Predator (DWT x OC)

12

TW// Descriptions of depression and suicidal thoughts.

I sit and glare at the wall, shivering slightly in the cold. After my 'lapse in judgement' as Dream referred to it, I was forcibly moved into the cell I first was trapped in. They reinforced the door, so there's no chance of me pulling off another escape attempt. It's awful in here, dark and damp, no sunlight, stale air and it's freezing. Dream took the bed, and all I have left is the lantern on the ceiling, and the four solid stone walls. Oh, and my hatred of every single one of Dream and friends.

I've been in here for a day, all my energy drained, and I feel so trapped I couldn't even describe it. I just want to be outside, to feel the sun on my face, the breathe in fresh air, to run barefoot in dewy grass, to be out of this nightmare, but I'm stuck. There's nothing to do, so I wakeup when food is delivered, and then sit and stare at the walls, drawing imaginary patterns with my eyes. Someone escorts me to the bathroom once a day, but never past any windows, never near the surface. The just lead me deeper and deeper underground, as I feel my heart rate quicken and palms start to sweat. I hate being underground.

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I've been in here for four days. My legs are too weak to stand up, and George has to carry me to bathroom. I sleep. I'm always too tired, too exhausted, even though I sleep all day. They give me food, but the smell makes me sick and I don't eat. Sapnap tries to make conversation, tries to make me eat but I don't have the energy, or the want to talk. I don't have hope, no motivation to do anything. They could leave me here to die and I wouldn't care. I just want it to end. There's no distractions from my feelings in here, I go to sleep sobbing and wake up numb.

I curl up into a ball, and lie on my side, joints aching and muscles stiff from being trapped in a room for five days. I trace shapes on the floor, letting my mind go blank, giving me a break for just a minute. Outside I can hear two people, talking, the muffled sound of boot steps echoing down the passageway. When the door opens, I don't bother to lift my head, waiting for them to leave food on the floor and leave me alone, but they don't leave. They stop at my back, and I twist my neck to see Eret standing over me, bag in hand. I sigh and lie my head back down.

He steps around me and kneels down. I don't want him here, I don't want him to see me like this. I avoid looking at his face and keep swirling patterns on the stone.

"Rosemary?" He says softy, as if talking to a wounded animal. And it hurts, because I've heard that tone, awhile ago. I look up at him. His face is morphed into concern. There's a plate of bread and a bottle of water next to him, a bag of what looks like clothes lying in his lap.

"What do you want?" I croak, throat raw and scratchy.

"You need to eat." He pushes the plate towards me, my nose screws up when I smell it and I shake my head. I feel exhausted after just this.

"Leave me alone"

"I'm not going to do that. You need to eat." He says firmly, and I just want to cry. He gently puts his hand on my arm. I tense up, muscles frozen, unsure of how I feel. When I don't push him off, he slowly put his other hand under my other shoulder, and guides me into a sitting position. I let him pull me up, staring at the opposite wall, completely dead weight.

He sits next to me, holding me up so I don't fall over. I lean into his touch, desperate for warmth and affection, for something good. He wraps his arms around me, and I don't care that it's Eret or what he's done, I just care about how my body instantly warms up, how my heart pieces itself back together slightly, how the hollowness in my chest seems to fill. We sit like that for a few minutes, a silent understanding between us. It takes me back to when we sat like this, when my nightmares were particularly bad, comforting each other on the floor of the med bay on wild nights.

Eventually he lets go, and I wipe the tears that have begun pouring down my face. He grabs the plate of bread and puts it in front of me. I feel like throwing up, and shake my head again. He just sits down next to me, and pulls me into his arms again, my head resting on his chest. He leans his head atop of mine and holds out a chunk of bread to me.

And that's how I eat. Gnawing on smalls chunks Eret tears off and hands to me, as he strokes my hair and whispers soothing words to me.

He pulls out new clothes, a thick navy jumper and grey tracksuit pants. I grab them and hold them up to my face. They're soft, but most importantly, they smell of detergent and pine, like home. But instead of making the aching in my heart worse, and the hollowness in my chest return, it makes my eyes water, and reminds me of how much I love home. It reminds me that I don't want to give up on them, that I don't want to leave them behind.

He waits outside the door as I pull them on, the smell of home engulfing me in what feels like an embrace. I fling Dream's clothes onto the floor, wanting them as far away as possible from my body. He comes back in, his face easing after I've eaten and put on clean clothes. He wraps a thick woollen blanket around my shoulders, tightly hugging me. I look at him, unable to form the right words, but when I return the hug, I think he understands what I'm trying to say, that while I still haven't forgiven him for what he did, my hatred has faded. That I'm still angry about him betraying us, but maybe we can heal. And it gives me something to care about.

I curl up into the corner with my blanket, filled with hope and a renewed sense of fight. As I close my eyes, my brain decides to let me fall asleep to good memories; Fundy teaching me how to fish, Wilbur giving me the L'manburg uniform, Tommy teaching me to swing an axe and Tubbo reading books with me on top of the van. For the first time in a long time, I wake up with a smile on my face.

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A/N Hey guys so I know I said I wouldn't upload chapter for two days but guess what I did :). This chapter isn't as poetic and pretty (writing wise) as I wanted it to be, I definitely wanted to be more creative and descriptive with my words and make Rosie's experience and feelings more beautifully expressed but I found it really hard. This chapter was pulled from my experiences with depression and I actually found it difficult to write it in a way I would write any other emotion because of how personal it was to me, so its pretty blunt (much more than I wanted it to be), but I could be over analysing my work because I'm a perfectionist that gets upset when it doesn't match what I envisioned in my head.

Anyway, next chapter will involve some our favourite members of L'manburg as we tackle the war and Rosie's place in it as Dream's hostage!

But more importantly, WE HIT 10K READS AND 400 VOTES WHAT THE FUCK? I swear only a couple days ago I was in shock at hitting 1k reads and now its just going crazy. I literally cannot even express how grateful and just in shock I am at how much this book has just exploded. You guys are so amazing and supportive and are truly the best thing about this experience. I'm always so excited to upload a chapter just so I can see all your reactions.

Please vote and comment, they mean a lot to me and I absolutely adore reading all of your comments! Literally please I love them.

I really hope you enjoyed!

Oopsies x