Slowly Sinking -A Bondi Rescue Fanfiction-

Living Nightmare

"Oh Rosie, baby," The voice that had been haunting Rosalie's life, both whilst awake and sleeping, sneered in a sickly sweet tone that sent chills through her body. Her breathing quickened and she placed a hand over her own mouth to keep herself quiet. She had hidden in the closet in her bedroom. He had been drinking, or smoking something, but either way, she knew she wouldn't be able to face him willingly.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," He chuckled deviously, scanning the room. Rosalie hid her wimper with her hand, her hand that had become sweaty and shaky with fear. Why was her mother letting him do this to her? Why wasn't she helping. Rosalie glanced down at herself and realised she was bleeding. Something inside the man before her clicked, and he threw the doors to the closet open.
"You bitch! I told you to come out! I TOLD YOU TO COME OUT!" He screamed, pulling her out of the closet and throwing her body to the wall. She hit it with an audible thud, and her scream only winded her more as well as fueling the man's fire more.
"NEXT TIME YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME! YOU MAKE ME DO THIS! Can't you see?! This is your fault!" He yelled, beating her more, whilst all she could do was lay there and let him. She was mumbling something to herself, she couldn't quite understand what it was herself until the beating got progressively worse, and soon she was yelling- "It's all my fault!"

She felt herself being shook, and despite her knowing whoever was waking her was interrupting one of her horrific dream, she could help but scream and panic as she woke. She felt the hands that had been shaking quickly leave her arms and she somewhat calmed down, but the panic that she felt was still there and she couldn't control her shaking hands. Her eyes weren't in focus, and the blurry figure in front of her at that moment resembled nothing less than her angry step-father ready to beat her. The man reached out, in his eyes to embrace her, but in hers to hurt her.
"Please! I'm sorry!" She yelled, her eyes welling with more tears, and her heart racing quicker than she had ever felt it. This wasn't because she was scared, for once, it was because she was embarrassed and ashamed that she had said this to the man in front of her, her father. She was ashamed that she had acted so childishly to someone who was helping her, not hurting her. Reidy had backed away a few steps, and was staring at her, an unreadable expression on his face. This only upset her more.
"Reidy, I'm so sorry." She whispered, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that." She frowned deeply at her actions and looked down at her hands that were in her lap. Her eyes caught sight of the elastic band and she began to play with it until she had calmed herself down enough. Reidy sighed.
"Rosalie, it's fine Darl'. I shouldn't have woken you like that, I could see you were having a nightmare. It was my fault." He smiled weakly at her, and she smiled back thankfully.

Reidy, Chappo and Matt had decided that they wanted to take Rosalie out for something to eat before showing her their home. Rosalie had agreed, but had insisted on somewhere cheap, so she could have something small and not be forced to eat something fancy. They had taken her to a local fish and chip shop, where she had asked for a small fish salad and a bottle of water, which, much to the men's dismay, they bought for her.

They sat a booth, Rosalie had ended up on the outside next to Matt, who was happily eating away at some chips. They exploding into conversations about their day and their experiences with members of the public, whilst Rosalie ate her salad slowly and managed to make it look like she had eaten more than she had. She had gotten very good at this, and knew how to rearrange her food to make it appear like she had eaten a lot of it. She realised that she had become very good at several habits she had picked up whilst living with her mother and step-father, some of which were much more worrying than others.

After they had finished eating, Rosalie was shown her home, that was only a short walk away from the beach. She remained very quiet, still feeling guilty and ashamed of the earlier events in the tower, and she was embarrassed and not liking this much attention anyway. Reidy took her to her bedroom, and she looked around it with a smile on her face.
"I didn't have long to decorate, but I asked Nicola, she's a lifeguard too, and she helped pick the colours. We didn't know what you liked, so we figured blue was nice, like the sea." He rambled nervously, and Rosalie smiled.
"It's lovely, don't worry. I really like it." Reidy relaxed visibly, and the pair went to join Chappo and Matt in the living room, where they had a beer in hand and something on the TV.

Rosalie couldn't focus on the TV though, she was too busy watching the three men lift their beers to their lips, and the volume of liquid in the bottles decrease. This was how it always started for her- he would get drunk and start shouting and hitting her. She was so scared that this was going to happen again, that she found herself playing with the elastic band on her wrist once more. She stayed quiet for the majority of their evening, which she didn't mind. She liked her father and his friends, but at the start, she liked her step-father. She tried desperately to stop thinking so negatively and pessimistically, but she couldn't. When someone has been treated as badly as she had been treated for as long as she had, those thoughts never leave, you just learn to live with them.

She could tell the three men before her were getting louder with their alcohol, and so she quickly announced that she was going to bed. None of them questioned her, and she ran up the stairs and shut her door, cringing at how loudly it slammed. Blinking back tears, she raced to her bed and put the covers over her head. Lacking in control, the tears flowed freely and the memories of everything that she had been put through barreled around her head. Her sobs came out silently, and soon enough she had cried herself to sleep.

Reidy, Matt and Chappo all went more serious when she had left. Matt cleared his throat.
"Mate, have you seen the way she flings that band on her wrist? That can't be healthy." He said carefully, not wanting to anger him, but also wanting him to consider what could be happening to her. Reidy only nodded. He was deep in thought and was not going to be broken out of it.
"And she had that huge panic attack today, we're lucky Tom was there to help her." There was another moment of quiet. 
"Am I doing the right thing?" Reidy asked suddenly, shocking Matt and Chappo.
"Of course you are," Matt said instantly, "Rosalie needs her dad, she just lost her mum and has been abused for as long as she can remember. It's obviously a big change for her, but she needs you." He answered without a moment of thought. Chappo nodded.
"I just, mate, I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm not good at this 'father' thing." Reidy explained nervously. Chappo and Matt exchanged a glance.
"Mate, you're not doing it alone though. You have us to help you, and I guarantee everyone else agrees." Chappo assured, and Reidy half-smiled.
"Let's hope tomorrow is a better day, hey?" He asked, the three laughed and the conversation ended quickly.

Little did they know that tomorrow would be anything but a better day.