Future Ghosts • TWD

106. Wake Up.

Rosie's eyes blinked open, then squeezed themselves back shut in response to the early morning sun that shone through the curtains. After a moment, she let her eyes open again, and she kept them open this time. She pushed the outer-space-themed comforter that kept her warm all night off of her and climbed out of bed. Her bare feet pattered on the hardwood floors as she hurried out of her bedroom and down the hall.

When Rosie reached her dad's room, she swung open the door without a care in the world. She jumped up onto the bed, making herself comfortable in the empty space on the right side of the bed. She poked the side of her dad's face, and he turned and pressed his face into his pillow.

"Daddy," Rosie whispered, poking him once again. He turned his face to her to indicate that he was listening, but he kept his eyes sealed shut. "You said we could get pancakes from McDonald's today," Rosie reminded him.

"We will," her dad murmured, "Later."

"But they stop servin' 'em at 11," Rosie said, raising her eyebrows even though her dad had his blue eyes closed and couldn't even see that she was raising them at all. "It's..." Rosie turned to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "It's 9:30!" she said.

"That mean's we still got an hour and a half to sleep," her dad said, dismissing her urgency. He wrapped an arm around his daughter, pulling her into his side.

Rosie huffed out a sigh of complaint. She wanted to go now. Not later. But, no matter how stubborn she was being, she still let her small, 6-year-old pointer finger trace the tattoo of a rose on her dad's chest. "But I'm hungry now, Daddy," Rosie complained.

"Tell ya what," her dad said, finally opening his eyes to look at her. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You manage to get your brother up, I'll take ya in ten minutes," he said, because how could he ever say no to her face.

An excited smile grew on Rosie's face. "Ok," she said. Her dad pressed a kiss to the top of her head before finally releasing her from his arm jail. Rosie climbed off of the bed and made her way out of her dad's room. She hurried back down the hall and stopped in front of Fraser's bedroom door, which was right next to her own. She almost knocked, but decided not to, because she was a six-year-old and she favored pancakes over privacy.

All she had to do was wake up Fraser. Easy-peasy. Rosie went to the side of his bed and poked his shoulder. "Wake up," she said, poking him three more times. "Wake up." She bounced on her toes, going on and on like that. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Rosie's eyes shot open and she was staring at a white ceiling. The last thing she had seen was Coach Smith. That meant that she was at the Sanctuary. Oh, no. No. No. She wanted to go home. She sat up just a little bit, looking down at herself. She had on her dinosaur pajamas. That wasn't what she was wearing before. Her dinosaur pajamas were in her backpack. Daryl had her backpack. How did Negan have her dinosaur pajamas if Daryl had her backpack? Rosie laid her head back down. This time she noticed that the light on the ceiling was a chandelier. Did the Sanctuary have chandeliers? Rosie looked to her right- oh, God, that hurt. There was a nightstand to her right. On the nightstand was her velociraptor toy. That was also supposed to be in her backpack. How did it get here? Was she really at the Sanctuary? Where else would she be, though? Negan was there. He would've brought her to the Sanctuary.

Her vision started to blur and her shoulder started to feel like it was on fire, so she laid her head back down on her pillow. Looking to the right hurt like hell. She wanted her velociraptor toy, though. So, she tried to reach for it. But, oh, God, that hurt even worse than turning her head. Without meaning to, Rosie let out a quiet cry of pain.