war of the Castillos

The return

The return

Everyone froze. The workers stopped serving, the customers turned to look, Anna’s friends leaned forward with curiosity.

The van door flung open, and a woman stepped out. The driver slammed the door and sped away, leaving the woman standing there like a queen.

Anna’s eyes widened. Her hand, which had been fanning herself, dropped to her lap. The world around her seemed to go silent.

Lina.

Her rival. Her sister. Her blood.

And in that moment, their eyes locked sharp, fiery, unforgiving. It was as if all the years that had passed melted away, and they were back to being those two girls fighting for who would serve Mayor Victor his meal first.

Anna’s friends glanced at her nervously. “Anna… is that ?” one whispered.

Anna’s lips tightened. “Yes,” she said, her voice cold. “It’s Lina.”

Lina stood tall, her gown sweeping the ground, her face glowing with confidence. She smiled but it wasn’t a smile of warmth. It was a smile of challenge.

The customers began to murmur. “Is that not Rosa’s daughter? Lina? She has returned?”

The whole of Rivora seemed to hold its breath, waiting for what would happen next.

Blood boiled. Rivalry returned. And the war of the Castillos was about to begin again.

In Rosa's Room

Rosa’s room was dim, the afternoon light slipping through the old curtains. The walls were lined with photographs from years gone by, and the air carried the faint smell of herbs and palm oil. Rosa, now aged and slower in her steps, sat on the edge of her bed with a wrapper tied tightly around her chest.

Her sharp voice echoed in the room. “Lina, why did you come back? You should have stayed where you were. Why disgrace me like this?”

Lina stood in the middle of the room, her eyes swollen from crying, her wrapper loosely tied as if she had left in a hurry. Behind her stood her three children Sofia, tall and restless, and the twins, Lila and Luna, clinging to each other with wide, confused eyes.

“Mama, I couldn’t!” Lina burst out. Her voice cracked as the tears threatened to fall again. “That man had no regard for me. No respect. No love. Nothing.”

Sofia folded her arms and shifted uneasily. “But Mummy, you shouldn’t have dragged us here. Anything that happened between you and Daddy, you should have left it there. My life… my friends… everything I know is back there. Why bring us back to this place?”

She moved slightly backwards, fearing the sting of her mother’s hand.

Lina’s eyes flashed. “Shut up! Shut that mouth of yours! So you would have preferred to remain with your father and his useless concubines, eh? Tell me! Is that what you want?”

“Mummy” Sofia tried again, her voice softer now.

“Listen!” Lina shouted, her voice breaking the air in the small room. “Home is where mother says it is. Do you hear me? Where I am is where you will be!”

The room grew tense, the twins hiding their faces behind Sofia’s arms.

It was then that Rosa finally spoke, her voice hoarse but firm. “Enough. Sofia, take your sisters outside. Go and sit under the mango tree.”

Sofia didn’t argue. She gathered Lila and Luna, leading them out of the room. The children’s footsteps faded, and the door closed.

Now it was just mother and daughter.

Lina fell to her knees, her body shaking with sobs. “Mama, it was too much. I couldn’t bear it any longer. He brought women into our home different women every week. He drank his life away, Mama. He left us hungry. No money for food, nothing for the children. Every day, it was fight after fight. I tried, Mama, I tried.” Her words dissolved into tears.

Rosa sat still, her face unreadable. After a long pause, she said slowly, “Lina… you should have endured. Didn’t I stay with your father? Didn’t I swallow the same shame? And still, I stood. Now you want the whole of Rivora to laugh at us? To say, ‘Ah, see Rosa’s daughter she could not even hold her husband’s home’?”

“Mama, let them laugh!” Lina shouted through her tears. “Let them say whatever they like. I don’t care. I am alive. My children are alive. That is what matters. I will not let that man destroy me the way he has destroyed himself. I am back in my father’s house and that is final.”

Her chest rose and fell heavily as silence filled the room. Rosa’s eyes softened just a little, though her pride still held firm. She looked at her daughter kneeling on the floor, torn between shame and sympathy.

Outside, Sofia sat with her sisters, staring at the road, wondering how their lives had changed in just one night.

Inside, the war of pride and pain continued between Rosa and Lina two stubborn Castillos, bound by blood, broken by men, yet too strong to bend.