The next sound we heard was the sound of my jaw crashing to the ground. Seriously, whoa. That gear shift was totally unexpected.
"Say it again." I squeaked. I just couldn't believe my ears. Or in this case, my inner cochlea.
But Lenny was distracted. "Wait a minute. You said her name is Tanya? Tanya as in Mrs-Rogers-Tanya?"
In my state of acute shock, it took me a while to remember that Rogers was Phil's last name. "Uh, yep."
"Oh shit," Lenny cursed in dismay. "I. Am. So. Fucked. Right. Now."
"Wha―why?" I cried out in confusion. "You know Tanya, right? I suppose you must've attended Phil's wedding―or even was his best man―since you guys are basically gay―"
Then it hit me. The dots connected. It was like a Eureka moment for me, except that the truth was kinda fucked up on so many different levels that there was nothing very Eureka about it at all.
Okay, let's rewind a little bit. So eleven years ago (plus minus), Tanya approaches Lenny and signed the consent letter to be part of the FallopFix trial group. The trial goes sour, and Tanya becomes all crazy and emotionally unstable―but no, she wasn't institutionalized just because of erratic behaviour. So she kills Lenny's daughter. Why? For revenge? The Tanya I know―although just for a short period of time―could never be capable of such a violent act. Heck, being as religious as she is, I bet she couldn't even kill an ant without heading off to church afterwards to repent.
So if she did kill Melinda (I did pay attention when Lenny was telling his life story), it must have been under the influence of the FallopFix drug. As for Lenny, in his agony of losing his daughter, he calls the police, and Tanya is arrested. After a series of tests, Tanya is announced as being mentally ill and is institutionalized. But something didn't add up. Why did Lenny recognize Tanya as 'Anita' at first?
"She must've used a pseudonym." Lenny pointed out quietly. "Lots of my patients do that, actually. Anonymity is usually quite an issue in these cases."
I hadn't realized that I had been projecting my thoughts. "So you were the one who came up with this wretched drug." I mused aloud. Earlier today, Phil had been ready to tear Kristoff's head off, not knowing that he'd got the wrong guy. Luckily Tanya had pumped some sense into him at the last moment.
Speaking of Tanya, she was mumbling away like a fuzzy cassette. It was too hasty and inaudible for me to catch the specifics, but it sounded like a prayer to me.
Lenny was speaking again. "Oh, heavens forbid! Yes, it's me." He admitted in a rather remorseful voice. "Technically, FallopFix wasn't even a drug; it was a dose of intricately-engineered nanobots that, when introduced periodically into the system, shall target the constricted Fallopian tubes and start to rectify the congestion."
Sensing his hesitation, I prompted him. "So what went wrong?"
"Each one of these nanobots contained a trace amount of omega-endorphin, a synthetic neurotransmitter essential to calm the subject and alleviate pain when the rectification process took place. The infinitesimal amount of omega-endorphin present in a single nanobot could be insignificant, but don't forget that we are talking about 20 million nanobots here. So as it happened, there was a tiny error in the engineering code of the neurotransmitter, and as they were all identical, the error was severely magnified."
"What error could that be?"
"Erroneous structuration of the neurotransmitter. A slight alteration in the protein base of the omega-endorphin transformed its function drastically and irretrievably. So instead of acting as a narcotic, it became a cortisol-like stimulant that triggered behavioural aggression within the subjects. They started to experience extremely bipolar mood swings, bellicosity, some even severe enough to demonstrate multiple personalities."
Oh my God. "How many patients were there―including Tanya―for the first trial round?" I asked, dreading the answer as I did.
"Six," Lenny replied.
"Six innocent women." I seethed. "And for some reason, none of them came forward with a lawsuit? How convenient must that be for you, huh?"
"They signed the Consent Form." Lenny protested. "They all signed it! By landing their signature, they agreed, unreservedly, that I would not be held accountable―"
"―for any forms of bodily harm caused." I interjected. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you had their lives destroyed with a piece of paper. Bravo."
Lenny's voice trembled with remorse. "It was an accident, I swear..."
I know it was gonna sound cruel, but I had to get my head around the whole picture. "So Tanya―no, Anita killing Melinda was an accident too?"
Lenny's voice hitched. "No, Mel, no..." he moaned.
Suddenly, I wasn't in the hotel room anymore. I was in the living room of a fair-sized suburban house. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Lenny and a young girl, who was about five years of age. It was Melinda. Both of them were being regular couch potatoes on an ordinary Sunday morning, watching Nickelodeon and munching on some healthy foods.
BRINGG! It was the doorbell. Reminding Melinda to stay where she was, Lenny got up and walked to the door. I'm guessing either this area was usually safe in terms of social security, or Lenny was being plain careless, as he opened the door without even glancing through the peephole.
Standing in the doorway, clutching at her handbag in a fearful stance, stood Tanya. Her face was a mess; it was stained with long, wet traces, and her eyes were reddish and sore. It was obvious that she had been crying recently.
"Anita!" Lenny cried out in surprise. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"
Tanya's voice shook tremulously. "We need to talk." Her hand fiddled with the strap of her handbag, an obvious sign of nervousness.
Lenny frowned. "Talk? Why―what's wrong, Anita?"
"I've been hearing...voices, lately." Tanya (I'll just stick to her real identity so as not to confuse things up) confessed, stuttering.
Lenny was clearly very reluctant to engage Tanya in such a dire conversation while his daughter was sitting just 20 feet away from him. "Why don't you make an appointment? I promise I'll do a CAT scan on you first thing tomorrow morning." He suggested.
"NO!" Tanya blurted aloud. "No, no―you can't do this to me―please, you must help me, doctor!"
Impatience and exasperation grabbed hold of Lenny. "For Christ's sake, it's a goddamn Sunday! What is it that cannot wait 'til Monday?"
Melinda, being the inquisitive and innocent 5-year-old girl as she was, danced over to her father's side. When she caught sight of Tanya, she cowered shyly. "Daddy, who's she?" Melinda squeaked, biting her thumbs self-consciously.
Lenny didn't reply; he merely wrapped his arm around his daughter protectively. Tanya's eyes travelled from Lenny to Melinda then back to Lenny again, and I saw something snap in those now-familiar misty blue eyes.
Perhaps it was the jab of envy she felt when she witnessed the love between Lenny and his child, a child that she couldn't possibly have, or the immense anger she had against Lenny as she blamed him for the failure of the trial, but before anybody could react, Tanya tackled both Lenny and Melinda like an NFL pro charging a quarterback, screeching inhumanly as she did.
If I told you that I didn't flinch at all when the three of them crashed right through me, I would've been lying. I practically jumped three feet into the air, flapping my arms clumsily like a chicken trying to fly.
When my brain finally made sense of what was happening in front of me, the damage was already done. Melinda, who had been flung backwards by the force of the collision, was now lying lifelessly at the base of the stairs, bleeding profusely from the back of her head. It appeared that Melinda's head had smashed into the sharp metal balustrade, opening a gaping, bloodied gash that was excruciating even to watch.
Holy shit.
Lenny, the first to recover from the tackle, stood up wobbly, his eyes darting around in search of his daughter. When he finally saw the limp, broken form of Melinda, with her eyes staring blankly into nothingness, he gasped in horror.
I had to hand it to Lenny; he handled the situation with an extraordinary level of self-control that I never imagined a father who'd just lost his baby girl could possess. Grabbing the phone, he dialled 911 and explained the situation to the operator in a precise and systematic manner. And while his mouth was blabbering away, his hands were starting their primary assessment of Melinda's situation.
He sure is a man of science after all.
Finding no pulse and breathing in Melinda, Lenny swiftly began CPR on her. Behind Lenny, Tanya was beginning to stir. At first, I thought she was still truculent, but as she blinked her eyes, I knew that the violent trance that possessed her earlier was long gone. Then she caught sight of Melinda. Sinking to her knees, Tanya gasped in revulsion. "Oh my God. What have I done?"
The rhythmic "One, two, three..." chest presses Lenny was administering to Melinda was interrupted by the familiar wail of the siren. Few seconds later, the paramedics dashed in through the door, and Lenny stepped aside, allowing them to do their job while he cupped his hands together in prayer.
Unfortunately, even the best paramedics couldn't avert the inevitable truth. Melinda was pronounced DOA.
"NO!" Lenny cried in anguish, panic gripping at his voice. "Surely there must be something you can do to save her―she's my daughter! Please!"
One of the paramedics placed a placating hand on Lenny's shoulder. "We're truly sorry, Mr Mascon, but we're afraid her injuries were too severe. Our deepest condolenc―"
Half-deranged and maddened by the pain of losing his daughter, Lenny uttered a heart-rending shriek that gave me goose bumps around the nape of my neck. Then, grabbing the box cutter on the counter next to him, he flung himself at Tanya.
Now things would've certainly gotten even uglier if the policemen (oh they're here already?) and the brave paramedic had not held Lenny back. As he struggled and kicked, with the blade waving dangerously in his other hand, I saw the fire in his eyes, raw and unquenchable.
"You monster! How could you?! She's just a child!" Lenny screamed, his voice cracking painfully.
I shuddered. Never, in my entire life, could I've imagined the ferocity of a parent's love for their children can be this...intense. Not to mention powerful.
At the end, the police escorted both Lenny and Tanya back to the station for processing. As I observed Lenny's aggrieved expression as he was escorted out of the house, I couldn't help but recall the look on my mom's face when she bade me goodbye. It was a too, an intense mixture of love and care. Well, that was before Layla's party, way before all this shit happened and my world was turned upside down. It seemed so long ago. But it's still love; unconditional and unwavering love.
A thought flashed past my mind. Who knows what my mom is capable of doing, now that she thinks that I'm missing?
With renewed resolution, I dragged myself out of Lenny's memories, determined to end this surreal nightmare and return to my mom before she decides to go on a crazy rampage in search of her son.