20. Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BETSY
B etsy slowly started to wake up. The first thing she felt were hands running through her hair. Who was doing that? Where was she? Why was she laying on something hard? Her whole body ached. Why?
Betsy moaned as she tried to move her head, but something kept it in place.
“Shhh, you’re okay,” Daddy whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”
She tried to move her head again, but he stopped it. Why was he stopping her from moving? What was going on?
“No moving,” he gently commanded. “Everything is okay but you need to stay still until Angelo comes. He should be here any second.”
The doorbell rang. Why was Angelo coming? What happened?
“The door is open!” he yelled.
Betsy’s eyes went wide as she remembered everything. Going down to the stairwell, trying to look into the person, finding a note, calling Daddy but hanging up, and then passing out.
She moved her arm, but Daddy quickly grabbed hold of it, not allowing her to push off of it and sit up.
“You need to stay where you are. We don’t know what's wrong and Angelo is going to look you over,” Daddy said, placing her hand back down.
Without moving her arm, she tried to search for the note on the ground. Where could it be? She couldn’t see it anywhere in front of her. Had Daddy already picked it up?
“Stop moving,” Daddy commanded. “I don’t want you to make something worse. Please, Betsy, please Little one. Daddy is begging you to stop moving until Angelo says it’s okay.”
She stopped moving, not liking the desperation in Daddy’s voice. How was she going to tell him it was nothing? That she was okay.
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Daddy sounded stressed, worried. She had made him this way. Why did she have to call Daddy? Why couldn’t she have just passed out by herself?
Because she was scared and wanted Daddy. Her body had taken over and made her call him so she could hear his voice but at the last second, her brain took over and ended it. She didn’t think it had gone through, that he had answered, but maybe he had.
Daddy told her to call if there was an emergency or she needed anything. She just wished she hadn’t called him for this. Betsy hated the way he sounded so worried and scared. The way he was holding her down and also running his hands through her hair. He was trying to calm himself down, or so she thought.
“Angelo,” Daddy said. “She’s right here.”
Maybe when she got up, she could maneuver her body so she could look and see where the note was. She needed to pick the note up before Daddy or Angelo could see it.
“I didn’t want to move her in case something happened.”
“Good,” Angelo replied. “I’ll check her over and ask her several questions.”
Angelo came into her view, sitting on the ground right in front of her. Could he see the note? If he did, there was no indication.
She took several deep breaths in, waiting for him to do something, say something. Nerves bubbled inside of her as his gaze moved up and down her body.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Angelo asked.
Her whole body froze. Did she tell them the truth or did she try and play it off? Had Daddy grabbed the note before she woke up? Had he already read it? Betsy didn’t know and it was making her worried. How was she going to know what to do when she couldn’t move her head or body to see if the note was still there or not.
“Betsy,” Daddy ran his hand through her hair. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
Tears pooled in her eyes and she blinked several times, trying to get rid of them. She didn’t want to see or feel the disappointment from Daddy if she told the truth.
“I thought I saw someone when I was walking back to the apartment door. I just got worried and I guess I started to hyperventilate. I called Daddy, but hung up because I didn’t want to bother him,” she whispered.
All but her thinking she saw someone was true. But the guilt was still eating her up inside. How much longer was she going to be able to do this?
“Who was it that you thought you saw? Someone who has harmed you?” Daddy asked.
Betsy stayed silent. She wasn’t expecting him to ask her that question. How was she supposed to answer when she didn’t know who the person was? She was getting caught up in her lies and it was getting harder and harder to remember what she had said before.
“Betsy?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, closing her eyes for several seconds.
She knew that it probably gave it away that she was lying. How could she think she saw someone she thought she knew but not know who it was?
“Can you check the cameras to see if she hit her head when she fell?” Angelo asked.
Her eyes popped open, making eye contact with Angelo. Daddy was going to check the cameras. She had forgotten he had cameras up. He would be able to see the note she picked up if he went back far enough.
“Betsy,” Angelo calmly said.
She looked away. Could he tell she was lying just by looking at her or how she was acting? Betsy needed to get a grip and calm down or they were going to know something was wrong.
“Can you look at me?” he asked.
She didn’t want to. Not when he could possibly see if she was lying or not.
“Look at Angelo, baby. You’re okay,” Daddy said.
She looked over at Angelo and he gave her a smile.
“I bet it’s pretty overwhelming waking up and being told not to move. You’re okay though. I’m going to ask you a couple more questions and then look over your body. Does that sound okay?” Angelo asked.
She took a deep breath in. Not knowing what kind of questions he was going to ask made her nervous. If she took too long to answer, he would know something was up. Daddy would know something was up. If she answered too quickly, would they think the same way?
Betsy pushed that thought away. She wasn’t going to be able to answer the questions too quickly. Most of it was a lie which meant she had to think about it and make sure they all aligned up.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and let it out before opening them back up again.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Did you hit your head?”
“I don’t think so.” Her head didn’t hurt, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hit it.
“Does anything hurt?” Angelo asked. “Anything on your body? Your legs, arms, back, neck, hands?”
“I don’t think so.
Betsy was trying to think and see if anything hurt but nothing did. She assumed it was a good thing, but what if she was numb and couldn’t feel anything? What if she had hurt herself so much that she was numb?
“You’re okay. Take a deep breath,” Angelo said. “There is no need to panic. You are okay.”
Was she though?
“She didn’t hurt her head on anything. It looks like she was able to sit down before she passed out,” Daddy said.
Betsy wanted to get up and see what he was looking at. Did he go back far enough to see that she had a note? Where was the note when she passed out? She couldn’t remember if it was in her hand or if she had placed it down before passing out.
Why couldn’t she remember? Why was it so hard to think about everything?
“You’re okay,” Angelo said. “Daddy is going to show me the video real quick and then I’ll see if I need to look at anything else before you move.”
She laid there patiently, waiting for them to look at the tape. What if they backed it up just a little more and saw the note? Her breathing picked up as she thought about them finding out. She didn’t want them to. How was she going to explain it?
There was no way to do it. She had lied several times to Daddy, putting herself in danger. There was no way to explain it and he understand that she had to do it. That she didn’t have another choice.
“You can slowly get up,” Angelo said. “It doesn't look like you hit anything but I need you to listen to me.”
Betsy stayed laying on the ground, not wanting to get up until she could look around and it not look suspicious. If she looked while Angelo was talking, there would be questions asked.
“What did it feel like before you passed out?”
“Like someone was sitting on my chest. My lungs were screaming at me to take a breath but whenever I did, my lungs would seize. I was panicking,” she whispered.
“Panic attacks. If you have several more of these in a short period of time, I want you to come to me right away. I can give you medicine to take so you don’t have them as often. I also know your Daddy knows how to help you down from them. So next time you start to have the feeling, go to your Daddy,” Angelo explained.
“Thank you,” Daddy replied.
“I,” she stopped talking.
What was she going to say? How was she going to get them to look away as she got up so she could find the note? There was no way to do it. Maybe in her state of panic she had put it in her pocket so she didn’t have to worry about that.
Hopefully that was what she did.
“What? Do you want me to explain the system he’ll use? Or one of them?” Angelo asked. “I can if you want.”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. I think I’m just tired.”
It wasn’t a lie. She was exhausted. Was that normal after someone passed out or should she be alarmed?
“Angelo?” Daddy asked.
“Perfectly normal. Her body just went through something traumatic. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was tired and feeling a little off for the next twenty-four hours. Some people who pass out from a panic attack have to rest for over a day to let their body recuperate,” Angelo explained. “Put her down for a nap or an early bedtime. Give her plenty of liquids and food. Don’t let her do anything too strenuous.”
“Who did you think you saw, baby?” Daddy asked, bringing it up again.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I can’t remember really.”
She hoped that would be enough to deter Daddy from asking any further. Maybe he’ll forget about it after a while and she won’t have to talk about it again.
“That’s okay. I’ll ask tomorrow to see if you remember anything.”
Before she could say anything, Daddy grabbed her from under her arms and hoisted her up. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist as she relaxed. But as he took a step away, her eyes went wide as she saw the white piece of paper on the ground.
Angelo stood up, picking it up on his way. “I think you dropped some–”
Daddy turned his body so both of them could look at Angelo. Shit. They were going to find out now if they didn’t .
Angelo’s eyes went wide as he stared at her. She pleaded to him with her eyes not to say anything to Daddy. He didn’t need to know.
“Please,” she mouthed, hoping he understood not to say anything.
“What is it, Angelo?” Daddy asked.
“I think I know why she passed out.”