OPHELIA: Chapter 49
Blurb
Elizabeth Lockwick wants one thing… to ensure Ophelia remains dead.
For years she’s weaved a life seen through rose-coloured glasses in idyllic Vermont with her husband Sebastian Lockwick, an alluring man with a broken moral compass, whose intent lies in protecting his wife. However, apart from her unorthodox understanding of Sebastian’s dark and gritty hidden nature, she finds herself slipping away from her sanity in maintaining this picturesque life.
After receiving a gruesome gift from an unknown sender threatening to expose her, she finds herself haunted and possibly hunted by her buried past.
In order to make things right for herself and ensure that her secret is hidden, she reluctantly travels back to her sleepy small hometown in Wisconsin. A town where young girls seem to be mysteriously disappearing. There, she reunites with the dysfunctional Pierre-Louis’, a French-American family who sheltered her in their manor in her time of need.
With time slipping away, she struggles with her guilt and a dangerous affair and realizes that perhaps Ophelia wasn’t dead after all these years.
Elizabeth suddenly finds herself caught in a game of cat and mouse, unsure of which she really is this time and who she can trust.
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Chapter 49
Vivian was right. If Sebastian truly wanted to kill her, he would have a long time ago. That thought lingered in her mind as she sat at the edge of the bed in the dusty old motel room.
“This place should be a crime,” Vivian scorned as she walked through the door holding a bag of beer and snacks. “I grabbed some things at their mini mart just outside.” She stretched out her hand with a bottle towards Ophelia, “Cheap beer, not our style but effective.”
Ophelia took it and drained as much of the liquid down her throat as she possibly could. The beer leaked down the corners of her lips as she drank. Vivian watched her in concern as she did so. “You know,” she said in a most comforting tone, “I’m sure they’re both fine.”
“Charlie called to warn me about Sally. His phone disconnected and-” Ophelia felt as if her words were choking her, “We shouldn’t have sent him there.”
Vivian took a shallow breath and stood to look outside the window. The ceiling fan turned slowly, barely even being of any use to them, the floorboards squeaked a little as they walked. At the corners of the room, dust and cobweb gathered and tiny dead insects clung to the wall. The air itself in this place was stifling. “We can’t let them win, Ophelia. No matter what it costs us.”
“It’s cost me enough, Vivian. I barely have anything to lose anymore.”
The sound of a cellphone suddenly pierced through the silence of the room, interrupting their conversation. Ophelia quickly put the bottle down at the foot of the bed and grabbed her phone, pressing it against her ear.
“Lily,” Charlie’s voice suddenly echoed through. There was something strained about it, she noticed.
“Charlie, ohmygod, are you okay? What happened? Where are you? Are you hurt?” Her mind was filled with so many questions as her heartbeat drummed each and every question out. She felt an uneasy sickness at the pill of her stomach, yet at the same time she was relieved to hear his voice again.
“Where are you right now? Are you safe? Where’s Sally?”
“She’s-” she paused unsure how to blatantly say it. She couldn’t explain what happened, she couldn’t bring herself to say what she’d done just a few hours earlier.
“Ophelia-” Charlie called out to her attention again in a shaky, pained voice.
“I’m with Vivian. I’m alright. We’re at the Palmer’s Motel just outside town. Where are you right now?” She asked again, this time turning the call on speaker so Vivian can also hear.
“Vivian? Oh, thank God,” he breathed, “Stay there, I’m coming.”
“Charles,” Vivian frowned as she observed the tone of his voice, it was almost like a dripping mess of a conversation, “Why do you sound like that? What happened to you?”
“I’m bleeding,” he answered with a pause, “But, I’m almost there.” The call kept dropping and reconnecting. His sentences came out in words, “Stay- be- there- Sally- Stefan- don’t- men- society-”
The called suddenly dropped.
“I’m going to the mart to grab some supplies. If he’s injured and bleeding he would need some.” Stay here and keep the doors locked.”
Ophelia nodded in agreement. After fifteen minutes, Vivian reentered with the supplies in a plastic bag. Through the window they saw a car drive into the driveway of the motel. “It looks like Charlie’s car,” Ophelia said, “We need to help him.”
Her words lent wings to her feet where they both rushed outside. Charlie pulled himself out of the driver’s seat and staggered a bit. Vivian caught him and aided him to balance. His hair was damp with sweat and his shoulder seemed to have a wound sustained to it. There, he was bleeding quite notably.
“Who did this to you?” Vivian asked, angry at seeing his condition.
“Let’s bring him inside first, Vivian” Ophelia suggested and went to the opposite side of his shoulder to aide Vivian carry him inside. Before entering the room, Ophelia went back to the receptionist and gave him extra money, “This is to pretend you didn’t see anything.”
“Miss,” the chunky man smiled, “What did I even see?”
“Good.”
With that, she walked back into the room where Vivian was quickly dressing Charlie’s wound. He looked at Ophelia with a tired smile. Without a second to spare, she gently hugged him, being mindful of his wound, “I was so worried about you, Charlie. You had no idea.”
“I knew you would be. Which is why I had to come back to you. Family sticks together right?” His words made her heart sob a little. She was silly and stupid to think she had no one as family alive. Charlie, even though not blood related, always treated her like his own blood. He treated her like his own sister. He protected her as a brother should. He was always there.
“I tried to call Stef. Where is he?”
The girls both looked at each other wearingly. Charlie hadn’t known about the incident with Stefan. If he had only known then he would have returned upon the news. This thought made Ophelia wonder if this separation was part of a greater plan. Her mind wondered on Stefan. She hoped he had been alright.
“What’s wrong? Why are you both silent?” Charlie frowned.
“A lot happened since you left,” Vivian answered, “How did this happen to you?”
He sighed with concern and looked at Ophelia, “When I opened the door to Sally Manson’s house, Frank’s body was laying there on the floor. I went to check the security camera just to confirm if it was Sally but someone hit me from behind. this man who I don’t know. He was already in the house. It seemed to me like he was doing some damage control because the camera footage was all deleted.”
“Thank God you’re already,” Ophelia said placing a hand on his shoulder.
“It was just a small fight, it’s not bad. I got away and drove straight here.”
Vivian laughed in a scoff, “A small fight and here you are bleeding like a pig, Charles.” Her tone was bitter and yet hurt.
“I’m alright, I promise,” he tried to assure her, “Now tell me, where’s Stefan?”
**
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