“No!” The word half-explodes out of me.
Apple May’s smugness blinds me with rage.
“Go on then. I’m waiting.”
I drop my head. “His fingers were long and felt good. Okay? Good? Can I go to sleep now?”
“Pfft!” She throws her arms to her sides in frustration. “You could never write literature with such a lack of descriptive words! Make me feel what you felt, Patient Two, or I swear…”
“He started off pushing my panties to the side,” I say with a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t wet because the injection had me so nauseas. But he wet his fingers in his mouth, then slid the pads of his index and middle finger over my clit before…penetrating me.”
“Oh my.” Apple May slides down the washroom door, one hand on her stomach, the other massaging the back of her neck. “Continue.”
I wish to God I had the strength to break one of her bones right now, but I can barely hold my own head up.
“Nik—my husband pushed his fingers in and out of me slowly, curling and gently pulsating inside me until I was very close to having an orgasm.”
“Mmmm. Mmm-hmm, yes,oh.” Meridei’s fucking creepy mother touches herself right in front of me, on my washroom floor. Her hand moves fast and hard, like she’s naturally so comfortable with masturbating in front of a perfect stranger.
Do it so you don’t have to lose anymore memories, Sapphire. Please. You can do this.
“I got so wet—I was spilling around his fingers. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if he finished me off. If he licked my clit and…” I trail off.
Apple May’s lustful eyes snap open. “And what?!”
“Nothing. Your daughter stopped him before anything could happen.”
Her veiny fists pound the floor in a small tantrum. “That stupid, awful girl! I didn’t raise her to be so selfish!”
I slump against the wall, relieved that Apple May’s grotesque session of harassing me is over and that I won’t have to keep suffering through Electroconvulsive Therapy anymore. Yes, what I had to say to this disturbed woman might haunt my nightmares like a cursed apparition for the rest of my life…but at least I’ll stop fucking up my memory.
“Get up!” Apple May snatches my elbow and with shocking strength, tugs me to my feet. “Move! I do not have all night for this.”
“Where are we going?”
Symptoms that could only be compared to the influenza slam into my body like a train as I stumble out of the washroom and to the exit of my room. I ache from head to toe. I’m out of breath. My eyes throb with heat. My spine is being held together by a string of pins. I look back at my hard bed longingly, desperately wishing I could crawl into it and sleep for the next twelve hours without interruption.
“Your husband’s room!” Apple May knocks twice and an orderly opens the door to let us out.
“Found yourself some fresh meat tonight, Apple Sweetie?” The orderly asks in a nasally, congested voice.
Apple May feigns a gasp. “Shame on you! I’m just a delicate, Godly woman!”
“Right, right.” They laugh together. “You want into Room Three?”
“Yes. Is he sedated?”
The orderly nods, stepping around us to unlock Niklaus’s door.
“Asleep?” Apple May presses.
“I don’t think so. We’ve had to keep increasing his doses over the last few days. The man builds a tolerance quickly, and it takes five of us to hold him down.”
God, Niklaus.
A swell of pride briefly replaces the ache in my bones. I should have known he’d keep fighting back. No matter how much they sedate him, Niklaus Demechnef is a fucking killer through and through. For once in my life, I’m thankful to have him on my side.
“But he should be fairly easy for me to play with?” She pokes the orderly’s side with a sheepish giggle.
