Sleep Paralysis - Josh Franchesci, You Me At Six AU (COMPLETED)

2.6

R O S E ' S  P O V

It took a few days to recover from the Dan incident. Or at least I thought it was a few days. My ability to determine the time in Josh's world hadn't improved. Also, Josh and I had begun to spend more time together, despite my self-determination to defy him once more. I had come to a realisation after Dan that I really needed someone to engage with. It was just my luck it was Josh. But with all bitterness aside, Josh has been good to me in this world. I knew it was because he finally had me and could live out the fantasies he'd always imagine, but that personally didn't change much for me. It was better than getting harassed and abused on the regular.

But that all changed about a week after I had seen Dan.

We laid in bed together, myself thumbing through a book I had now read for the thirtieth time whilst Josh returned from washing the dishes. Once he had relaxed into bed he turned to me with a mischievous grin pulled across his lips. He plucked the book from my fingertips and laid it on the bedside table. I altered my focus to him with a raised brow.

"What are you doing, Josh?"

"I want to do something with you," he answered back, positioning himself over me. I felt a pit of nerves build up in my stomach as I acknowledged what he had placed us in, but powered through in hopes it would be a pleasant proposal.

"And what is that?" I prompted back.

"I want to be intimate with you," he chuckled, pressing his lips against mine. I pulled my lips away from his.

"Josh, no. We've established this already," I whined, hoping that this would end quickly and I could get away from his as soon as possible. Josh slid my nightie up to exposed my thigh, and then underwear, making me squirm underneath him.

"Come on, you aren't willing to try at least one thing?" Josh teased as he hooked his thumb into the hem of my underwear's waistband. I shook my head.

"Josh, please. I'm still not ready." He ignored me and instead kissed me deeply, slowly beginning to tug my underwear down. I immediately ended the kiss and pushed Josh off of me, leaping off the bed. "What the fuck, Josh?" I hissed, pulling my robe on to wrap around my body. He looked back up at me with anger in his eyes.

"Literally the day I took you you were about to have sex with Dan. Now you're not ready and haven't been for seven months. If you think I'm that dumb you clearly hadn't been paying that much attention during our previous encounters," he spat back as he stood up. I momentarily paused, experiencing shock from the confirmation of how long it had truly been since he took me away. Seven months. My heart pounded heavily and I wanted to scream, ask questions, cry until I had nothing to give, but I knew that I had to deal with the current situation at hand first.

"You said you'd never hurt me like that, Josh. Never. You may be a monster, but we both agreed you'd never stoop that low," I muttered, ignoring that last comment he made.

"You clearly have never been sexually frustrated," he rebutted, mocking his last sentence. I felt my outrage surge, and I could feel my ability to compose myself shake.

"That's not an excuse for sexual assault, Josh! You have plenty of freedom and power to do whatever's necessary to satisfy yourself aside from me," I shouted back at him as I threw my arms away from my body.

"Do you not appreciate all of this effort I put into this world for you? A place that would feel somewhat familiar but still luxurious? I could've had you stuck in a bed, or in a black void," he argued back. A feeling of disdain coursed through my body as he sought to avoid the discussion, but I wasn't interested in submitting to his status.

"Don't change the subject! You were ready to fucking sexually assault me even after you promised me you'd never do that. You're selfish!" Josh scoffed at my comment and shortened the proximity between us, in which I chose to extend once more out of discomfort. He ignored my action and stepped closer.

"I'm selfish? Who didn't look their husband in the eye for a month, didn't use his name, ignored him." My skin crawled at the use of the term 'husband' despite feeling my enragement boil my body.

"You took me away from my life! Killed Dan right in front of me! Do you know what it's like wiping yourself off the face off the Earth being fully aware that you were never coming back?" I spoke firmly, keeping my gaze on him as he continued to flicker his eyes around the space. He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at me venomously.

"That was the choice you made, Rose. You didn't have to save Timothy," he spat at me. It was that comment that shoved my stamina into an avalanche of wrath and emotion.

"I HAD NO CHOICE MORALLY! TIMOTHY HAD DONE SO MUCH FOR ME, AND YOU HAD ALREADY NEARLY KILLED HIM OVER TWENTY YEARS AGO!" I screamed at him, feeling heat rise to my cheeks and my body tremble.

"YOU SHOULD'VE LET ME. THAT SCUM DESERVED TO DIE FOR WHAT HE DID TO ANGELA!" I chuckled at his ignorance, now an amusement to me.

"Ironic, considering what was happening a couple of minutes ago and you know, pretty much everything that's happened since the moment I met you." He lowered his gaze at my words and raised a finger.

"That's different," he uttered, a pathetic attempt in justifying his torturous ordeals inflicted upon me and others. As I looked at his swayed frame and ego, I felt a sense of empowerment and constraint over him. My words of exposure and conviction were placing him in a position of vulnerability and embarrassment. I was hurting him, and I wanted more.

"You just can't accept that you still love her, and you're using me as a pawn! I threw my life away just to be someone else?" I pressed, observing Josh's thriving irritation. As soon as he looked me in the eye, I immediately knew I had reached his boiling point. In the blink of an eye, Josh had me against the wall behind me, only cornering me with his powers.

"Why the fuck would I do an eternally binding marriage if you were just a pawn? If I really wanted Angela I could drag her straight out of the spirit realm," he scowled, slamming his hands against the wall on each side of my face.

"Well then do it already and grant me my freedom."

"YOU ARE BOUND TO ME FOR ETERNITY! ACCEPT IT, ROSE!" he shouted, smashing the mirror with a single punch. I jumped at the bang and found myself closing my eyes in disgust as blood began to drip from Josh's fist.

"I'm not bleeding anymore," he mumbled softly, making me reluctantly open my eyes once more. His clean hand indicated his truthfulness. Not a single drop staining his skin. We were both breathing heavily as adrenaline coursed through our veins, with only eachother to look at. Josh leant in again to kiss me, and his lips barely grazed my skin before I turned my face away.

"Don't," I shakily susurrated. He pressed his face against the top on my chest and gently slid his hands over my wrists.

"Please, I just want you so much. I want to have all of you," he begged in a whisper as he feverishly planted kisses among my exposed skin. I pulled away from his, surprisingly, loose grip and removed myself from the wall. As I faced him again, I could swear that there were tears in his eyes, but I ignored my mind trickeries.

"Josh, just stop please," I asked. He stared at me and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck and letting out an unsteady exhale. After collecting himself once more he returned to his normalcy.

"I think we should get to bed," he suggested.

"Sounds great." I began to walk away, but Josh grabbed my wrist and turned me around.

"Together," he clarified. I swiped my wrist away from him and gave a look of discomfort.

"No," I argued back. Before I could walk away, he uttered a threat that made shivers roll down my spine.

"I will use paralysis against you, Rose." It was in that moment I realised that the true Josh had fully returned and no amount of false kindness would make me forget that.

It was as we laid down I knew that I needed to get out of that place as soon as I could.