mombie dearest

I walk side by side with Josie Saltzman. Whispers in the hall gossip about the new duo; the Tribrid and the Headmasters daughter.

"So, I was thinking because I'm wearing pink, and Lizzie is wearing blue, you wear purple." Josie grins at me.

I laugh. "That may be the girliest thing you have ever said to me." I nod.

Josie shrugs, "Just like it."

"I do." I hum as we lock lips. We pull away and I sigh, tilting my head to the side. "Speaking of your sister, let's go see what she's up to."

We walk in to the Saltzman twins room, seeing a very ecstatic Lizzie. "Hey. We didn't see you at breakfast."  Josie says.

Lizzie spins around, "I'm too excited to eat." She beans as she hugs Josie tightly. "Happy birthday to us." She cheers. "Isn't it a beautiful day for a party?"

"You're both...cheerful." I inquire.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Lizzie grins. "Mom's coming home, Josie has a new girlfriend, I had sex with Raf, my pores are practically invisible,"

Josie's jaw drops. "Wait, what?"

"You had sex with-"

"Last night." Lizzie nods. "You know how Mom always says that things work out in the end the way they're supposed to? She's right." She turns around towards her bed as Josie and I share confused glances. "I wouldn't have time to represent the witches now with a boyfriend, so you getting the consolation prize is perfect." She turns back around with two pieces of jewelry. "Okay. I need your help. I'm going for Meghan Markle tasteful."

Suddenly, the door opens. "Woot, woot! Happy birthday, witches." We all look over to see Penelope Park.

Lizzie scoffs. "Oh, look. It's Satan in a crop top. Come to burn my world down?"

"Retro. Princess Di before she got style. I dig it." The witch hums. Lizzie pouts, taking off the funky jewelry.

Josie connects her hand with mine. "What do you want?"

Penelope shrugs. "Oh, just to cheer you two up. You know, 'cause your mom's not coming."

"What?"

"Oh, I heard them cancel her pickup at the office. I thought you knew." Penelope smirks. "Oops."

Before the girls could react, I slam the door with my magic. I turn back to the twins, who look distraught, confused, and slightly mad.

"Well, maybe there's an explanation why he hasn't said anything-"

"DAD!" Lizzie shouts, pushing past me. Josie follows suit.

I rush a few steps behind them. "Well, your dad is a very, very busy man. And sometimes people can only do so much at once. He is a human after all-"

Lizzie snaps her head at me. "And my dad should be able to stop for one second on my birthday to tell me Moms not coming."

I sigh. "Right." I whisper, feeling stupid.

The girls attempt to open their dads door. "Uh, Dad? Why is your door locked?" Lizzie asks.

Josie turns her head at me. "Stasia, what do you hear?"

I lean closer to the door, my ears perking at the sound of a gasp. "Dad?" A girl says to Ric. I frown, who the hell is that?

"And when were you going to tell us that Mom wasn't coming back?" Josie follows after Lizzie.

Alaric begins to stutter, but I hear the girls breathing. "I was about to. There-There's a strike at the airport in Mozambique." He lies.

"She couldn't compel a pilot and hop on a private jet?" Lizzie snaps, crossing her arms over her chest.

Alaric clears his throat. "She'll explain everything later. Okay? But right now I just need you to go because I am wrapping your presents."

"No, you're not. You're lying through your teeth." I finally say out loud. Alaric curses under his breath as his daughters say a spell, opening the door.

It reveals a girl with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. I stare at her eyes wide. "Who's this trollop?" Lizzie snaps.

"Oh, my God." The lady whispers, staring at the girls.

Alaric looks back and forth vigorously. "I need you to leave - right now."

"I'm sorry. How old are you?" The woman cuts.

"Sixteen." The twins say at once as I stand behind them.

Lizzie continues to speak. "Today. It's our birthday."

"You're twins?"

I step forward. "What are we interrupting here?"

"I'm serious. Do as I say and now just go." Alaric's scolds.

"Lizzie."

"What?"

"Lizzie, it's her." Josie snaps.

The blond frowns. "Her who?"

I scoff, turning to grab a picture frame. "Her." I hiss, pointing to the picture of Jo and Alaric.

"Holy crap." Lizzie breathes. "You're Bio-mom."

Jo frowns. "This is impossible. I wasn't even showing at our wedding. How-"

"Your family's crazy coven magically implanted them in Caroline when you died." Alaric snaps. "She's their birth mother."

"Caroline? So...you two..."

Alaric cuts her off. "No. She married Stefan Salvatore. Who basically died on their wedding day, too, but that's a long story."

Lizzie steps in "They're still very close."

"We opened this school together." Alaric says, ignoring her.

"She's overseas right now doing very important recruiting work." Lizzie interjects. "I'm Lizzie. After my mother's mom."

"And I'm Josie. Josette. Like-"

"Me."

I stare at the group of four. "I'm going to head out. I uh, think there's some very important things you all need to speak about. I'm going to-"

"You, my dear friend, need to go pick out your dress. Like now." Lizzie hisses. "Toodles!" She waves me off.

As Lizzie pushes me out of the room I look back at Josie. "See you in an hour?"

"Definitely." Josie grins.

Alaric frowns. "You two?"

Jo looks at me, surprised. "Now that, I didn't see coming. Not that I saw any of this coming."

♚

I sigh, finishing my makeup for the third time. Did Josie stand me up at her own party? Was I stupid to think she actually liked me in the first place?

"Hey," I spin around to see Hope dressed in a pretty red dress, her hair messily tied back. "I thought you'd be at the party."

"I would be, if Josie was here."

Hope frowns. "Where's Josie?" I shrug, looking down at my white heels I had bought just for this dance. "We need to find Dr. Saltzman."

♚

We walk towards the Old Mill, seeing Ric and Jo at the entrance of the woods. "- Where is she?!" He shouts.

"Dr. Saltzman?" I ask softly. He turns back at me, his eyes softening.

"What's going on?" Hope asks.

He sighs. "Girls, I need your help."

♚

The two of us walk towards the cemetery. I breathe heavily. Josie's out there somewhere, probably scared half to death. "Annie, it'll be okay."

"Will it, Hope? Josie's out there. Buried alive by herself!"

"We will find her, Anne." She coos, rubbing my arm. "Let's go."

The two of us continue walking. "You gonna howl at the moon wearing that?" I hear Penelope say.

"Sorry, no time for bitchy banter." Hope snaps.

I stop in my tracts "Actually, we could use your help finding Josie."

Penelope stands up abruptly. "What happened?"

"Apparently, her possessed biological mother buried her alive in the cemetery." Hope says.

"Which explains why she bailed. Because she didn't."

Penelope and MG grab shovels. "We're coming with you."

"Why are we asking her to help us?" Hope asks.

I sigh. "Because I care about Josie, and we need all the help we can get!"

♚

"MG, listen for her breathing." Hope orders as we enter the cemetery.

"Hold on. I hear something." He looks at me. "Shovel." I toss it over as he begins to dig. Suddenly, an arm reaches out and pulls him down. It's a zombie. Penelope stabs it in the neck, but it doesn't die. "That won't work!" MG snaps, stabbing the monster in the forehead. I help the vampire get up. "To kill a walker, you got to go for the brain. Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, every nerd maybe. Just call it a zombie." Penelope snaps.

Hope looks around as another hand shoots out. "Zombies. Plural."

"I never thought I'd be fighting in a dress. Or zombies in a dress." I retort, speeding towards one of the zombies. I grip its head, yanking it off. "You guys stay here, Im going to go rip some dead things up."

MG looks back at the two girls. "Isn't that like, disrespectful?"

I roll my eyes, speeding off, grabbing an axe before slicing off the head of another zombie. I kill at least four more before I hear Hope yell at MG and I look over to see MG digging into a hole, but another zombie comes out instead. Hope saves him.

I speed back, killing another. "Dammit MG, get up and find her!"

"There's too much noise." MG argues.

"Well, listen harder. Pretend you're on a beach or something." Hope snaps.

MG closes his eyes tightly, trying to find her. "I got her."

We all rush towards the location, the four of us digging a hole. We jump back when we see a living hand jump out. I grip it tightly, yanking her out. Josie rises from the dirt, hyperventilating and sobbing. I cup her cheeks. "Hey, hey, it's okay." I whisper, looking into her eyes.

"The talisman. It worked." Hope smirks as we all look at the necklace Josie is wearing.

"What's it supposed to do?" Josie asks as she grips my hands tightly.

I smile, looking back at Josie. " Make quiet things heard." She breathes heavily, crying as she wraps her arms around me tighter.

♚

I walk down the hall, brushing off my dress. "I'm going to have to send this to Aunt Rebekah and explain why I ruined her favorite-" I look up, seeing a sight I wasn't prepared to see. "Dress."

What I see before me is simple yet so difficult to explain. Penelope Park; the girl who got me in this mess in the first place, is locking lips with Josie Saltzman.

Josie pushes away, about to say something when she locks eyes with me. "Annie-"

"I hate you. Both of you." I snap, spinning off down the hallway. My eyes water as I rush to Hopes bedroom. I toss open the door, yet she's not there.

I run down to MG and Kalebs room, yet it's also empty. Alaric's office is too. Everyone is gone. 

"Annie?" I spin around, Rafi standing there. "Is everything okay?"

Tears run down my cheeks as I shake my head. A sob escapes my lips as Raf catches me from falling, his arms wrapping around my small body as he hugs me in the middle of the corridor. A comfort I hadn't felt in so long.