DOPE Season 2 Episode 11 by Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

DOPE Season 2 Episode 11 by Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

**Let it be**

Hugo woke up and realised that he was in the hospital. He found Las Flakes, Andre, and Marco as they waited for him in the hospital clinic to wake up. The song that kept singing in his head was ‘Let it be’ by The Beatle. The song made him nostalgic as he listened to it without even knowing where it was coming from. He was full of worries and disbelief as the flashes of Marco’s revelations started reoccurring in his mind’s eyes.

“We have no time to waste because Lucas and his men are attacking tonight, even though they never knew that we have destroyed their entire arsenals in Pelotas River,” Las Flakes reported, “We were waiting for your orders but you’d been gone for a while now. So it won’t be possible for us to go without you except it’s the last resort and we would attack using Exigency contingency method,”

Hugo still felt dizzy but heard everything that Las Flakes said, so he tried to stand but staggered, so Marco helped him get up.

“Sir, you may need to have more rest because you’re still weak, or probably shocked,” Marco advised and still held him but Hugo pushed his hand away gently and stood on his feet.

“Yeah, I was shocked but currently, what I feel is more of anger than shock,” Hugo said, “I can’t wait to set my eyes on Larissa and crush her head. The magnitude of my love for her is now metamorphosed to the magnitude of my hatred. All I need is crush her and make her life miserable and unbearable. She’s pay for killing Belle and for torturing me all these while by making me have sleepless nights because of her. I hate her passionately, especially knowing that the blood of my greatest enemy still flows in her. Let’s prepare for war. It’s time,”

“But I may be disappearing again,” Marco said, “we’re coming to the end of our investigation and ready to launch an attack on the cartels that we’ve been monitoring for years, so I need to…”

“But I hope….” Hugo tried talking.

“No, don’t worry,” Marco interjected, “You’re not on our list. Remember I promised to keep you in the dark but to be your enemy when all these are over. So, for now, relax and be happy. Let it be,”

Hugo still heard that word ‘Let it be’ from Marco, making him feel that Marco was listening to the song too.

“Did you just say ‘Let it be’?” Hugo asked and put his two fingers into his ears so that he’d stop listening to the song.

Marco looked at him confusingly and smiled, “‘Let it be’ is an English word, so it could be used by anyone. I meant that you should let your worries be and think more of how to leave this drug business,”

Hugo still kept hearing the song ringing aloud in his head, so he stood and looked around to know if there was any stereo or live band around but he didn’t see any, so he shuddered.

“But where is this song coming from? I love the song and wish it doesn’t end,” Hugo said and smiled.

“Song?” Marco and Las Flakes said and looked at each other in confusion.

“There is no song here except silence,” Las Flakes said and came closer to observe him but he pushed her hand away. “Seriously, I’m not sure you’re fine as you claimed. How can you be hearing a song that no other hears? Maybe you’re hallucinating”

“I am fine,” Hugo assured himself and staggered towards the door to enter the briefing room, “I think I’m fine,”

“This wouldn’t be good for the battle in this condition of yours,” Flakes said observantly, “Now, I understand the magnitude of the impact of this betrayal on you,”

“The Boss I knew can manage tension even when he lost his your dad. This says a lot about how emotional attachment can weaken a man. I’m sorry, boss but it seems the punch from Larissa was below the belt” Andre said and lifted Hugo and put him on his shoulder and took him to his private room in Misterio cartel facility to have more rest,”

Andre still limped a bit due to the bullet wound but he bandaged it as he got ready for another imminent war.

Marco left immediately while the Falcons and the entire soldiers gathered for briefing and address.

Las Flakes and Andre hid the health status of Hugo from the people so that they wouldn’t be discouraged or lose their morale for going into the battle with unready boss.

Hugo had some rest, took some drugs, and felt better because even if another person addresses the people, they’d be suspicious that the boss isn’t feeling okay. After having a nap, he came to the auditorium where they all waited for him. He looked at them, and said: “Today, history would be made because our enemies are going down. We’ll fight them, kill them, and spare none of them because we’d ensure that they remain dead just as we killed Stone. Unfortunately, Lord Rodrigo, our greatest enemy used to be one of our own but…”  The people started murmuring speculatively as they guessed who the person might be. Hugo raised his hand and they all kept calm to listen, “Larissa, the girl I loved so much is Lord Rodrigo and….”

The soldiers roared in anger and confusion and started shouting because they never expected to hear that the innocent-looking girl could be the most feared drug dealer. It was a big shock to them all, therefore making their noise to be uncontrolled at the moment even when the boss raised his hand in the air to have their attention.

After a while, the noise died down and they listened.

Hugo first smiled, raised his voice, and said: “In numbers, we are not many, but in weapons and war skills, we are a majority. We’ve rendered them useless already but they may not have noticed that until we strike and see them at the losing end,”

The people roared in agreement as their morale boosted. They were all set to meet the enemies because the info coming from the enemies camp was that they were already advancing to the bunker near Santa Catarina River, precisely at Pelotas River where they hid the entire weapons to be used on Misterio cartel.

The Misterio cartel soldier went ahead and encamped near the river where they laid ambush and waited for the Lucas and his men to show up.

Immediately Lucas and his men showed up, rains of bullets got them all confused that they couldn’t even come close let alone knowing that their weapons were all destroyed. Many of Lucas’s men went down in pool of blood, even though they fought back. When the Mortos Rio’s soldiers succeeded getting to the facility, they discovered that the entire weapons were malfunctioning, making them give up since they couldn’t be a match to the Misterio Cartel army.

As this was going on when Hugo and his men were celebrating victory, it was surprising to them that Ignacio and some men came with lots of arsenals and joined forces with Lucas and his men and began to shoot sporadically to a point that many soldiers of the Misterio cartel were killed.

Hugo saw that it wasn’t what he expected, so he tried to escape but was captured by Mark Brendan who suddenly showed up from nowhere. At this point, it dawned on Hugo that he couldn’t escape anymore because even the super falcon girls, Las Flakes and even Andre were all killed at the instant by the merciless bullets that were sprayed on them all, turning the site to field of blood.

It was like a flash as it all happened so fast but it was true that Hugo who was about to be victorious ended up being the victimized.

Following his capture, Hugo was blindfolded and taken into an unknown location. He was so surprised about what was going on but couldn’t even understand how everything happened so fast. At that point, he began to regret accepting his dad’s offer to take over the leadership of drug business he never wanted to be a party to.

Everywhere looked so abysmally dark to Hugo behind that blindfold; his head kept spinning with confusion while the song, “Let it be” kept repeating in his head as if the singer was close by and whispering the song of consolation to his ears.

After a while, Hugo felt so cold as if wintry water was poured on him, so he woke up and became conscious of the environment. The blindfold was removed, making him surprised to see himself kneeling before Larissa and her team who were laughing at him contemptuously.

Seeing Larissa made Hugo so furious because all he wanted then was to devour the witch before him and end her life abruptly but his hands were bound with shackles, o he couldn’t help it but shed tears of anguish and rage.

After a while, as he struggled to gain freedom so that he could end Larissa’s life before going down with her, he rested knowing full well that there was no way of getting such freedom he sought. Thinking about the death of most of his strong soldiers got tears blurring his eyes. The most painful part was seeing the girl he’d loved since high school being kissed passionately by Mark Brendan, the so-called hubby just to make him feel bad. They succeeded making the young guy feel so sad as he watched them kiss each other before him. He was just helpless and angry.

As they kissed, Hugo smiled angrily and said: “You’re simply a coward, Rodrigo, hiding in the shadows and operating like a cheap whore in the dark. I will spit on your grave and…”

“You’ve been played, lover boy,” Larissa said and started laughing while others joined.

“You’re nothing but a toy in my hands. I can end your miserable life whenever I need it,”

“You should have been mature enough before your dad died and unwittingly handed over the business to you, but you just rushed at it, now see where it led you into,” Mark Brendan said scornfully and brought out a knife and brandished it before Hugo, “With this, I’ll pluck out your eyes and feed them to my wolves. Your death would be so painful that you’d regret ever existing. Your friends are all dead, and your family would join them too. Just keep your eyes open because they will all die before you while you beg for death to come but you wouldn’t see it coming,”

Two soldiers dragged Hugo closer to Larissa but didn’t allow him closer to avoid taking any drastic action that couldn’t be stopped on time.

Out of anger, Larissa slapped Hugo, getting her palm bedraggled with his blood. She quickly collected a napkin and cleaned her hands and then threw the filthy rag on Hugo.

“You murdered my dad in cold blood and I watched him die in pains,” Larissa said and clenched her teeth in anger, “You think it’s easy watching a loved one die in your…?”

“And how many of my loved ones have you and your dad killed?” Hugo angrily retorted, “Oh, you now know it hurts, right? Well, I enjoyed seeing him receive those fourteen rounds of bullets all in his chest. He died like a coward and was left in that cold to decay and …”

A huge hit on Hugo’s head from Brendan made him pass out.

After a while, Hugo got up and saw himself hung on a cross as if he was to be crucified. People gathered while Larissa got herself ready with sharp objects she planned using to cut Hugo into pieces, but before that, he was surprised that Jose and Amanda were forced to the scene. He couldn’t understand how their location was discovered, making him so weak when he saw them looking haggard and beaten.

Jose was already beaten to the point that he couldn’t recognise where he was anymore.

Amanda wasn’t touched yet but her tears got her entire cloth soaked when she saw her son dying on the cross.

Amanda tried to rush towards her son to embrace him but Larissa took her pistol and shot her three times in the head, making her fall and die instantly before her son.

Hugo yelled so loud and began to cry because he couldn’t take the pains anymore but Larissa wasn’t even moved, so he suddenly tried to force his way down from the cross but the soldiers took some sharps knives and began to cut him bit by bit, making him cry for death but none came to him.

“Why not kill me than these miseries I’m passing through?” Hugo pleaded, looking at Larissa with his eyes bathed with his own blood.

“You think that the life of your loved ones means anything to me?” Larissa asked and smiled sheepishly, “The death of my dad tore me to shreds, therefore I’ll watch you die and spit on your grave, not you spitting on mine as you threatened. Let me watch and see how you’d be rescued from this pit of hell. If you must know, I hate you more than I hate the devil. I’ve been pretending to make you feel the love I had for you to be real. Each time you make love to me, I felt like something deadlier than the devil was touching me. Gosh! I hate to think of it,” she yelled and shot Hugo twice in the stomach, causing so many pains and blood to gush forth.

At this point, Hugo stopped hearing sounds but excruciating pains that got him cocooned in a wish for death. He yelled the last time but was surprised that the sudden pains began to disappear as the song “Let it be” began to be aloud this time. He knew he was about to die.

Even when Jose was shot before him, he watched his foster dad die in the pool of blood but didn’t even hear the sound of the gun except the song that kept singing in his head.

This time, the lyrics of the song by ‘The Beatles’ began to echo in his head:

“When I find myself in time of trouble, Mother

Mary comes to me,

Speaking words of wisdom, “Let it be”,

And in my hours of darkness, she is standing

Right in front of me,

Speaking words of wisdom, “let it be,”

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be,”

As the song of consolation kept singing in his head, Hugo slowly closed his eyes and passed out.

Waking up suddenly with severe headache, Hugo saw himself in his house, while resting his head on Tessie’s lap. He felt her tears dropping on his face, so he suddenly tried to get up but then heard the same song, “Let it be” as Tessie sang the entire verses for him while stroking his head.

At that point, Hugo remembered Las Flakes, Andre, Jose, and Amanda and other dead loved ones and then stood but staggered.

“You’re not okay yet,” Tessie said and slowly ended the song, “I guess you just woke up from a nightmare,”

Hugo suddenly remembered that he was meant to be dead too, so he touched the entire part of his body that was meant to be cut open by Larissa and her men but realised that he was perfectly okay. He couldn’t even remember the part of his life that was dream or reality. He remembered waking up in the hospital after passing out in the bar.

He couldn’t understand if he slept off again while his soldiers went to war or if the waking up from the hospital was in a dream too. At a point, he remembered that he woke up hearing that “let it be” song right from the hospital.

Looking around with confusion, he looked back at Tessie who was smiling and crying at the same time, then said: “For how long have I been here?”

“This is your third day now, Sir,” Tessie replied and came closer to him, “even though you kept this location a secret, it’s the only place I felt you’d be safe that was why I brought you here to recover. Don’t worry about keeping the location a secret from other cartel members because no one knows the location except Dr. Luiz who…”

“What! Is he alive?” Hugo asked and went closer to Tessie, “So Larissa didn’t kill him too as he killed Belle?”

“No, she couldn’t find me,” Luiz said and showed up carrying some drugs with him, “It’s time for you to eat and take your drugs. Welcome back, my boss. As for arresting me for being the mole, let’s talk about it when I’m done mourning Belle, my love,”

At this point, tears began to gain possession of his cheek.

Tessie and Hugo rushed at him and collected the drugs from him, and then made him sit to have some rest.

“I’m still alive today because you and Belle decided to save me but I’m so sorry for the loss. It hurts me too, but in this business, we always lose loved ones, that’s why I want to quit, and I must do that…”

“Wow, that’s so lovely!” Tessie said and embraced Hugo, and then realised that she was too close, so she pulled back, “I’m sorry for that,”

“Don’t be,” Hugo said and smiled, “The only thing that brought me back to life was this “Let it be” song that I kept hearing in my head. I never knew it was your voice all these while. Thank you,”

“But seems you had a bad dream,” Luiz said and wiped his tears.

“Can you share?” Tessie asked and brought out some snacks from the fridge and tried feeding him but Hugo was a bit uncomfortable but Tessie’s insistence made him relax. She began to feed him while they waited for him to gain some strength and narrate his dreams.

After a while, Luiz brought the drugs and gave it to Hugo to drink.

Hugo kept thinking about the deaths of his loved ones in a dream that lasted for about three days. He was given ample time to relax until he was ready to talk.

Luiz and Tessie gathered around him, held him, and made him feel better but Hugo was highly in need to call Jose on the phone to know how he was.

“I need to speak with Jose, my mom, Las Flakes, and Andre,” Hugo said and tried to locate his phone but Tessie showed him that the phone was with her, and then smiled.

“You will make the call but you need to hear the good news first,” Tessie said and looked smilingly at Luiz, “Doc, go ahead and tell him,”

“Tell me what?” Hugo said and narrowing his eyes as confusion, curiosity and speculation overtook his mind at the moment.

After taking a deep breath, Luiz said: “The war with Mortos Rio cartel ended in our favour because we had a backup from the DEA; Marcos Antonio, and his team. It would interest you to know that Mark Brendan is captured, even Lucas and the entire men, except Larissa who disappeared into the thin air. Marco’s phone call had been coming; probably to check on you but I told him that once you’re conscious, he’d be notified. The battle is won and none of the men you mentioned died except for a few soldiers…”

“Not when Larissa is still alive,” Hugo said angrily, “I am happy, like, I am very happy,” he added with smiles, “but if Larissa is still alive, I gain nothing. I need her dead and then spit on her grave just…”

“Oh, now I get it,” Tessie said and smiled, “before you woke up, you kept repeating that you would spit on a grave. Now you just repeated it. I guess Larissa must have created a deep impact on you that made you pass out for three days, even to be repeating what you’d do to her even when in a coma,”

“For now, you need rest, since the DEA has helped you make the workload easier,” Luiz said and smiled, “You owe a lot to Marco because he covered your ass and never disclosed your involvement in the drug business. He was the one that tipped Las Flakes that they were coming to the scene of the battle, making Las Flakes and every other soldier of Misterio cartel to disappear before their arrival. Well, he still has personal talks with you, so relax and wait for his call. Jose has been calling too. The location of your family can’t be easily traced because Jose is the computer guru. So relax, he’s even stronger than you. You don’t even need to panic about him because he’s the one that had been worried about you,”

Maxx suddenly showed up wagging his tail as he felt so happy seeing that his boss was alive. He snuggled in Hugo’s hands for comfort.

“That’s an intelligent dog,” Tessie said and came closer to Hugo and held him by the hands, “Singing ‘Let it be’, a song by The Beatles, released in 1970, was aimed at letting you know that in life, it’s not always about fights and vendetta, but sometimes in life, you overlook things just for your peace of mind. Letting things be isn’t an act of cowardice but valour and credit that solve a lot of troubles in life. As for Larissa’s grave, let it be, don’t spit on it. Allow justice to take its pound of flesh, so let it be. As for the drug business and its benefits, let it be too, and as for vengeance and anything associated with unending fights, let it be. Embrace peace, leave the entire drug business, and live a peaceful life. Change your identity if possible so that those enemies you’ve made and those you inherited from your dad and granddad wouldn’t come after you. Leave this country to an entirely new location. Don’t come back anymore. In life, it’s not always about fighting, so let it be,” she concluded and pulled him into a hug.

Hugo felt so encouraged with Tessie’s soothing words, especially remembering that all that happened in the dreamland were a reverse of what actually happened in the real life. Taking his phone, he called Las Flakes who gave him the details of the successful battle he missed. He was so happy that the war was won even when he wasn’t there with them to encourage them.

After a while, Hugo pulled Tessie into a hug and said: “I think the best part was missing the battle and letting it be just as you advised. I love that song and will always treasure it in my mind’s eyes. When all these are over, remember to teach me the entire lyrics and verses,”

“Of course, I’ll do that, only if you promise to let it be,” Tessie said and chuckled and then kissed him gently on the forehead as the warm embrace lasted between them.

To be continued…