I'm not sure whether it was my nightmare that woke me up or a real sound that seemed like glass shattering coming from the kitchen. Either way, I find myself awake. I can tell it's not morning just by he very aura of the room. And when I glance out the bedroom window there's still stars in the sky.

Moaning, I run my hands down my face and sit up. I look next to me. No Josie.

It's probably something I should just shrug off. She probably had to go to the bathroom or something.

Completely satisfied with my reasoning, I plop back down into the pillow to try to go back to sleep.

But then I hear it again. Shattering glass. This time, I know I'm not dreaming. I sit up slowly and staton my hearing.

"... Can't... Gen... Mom!"

Those are the only words I can catch. Biting my lower lip I carefully swing my legs over the bed. It creaks underneath me. Moving slowly and conscious of every move I make, I head to the entrance of the room and try to listen from there.

"No, Mom, put the cigarette down. That won't help either; it'll just ruin your lungs."

Muffled sounds follow.

I furrow my eyebrows. Against what is probably my better judgment, I peek into the hallway to see if I can find a better place to... Ummm... Figure out what's going on.

Not catching sight of Josie or Aunt Cassie, I slip out into the hallway and creep down to the end of it.

"... and confused!"

Aunt Cassie's quiet voice becomes easier to hear as I inch closer to the kitchen. She sounds as if she's the teenage daughter who just got caught by her mom... Instead she's a mom being interrogated by her teenage daughter.

"Why?" comes Josie's hesitant reply.

Silence follows. For so long not a word is spoken. I get the paranoid feeling that they had heard me.

Then Josie asked again, more desperate this time.

"What did they say? Mom, are you sick with something?"

My eyes widen and I find myself holding my breath, really scared by now and not fitting any pieces of this puzzle together.

Sick?

Dear God, please no, I can't take more cancer right no-

"No, Josie, I'm not... I'm not... I'm not sick."

The air loosens and then tenses again all at once.

"Then... Wha..."

A sudden gasp escapes Josie and seems to echo off the walls of the house.

"Mom..." she whispers, so soft, I almost can't make out the word.

"Josie, now listen-"

"I'm so done with you," Josie grunts, fury and hurt swelling in her voice to make a most unpleasant sound.

My conscience begins knocking and telling me to quit eavesdropping but my feet are glued to where I am.

"Josie,-"

"You drown your hurt and apparently your guilt in all the wrong things. I try to help you. Why do you think we're living like we are Mom?"

"We don't need a mansion in order to be-"

"I don't want a mansion but I want something better than this dump."

Silence. And then Josie asks a question I didn't think I'd hear.

"So... What are you going to with the baby?" she mumbles sourly.

My heart stops.

Baby?

Aunt Cassie sighs shakily. "I don't know."

"Well now you really better quit drinking and smoking."

"One beer, Josie. Come on, it's the first I've had since-"

"One beer is all it takes to get you hooked again Mom, you know that," Josie snaps.

Josie takes in a shaky breath and starts slowly talking again. The anger has left replaced with a deep concern.

"Mom, if you don't stop you're going to end up hurting Franklin and I the same way your Mom hurt you. And you promised Dad you'd never do that."

Promise.

It only takes a couple of seconds for sobs to begin to rise out of Aunt Cassie.

I swallow hard and purse my lips.

No more words are exchanged.

And that's why, when Josie appears in the hallway, I'm caught off guard.

She stands, shocked and staring at me. I quickly try to back up and head for the room and end up falling.

"Josie?"

"I'm fine, Mom," she quickly calls over her shoulder and she runs up to me grabs my arm and drags me into Aunt Cassie's room.

"What the heck, Gen?" she hisses.

"I... I... Sorry?" I stutter.

Josie groans. Then she glances at the ground before looking at me. "How much did you hear?"

I contemplate how to answer that for a moment but Josie just turns her back to me and mutters, "Never mind."

"I... I'm really sorry. I woke up and heard something going on in the kitchen and I was... Worried and I-"

"Whatever," she cuts me off coldly.

She crosses her arms and studies the ground. "Can't imagine why she thought bringing you into this hellhole was the right thing to do but..."

"Josie, every family has their struggles-"

"Really?" she scoffs turning back around to face me. "Does every family have an alcoholic mother with a long family history of child abuse, who just got pregnant with some dude I don't even know, and killed her own nephew cause she was driving drunk???"

I stare at her, horrified and embarrassed.

Her face suddenly contracts in anguish and she lets her shoulders fall. She seems to be racking her brain to find any sort of reason why she just let that all out to me.

She groans and walks over to plop herself on the bed. I stand, still stunned and trying to find words.

Slowly I turn around and say, "It sounds to me like Aunt Cassie is just a confused person who's had to deal with a lot and has done it in all the wrong ways."

Josie rolls her eyes. "She hasn't been emotionally stable since Dad up and left all that time ago but... I thought maybe she could pull herself together."

I lick my lips anxiously.

"Please... Try to tell her not to abort the baby...." I say hesitantly.

Josie wraps a strand of hair around her finger and eyes me curiously. "Don't worry, I don't think she could bring herself to do that."

I walk over to and sit down next to her on the bed.

Josie sighs. "I thought, if you were here, somehow things would be ok. Part of Mom's grief came from the fact that we both thought you must be dead. And apparently she already had one death on her hands..."

I bite my lip. "I'm no miracle worker," I apologize.

Josie laughs sadly. "Well, no but.... I thought..."

She sighs again. "It doesn't matter what I thought, it was all selfish."

She eyes me sideways warily, as if I might get mad at her for looking at me. "Why'd you leave the... The..."

"Tolias."

"Why'd you leave them for us? I honestly thought they were perfect when I met all of them."

I stare at my toes.

"I thought maybe you just had a 'family first mentality' and came with us cause we were blood related or something but now... I don't think that's it at all somehow..."

A single stubborn tear exits one of my eyes.

"I... Was running away from... Something."

Josie's eyebrows furrow in concern. "Were they bad to you?"

"Oh no," I reassure her. "Quite the opposite, I just..."

I try to find the words to express my reasoning, but none were there.

"Every family has its struggles," I mumble.

"You mentioned that," Josie chuckles awkwardly.

What have I done?

I've hurt the Tolias... Especially Lacy... I was supposed to be there for them...

I need to get back home ASAP...

But I can't just leave Josie and Franklin or... Even Aunt Cassie now...

But what can I do for them?

Hey! I managed to get this update up before I went to camp! This is a heavy chapter, oh dear. What'd ya'll think? I won't be able to be on Wattpad until later on Thursday so I'll see ya'll then! Love you lovlies!