ODE

Chapter 1

Stay healthy and enjoy!

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, really. Lena should’ve known that even death wouldn’t stop her brother from messing with her head and playing some deranged psychological games with her. She’s tired. Oh god, is she tired. After everything that’s happened, Kara’s lies, the trigger Lena pulled to put an end to her own brother’s manipulative mind games. She’s absolutely exhausted.

He’s dead, but of course, it’s far from over.

It was a regular night. Lena spent most of her time at L-Corp, burying herself in whatever work she could get her hands on. If she isn’t in her office, she’s keeping herself busy with experiments in her private lab. She wasn’t even planning on going home, really, she could’ve just crashed on the couch in her office. However, she realized she can’t possibly go to work in the same outfit again the next morning, she’d already noticed a few concerned looks shot her way from employees.

So maybe she hasn’t been home in two days. Her large penthouse feels cold and more unwelcome than ever when she flicks the light on. Lena moves to hang her coat on the rack when her heel digs into a white envelope on the floor. Lena frowns and leans forward to pick it up. When she turns the envelope around to reveal the backside, her body freezes.

My dear sister

Lena swallows thickly and closes her eyes, already feeling an enormous migraine coming up. With the rhythmic clacking of her heels onto the ceramic tiles, she walks over to her kitchen and flings the envelope on top of the counter. Instantly, Lena approaches her liquor cabinet and pulls a bottle of whiskey out. Masterfully, she removes the cap with a flick of her thumb and pours herself a glass. She eyes the envelope when she downs her drink, wishing she could just pretend it didn’t exist, that the handwriting didn’t look awfully familiar to her.

Loudly, Lena puts her glass on the counter and takes a deep shaky breath, trying to mentally prepare herself for what’s to come. Lena grabs the envelope again and rips it open. She throws the remnants of the envelope away and unfolds the parchment inside.

My dear sister,

Did cancer finally get the better of me? Or did I meet my fate differently? Either way, if you receive this letter I must be dead. I’m sure you’re mourning me, sister, you’ve always been too emotional for your own good.

Lena shivers, almost hearing her brother’s voice through the written words. Her eyes widen when she reads on.

Now, I can’t leave this world without dropping one last bomb, can I? I’m giving you a name, Alodie Byrne, the rest you’ll have to find out yourself. Which, I know you will.

Don’t say I never gave you anything, Lena. And don’t say our father never made any effort.

Lex.

Lena stares at the parchment for a moment and two words in particular. Alodie Byrne. It’s her mother, it has to be. But why would Lex bother giving her the name of her dead mother after all this time?

Lena moves towards her couch and grabs her laptop, which was still on sleep-mode. She presses a random button to activate it and types away, searching on various combinations of the woman’s name with events, locations, dates… And absolutely nothing comes up. It’s as if the woman’s entire life has been erased. Only a few Facebook accounts from strangers pop up who happen to share the same name.

She didn’t expect to get any results. It would’ve been way too easy. No, they’ve obviously made sure not to leave a single trace of her existence.

Lena sits back and puts her cold hand flat against her forehead, easing the aching sensation a little. She sighs and closes her eyes, thinking as deeply as her exhausted brain allows her.

After a moment, Lena’s eyes snap open again and her fingers rapidly tap away on her keyboard. She can’t hack a ghost, but she can in fact access her father’s files from L-Corp. Within a minute, she’s in, her eyes searching and scanning through the familiar database. Lena scrolls through her father’s old projects and experiments. Some of them date back ten years, twenty even. Lena eyebrows shoot up.

07-06-1997 Patient AB

Lena’s heart skips a beat. 1997 is the year, the year her entire life changed. It’s the year her mother died.

With a shaky hand, Lena clicks on the entry.

08-06-1997 Patient AB

Entry #1

Traumatic head injury. Hypoxemia from near-drowning. Is kept in a medically induced coma. Has yet to show any progress. Chances of a full recovery are slim.

Lena stops breathing. Did Lionel take her mother to L-Corp instead of a hospital? But more importantly: did she- did she survive?

She reads through the entries all night, not even noticing the hours ticking by or the light outside changing. Her bloodshot eyes flicker across the words on the screen, eventually she reaches entry #763 and she stills when she realizes it doesn’t go further. It’s the last entry, three years after the incident at the beach.

11-10-2000 Patient AB

Entry #763

I’ve concluded the treatment, without results. She barely talks and when she does, it doesn’t seem like she recognizes me. I don’t see her improving any time soon. I have to let her go. For everyone’s sake. It’s time to move on. I’ll have her transferred to St. Mary’s Mental Institution tomorrow.

Lena’s heart is pounding wildly. Her father’s words are heart-breaking. But she might still be alive…

Barely a minute passes by before Lena has found the institution’s full address and visiting hours. She shoots off a quick message to her assistant saying she won’t be in tomorrow, today actually, Lena realizes when she notices the time on her phone. She sighs and throws her phone on the couch next to her before giving in to her body’s wishes and moving towards her large bed for a well-needed nap. She falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow and doesn’t open her eyes until it’s well after noon.