I Thought I Knew (Hosie)

Chapter 34

Josie wipes at the sweat soaking her forehead in exhaustion, wet sheets clinging to her like a second skin. Her whole body aches in a way that she simply cannot describe.

It has been a week. A week since Josie had gotten back from her New Orleans research mission and had returned with absolutely nothing.

If at all possible she's even more confused then when she'd left. Her search for answers was a fruitless goose chase that left her clueless. The only thing she had found out was that she hadn't actually been talking to Keelin or Nik.

The thought that she had been standing in front of someone who had cloaked themselves to look like the Mikaelson's sends a chill down her spine. They could have done anything to her, they could have drugged her, killed her, cursed her....  The mere thought or implication that she isn't sure of anything anymore is enough to make her feel absolutely useless.

The dreams haven't stopped, if anything they have gotten more persistent and ghost like though they lead to nowhere. Josie tried seeing them as signs that she needed to figure out, but the only thing she's ended up with is hot sweats.

Josie knows that her looks are suffering from the lack of sleep, the stares of her peers and family tell her that much but she can't bring herself to care. These days her life seems to consist of milkshakes and protein bars to get her by. Lizzie says that she looks like a shell, like a ghost almost and her dad seems the most worried out of all of them.

When she had seen her dad after her trip he had been furious to say the least. He'd immediately grounded her for two weeks and demanded to know why she had left, Josie hadn't answered though. She doesn't want to be one of his projects, one of his many magical cases that he feels he should take care of. She had taken the grounding without argument much to her fathers surprise.

She keeps the secret from everyone, because its none of their business really, its her problem to deal with. She learns to listen to the voice that whispers silent tips to her, not heed, just listen. The puked up strawberry peanut butter blast from last night tells that much.

Sometimes Josie finds herself wondering how she's even alive, how her cocoon of a body is making all of this weight loss and exhaustion work. Magic she guesses, is a powerful thing.

Its keeping her upright so far. Sometimes she has to urge to go back to New Orleans to try the search for answers all over again, though she knows it would be pointless. Not even Freya had known what she had spoken of and she's the most powerful witch in the world. If Freya Mikaelson doesn't know who else would? There's a quick answer to that, no one.

Lizzie stirs in the bed next to her and Josie sits up, the bed squeaks slightly but all she can think about is the sweaty hair that slings to her back and the sticky feel of her skin. She needs a shower, but she really doesn't want to wake her twin.

Lizzie had become quite obsessive regarding the well being of her sister, she had even taking to waking up and going to sleep at the same time so she could be alert.... too bad they didn't suffer from the same night terrors.

Josie carefully creeps out of bed and makes her way over to the drawers of her dresser, carefully pulling the squeaky drawers open and searching for some clothes and 2 towels. When she has them in hand she walks over the door, mindful of the floorboards and slowly turns the door nob. Once she's out of the room, she cracks the door, this way she can easily sneak back in.

The hallways are quiet as she makes her way towards the girls bathrooms, the floors are new so they don't squeak but there is an eery quiet that makes her happy once she is safely inside.

She flicks the lights on and picks the first shower to the right of her, she turns the nobs, adjusting the temperature and she's elated when she sees the shower has great water pressure. Josie places her things in a caddy and gets undressed, the clothes are stubborn seeing as they are damply clinging to her body but she takes them off regardless, sighing when she steps into the hot steam. She closes the curtain and finds herself just standing there.

She doesn't remember the last time she'd had a shower, she knows it couldn't have been more than five days but she simply can't place it. Josie shrugs, her memory sucks these days, lack of nutrition and all.

Josie grabs her soap, lathering her body until all she can smell is jasmine and lavender. She remembers when her mother had brought her this soap. She had just come back from some part of Europe and she had brought almost every soap known to man home.

Josie misses her now, now that everyone thinks that she's absolutely lost her mind. Caroline wouldn't have thought she'd lost her mind.

The bathroom seems to be growing steamier by the moment and Josie grips at the wall, the water seems to be growing hotter too. The heat is dizzying and it takes all of her not to faint. She steps out of the stream, fingers reaching for the nozzle.

" Alpha." The voice whispers, Josie shakes it off though as she turns off the water nozzle. Josie turns around to face the curtain searching for more air.

" Alpha." The voice isn't whispering this time, its speaking plainly, hastily even. Josie's hands grip at the slick walls of the shower, she's still feeling quite dizzy. The closed door of the bathroom does nothing but trap the heat inside, she'll have to wait it out.

" Spoken for." The voice echos in her brain, this time the voice is shouting almost but Josie isn't startled, she stays leaning onto the shower wall.

" ALPHA!"  The voice screams at maximum volume, the voice is so loud that it rings way after it has spoken. Josie still isn't fazed until the shower curtain violently opens, she lets out an ear ringing shriek that undoubtedly wakes up the neighborhood and the boarding school. The bathroom revibrates the scream so that it echoes and everyone is sure to hear.

Everyone will come looking for her, they will dote, they will ask questions that she doesn't want to answer. So with that much in mind, she drapes her towel over her body and runs.