Cecil went behind his desk again and rifled through his drawers. "She was still feisty, but now she was well-behaved. We had a wonderful relationship after that." He pulled out a small black book and flipped through the pages. "So believe me when I say I know exactly what you're going through."
"What happened to her?" I asked. No one really knew what happened to the Young Ladies after they aged out. Retired Daddies were tasked with training the new DITs. But no one ever saw the Young Ladies again once they’d been impregnated. Cecil pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to me. It was a photo of a beautiful young woman, who looked vaguely familiar.
"She aged out, was taken to the doctors for seed implementation, and nine months later, she became Eleanor’s biological mother."
Rule Five - Eleanor
Throwing a fit will get you nowhere.
"Eleanor, we have news."
I bolted up from my bed. "You found Milton?" My chest swelled with hope. It'd been weeks, sending Daddies and DITs out to try to find him only to come back to the bunker empty. They had to know something.
"No." Dorothy sniffed the air in my bedroom and made a sour face. "I want you to shower, take care of whatever is making this room smell this way, and get everything picture-perfect clean. You've been reassigned."
"Reassigned? What does that mean?"
"You have a new Daddy. He is on his way up now. Thankfully, your Daddy's room does not smell like this one does." She nodded to the door on the right wall. On the other side was my Daddy's room. They'd cleaned it out the day after my birthday, leaving no trace of the Daddy that had been killed in action.
My Daddy. His name was Dale.
"How can I just get a new one? That doesn't make sense!" I leapt out of bed. "I don't want a new Daddy."
"Yes, well, we didn't want your original oneto be torn in half by crawlies either, did we?" she retorted. "Shower, clean, and prepare. Your new Daddy will be here by dinner."
Begrudgingly, I scrubbed my body, washed my hair, and when I got out, I stared in the mirror. I looked like a shell of the Young Lady I was just a month ago. My eyes were tired, my smile gone, and despite having Hispanic genes that made my skin tan, I was pale.
I needed to go above. Get some non-bunker air. Even the chemically stained air above was better than the stale stuff down here. A small chime rang in the bathroom, reminding me to take my pills. We weren't allowed to know what the pills were, but they did a multitude of things for us. Kept our bodies hairless, except for the hair on our heads and eyebrows, and helped us maintain a healthy weight in the event we couldn't get enough nutrition from our food. It kept our cycles regular with only a light flow. The pills made our muscles strong, our lungs and hearts strong, and most importantly, our minds. They made us perfect Young Ladies.
I recited the little commercial that played on the TV regularly in my head and then took a pill. It was the least I could do for myself as I'd neglected everything else.
I cleaned my room and waited patiently for my new Daddy to arrive. Would I be given a retired one? One of the older Daddies who'd already had a Young Lady and done their time above? I tried to rack my brain, remembering each one. There weren't many, though.
I wrung my hands and tapped my feet until there was a knock, right before dinner time, and the door slid open, revealing Dorothy.
"Eleanor, your new Daddy is here. Please stand."
When I stood, Dorothy stepped aside and everything around me started to spin. No. No, it couldn't be! Never in a million years would I have thought that it would be Callahan.I let out a small shriek as my vision blurred and the room went dark, and then black altogether.
A cold rag on my forehead brought me back to consciousness.
"Huh?" I asked, blinking rapidly. "What happened?"
Dorothy and one of the bunker medics stood beside the bed, staring at me with concern. "You fainted. Are you okay?" Dorothy asked.
I sat up slowly and looked around. My room was clean. And it smelled of fresh soap.
"Why did I faint? Did something happen? Did you find Milton?" I looked around hopefully, and then my mood plummeted when I saw someone sitting in a chair to the side. It felt like I ran right into a brick wall made of my most recent memories. Callahan, my worst enemy, had been assigned to be my Daddy.
"No. You can't do this," I protested.
"Sshh..." Dorothy pet my hair and urged me to lay back down. "We can, and we have. The decision has been made. Your new Daddy has already moved into his room alongside yours and will begin accompanying you on missions above. We know this is untraditional, but considering the circumstances, we had little choice but to move one of our DITs up."
I closed my eyes but continued to argue, "Please, no."
"Rest. It's time to start the healing process, sweetie. Callahan is your new Daddy, and you will need to treat him with just as much respect as you did your previous one."
"Why? I hate him." I knew I sounded like a child, but I didn't care. They had no idea what it felt like. What I was going through. I lost the only person who maybe loved me, and the only boy who maybe liked me. All in one night. I had to grieve over the loss of my Daddy and my someday-boyfriend at the same time. It wasn't fair to add more fuel to this raging fire pit of despair!
