The Dartagnan Brothers Hotel

Chapter 11

'Your daughter? asked Jonas, finding himself surprised by the news since only a few hours ago he had seen the beautiful young woman kissing what was apparently her own uncle. He didn't know how to react.
'Yes. Beautiful as she is, she doesn't look anything like her father, gladly.' he said whilst twisting a smile in the corner of his face.
'Sorry, but I'm trying to find a logic in that you're laying on me right now. You know your own daughter is with your brother? I mean in a very intimate way...' he asked incredulous as he took another glance at the phone, hoping to see some reception so he could hear the message.
'It is likely that she tried to call you, but the low network reception at this location must have sent it directly to your voice mail.' Getulio ignored the question.
'Speaking of that, is there any place where I could get reception around here?' Jonas couldn't remember the last time he had to ask that question. Globalisation had reached every little corner of the globe and cell phone towers could be found everywhere.
'There used to be, but my brother managed to end cell phone reception across the estate. I don't think he wants anyone to make contact with the outside world.' replied Getulio. 'But sometimes, some  waves can come and go momentarily.'
'Don't you think I haven't noticed this habit of yours.' Jonas brought up the subject again. 'Aren't you going to answer me why your daughter is messing about with your own brother?'
'It's a story that deeply saddens me, and it doesn't really matter if you know about it, it wouldn't make any difference right now. We really need to focus on what we're going to do to get out of here.' said Getulio as he prepared to finally get out of that bed.
'Where are we going?' Jonas was surprised.
'Let's get you back to that party.' said Getulio, who sought to balance himself on his crutches. 'Even better, you will come back and I will make my first public appearance in a long time.'
'Back to the party?', Jonas could not understand what would the old man possibly want in a place where everyone desired his his evil.
'I thought that the plan was to leave here and go as far as possible.' said Jonas whilst sitting in the chair near the small desk.
'And that's the only way out, my boy. Now get up, let's get out of here before Giovanni decides to trick you into having another one of those outbreaks.' said Getulio already on his foot.
The two went out the door before Jonas could question Getulio's decision anymore. He had already understood the old man's plan, but what he did not like was having to return to a place full of religious lunatics with a complex of greatness and a great disposition to break any type of law. He hadn't stopped to think about it yet, but it did seem like a strange scene. A band of backward and moralistic old people trying to bring back an archaic and sadistic institute to root out heretics from a world that no longer even cared about religion. 'They'll never manage to be a majority.', he thought wryly, knowing that a plan of that magnitude could never work out in the social plane in which they lived, but the simple fact that those people continued to act for the sect of Giovanni Dartagnan, even if it was on that remote estate, in that distant city, which had long since stopped in time, made Jonas feel very concerned, considering the consequences that something like that would bring to an entire future generation.
Rain had ceased to poor and the sky had once again become lit by stars, illuminating the lawn and the maze. The temperature had dropped considerably, giving the impression that winter would come earlier that year. Jonas just watched, whilst Getulio tried his best to move around on those crutches. The old man seemed to be getting more and more tired, but he insisted on doing things alone, his pride seemed to be greater than the difficulties he had been facing.
They redid the steps Jonas had done before. The entrance to the maze, which was actually the exit, remained obscure with its poorly maintained surroundings. He still couldn't believe he was going back into the place he had struggled to get out of. 'At least I won't be alone this time.', he thought as he looked to his side and saw that the old Dartagnan knew exactly where he was going.
'I helped build this place, my boy.' said Getulio when he noticed Jonas's hesitation as they crossed the line that led to the maze.
'How did you find me at the statue before? What passage was that?' he remembered he hadn't had time to question Getulio about the moment he saved him.
'You were unconscious, you didn't see me coming.' Getulio recalled whilst trying to keep a calm expression on his face so that Jonas would not be scared again.
'I remember that, what I want to know is how you got there...'
'This place is very old.' he started to answer before Jonas could insist on the question. 'Our family built several underground asylums to protect us from the bad deeds of the dictatorship in which we lived at the time. My father was a conservative man, but he had never been a nationalist as he would say: The only honor I will protect is that of my land, he would vehemently say when he heard on the radio new rules that the people were supposed to follow. After this dark period of our history was behind us, my brother and I decided to build this maze to cover all the entrances and possible traps hidden by my father.'
'Were you held prisoner in one of those asylums?' Jonas was curious about the history of the property, but he did not want to let the conversation be taken over by another history lesson.
'The water source was an observation point, in case we were invaded. You see, my father was a tad paranoid about this kind of thing, but in fact we never came close to having our land invaded by anyone. I very much doubt that whoever was the head of government, knew of our existence.'
The surprises of that place would not cease admiring Jonas. As complicated as the situation was for him, the incredible story of the Dartagnan Brothers Hotel continued to surprise him.
'So you came through one of these passages?' he asked rhetorically.
'Obviously.' replied Getulio, even though he knew he didn't need to.
'But why did we leave there through a secret passage? Why didn't we just go back the way I had come from?'
'Because these corridors are treacherous at night. It involves a complicated structure made of mirrors, mixed with the camouflage of the natural environment, making it practically impossible to get out of here if you don't know exactly what you're doing.' he said as the two went on their way.
'But you can, can't you?' he remembered the words he had read on the sign before entering the maze that no one would leave there by cheating.
Getulio did not dare to answer. There was no reason for Jonas to be more worried than he already was. The two went on. They passed by the butterfly statue, where Jonas stopped to wait for Getulio to do some of his tricks so that the two could get out of there, but the old man just passed him and entered one of the walls covered by the vines. He could now understand and experience what Getulio had just told him. A mirror, strategically positioned on the other side of the statue, gave the impression that that corridor had no exit for those coming from the opposite direction, but the mere illusion of a closed wall was easily broken by Getulio Dartagnan's knowledge and courage.
'Apparently, you can do it.' said Jonas, again, admired by the charms of that place.
'If Giovanni's goal were not so cruel, this could be a great leisure center.' thought Jonas as he imagined parents and children exploring each corner of that mysterious property.
'I haven't crossed this maze in a while, my boy. But it is much safer to go over the ground. Someone from the sect may be roaming the undergrounds. You see, this is where they develop their torture plans and even keep prisoners.' said Getulio in a macabre tone of voice.
'And your brother will not see us entering the balcony of the hall?' asked Jonas as he remembered where he left from a few hours ago.
'We're not going there. Trust me, this is the safest way to get to the hotel without being spotted.' replied Getulio.
Jonas had not yet asked himself, until that moment, if Giovanni was missing him at the party. He had been away for a long time and had not been able to communicate with anyone inside. 'Lara tried to call me, so they probably don't know where I am.', he thought before turning back to old one-legged man.
'Don't you think it's strange that your brother hasn't come after me yet?'
'I don't think you'll like the answer for that one, my boy.' he spoke quietly as the two went through the maze.
Jonas shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't expected that night to get worse, making it clear to Getulio that any answer would be understood as a yet other mystery to be solved.
'I have some theories on that subject, too.' he replied whilst Jonas showed the expected expression.
'So?' he depicted himself ready to hear about it as nothing could scare him anymore.
'The most likely is that Giovanni is busy with party affairs. He doesn't have much time to be absent from these events...' replied Getulio when he saw the dubious expression on Jonas's face.
'That brings me one more question...'
Getulio just frowned. The mood was already beginning to weigh on the two. There were way to many questions being made and only a few responses that could be considered concrete answers, but there was no possible alternative so both of them would have to collaborate.
'Your brother said some things that indicated that the party would be happening at the same time that I am in that small room. How is that possible? You told me that the two realities happen at different times.' Jonas's question went against the subject at hand, but at the same time it was very coherent for him to understand the situation completely.
'Didn't you have a moment during the party when you were knocked out?' replied Getulio, already seeming to know the answer to that question.
'Yes, but it felt way shorter than it appear to be.' he replied.
'If you were induced to depersonalisation, as I strongly reiterate you were, your memories of that time were erased, there is no way to know how long you were away from the party.' Getulio could see the confusion caused in Jonas's mind. 'Want to know my other theory?'
'Firstly, I need to grasp my mind on what you just told me.' Jonas replied sharply as he couldn't quite understand the whole situation.
He remembered the time he had passed out shortly after the first induction into lucid dreaming in the Dream Room, which, according to his friend, was just a few minutes. Rodrigo had even alerted him to look at the clock that monitored the experience. He decided to ask Getulio about that assumption and get rid of all the doubts that the drugs and time differences brought him once and for all.
'Help me put together a timeline. I need to understand exactly what happened.' he pleaded whilst Getulio stopped in front of another of those illusory walls.
'I understand your difficulty, my boy. However, we don't have time for that right now. We need to get out of here before you have another one of those psychotic flare-ups.' replied Getulio as if he was in no mood to explain the facts again.
Jonas went on a kind of autopilot. 'If he isn't going to help me, I can do it myself.' he thought as he started to put the facts in a point of view that made sense. 'I was in the Dream Room. Rodrigo gave me a pill that Giovanni said was the wrong one, but in fact he omitted the information that I took more than one drug. Psychotic attacks began within the party. I ended up in this maze and had several more episodes. Apparently, the realities are different in time. The real one is the one where I am with Getulio, and the other happened in the brief space of time that I was unconscious in the main ballroom.'
That last part made no sense to him. There had been only a few minutes when he was unconscious, it would not have been possible that all of that would have happened in such a short period of time.
'This thing of inducing depersonalisation. Does it affect temporal perception?'  he asked as he returned to reality.
'It does indeed. I've already told you. You cannot seem to understand. All that is happening in this other reality is being induced by the advanced technology of the dream chair.' replied Getulio, looking even more tired when he had to talk and make all that effort to walk at the same time.
'The only thing I haven't understood yet is time.' replied Jonas vehemently.
'Well, time is the only incomprehensible thing in this story, at least for us who don't know Giovanni's technology as a whole. You need to understand one thing: I don't have all the answers to give you right now, but I'm sure that as soon as we unmask my brother, we will have a chance to understand everything more clearly.' Getulio seemed certain that they would succeed in that mission.
He wanted to believe everything that old Dartagnan had been telling him, but it was difficult to understand the whole situation in a very throughly way, so the best option would be to continue to believe in the only person who had reached out to him at that time and, together, seek the answers at the source of the problems: Giovanni Dartagnan and members of the Christian Pendulum of Freedom.
The conversation had gone on for so long that Jonas didn't even know where they were. The path continued to be taken over by illusory walls, a cold and gloomy atmosphere, and the noise of unrecognisable animals and insects. Getulio stopped suddenly when Jonas almost ran into one of his crutches, the two of them had reached another dead end within the maze.
'Where's the mirrored image?' asked Jonas, who could already see the balcony lighting over the wall.
'We're not going that way.' said Getulio as he realised where Jonas was glancing.
Before Jonas could question the decisions made by Getulio once again, the old man dropped his crutches on the floor whilst sitting near the wall. Very delicately, he started groping the lawn in search of something. Jonas was curious about the situation, but did not want to disturb Getulio Dartagnan with more questions, on the contrary, he remained silent whilst his new acquaintance continued to look for something that was supposedly there. The vines that covered the wall seemed to be less thick, in addition to being present in a lesser volume. Getulio continued to look for something between the grassy drain and the wall, when his hand came to find some kind of lever that Jonas couldn't see very well. He used all his strength to pull the thing that seemed to activate some kind of trap door, the floor literally started to rise, admiring even more the glazed eyes of the young Jonas. 'This place is really full of surprises.', he thought, noticing the dichotomy between the surprises he had been having throughout the night.
'Keep quiet.' whispered Getulio as he cautiously put his crutches down at the end of the hole without letting them make a single little noise.
'What the fuck is this place now?' asked Jonas, perplexed by the complexities that the property did not cease to show.
'Quiet!' scolded Getulio. 'I told you, these are old shelters built by my father.' he seemed already tired of having to repeat himself.
A little over two meters separated the surface from the ground as Jonas had just enjoyed another of Getulio's surprises. After the old man lit a small dusty lamp, Jonas could see where he had ended up in: it was just a small room decorated by shelves stocked with what looked like food cans and water bottles covered in a thick layer of dust that indicated people haven't been there for a long time. Two bunk beds covered two of the corners, and a small round table, which was not surrounded by any chair, centralised the structure that looked more like a war refuge. As he walked close to the wall, he scratched his elbow on one of those plasterboard covered walls he hadn't seen in years, which made him wonder why would anyone decorate walls like that.
'It's been a while since anyone has come down here, hasn't it?' asked Jonas as he watched Getulio rise from the ground, leaning on his crutches.
'I've got no idea, my boy. I can't tell you that I remember the last time I was here.' the expression on the old man's face was clearly nostalgic.
'Are we going to stay here for long?' asked Jonas already showing a certain anxiety to be confined in such a small space.
Getulio decided not to feed the insisting anxiety attacks that Jonas demonstrated every little while, he just started to move around and examine some of the dusty objects laying on the shelves. He grabbed what appeared to be a bottle of water and, after a strong blow on the dirt, used his other hand to bring up a label for some alcoholic drink that Jonas was unaware of.
'This wine was made by my grandfather.' the reminiscence brought by the image of the bottle had left the old man with his eyes covered in tears. 'You don't happen to have a corkscrew in your pocket, have you?'
'No.' Jonas thought about speeding things up so they could get out of there once and for all, but he didn't want to show insensitivity to the nostalgic moment that Getulio was going through.
He put the bottle back on the shelf and let his crutches guide the way once again. As much as Jonas watched, he couldn't find a way out of there other than the trapdoor through which they had just come from. Getulio surprised again as he pushed with strength a part of the old wall that allowed a slight breeze to enter. Jonas hadn't noticed how thin the atmosphere in the small room was. He filled his lungs with air as soon as he could get out and come across a large corridor with bare walls made of clay.
'Now this?' he was amazed by all those secrets. 'Does this place have an end?
'If it does, I don't know where it is.'
'Where to?'
Jonas realised that the exit from the small room led to a crossroads that indicated three different directions.
'You know... I don't actually remember.' Getulio started to think, whilst having one hand supporting his crutch and the other scratching his beard. Jonas was looking for signs that might indicate the direction around him.
'The obvious would be to go straight, towards the underground of the main hall, where the party is happening.' started Getulio, whilst Jonas already imagined that the obvious, in that place, did not mean the same as in the real world. 'However.' he continued. 'If my memory serves me correctly, I believe my father built an exit directly inside the church.'
'The church?'
'Yes. You see, my father believed that praying daily was a way to chase the problems away.'
'Hard to imagine that problems could reach such a distant place.' Jonas joked with the bucolic atmosphere of the Dartagnan brothers' property.
The mood was not for comedy and, although Jonas could not observe any apparent danger, Getulio showed an air of concern about the imminence of a possible apparition, which made sense for the dark air that the place exuded.
'Are we in any kind of danger here?' asked Jonas.
'Do you have a short memory problem, my boy?' Getulio was getting sick and tired of Jonas' repetitions.
'Not usually, no, but I realize that lately I've been repeating myself quite a lot.' Jonas stopped to think and remembered that Getulio had just told him that Giovanni's sect used that underground as a kind of deposit.
'Hmm.' Getulio had a tone of regret. 'It may be that the excess of drugs has affected your short-term memory, but I don't believe this will be a problem in the future, now let's go.' he continued, slowly, looking into Jonas's eyes as he foresaw the advent of yet another question laden with anxiety.
The air was filled with silence, and the two left, slowly, towards one of the intersections at the crossroad. They definitely did not take the path that Jonas hoped for, but they did take the left path, where Getulio said they would eventually come out into the church itself, where, apparently, the C.P.F. held its meetings.
'We need to go slowly, without making a noise and, preferably, speak as little as possible.' he instructed Jonas as they walked.
Getulio lit a small pocket lantern and started to walk close to the clay wall. Jonas's already dirty clothes started to be grimy with mud and wet with humidity, worsening his conditions and making the situation even more uncomfortable.
He wondered what would Lara think when she saw him like that. He also looked for any explanation that would make him understand why the beautiful girl left a voice message on his phone, and how she would have gotten his number. He also took the opportunity to check his phone's reception. He always had a little hope that when he took the device out of his pocket, he would see a strong reception signal and a flood of missed calls from Rodrigo.
But then again, nothing.
Jonas had that terrible habit of letting his thoughts put him into a trance and cause him to completely lose his concentration on the situation that was right under his nose. Soon he realised that he was paying absolute no attention to an inch of the path he had taken behind Getulio.
The old man suddenly came to a halt and turned off the small flashlight as quickly as he pushed Jonas against the muddy wall. All the effort he had made to keep himself presentable would have been in vain as he could feel the damp wall smearing what was still clean from his suit.
'Do not make any noise.' he whispered as Jonas tried to figure out what was going on.
'Is someone here?' he whispered in the smallest volume possible.
'Yes, now shut up.'
After dropping his crutches on the floor, the old man motioned for Jonas to turn on his back as he mounted him like a horse and grabbed his neck to steer guidance, indicating that he should return to the path they had just taken. A few meters later, Jonas saw a small gap inside the wall and soon he could understand that Getulio's intention was to hide in there. He crouched down so that Getulio could stay on the floor and stayed by his side whilst he tried to breathe without letting the mere noise of air that was coming in and out of his lungs let anyone notice their presence over there.
More than one person was coming towards the path they were taking. He could distinguish male and female voices, but he was unable to make any sense of the conversation, at least not enough that would make him able to find a connection between the words.
Getulio motioned for him to lower his head and remain in complete and absolute silence. It was a matter of seconds before three distinct people passed them. Two men and a woman hurriedly walked whilst exchanging inaudible information. They were dressed in black from head to toe, which made it impossible for Jonas to identify any of them, but the smell from the woman was the same smell that had caught his attention at the beginning of the party. That was surely Lara's perfume. An incredible odor that had marked her presence since the first time Jonas had laid eyes on her.
Getulio stood up again so that Jonas could carry him back to the crutches left in the gap between the wall and the dirt floor. He continued to make the same sign of silence, but Jonas yearned the urge to speak and ask questions once again. He noticed that Getulio had also distinguished the silhouette of the woman who had just passed by, but for some reason he didn't seem to want to talk about what his own daughter was doing with that group of religious lunatics.
'I think the time has come for you to tell me what Lara's role is in this whole story...' whispered Jonas again whilst Getulio got back up in his crutches.
'What you want to know?'
'Can you start by telling me why is your daughter kissing your own brother whilst you, theoretically, are trapped inside a fucking fountain...'
'My daughter was not raised by me.' he replied, again expressing a sad tone in his voice. 'You see, she doesn't even know she's my daughter.' The old one-legged man's voice seemed to have been suppressed by a lump in his throat accompanied by an urge to cry. 'And I believe my brother has some religious nonsense that explains his incest behaviour towards her.'
'Would you mind elaborating the story?' asked Jonas gently. He didn't want to see anyone cry in front of him, not in that situation.
Getulio lowered his head and sobbed a few times until he managed to swallow the few tears that were successful in leaving his weary eyes. He passed his hand over his face so that the red, which expressed his shame, would not let the image of a fragile man elude. The old man was very proud of who he had become in life, and the mistakes of the past were not capable of tarnishing the achievements of such a fruitful history.
'The conservatism of my family has always prevented me from taking my life very far from the world of its religion. From the bible and its god.' he began an unrepentant and reasoned speech. 'When I got one of the girls who worked on the farm pregnant, my parents did everything they could so I wouldn't be able to care for the child. You see, my boy, I was very young, I had plans to go out into the world, study and live all kinds of things that every young man desires. I readily accepted my father's proposal. Lara would be raised by her mother and would always have a place in our estate, so I could live as if nothing had happened.'
'You told me that you spent your life in that place, that you never went out to study, as Giovanni had done.' Jonas brought back recent information, given by Getulio himself, that contradicted his own statement.
'And that was my punishment. My parents used all their power so that I would not be able to disconnect from the farm. They made sure that I couldn't get any jobs or transportation to escape the reality of this place. They were meticulous with the idea that I would have to take care of my daughter from a distance.' Getulio could no longer contain his emotions. The speed with which he swallowed his own crying was slower than that of the sobs.
'And you never thought about talking to her? Tell her the truth and take charge of your own life?' Jonas realised that his question seemed a little too straightforward for the moment.
'Of course I did!' Getulio exalted himself for a little while and soon lowered his voice again. 'But when I had the opportunity to get my hands on a substantial amount of money, Lara was already being educated by my family and very well taken care for. You see, my parents, although conservatives, never lacked to but food on her table or a roof over her head.'
'You only managed to break free when your parents died?'
'Exact.'
'So it's because of Lara that you never left this place?'
'Exactly. You see, my boy, if I wanted to go out into the world with a child on my back, I could have done it, but what future would I be giving her? Would I be a better father for letting my daughter be in need of food and water, or would I be considered a better human for letting her never know about me?'
Jonas came to understand very clearly why such a well-educated and sensible man was stuck in a place like that. He allowed himself to be tortured and lived in precarious conditions just to be able to spend time with the daughter he couldn't raise. The dilemma, which he had created for himself, confined him to an isolated, depressing, and distressing life, but his strong character made him stay there and pay for his mistakes, in the way he considered fair. He would have to spend his life watching his own daughter being raised in a world he had learned to loathe.
'How do you manage to be a spectator whilst Lara joins these lunatics?' Jonas decided that Getulio had the strength to put up with a little toughness. Nothing compared to what he had decided to accept in his life, but the young man knew that he was not there to judge. He was also responsible for a lot of mistakes.
'It's a small price to pay, but Giovanni, despite all our disagreements, promised me that she would alway have everything she wanted. You see, he has a great affection for his niece, and he knows that my father's wish must be granted. We were brought up to treat family as the most important thing.' Getulio tried to make Jonas understand some of the complexity of that story.
'That, for me, is an utter and complete madness. Your brother seems to be having an affair with her.' Jonas already seemed to show a certain jealousy for the girl. 'How is it prohibiting a father from raising his own daughter something that goes in the way of treating family as the most important thing?
'They were punishing me for having a relationship out of wedlock and with a woman that was supposedly beneath my social standards. There is nothing I can do about it, at least not for now. What comforts me is being able to live with her for part of the day, she is the one who takes care of the place where I'm being held hostage, so I can see her for a few moments during the week.' he replied putting an incredulous expression on Jonas's face.
'You don't mean to tell me...'
'Yes.' interrupted Getulio. 'Lara and those two men were heading towards my room. We need to hurry, soon my brother will know that I have managed to escape.'