"Dos, hurry!" Zen shouted. I quickly locked car. I ran towards Zen who was carrying Helen on their arms, by our house's front door. When I arrived, Zen moved to the side and let stand in front of the door.
"Sorry, sorry," I said as I fished for the house keys inside my pocket. Once I felt them, I pulled them out and inserted them into the keyhole. I turned the key, then the knob, and pushed the door open. I stepped aside. Zen ran in the house. I followed them in.
"I'll bring her to our guest room," Zen said as they took heavy footsteps up the stairs. I rushed into the bathroom underneath our stairs and checked the cabinet inside.
"Where's our first aid?" I shouted.
"You put it in my bag remember?" I heard Zen shout.
"Shit," I said. "Right." I ran outside of the house. I turned left to where our car was parked. I got the car keys from my pocket and pressed the unlock button. I crossed over to the other side. I opened the door to the passenger seat and grabbed our bag sitting on the seat. I closed the door and locked the car once more. I ran back inside the house and quickly turned right to climb up the stairs. As soon as, I reached the second floor I went inside the guest room across the stairs, with its door left open. I saw Zen holding down Helen on the bed.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"No!" Helen said, squirming. "Let go of me!"
"She started acting up when we got into the room and lay her on the bed," Zen said. "She kept falling so I needed to hold her like this." I walked closer and saw that her eyes were still closed.
"A nightmare," I said. "What did she see in there and what did they do to her?"
"Dos, the first aid," Zen said. I turned around and squatted on the floor. I dropped the bags on the floor. I grabbed Zen's bag, opened it, and reached for the first aid kit inside. I pulled it out.
"Its going to be okay," I heard Zen say. "We're not going to hurt you Helen. You're out of danger." I stood up and turned around.
"That's right Helen," I said. "Its us, your friends, Zen and Dos."
"Zen and Dos," Helen said sleepily. Her squirming slowed down.
"Yeah, yeah," I said.
"Zen and Dos," Helen said and passed out. Zen let out a sigh and let go of Helen. They slid off the foot of the bed and stood up.
"I can't believe that worked," Zen said.
"Me too," I said. They walked towards me. I walked closer to the bed and looked at Helen. So many cuts, small wounds, and bruises, I thought. Her shirt and pants are also ripped in some places. I sat on the edge of the bed and put down the first aid kit beside me. I opened it up. I got the latex gloves and put them on.
"Where did we put the clothes they forgot?" Zen asked.
"Inside the living room cabinet, on the very bottom," I said. "And its inside a cloth bag."
"I'll go get them," Zen said. They turned around and walked towards the door.
"Bring some towels and lukewarm water too," I said.
"Okay," I heard Zen say. I grabbed a cotton ball and poured some wound cleanser on it. I rubbed the ball on Helen's wounds. I threw the cotton ball down on the floor afterwards. I grabbed another cotton ball and poured some antiseptic solution this time. Helen moved.
"I know it hurts but bear with me," I said. I rubbed the cotton ball on her wounds. I let the ball fall to the floor. I grabbed the adhesive bandages and put one on each of her wounds.
"Zen," I shouted. "Can you bring up the ice packs? Actually I'll do it, you're bring up a lot of stuff already."
"Its fine," I heard Zen shout. "I can take two trips. Stay with Helen."
"Can you bring the ice packs first?" I shouted.
"Okay," I heard Zen say. "Coming." What the fuck did those kidnappers do to you Helen? I thought. I hope your wife is not in the same shape as you. But well, she might be in worse shape judging from the finger of hers we got. Shit! I stretched my neck upward.
"I have the ice packs,"I heard Zen say behind me. I put down my head and looked behind me.
"Can you put it down beside the first aid kit?" I said. "Thanks." Zen kneeled beside me and put down the ice packs beside the first aid kit on the bed.
"You're doing good baby," Zen said. They kissed me on the forehead.
"I'll be right back with the clothes, towels, and hot water," Zen said.
"Okay," I said. "Be careful." I rubbed their hair.
"I will," Zen said. They stood up and walked outside of the room. I quickly put the ice packs on top of Helen's bruises.
"Bea, no not Bea," Helen said.
"Its okay Helen," I said. "We'll get Bea back. I promise."
"Please don't do that to Bea!" Helen said. "I'm begging!"
What can we do? I thought. If we try to do something they'll surely see it then take it out on Bea. Her life is literally on our hands right now.
"I have the stuffs," I heard Zen say behind me. I turned back to see them carrying a water basin with clothes and a face towel stacked on top of it on one hand. Meanwhile, they were carrying the kettle on the other. I stood up.
"Its fine," Zen said. "I got it." They walked inside the room. They put the everything down gently on the floor beside the bed.
"Thanks babe," I said.
"No problem," Zen said as they sat down on the floor. They moved the clothes and towel down on the floor. They poured the lukewarm water from the kettle onto the basin. They grabbed the face towel and dipped it into the water. They passed the face towel to me. I started wiping the parts with no bruises and skipping the sensitive areas altogether.
"How is she?" Zen said.
"Better I guess," I said. "Her nightmares are still there though. Bea is definitely getting tortured. Helen seemed like she was talking to the kidnappers just before you came back. The thing that scared me the most was when she said ' Please don't do that to Bea.' "
"Fuck," Zen said. "But as much as we want to rescue Bea, we can't. They might disfigure her even more permanently."
"Yeah," I said. "Plus-"
"Plus what?" Zen said.
"There's this gnawing in my head that's telling that something is not right," I said.
"I mean this whole situation is absurd," Zen said.
"Yes but," I said. "Don't you find it weird that Helen suddenly reappeared after we and the police weren't able to find her the first time?"
"Now that you say that," Zen said. "It is weird. The timing is weird." I handed the towel to Zen. They dipped and squeezed it twice before giving it back to me.
"Exactly," I said. "Why now?" Zen sighed.
"So we can't fully trust what she's going to say," Zen said. I bit my lower lip.
"I hate not trusting Helen but I think we need to observe her first," I said.
"Me too," Zen said. We heard a knock coming from the front door. Ughhhhhh, I thought.
"Who's here this late?" Zen said.
"Who else," I said.
"Oh right," Zen said. "I'll go get the package they sent." I nodded. Zen stood up and ran out of the room. I heard their heavy footsteps as they went down the stairs. They did see us a while ago so it makes sense they know we have Helen, I thought. They probably want her back. I heard the front door close and Zen's footsteps getting louder.
Ew, I thought. What's that smell? Please don't be the package.
"Got it," I heard Zen say. They walked in the room and sat down on the floor again. It is the package, I thought.
"Do you want to open it or should I?" Zen said. They were covering their nose as well.
"You can open it," I said. "Nothing good is in that box anyways. That stench is nasty."
"Yeah," Zen said. They undid the ribbon and tore off the wrapping paper. They took of the lid of the paper box.
"Shit!" I said. I covered my nose and mouth with both hands.
"What the fuck is inside that thing?" I said. Zen frooze.
"Zen?" I said. They grabbed the box and tilted it towards me.
"SHIT!" I said. "Is that-"
"Bea's hand," Zen said. "In a pool of her own blood." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Shit, shit, shit! I thought. What are they doing to Bea right now?
"Bea," Helen murmured.
"We should go out of the room," I said. "We should let Helen get some rest." Zen covered the package.
"Yeah," Zen said. We stood up. I put down the first aid kit on the floor. I handed the tray that was used for the ice packs to Zen. I put the face towel in the water basin and carried the water basin.
"Can you still carry the kettle?" I asked.
"Sure," Zen said. They bent down and grabbed it from the floor. They put it on the tray beside the package. I nodded at them. We walked out of the room. I closed the door gently behind me. We climbed down the stairs and turned right towards our kitchen at the end of the hallway. As soon as we got there, Zen put the package down on the small table in the center of the room. They put the tray and the kettle on the kitchen counter at the back of the room. Meanwhile, I brought the water basin at the sink and poured the water down it. I put the water basin beside the tray and kettle. Zen and I slowly walked to the table. I sat down on the nearest chair and they sat down on the chair across of me.
"So what do we do with this?" Zen said. They grabbed the box and opened it again.
"I don't know," I said. "Can hands be reattached?"
"I'm not sure," Zen said, fiddling with the pool of blood.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"There's something here," Zen said. "Aha." They pulled a plastic envelope out.
"There's a letter inside," Zen said.
"Of course there is," I said. "What do they want now?" Zen took out the letter carefully from the plastic envelope with their dry hand. They handed it over to me.
"I can't exactly unfold it," Zen said.
"Right," I said and got the letter. I unfolded it.
" It seems you've taken our escapee," I read. " That's fine, nurse her back to full health. We'll be needing her back anyways and in better condition than we left her. Bring her to the carnival with you. If you don't, Bea will be returned to you with even less limbs. See you soon."
"Fuck," Zen said. "What do they need to do that for? And what do they need Helen for?"
"Ugh," I said. "I'm getting a headache. Wait, there's more. Oh you can tell her what you know. "
"What now?" Zen said. "Why are they allowing that?"
"I don't know anymore," I said. "They're playing us good."