There was a long silence.
"Dad, I have to see her, and he—" Henry raised me lightly in his arms,
"— Is coming with me. Now." There was a command that was not to be argued against in his voice.
"Steve, go home." I said, and after he hesitated a bit, I saw him taking off.
"Come in." His dad motioned for us to step inside. It was also a small apartment, but we stood directly into the living room after stepping in.
Two doors were across the living room, facing us, and one door opened. A lady, probably Henry's mother, stepped out; seeing Henry, she cried and wanted to go to him, but was stopped by her husband.
Following her, the head of a dull, tall girl peeked out.
"Henrietta." I snorted. Getting fucking, real angry. I should be relieved to see her, but I just felt set up somehow.
"Let me down." I snapped at Henry, who obliged, without turning his eyes away from his sister.
I limped to the couch.
"Your son stabbed me while a monster dragged us away; can I respectfully ask you to get me fucking first aid shit?" I really tried to control it, but instead I was being an asshole.
"What are you doing here?" Henrietta asked with a frozen face, not so happy to find her brother coming here.
"We are just investigating Madam's murder, of WHICH I AM ACCUSED TO BE THE FUCKING CULPRIT!" I yelled at her. Henry didn't scold me or even turn to me, giving me a sudden satisfaction. Good dog.
"Oh.... I thought I would just disappear..." She mumbled, but everyone heard clearly.
"SO YOU CAME HER WILLINGLY?" I burst out, feeling like I had gone through hell.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and I was ready to continue raging when I saw Henry's mother giving me bandages and wound disinfectant.
"Thank you…."
"Sorry for yelling." I nodded at her and got ready to unbind wounds.
Henry sat on the couch table and cautiously put my leg over his thighs. He unbound the shirt shreds, and I let him do it. I leaned back and closed my eyes.
On the table was a pair of scissors with which Henry cut my pants open. When he saw the extent of my wounds, he stopped. And froze.
"And that is my fucking good leg; the other is even worse." I commented. This was the leg he sliced; the other was the leg he stabbed. Fucking Motherfucker.
"Crawled over a hill of torsos to save your sorry ass; I hate you. I will print your face over the fucking news; let's see if you are going around stabbing people." I was so angry again that I couldn't stop my muttering. I wanted to yell at him, 'SEE? SEEEEEE? SHE IS ALIVE, YOU FUCKER!' But I saved that for later. There were enough other grievances.
"Mom, Dad, please leave us three alone. We have to talk about a few things." Henry finally spoke with an eerie calmness. After another bout of hesitation, they left and went hunting or taking a walk or whatever.
Henry spoke again.
"Henrietta. Come here."
She finally left her room and walked to us, standing so that Henry could look at her while he bandaged me.
"Explain yourself."
"No." I intercepted.
"Before that, I have a few questions myself."
Henrietta looked at me dully, while Henry didn't disagree.
"Henrietta, how long have we known each other?" I asked.
"About a year, why?"
"How often have we met?"
"Once or twice a week."
"Had we had sex?"
"No." Her face scrunched up insultingly.
"Have we kissed?"
"No." This time she was quieter.
"Have we met outside of school?"
"No." She sighed.
"Do I have your number?"
"No." Now she even rolled her eyes.
"Did I ever hit you?"
"No."
"Thank you very much. Please continue." I leaned again back and fished for a cigarette. I don't care anymore. Call me a brat, but I want a smoke while my loyal dog is bandaging me.
Nobody said something at me smoking in a place that wasn't my home, so I did what I wanted.
"Now, explain yourself." Henry repeated.
"I have these memory problems, sometimes seeing situations that are unreal. Like things with Mum and Dad. And now I found them!" Her usually dull eyes lit up.
"How?" Henry questioned her without looking up.
"I started to hear a voice, my own voice. Then we talked, and she told me about her abusive boyfriend. She wanted to flee; I wanted my parents, so we made an exchange. I wanted to meet her in the forest, but she didn't show up."
Bullshit. That's what I say. The shredded torso of Henrietta2 hadn't crawled from the forest in the middle of the street itself, with all the evidence against me.
"Did you get me involved on purpose?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes at her amid the smoke.
"… No." There was a strange pause before she answered, and I cursed her in my mind, feeling there was more to it.
I saw that Henry was finished with my first leg; it looked really professional. I hadn't even felt a sting, but it could also be because I was still too angry.
He came to my other leg, and when he unbound my makeshift bandage, it started bleeding again.
"It hurts like hell." I said, seeing Henry pausing for a second before again cleaning everything and bandaging me tightly.
"So? You can also stay here." Henrietta said, sitting down on the floor.
"You have to come back with us." Henry said authoritatively.
"No!"