The Truth Berries

XXVII

        She wished everything was just a dream, but she never ever had any dream as bad as that.

       After the incident at the airport, Helen took a cab to the Manila Hotel. She asked a single-bed room where she temporarily left all her luggage. But she brought her bag carrying the jewelry box with the chest inside it. Since leaving her apartment in Seattle, she never let go of it and almost became a part of her. Helen called for another taxi to go to the apartment Nadia rented from her. Helen thought for sure, her friend Nadia would not believe what she was going to tell her. When she reached her apartment, she was troubled when she saw two men in police uniforms standing guard outside the door. One of them was leisurely having a smoke and when he saw a strange woman approaching them, he immediately threw his cigarette butt. It landed on Helen’s little garden and that sent her fuming.

       “Hey! Do you mind? That is not a giant ashtray. It’s my garden and I pay every month for its maintenance. But now you’re just going to ruin it with your cigar?”

       The policeman apologized. He went to pick it up and he threw it to a nearby thrash can. Then he returned to his post once again.

      “What’s wrong in here?”

       The two men exchanged baffled looks.

       “What’s with the stupid looks? I asked a question and no one is answering me. What happened to my apartment?”

      “You didn’t know, ma’am?”

       Helen wondered how stupid a man could be.

       “Do you think I would ever ask the question if I already knew what happened?”

      The two policemen seemed to be so intimidated by the woman who suddenly appeared from nowhere, claiming she was the owner of the house. But they were more surprised by her hostile demeanor that they even forgot they were men of authority.

      “Well, ma’am, this place is currently sealed from the public. We have orders not to allow anybody to enter this place until the investigation is done.”

      “Public? I own this place! Why should I be denied of entry?”.

      “That anybody includes you, ma’am. I’m sorry but this is strict orders from above. This place is closed.”

       “I can see that, your Honor. I’m asking what happened here.”

       The other policeman elbowed his companion and whispered something to his ear. The other one nodded twice and told him ‘okay’.

       “Now you’re whispering. Are you going to tell me or what?”

       “Ma’am, if you are who you say you are, I’m saying sorry in advance because we really cannot let you in. Even if you own this place. Now, about the thing that you asked, we suggest that you talk to the victim’s mother instead. We don’t wasn’t to be bearer of such news.”

       Helen was shocked.

       “Victim? What do you mean victim? Was there an accident here?”

       “Ma’am, please. We are not allowed to disclose anything regarding this.”

       Helen was feeling hysterical and the two men weren’t much of a help either. In her mind, she was seeing different scenarios. She was asking herself a thousand questions which she had no way of answering in complete certainty. Did she slip on the bathroom’s tiled floor? Helen knew those damned tiles get dangerously slippery every time it got wet. An electrical thing perhaps? Or maybe one of the old appliances burned and exploded, and Nadia happened to be standing near it. Then there were other more serious pictures flashing in her mind. Did someone found their way in and robbed her? Did they hurt her?  

        Helen stopped thinking and stalled no more. She took a taxi and went to Nadia’s mother. When she reached her place, she thought that she was not around for all her curtains were drawn. The heavy panel door and the screen over it were both closed. She has visited her many times before and that screen door was always left open whenever she was inside. But the thing that caught her attention most was the police car at their parking lot and the two men sitting at her porch. One of them was seated at the wooden rocking chair positioned outside while the other one was leaning beside the door, holding a newspaper. Both had a cup of either hot coffee or ginger brew. Helen could see the steam rising even from afar. The man sitting on the rocking chair noticed her coming so he called his partner’s attention. The other man lifted his eyes from his papers and looked at her. They both greeted her when she was near the house.

       “Good morning, ma’am. May we know your name and your purpose here?”

       Helen answered them but she never looked at them. She was trying to see if Nadia’s mother was indeed inside but she had little success for the curtain was doubled.

       “I’m Helen Sandoval. I’m Nadia’s bestfriend and I’m here to see her mother. Is she inside?”

       “Yes ma’am. Can I see an I.D. please?”

       Helen fumbled in her bag and took her wallet out. She gave them her student I.D. and the two men looked at it. One of them whistled lowly.

       “Thank you ma’am. If you can kindly wait for a while, I’ll just tell her of your presence.”

       The man knocked on her door and told her that a certain Helen Sandoval was there to see her. She heard Nadia’s mother’s surprised voice speak her name. Her door must be double-locked from the inside for Helen heard it as she frantically tried to open them. When the door opened, Nadia’s mother was dressed in black and fresh tears were rolling down her pale cheeks. Her eyes were all puffy from crying.

       “Oh Helen, dear!”

       She ran to hug her and Helen welcomed her in her arms. Their embraced took some time and the two nosy policemen felt awkward so they decided to walk around the garden for a while.

       “Thanks for coming, I really needed someone to talk to. Those men won’t even let me do the groceries on my own. They wouldn’t let me out of here and I felt like I was in my own kind of cell.”

       “What happened Tita? There are men in uniform at the apartment also. I asked them what happened but no one was answering me. Where’s Nadia?”

       Nadia’s mother cried once again and she took her into her arms once more. She comforted her for a while until she calmed down. She invited Helen to come inside and Helen saw something that made her realize one thing. Something terribly wrong has happened while she was gone. She saw Nadia’s college graduation picture on the altar with two lighted candles on each side. Helen needed no words to know where Nadia was. Her tears rolled down continuously and she lost all the hope she had since her successful return from Seattle. Helen felt utterly weak and she slumped on the floor where she cried like a child. Nadia’s mother started to cry again and she joined her on the floor, embracing the devastated woman her only child considered as her very own sister. Helen was feeling lost now. She knew sacrifices were needed to be paid for their triumphant escape. But she never knew the price was getting higher and higher.

       And there was no such thing as escape.