TWELVE
“When is she going to wake up?” someone asks.
Their voice sounds so muffled as I continue to lie still. What happened to me?
“She should wake up at any moment,” the other person replies.
Who are they? Why do their voices sound so familiar?
“Yamal, you said that three hours ago,” the first person says.
Daddy.
Yamal.
Why are they acting like I’ve been out for several hours?
“I thought, since she had gained weight, that she would be okay with a normal dosage, but I think maybe she is not. She should wake up at any moment, really,” Yamal replies. “I was in such a rush to get the sedative that I didn’t think twice about whether her body could handle the same dosage as the other girls, but I will remember for next time.”
“Let’s hope there isn’t another incident like this.” Daddy sighs. “I really didn’t want to have to do this to her. I broke my promise.”
“You didn’t, though,” Yamal gently says.
Daddy broke his promise? How?
“You said you wouldn’t let it happen unless it was an emergency. With how she was acting, it was an emergency. She could have hurt herself if we had let it continue. She will understand that when you talk to her about it,” Yamal explains.
I moan as Daddy grabs my hand. He’s so warm compared to my cold self.
“Why is she so cold again?” Daddy asks.
“The medicine could have shut down her body a little more since it was a higher dosage. Just have her close to you to help warm her up. She will be back to normal before you know it,” Yamal replies.
Silence fills the room, but Daddy keeps hold of my hand.
“Are you going to hold her?” Yamal asks.
“Not yet. I want to be able to talk to her first. I don’t want her to panic if she remembers,” Daddy says.
“She will understand eventually.”
I crack my left eye open and look at Daddy. He is staring at our connected hands, his thumb rubbing across the back of my hand.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he whispers. “I just need you to wake up so we can talk.”
My finger twitches, and his head snaps up to mine. Before I can close my left eye, we make eye contact.
“Little pet,” he gently says. “You’re awake. It was an emergency, and we had to give you the injection.”
My eyes go wide as I stare at him. I yank my hand out of his. Right. He gave me a shot. A shot to knock me out.
“No,” I whisper, looking at him in horror.
He told me that he wasn’t going to make me have a needle. How could he do something like that?
“Leah,” he gently says.
“You gave me a shot.” I gag at the mention of it.
