don’t belong to you.”

  “Nope, you’re right about that. How much are they worth? A kiss or two? More?”
He wiggled his eyebrows.

  “You want me to kiss you?”

  “We can start there.”

  “Ew!” She slapped him across the face. “If you think I’m going to—”

  “Your imagination went there,” he said. He didn’t flinch from her outburst in the slightest. In fact, he dared to move closer to her. “Is that your way of saying you want me?”

  She swallowed as he returned his hand to her shoulder. This time, the touch was softer and much more affectionate. All the same, she picked his hand off her shoulder. “I have a boyfriend, but your persistence is flattering.”

  “Boyfriends don’t bother me much,” he said with a shrug.

  “They should,” she said. “Tell me what you really want from me in return for my memories back.”

  Drone let go of her. “How about this? I’ll give you my phone number, and you can call me at your convenience and we can discuss this later. Think about what you’re willing to give up in return for something so precious. Memories are only worth how much you can pay. They mean nothing to me and my superiors.”

  “So why not just hand them back for free?”

  “Because that would be too nice,” he said.

  Yeah, I’m going to punch him. Not today, but next time, he’s getting punched. “Fine, give me your number,” she mumbled. He handed her a business card. What kind of guy his age carried around business cards? She snatched it and tucked it into her front jeans pocket.

  “Are you going to be able to get back home on your own?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She wasn’t entirely certain, but there was no way she was going to ask him for his help. Who knew what kind of demands he’d make of her for asking for a ride back.

  He shrugged. “Then I’ll see you around. I’m sure it will be soon.”

  “Sure.” Tait hugged herself, and started down the street. He would not get the pleasure of a proper goodbye from her. Using her cell phone GPS, she was able to figure out how far away from home she actually was. It’s only a mile. I can walk that. The fresh air will do me good anyway.