cw: slight domestic abuse flashbacks and a negative trigger
THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THE END OF SUMMER SEEMED TO SNEAK UP ON OPHELIA. She looked up at the calendar hanging on the fridge, heart in her throat. 'First day of school' was written in her aunt's cursive just two days from today and the thought of orange juice was gone from her mind.
Dallas came jumping down the stairs, coming to a stop beside her. "You alright?" He asked, pulling open the fridge.
Ophelia blinked, stepping backwards to avoid the door. She put her palms down onto the counter behind her, leaning against it. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."
Dally swung the door closed, jug of juice that Ophelia was previously going to grab in his hand. He looked back over his shoulder as he grabbed a mug from the cupboard, squinting slightly to see the writing on the calendar. He had glasses, but he would never be caught dead wearing them. "Aw shit." He swore, "Is that really in two days?"
Ophelia sighed, nodding, "Guess so."
Dally grabbed a second mug, tipping it towards her as the silent offering, to which she nodded. He began pouring two mugs of juice, "C'mon, don't look so worried, O. You're gonna be fine! You've already got 'cool' running in your bloodline."
Ophelia scoffed, grabbing the mug of orange juice closest to her. "You sound exactly like Talia." She eyed him, taking a sip from her cup.
Dally rolled his eyes, but he looked down, cheeks flushing red. Talia and Dallas had a little thing going on where they would constantly flirt. It was obvious they liked each other, but they easily skirted around ever doing anything about it. It had quickly become Ophelia's goal to get them together by the time the year was over.
Ophelia 'aww'ed and he tossed her a glare and a light shove.
"Shut up." He muttered.
"Just admit it." She singsonged, "You like her! It's so obvious it physically pains me to see you together."
"We're just friends!" Dally took an annoyed gulp of his juice.
Ophelia rolled her eyes, "Oh bullshit, Dallas! You're practically drooling over each other! If I have to listen to your flirting any longer without you going out on at least one date, I will ban you from seeing each other!"
"You can't do that, stupid!"
"Just watch me!" Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest. "She's my friend before she's your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"Okay okay okay, you two, lets calm down." Her aunt entered the kitchen, seeing the two standing leaned towards each other, arguing. "One of you can take out the garbage to cool down before you do the dishes."
Ophelia immediately put her finger to her nose, only a split second before Dallas, who cursed.
"Language." Abigail scorned, taking a drink from the orange juice that he left unattended. Her eyes flicked up, winking at Ophelia. They were lighter than Dally's brown ones. Ophelia knew that he got a lot of his face from his 'mystery' dad, but he had definitely got her hair colour. People often mistook both Dallas and Ophelia for being her children, and she never corrected people when they did. Ophelia was practically her child. She wanted to raise Ophelia the way her parents never could or would. She was determined to raise both of them away from the judgemental eyes and words of the family, even though it wasn't like she had a choice once her pregnancy out of wedlock was made known.
Ophelia grinned at her, walking over to the sink to fill it with hot water. Cranking the hot water tap on almost all the way, she rinsed the sink before putting the plug in.
Her aunt sighed, pulling the pen from behind her ear, tossing it onto the counter, "Cut him some slack, hun. I don't think he's ever liked a girl as much as he likes Talia. He's also probably worried about what would happen to both of your relationships if they did in fact start dating."
"At least if they started dating I could rightfully feel like a third wheel instead of just having to deal with tension."
Her aunt chuckled at that, but made no move to say anything else.
Ophelia began squirting soap into the sink, and it steadily filled with steaming suds. "How's your planning going?"
Her aunt was the English Language Arts teacher at the middle school and, with the first day approaching, she was running out of time. "Good, I got most of the curriculum organizing out of the way today. I have to go in again tomorrow and finish getting everything set up."
Ophelia hummed as they heard the door close, Dally's footsteps approaching from the front door. He no longer looked annoyed, but he slumped when her aunt tossed the dish towel at him.
"Get to it, you two. And no more bickering!" Abigail looked up at the clock above the sink, but her eyebrows furrowed as the hands were paused at 2:15.
Ophelia flushed lightly. She had forgotten to put the batteries back in this morning. After getting up late last night with a nightmare, the ticking of the clock seemed to blare in her ears. This was far from the first of this occurrence. "Top drawer under the coffee machine." Ophelia mumbled as her aunt looked down at the watch on her wrist, which showed the correct time.
Aunt Abigail gave Ophelia's shoulder a rub before standing on her tiptoes to kiss the side of Dally's head. He grumbled about it, trying to get away from her, acting much more disgusted than he actually felt, "I've got to get back to it. Have fun!" And with that, she left them and their dishes.
The cousins were quiet for awhile, the water no longer running as they began working on the stack of dishes from the week's meals. Ophelia was the first to speak as she scrubbed an especially dirty pan.
"So, how many classes do you think we're not gonna have together?" The older girl vaguely feared the answer, praying it wasn't very many. She would most likely have at least one friend in each class, but no matter how much she loved Sam and Talia, there was something about Dally's presence that calmed her the most.
Dallas shrugged, thinking for a moment as he went to put away the stack of plates they had cleaned, "I'm not sure exactly which ones we'll have this semester but, I know that you aren't going to be in Gym with me and Sam, but we've got Chem with Mrs. Kaminsky, which is going to be hell, by the way. I'm not in Physics, so you'll probably be in that without me, but Talia's a nerd like you, so you might have her." Ophelia flicked some bubbles at him, which he quickly wiped off, laughing, "You, Sam, and I have Bio, you and Sam have English, all four of us have History and Math, and it's just you in Band, I think. But we'll see for sure on the first day after we all get our schedules."
Ophelia nodded slowly, "That makes me feel much better knowing I won't be alone that much. Thanks, Dal." She smiled over at him, which he happily returned.
The two slowly dropped into mindless conversation, something the two found came to them quite easily, ever since Dallas and her aunt had begun to visit her at the hospital she was relocated into after the institution was shutdown. Ophelia remembered the day almost like it was yesterday.
Dallas was 12 at the time, Ophelia having turned 13 just a few months ago then. They had tried to contact her parents first, with no successful attempts, and when they finally discovered Abigail's number under a 'Do Not Contact' list from in Ophelia's file, the woman had been the only one to pick up. She also demanded to see the girl the next day, even if they were three states away.
It was very tense and quiet at first. Ophelia had never heard of this aunt before, let alone her cousin. There was also the glaring fact that they were her family, people Ophelia didn't exactly love seeing, especially after what they'd done to her.
Ophelia had sat rigidly next to Dallas as her aunt and the kind doctor named Allison, that had been supporting Ophelia through her transition from the institution, talked. Caroline had been there, too.
Ophelia glanced over at the boy next to her, but jumped and immediately crumpled a bit in her chair when she saw he was already looking at her. She risked another glance at him a moment later and instead of shrinking away, her eyes zeroed in on the device that he was fiddling with in his hand.
"W-What's that?" She asked, voice small and trembling. The boy grinned at her, proudly producing the Walkman, even though she flinched at the quick motion.
"It's my Walkman! I just got it the other day as an early birthday gift from my mom. Isn't it cool?" Dallas's grin widened as he flipped it over in his hands.
Ophelia leaned slightly forward, getting a better look at it, "What... What does it do?" Her eyes flicked up to meet his again.
The boy gave her an incredulous look, "Whaddya mean? You don't know what a Walkman does? Everyone's tryna get one." He seemed personally offended at the fact she had no clue about the 'Walkman'. He quickly untangled the wires, before pulling another piece from around his neck. He held them out towards her.
She flinched backwards again, eyeing him and the object in his hand wearily. It reminded her of the electrodes they'd put on her head for electroshock therapy. She had already scanned him and his mother when they had come into the room, like she was trained to do. The boy was younger than her, but he was gangly though he was tall. Easy to subdue. She could take him, but she knew if she tried to do anything, it would take her back to square one with Ms. Allison. They'd made plenty of progress and she had opened up. A voice that almost sounded the same as hers, but deeper, reminded her gently from the back of their head, 'Hurting a boy we just met wouldn't be taken lightly'.
Ophelia just hoped he would get the same treatment if he tried to hurt her.
"C'mon, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just check this out, it's easier to explain if you just experience it for yourself." He beckoned her forward with his head.
Ophelia ducked her head a bit, but leaned forward nonetheless. She braced herself, fingers digging into her knees, as he moved them over her head. They immediately muffled the voices of the adults as they slipped gently over her ears and Ophelia's eyes popped open. They didn't hurt, they just sat there. She almost panicked again when he pressed a button on the device (the Walkman, she reminded herself), but when a soft melody began playing into her ears, she couldn't help her mouth from popping open. Shaking hands went up to her ears, pressing the cups more fully onto them.
"It's Althea by the Grateful Dead. Good, right?" She could slightly hear his voice over the voice of the other man in her ears.
Nodding as if in a daze, she couldn't help as the corners of her mouth turned up. Involuntary tears swelled in her eyes, and though Dally looked slightly concerned at that, he was still smiling back at her.
"Althea." A voice in her head, voice slightly higher pitched than her own, but quiet against the music, tested it out, "I'll t-take it."
Ophelia scooted her chair closer to his as he pressed another button on his Walkman, changing the song and causing Ophelia to straighten, as if she wasn't expecting it.
The two began talking then, Dallas a lot more than Ophelia at first, but as he showed her all the mechanics on her newfound discovery, she found herself opening up to this boy and in turn, his mother.
They were so caught up in their own world, Ophelia actually letting out the breath of a laugh when the music got louder as he turned a dial, that they didn't notice the three pairs of eyes that had turned on them, crinkling at the edges as they smiled.
Dally stopped talking, craning his neck a bit to look at the small smile that had grown on Ophelia's face as she got lost in her own thoughts.
"Are you even listening to me?" He asked, snapping her out of her reverie. She blinked, looking over at him, smile more sheepish.
"... No?" It came out as more of a question as she shrugged her shoulders at him.
"What're you thinking so hard about?" He asked, cutlery clinking as he placed them into their designated drawer slots.
Ophelia hummed, wiping down a spoon, "Nothing much, just how much I love you."
Dallas whipped around to face her, nose crinkling, "Ew, where the hell did that come from?"
The girl just laughed, tossing the sudsy, clean spoon in his general direction. It just got louder as he juggled it against his chest when it slipped out of his fingers. She wasn't paying attention, watching the spectacle to her right, as she reached for more dishes with her left hand. Bumping a knife accidentally, it slipped into the sink, nicking the back of the hand she had resubmerged.
She hissed, pulling it out of the water and turning Dally's attention back to her.
"Shit, you okay?" He asked, looking at the now bleeding cut across the farthest knuckle of her right hand.
She flicked her hands off, trying to hide the tremor that was in them now, offering him a smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right back." Ophelia swiftly departed from the kitchen, a cold sweat breaking out across her whole body as the walked towards the closest bathroom. The smile immediately slipped from her face once her back was turned.
Closing and locking the door behind her, she placed her hands on the counter around the sink. Quickly twisting the tap on, she took a shuddering breath. Her eyes again locked onto the cut, the littered scars around it glaring back at her. They were faded with years, but they were fresh as the day she got them in her mind's eye.
"Worthless little brat! Why can't you listen to a single thing I say!"
Ophelia flinched as if she'd been hit, her ears ringing as an imagined ruler hit the back of her hand, the sound that wasn't there echoing through her mind.
"Hey, it's alright, listen to me. You're fine, you're safe."
Ophelia let out a soft whine, eyes flowing in and out of focus as her eyelids fluttered. She was dizzy, her limbs feeling like they were going numb. She felt herself shrinking into the back of her own mind, a feeling that caused her to panic as she hadn't felt it in months. Unfortunately, that just sped up the transition. Her eyes squeezed shut, the feeling of two parts of the same mind moving together causing another sickening roll of cold to wash over her body.
Another version of herself blinked her eyes open, straightening as she took a sharp inhale. She sighed, eyes landing on the cut. She stuck it under the stream of water in the sink, effectively rinsing it out and getting the remaining suds off of it. Drying her hands, she quickly bandaged the cut before her eyes involuntarily fell onto their reflection. She blinked at them, reaching a hand up to her face, still not used to the fact that the hand followed her command. She hadn't been in the 'driver's seat' in a long time.
"Ophelia?" She said to the air, but it was directed inside herself. She got no response. With another sigh, she sagged her shoulders, trying to loosen herself up. She was always too stiff, it was a dead giveaway. Giving herself a single nod, she left the bathroom, forcing the corners of her pursed lips up.
Dallas looked over at her as soon as she was back in the kitchen. "All good?" He looked her up and down from his new spot in front of the sink.
She forced the smile onto her face, "Yep, all good. Just a little cut is all." She held it up so he could see the bandaid, before curtly grabbing the dish towel he had left on the counter.
They were silent, only the sounds of Dallas washing the dishes and her drying them and putting them away. He kept glancing at her, she could feel it, but she kept her gaze down and focused on the task at hand.
Dallas finally sighed, pausing his motions. "Hey, Sinistra." He looked over at her.
She went ridged, freezing, before glancing up at him. Sighing as well, Sinistra, the first of the versions to be developed in their mind, straightened from her hunched position, trying to act like Ophelia. Her lips turned down.
"Dallas." She continued the job they were doing in silence, not offering him anymore than that. Not moving her eyes from her drying, she spoke a few moments later, "You won't tell aunt Abigail about this, will you?"
The boy glanced back over at her, offering her a small, reassuring smile that she caught out the corner of her eye, "Of course not, you know your secret's safe with me." He pointed over at her, water dripping from his hand, "And by the way, Ophelia doesn't nearly slouch that much."
Sinistra finally turned her eyes from the towel, and when their eyes met, her own face softened slightly, lips upturning genuinely this time, "Thank you, Dallas."
He nodded, returning the smile, before turning back to the sink. Sinistra knew he didn't really know how to talk to Ophelia's versions, but especially not her. They may look the same, but he could always tell the difference. She didn't know how, but he had once mentioned that she somehow became older and more menacing, and that put him a bit more on edge. That wasn't what they wanted, but Sinistra had the hardest shell of them all and it showed.
"So," Sinistra began, lips staying slightly turned up to try and defuse the bit of tension in the air, "How are things with you and Talia?"
uh first version reveal i guess ??!! i'm not rlly sure about the changing scene, but i tried to make it make as much sense as possible with a negative trigger. pls let me know if it makes no sense, since it's somethin we'll be doin a lot more in the future !
the next chapter will be a flashback to give more context to scenes before, so buckle up, we're meeting a lot of new characters and learning a lot of things about ophelia and her brain and past !
thanks for reading!
max <3