Friends With Time ⌛ (Tyler Galpin x Reader)

Day 3

Day 3:

The silence is thick, tense as you and the monster sit on opposite sides of the room, as far away from each other as you can get.

"They'll notice," you say, more to yourself than to anyone else. "When I don't show up for fitness reqs tomorrow, they'll notice."

The silence swallows your words. You can almost hear the time ticking by. It was evening when you got locked down here, and it's been hours. You fight a yawn, pressing your sleepy eyes back up to the ceiling. It's not safe to fall asleep here, not so close to the monster.

"And then when they notice I'm gone, they'll check the doors to see if any locked, and they'll remotely open them," you say again loudly.

"Or maybe they'll leave you here to rot forever," the monster calls from where he sits against the wall, voice smooth as tiger's claws. "Maybe this cage will open and I'll eat you."

Your stomach clenches. You know he did horrible things in the past, but-

You turn to him. "Would you actually?"

Tyler ignores you. An evil smile crosses his lips, and he leans forward. "I'd love to taste your fear, Y/N. From someone like you? It'd be delicious." He prowls closer.

You shudder at the thought, trying to avoid thinking about how scared you are already, but then you blink. You remember that expression on the monster's face. You've seen it before when you challenged the Academy's librarian- Afua's wife- to poker.

You lean forward, your fear suddenly melting away into an angry sea. "That was a lie. You're... joking."

He kicks away the tray from where he'd been sitting and scowls at you. "Of course I'm joking," he says, looking up at you. "You all want to believe I'm some kind of monster-"

"You killed people."

He raises his hands to his face, pressing his palms against his eyes. "I was being controlled! You don't know what it's like, Y/N. She beat me, but I would do anything for her. I wanted to get away, but it was like a drug. I would be sewing myself up, thinking about how it was all for a good cause, even when I knew it wasn't. I couldn't get away for long, no matter how hard I tried."

You lift your eyes to the concrete ceiling. "You're a manipulator. Don't think for a second that I believe anything you say."

He scoffs, shaking his head. "Didn't think you would, Warden."

The silence is stifling. The room is neither hot nor cold, but in a way, the lack of sensation almost makes living in the light of the fluorescent bulb crueler.

You glance over, rolling the back of your head against the wall you're leaning against. "You must be glad she's dead now."

He shakes his head, smacking the side of the room where he sat. "Freedom's a fickle god, Y/N. If she were still here, at least I'd know what to do."

The words are hollow, echoing around the room, and they're the last thing he says, leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed.

It has to be past midnight at this point, even though you can't see any light or darkness outside the buzzing bulb in the ceiling. You shiver, pulling your bathrobe closer around yourself, and make a note to see if you can find a daylight lamp or extra blankets in the storeroom tomorrow.

Your eyes flicker over to the monster, over in the corner farthest from you, as the hours tick by. You fight yourself awake, biting your lip and moving your eyes so they can't close.

There's no guarantee that they will notice you're not in the fitness class, and even if they do, there's no guarantee they'll even be able to unlock the door in the first place.