Electric

chapter sixteen

"You're awake." He states the obvious. I just stare at him for a second before composing myself. How do I go at this? With all the things he's just said and all the new information I've just learned, I'm not sure how I feel right now. I don't hate him. I know that for a fact. I guess I should just play it cool like I didn't hear a thing until I'm ready to confront it. Waiting never killed anybody.

Honesty has.

"Were you saying something, Parker?" My voice is shaking and I can't get it to stop. "I thought I heard your voice." This makes him smile and I hold back mine like nothing between us has changed. Pretending is hard when it comes to stuff like that. Parker just took my square world and turned it into a sphere. He took my boring two-dimensional square life and turned it into a three-dimensional never ending circle. I don't quite know how to deal without the corners and sharp edges.

"I was just speaking to Roger." He explains and he knows I'll believe the lie. But, the thing is, I know the truth. I wonder how many times he's lied to me before and I fell for it like I'm supposed to now. I furrow my eyebrows by mistake. "Oh, you must not know Roger. He lives in the asylum like you used to. He has the power to heal and has come in quite handy for the past few years. I was just acknowledging how much his power has grown because he was able to heal you back to normal."

For the first time since I've been awake, I dare a glance down at my shoulder and stifle a gasp. There's nothing wrong with it. I check the other one to make sure I'm not mistaken and sure enough, that one is perfectly fine. That's incredible. I wish I had healing powers instead of electricity. I could be helpful to the world, I could make a difference. Instead I'm stuck blowing stuff up and making the lights flicker.

"This is incredible." I say breathlessly and he stares at me way longer than necessary making me feel nervous.

"I agree." He decides and I swallow hard before glancing down again. I'm wearing different clothing. I am no longer in my pajamas but in a large t-shirt. The t-shirt isn't giant but on my boney frame it hangs limp and stretches at most down to just under my butt. Once I take in the fact that I'm wearing clothes that don't belong to me, that I didn't change into, I stare up at Parker with wide eyes. If I find out he changed me, I will die. I will die right here, right now.

"Please tell me you didn't–"

"I assigned two of the female guards from the asylum to change you, love. Sadly, it was not me." He explains and I reach over to mock punch him but he catches my hand, turns it over, and stares at my palm. "You scared me for a few minutes there, love." His voice is deep and rough with emotion. I wonder how much the whole Miles thing hurt him too.

He traces the lines of my palm with his thumb.

What is he doing? Is he trying to kill me because I fear the extent of his apparent love will be my undoing. Mitch and my father are all I have ever known to show kindness. Even Ty and Josh cannot show me the friendship my family once did.

Parker claimed he loves me but....does he even know me? The real me? Does he know. When Miles kidnapped me, I wanted to kill him. But I couldn't because even though those people are right about me, I want to prove them wrong. I want to prove I am not the malevolent creature everyone pins me to be.

"I found you collapsed in the middle of the hallway and you weren't moving." His voice is barely above a whisper and I can tell he's still very upset about the whole thing. "Honestly, love, I thought you were gone. I thought that finally you were relieved of all your suffering but then I noticed your body was shaking ever so slightly. I picked you up and brought you here before calling for two female guards and Roger. You were out for a little while until now. This was all after I took care of Miles, of course, but I still feel so wrathful." Only Parker would use a word like wrathful. Any normal person would say mad or angry but...nope, not Parker.