Remember My Story

005

"Tell them"

"Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath."

-Eckhart Tolle

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Josie POV

    "What happened to her?" Penelope doesn't answer my question but instead, she just sits by Hope. She puts her head in her hands. "I can't tell you." Her voice is muffled. I get confused by her words. "What do you mean you can't tell me?" "I just can't." She looks up and makes eye contact with me. Her green eyes that are usually light and sarcastic now have a darkness in them. The infirmary doors burst open and the gang comes in. "I heard you were in the infirmary, are you okay?" Jade rushes over to me and looks me over. I push away her prying hands and say, "I'm fine. I was just taking Hope to the infirmary." 

    Her gaze drops to the passed-out body in the bed. "Wasn't she the one you were giving a tour to today?" I nod. I say hi to everyone and I introduce Penelope. "That's Mg, Rafael, Lizzie, Jade, Kaleb, and Jed. And you already know my mom." I point as I say their names. She waves a hand and says, "Hi, I'm Penelope, and this is Hope, my girlfriend." They all say hi and Lizzie asks, "Well, what's wrong with her." 

     Penelope stares at Lizzie for a moment without answering. "Well?" "Lizzie, don't be mean," I say trying to get her to stop asking questions. "I-I don't know." Penelope looks down and the school nurse comes. Everyone moves to make way for her and she comes to stand next to the bed. She lifts Hope's shirt to reveal the wound. Everyone recoils as they see it. It's in worse condition than ever. "Would you mind telling me how she acquired this wound?" The nurse asks Penelope. 

     Penelope looks around the room nervously and says, "Can I speak to Caroline privately please?" Everyone looks at her and when mom nods everyone leaves. We all stand outside the door and we wait. "Josie, where were you all day?" Jade is looking at me with concern as she asks. "I was just showing Penelope and Hope around." "Well, isn't that why you give a tour?" "Yeah, but- are you jealous?" She looks away. "No, I'm not." "Sure." I smile at how easily she gets jealous. But that also complicates my feelings for Hope and Penelope.

    I sit against the door trying to listen to what they're talking about but I cant'. "Mg, can you listen in to what they're saying?" "Su-" The door opens.

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Penelope POV

     After everyone leaves the room Caroline turns to me and says, "Well, what do you want to talk about?" "Is the nurse gone too?" She nods. "Okay. While we were in Malivore we were constantly fighting monsters. I think a few days before we got spat out we crossed paths with a dragon. But this dragon had a lot of heads. Like maybe about a hundred heads. It didn't have wings but it had a serpent-like body. It had an unusual color too. It was like gold but a little darker. We were able to get away but it was able to scratch Hope." 

     Caroline looks at Hope's wound and says, "That's a little more than a scratch." "Yeah. We think the reason why she isn't healing is that it's poisoned." She nods and says, "That makes sense. Why didn't you tell me before?" "We thought it would go away eventually. Even if it didn't, we knew it wouldn't be able to kill Hope. But now I'm not so sure." I take a deep breath and say, "I don't even know if there's a cure."

    Caroline puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "If there's a cure, we'll find it. But I think you have to tell the gang first." I shake my head quickly. "No, I can't. I can barely be around Josie." I clamp my jaw shut as soon as the words leave my mouth. "What do you mean you can barely be around Josie? Do you not like her?" I laugh. "It's actually the complete opposite. Let's just say, your daughter had a very very good relationship with Hope and me." It took a moment for her to get it but when she did her eyes widened. "Wait, you, Hope, and Josie were a thing?" I nod.