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DATE: Sunday, October 28th, 2018
LOCATION: 142 Oakwood Drive, Bethesda, Maryland (suburban Washington, D.C. area)
PERIOD: Early morning
TIME: 01:01 AM
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The desk lamp was the only light left on in the house. It threw a dull yellow glow over the study desk as papers and files were spread everywhere—some folded, some torn, some yellowed with age. At the center of it all sat Marcus Salvador.
He was hunched forward in his chair, elbows on the desk, shoulders tight. Elena Voss's letter lay open beneath his hands. He had already read it three times, maybe more than yesterday evening, his eyes kept moving over the same letters as if they might have some hidden message in them.
Though realistically they remained the same.
His coffee sat untouched to his right, quite cold now, a thin layer composed of casein forming on the surface as the standing clock by the corner ticked louder than usual. Marcus rubbed his face with both hands and let out a slow breath, his fingers trembled a little as they dropped back to the desk.
The words from the letter replayed in his mind. The mention of these hybrids, their escapes and names he hadn't heard in years all resurfaced at once, like someone had reached into his past and dragged it into the present.
"Marcus.....?"
He heard a soft voice behind him.
He flinched and turned backwards.
Lila Margaret Salvador stood in the doorway, her body half-lit by the hall light. She wore her robe, one hand pulling it closed, the other resting against a doorframe. Her hair was loose, a little messy from sleep. She looked tired and stressed. "It's past midnight Honey," she said gently. "You coming to bed?"
Marcus swallowed and glanced back at the desk. He gathered the letters and a few loose pages, stacking them neatly as fast as he could, hoping she wouldn't notice. "Yeah," he said, forcing a small smile. "Sorry. Lost track of time. I'll be there in a minute."
Lila didn't answer right away, she just stayed where she was, watching him. After thirty years of marriage, she knew that smile was more than just words could describe. "Marcus," she said again, quieter now with a stone cold face. Marcus sighed, the small smile fading almost instantly. "I just don't want to bother you with the same issue again, you know...."
She stepped into the room slowly before stopping beside the desk and looked down at him. "You're bothering me more by pretending everything's fine," she said pressing his shoulders lightly. "You've been sitting here for days now without a single healthy meal"
He looked at the junk wraps scattered all over the desk. "You don't have to worry dear, if I wanted something I would have gotten it myself" Lila reached out slowly, her fingers extending tentatively before they made contact with Marcus's sleeve. She rested her hand on his arm. "Talk to me, Marcus" she said softly filled with concern. "What's the matter...?"
Marcus hesitated, letting out a shallow breath. His lips opened slightly and his tongue briefly touched his dry lower lip. As his eyes darted from her furrowed brow to her brown eyes, no new excuse materialized in his mind.
His shoulders slumped then as he let out another quiet sigh. "It's just an old contact," he said finally. He shifted in his chair, and leaned towards her stomach, though his eyes were quite far from hers.
"I got... sent a copy of these files from a friend out of curiosity" His hand moved to a particular letter on the table, fingers gripping the edge before finally showing and sliding it toward her across the scratched wooden surface.
Lila glanced down at the top of the page peeking out from the envelope, her eyes scanning the faded ink for just a second—the date, a scrawled signature—before flicking back up to his face. She tilted her head slightly as she tried to understand what it was talking about. "What does it actually say?" she asked, her tone probing as her hand was still on his arm.
He picked up the letter again, his fingers curling around the paper holding it loosely in front of him. His eyes dropped to the words, rereading them silently before he added. "It's from a lady named Elena Voss" he murmured, his free hand rubbing absently at the stubble on his chin. "Dates back to the second week of April, 2013." He paused, glancing up at her, watching for recognition.
Lila's brow furrowed further as she leaned in closer. She withdrew her hand from his arm slowly, and placed them on her waist. "Elena…Elena..... I've heard that name associated with some.....sort of programming before, I believe" she said, her voice trailing off as she searched her memory, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"You have, Indeed" he confirmed, nodding once. He set the letter down on the table with a gentle tap, smoothing it flat with his palm. "She worked on..... on that government program. The one I told you about years ago when they all got caught but no one was arrested, since they shut it down, buried the evidence and files for good" His voice dropped even lower on the last words.
Her hands reached up deliberately, placing it on her lips now. "The..... hybrid program?" she whispered. He nodded again, more firmly this time, his eyes met her gaze. "Yeah. She says some of them were able to escape in 2012, just a year after they were all caged up." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive posture.
Lila pulled a chair closer, dragging it across the floor and positioning it in front of him seeing his worried face. She sat down slowly, before crossing her legs. ".....how did they escape?" she pressed, leaning forward, elbows on her knees.
Marcus paused for a long time, looking outside the window before replying, shaking his head slowly from side to side. "She didn't specify,". He uncrossed his arms, reaching for the letter again, flipping it over idly. "Just that they're out and they're not just like some brainless walking zombies, you know....that you see in books like Zone One or World War Z."
".....They're definitely out there Lila, all these creatures from what I learned on the internet from a fandom page and on some dark web" His words trailed off, and he gestured toward a computer on the table with a vague wave of his hand. He turned it on and his fingers immediately started clicking buttons almost instantly.
He continued explaining as he searched for the different comments that stated their points of views or worse of all, perhaps an encounter with these hybrids. "Plus, before I forget," he continued, his hand moving to a small black case beside the envelope, flipping the latch open with a click, "a scanner came with it. It's used to scan what hybrid they were dealing with." He lifted the device out carefully, holding it up between them—a compact, metallic gadget with a screen and buttons.
Lila seemed to be already fed up with the whole thing and regarded these programs to be just rumors since in fact none of the culprits were never found or arrested which seemed impossible to her. Her fingers drummed lightly against her thigh as she was on the verge of interrupting—already half-asleep and convinced he was being paranoid about the creatures, even though she had no idea why he was so concerned about it.
"Take a look at this!!"
But she was cut short by Marcus instead as he opened a comment on the computer. "'The timeline doesn't add up. Severe spinal damage doesn't heal in weeks. The hospital wing was cleared under the guise of renovations, and shortly after, a consultant appeared with no visible impairment. The military background is likely a cover. This matches the 2012 hybrid program profile.'"
Marcus stares at Lila, who just squinted at the screen, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously…Marcus, this is what you're taking seriously?" she asked, gesturing at the comment. "A guy with an unclipped toenail as his profile picture? I mean, look at this! He probably spends all day arguing online and picking at his cuticles. And you're telling me we're supposed to care about what he thinks? Give me a break."
Then he read aloud from another tab, his eyes scanning the text. "'Everyone talks about strength. That's not the scary part of the convo. Because if even one of them can interfere with the natural disaster or perhaps electrical signals in your brain, you wouldn't see it coming. You'd think the thought was yours and you'd think lowering the gun was your idea. And if they can disrupt your heart in seconds. They wouldn't need to fight. They'd just decide.'" he read, scrolling with the trackpad, his finger sliding across it in quick swipes, finding more information.
She paused, letting out a frustrated sigh, fingers still drumming against her thigh. "And why are you being so paranoid anyway? As far as I know, none of the people we actually are related to in some way, have anything to do with this—so we should be fine, right?. I mean...honestly, it's ridiculous how seriously you're taking these people."
Lila paused, before closing the computer, then pushing the lid down firmly with both hands until it clicked shut. Marcus swallowed hard and leaned back, rubbing his hands over his face.
"....what about Ægiso....?"
Her eyes fixed on him almost immediately, one eyebrow arching slightly, she paused her gaze on his, for what felt like an hour, before her lips opened as if to speak, then closed again.
She uncrossed her legs, planting both feet flat on the floor. "Grace's ex-husband....?" Marcus added, his voice was filled with fear as he turned his head to look at her fully.
"Ægiso Grey."
Lila's eyes stared at his, her free hand coming up to tuck another strand of hair behind her ear out of nervousness. "What does he have to do with any of this?" She pulled her hand back gently.
Marcus didn't respond at first which made her more curious.
"Marcus, you sent him to that asylum....in Boston right....?"
Marcus remained silent.
Lila stood up slowly.
"Marcus...?!"
"You are scaring me....."
Marcus swallowed slowly once again, avoiding her eyes, and staring at the worn grooves in the wooden table instead, before speaking. "Ægiso was never really in that asylum the way they told us, Lila" Marcus said quietly. "Not for the most part anyway. They took him—right after he was committed"
"....the breakdown and the paranoia about Grace's alleged cheating with Matthew had driven him crazy. But the 'vanished' part? That was a lie they fed everyone including me. The government program got him a hold of him and stripped him of everything turning him into one of their hybrids."
Lila's face was filled with disbelief, she shifted slightly away from him as her lips opened, closed, and opened again.
"What?"
A single word came out, almost like a whisper.
"What the fuck are you saying, Marcus?!!!!"
He didn't have the guts to stare at her eyes and continue speaking. "At first, I didn't know what the program was about so I drove there once. I had to bribe a guard, before I got into the lower level pretending to be medieval siege expert for historical fortification tactics. I needed to know if he was really gone. And then for some weird reason I saw him—chained to a table, his body was no human anymore, it looked more like they were experimenting on him, or people like him. So I ran away for my own sanity and never told anyone."
Lila blinked slowly.
"How long, Marcus?"
"Honey—"
"How fucking long....?!!!" She yelled and moved backwards, placing a hand forward, she let out a sigh before making frantic little circles around a table, fingers raking through her hair until strands stuck out wildly. "Did you ever plan on telling me about this? Or were you just going to let me think he disappeared into thin air forever? That Grace could grieve and move on like a normal fucking person? While you sat on this—this nightmare?"
Marcus raised both hands, palms out, as if he could physically push the accusation away. "No, no, no, listen.... listen to me, Lila. I swear I.... I.... didn't want to scare you. Or Grace. Or the grandkids, for God's sake. What good would it have done? Telling you wouldn't have changed what they did to him. It would've just… broken you both like it did to me. I thought if I kept it locked away, we could all pretend it was over, and that he was gone. That it was safer that way."
Lila laughed—a short, bitter sound that didn't reach her eyes. "Are you fucking listening to what you're even saying? Oh for fuck sake Marcus, I'm not safer not knowing the father of my grandchildren was turned into some goddamn government experiment? You think Grace is safer believing her crazy ex boyfriend just vanished instead of being… mutilated into God knows what?"
She stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen.
"You decided for all of us."
Marcus looked down at his hands, at the faint tremor still running through them. "I was.....was trying to protect....."
"Wow," she whispered.
"Now I realize why you looked so paranoid for day. All those nights you woke up sweating and staring at the ceiling like something was coming for us...it was all the guilt..."
Marcus stayed seated at the table, elbows planted, one hand lifting slowly to cover his face. Through the gaps between his fingers, his voice came out almost saddened.
"I shouldn't have..... sent him in the asylum," he repeated almost sobbing. "I shouldn't....have pushed so hard for the asylum. Grace had begged me not to, said he just needed time to realize his mistakes" He continued without taking a single breath. "...but I was so angry. I thought if we locked him away, she'd be free and safe....and....and instead I unknowily handed him straight to them."
He pressed the heel of his hand harder against his eyes, as if he could push the memory back inside. "I keep seeing his face that last day—before they took him downstairs. He looked at me like he knew... like he knew I'd betrayed him somehow. And when I recall that moment, it very much seems like I did"
Minutes passed in heavy silence between the two couples.
The kitchen clock continued to tick on. Lila watched him, arms wrapped tight around herself like she was holding her own pieces together. Finally, she let out a long, trembling sigh.
The anger that had burned through her moments ago seemed to collapse inward, leaving only a hollow ache. She looked at Marcus—really looked at him—and saw the man she'd married years ago reduced to something so small and broken.
She crossed the room slowly, pulled out the same chair beside him, and sat very close. More time slipped by—five minutes, maybe a little bit more. Then, quietly, Lila reached out, her hand settled on the back of his head, fingers went gently through his thinning hair.
Marcus didn't move at first. Then his hand slid down from his face, revealing red-rimmed eyes and wet cheeks. He leaned—just a bit—into her touch. "I'm still so angry at you," she admitted with a tired sigh. "Still, this is ours to bear—not just yours."
He nodded once, barely perceptible.
Lila reached over and gently pried his hand away from the stain, lacing her fingers through his. She squeezed lightly, drawing his attention back to her face. "Marcus, listen to me." She kept her tone even, like she was coaxing a frightened animal.
"It's been so long, a very long time ago. Whatever happened to him in that program...or wherever it is he went, if he even survived it. It's impossible that he still has his memories, they could even be all scrambled up, especially with something like that. The experiments and the escapes—it all feels so vague in those letters. Elena's probably just stirring up old ghosts because she's scared herself."
Marcus didn't look convinced.
Lila shook her head slowly. She released his hand to tuck a strand behind her ear, then placed both palms flat on the lap. "Hey," she said, leaning in closer so their faces were only a foot apart from each other. "Even if—and that's a big if—he's out there, why would he come back now? After all this time? People....can move on, Marcus. And if his memory's as messed up as those programs probably made it... he might not even remember Grace or even you or me. It could be nothing but your paranoia talking."
Marcus exhaled through his nose, before he ran a hand through his hair, tousling the graying strands at his temples, and stared at the floor for a second. "Maybe," he conceded, though it came out reluctant, perhaps he didn't mean those words. His eyes fell back to hers. "But Grace?... if there's even a chance—"
And then he was suddenly interrupted.
"No," Lila interrupted gently but firmly, her hand finding his arm again, this time gripping his forearm. She rubbed her thumb along the fabric of his shirt sleeve in slow, reassuring strokes. "We are not telling Grace okay....?" "Just not yet. She's finally getting her life put together with Edward by her side you know...then the new job, that apartment in the city that she had gotten, and dragging this up would just scare her for no goddamn reason. We don't even know if it's real, okay...? Let's wait. See if Elena writes more or... I don't know, search her up later in the afternoon. But tonight? We sleep on it."
He held her gaze for a long moment, then finally, he nodded, a small, defeated motion. "Okay. Okay, you're right." He covered her hand with his own, giving it a squeeze. "Let's go to bed." Lila stood first, her robe swishing softly as she rose.
She waited for him, watching as he switched off the desk lamp with a click, plunging the room into near-darkness save for the hall light and the single bulb near the TV.
Marcus pushed back his chair, and stood slowly, his back arching just a little bit as he straightened. He glanced once more at the stacked papers, then turned away, slipping an arm around her waist as they walked toward the bedroom.
TSK!!!
TSK!!!