I most definitely HATED the way they just left us hanging at the end of Splice. So this is basically how I wish it had been continued.
I do not own Splice the movie or its characters.
Elsa never showed weakness.
Eighteen years of mental, physical, and emotional abuse from her psychotic mother taught Elsa that she never wanted to be put in any situation where she didn't have control. That's part of why she became a scientist, so she could always be in charge of her work at least. Of course, her resolve for gaining the upper hand has brought her a reputation.
In college, when her boyfriend slapped her during a fight, she'd grabbed her softball bat and broke the arm he'd swung at her. She nearly got expelled for that one. After she joined N.E.R.D., before she started dating Clive, she would always stick her nose into other's experiments and tests, earning her the nickname "Wicked Witch of the West Lab". After she started working on the "Splice" project with Clive and his team, she'd left others alone and became close with many of them. And when she'd caught Clive and Dren in their escapade in the barn, when she wanted to throw up and cry at the same time, she simply turned and ran back to her car. Before Clive even had a chance to pull up his pants, Elsa had already decided that Dren needed to be done with at last.
Dren. Her most intricate experiment. Her pseudo-daughter. And now, her impregnator.
Just thinking how Dren had gone from a little girl she'd taken care of when sick, to a sexually-mature male who killed three men, and raped her in a snowy forest, made her sick to her stomach. Elsa hated Dren. Elsa loved Dren. Elsa was confused, and her pregnancy making her emotionally unstable didn't help her at all. Some days, she wanted to throw herself down a flight of stairs, to kill either herself or the fetus. Some days, she was extremely excited to give birth, thought of names, and wondered if she should build a nursery, before she remembered that the baby would never be in her home, it would always be in N.E.R.D. laboratories.
Today was one of those other days. A day where it took her two hours to get up to do anything besides urinate. A day where she tried to think of anything but the semi-human creature growing in her uterus. Where she just slumped around the old farmhouse all day, watching TV, and eating anything that didn't require more than a microwave. On her normal days, she'd clean, do her pre-natal stretching, take her vitals record them on her chart. But today, she wanted to do nothing but brood, and think about her current situation.
After the incident, and once she'd discovered she was pregnant, she sold the loft she'd shared with Clive, and moved into her mother's old house. The barn had burned down the night Dren attacked her. So preoccupied with running from Dren and trying to find Gavin, they'd forgotten about the bonfire of Dren's things they had started. It had spread to the barn, and the smoke caused the neighbors four miles down the road to call the fire department and police. They'd put out the barn, searched the woods, and found Elsa unconscious next to the bodies of Clive and Dren. William Barlow was found up in a tree with his neck broken. They never found Gavin's remains.
After she had accepted Joan's company's offer for her silence, she'd moved into a hotel for a couple of months while she had the old farmhouse repaired and restored. It now resembled nothing of the dreary, prison-like state it had been when her mother left it. When Elsa walked around, it gave her no memories of her childhood. She no longer heard a residual voice in her head that sounded like her mother screaming at her as she did in her youth. She was almost at peace with that part of her past.
A firm thump from her womb brought her out of her thoughts and into the world at the moment. Placing a hand on the spot where she felt the kick, she lightly drummed her fingertips against her firm stomach and felt another kick. Then she remembered, she had to call Joan. After signing the silence contract, Joan had asked her time and time again what she planned to do with the…child. Elsa had told her she was going to most likely donate it to N.E.R.D., find what genetic compounds had been passed from Dren to his seed. She knew there was no way she'd be able to raise it as a normal child, even if it may've looked as normal as her. Joan understood, and over the past six months had become a sort of friend to Elsa, not just a financial provider for her lab. After all, Joan was the only person in the world she could talk to about what was happening to her.
Elsa muted the television and grabbed her cell phone. She called the contact labeled Joan Chorot. After two rings, she picked up.
"Elsa, wonderful for you to call." Hearing Joan's familiar accent lightened Elsa's mood, if just a tad.
"Hi Joan, how're you doing?"
"Fantastic. Elsa dear, are you feeling alright? I haven't heard from you in nearly a week. I was going to drive out to your house today after work and come see you."
"I'm fine, Joan. I've just been preoccupied lately", was Elsa's reply. "But I'd certainly enjoy your company tonight."
"Well then, I'll be over around six tonight. Is there anything you'd like for me to bring?"
"Well, I've sort of been craving chicken Caesar salads from Giorgio's on Harper Avenue. I'm so far out of town that I just haven't gotten out there. Think you could bring me maybe three or four of them?" Elsa started picking at a loose string on her shirt, a bit self-conscious at her ridiculous request. She rarely left the house anymore, only to supermarkets and some maternity stores when she grew too big for the clothes she had. Once in a while she'd visit N.E.R.D. for business, but she never went to see the old research team. She just couldn't face them, not the way she was.
"Of course Elsa. I understand. I'll see you tonight."
"See you later Joan." And she hung up.
Elsa looked at her phone and went into her contacts. There were only three numbers.
Dr. Michelle Clark (Ob/Gyn)
Joan Chorot
Maria Nicoli (Clive's mother)
Elsa's thumb hovered over the last number. She hadn't talked to Mrs. Nicoli much since Clive's funeral. His mother had been told that they had been mugged and in an attempt to save Elsa, Clive was shot and killed. Maria had been inconsolable, she had lost Clive and Gavin was still "missing". She had hung off of Elsa's form the whole day, barely able to stand. Maria Nicoli was a very kind woman whom Elsa was always fond of. She had become practically a second mother in the seven years Elsa was with Clive. She had accepted Elsa like the daughter she always wanted.
But Elsa knew she couldn't possibly go see Maria. Not in the condition she was in, no matter how much Elsa wanted to go console the still-grieving mother. If Maria saw Elsa, she would immediately believe the child to be Clive's. She'd want to dive into the baby's life as a grandmother. She would be so happy to still have a part of Clive, it would break her heart to find that her son wasn't the father, but rather his quasi-animal experiment was. The poor woman would probably have a stroke.
'But after all that she's been through, everything that's my fault, the very least I can do is call her,' Elsa thought. She took a deep breath, went to Maria's number, and set her phone down on the coffee table. She had a sudden and strong craving for that last bag of popcorn in her cupboard. 'I'll call her after I've had my snack', she said in her mind while waddling slowly to the kitchen.
Well, how is it? It's just the first chapter, there's a lot more to come. It's just gonna be a little bit until I can straighten it out in my mind and type it down. Reviews are welcomed and appreciated!
~Squirrels are so wise!