Whispers From the After Life (hosie)

Untitled Part 6

The sunlight broke through the window of the infirmary, casting patterns of light around the room. Lizzie wakes up with the sudden warmth, she looks around the room. Freya is asleep on the other side of the bed, her body succumbing to the exhaustion caused from the last days events.

Lizzie turns to Hope, she's relieved to see her skin colour is not so grey this morning, and a little of her normal colour poking through. "Hope, Hope, can you hear me?"

There was just silence. She reminded herself it's still early on in the recovery. She takes her hand and it doesn't feel ice cold anymore. She decides to go and have a shower and freshen up, she also wants to let Freya sleep as long as she can and doesn't want to make any noise to wake her up.

As Josie sits unseen, totally invisible to anyone around her. She had been pulled back to limbo many times through the night but the more she keeps coming back, the longer she can stay it seems. Once she tried to think of Hope to return, to connect with her but she was still pulled back instantly. The hours she has spent at Hope's bedside during the night, sitting with Freya and Lizzie, she had realised the answer to why she couldn't connect with Hope anymore.

The last time, she had connected with her was when she was calling out to Hope it was just before the block, Josie had heard Hope whisper her name, she knew from that Hope had felt her presence, even communicated with her, but that was when she was still conscious. The connection failed only after desiccation.

The hours ticked by, Freya had gone to freshen up this time. Lizzie was sitting on her own in the room. A few times Lizzie, had thought she felt something she looked around feeling that same warm feeling she had earlier but again no one was there. She looks around the room, "Josie, are you here, Josie."

The hope in Lizzie's voice, made Josie's heart break, if only Lizzie could hear her speak, but she had tried and tried, but failed. She wishes she could feel her touch, she's desperate to comfort her sister.

"What the hell am I doing, of course she's not here." The pain and anguish Josie hears in her sisters voice hurts her to the core.

"Lizzie, I love you. I miss you so much." but her voice goes unheard. What Josie would do to return to the real world as a human again, is limitless, but she knows it's impossible so she quickly pushes that thought deep inside herself.

Late that night Lizzie hears stirring coming from the bed, she quickly jumps up and sees Hope moving. She grabs her hand, Hope's body has been cold since transitioning but Lizzie feels that she's the normal cold, not the ice cold desiccation had caused. She sees eyes flutter open. Finally she's looking at two familiar piercing blue eyes. She rubs the top of Hope's head and smiles, "Welcome back" she says quietly.

"Lizzie? Were am I?" she says hoarsely, looking around, puzzled.

"You're back with us Hope, at Salvatore in the infirmary. You're safe."

The memories come flooding back to Hope, Josie dying protecting her. Hunting for a way out of this endless nightmare. The unbearable starvation that she inflicted on herself to desiccate. She rubs her hands frustratingly through her hair and a cry of complete and utter despair escapes from her mouth.

Lizzie doesn't understand what happens next. The Hope Mikaelson she knows and loves has always been a fighter. Knock her down and she gets up stronger. She had always shown nothing but determination but Lizzie's breath is taken away when all she hears is."

"You should have left me to die." Hope knows even with long term desiccation, unlike any other vampire, she wouldn't 'die', but if no one ever found her and helped her recover, she would have been effectively dead. Unable to feel the constant pain her life has always thrown at her.