“DADDY?! DADDY, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Nothing.

CHAPTER XVI

Her jaws click shut. A drop of black water slips from her chin and splatters against the concrete, a helpless victim dragged down by gravity. Her jaws click again. Beads of sludge melt down her body, beneath her dress, between her legs.

She looks about the empty room. Adrenaline drains from her system. A sense of security nestles in around her now that she’s back in her own space. But even then, a wisp of anxiety stitches through her tendons with a thin needle, disrupting her peace.

Because her daddy is not here.

Her jaws click, trying to mitigate the bruised sensation behind her molars. The pain isn’t real, but the phantom memory of it is. The disturbed irrationality of the act perplexes her.

“They’ll bash against the walls with their giant fists and sticks. But don’t worry, my sweet. They won’t be able to get in. Not in here.”

Not in here. But out there? Out there, they’ll do so much worse.

She bends over her mattress to pluck a lollipop from the pile, opting for the one that sticks out from the peak of the sweet mountain like a flag of victory. She unwraps it and lets her jaw hang loose after one final click, placing and replacing the lollipop on her tongue at awkward angles as though someone else were doing it for her.

It’s not the same. The loving wrap of his arms around her doesn’t come next like it should, but the sweet bite makes her feel a little more settled.

The sludge hardens. Her skin tightens, crackling when she moves to stand. There is a bath down the hall, just a few paces away.

I need to get clean before Daddy returns. I need to show him I can take care of myself. He doesn’t need to worry about watching over me anymore. About keeping me safe. I can be careful and strong and do that for him. He can just enjoy my presence now. We can just enjoy being together, without having to worry. I just survived the Outside and the creatures without him and now I’ve returned unharmed! I protected myself . . . for him. And he will forgive me. He has to forgive me.

Because she doesn’t know what she will do if he doesn’t.

I have to get clean.

The doors on this floor all lead to rooms that look just like hers. The concrete replicas make her wonder if she’s made a circle, disoriented by their proximity, going round and round and round until she grows dizzy. She leaves open the doors to what rooms she’s already checked so as not to waste time looking into the same room twice or thrice, but still she double checks and triple checks. When she can’t find the bath, when her efforts at being astute like her daddy are in vain, she returns to her door, thankful it sits at the head of the chain. If it were lost amongst the other doors, nestled between either row, she would surely go insane.