Page 31 of Releasing 10
“You might die.”
I started to cry.
“You mustn’t tell anyone you know the truth,” he whispered, stroking my cheek. “It would make it worse.”
“It would?”
“Oh yes, talking about it makes the sickness spread inside of your body.”
“Make it stop!”
“I can try if you want me to?”
“You said you could make it better,” I cried, gripping his arm. “Please fix me.”
“Okay, but you’re going to have to be a very good girl.” He sighed sadly. “Can you do that for me? Can you be a brave girl and do everything I tell you?”
“I can.” I nodded eagerly. “I swear.”
“And you can keep it a secret?”
“I promise, I won’t tell.”
“We might have to try something different tonight, munchkin.”
“Like what?”
He thought about it for a long time, tapping his chin before saying, “I could try the really special hug.”
“Yes.” I nodded eagerly. “Do it.”
“Are you sure?” He arched a brow. “It might feel strange.”
“Will it make me better?”
“Oh yeah,” he said coaxingly. “It’ll make you feel so much better, munchkin.”
I agreed. “Then do it.”
“Okay.” He sat on my bed and placed his hand on my leg. “I’m going to need you to take off your nightie for this, munchkin.” He smiled. “It’s how boys and girls do the special hug. We have to take all of our clothes off.”
I didn’t think twice about it. I didn’t want to get sick like Mammy. I wanted to be fixed, and Mark could fix me. He promised he could. Whipping off my nightie, I looked up at him and waited for him to tell me what to do next.
“You can watch,” he said, when he started taking off his clothes. “You like to look, don’t you, munchkin?”
My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the thing sticking up between his legs. “What’s that?”
“That’s what’s going to make you better, munchkin,” he said. “Do you want to touch it?”
I didn’t think so.
It looked strange.
And scary.
“That’s okay,” he chuckled, climbing onto my bed. “We can work up to that.”
“Work up to what?” I asked, lying down on my mattress for my special hug and opening my legs just how Mark liked me to.
