The Dartagnan Brothers Hotel

Chapter 7

Jonas woke up with his energies renewed and reached for his cell phone to follow up his strategy of keeping a routine and try and find out how long he had been unconscious, which didn't any make sense, since only a few minutes had passed, and the dream he had was quite long. 'The same thing happened in the Dream Room.', he recalled the effect that induction to lucid dream had on the perception of time.
He was lying with his hands clasped over his chest in a place completely different from where he had had the last episode. He got up suddenly, trying to understand where he had ended up, realising that, finally, someone had taken him out of that maze.
Jonas was at the beginning of a lawn that stretched all the way back to the exit of the maze. He could see a sign that gave space to a large and decorated garden that surrounded the large water fountain, which was no longer pouring water, and had its lights turned off, leaving the moonlight to be the only source of illumination remaining. 'I need to save my cell phone battery so I can call for help as soon as I can get reception.', Jonas intoned aloud. He knew that finding Giovanni Dartagnan again was no longer a possibility, his dream had shown him the problem and made him understand he was on a path with no return, since all of that religiousness of the host would not leave behind anything that awaited him.
The memory of the dream was vivid in his mind. The induced dream had made him relive one of the most distressing moments of his life.
"Suddenly, Jonas found himself looking at a ten years younger version of himself. Even before he felt the drug entering his system so he could be induced into that lucid dream, he knew exactly what was coming. He was nothing but a young man living one of the happiest moments he could remember. A few months ago he had met the love of his life, and the memory of being in love for the first time made him feel something he had never felt before.
The first love referred to a feeling of anguish and anxiety, at the same time that it released an enormous amount of endorphin and caused him to get out of bed every day with a purpose.
The scene showed him his own bed, still at his grandparents' house in the city where he had lived most of his childhood. At his side slept the person he had once thought was the only one who mattered, to a point that, whilst at school, he had left aside any kind of social activity of which the girl was not a part. Joana Clemente was the name of the reason for his life, the most beautiful woman he had the chance to lay eyes in and who, for some reason that didn't make sense to him, had chosen him to be her boyfriend. He tried not to look for reasons to doubt any feelings that the girl might have as he knew that it didn't make any sense, which was reminded to him on a daily basis by his friends.
Joana was a brunette with green eyes and of medium height, which was in complete sync with Jonas and made the two completely compatible. Between her breasts she had a brown birthmark, in the same place as him. Several times she would joke around: 'It seems that we were chosen by god, separated in paradise to meet again on this plane.', something he had no clue of what it meant.
She came from a religious family and often made spiritual connotations to compliment their relationship. Jonas, despite not having much connection with any kind of religiosity, found amusement on how Joana's heart could be so pure and honest. In the four years they had been together, he had never thought of anyone else and strongly believed that she felt the same way. The two were incredibly in love, and nothing in the world seemed to have the strength to break that bond.
Throughout the time the two spent their days together, they slept, ate, studied, worked, and did anything else they could find a way to do together. As Jonas was raised by his grandparents, he had a little more freedom than people his age would, but Joana's parents always showed concern for their daughter's future. Their love was healthy, but it often hindered her daily duties, which would result in arguments between Joana and her parents.
Several scenarios occupied his mind in the time he was dreaming. All of them showing incredibly happy memories of the two together, what made Jonas cry with the nostalgia that washed over him. He hadn't seen Joana since their breakup, but he would often find himself thinking about her. Things would always find a way to refer an ordinary situation to one memory or another and, for the most part, it was an incredible thing.
He always thought that one day their paths would cross again, the feeling they had for each other was very strong, something he could never have felt for anyone else. He had several relationships after Joana, but nothing that could be remotely compared to what he felt for her.. All those scenes were there to build the greatest possible nostalgia in his heart, he knew that it was not a dream as much as it was a nightmare. He tried to stay strong, without letting nostalgia take over his reason completely, but he was feeling so good about what he was experiencing that his brain couldn't seek the self-control necessary to contain that emotion.
What he was waiting for had finally arrived. His eyes burst into tears when the scene changed for the last time. His selfish younger self was alone in the kitchen of his grandparents's house, whilst Joana waited for him to return so they could continue the film they were watching in bed. With each step that the image of his own self took, Jonas felt a greater anguish. He wanted to put an end to it, it was one of those moments that, if he could, he would go back in time to prevent the mistake from it being made, but that was a dream, there was nothing Jonas could do to remedy it, and there was nothing he could do to stop his mind from reliving it.
He watched as he put some crushed medicine in the glass of water that Joana had asked him for, he knew exactly what was going to happen. He tried to close his eyes so as not to see what was coming, but it turned out that dreaming did not work that way, that scene was recorded in his subconscious, and there was nothing he could do. The scene changed again, with his girlfriend waking up beside him on the bed, weeping as she tried to stop the blood flowing down between her legs. The only thing he could do was help, but it was useless at that point. "
That was the last memory he had of Joana. After that she was reportedly taken to a hospital where she received treatment and was released after being fully recovered. Joana had never answered any other phone call that came from him or anyone else he knew. Jonas sought to go after mutual friends, but when he learned that she could never get pregnant again, due to mismanagement of the abortion drug he had forced her to take, he completely lost hope to reconnect with her in any way. The girl's solution was to move to another city, so their paths would never have the chance to cross again.
Although Joana did not press charges against Jonas's crime, he knew that her family thought otherwise. Abortion was still a very sensitive issue for older, more conservative people, but the only thing he thought about before drugging the girl was his future as an early father. Any alternative that was not an abortion was unfeasible to him. Although they did had an exhaustive talk, Joana had never given him any chance to seek out an illegal doctor to perform the abortion, she had decided to have the baby and still argued that they would be very happy together as a family.
Jonas had never accepted that idea, and that was the price he had to pay. Live the rest of his life knowing he lost the love of his life due to his own fault.
He had no option but to let himself cry. Tears fell slowly from his eyes as he watched that great white fountain in front of him. Regardless of whatever Mr. Dartagnan intended to put him through, Jonas knew that the purpose of that induced dream was to scare him, which had worked perfectly. The darkness of the place already tormented him, but the mixture of that anxiety with the guilt of the mistake that had been reminded to him brought on a crisis of uncontrollable panic. His vision closed as the infamous headache reappeared. He was very scared and could not find any hope that would get him out of there unscathed. Now, more than ever, everything indicated that the near future had late consequences to bestow upon him, his sins had come to charge him for what he had done.
He got up from the floor and started slowly walking whilst taking care of his own thoughts as he now leaned against the fountain and tried to observe his surroundings to understand where he was.
The particularity of something caught his eye. A metal plate was screwed to the base of the fountain frame. 'The divine word will be rewritten; to start over with the last letter.' said the sign, which made him thoughtful, since all those hints throughout the maze seemed to be aimed at him, a fact that now made sense, since all of what was happening  had certainly been planned.
'What fucking letter now?', he tiredly thought as he sought logic for an answer to the enigma he was still observing, but no answer that made sense came to mind.
'Jonas?' the mysterious voice reverberated again, now intoning surprise
His body gave way again as he sat near the fountain, he was already waiting for another episode to come, as the headache was getting more and more acute, which aggravated the fear caused by his insisting anxiety. Jonas closed his eyes for a short time as he tried to gather enough strength to continue and not give up, leaving behind that hell that had become his life.
'I'm not in the mood for fucking games!' he shouted with the certainty that no one was listening.
'Jonas?' the voice sounded again.
He could no longer bear the mystery of that voice, every time his name was called out loud, a new stab of pain returned to torment his head.
'What is formed by letters?' the mysterious voice started a conversation.
'Who's there?' asked Jonas as he was alarmed and hopeful at the same time. He already started to think that he would promptly be on his way home and that nightmare would soon be over.
'What is formed by letters, Jonas?' the voice repeated.
'Words?' he said as he became increasingly anxious seeking to find a face somewhere so he could attribute the voice to a person.
'Try again. Maybe in a more specific aspect.'
'Would you please just end this torture and kill me!', he thought as he tried to understand the game the voice imposed on him.
'The answer is much simpler than you think.'
'What is formed by letters?', Jonas continued to ask himself, trying to find the person who insisted in hiding as if that was a childish game.
'What is formed by letters, Jonas?' the voice said one more time.
'The alphabet?' he replied as he looked at the sky, seeking some kind of divine approval that he knew did not exist.
'Very well, and what was the last letter to be added to the modern Latin alphabet?'
'Z?' he replied incredulously and unable to believe that he was lost and still had to partake in mind games.
'The last letter added to the alphabet was not Z the voice continued an unwanted explanation. 'But J.'
'Please, stop messing around! Where are you?' he pleaded whilst turning his neck which was already tired of looking for someone.
'Here, inside this little dome.' the voice sounded lower. 'In the Latin alphabet, the letter I was used with a double phoneme, and the letter J was introduced to end the confusion caused to the less wealthy who started to learn how to read.
Jonas started walking around the fountain to see if he could finally put a face to the voice that hailed his name for the past hour. The curiosity about the alphabet mentioned by the mysterious voice went unnoticed by the desire to finally be able to draw conclusions about what was happening to him.
He sought to go through the small path that ran from an end to another, it was decorated by rustic stones that gave the ornament an old look. Behind the maze he could finally see the end of that huge property, or at least it was what it appeared to be. A small wooden fence gave continuity to another field, that was immeasurable by the lack of illumination.
The voice had stopped whilst Jonas searched in tirelessly for its owner. No place that took form towards his eyes seemed to be able to accommodate a person, the voice should have come from inside the maze or from another hidden place. 'Don't you fucking think I'm going back there.", he thought before asking.
'I can't see very well, just tell me where the fuck are you!'
'Easy now, boy, I'm right here.' he heard the reply that came just after a small wooden knock.
He could hardly distinguish from the image that was beginning to take form before his eyes. The pitch black ambience, mixed with the moonlight, sparked a small glow in two small spheres that he could only assume were the eyes of the man who spoke to him, but the face of that person was still a mystery. The voice came straight from inside the fountain as did the small glow of the look coming from behind a grid that would give the man barely enough room to breathe. The floor must have been made of wood, hence the noise he had just heard.
'What are you doing in there? And who are you?' asked Jonas as he tried not to curse at the only person that seemed to be willing to talk to him as he got as close as possible to the center of the fountain without having to get wet.
'What does it look like? I'm fucking stuck in here.' the voice replied using the curse Jonas spared with an obvious tone as it chose not to answer the second question.
'And who put you in there?' he insisted on starting a small conversation whilst he felt another slight twinge arriving in his head. The pain was beginning to increase.
'The same person who brought you here.' he replied hoping Jonas would understand the obvious.
'Mr. Dartagnan?'
'Is that what the bastard demands to be called?' the man asked after an ironic laugh.
'I don't know if that's how he demands it, but that's how he was introduced to me.' replied Jonas. 'My night has been a fucking nightmare, would you mind telling me how I can get out of here?'
'Oh really? Won't you even ask if I need some fucking help?' the man replied. His voice had a slight hoarse that indicated a certain age.
'As soon as I can leave this place I will get help and come back for you, I can call the police.' he said firmly and hopefully.
'The police can't help you, boy.' the voice replied. 'But I believe we can help each other.'
'Would you care to elaborate?' asked Jonas as he let out a cry of pain and sat down by the fountain.
'The pain is not over yet? How long have you been having the episodes?'
'How do you know about that? When is it suppose to end?' the mystery surrounding the newest stranger in Jonas's life made him even more uneasy.
Apparently that man had some of the answers that Jonas was looking for, however he could not trust anyone in that situation, even if he was the only one who could help him.
'I'm the man who knows everything.'  he replied. 'But first let's find a way for you to get me out of here, shall we?'
'What do you want me to do?' asked Jonas intrigued, at least he wanted to know what he had to say.
'I need you back into that maze...' he started to speak at the same time that Jonas already had the answer ready to give him. 'Inside, there's a small statue of a butterfly that has its wings cut off at the exact half, if you join the wings together, the underpass will open and I will be able to get out of here.'
He was, to say the least, intrigued by the engineering of the prison in which that unknown man was cloistered, but as he took a better glance, he could see that the centre of the fountain was very similar to a cocoon, which was in full alignment with the butterfly.
'And where can I find this statue?' he asked sincerely as had no idea of how to get back there.
'I'll give you the coordinates. I was the one who built this maze, I know every corner and every little detail of it.'
'But who are you, sir? I'm sorry, but I'm not going back into this fuck forsaken maze without even knowing who you are...' replied Jonas expecting an honest answer as his headache decided to pay him another visit.
Before he could hear the man's response, he found himself, again, stuck in that horrible chair with those four people who were now watching him with an expression of concern. That Monalisa lady, who had joined them before Jonas was induced to sleep, was now less agitated and a little more sober, yet Jonas still saw a look of contempt on her face and a fulminating anger that could only be directed at him .
The transition from one reality to another was getting smoother every time, Jonas seemed to have more control over what was happening, but he still was unable to express himself or say anything to anyone. As much as he wanted to scream, get up, and run, his body did not respond to the stimuli in his brain. Despite the static and concern about what would happen to him, his thoughts were focused on the man who had just appeared in the maze, he was anxious for that episode to be over so he could return to his other reality.
'I can't be sure that everything went well, but the dream induction is over.' he heard Douglas speak.
'We need to end this once and for all.' said the priest.
'A forced withdrawal can have irreversible consequences.' interfered Douglas once again.
'What would be very well deserved.' Monalisa still showed an inexplicable anger against Jonas, but seemed to be much more lucid in comparison to when she arrived in the room.
'All in good time, my dear.' said Giovanni whilst looking directly into Jonas's eyes.
Mr. Dartagnan had an anxious expression on his face, his arms and legs were restless and his mind seemed to be stunned by the events of that night. Giovanni lit a cigarette whilst holding a glass of whiskey in his other hand, Jonas could notice a repressive look from Douglas who was bothered by the smoke in that closed room, however, it seemed that he didn't want to say anything as he had already been bothered enough by the man who was paying him to be there.
Jonas saw the fountain again, at the end of the maze, whilst the same eyes that shone in the moonlight continued to look at him with a certain restlessness. The strength of the drug they had given him seemed to be diminishing as the episodes seemed to be drawing to an end, as the distinguished cloistered man had mentioned before.
'What does that saying in the butterfly statue mean? he asked as he regained his consciousness.
'You mean to tell me you've been to the place I'm talking about...'
'I stumbled upon it whilst I was trying to get out of the maze, but I have no idea how to get back there.' he replied with some concern as he did not want to give out more information than he needed to.
'Veritas Semper Una Est.' sais the old man aloud.
'Truth is always one.' translated Jonas demonstrating knowledge.
'You see, my dear, inside this place everything is a game...' he started to answer. 'I don't know what you did to get into my brother's nerves, but if you're here, it's because Giovanni has some kind of debt to set straight with you.'
'Your fucking brother?' Jonas was taken by surprise as he got up again from the edge of the fountain to face the old man head on.
'Yes, my brother.' he replied.
'Are you the other Dartagnan brother?'
'Getulio Dartagnan, pleased to meet you.'
Jonas was increasingly confused by everything that was happening. 'Giovanni arrested his own brother inside a fountain? This has to be another one of his tricks.', he thought as he couldn't make any sense of the situation. For a few seconds the small shiny spheres, that gave form to Getulio's eyes, fixed on his and, despite the low light, expressed sadness and tiredness of someone who wasn't there by choice.
'And how come you're stuck in a place like this?' he asked breaking the continuity of his gaze as he didn't want to empathise with anyone at that moment. It wouldn't be safe.
'I know you may have a lot of questions and I understand perfectly that you see no reason to trust me.' he started as he realised he had lost Jonas's attention. 'But I can't explain anything else before you help me out of here, it's my only advantage at the moment. I hope you understand.'
It was, indeed, an understandable thing. Jonas was stuck in a situation as inopportune as his and would have the same attitude if he were in his place. 'Nothing but a game...', he thought as he got used to the idea that he would have to trust Getulio if he wanted to have any chance of getting out of that place alive.
He needed to accept the conditions in order to improve the situation.
'What do you want me to do?' he decided to give in as another acute headache came with no warning and his eyes went back to facing Giovanni.
Jonas felt the words coming out of his mouth as he noticed the astonished expression on the faces of the four people who were still watching him like he was nothing but a zoo attraction. He tried to push words out of his mouth, but the static returned to take control of his impulses.
'What's happening' asked Monalisa when she heard Jonas's voice for the first time.
'The medicine must be wearing off...' said Douglas, keeping calm.
'Then give him another dose!' she exclaimed, trying to find anything around her that could be injected or ingested.
'No!' said Douglas as he tried to impose authority for the first time. 'We can't compromise this young man's life.' the doctor shone a thread of lucidity.
'You are no in power to hinder god's work!' spoke the priest for the first time since Jonas returned from the dream.
'Silence, everyone!' Giovanni had a defiant tone in his voice, and Jonas could see that everyone there felt the same fear when the old man spoke with authority.  'Jonas, can you hear me?'
The question took him by surprise, it was the first time that Mr. Dartagnan addressed him in that environment. Jonas tried to answer, 'You old bastard, what are you doing to me?', but the words echoed inside his head as they never left his mouth.
'Doctor, what can we do?' asked Mr. Dartagnan, realising that Jonas would not be able to answer his question.
He was sweating cold and in constant fear of what might happen, but reality took a turn once again and he found himself lying on that moist grass that surrounded the water fountain where Getulio was still trapped.
'We need to help each other!' said Jonas as he got up quickly.
'What's happening? What are they doing to you?' asked the other Dartagnan.
Jonas rolled up his shirt sleeve on his left arm and showed the recent marks that had been perpetuated on his skin without his consent. Getulio struggled to see something as the distance between them and the lack of light hindered him from distinguishing whatever it was that Jonas tried to show him.
'A cross and a saying: Fallacia Alia Aliam Trudit.' he explained the drawings  on his arm as he noticed that Getulio could not see things clearly.
'My brother and his religious fundamentalism. Why do you think I'm stuck in here?'
'What is he going to do with me? What does this phrase mean?' Jonas seemed increasingly uneasy.
'One thing at a time...' he insisted. 'I really need you to get me out of here so we can help each other.'
'What do you want me to do?' Jonas finally gave in. He had no choice but to submit to Getulio's game.
Before he could hear an answer, Jonas returned to the mysterious smoky room. The priest had returned to the foot of the chair where, resting on his knees, he was praying aloud again as he was clearly disturbing the skeptical Douglas.
'Time is not coming to halt, doc, I need you to find a solution, we cannot let him return to his senses, there's still much to be done.' said Mr. Dartagnan whilst trying to keep calm.
Douglas nodded as he turned his eyes to the screen that monitored Jonas's vital signs. He had no idea what would happen next as the doctor's look of concern indicated things were not going so well.
That psychotic episode had been the shortest of them all. He finally slept for a few minutes and woke up again on the lawn in front of the fountain where Getulio remained trapped.
'Fast.' he heard the old man's voice as he stood up and became aware of what was happening. 'I need you to go to the butterfly statue before you have another episode.'
'How do you know about these episodes that I'm having? What does your brother's religion have to do with me? What do these tattoos mean? How does the letter J fit into this story?' Jonas had some many questions that he lacked the air to continue. The headache was gone and he was completely rested again.
'All of your questions will be answered, my boy. But first I need you to help me get out of here, I can't do anything whilst I'm stuck here. Wouldn't you agree?' Getulio sought to show authority in his speech.
'How do I get to the statue?' asked Jonas, showing himself ready to partake in the old man's game.
Getulio described exactly the path that Jonas would have to take to get to the statue, whilst he took his cell phone out of his pocket to type down all the instructions.
'However, the way back should be different...'
'Different?', he thought as he tried to understand how the maze would be able to change its shape.
'Just put the wings together and wait for me to come to you.' said Getulio as he seemed to be losing his patience.
He had promised to never go back into that place, but the situation and the pace of the game have given him no other option. Getulio Dartagnan was his only hope, he had no choice but to trust him.