Red Dead Redemption II Preferences and Oneshots 3

The Van der Linde Gang: Getting Better

The Van der Linde Gang & Female Teenage Reader

Summary: The gang starts to become concerned about your change in behaviour but you keep assuring them you're alright, starting to push them away. Until you collapse and have to be taken to see a doctor, you can't keep denying that something it wrong.

WARNINGS: eating disorders, please don't read if this will affect you in anyway.

DISCLAIMER: this is not to romanticise mental illness or eating disorders, if you suffer from any of these speak to a professional. Love you all and hope you are all well!

Word Count: 2400

You have been with the Van der Linde gang since you were a child, having grown up with them for about a decade. You were close to all the members of the gang, even the rougher ones that were difficult to get along with. You never had real parents in the camp so they all helped raise you, they all cared for you in their own ways.

Since they all cared for you, seeing you either as a daughter or a little sister, they all noticed when something was wrong. They all started to slowly notice that you were behaving differently.

It was Hosea who noticed your strange behaviour first, just noticing that you were only helping yourself to servings half the size that everyone else had. Everyone noticed that when they brought the food to you, simply out of kindness, you would only eat half of it or even less.

Of course, nobody jumped to conclusions. The first few times they just assumed that you weren't hungry or weren't feeling very well, but after so long it became hard to ignore and they were getting worried.

You were losing weight but nobody realised until it was significant enough for it to be a concern. Nobody knew was was going on but they couldn't ignore it or let you make excuses anymore.

The rest of the gang often encouraged you to eat more, trying to do it in a way that didn't offend you or make you aware of their intentions. But you noticed, of course you did. Hosea or Dutch placing a bowl of stew in front of you at lunch time wasn't very suspicious but some other members of the gang were less subtle, taking a seat in front of you and making you feel watched as you tried to eat.

Miss Grimshaw had always been very motherly towards you, since you never had a mother in the gang. As you grew, that never changed. Even though she could be rather stern and intimidating with other members of the gang, she did have a softer side and that was the side you often saw. But even she was at a loss at what to do. She wanted to help you, seeing that what you were doing wasn't healthy, but she had no idea how to.

You were only getting worse, that much was obvious. You had clearly picked up on what the others were trying to do and didn't like it, it only resulted in you starting to push them away. When they expressed their concern, you never listened, you only pushed them away, distancing yourself from them. They could feel you pulling away from them, slipping through their fingers, and they had no idea what to do to stop it.

- - - - -

You followed Dutch through the camp, not knowing why he had asked you to do so. "Hosea, have you seen Arthur?" Dutch asked as you both walked up to the older man.

"Yeah. He rode out this morning with Charles, I think they went hunting" Hosea answered.

"Uh...Dutch?" your faint voice made the two of them look at you before either of them could talk again.

"Wha-" Dutch began to ask, turning to you, but he didn't even have time to finish his question before your legs gave out.

You had just collapsed, with not warning to reason, but Dutch managed to catch you before you hit the ground. He held you against his chest as he knelt down, slowly lowering you to the ground so that you didn't hurt yourself, resting your head on his lap once you were both down.