Los Carnales

Chapter 45: Fire & Water

A/N: LOTS of metaphors and symbolism in this chapter. Keep an eye out and have fun spotting them. It's gonna be heavy for some time, but I'll try not to make it too depressing and add some light and good here and there. TW: attempted suicide.

Two songs will play in this chapter. The second is just a music score you can listen to but don't have to.

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5:13pm - Kendall, Miami

Outrage. LOTS of it. Nobody would calm down nor did they feel like it. Guns popped and fired all over South Miami and a couple of Estrabao Cartel owned territories. Red and black cars zoomed down the streets packing thugs far too passionate to put out the fire burning in their hearts or give the drive-by shootings a rest. Every single one of Lauren's followers who knew Aleesia or has heard of what happened but never even met the girl went out searching for Luca; whether they were on the lookout to provide tips or to kidnap or murder him, everybody showed up.

It's been about four hours and he STILL hasn't popped up anywhere. Eventually the gang lost hope but this wasn't to say nobody assigned watchers or a few didn't keep on trying because they took it way too personally. There was a gathering at the Los Carnales hideout led by Jesús who had to drag his ass out of the hospital his sister was officially pronounced dead at, hold his head high, and face everyone without breaking down in tears because he couldn't stand appearing "weak" or like a "little bitch" instead of a grown ass man.

He could show himself to the gang but not to his parents who screamed the whole time at the hospital, vowing to find Lauren and have her arrested for the "murder" of their daughter, crying their eyes out and blaming him for allowing her to stay involved in Los Carnales rather than forcing her and himself out of it. That was too difficult to stay around because he truly did blame himself just like he blamed everyone else. And everyone else blamed themselves, too.

Outside the hideout were clusters of thugs gathered by the secret elevator and their cars in the parking lot, arguing beneath the stormy night sky about the littlest things having to do with the club getting shut down temporarily, the drug trafficking business, where all of the shipment was hidden before the cops searched the property, and why nobody could seem to find Lauren yet. Inside the hideout, all the way underground were a sea of drunken bodies raging and inspiring more motivation to kill everyone in Estrabao Cartel for Aleesia. This war had to end already. They were tired, miserable, riddled with endless grief over everyone they've lost since Los Carnales was formed, but overall more blood thirsty than they've ever been.

The ones who were at South Beach to witness Aleesia and her unborn baby take all those bullets and bleed out in Lauren's arms like that were traumatised. In fact, a lot of them were too traumatised to speak like the others did or engage in any of the activities their homies busied themselves with. Normani and Jhene were stuck, seated at the bar trying to talk about it and register what exactly went down this afternoon. Ariel sat with them and surprisingly didn't open his mouth to say a word at all. Out of the three of them, he was taking it the hardest. You'd figure he'd be the first riled up and ready to go, hyping up the crew to search all night for Luca and commit damnable acts of violence against EC but nope. Just sat on top of the stool in a catatonic stupor.

Lauren was still missing and there wasn't any sign of her anywhere either, further amplifying their worry and distress. They just wanted to know that she was physically okay and safe, they didn't expect her to be happy or thrilled to show her face and communicate with the gang. The least she could do was pick up the phone.

"It feels like there's a shift in the world. I don't know what to make of it," said Normani slowly, facing the built-in shelves of alcohol on the wall.

Jhene took a shot of her Hennessey, reacting to the foul taste and burn. "Same here. I really don't. Like...I can't believe Aleesia went out like that. I can't believe she's gone," Jhene glanced at both of them. "She's gone, she's not coming back. This isn't a bad dream, we're never gonna see Aleesia again until her funeral."