Twisted Tangles

Chapter 12, Survival

Friday was a reliever for both Rosalià and Stephanie because the people they most loved were alive and well. Stephanie spent her time with Julien while he rested, as well as Rosalià sticking by Ivy's side, her day one.

Both Rosalià and Stephanie stayed with their beloveds until the nurses had arrived to check up on them. They had to be excused out of the rooms, Rosalià left the hospital back to Trift Towers while Stephanie returned to the hotel.

Rosalià arrived at her door slightly opened, "What the hell?", she said as she opened the door slowly to find her place rummaged into a mess. Everything was upside down as she walked through a sea of scattered objects on the floor.

She went over to Natalia's room finding it messy as well with all the shelves emptied, to her discovery, Rosalià was not surprised. "I don't think I'll ever let Natalia set foot in here ever again. She can be my blood but I'm definitely not considering her as family that's for sure." she said enraged with anger and disappointment.

She went over to her room which was untouched fortunately to her relief. She fell onto the bed exhaling out a groan of relaxation. "Argh, it feels so good to finally lie down." Rosalià said out in a tone of satisfaction, her peace was disrupted by the sound of her phone ringing.

"Can I not have peace for goodness sake! Who is it now?!" Rosalià yelled out in frustration, she grabbed her phone to see Uncle Ben appear across the screen. "No, I don't have time for you now let me breathe please." Rosalià said muting the call as she smashed it onto the bed.

After a minute of silence, she was disrupted once again by the sound of her phone ringing. The second she heard her phone ring she placed a pillow over her head screaming her lungs out before throwing the pillow away as she picked up the phone.

Composing herself first she then took a deep breath and answered Uncle Ben's call, "Hello?", "Rosalià we agreed that you should always be alert whenever any of us call. Don't let this happen again, anyways, have you sorted out a distributor for us in the city?" Uncle Ben spoke over the phone, "I still haven't found a replacement, I'm going to need more time on this." Rosalià replied instantly.

"Rosalià, we're going to lose big clients if you don't act fast on this matter. As soon as all of this gets sorted out, you'll need to be back here to discuss the way forward." Uncle Ben commanded before cutting the line. "What a time to be alive, a fucking living hell." Rosalià scoffed as she fell onto the bed spreading herself across it. "So, what now?" Rosalià questioned herself.

What was she going to do in difficult times like this, what if she would snitch on Natalia? Maybe that way she'd deserve some punishment for the burden she had put on Rosalià. Otherwise if Rosalià wouldn't snitch then it would stabilise the family relationship with Natalia's father and Uncle Ben.

Uncle Ben and Uncle Chris took care of Rosalià most of her life ever since her parents died in a car accident when she was 5. Rosalià never really got along with their wives because she had become the centre of attention requiring needs of child support. Thus, changing Rosalià's surname to Andrews

Therefore, since then Uncle Chris had connections in starting up the drug cartel, he placed Uncle Ben in charge since he struggled looking for a job. Uncle Chris was already running a restaurant called Poetry bar, through it he laundered all the money he received from his clients buying the drugs.

Since Rosalià was an A student in High School as well as a feisty character, she was a great help to the business and thus receiving responsibility upon it. As for Natalia she lacked the composure and responsibility in being exposed to what Uncle Ben and Chris were up to.

Even though Rosalià had treated Natalia as a sister she had stepped out of line by killing Blake. Her actions had created a huge dent in her own fathers' business for a reason of greed and selfishness, she was stepping out of line ruining the operations.

Uncle Ben and Chris were good brothers to themselves why wouldn't Natalia take that as an example to do Rosalià right too? Rosalià felt forced to keep Natalia's secret for the sake of peace in the family or else all hell would break loose.

Meanwhile at the coast all hell did break loose for Rafael, Felix and his men arrived at Uncle Ben's warehouse where Rafael was held captive. "Alright boys let get rid of this quickly, I can't imagine Natalia's voice swirling around my head because that fucking kills me." Felix said annoyedly, walking over to Rafael.

Rafael's wrists were tied up to the ceiling as he hung just above the ground. He had been there since his arrival yesterday, dehydration, hunger and weakness were the definition of how he looked.

Felix walked closer to his face underneath the light from up above them, "Ey wake up, you're going home today, aren't you happy?", Felix said patting the side of his face. Rafael looked back at him with furrowed eyebrows and spat in his face, "Let me go you bastard!" Rafael yelled out; Felix stepped back wiping the saliva off his face.

"You know I was starting to feel pity for you but now I'm definitely feeding you to the desert." Felix said before he walked back over to Rafael throwing his fist right through his stomach. Felix didn't stop there he pulled out his knife and cut him loose from the ropes, once Rafael fell, he carried on hitting him like a punching bag.

It was torture watching Felix hammer his fists and kicks onto Rafael, it was a horrific experience for Rafael especially since having his last meal the day he was with Julien at the First National Bank.

Once Rafael was beaten to a pulp, Felix stood up breathing heavily, "Now that's what you call a bastard who can't fight." he said spitting on him while the rest of the other men laughed and came closer to spit on him too. "Alright enough, let's get this done and get out of here." Felix demanded walking over to the van while the other men dragged Rafael and threw him into the van.

They sped off away from the warehouse driving towards the desert, as they drove, Felix received a call from Uncle Chris. "Yes boss." He answered, "Felix I need you to go back to the house and prepare an entourage for my arrival at the airport in an hour and thirty minutes, we have important clients flying with me." Chris commanded over the phone, "Alright will do that right away." Felix replied as the line cut.

"Stop right here and throw him out we're turning around; we've got work to do by the mansion." Felix demanded. They were about 10 kilometres away from Walvis, "Are you sure this is a good distance? Today's road will be busy." one of the men questioned. "Just throw him out, the coast is clear, I don't want Chris down on my neck, he's just like the daughter." Felix demanded once again belittling them.

Henceforth, Rafael was thrown out onto the burning hot sand of the Namib desert heated by the scorching sun with nothing but his pants and shirts on covered in dirt and blood from the bruises all over his face and body. They drove off disappearing into the mirage of the road while he was bound to die eventually the moment, he looked up to see vultures circulating up in the sky.

Rafael then managed to sit up right trying to stand up while waving to oncoming cars to stop which didn't help because they all ignored him. He then proceeded walking back to Walvis bay waving to oncoming cars passing him by left and right, it still didn't help.

His feet had eventually burned up from the hot sand he walked on developing blisters and boils underneath his feet. When would the suffering end, all this suffering for money? It wasn't worth it especially with the way it turned out.

After several attempts at hiking along the road, he tripped and fell to the ground, standing up wasn't an option since he could barely stand on his burnt feet. Desperately gasping for air, he struggled to breathe because his throat was parched from all the dusty hot air he inhaled.

Nobody cared to stop and help him receive any medical attention. They had ignored him like a stray dog wondering around the streets in search for food and shelter. Nonetheless, with all his attempts efforts he gave up and all hope was lost for him. He looked up to the sky one more time before saying his last words.

When suddenly a car had stopped right besides the road and out came a familiar body structure, one he had seen so long ago. Inaudibly he heard him calling out "Hey, get up, get up, we're taking you to the hospital.", that voice sounded familiar to Rafael. Could it be? An old friend?

To his relief it was him, Denver Gilbert, a childhood friend who arrived at Rafael's distress. Finally, the rainy clouds filled the skies to rain down onto him as Denver casted a shadow over him. "Denver is that you man?" Rafael asked once Denver crouched down to him. Confusedly Denver wasn't too sure if what he heard was right, "Wait, Rafael? What the hell are you doing out here alone?! Let's take you to the hospital, there's water in the car that'll keep you hydrated. Tangeni give me a hand bro." Denver yelled out as him and Tangeni lifted Rafael assisting him to the car.

Denver sped off down the road heading towards to the Welwitschia Hospital over taking every car that came through his way. "Don't worry man, we'll get you to the hospital soon. Tangeni check up on how his doing." Denver said focusing on the road. While Tangeni poured a bottle of water into his mouth, "Ey man, tell us were you robbed or what?" Tangeni asked out of curiosity.

He stopped pouring water in his mouth giving him some time to breathe, once he caught his breath he said "If I tell you guys right now, we're destined to get ourselves killed. I was lucky to fight for my life crawling on the ground until you guys came along. Otherwise I don't know how to say thank to you guys for this." Rafael said slowly while his eyes were closed. Once they arrived at the hospital, Rafael had received medical attention and was treated right away.

Meanwhile in Windhoek, Rosalià had finished cleaning up her apartment and refreshing herself before heading out to the hospital once again. Nothing but simplicity was her style of fashion, she wore her grey tailcoat with blue jeans accompanied by suede knee-height boots. She was all dressed complacently in her outfit as she walked towards the door, she glanced herself passing the mirror and walked back to admire herself.

"This outfit definitely beats the weather." She said chuckling as she continued walking towards the door, heading off to the Roman Catholic Hospital. She arrived at the hospital looking forward to seeing either Ivy or Julien hoping that Ajax was going to turn up later now that he had know about everything.

Nonetheless as the night was about to begin the city was ready to buzz on that the Friday night, not even the cold could stop anyone from going out. It was time to take advantage of the weather by showing off the various winter attires people had in stored for their jovial outings. That was Windhoek for you, happy weekends to detox from the stressful weekdays, what a great city to feel alive.

Walking through the halls to Julien and Ivy's rooms was different this time for Rosalià. Was it because her fear of them being dead was eradicated or the eradication of not knowing what to do if they had died? Did she care to think about it?