his forgotten mate

CHAPTER 37b

There was a noise, one noise though, it sounded like when bad man would throw something down, or throw us. I held myself tight, waiting for someone to come in but no one came in yet. 

"Kayla... when you were with your momma, brothers and sisters, the bad guys, they would open doors whenever they wanted. That is wrong sweetheart," Papa said but he was the wrong one. I knew better... this was probably a bad game. 

"I know you don't believe me, but unless you say anyone can come into that room, no one will come. The right way... the good way... the only way, anyone will ever come into a bathroom you or your siblings are in is if they knock, like this," and there was a noise. I guess it was a knock. 

"When you hear that Kayla, if you are on the inside you ask, 'who is it?' and the person on the outside, they say who it is. They ask you to come in, and if you want them to come in you say come in. But Kayla, if you don't want them in there, you tell them no. So right now, you are in the room. No one is going to come in there with you... do you see the door knob?" he asked. 

"It's the handle to push the door in... on there is a little piece. When you turn that, it means you are locking the door. You are making sure that no one comes in, when you want someone to come in, you turn it." I looked at the handle... there was a turn thing like he said. The basement didn't have those turn things. Not on this side. 

"We won't hurt your Kayla..." Papa sounded like he was crying. Was someone hurting him out there? 

I put my head down, but I didn't close my eyes, or think of myself as Kayla with my arms and legs. I waited a while; even though I was hungry... we had been getting lots of food now... Papa started to hum. I thought again, doing what Papa said, thinking of myself with legs and walking and then I was. Legs were in front of me, I wiggled my toes. Then my fingers too. 

I was still on the floor, but I had no clothes on, and I was worried again. I stared at the door, then back at my arms and legs. They didn't hurt anymore, not my stomach, or my chest or my mouth.

"Sweetheart, Kayla, if you are human again, can you knock one time?" Papa asked but he wasn't coming in. So I lifted my hand and made a small knock. He sighed, "Okay good. You can take a shower... push the red and blue, get the water warm like you want it. There is a towel on the sink, and clothes for you to change into when you are dry. Take your time, if you need help knock two times and I will send Shavon or Juliet in, if that's okay can you knock one time?" No one was going to come in here? Or pretend to be nice? I still didn't move, just watched the door. Then knocked.

 "Kayla, if it would make you feel more comfortable, you can lock the door,” Papa said and slowly I went to my feet, but I was shocked. It was all very different, nothing was hurting and I couldn’t remember a time when I didn’t hurt somewhere.

           

All these new rules were confusing, I wasn’t sure what to believe but if I could lock the door I would, and did. Then I started the water, smiling that I would get to take a bath for real, alone and I didn’t have to share my water with my brothers and sisters. There were things on the side, but I didn’t dare touch them, Papa didn’t say I could touch them. Only turn the water on, and use the stuff the woman brought into the room. I stayed in the water a long time, and when it was getting cold I turn it off and then dried and dressed myself.