Wolf Woes

Chapter 2: Friends (pt 4)

Josie was sitting at their kitchen table, with her tablet sitting in front of her. It was late, just past two in the morning in London. Her mom and sister were both sleeping soundly. She on the other hand couldn't sleep. She was anxiously waiting for Hope to pick up on her end. She hoped it wasn't to late there, because it was taking her a long while to answer.

Finally, the messenger said the call was connecting, and after a moment, Hope's smiling face graced her screen. "Hey," she said. "Is everything alright? It must be late there."

"It is," Josie said. "I couldn't sleep. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. My aunts were just showing me a fresh batch of pictures of my cousin." Hope paused and could be seen reaching for something. "Look," she said as she came back into view, and held a phone up to the camera. "Isn't she cute?"

Josie smiled at the adorably baby on the screen. "She's adorable. That's your aunt Freya's daughter, right?"

"Yeah. And Keelin's. They're here. Say hi." Hope disappeared from the screen again, and a moment later she was looking at Freya, who she'd met once on one of her visits, and whom she assumed was Keelin.

"Hello," she said politely. "Your daughter's adorable."

"Thanks," Keelin said.

The camera moved again, blurring the picture on Josie's screen. "I'm just going to go sit outside for a few," she heard Hope say. Josie assumed she was talking to her aunts. She heard a door click shut, then a moment later, Hope was back on the screen. "Are you okay?" she asked, worry evident in voice. "Are you still having nightmares."

Josie nodded her head.

"The same one?"

"Yeah," Josie choked. "Same one."

"Can I help?"

Josie smiled weakly as tears welled in her eyes. "You already are."

"I wish you would tell your mom. She might be able to help. My mom always did when I had nightmares."

She could hear the emotions in Hope's voice, as she mentioned her own mother, which caused the welled tears to break free. "I don't want to upset her. She and Lizzie are having such a good time."

"You don't have to tell her what's happening if you don't want to. I'm sure she would understand if you just needed a hug from her," Hope offered.

"Yeah."

Hope sighed. "You have such a big heart, Josie. Always thinking of everyone else before yourself. When will it be time for you?"

"When everyone else is taken care of first," Josie smiled weakly.

Hope smiled back, knowing it was probably true.

"I should let you go, so you can go back to your aunts," Josie said.

"I can stay for a while," Hope offered.

"No. You go and enjoy having them around. I'm going to go back to bed and try to get some sleep."

"Okay. Call me if you can't sleep or have another nightmare," Hope insisted.

"Thanks Hope. Goodnight," Josie said, then clicked the end button before Hope could respond. She closed her tablet and quietly stared at it for a while, thinking over what Hope had said.

Deciding to take Hope's advice, she stood and quietly made her way through the house to her mother's room. She opened the door, peeking her head in like a child, before making her way to her mom's bed. She hadn't crawl into bed with one of her parents since her and Lizzie were kids, when they would sneak into their rooms early in the morning to wake them.

"Mom," she said quietly, hesitantly. When she didn't get a response, she gently shook Caroline's shoulder, who was suddenly wide awake, staring up at her in worry.

"What's wrong honey?"

Josie tried to get the words out. She really did, but in the end the only thing she managed to do was cry. Within seconds, Caroline was sitting up and pulling Josie down next to her at the same time. She engulfed Josie in her arms and rocked her as she cried.

Caroline didn't ask her what was wrong again. She already knew what it was. She had been waiting for days, praying that Josie would finally be able to let everything she was feeling out. Giving her soft hugs and encouraging mantras that she hoped might help. She wasn't mad that her daughter was grieving a mother who wasn't her. She wasn't upset that it took Josie a week to come to her. She was worried that Josie wasn't taking care of herself. She was worried that the nightmares that kept her daughter awake all night would cause more harm to her baby. And she was pissed that the Necromancer had done this to her in the first place. She pulled Josie close to her, holding her through the night, giving her as much love as she could.