Do As I Say

Chapter 23

Josie was sick of being in the same room with the same four walls, if anything it made the situation worse.

With her werewolf healing the incisions were mostly healed already but she could tell they were going to leave behind scars.

Later this evening she was supposed to be discharged from the hospital but she had to wait for her mom to come sign off on the paperwork and compel the doctors.

There was no way they'd believe she was already scarring without it.

Plus she was getting sick of the hospital food, she needed to get out of there.

In the meantime she had to wait.

She used to think patience was her strong suit, she could wait for plants to grow, wait for supernova events to try new spells, but now she felt like every second that passed by was mocking her.

Hope had come by late last night but left out super early when she woke up from a nightmare.

More like a memory replaying in her head over and over again.

The twin knew she meant well when she left, but it still kinda hurt.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock at the door, her mood darkened as soon as she saw who it was.

Standing in the doorway was Maya.

"I brought you a peace offering," she said as she handed her the bag. "When I was cooped up in the hospital I craved the greasiest and most unhealthy food, Penelope said you liked pad thai."

"Is it poisoned?" Josie asked.

The vampire just looked offended, "If I wanted to poison you, I wouldn't have bothered to come check on you."

"Okay but why are you here? You usually don't want anything to do with me...it's a little weird. Like you suddenly woke up and decided to have feelings?"

"I'm not heartless, I understand what you're going through."

"Yeah...did your father kill your unborn child?"

"Stepfather."

*****

The siphoner was speechless, but Maya just continued.

"It was his child and he threw me down the stairs, he didn't know I was pregnant. I was in the hospital for weeks."

"When did this happen?"

"When I was 15." She said as she recanted the memory.
—————

It was two years after her dad died, her mom had met Randall.

She had just made the cheer team at Mystic Falls High and felt unstoppable.

It was the first time since her dad's passing, she felt a glimpse of happiness.

Ethan had been training to be on the football team like his dad before him and the duo were making their place in the high school anarchy.

When her mother introduced them to Randall, she felt uncomfortable but if her mom was happy so should she.

It started off as small moments, the first time it happened she was just getting home from school. Ethan had practice and her mom was working a night shift at the diner. She noticed the dirty dishes in the sink and took it upon herself to do them, that's when she felt him push himself into her from behind.

"What the fuck are you doing? Get off me!"

He had grabbed her and slapped her before carrying her upstairs to finish what he started.

It was like this for a few months, she had just started to give up and let him do what he wanted.

There was no point in fighting, she tried to go out with friends as often as possible to keep from being home but that only lasted so long.

When she started having symptoms she took 3 pregnancy tests to confirm.

Of course no abortion clinic in Virginia would perform the procedure on a 15 year old without a parent or guardian signature.

She had made peace with it and had actually come to grow to be excited for the baby, at least one person in this world could love her.

She had just gotten home from the mall and Randall was waiting for her in her room.

"What the hell do you have on?! You're dressing like a slut now?! Showing your body to the world? You're mine!"

She felt scared so she ran out of the room and was headed for the stairs when he had pushed her from behind.

She felt a crack in her torso and everything went black.

When she woke up in the hospital she had 3 broken ribs, a broken leg, cracked her head open and had lost the baby.

——————
******

"It's the whole reason my mom went into law enforcement. When she found out the truth about what happened, it broke something inside of both of us.
She agreed to start keeping us in the loop with her dating life and if we didn't feel comfortable she would stop seeing them.
When she started dating your father, she was happy again. When he turned me into a vampire it solidified her decision to never date again."

Josie felt horrible for the vampire, now understanding why she was always so defensive.

"I feel horrible for causing such a mess between you and Hope, I had just turned and she was the only distraction I had back at Mystic Falls so my emotions were heightened. It wasn't until I met Penelope that it clicked what love or attraction was supposed to look like. I really am sorry."

"Can we start over? I was quick to hate you, and now.. now I don't know how to feel."

"Truce," said the curly haired girl as she held out her hand.

"No," said the twin as she engulfed Maya in a hug.

She thinks it was more for herself than the other girl, but it helped knowing she really did understand what she was going through.

"I'll get out of your hair now, I just wanted to bring you this and check on you."

"Or you could stay.."

So the girls talked for a couple of hours before Josie started to get tired and fell asleep.

She knew it was gonna be different with Hope moving forward but at least she had someone else to confide in.