#hello you

“Hi, sweet girl.” He whispered, gently coaxing you out of the illusory rest you laid in. “We gotta get you in the bath, okay.?” Joe spoke to you kindly, giving you the illusion of a choice you didn’t have. Your bleary eyes blinked open to meet with his soft features; the brown eyes that stared at you with ardor.

He gently picked you up, leaning your upper body to his chest, a hand under your bottom for extra support as your legs hooked to his hips and arms to his shoulders. “That’s it, good job. Gotta take it easy.” He murmured to you as he carried you to the en suite. The bath was already filled with steaming water, double checked not to burn your skin, which he adored with all his heart. The soapy water smelled like a vanilla laundry detergent, though he had used a soap that would be gentle and wasn’t too scented.

He helped pull off the old pajamas you wore, placing them in the laundry basket, while you padded over the white tile, settling into the porcelain tub. Listening to the drip of the faucet. “I should to get that fixed, m’ so silly, huh?” Joe said, walking over he took out the two plait in your hair and began brushing it as he sat by the tub.

“If I...wasn’t so stupid, i would have seen the signs and done something before..” your voice was low, if a little guttural. “Shh shh, don’t think like that. Don’t be stupid, you know better.” Joe scolded, but, oddly delicately. “You’re a smart girl, baby. Act like it.” It came out in a murmur, like he was just telling you a fact.

You sat and soaked in the bath, he occasionally pet your head. But, he was all the more focused on watching and admiring you. The emptiness in your sweet eyes made him desperately fix something, but he didn’t. Instead he got up and retrieve some pills from the cabinet, he bent down to your side. He held your face in one hand and squeezed your jaw till you opened your mouth. He slid the pill in and watched, waiting for you to swallow.