Page 16 of Butch

Her appetite had returned after several days of eating soft, light food. She wanted to sink her teeth into a juicy burger. To taste the meat, cheese, and condiments in one bite.

Butch cracked a smile. We’ll get you food in a second, but I want to talk about how you’re feeling about everything else. Your IV has been out for a couple of days. The doctor has given me some suggestions on what would be best for you.

Oh, he was talking about that. Which Rae knew, of course, but she was trying to avoid this conversation as much as possible. Her head was swimming with all the information he had given her.

Was it going to end up being just a waste of time, or would she have them for a long time and end up being happy?

She had no answers to any of the questions running through her head.

Butch kept gazing at her, waiting for her to answer. She closed her eyes, but once she felt his hands cupping her face, she knew it was over. He was going to give her a tender look, and Rae was going to melt into his embrace and give him an answer.

“I want it, but I don’t want it,” she whispered. “I feel fine. I just want things to go back to what they used to be. I want to forget the past eight years and pretend nothing happened to me. I don’t want Ed⁠—”

Rae’s eyes went wide, and she stared at Butch. She had gotten so close to telling him who was after her. If he knew who he was, would Butch take his side?

Ed? What’s the rest? What is his name?

She shook her head.

Tell me. Butch wrote and then signed.

He had been doing a lot of that in the past several days. He wanted her to start learning sign language, so if she ever didn’t have a hearing device, she would have a way to communicate.

“It was nothing,” she replied.

He gave her a pointed look and started to write, but she took the whiteboard out of his hand and shook her head, fed up with everything.

Butch calmly looked at her.

“I’m sick of this. I’m sick of not being able to have a normal conversation with you. I’m tired of you having to write on the whiteboard to communicate with me.” Rae raised her voice, letting the frustration pile out. “I’m exhausted, and I don’t want to be worried that something is going to happen to you or your people. I just want him dead, so I don’t have to worry about anything. I want my hearing back, so I can be normal. I just want to be a normal person with nothing wrong with me, but I’m broken beyond repair, and I don’t know what to do!”

Rae was breathing heavily at the end of her rant, but she felt better, lighter in a way. Butch signed the word for done, and she opened her mouth. Was she done?

“Yes,” she said, shoulders slumping.

Butch took back the whiteboard and started writing, and the frustration started to grow once again.

I know you want things to go back to normal, and I’m sorry that they can’t, but we can try and make it as normal as possible. We can make your life a little better by getting you some aids to help you hear, and you can learn sign language more.

Rae opened her mouth, but Daddy shook his head. Butch. She meant Butch, but he was starting to act like her Daddy once again.

If you want him dead, you tell us his name, and we’ll go after him. We’ll make him pay so he can’t harm you any longer. You just need to give us a name.

“You won’t believe me if I told you,” she whispered as he started to write again.

And you aren’t broken. You might have some wounds, but we’ll get them patched up. Things are going to look a little different, but you aren’t broken. You just need some extra love and care right now, and that’s what I’m going to give you.

“But I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve anything.”

You deserve it and a lot more, and I’m going to make sure you get it. Now, can you tell me his name?

Rae shook her head. “Dangerous. I don’t want any of you guys hurt.”

Butch sighed, and the guilt festered inside of her. She wanted to tell him so badly so he could take care of it… Take care of her, but she didn’t want him to get hurt.

Edmund was a nasty person with many connections in their town. She didn’t want Butch to find out, and his relationship with his father turn bad. She didn’t want to be the cause of it.

Tell me his name.