6. Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR
BETSY
H er eyes went wide as she stared at the man towering above her. Screaming, she pushed herself away from him. She watched in horror as a pacifier fell off of her shirt and onto the bed. Had she really been sucking on it?
Betsy made eye contact with him, her cheeks heating up as she looked back down at the pacifier.
“You’re okay. Daddy is right here.”
Her breath got caught in her throat. He was calling himself Daddy again. She didn’t even know his real name.
“Everything is okay. You’re safe in my apartment.”
She looked towards the door, calculating if she could make it there without him catching her. Even if she did, she didn’t know the layout of the apartment to know where to go next. Daddy would easily catch her.
“Daddy is right here. Take a deep breath for me.”
He took a step forward. She placed her hand on the bed.
“Watch out.”
But before she could process what he was saying, she pushed herself further away from him. Yelling, she felt herself flying in the air, landing really hard on the ground. Betsy’s head bounced off of something hard making her cry out in pain.
Tears immediately pooled in her eyes and fell down her face. Pain. Pain was radiating across her head in all directions and she couldn’t get away from it.
“Shit. Little one. You’re okay,” Daddy came into her view.
Her body wracked with sobs as he picked her up, holding her closely to him. Clutching onto his shirt, she continued to sob as he sat down on the bed.
“You’re okay,” he gently said. “Daddy’s got you.”
She screwed her eyes shut as her head continued to throb with ear piercing pain.
“D-daddy,” she wailed.
“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. Daddy is going to feel around.”
Betsy tried moving her head to the side, not wanting him to touch the back of her head. But Daddy wouldn’t take that. His hands gently roamed around the back of her head, connecting with the sore spot.
Screaming, she pulled her head away from his hands, sobbing even harder as the pain got worse.
“I’m sorry, baby. You’re okay. Daddy’s right here.”
Daddy wrapped his arms around her as he stood up.
“Daddy is going to call a friend to take a look at your head. You’re okay.”
She clung onto him like a koala as he sat down in another chair. Pushing her face into his chest, she continued to cry as the pain didn’t go away. When was it going to stop? Were they going to have to cut part of her head off?
Her crying got louder as he rocked her back and forth.
“Angelo? Can you come over to my apartment?”
Her grip on his shirt tightened as he continued to talk.
“There isn’t any blood on the back of her head but she is crying up a storm. Can you come look at it? Thanks.”
His hand gripped the back of her neck, holding her as close as possible.
“You’re okay. Daddy is right here.”
She continued to cry into his chest. Betsy just wanted the pain to go away.
“D-D-Daddy,” she wailed.
“Take a nice deep breath for Daddy. You’re okay. Let’s get you calmed down or you’re going to make yourself sick and puke.”
But Betsy wasn’t paying any attention to what he was saying. The pain was blurring everything else around her.
“I know, baby. Daddy is right here,” he cooed at her. “Do you want to squeeze my hand as hard as you can?”
He gently pulled her hand free from his shirt and wrapped her fingers around two of his.
“Squeeze, baby.”
She tried squeezing, but with the crying and her head throbbing, it wasn’t very strong.
“Such a good girl. Daddy’s good girl. I’m so proud of you.”
Daddy continued to talk gently to her for who knows how long.
“Kirk?” someone called out.
Her whole body stiffened as she didn’t recognize the voice. Who was it? Why were they here? What were they going to do?
So that was Daddy’s name. Kirk. Huh. Betsy did guess he looked like a Kirk.
“You’re okay, baby. That’s Angel and he’s a doctor. He’s going to take a look at your head.”
But she didn’t want him to look at her head. She didn’t want anyone near it. Not when Daddy touched it before and it hurt so badly.
“No,” she whined.
“I know, baby but he needs to look at it.”
She pushed her head into his neck, hoping this position would make it harder for someone to look at the back of her head.
“Angelo! We’re in my room,” he called back.
Whimpering, her head throbbed as Daddy yelled. “I’m sorry, Little one. Daddy is right here and I’m not going to yell anymore. You’re okay.”
“Ah, here you two are. How is the little patient?”
Betsy squeezed her Daddy’s hand as the man spoke. She didn’t want to look at the new man or anything. She didn’t want him anywhere near her.
“Can I look at your head?” Angelo asked.
She held onto Daddy tighter, not wanting Angelo to look at her head.
“Baby, he needs to look to see if anything is wrong.”
“Noooo,” she whined.
Her head was still throbbing but not as much as before. She didn’t want Angelo to look around and make it worse.
“Come on, Little one. Daddy is right here and I’m not going anywhere. You can stay on my lap as long as you want. You can squeeze my fingers as hard as you want. I’ll give you ice cream after if you are a brave girl for Daddy.”
Ice cream. She hadn’t bought herself ice cream in forever. It wasn’t expensive but it also wasn’t cheap so she rarely splurged on herself for that.
“Ah, I think I found something,” Daddy gently said. “You can have two big spoonfuls of whatever flavor of ice cream you want after you get checked out. Does that sound good?”
She pulled back slightly and looked at Daddy.
“Promise?”
“I promise, baby.”
Betsy turned her head and looked over at Angelo. He smiled and she quickly put her face back in Daddy’s chest. Was she really about to let him look at her head?
“I don’t want it to hurt,” she whispered, tears already forming in her eyes.
She remembered the pain when Daddy touched her head. She didn’t want to feel that again. Ever.
“It might hurt a tiny bit, but I’ll make sure to be extra careful,” Angelo said. “Your Daddy can even hold your head still so it doesn’t move.”
Betsy sneaked a little peak at Angelo. He was already looking at her with a small smile on his face.
“I can’t promise it won’t hurt, but I am going to be so gentle. I just need to make sure everything is okay and nothing is bleeding or getting worse.”
Was she really going to do this?
“Can you be brave for Daddy?”
She nodded and leaned her head on Daddy’s chest. If they were going to do this, she was going to be in this position where her head couldn’t move much but she was still able to move it if she needed to get away.
“Alright, I’m going to touch the sides of your head so you aren’t surprised. Then I’ll slowly make my way towards the middle,” Angelo explained.
His fingers touched her head, making her flinch. She knew he just told her, but she still wasn’t expecting it. She didn’t want it.
“You said there was no blood?” Angelo asked as he slowly moved his hands.
“That’s correct.”
“Do you know what she hit her head on?”
“I don’t. It could have been the side of the end table near the bed or it could have been the edge of the closet door,” Daddy explained.
“Hmm, it seems like your Daddy needs to baby proof the whole house,” Angelo chuckled. “And keep a closer eye on you.”
His fingers gently moved closer to the center of her head. Pressing on a spot, she whimpered and moved her head out of the way.
“No,” she whined, tears pooling in her eyes. “Pain.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be gentler next time I touch it.”
But she didn’t move her head back. She didn’t want him to touch it again. No way.
“I need to quickly touch it again to see how big it is and then I’ll be done with that part.”
What else did he have to do?
“Brave, Little one,” Daddy said, rubbing his hand up and down her back. “Daddy’s brave Little girl.”
Clenching her fist around his shirt, she moved her head back in place and waited for Angelo to get back to touching.
“I’m going to touch it again.”
Even with his warning, it still didn’t prepare her for when he was about to touch her. She flinched and clenched her jaw, not liking the pain he was creating in her head.
“Please,” she begged.
“Almost done.”
Her grip tightened around Daddy’s shirt as Angelo continued to gently move his hand around the knot at the back of her head.
“Done.”
His hands were off of her head faster than he said the word. Her shoulders slumped as she took in a deep breath. The pain was still there, aching at the back of her eyes. When was it going to stop? Was it ever going to stop?
“Now I need to look at your eyes.”
She shook her head, the tears running down her face. She didn’t want any more done.
“Baby, I know you don’t want to, but we need you to.”
They didn’t need her to, they wanted her to. She didn’t want to do this at all.
“Do it for the ice cream,” Angelo whispered. “The delicious ice cream.”
“Another scoop?” she inquired.
Daddy laughed and ran his hand up and down her back again.
“A negotiator. We like that,” Daddy said. “Three scoops but no more after that.”
“All at one time?”
She caught on that he didn’t say all at one time. She didn’t want a scoop a night and him call it three scoops.
“She’s smart,” Angelo said.
“All at one time. I promise and Daddy can’t break his promise”
“Big scoops?”
“Three big scoops at one time.”
“Okay,” she mumbled.
She still didn’t like it, but Daddy did promise three big scoops of ice cream in whatever flavor she wanted.
“Can you turn her around?” Angelo asked.
Daddy helped her turn around, her back to his chest. She looked everywhere but Angelo’s face.
“I’m going to need you to look at my right ear as I shine this bright light in your eye.”
Before he could do anything, she closed her eyes.
“Why?”
She didn’t want him to shine something in her eyes. Was he never told not to do that?
“I need to see if your pupils are the same size.”
“Didn’t your mom or dad ever teach you it’s not good to shine things in other people's eyes?” she mumbled.
Her dad might have not been the greatest towards the end, but he sure did tell her when she was younger not to do it.
Angelo chuckled. “Yes, they did but this is okay. Eye doctors do it all the time and so do regular doctors. Just need to make sure you don’t have a bad concussion.”
“I don’t know if I trust you.”
“Well, do you trust your Daddy?”
Betsy stayed silent. She hadn’t even known this man for a full twenty-four hours. How was she supposed to trust him?
“I think you do, even if you are unsure,” Angelo gently said. “He wouldn’t have asked me to come and check on you if he knew I was going to harm you.”
He did have a point there but she didn’t know if Daddy wanted to harm her or not. He said he didn’t, but she didn’t know him that well. He hacked into her computer and found out information about her. Found out where she lived and came to scold her.
Which she thought was really weird. Who comes to someone's house that they don’t know and scolds them? It was abnormal.
“He’s right, baby. Angelo is the best and I want you all healthy. You hit your head and I would hate for you to have a concussion we don’t know about and it get worse.”
“Do you feel nauseous?” Angelo asked.
She shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. It was just pain.
“Do you want me to do it to your Daddy first and see that it isn’t going to harm you?”
She cracked one of her eyes open.
“Your Daddy is totally fine with that. If you will feel more comfortable, I can do that.”
“O-okay,” she whispered.
She opened her eyes fully and watched as Angelo shined the light in Daddy’s eyes. He blinked several times and looked at her with a big smile.
“See, I can still see your gorgeous blue eyes and the freckles on your nose,” Daddy said, tapping the tip of her nose.
She giggled.
“Can you look at me, Little one?” Angelo asked. “I promise to be quick.”
Betsy looked over, still unsure about it.
“Remember the ice cream,” he whispered. “Your Daddy is going to give you three big scoops at one time. Maybe you can even get toppings on it.”
Her eyes went wide as she looked at Daddy.
“Only a couple sprinkles,” he told her.
“That means you can have as many as you want,” Angelo said. “I speak fluent Daddy since I am one. You have been so brave.”
She nodded her head in agreement.
“Can you be brave for just a little longer while I flash the light in your eyes and ask you questions?”
“I guess,” she whispered, feeling unsure.
“Such a good girl,” Daddy kissed the side of her head. “My good girl.”
“Now, I need you to look at the tip of my right ear as I flash the lights. If it hurts, you tell me.”
“Okay.”
She stared at the tip of his right ear as he flashed the bright light in her eyes.
“Any pain?”
“No.”
“You were such a good girl,” Daddy whispered in her ear.
“Are you feeling nauseous now? Headache?”
“I don’t think so. It’s just throbbing a little.”
“I’ll give you some medicine for that.”
She relaxed into Daddy’s arms and waited for him to get the medicine.
“Rectal or mouth?”
“Mouth!” she raised her voice.
There was no way anyone was going to stick something up her bottom. Not on her watch.
Angelo chuckled. “Here are two pills you can take by mouth.”
“Someday you are going to take medicine up your bottom,” Daddy gently said.
She shook her head. No way in hell was she going to have anything pushed up her bottom. Nope. Not going to happen.
“I want you to keep an eye on her. If she starts to feel nauseous, headache gets worse, throws up, or gets worse in any way, you let me know or just go straight to the hospital,” Angelo informed Daddy.
“Sounds good. Thank you again for coming over so quickly.”
Angelo turned towards her. “Do you want to pick out a cute sticker?”
Her eyebrows raised as she leaned forward. A sticker? How could she say no to a sticker?
“I think your Daddy will agree with me that you were a really brave and good girl.”
Her eyebrows scrunched up. Something was off.
“What’s wrong?” Angelo asked as he held out the stickers.
There were so many of them. So many options and she didn’t know what to pick.
“Tell Daddy what’s wrong.”
She shook her head and pushed herself off of Daddy, catching him off guard. He kept referring himself to Daddy and she kept calling him that in her head.
Tears ran down her face as she shook her head once again, taking steps away from Daddy and Angelo.
“What’s wrong?” Daddy asked, concern written all over his face.
“S-stay back!” she stammered out.
“Tell Daddy what’s wrong. I can’t make it better if Daddy doesn’t know what’s wrong.”
“You aren’t my Daddy.”