CÁRDAMO
10.01.8462 - 2:19 PM
The streets of Cárdamo were all decorated with handicrafts, the doors of shops and houses had different colors. On the way, driving the car through the streets of colorful houses, Lélia continued humming a song that came out through her MC's speakers:
"Pairou sobre os edifícios, abriu dois mil orifícios, com dois mil canhões assim."
Lélia managed to clear her head and become calmer as she began to tap the song's melody on the car's steering wheel. She blocked all official messages on her MC and focused only on following the news on Asturian Island. She had manifested in the group created by Mila, advising that as soon as she finished her lunch, she would contact the group.
She quickly ate some tamales that she bought in a small restaurant in one of the charming streets of Cárdamo. While waiting for the tamales, she opened a program in her MC and looked for a hotel she used to stay in when she needed to be in Cárdamo longer to solve the company's problems. Luckily, the hotel was available that day, and she made a reservation to spend the afternoon more comfortably.
A few moments later, she was already passing by the Hotel reception, where a worried receptionist asked her several times if she was okay after the attack. Lélia went up to her room on the first floor, with a window that looked straight out onto the street, and he settled in, placing her open notebook on a desk and her suitcase on a wardrobe. She decided to take a shower to properly clean herself of the dirt still under her nails and try to get the smell of burning flesh from her hair, she couldn't feel the burnt smell, but she knew that it denoted to other people.
After a long shower, Lélia put on another outfit, less luxurious than the first and lighter, one of her many floral skirts with a white tank top, changed her heel for a flat one, and removed some bracelets. She didn't bother drying her hair and just threw herself on the bed picking up her MC looking at the time: 'I still have almost eight hours to go back to Mottamotors and send the plane to Fernand,' she thought as she selected Mila's contact and sent a video call request. A few moments later, Mila's face appeared on the screen.
"Lélia! Oh my! How are you?" Mila asked, a little less worried after seeing Lélia's face.
"Hey, how are you? Look, I'm fine, but it probably won't be that way until tomorrow," Lélia spoke.
"What happened?" Questioned Vaughan appearing beside Mila.
"Let's do it by steps," Lélia spoke.
Mila walked forward, and Lélia could see that the girl was in the library of the Asturian Manor and that Vaughan, Nair, Marta, Mário, and Scarlet were also there. The girl positioned herself in such a way that everyone could appear on the video call.
"We are all here on the Island. We decided to come to stay with the Van," said Mila.
"Brave of you. Return to the island at this time and to stay in the company of the Van," Lélia smiled but soon regretted it. "Sorry, this is not the time for this kind of joke."
"Maybe it is," Spoke Vaughan.
"Well, come on, first, what is this totem story? I had a horrible nightmare while I was there at the Manor," Lélia spoke.
"So you also had a nightmare?" Questioned Vaughan.
"Yes. Who else had it?" Lélia asked.
"For now, just the two of us," Spoke Vaughan.
"Hm, and I can assume that my nightmare and yours were on the same topic," Lélia spoke seriously.
"Joaquim?" asked Vaughan.
"Yes," said Lélia. "I'll include Fernand here in this call. Just a minute. "Lélia selected an icon at the top of the call and chose Fernand's contact. The call ringed a few times and Fernand's face all crumpled appeared. Lélia's MC screen was divided into two, the upper one with the people on the Asturian Island and the lower one with Fernand's face, lit only by the glow from his MC screen in the dark. "Hi Fernand, sorry to disturb you in the middle of sleep."
"Hi Lélia, how are you?" He asked.
"I am fine," she said, who could no longer stand to repeat the same answer. "Did my message reach you?"
"Yes, it's all right now."
The others in the superior video ignored this information. They understood that there was another communication channel between Fernand and Lélia that did not concern them.
"That's good. Just one more second, guys, now I'm going to wake up Richard," Lélia followed the same procedure performed earlier but selected Richard's contact, who, unlike Fernand, responded quickly. "Hello!" Lélia spoke before Richard said anything. "I want you to come back soon to get your position back. My first day was terrible," Lélia spoke.
"Lélia, I'm glad you're in a good mood and well, as far as possible," Richard said. Through the video, it was possible to see that he was propped up in a window with a breathtaking view of Arkadia.
"I'm fine, but we need to clarify some things. Did you guys see Mila's message?"
"Yes" Answered Richard and Fernand at the same time.
"I wanted to know if you also had nightmares," Lélia asked.
Fernand said yes, while Richard's video came up with a no.
"So of everyone here, only Fernand, Vaughan, and I had nightmares?" Lélia questioned, and everyone nodded. "Fernand, I'm sorry for bringing this up, but your nightmare, what was it about?"
"It was a memory, day of the attacks here in the Castle," Fernand spoke, avoiding giving details that would relive the moment.
"I see. I'm sorry, my nightmare was very vivid, and I imagine yours was too," said Lélia. "Can you people on the Island see if you can find the totem in my room?"
"Sure," Mila volunteered.
"Thanks. I'm thinking now about the motive, why make us relive our worst lived nightmares?" Lélia stared at the bedroom wall.
"And why only you. Why didn't Richard and we have these nightmares?" Questioned Nair.
"This is another interesting question," Lélia said.
"We're just an extra in your movie," said Mila.
"What? What do you mean?" Lélia asked.
"Calm down, Mila," Spoke Vaughan.
"So, Scarlet and I decided to go to Jeannie's room because she was passionate about horror movies, and come on, what we're living, is a horror movie. Someone is chasing us with a knife or a scythe. And now people are being bewitched to have nightmares. This is all being a great horror movie, and apparently, you, who are from an older generation, are the protagonists, and Scarlet, Mário, and I are the youngsters who are meant to be murdered during the story," said Mila.
"Mila, please! What a horrible assumption," said Marta, revolted, going to her daughter and hugging her, holding back her tears. "Stop saying such absurd things. Do you want to make me even more worried?"
"Mila, you're wrong," said Lélia. "You are not the extras who should die," Lélia wasn't entirely sure about that, but she wanted to calm the girl down, so she started to reason. "Your wound was soaked with some kind of scarring and anesthetic, so Anna told us, honestly, and I'm sorry for saying that, Marta, I think if the killer wanted to kill you, Mila, it would have done it in that night," Lélia concluded. "My dream, as well as Van's and Fernand's, was about something in common: the loss of a person significant to our existence. Vaughan and I lost a son, Fernand lost his wife, both very traumatically. I think maybe it is trying to show us something. But why?"
Everyone was silent thinking about it.
"Anyway, I called you because I have something to communicate, and I need absolute confidentiality until my analyst has already released the information to the media," Lélia spoke. "Do I have your word?" Everyone nodded. "Well, this information will probably be released in another hour, so I think I can talk here. If someone intercepts this call, the information will not come out much sooner than expected, but I need to ensure that it does not leak by your mouths," All confirmed again. "I already know who was murdered," Lélia took a deep breath and looked at Richard. "I already talked to Charlotte, and we agreed to release the information. Felício was murdered."
"Felício Arcanjo? From the Navy?" Marta asked. "Lélia! What an absurd thing!"
"Yes," Lélia spoke.
"Not only absurd, but it will have consequences for Lélia," Vaughan spoke, scared.
"Guys, that's right, I had forgotten! Wow..." Marta had her eyes wide open and pulled a chair to sit down. "This is very serious."
"Yes," Lélia confirmed.
"Guys, what do you mean?" Spoke Mila impatiently.
"What's going on?" Asked Mário.
"A long story," Fernand spoke on the other end of the line.
"What story, people?" This time it was Scarlet who was getting impatient.
"I think it's not wise to tell this story here. Van, Nair, Marta, can you explain to the guys there?" Lélia replied through her MC
"Yes, if you don't mind," said Vaughan.
"By no means. It will be in the papers soon, I imagine. They won't overlook it," Lélia spoke, discouraged. "Well, that's it, we will have a serious case to deal with and a psychopath hunting us," Lélia spoke. "I found your theory about the movies interesting, Mila, very creative... and unlikely, but the similarities do exist. Scarlet, from the young cast, you're the only blonde, but you're not dumb or vulgar, on the contrary: you're the quietest of all, shy and very smart. Mário, you're very handsome, tall, and strong, but you're far from being a bully sportsman. Mila, you're not blonde, you know how to fight, you're sincere and above all, you didn't die in the first attack, and I believe that according to the rules of a horror movie, everyone who escapes an attack will escape any future attack. About the rest of us, Van, Richard, Nair, Fernand, and I are all old geezers. We wouldn't even have a role in a teen horror movie, at most a cameo, if we were some famous actor who's played horror roles in the past.
"I wouldn't be so sure, nowadays, with so many reboots, they are killing the old geezers," said Mila. "And there's more: people who survive an attack got the most chances for being the killer in the end. But I assure you guys, I'm not."
"About that, I can say that trying to be politically correct would probably ruin the chances of any LGBTQI+ villain since we had enough of those in the past. And also, if I'm correct, now there's a rule not to kill LGBTQI+ in horror movies either, isn't it?"
"Yes, you're right about not killing LGBTQI+ people, but about being a villain I'm not so sure. The biggest problem in the past was portraying LGBTQI+ people in a stereotyped way and justifying their violent behaviors on their sexual orientation. In horror books and movies we had even transsexual women killing other women to use their skin, this is absurd today, we know for sure that a trans person in the past used to be the victim of various types of violence, and not the villain. The same thing goes for a feminine man being a villain in most children's movies from the last century. This is indeed disgusting, but if we don't stereotype them or justify their actions in their genders or sexual orientations, it wouldn't be prejudiced not to allow these characters to be the villains?"
"Well, I don't have any opinion on that, but I can say that not killing LGBTQI+ characters is one more fact that saves you: Mila's and Fernand's skin, and would save Jeannie's, especially Jeannie, after all, she's not only bi, she's also a trans woman, it would be very impolite killing any of us, I imagine," Lélia spoke. "Anyway, superficial analyzes aside, I'll ask for the details of the scenes where the murders took place. As I was present in both, I was so disoriented that I couldn't have a clinical look; I'll see if I can get this now from the reports from my staff. Veterans on the island, can you pass on Felício's case to the young people who are going to camp in a cabin near a haunted lake?" Lélia smiled, trying to cheer everyone up, even though she was anxious inside.
"Yes, leave it to us," said Vaughan. "A kiss then."
"Great, tomorrow night I want to go to the Island. Honestly, I don't want to be alone," Lélia said.
"Perfect, you will be welcome," said Nair.
"I'm so jealous," said Richard. "I'm staying here in Arkadia for a while until further notice from Charlotte. I won't create any more problems in this scenario."
"And that's right. Fernand will also stay in Tachlovicka at my request," Lélia lied. "But soon, this whole mess will be resolved, and we will meet again. Thank you, people. I will concentrate here on my tasks. A kiss to everyone," Lélia spoke.
Everyone responded and said goodbye to each other, disconnecting from the call.