The Elites

Glowing

"And you're trying to save me
From your past of bad decisions
But my decisions always gonna be
To follow you"

"Glowing" – The Script

I wake up to Hope moving around restlessly. Her legs keep kicking mine and she's muttering something that I can't quite make out.

"Hope?" I turn on my lamp, not quite sure what's happening to her. I see Hope thrashing around, her eyes still closed. I think she's a nightmare, though I'm not sure nightmares are nightmares if they've happened to you.

"Get off me" she mutters, I frown, what is happening? "I said get off me!" Hope says, her voice getting louder. This is definitely about when they were in captivity. I'm not sure if I should wake her up or wait to see if this will pass, but I'm not taking any chances.

"Hope, wake up" I say, shaking her. "You're safe, you're ok" I say as I continue shaking her. If nothing works, I'll wake up William and ask him if he knows what to do. He's a police officer, he's probably heard of this happening, right? William isn't a therapist, but he's listened to people rehash terrible events, so he must have some knowledge in how to handle it.

Suddenly, Hope wakes up and looks around wildly. Her eyes meet mine and she lets out a sigh of relief and collapses back against her pillows. I don't say anything as I listen to her breathing steady and slow down.

"I was being abused" Hope tells me after a few seconds of silence. I'm not sure how to approach this but I'm going to try my best, I want her to know that I'm here for her and that I care about you.

"I've made some bad choices" she says, looking away from me. "And I've let Eleanor hurt people and make bad decisions, but I don't think I did anything to deserve being kidnapped. I'm so scared it was my punishment and that it will happen again, and I won't be found." Hope voices cracks at the end of her sentence. She should have stood up to Eleanor, but nobody deserves to be abused and starved. Nothing can justify what Hope and Eleanor endured.

"You'll never be back there again. I promise if you ever go missing, I will find you" I vow, meaning it. No matter what happens between us, no matter the danger, if Hope is ever in danger, I will risk it all to find her and save her.

"Thank you" Hope says softly as I lie back down. She lies her head down on my shoulder and I fiddle with her curls. "I'd never forgive myself if my decisions hurt you." Her actions aren't going to hurt me, the only person who is being hurt by them right now is Hope. Making bad decisions hurts you the most in the end because you have to live with yourself until you die.

"Get some sleep, you're safe here" I say as I play with her curls. Hope's breathing evens out within twenty minutes, but I'm still thinking about the promise I just made as I drift off to sleep.

I wake up and for a moment I forget Hope slept over last night. Hope's head is right next to mine and our legs are entangled. I flush, if William walked in and saw us sleeping like this he would start to question if we were just friends. I move further onto my side of the bed, careful not to wake Hope.

I close my eyes again and snuggle down into my pillow, I don't want to leave my bed just yet. I quietly sigh as I hear my phone go off. I grab it, and glance at it. It's past nine am, we both slept in. I'm usually not asleep past eight, but I guess we stayed up late chatting and watching High School Musical, and we both woke up when Hope had her nightmare. I frown at the text.

I'll be home today around nine-thirty am.

Melissa's coming home today which is Saturday. She said she was coming home on Sunday. Melissa is never home early, sometimes it might take her longer than she thinks but she's never early. I think this means that something has happened, but I'm not sure. I'll have to wait until she's home to get any information.

All traces of sleep are gone as I start wondering why Melissa is home early. I still don't know where she went or who she talked to; I just know it has something to do with Hope's abduction. If I give Melissa the diary, she might realize she can trust me.

"Hope" I say, shaking her. I don't want to wake Hope up considering she has trouble sleeping, but I don't think Hope wants to bump into Melissa on her way out. Hope opens her eyes and glances at me. I push a chestnut curl off Hope's face, some of her hair has fallen out of her ponytail.

"Morning" Hope says, smiling at me. She sits up and pulls her hair out of it's ponytail, shaking her long hair around her. She starts combing through it with her fingers, pulling out the knots.

"How do you even manage hair that curly and that long?" I ask, her hair must be a lot of work. Curly hair is pretty, but I'm glad my hair isn't curly, it seems like a lot of work.

"I get it trimmed regularly, I use good shampoos and conditioners, I use a comb not a brush, and I don't straighten it often" Hope replies and she gets out of my bed. She's wearing grey tracksuit pants and a baby blue top which brings out her eyes.

"Melissa is coming home really soon, so I don't know if you want to leave before she gets here" I inform Hope, though it might be too late. If Melissa comes home a little earlier, Hope will have to see her whether she wants to or not.

"I don't hate her, I just hate what her job is making her do" Hope replies, her back is to me so I can't see her facial expression. I think she means it, she does have a relationship with Melissa. I've seen pictures of Hope with my aunt and uncle, there's a picture of Melissa holding Hope when she's a toddler in my living room. There's also plenty of pictures of my aunt and uncle with baby Eleanor.

"You can use my bathroom if you want to shower" I say, Hope opens her bag and grabs out a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain black top. I think she just chucked random clothes in her bag when she decided she didn't want to sleep at her house yesterday.

"Sure, thank you" Hope says, and she walks into my bathroom. I head into the main bathroom which usually only guests use and start brushing my teeth, since I don't think I'll be having breakfast for a while.

Almost as soon as I finish brushing my teeth, I hear the front door open, so I grab Eleanor's diary and head downstairs, Melissa is standing in the kitchen drinking some water.

"You're home early" I say, following Melissa into her office. She grabs a notebook and a few pieces of paper out of her bag and puts them on her desk, I want to read them but I'm not going to go through Melissa's stuff again.

"What are you carrying?" Melissa asks me once she's finished putting things on her desk. "I was informed that Hope slept here last night." She doesn't sound cross about Hope staying over, she must have realized I won't stay away from Hope.

Wordlessly, I hand the diary over to Melissa who takes it from me. She opens it and then places it underneath a pile of folders. "We can't discuss this until Hope has left" she tells me. I nod and leave her office.

*Author's Note* Do you think Juliet did the right thing?