“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Doesn’t matter,” He smiled, grabbing a towel as he carefully covered me. He blushed, looking down at his feet as he said, “My name is Gadget.”
“Nice to meet you. Now leave.”
“Can’t do that, ma’am.”
“Why not?”
“Ghost sent me.”
I smiled at that, though it was too late. It didn’t matter anymore. No one could save me. Not even him. “Tell him thank you, but I’ll be dead by morning.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am to be sacrificed at sunrise.”
“Damn, that sucks.”
“Yeah.”
Gadget stared at me for a few seconds, looked up at the ventilation shaft, then back at me. The next thing I knew, he ran into my room. I heard shuffling of drawers when he said, “Yes!”
He ran back into the room, unplugged my tub, and held out a dry towel for me.
“What are you doing?”
“I won’t look, promise.” He said, looking towards my bedroom.
“I’m not getting out.”
“Come on, lady. I came all this way. If you get killed, Ghost is going to kill me. Help a brother out, okay?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“No, I literally can’t. I hurt all over.”
“Oh,” Gadget said, looking at me, then blushed. “Um, I can help, but I’m gonna have to touch you. Is that okay?”
Nodding, I didn’t care. Gadget wasted no time reaching into the bathtub and pulled me out as carefully as he could. Seeing me, he gasped. “Oh shit. Ghost is going to be pissed when he sees you.”
Ignoring him, I said nothing as he gently dried me off. Afterward, he helped me into some sweats and a t-shirt. When he had my socks and shoes on, he stood, clapped his hands, and smiled. “There, that wasn’t so bad.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Okay, none of that. Now, we have to get ya up in the vent.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, up ya go!”
I looked at the young man as if he had grown two heads. There was no way I would be able to climb up into that vent with my body in so much pain. Just standing before him was too much for me. All I wanted to do was lay down and accept my fate.
Yet, Gadget was insistent.
I don’t know he did it, but I found myself in the ventilation shaft of the church, gasping and trying awfully hard to scream out in pain. Every inch of me hurt, and all the jostling and maneuvering aggravated every inch of me. Though, I was blissfully grateful that I wasn’t claustrophobic. That would have complicated matters worse. Staying put, I couldn’t have moved if God himself were before me. All I wanted to do was sleep.