Glen Ransom - The experiment

Thea thrust her face defiantly back at him. "Fuck your family and fuck you. I'm not living my life waiting for meager handouts from you. You know as sure as that monster is in his grave that half of the money belongs to me."

"What I know," he said in a slow determined voice, "is that I find your vulgarity disgusting, and right now I'm getting sick of the sight of you." He released his hold on her and took a step back. "I'll make arrangements for the trust fund. It can be mailed to you wherever you choose to live… and that's not here, I trust." He paused, letting the meaning of his words sink in, then with a tone of finality added, "Even though you're my last living relative, I'll not tolerate your selfish temperament, Thea. Call my attorney in about two weeks and give him your new address. By then the arrangements will have been made concerning your income… Goodbye, Thea."

Thea stared at his back and he turned without waiting for her response and left to join the others. That was the last time she had seen her brother alive. Before she left the porch of the large mansion, she promised herself that she would return someday and claim the rightful share to the estate.

It hardly seemed like ten years had passed since then, and now that the accident had wiped out her two chief barriers, she had only one left, Lisa Carter, her spoiled niece. But if her plan worked out as she hoped it would, the girl wouldn't be an obstruction to her goal for long.

The sharp crack of a door being slammed down the hallway woke Lisa up. She rolled over and peered through the darkness at the luminous dial of the clock by her bed. It was eleven o'clock. A feeling of dread permeated the air and she knew something was wrong, dreadfully wrong, but her foggy mind couldn't penetrate the reason behind her foreboding. As she thrashed her legs beneath the downy quilt and sat up in her bed, her memory began to return in flashing scenes of reality.

She could remember a few days ago, back at school. She and Kathy were standing together at the snack bar waiting for their daily art class to begin, when Miss Hendricks came up to her and asked her to come to her office. The first thought that crossed her mind at the time was that Miss Hendricks had somehow found out about what Carl had done to her last Saturday night. Oh God, what was going to happen to her now. Miss Hendricks was the strict symbol of discipline at Fairmount, and usually her presence meant trouble of some kind. Lisa could remember following her down the corridors to her private office with growing apprehension, while Miss Hendricks, who was characteristically cold and aloof attempted to make chatty and airy conversation about Lisa's scholastic achievements during the time she had attended Fairmount.

Lisa responded automatically to her questions but her mind puzzled over the marked changed in her counselor's attitude. Maybe she didn't know after all, she thought with growing relief as they approached her office.

"Lisa, I know you're curious as to why I asked you over to my office at this time of day, but an unexpected visitor is here to see you, and under the circumstances I knew you would want to see her as soon as possible."

"What visitor?" Lisa asked as Miss Hendricks opened the door. Before her question could be answered, she spotted her Aunt Thea, of all people, standing by a chair at the window.

"Lisa… dear," she chortled as she rushed across the room and clasped Lisa to her, "it's been so long." She held her back and gazed at her for a while, "… And it's so good to see you again."

Lisa's amazement left her speechless. Aunt Thea… why she was almost a total stranger to her. Lisa knew there had been an animosity between her father and aunt over an inheritance for years. What wan she doing here now? She turned to Miss Hendricks for an explanation but she had already left the room, closing the door softly behind her. Lisa turned back to face her aunt, a puzzled expression on her face. She knew she should respond to her greeting, but she could not. The woman that stood before her was almost a total stranger. A woman whose past was shrouded with mystery. It had been ten years ago that she had stormed out of the family mansion, and her father had refused to speak of her after their last bitter argument over the will. The only reason Lisa could recognize her now was some old photos that her mother still had around the house. Funny, Lisa thought, she hadn't changed in physical appearance at all. It was like she had just walked back into her life again after storming from the house that day now dim in her memory.

"I… I don't know what to say," Lisa said as she moved instinctively back away from her aunt. There was something about the older woman's presence that bothered her.

Thea began to nervously wring her hands and walked back over to the window, gazing out onto the rolling green hills that surrounded the school. Her back was to Lisa now and she didn't turn or alter her hypnotic gaze as she continued the conversation.

"I know dear… we haven't seen each other in years. Why don't you sit down here in the chair. You know, we really have a lot to talk about later, you've grown into a beautiful woman."

Lisa obediently sat down in the straight-back chair and listened while her aunt spoke with a strange sad tone in her voice.

"The years have passed so quickly, and with my foolish pride, I let myself lose almost complete contact with your family. You know, I'm sure, that your father and I had strong disagreements over the family inheritance when your grandfather died… and I… well, I just never had the courage to take the first steps to patch things up. You see when you're alone in the world as I am," she continued with a melodramatic pitch to her voice, "it's easy to become enmeshed in your own selfish thoughts and forget the importance of family ties. I started to contact your father many times, but each time I stopped, thinking it would be well enough to leave things as they were. In the meantime, I had acquired a job as superintendent at a rest home. A job that suited my training after caring for your grandfather for all those years. I did, though, keep in touch with the family attorney, George Colby. Of course, he said nothing to your father about our personal correspondence, because I asked him not to, however, over the years he has written me periodically about you and your parents…" She paused and turned around to face Lisa. "Two days ago, I received a call from him… and… I don't know how to put this Lisa… your mother and father are both dead, killed in an auto accident."

Her words hit Lisa like a giant, invisible fist that pounded at her chest, sending her heart into spasmodic contractions. She stared at the woman standing before her with disbelief in her wild, rounded eyes. Then she lost complete control of herself as she met her aunt's eyes to see the confirmation of what she had said.

"You're lying! You're lying!" she shrilled as she leaped from the chair and lunged towards Thea. "You've always hated my father and now you're trying to hurt me with vicious lies," Lisa cried out as she began to strike out at her aunt's upraised arms. She could hear her voice crying out like it was coming from another person as her aunt's strong hands grabbed her wrists in an attempt to subdue her attack.

Miss Hendricks rushed into the room upon hearing the screams and jerked Lisa away from her aunt. Spinning her around, she began to slap Lisa's face with her open hand in an attempt to control her hysteria. Then there was numbness and voices… Miss Hendricks consoling her, then Kathy, and finally Mark. He had come to her room as she was packing her belongings, and through her daze she remembered him giving her his fraternity pin and telling her he would wait for her return and not to worry. A few days ago his words would have meant everything to her, but right now she felt nothing but a burning pain and emptiness. She couldn't even break down and cry. At least not until the funeral was over.