The sound of a timid clearing of a voice squeezed its way into the kitchen. Autumn and Jeremy stopped their argument before it had a chance to escalate at the sight of her. Josie leaned against the wall with a hand on the back of a chair to steady her balance. The swelling of her eye had gone down immensely, but the bold color of its bruising stood prominent against the shade of her increasingly pale skin. Shaking knees struggled to hold her weight, and her voice was all but gone. Clearly the withdrawals from whatever drugs Alex kept her pumped full of was taking over every part of her.
Autumn and Jeremy both rushed to her, with one on each side, they gently helped her to sit on the loveseat. This was the first time Josie had emerged from Autumn's room in over an hour, and with each appea
