“Okay, that’s good. I’ll be extra careful in case it is something that’s glass.”
Maybe it wasn’t too late to try and change his mind. He didn’t need to do this.
“I can just call someone,” she said. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Janie,” he said. “I’m doing this for you. End of discussion. Now, can you tell me which switch is the one that turns it on?”
She pointed to the lonely switch. It was easy to remember which one it was. Donald had wanted it with the rest of the other light switches but she didn’t. What if she fell into Littlespace and accidentally turned it on?
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Though, when she was Little she wasn’t anywhere near the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Mac said. “Now, I’m going to take a quick peak.”
She watched as he turned his back on her and walked towards the sink again. Janie watched his movements. Nerveswere running through her body as he slowly put his hand on the sink. Something was going to happen.
Her fingers moved towards her mouth and she subconsciously started to bite them. What if something happened? Was he going to lose too much blood and not make it to the hospital? What if the thing magically turned on.
Janie watched as his hand lowered into the drain. Her eyes were trained on his hand, watching him to make sure nothing happened. She wouldn’t be able to do anything this far away, but she didn't know what else to do. She wouldn’t be able to sit down in the living room or in her office and work. Her mind would be on him and his hand in the drain.
Her eyes moved from his hand to his face, trying to find any sign of discomfort. But nothing was there. She looked back down at his hand. How long was he going to be in there? Was he finding anything? What if his hand got stuck and he couldn’t get it out? Maybe she should have just sucked it up and put her hand down there. It was much smaller than his.
There were so many things that could go wrong. She didn’t want anything to happen to Mac, not in her own house.
Mac moved his hand and she let out a little whimper. Was he hurt? Did something happen? She didn’t hear anything turn on or him scream in pain. What could have gone wrong?
“Janie?” Mac asked.
She kept her eyes on his hand. He wasn’t moving it. Was it hurt?
“Pinky? Are you okay?” he asked.
Janie was watching his hand and biting her fingernails even more. She could feel slight pain and the metallic taste in her mouth, but she didn’t care right now. Mac could get hurt or he could already be hurt.
She knew he was talking to her, but her brain wasn’t fully registering it. She was solely focused on his hand down the strain and the possibility of it randomly turning on and hurting him.
His hand slowly moved out of the drain and she searched his hand for any signs of blood.
Nothing.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She stared at the sink again. His hand had been down there. He could have been hurt. Mac could have almost died. Why had she let him do that? It wasn’t okay.
“Janie,” he gently said.
He moved in front of her and knelt down. Her eyes went back to the sink. She definitely needed to get rid of that now. She would never be able to look at it the same.
Mac touched her hand and pulled it away from her mouth. She let out a little whimper and she locked eyes with him.
“It’s okay. You’re okay,” he whispered. “Nothing is going to happen. I’m okay.”
She stared at him, not wanting to speak right now. He had his hand down the drain. She had repeated that over and over in her mind, but she still wasn’t fully wrapping it around her brain.
“Were you worried that I was going to hurt myself?” he asked.
She nodded her head. Anything could have happened. What if he had accidentally touched the switch and turned it on while his hand was still down there? What if he had asked her to do something and she accidentally turned it on? She would never forgive herself.
“Thank you for telling me that,” he said. “You’re such a good girl. Nothing is going to happen. You don’t have to worry about anything.”