While he tenderly preys upon her, she idly picks up the drum of her stethoscope and presses it against his chest, hoping for a thumping to drum her to sleep.
She searches.
And she searches.
And she finds nothing.
CHAPTER VI
When she comes to, the room is still dark. She blinks a few times, making sure that her eyes are open, that it’s not just the backs of her lids keeping her in the dark. She adjusts, her sight finding a spectrum of shadows. She wiggles and feels him. Her body freezes, feeling his arms wrapped around her, his ribcage pressed against her, his still, unmoving body curled tightly into hers. He is here, even after she wakes.
He is still here!
An urge to move, to stretch, seizes control of her; she tries to squirm into comfort without disturbing his rest, afraid that he might leave if he finds her awake. She would give anything for more moments like these. More moments where he is with her, so intimately crushed against her when she rises. But as she shifts, so does he, and she fears she may have stirred him despite her efforts.
“Daddy?” she whispers, ever so softly in case he did not wake.
“Yes, my sweet?” His deep voice cuts through the darkness.
She flinches.
“Did I wake you?” she asks hesitantly.
“No. I’ve been awake.”
“Oh . . . okay . . .” Her thumbs twirl in circles she cannot see. “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Am I still bleeding?”
“No.”
“What about my dress?”
She hears him sigh and thinks she can see the cloud of his breath. “The dress is ruined, Vanilla. But I will get you a new one.”
“How?”
“I will buy you a new one.”
“From where?”
“From the Outside.”
“How?”
“With money, my sweet.”
“What is money?”
He pauses, taking a moment to think of a description that would best suit her understandings. “It is a kind of paper.”
Her face scrunches up with confusion. “How can you get a beautiful dress with paper?”
“It’s a special kind of paper. More valuable than normal paper.”
“Why is it valuable?”
He pauses again, then smirks. “Because the creatures desperately want as much of it as they can get but there is only a limited amount of it.”
“Oh . . .” Her thumbs slow. “I don’t think I understand.”
“Hmm. Well, think about it like this.” He seizes the opportunity with a grin. “There are creatures in the Outside, correct? Hundreds of them.”
“Yes.”
“And there is only one of you, correct?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Which means you are valuable, correct?”
“I suppose so . . .”
“So, anyone who has you has something of value. Which means everyone wants you, but they can’t all have you, correct?”
“Right . . . because there is only one of me?”
“And you can’t be split into pieces and shared amongst the creatures.” He pinches the joint of her elbow. “You wouldn’t be you, and therefore you wouldn’t be valuable. Correct?”