The Truth Berries

LII

           Last night was a blur for her. All she could remember was that they shared a single bed together, with both of them facing the other way. She never has slept with a man beside her before and she lay awake beside him for a long time until he heard him snoring after fifteen minutes. Then she spent another five minutes        just to calm herself down, for she had felt a burning sensation inside her since they lay down together. Helen lost count of the time afterwards thinking of things she has only seen in the movies and wondered at the possibility of it coming true to her. But fatigue and sleepiness got the better of her and she floated into oblivion.

          The next day when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that she has no one lying beside her already. Miguel was out of the bed early. But he made sure to cover her with the only blanket they had that night before leaving her still sleeping. She got up and stretched her hands and legs before going out to seek for some water. Helen washed her face and then she took a mouthful of water and began gargling. When she was done freshening herself up, she went out to the porch and found the table readied with her breakfast.

           “We don’t usually have bacon and breads for our breakfast here. So pardon this humble one that we have prepared for you.”

             Helen turned around to see Miguel’s aunt pouring her a cup of reheated chocolate. She still wanted to apologize to her about the thing last night. But she saw that the woman has forgotten about it already so she just dropped the idea.

            “This is more than enough, Tita! As a matter of fact, I never had a taste of bacon in my life. And I’ll never give up a bowl of hot fried rice for a full plate of bacon, ever. This is the best breakfast ever!”

       She sat down to a plate of fried rice, three pieces of fried dried fish, a serving of scrambled eggs and the cup of hot choco. She ate with her bare hands as the old woman watched her delightfully. Halfway done with her breakfast, Helen started to look around for Miguel. He was not inside the house and she did not see him anywhere when she washed her face a while ago. The door to his war room was open but there was no sign of him being there at the moment. Her eyes kept wandering while she was still eating and this did not go unnoticed to the old woman.

       “What is it, dear?”

       “Huh?”, she was surprised by the question.

       “You seem to be looking for something. What is it?”

       “Have you seen Miguel, Tita? I was just wondering because he was already gone when I woke up. And I haven’t seen him up to now. I’m afraid he got angry last night.”

       “I don’t think so.” She pointed a bony finger outside and she turned around to see him carrying a pail of freshly-fetched water.

              Helen dropped her jaw and a big lump of scrambled eggs fell back to her plate. She tried to stand up so she could stop him but a hand held her down.

           “Let him be. I tried to stop him too but he’s like that when he wants something done right.”

          “But he was shot and his wound is still fresh!”, she sounded alarmed.

          “I know. He showed it to me. And I must say, you did a pretty good job of keeping him in one piece. A job well done for someone who did it for the first time.”

          She seemed not to hear her praises. Her worried eyes were still riveted on him as he poured the pail of water to the bigger water container inside the makeshift bathroom. When he was done, he went down again to fetch another pail.

       “You know what, it’s been a very long time since I last saw him like that. There must be something special with you for him to do that again after a long, long time.”

       Helen did not know what to feel after that. She was happy to hear it, of course. But no one could deny the fact that it was also the same reason why he was doing what he was doing right now. Half of her wanted to keep on seeing him like that for it meant something for her. The other half, however, wanted her to rush towards him and stop him from continuing his work. Helen was tormented. But she heeded the old woman’s advice and she just finished her food in complete silence.

       By the time she was done eating, Miguel had filled the big container with water.  She was currently tidying up the table when Miguel walked inside without any shirt on. His back was covered with beads of sweat and the right corner of the gauze pad on his wound was already hanging loose, for the tapes were already wet with his sweat also. She took two steps towards him, attempting to scrutinize his wound.

       “You better clean yourself up now so that I could change that wound’s dress for you.”

      “Don’t worry about this anymore. Aunt Inday will do everything concerning this wound from now on.”

      “Why bother her when I can do it already?”, she asked with a smile.

       “Never mind that. If you are done with breakfast, you can now take a bath. The bathroom is that way and the water drum is brimming already. So you can take as much time as you want inside.”, he said coldly.

       “But I don’t have any change of clothes with me.”

       “That is already taken care of. I asked Aunt Inday earlier to buy you some clothes.”

       “Including my und – “

       “All of it.”, he said matter-of-factly.

       “But how did you know my size?”

       “I took an educated guess.”

       “So now you’re an expert on women’s sizes, huh?”, she asked playfully.

       Miguel only stared at her for a brief moment. Then, without any parting words for her, he simply turned his back on her and walked fast towards his room. Helen was left standing there, wondering about the cold approach that he just did with her. She tried to recall if she has said or done anything wrong last night to trigger this new Miguel, but she could not remember such a thing. Not long after, Inday went out of the house carrying a small bag. She gave it to Helen along with a new large towel. Helen took it and thanked her but her eyes were still on Miguel’s back.

       “What is wrong with him, Tita?”

           “Who, Miguel? Why?”

           “He seemed to become a total stranger after last night. He just become . . . distant.”

          Inday looked towards him too. But she did not seem to notice the same thing as she did.

         “Maybe he’s just tired. Just give him some time and he’ll surely snap out of it.”

         “I doubt that, Tita.”

         “Why? Did last night not go as planned?”

          Helen looked at her shocked.

          “What exactly was the plan, Tita?”

           Inday just laughed at her innocence and then she urged her to take her bath already. Helen obeyed but her mind was still pondering on what Miguel’s aunt has just said. Was that it, she asked herself. Was that the reason why he was acting so moody that morning, the questions kept on coming.

         “What was I supposed to do? Give him that for taking me away from my own home? Is he freaking crazy?!”, she kept on as she entered the bathroom.

          The bathroom they were calling was none like any that she has ever seen. Its floors were made of bamboo slits resting over three big logs underneath. The ‘walls’ of it were made only of coconut leaves woven together at both sides to form a solid covering. It was then cut through the middle of the tough part so that one leaf created two walls, which were then repeatedly layered onto each other. The wall around her stood a little higher than her neck. She started taking off her dress but she kept her bra and underwear on. She dipped for her first splash and the cold water felt real good against the early morning sun. It took her almost half an hour before she went out in her new gray shirt and a perfectly-fitting denim shorts that ended just above her knees. Her new panties felt a little tight for her, but she knew it would soon stretch to her size.

       Inday lend her a comb for her hair and she thanked her for it. When she was done, she found Miguel watching her from his room. He was standing at the doorway with his two hands tucked inside his jeans pockets. She was about to ignore him when he called her to come. So she quickly finished her hair and went to him.

       “What’s that, Sergeant?”

       Miguel did not answer her. Instead, he pointed her to a chair in the middle of the room. She looked to him with searching eyes but he deliberately avoided her stare. So she sat with crossed arms before her and without any objections. He took a chair for himself too and set it directly across her. Then he took out some sheets of paper and handed it to her. Helen perused every one of them and she learned that it was a copy of her chats and messages to Nadia right before she was found dead. Helen felt a sudden burst of rage and hate. She threw the papers back to him and it sent them all flying in all directions. He looked at her with steely eyes but she held it with her own hateful eyes.

       “So this is all that coldness and rudeness a while ago all about? For this interrogation of yours? And what was all that papers for?”, she asked him scornfully.

    “Those were copies of the last messages Nadia sent to you before she was killed. And you were the last known person she had talked to.”

    “I know what exactly those are! Don’t make me look stupid, Miguel! You could have just asked me straightaway. Why make them? So that you could treat me like one of your suspects? Is that it?”

      “I don’t consider you as that.”

      “But you treat me now like one! Why, you think I killed her?”

        “No one is accusing you of such things, Helen.”

        “Really? Then what is this? Isn’t this your own version of your white room? The place where you interrogate suspicious men and women? Isn’t this that place already? And where the hell was that dim hanging light in the middle of the ceiling? You missed that one, Miguel!”, she was already in tears.

          “Can you please calm down for a minute? I needed some answers from you, not this!”

          Miguel was heaving after that uncontrolled rise in his voice. But she did not flinch a little. She just looked defiantly at him and then she stood up and hit him hard on his face.

          “Don’t you worry, Miguel. I’m gonna give you all that f*****g answers that you are asking for!”