LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 4: Who was Rafe?
Davina lay in bed, trying to steady her breathing as she locked eyes with the stranger in front of her. The one who'd called her Rafe. With the lights on, she knew definitively that she was inside a VIP room of a hospital. The signs of luxury were clear. She also saw her body, skin tone and hands properly as she threw off the blanket.
WTF!??
"Relax, man. Relax. That's right, deep breaths."
Rafe? VIP room? Foreign body? Could this even be real? What did it mean? Had God truly granted her wish? She had escaped. But then who had she escaped into?
Good lord! There was a penis attached in between her legs!
Hands gently squeezed her shoulders and forced her to lay back down. The man next to her kept his watchful gaze on her panicked face as he elevated the top half of the bed at the push of a button. Now upright, Davina knew that she was no longer herself.
"How are you feeling?" The man asked. His eyes had bags and he'd looked like he'd been crying.
Damn, so this guy cares for this Rafe. But how did he end up in the hospital? What did he do?
"Can you tell me what happened? I don't remember." Davina wanted to ask him who he was, but that would be a strange question. She could tell this stranger really cared for this Rafe. His very demeanor showed it.
The man stood up straight and folded his arms behind his back. "You OD, man. You were choking on your vomit when I found you. If I had gotten there any later, you'd be dead."
"I'm sorry I put you through that," Davina replied, genuinely. Since she'd first started battling suicidal thoughts she'd always dreaded how someone would react if they'd accidentally witnessed it. The guilt of inflicting that trauma upon someone was enough to dissuade her, for a time.
So this Rafe guy tried to kill himself as well? Or was it an accident.
"It was an accident?" Davina spoke her theory out loud.
The man laughed without humor. "You don't have to make excuses for me, Rafe. Save it for your parents. They'll be here soon."
A silence filled the air.
"I hate what you tried to do, but I understand. I know you were just trying to escape from them. And I know you resent me for having saved you. I'm sorry I brought you here where your parents can reach you once more." He looked away. "You know there's a shitstorm awaiting you the moment they walk in."
No, she didn't know. She didn't know anything beyond what he'd said. What were wrong with this Rafe guy's parents? Did he try to kill himself to escape his parents? What did that mean? Who were his parents? Who was he?
"I don't resent you for saving me." Davina spoke up, her voice soft.
The man looked surprised. "You don't? Ah, but you will. I know how fed up you are with all of it. I thought isolating yourself from them and the press would be good for you so....I guess that was just a foolish thing for me to think."
Davina did not know what that meant. Press? Was this Rafe guy famous? Were his parents famous? So who was this man standing before her to Rafe?
"I didn't want to be saved, but I won't hold it against you. You did the right thing." Davina stated. It was true. She was also resentful over being saved, but that was because she did not have anybody in her life who loved her and cared for her.
If she did, even just one person, like this man before her, she wouldn't have ended up on that bridge.
But what kind of pain were Rafe's own parents inflicting upon him that he'd try to kill himself to get away from them? Surely nobody would kill themselves to escape from the press. If you were that famous then that meant you had money and as such could hire lots of bodyguards.
Or was this Rafe guy a criminal? Were his parents also criminals? Was this man next to her a lawyer or a district attorney or something?
But, no. She didn't sense any kind of criminality in Rafe. Apart from meeting up with an illegal dealer and purchasing a large Ziplock bag of cocaine powder. The images flashed across her mind.
Davina didn't consider that to be such a big deal. After all, she too drank and smoked to ease her pain. Everyone turned to something when it became too much. For Rafe it was crack cocaine.
So he definitely hadn't OD by accident. He had intentionally bought all that white dust and snorted it all in one go. The image of the exact same Ziploc bag lying on a polished hardwood floor, next to a toppled stool, next to a skinny but handsome man with ringed eyes and powdered nose suffering convulsions inside a stunningly beautiful penthouse appeared in her mind.
His memories. I'm seeing things from his memories, Davina realized. How was that even possible? What strange sorcery was this?
The man standing next to Rafe was named Johnson Jones. He was both Rafe's manager and his long time best friend. They had attended the same university and bonded over their love for the arts. Rafe was studying to get a degree in Musical Theatre and John was studying to become a director.
However, a year after graduating Johnson was struggling to make ends meet as he was doing menial jobs behind the camera and his degree was going to waste because he was too young and no one trusted him enough to give him a project to direct.
That was when Rafe, who was in the process of releasing his first album, had reached out to him and asked him to work for him as his manager. Turned out he had fired his old manager whom he found to be very sleazy.
Seeing this as an opportunity to make good money and be close to his dear friend, Johnson had taken on the job. And since then over the next 12 years had done everything to ensure that he maximized Rafe's potential while also shielding him from some of the uglier sides of the entertainment industry. He had made sure that Rafe didn't enter a one sided slave contract or get involved with exploitative record labels and abusive producers.
He ensured Rafe was always paid for his worth.
And Rafe, with his enormous talent and dedication had shot through the roof. He became a global sensation who broke records and turned heads everywhere he went. He became the second King of Pop!
And all the while, Johnson was right by his side. Making a fortune being the manager of such a hot sensation, but also helping Rafe navigate his fame.
Unfortunately, the one thing Johnson couldn't manage to do was separate Rafe from his highly toxic parents who were nothing short of leeches. And since Rafe was very filial, he refused to stand up for himself whenever they bullied him.
Johnson could do nothing more than watch from the sides with clenched fists when those people, who should be thanking the gods that they had a son like Rafe; who'd brought them so much good fortune, do nothing but treat him like a slave and bank account.
Although, Rafe stood up for himself from time to time, he wasn't consistent. His parents knew they could always walk over their son and suck him like a vampire.
And this wasn't the first time Rafe was hospitalized. Even now those two leeches were on their way here to ensure their moneymaker wasn't going to be indisposed for too long. They didn't give a damn about his mental health. As long as he was conscious and could stand, they shove him out on to the stage.
Rafe's father was already very angry that Rafe had decided to take a year long hiatus. Upon learning that he'd also tried to kill himself, the man was left fuming with greed and unrighteous anger.
Johnson watched his best friend and talent with concerned eyes. He couldn't make sense of the strange expressions that Rafe was making. Nor could he understand his quite muttering.
"Rafe, what ar---" His head snapped around when he heard the door open.
The Hunt family doctor, Doctor Hermes, walked in with a file in his hands. Behind him and looking like they couldn't get in fast enough were Rafe's parents. His father, Richard Hunt. His mother, Clarissa Hunt. And Rafe's "fiancée", Ruby Ray.
Johnson released a sharp exhale. Rafe so did not need this right now. He should be able to recover in peace. Why couldn't it have just been the Doctor who came in?