What do I do? I thought as I caressed Zen's face and hair. I was sitting on a chair to the right of their bed. I saw their eyes blink.
"Good morning sleepy head," I said. I watched as their eyes fully opened.
"Dos?" Zen said. "Where am I?"
" At the hospital," I said.
" The ghost!" Zen said. "The giant ghost that strangled us! Are you okay? Did you kill it?" Zen started coughing. I grabbed the glass of water to my right, on the small bedside cabinet.
"Here," I said. I handed the glass to Zen. They grabbed it and started drinking.
"The doctor said you shouldn't use your voice fully yet," I said. "You can talk but not too loudly."
"Can I have more water?" Zen asked. They put out the glass closer to me.
"Yeah," I said. I grabbed the pitcher to my right. I poured water in the glass. Zen quickly gulped the water down. I put the pitcher back on top of the bedside cabinet.
"But to answer your question," I said. "I'm fine. You got more injured than I did but you immediately thought of me. And no, I didn't kill the ghost - how do I even do that? I think something made it stop. I heard someone speaking in another language then the giant ghost stopped."
"Really?" Zen said. "I didn't hear anything."
"You were fighting to stay awake so that makes sense," I said.
"Yeah," Zen said. "Weird though."
"It really was," I said. "And scary. I seriously thought your we're going to die not from strangulation but from the internal bleeding it caused."
"I did too," Zen said. "But how-"
"I don't know," I said. "When we got here, the doctors and nurses checked your condition. They were surprised to find only small muscle tears and small cracks on your neck bones despite your neck being totally inflamed. There was no internal bleeding as well."
" What?" Zen said.
"I know," I said. "Its confusing. They said you just needed to rest so that your neck and throat can heal. They put on that neck brace to help with it."
"Oh," Zen said. "That's why my neck feels tight."
"Do you want me to take it off?" I said. "The doctors said I can take it off when you wake up."
"I think I want to keep it on for now," Zen said. "I'll wear it for another day."
"Okay," I said. I squished their cheeks.
"You look cute in that," I said.
"Shut up," Zen said. "We're just lucky that I have thick neck muscles and fat from working out and eating a lot."
"Yes we are," I said and kissed them on the cheek. I looked at their face and hugged them.
"I love you," I said. "Thank you for surviving and staying alive." I felt their arms envelop me.
"I love you too," Zen said. "Thank you as well. I know you saved me the first time I was getting strangled." They pulled me in tighter.
"Anything for you," I said. We slowly stopped hugging.
"I should tell the nurses that you woke up already," I said.
"Why?" they asked.
"Well, you were asleep for three nights," I said.
"What?" they said. "Really?"
" Yeah," I said.
"That makes sense," Zen said. "Sleep does help the body recover."
"Honestly," I said. "I thought it would be longer." I sighed.
"We're really luckily you only got minor injuries," I said.
"Yeah," Zen said. "We really are." Zen's stomach grumbled.
"Let me get your food for you," I said. "They left this just over an hour ago." I stood up and turned around. I walked towards the table a few feet across of me.
"Can I not have hospital food?" I heard Zen say.
"Sadly no," I said. "They've provided a healthy and not harsh on your throat meal."
"Ugh," I heard Zen say. I reached the table and picked up the tray full of plates of food wrapped in plastic wrap. I turned around. I carefully walked towards Zen. I saw them pull up the side table attached to the bed.
"You should've left that," I said. "I would've pulled it up for you."
"With what hands," Zen said.
"Got me there," I said as I set the tray on the side table. I took off the plastic wrap on each of the plates.
"These look appetizing," Zen said.
"Eat up," I said. "I'll tell the nurse that you woke up after you eat."
"Okay," Zen said. They grabbed the spoon and fork on the right side of the tray. They ripped open the plastic bag they were in and unwrapped the tissue around them. They started eating.
"Do you want to watch something?" I asked. They nodded. Where did I? I thought. Oh right. I walked left and across the foot of the bed. I turned right towards the sofa L-shaped sofa and coffee table. I sat down on the sofa, reached for the remote on the table, and turned on the television that was attached to the wall in front of the bed. I melted into the sofa.
"Are you tired?" I heard Zen ask.
"No," I said. "Just relieved. My just suddenly felt lighter when you woke up."
"That's Maine's key chain we found right?" I heard Zen ask. I sat up and saw it was still on the coffee table where Rammie left it. I better put this in my bag before I forget about it again, I thought. I grabbed my beige tote bag laying on my left. I picked up the key chain and put it inside my bag. I put the bag down on the sofa again.
"Yeah," I said.
"Have you found out how it got there?" Zen asked.
"No," I said. "Haven't left you here."
"Where did you get your change of clothes then?" Zen asked.
"I asked Snow to bring us some clothes the night we got here," I said.
"Oh," Zen said. "Did our other friends come too?"
"Yeah," I said.
"So the fight I was heard was not a hallucination?" Zen said. I sighed.
"Unfortunately not," I said. "I didn't know you were awake."
"Barely," Zen said. "I was in a daze and dizzy so I keep my eyes closed. I honestly thought I was hallucinating and hearing things. I passed out a few minutes after the five of them left."
"No one's been chatting in the group chat ever since that day," I said. "But Snow, Asterion, and Oceanna still messages me to ask how you are. Virginia and Flounder did message me yesterday. But Rammie, Pan, and Robin haven't."
"I mean I understand where they're coming from but telling them wound be putting them in danger as well," Zen said.
"Yeah," I said. "I wasn't even sure if I'm able to say even that."
"That's fine," Zen said. "Its better to keep them in the dark than put them in danger like we are in."
"Its my fault too," I said. "I accidentally left the key chain on the sofa. I should've just kept it somewhere else other than in my pocket."
"Don't worry too much," Zen said. "Once this is over, we can explain everything to them."
"Let's just hope they forgive us," I said.
"I'm sure they will," Zen said. They grabbed a bowl and started chugging on the warm soup in it. They put down the bowl after with a straight face.
"What's wrong?" I said. Zen slammed the side table. Some of the food in the plates spilled on the table. What the fuck? I thought. I should get a towel. I stood up, turned right, and walked towards the cabinet at the opposite corner.
"I remembered something," I heard Zen say.
"What is it?" I asked. I opened the cabinet, sat on my legs, and rummaged through the bag Snow brought us.
"Before you crawled to me and picked me up, I felt a warm sensation on my throat," I heard Zen say. "I don't know how or what but I remember feeling my injuries heal."
"Seriously?" I said. "I didn't see anything."
"Me too," I heard Zen say. "But I heard a familiar voice saying something in a different language."
"I'm guessing this is different from the one who stopped the giant shadow?" I said.
"Yes," I heard Zen say. Finally, I thought. A towel. I pulled it out and saw something else.
"Fuck," I said.
"Exactly," I heard Zen say. "This is so crazy weird."
"Uhhh," I said. "I forgot about something."
"What?" I heard Zen say. I put the towel down on my lap and pulled out the box. I let the towel hang over my left shoulder. I stood up and turned around. I walked towards Zen's left side.
"Is that a package?" Zen asked.
"Yeah," I said as I stopped beside Zen. "Snow said it was left on our front porch."
"Shit," Zen said. "Its from them."
"I hope it didn't contain a deadline or something," I said. "Or else something may have happened to Bea or even Maine already." I put down the towel on Zen's lap. I peeled off the outer paper layer of the box to reveal it was tied securely using thin but sturdy string. I undid and untangled the string.
"Here goes nothing," I said. I opened the box. What? I thought.
"Tickets?" Zen said. "To where?" I pulled out the tickets.
"To some carnival happening a few weeks from now," I said. A carnival?
"There's a note on the bottom," Zen said. I handed them the box. They grabbed it and picked up the note at the bottom of the box. They unfolded it.
" See you at the carnival, " Zen read. " Bring the albums with you. We'll see you there! Bea's safe, except obviously the finger we cut off. "
"Huh?" I said. "They were rushing us then they're not?"
"Yeah," Zen said. "That's weird."
"I don't understand them at all," I said. "What the fuck is happening?"
"I don't know too," Zen said.
"Then we have this Valentina thing too," I said.
"Oh right!" Zen said. "Shit."