IDRIS

Idris shot Emilio right in his left thigh. He will not allow his death be easy. What he has done is treason to the highest degree. It is punishable by death. But death in this case must be delayed.

Idris drags the offender down to the cellar where he keeps the rest of the unfortunate captives. The last of such captives has just met his end and is being hauled out by some guards. Now Emilio has taken his place.

They strip him down to his boxers and tie him up not like the previous prisoner - with hands in handcuffs draped to the wall - but like a patient who has been tied down to a hospital bed for fear of escape. They confine him to a tilt table with arms and legs tethered to the steel frame, as opposed to the straps which usually do the job. Those straps will not be useful in this case. It will only get in the way of the torture about to come.

Idris fumbles a little with a cigarette before placing it in his mouth. He's trying to reject the possibility of Josi dying - but each time he tries to bury it deep, the damned image is there to remind him. The bloodstained carpet, the knife in Josi's abdomen, her weakened body . . . Idris rips the cigarette from his mouth and throws it to the floor.

He goes up to Emilio with a dagger which he snatched from one of the guards present, then with a hasty grip, begins to cut through the corner of his mouth until the knife has made it halfway past his jaw.

This doubles down on the pain left by the bullet. Emilio screams like he's never screamed before. His eyes begin to tear up from the torture, his heart pulsing at an alarming rate. But Idris is far from satisfaction. He rips the skin off Emilio's face so violently, the blood within smears his face in spots. Then he takes on a much slower pace. He scrapes the skin until it has all gathers in one spot, until the tissues underneath become bare.

Idris may be right in exacting vengeance, but what he doesn't know is that Emilio has been left reaping the consequences Josi sowed. He lays there helplessly, hopelessly, trying to cope with pain so mind-numbing.

Idris comes to a stop only after much of Emilio's face has been disfigured. He tells the guards to take their time with him, to prolong the torture for as long as they possibly can. Then he leaves for where Josi is at the clinic.

All the while, the restlessness has eaten into him like rust to a ship. He should never have welcomed Alvize with open arms. Now he's dealing with the aftermath. But he alone will not bear the losses of this faux partnership. He will bring Alvize down to his knees. He will make him regret crossing him. He will make him pay.

~《¤》~

JOSI

Josi has not known peace and tranquility for the longest while. She's floating amidst clouds that bring her way too much comfort for her liking. She should not know comfort. Comfort is leisure. Leisure is something she cannot afford in this life of quandary. Still, she craves the feeling, so she succumbs to those clouds. The ease it brings her mind, the calm it provides her body. No muddles. No headaches, no nuisances. This truly is peace.

Then she sees Bradley. Bradley smiles at her. He welcomes her with open arms and tells her he's proud of her. She knows nothing of what aspect he's proud of, but it leaves her in tears. She cries and clings to him because he feels familiar. So much like home.

It all starts to unravel. This is it. Josi has finally moved on to the afterlife. She has crossed over to the other side, and now she has Bradley all to herself. But Josi doesn't mind it. Because here, her true love visits her. He's there by her side, though the legitimacy of his presence is forged. But it matters little to Josi. She wants that moment, that fictitious feeling of bliss, to last as long as it possibly can.

But even in dreams, Josi's happiness doesn't last. At first, she begs for him not to do so. She pleads and cries even more. But the copy she sculpted of Bradley lets her go from his grasp and turns her loose to the world around her. Immediately, the clouds are no longer the welcoming blankets of paradise, but thin gaseous aerosols that send her plummeting to the world below at frightening speed.

Josi's eyes flash open, and she remains still
until the scene around her comes into focus. She's in a room drenched in an irritating shade of white, so blinding that she has to squint just to get away from its sheer garishness. On the walls are posters detailing the human anatomy and other medical related facts.

That's when she realizes she's at the hospital. Not the one open to the public, but the one exclusive to the Verdonni family. Instantly, she frowns. She's back to reality. The reality where Bradley remains active only in her imagination. The one where she's miles away from him, only because she was made to do so by the man who catapulted her visit to a hospital bed.

And that same man is in the room with her. Idris is seated on one of the chairs to the side, his eyes closed and in a slumber Josi knows did not come to him easily. The anger is overwhelming when it fills her. To be welcomed back to this hell of reality by the man who caused it all.

The disappointment is not easy on Josi either. The person she wants in that chair in the stead of Idris is far off someplace else. Someplace she can only visit in her memories and dreams.

Idris soon begins to stir in his sleep. Then his eyes open, and immediately joy and relief fill him. He rushes to Josi's side and cups her hand, as if he really can't believe she's gained consciousness.

Josi sweeps her dissatisfaction under the rug. "How long was I out?"

"Four days." Idris tells her. "Luckily, the knife didn't hit anything vital. But the blood loss was too much."

Josi sends a hand over the wounded area. It has been treated and bandaged well, though there are still sharp pains each time she breathes. She thinks back to the incident, how she hadn't even hesitated to inflict that gnarly wound upon herself.

But it was all worthwhile. The partnership with Alvize would have given Idris more power than she would like for him to hold. The plan was to weaken him, and with a partnership that interest-driven, she found it the worst outcome possible. What's the point of cutting off a spider's leg if it just grows another?

"Are you okay?" Idris asks her, this time with much more concern and affection. Josi can tell he hasn't done much these past couple days except sit in that chair and watch over her. His hair has been left in a tousled mess, eyes marred by dark, heavy bags. It's almost endearing.

Josi musters up a smile. "Yes." Sadly.

This appeases Idris, though he probably still won't rest until she's all healed up.

"What about Alvize Tesoro?"

Idris pauses for a second, then gives her a smile. Josi can't be sure of its authenticity. "I'm taking care of it."

Present tense, not past. He's still fixing the damages. Josi hasn't yet seen how things have shaped out to be, but with a flimsy guess, she knows a war has broken out. Her plan succeeded once again.

"You should get some more rest." Idris says, then places a kiss on her forehead and waltzes out the door.

Josi locks herself up in the miseries of her mind. She's uncertain which side of the war is currently in the lead, but that matters little to her. She will take great pleasure watching Idris lose his mind through this wave of crisis.

__

Josi is discharged a couple days later. She's been told to take it easy, not to carry on any strenuous activities. The doctor gave her pain killers in cases of unwarranted aches, which left her a bit insouciant. If the wound still persists after so much treatment, then perhaps it's meant to be.

Now she's in one of the many living rooms taking it easy as instructed. The TV is on, showcasing some program Josi pays little attention to. It has all become so tedious, so painfully repetitive. This scene before her - she's witnessed it times without number. The same TV, in the same living room, under the same roof she's been confined to.

Josi despises that enclosure, that prison which has held her captive for months that now make up more than a year. She despises every living and nonliving thing that comes with it. The estate's gaudy outlook, the painful silence that enshrouds the halls, the impudent lack of privacy.

Idris Night Verdonni.

Josi has to remind herself to take a breath in. The topic of Idris will only worsen her mood. She pushes him to the back and gives her attention to the guard who comes in with a cup of tea which she requested. Tea is relaxing. It's the only thing that seems to seep through the layers of misery.

The guard places the drink in front of Josi and steps back, still visibly infuriated that he has been turned into a maid. But Josi doesn't pick it up. She sits there and stares at it blankly.

"This isn't oolong tea."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but-"

Josi strikes him hard with the back of her hand, not even interested in the reason behind the mix-up. "Bring me oolong tea."

The guard stands there with a hand on his stinging jaw. He takes a second to swallow down his contempt until he's finally able to give a response. "Yes, ma'am."

Josi watches the guard leave with the cup of tea. A cup of measly tea he can't even get right. The anger returns in surges too stifling, to the point where the scene before her turns into a blur. She wants to turn the mansion upside down, tear it right down to the last blockwork. She even begins building up the image in her head - one where the estate remains in shambles, reduced to embers and ashes.

The sound of her phone ringing returns what little sense Josi has left. Rosari's name on the caller ID strangely calms her down. She gathers herself together, as though Rosari were physically there to witness her gradual descent into insanity. She does not want that side of her revealed.

"Hello-"

"I called you six times! Why didn't you answer? Did something happen? What's going on over there? Are you okay?" Rosari's tangent leaves Josi in a pool of confusion. Too many words spoken per second. She gives herself time for the words to sink in, then orchestrates some excuses to give.

First, Josi offers an apology. "I'm sorry I haven't been keeping in touch. I've been handling some issues, but they're resolved now." Then she switches gears before Rosari gets the chance to ask for details. "How's it coming together over there?"

Since Rosari left New York, she's been to numerous other places. Her first stop was Washington, D.C, which brought her less excitement than expected as Josi recalls. But it scored high on the sightseeing list. Then came Chicago, and later Atlanta. Both stops were far more entertaining. Now her journey has landed her in Florida.

"I'm doing great." Rosari says with clear joy. "I did almost get arrested."

Josi has to take a second to come to terms with this confession. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping a low profile?"

"I am. But this wasn't my fault."

"What happened?" Josi asks, though she knows she's about to hear the most dubious of tales.

Rosari goes on to relay a story detailing a man she had some conflict with. Apparently, the offender had parked too close to her car, preventing her from pulling out of the curbside. He'd sandwiched her with no means for an exit, and when confronted, he'd gone as far as calling her names. What happened next was simply self-defense as Rosari phrases it.

"You pushed him into the middle of the road?" Josi says, too stunned to keep her voice from rising.

Rosari goes quiet for seconds. "No." Then she backtracks. "I mean yes, but there were barely any cars."

Josi can't help but laugh, which earns some protests from Rosari. "Don't laugh, I really thought I was going to end up with a mug shot."

Josi apologizes, but doesn't kill the laughter. Rosari allows her cash in on her misfortune this time.

"I spoke to Dami yesterday." Rosari says once things are back in order. "She seemed to be in a really good mood."

Josi doesn't have to guess much to figure out why that is. Revenge is indeed the sweetest of all deeds. "Things are looking bright on this side."

Rosari seems to consider this with the silence she gives. Then in a serious tone, she asks, "And Idris?"

Josi simply smiles. "Even brighter."

With this, Josi sinks back into her seat, now much more comfortable than before. She has made it this far. She's at the point in time she'd only dreamed about when the plot of revenge was still a drafted sketch. She's been so caught up on all the misfortunes that she hasn't stopped to appreciate how far she's come.

Suddenly, the environment around Josi becomes slightly less intolerable. This may all be a prison cell as it currently stands, but it won't be for much longer.

_____________________________________