Caught in the Crossfire ↳ KNIVES OUT

Chapter 1

It was around 9:15 when little 7 year old Rosie Drysdale woke up. She trailed slowly down the stairs in her grandfather's large mansion until she found her mother, Linda Drysdale.

"Mommy?" She asks quietly, she can see the tears cascading down her mother's face. Linda jumps before looking down at her daughter.

"Hi, honey." She's says gently, wiping her tears to make it look like she hadn't been crying. She had no idea how to break to her daughter that Harlan was dead. She knew how much Rosie loves him, and how close they were. "Honey, I have to tell you something."

"What is it, Mommy? Is Ransom coming?" Rosie asks innocently, she had always loved Ransom, he was her brother, adopted, maybe, but she didn't care, and it was clear that he didn't either.

"No, honey, Ransom isn't coming....you know, as you get older, and you get all wrinkly and your always tired, and some people call you old?" Linda asks her daughter, trying to get her to understand what has happened. "Well, when you get to that point, you go to a better place, it isn't on earth though, you go to heaven, and you become an angel and watch over your family, this is called dying." Linda quietly waits to see how Rosie reacts.

"Dying...?" Rosie asks unsurely, she understood, sort of, but she didn't understand why her Mommy was telling her about this, had something happened?

"Yes. Well, your....Grandad has gone to that better place now..." Linda trails off, trying her hardest not to cry in front of her daughter.

"Grandad is.......dying?" She questions, unsure if she is saying it right.

"No, no he..." Linda chokes on her words, "He's already gone, honey."

"He didn't say goodbye....." Rosie mumbles sadly, not understanding the fact that you couldn't choose when you died.

"Oh honey...." Linda says quietly and softly, not wanting her baby girl to be upset.

Rosie turns quickly, running back up the stairs to her room with tears streaming down her face. She didn't really understand, but she knew that her Grandad, one of her favourite people ever, was gone and he wasn't coming back.

Throughout the day multiple people had come to try and get her out of her room, both her parents, her auntie Joni, her uncle Walt, even Jacob got off his phone for a few minutes to try and get her out of her room. Everyone was quite over protective of her, which was quite ironic really, considering they are all quite stuck-up rich snobs any other time. They all knew she was okay, due to the camera that was in her room. When she was younger, Rosie used to scratch herself in her sleep unknowingly. So, her parents put a camera in her room, so they could go and stop her from doing so. They always kept the camera in her room, just in case, and now they were glad they did, so they could make sure she was still okay, even if she didn't let anyone in her room.

It was around 7 in the evening when Rosie finally decided to let someone into her room. Meg came knocking at the door, trying to get her to come and eat some dinner, considering she hadn't eaten all day. Rosie decided to let Meg in. She was her next favourite person after Ransom and Harlan.

"Hey, Rosie." Meg said quietly, taking a seat on Rosie's bed.

"Hi." Rosie whispered, her voice hoarse from crying and not talking all day.

"Do you want to come down for dinner?" Meg asks, really hoping Rosie agrees. The last thing any of them needed was for Rosie to stop eating all together, it would be really unhealthy, especially for someone her age, considering she was still growing.

Rosie weakly shakes her head. The last time she had dinner it was with Harlan.

"I miss him." Rosie murmured quietly. She was fairly certain that Meg didn't hear her, but she was proven wrong when she was wrapped up in a big hug.

"It's going to be okay, Rosie. He's happy now, and he will always be in your heart." Meg says, before continuing, "But you know what he would want?"

"What?" Rosie asks, looking up at Meg like a confused puppy.

"He would want you to be happy, and he would want for you to eat something." Meg said, knowing she was partly guilt tripping the 7 year old, but also knowing it would be true. Harlan wouldn't want Rosie to go making herself sick over his death.

"Okay." Rosie said, but then she asked, "Will you carry me?" She sounded embarrassed, Meg didn't know why though, as Rosie was very often carried by her parents or Ransom. Maybe she was embarrassed to ask someone that wasn't them. Either way, Meg was honoured. She was the only one that Rosie had let into her room, and now this? Despite everything that had happened, Meg had a full-on grin on her face.

"Of course." She said, happily, as Rosie stood up on her bed, to make it easier for Meg to pick her up.

"Meg-Meg?" Rosie asked, using the nickname she made for her.

"Yes, Rosie-Posie?" Meg responded also using Rosie's nickname.

"Is everyone else down there? I don't really want to see anyone else." Rosie said bashfully, it wasn't that she didn't like everyone else, it's just that she didn't like attention, quite the opposite of everyone else in the family, who loved hen attention and spotlight.

"I think they're all in the living room talking about the funeral." Meg replied, she then internally panicked, not knowing if mentioning the funeral would set Rosie off again.

Rosie, not knowing what a funeral was, just nodded, but looked worried, as she really didn't want to see anyone else. Other than Ransom, but she knew he wasn't here, otherwise there would have been a lot of shouting by now.

"But! We can just sneak past them!" Meg said, emphasising on the word 'sneak' and tickling Rosie's tummy. Rosie squealed, momentarily forgetting everything that was going on around her, and starting humming the mission impossible music quietly, as they sneakily went downstairs. Meg laughed quietly, she had no idea how Rosie knew the mission impossible music, but she was glad that she got Rosie to smile and take her mind off of everything that had been happening lately.

Hey guys, the actual movie scenes will start in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed! Just wanted to give a bit of background info on Rosie and how everyone treats her.