Purple Sunrise

Seven

Hi all!! I hope you have been having a fab friday!! :) 

Chapter 7

Rose was glad that Lily hadn't had time to read any of that. This had destroyed Rose to read the letter. It was a completely different outcome than she had been expecting, she had thought it would be uplifting, encouraging, and not about being stuck in outer space. Rose had not dreamed that she would be the one that would be trapped like this.

She stood there letting the letter sink in, her eyes unmoving, stuck in one position.

They were doomed.

She knew that she had to go up to the tunnel and lookout to find out if it was true before telling John, there was no reason to set panic into his body unnecessarily as well.

Rose jumpily walked as fast as possible towards the tunnel wishing with all her might that the others wouldn't see her going. Bobbing, from her walk getting faster, nearly ending in a jog.

She tore open the door to the tunnel starting at a fast run to reach the end having no patience left. Rose clumsily climbed up the ladder nearly falling on two occasions; she pressed her face up to the glass so hard it hurt, she knew it would leave a bruise.

As she peeked out all Rose could see was darkness from the above. Her face being reflected back at her. The woman in the glass looked panicked, uncontrolled with fierce wildness running around, hair going in all directions. It didn't resemble how she normally looked at all.

No doubt John hadn't closed the hut door when he had come rushing through the door and Rose knew that it shouldn't be dark yet, the sun wouldn't have set.

"No." Rose whimpered to herself, tears flooding her eyes, she dropped to the ground her hands covering her face starting to hyperventilate. It felt as if her airways were blocked with despair. "We have to be alright; We have to be alright." She started to chant under her breath. She closed her eyes focusing on her breathing.

Breath in. Slowly. Hold. Breath out. She told herself. Rose stared up from her hands not blinking.

"Right, the others do not know about this. You have to keep yourself collected. Control the situation. It's the only way all three of us are going to survive this. We will need our sanity and help from each other." She reprimanded herself out loud.

With the determination setting in, an hour later with all her emotions flooding out from her brain; she walked herself with no feeling back through the door. "I need to show the letter to John. But first I need to check that it wouldn't be dark yet." She told herself, unable to get out of the habit of saying her thoughts out loud now; it was one form of comfort she found while being down here. A future problem to solve.

Rose walked her steps back to where she was, finding the letter still on the floor where it had dropped. She picked it up locking the door of the forgotten room turning onto her heel to begin searching each room for John.

Reaching the last room left to search in the bunker, she felt too enclosed. Rose found John.

"I'm gonna fiind yoouu." John was repeating in a sing song voice.

He was clearly still playing hide and seek with Lily. Rose moved her hand in a half wave to get John's attention before putting her finger to her lips in a be quiet motion. She then gestured for him to follow her. They both stepped out into the lounge area and entered into the hallway with the bedrooms yet again.

"It wouldn't be dark outside yet by now, right?"

"Erm. It shouldn't be. All the stuff documented down says that after the re-cycle it would be bright as anything. Why?" John asked intrigued by the question.

Rose saw the quizzical look on John's face; she hadn't the heart to tell him what she now knew. More bad news for him. Rose gave a deep sigh before giving him the second letter shyly. She hopped from one foot to the other as she anxiously awaited his response. John stood as still as an ox, thinking that if he didn't move a muscle what he had just read wouldn't be true. Closing his eyes, he took in a couple of deep breaths.

"Right, well we will just have to deal with this situation. We don't know what is going to happen to us. But at the moment we have food in the chiller and freezer; we have other food currently growing. For the next couple of months at least, we have enough to be able to survive, that's enough time to come up with an actual plan of action. Let's just go and try to relax for a couple of hours." John properly looked at Rose, not just through her this time.

Her face looked drawn, hair limp with her body slumping slightly. She needed rest. John could see how much this situation was draining Rose to the core.

"You look like you need some rest yourself, some good sleep." Rose nodded her head, then the thought of Lilly entering her thoughts, wandering who would be looking after her if she was sleeping.

He saw the look on her face.

"I will take care of Lily while you're having some well needed rest, I'll even be the one that will go look in on how the seeds are going." He interjected before she could argue, pushing her towards the bedroom. It was time for him to help slightly more, to reduce the stress of being down here.

John let the situation flow through him. Yes, it was devastating, but he would make sure they all survived. He knew it deep down they would. They had to; it would be a breakthrough for the planet they had left.

Rose had now been asleep for a full 24 hours, John wasn't too worried as he knew how much this situation was draining on both the mind and body. She needed the rest.

He had decided it would be best to keep Lily distracted in order to ensure she didn't go trying to wake Rose up. The last thing he wanted was Rose being so exhausted she got ill.

For most of the day they had been playing hide and seek.

"Found you!" John yelled at the top of his voice, coming out of the trance of going over the last 48 hours. Lily was hiding behind the bin, with the top of her messy hair sticking up just above the lid.

Her giggling could be heard as she tried not to give herself away. John found himself having fun himself at playing the game, even with-it being hours with no breaks, it seemed that Lily was also warming up to him now as well. John heard Lily's stomach start growling, as if it was eating her from the inside out.

"Let's get you some more food."

He pulled the fridge door thinking of something that he could feed Lily that was different from earlier. Seeing some chicken, he pulled out the pasta with some sauce. Pasta bake it would be for them all to eat.

John gently shook Rose awake, she needed to eat now, he had been cooking tea for the past hour, and had thought that Rose would've been awake by the time he had finished. But she didn't appear.