✩ SIT DOWN BESIDE ME ﹒ ʲᵒⁿᵃᵗʰᵃⁿ ᶜʳᵃⁿᵉ ˣ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

─ chapter i ; indifferent

she couldn't see it, but she could feel it; it was storming outside. the way the light just barely crept into the room past the curtains when y/n woke up, she could feel the looming of thunderous, heavy clouds in the sky.

weariness begged her not to move her head from the pillow, felt like her head was filled with cement. the sluggish unreality of the room that was unwillingly becoming home to y/n ebbed as fat raindrops pelted everything outside.

a pervasive, tangy scent of food hung in the bedroom's stale air. y/n sat up to find a full plate sitting on the nightstand.

much too dark in the room for her liking, she went to the curtains and tugged them to the side.

met with the dense wall of barren trees, gnarled limbs shaking and waving. y/n's mind projected the burning memory of the woods from the night before, uncannily alive with branches begging to tear her limb from limb.

it wasn't alive now, the branches of the trees only shook gently in the wind, no longer appearing to be outstretching toward her. she had nothing to be scared of. but even so, she drew the curtains, let the room be dark. looked at the plate dr. crane had left as she returned to the bed.

her recollection of the previous evening was foggy, but the memory of the scarecrow figure standing behind her protruded, vivid and prominent. imposing.

y/n had no idea what had gotten into her, what made her see such horrific things. and that lack of knowing scared her.

jonathan had to be responsible for it. but was that even possible? how could he have made something like that happen to her? she theorized different ways that this could all have been part of his plan to keep her captive here, but not one seemed possible.

maybe it'd just been some kind of fit, a fit from not being outside in so long. and if that were the case, it'd still be jonathan's fault.

she brooded over the plate as she ate, slow bites. as badly as she wanted to leave this place, she couldn't bring herself to even look outside. the residual fear relegated her to staring at the wall again.

she hated it, the normality of jonathan's house. being held captive in a place so clean, well kept, so average. this was just like any other house that she might see. the house of a neighbor, a person she saw at the store. not one owned by her kidnapper.

how could the walls be so indifferent to what was happening inside them?

the thrack of thunder from outside brought with it a knock at the door, the combination of the two made y/n flinch.

jonathan unlocked the door and walked in, saw that she'd just finished the food he'd left earlier.

y/n set the plate down and looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"how are you feeling? you had a rough night."

why does his presence seem to set you at ease?

"i don't know," and she didn't know. she didn't feel sick, but lingering fear left her uneasy. "fine, i guess."

he stepped closer, as if he knew she wouldn't react negatively to him this time. stood in front of her, looking down at her.