Terrorforming || Yandere!Harem X F!Reader

The Buddy System

pictured above is Dinah Avidan.

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If you had to give Camp Bethel one thing, it was that their food was good. Better than any school lunch you ever had. You thought they were going to serve you gruel and tell you to be grateful you got even that, but no. Breakfast was a generous serving of French toast sticks with a side of fresh fruit, granola, and yogurt.

You ate as much as you could, knowing there was going to be a three-hour service tomorrow morning and you didn't want to go. Every breakfast now had the potential to be your last, at least for a little while. Until you could no longer manage the energy to be so stubborn and... And hateful.

"You're so hateful," your mother cried out a week ago. She was pushing you, really pushing for you to attend church with her now more than ever. But, surprise! You weren't jumping for joy at the opportunity to go somewhere people hated you for just existing.

The insult cut deep, so you cut deeper. "I am the shape you made me. Filth teaches filth."

That was the second time she hit you. Your feelings stung more than your cheek. You remembered running to your room and slamming the door before sliding down it. It's not you, it's her. You repeated that to yourself over and over again, until you believed it. It's not you, it's her.

The memory alone brought tears to your eyes. You refused to blink, lest they fall.

Elizabeth broke you from your tearful recollection. "Y/N, what do you think is Camp Bethel's most enforced rule?"

You were sitting with the rest of the girls from Temperance. This seating arrangement wasn't required, you were informed. There was plenty of room at other tables, and you were free to sit with friends once you made some, but the Temperance table would always be there for you. "At Camp Bethel, no one sits alone at mealtime!"

"Ummm..." You shoved a whole strawberry in your mouth to buy time to think, but you still had nothing by the time you swallowed. "Keep the Sabbath holy?" You hated to imagine how they were going to do that. Any day with a three-hour church service seemed holy enough already.

"Close, but no," she said primly, "Always remember the Buddy System. It's the number one rule you need to follow in order to survive in nature. Never let your buddy go anywhere on their own."

Chaeyoung stopped stuffing her face long enough to say, "Louise and I are already buddies, so you'll be buddies with Dinah!"

"Don't chew with your mouth open, Chaeyoung," Louise reprimanded, throwing a crushed-up napkin at her "buddy" with a look of pure disgust.

"Don't worry too much about Dinah," Elizabeth told you, "I'll be keeping a close eye on her. Just stay by her at all times and you'll be fine."

At a loss of what to do, what to say, you reached out a hand to Dinah and said, "Thanks for being my buddy."

Your new buddy looked up from her food at your thanks. But, for the longest time, she just stared at your hand without a word. Her only response was a click of the tongue.

Just when you were starting to sweat, thinking she hated you already, Elizabeth sighed, "Dinah's communication skills aren't great. She's good at listening, but that's about it."

As she said this, she reached over to stroke a hand over Dinah's hair in an uncharacteristic display of tenderness. Dinah allowed the touch but didn't lean into it. Maybe she just didn't know how to react? Her eyes refocused on her plate and she resumed eating.

You blinked at her. While you were happy it wasn't just you that she had a problem with, you were also at a loss. How could you relate to someone who doesn't speak? You felt like you were just treading water. Was it the same for her?

As you were pondering that, a guest came to your table. It was the redhead from the welcome speech. What was her name again? Something pretty, something right out of a book. The sophisticated kind you'd read in English class. You mulled it over as she gracefully seated herself across from you at the Temperance table.

"Rosasharon, right?" You were going to die of embarrassment if you were wrong.

But her eyes lit up, reminding you of sunlight shining through crystal clear waters. "Yes! You must be Y/N," you nodded at her assertion, and she smiled like an angel from Heaven. "I promise not to take up too much of your time, as you're clearly eating and making friends, but I wanted to talk to you."

"Making friends" was being generous. No one other than Elizabeth had engaged you in conversation so far, and Elizabeth's talk with you was more of a lecture. You were waiting for the others to warm up to you, but it seemed like it might take a while.

"Yeah, sure," you offered.

That's when she put her crossed arms on the table and leaned in close. "A little birdie told me you belong in Faith," she whispered, like the two of you were playing at being spies.

That little birdie was obviously Elizabeth. You don't know why Rosasharon was trying to hide her identity. You looked to your camp counselor, but you weren't the only one. Chaeyoung and Louise were also looking at her. Louise had something akin to horror on her face.

"You're the second person to say that," you answered begrudgingly, eyes flitting back to Rosasharon.

"Listen... I know your first summer at Camp Bethel can prove difficult, but it's downright impossible if you don't have faith. Faith is the foundation of all righteousness. You can't begin to really work on yourself without it."

She leaned across the table further, body long and serpentine. Your brain short-circuited. It was hard to think when a pretty girl was so close to you.

"Now, I don't know what events brought you to Camp Bethel, and I won't ask. But just say the word and I would be willing to go to Nurse Thorne on your behalf and make my case for why you should be moved to Faith. She's a stubborn woman but not unreasonable. With me and Elizabeth on your side, we could have you moved within the day."

You looked at Elizabeth at the mention of her. Her face showed no strong emotion on it. You had a suspicion this was less to do with putting you in the best position possible to succeed and more about her getting you out of her hair.

It was obvious she didn't like you for some reason. You couldn't remember a single thing you'd done to earn her disapproval, however, other than be a nonbeliever.

"Thanks, but no thanks," you sighed. "I'm happy where I am right now, but I'll be sure to keep your offer in mind for the future."

Rosasharon's smile dimmed but didn't fade altogether. She let out a little sigh before pushing herself upright again. "Alright, if you say so. Just know... We love you, we want you, and we will take you."

That sounded kind of ominous, like she would take you willingly or not, but you elected to ignore it. Religious people sometimes sounded ominous without meaning to. It was par for the course when you were waiting on The Rapture.

As soon as she left, Louise turned to Elizabeth and hissed, "You tried to pawn her off on Rosasharon?"

"I attempted to put her back where she belongs. If that's in Rosasharon's care, so be it."

"I thought you were better than that, Elizabeth."

She aggressively stabbed at the fruit on her plate, narrowed her eyes at her strawberries and bananas. "Well, you thought wrong."

Louise let out a huff before suddenly turning to you. "Listen, Y/N. Stay away from Rosasharon."

"Louise..." Elizabeth sighed, dropping her fork.

"She's a liar-" Louise continued.

"Louise."

"-And a manipulator!"

"Louise! Enough." Elizabeth told her. "Not another word."

You blinked at them both. Rosasharon seemed nice. Granted it was in a, "trying to convert you," kind of way... But still nice! What could she have done to hurt Louise in the past?