Day 30:
Your monster doesn't talk today. You continue reading your father's journal, exercising, and attending your meetings.
"You know, I am proud of you," your mother tells you during the USOAT board meeting, after the others have dutifully filed out of the room. "The Bubble shift isn't easy, but Afua tells me you are doing very well at controlling the Hyde."
A lump forms in your throat, like clay lining your esophagus. "I try."
Your mother smiles down into her tea. "Perhaps I underestimated you, Y/N."
Day 31:
Today the monster talks to you, but you do not respond. You can't bring yourself to read your father's book, either.
The wind buffets the sides of the boat in gusts. It is a lonely day.
Day 35:
You wake up this morning to screams.
They come just before your fitness requirements, the cheerful song discordant in your ears as you sprint out of bed and run towards the hatch at the end of the living room. You don't bother changing out of your pajamas as you throw open the door and hurry down the stairs.
The shriek comes from your right, louder this time. You flick on the light and the monster leaps at you, hurtling into the glass with a force that makes the Bubble shake and almost knocks you over.
"Tyler!" you shout, staggering back as the monster screams, saliva flaying from its mouth, full of sharp teeth. Its eyes are red and bloodshot and its claws rip at the glass as you come closer, spraying sparks across the glass as they rake across the metal with a violent shhhhriek.
The walls rattle, the light overhead flickering. The boat itself seems to moan, swaying under your feet.
It screams again, ramming its body against the wall with a BOOM that shakes the ground beneath you.
"Tyler!" you call again, trying to move with the rolling of the boat. You don't want to get closer, but what choice to do you have?
Leave, a voice in your head says. Leave and do your fitness reqs and he'll stop once he's tired.
And then what? You think back, the next slam knocking you to the floor. The acrid taste of blood fills your mouth. You yelp, your head spinning, dizzy. You scrabble your fingers on the concrete, using them to press yourself up to keep going. And then he wakes up alone and we pretend it never happened?
"Tyler," you say one more time, forcing yourself to get up the last couple yards and press your hand to the glass. Your sides heave, breathing heavily. "I know you're in there. Come on."
The monster opens his mouth to howl, but you suck in a breath and ignore how the sound blasts your face, keeping your shaking hand on the glass. "You're safe here," you shout over the roars, your mind searching back to what your Dad would say. "I'll take care of you. It's all going to be alright. Tyler, listen to me."
The monster stops, and its swollen head thrashes down to meet your hand, the bloodshot eyes rolling and wild with panic.
"Hey, Tyler," you say, trying to ignore how your voice quivers and almost doesn't come out of your throat. You smooth your hand along the glass as if you could touch the beast. "Shh. Shh, it's okay. You're safe. I'm here."
The monster whines, clawing at the glass, its twisted gray body shaking.
"I'm here," you whisper to it, pressing your head to Tyler's monstrous one. His eyes are huge, afraid, searching yours.
YOU ARE READING
Friends With Time ⌛ (Tyler Galpin x Reader)
Fanfiction"𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖊𝖋𝖚𝖑 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖉𝖊 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊..." After his arrest in Jericho, you are assigned to be Tyler Galpin's warden: to monitor his progress, to keep him alive, and, most importantly: to make sure he doesn't esca...
