Page 30 of Albel

I look up at Daddy to see him already gazing at me.

“I think he’s really worried about you. Several things have happened, and he might be afraid that you are trying to be so strong and cope in ways that aren’t good for you. He might even be a little scared. Scared that something is going to happen to your health, and he doesn’t want that,” Yamal continues. “Do you want to worry your Daddy?”

“No,” I whisper, tears glistening in my eyes.

I blink and look away from Daddy. I didn’t think I was making him that worried, but yet again, I haven’t been paying as much attention to him, really, only whether he’s right next to me or not.

“Can you face me and talk to me?” Yamal asks. “I just want to ask some questions to get a feel for what’s going wrong. Your Daddy has told me a little bit, but I would like to know some more from you.”

Daddy helps me turn my body, but I don’t look him in the eyes; the guilt is eating me up. I’m making Daddy feel scared and worried about me.

“Now, I don’t have to have you look me in the eyes,” Yamal starts. “But I would prefer it. It would make this a lot easier for me.”

“I don’t want to.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Then you’ll be able to see my eyes.”

And that is one gateway for them to see my emotions. I don’t want that.

“It’s okay. Whenever you feel ready to look up, you can. But I would like honest answers to my questions so we can get to the bottom of this,” Yamal says. “I don’t want you to suffer, and I know your Daddy doesn’t want you to suffer, either.”

“I’m not suffering, though.” I look up at him, narrowing my eyes. “I’m not suffering one bit.”

“I think you know that’s a lie,” Yamal gently says. “You’re anxious, right? Were you always this anxious on the space station?”

I shake my head and break eye contact with him. “No.”

“And when did it start?”

Shrugging, I mess around with my fingers.

“Answer truthfully,” Daddy reminds me.

“When Daddy first got me. I was anxious before then because I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, but then I figured I was going to die and had accepted it. But then Daddy came and saved me, and that’s when it started. I was anxious that he was going to leave me, like the guard did for who knows how long, without food and that I would die. He had given me hope, and then I was worried—” I stop talking.

“And it was starting to get better, right?” Yamal asks.

Daddy covers my hands with his, giving them a gentle squeeze.

“I thought I was,” I mumble. “But I guess it started again whenever the man came into the shop.”

Here I go again, bringing him up, but he seriously creeps me out. Daddy doesn’t really like it when I talk about him, but I always get a bad feeling when I think about him.

“Albel mentioned him and told me a little about your concerns.” Yamal nods.

“We’re looking into him but haven’t found anything significant yet,” Daddy butts in. “That doesn’t mean we’re stopping our investigations.”

“Since this is giving you a lot of anxiety, I’m going to increase your dosage. The pills will be delivered in an hour. I want you to take one a day, or have your Daddy put one into your bottom once a day. If you find yourself still extremely anxious, then I want you to do it morning and night, so every twelve hours,” Yamal explains. “If that doesn’t work, which I think it will, we’ll talk about something else. But for now, I want you to just try and relax as much. Maybe try holding onto a string that is attached to your Daddy if he needs you to be in the kennel. That way, you know that he’s still there. At any point, you can tug on the string or call his name and he’ll come to you.”

“We’ll try that,” Daddy says.

“Good. If you need anything else, call me.” Yamal gets up from his seat and leaves.

Daddy and I sit in silence for a while, just enjoying being in each other’s embrace. This is how I want every single day to be. Just us two together, not thinking about anything else going on in Venkoria.

“How about we go visit someone?” Daddy asks. “Maybe we can do it tomorrow, and it can help you.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Nora,” he replies. “I’ve talked to her Daddy. And as much as I want you to assimilate to Venkoria before you go see other people, I know that you need this, and I think it’ll be okay.”