Chapter Three

~*~ Flashback ~*~

15 year old Piper looked up as she heard the front door open "Josy, is that you?!?" she called

"Yeah." Jo entered the room

"Omygod! What the fuck happened!?" she jumped up from the couch and rushed over to her sister. She touched the swollen eye

"OW!" Jo cried out "Piper!!"

"Sorry!" Piper apologized "WHO did this!?"

"Ashley Curtis." Jo grumbled

"That low life bitch!!" Piper yelled "WHY?!"

"Coz she thinks I'm a preppy little rich girl, plus she thinks I stole her boyfriend."

"Did you??"

"No way! That guy is so stupid!"

"Fine. Why did you let her beat you up though?!"

"Well, excuse me, but it wasn't exactly fair play, she let a few of her ditz friends hold me back!"

"Ok, someone's gonna get her ass kicked!"

"Piper, no. What are you gonna do!?"

"Tell the little bitch to stay away from my sister or she'll pay."

Jo frowned at her sister, she knew that Piper would get it taken care off that Ashley wouldn't ever as much as look at her again. Piper was popular, Piper was powerful, Piper influenced a lot of things and persons, Piper would do ANYTHING for her sister.

~* End of flashback *~

A few days later..

"Jo, will you come here for a second? Your mother and I want to have a word with you."

Jo walked into the living room cautiously, whenever her father would say that, something was wrong.. "Sure dad, what's the matter?" she smiled her best smile and sat down on the couch

"Jo, we talked to aunt Mari.."

"Oh.." she answered, not really knowing if he was mad or happy or sad.. or whatever

"Why didn't you tell us about her idea?"

"Um, I dunno.. I was still thinking about it, really."

"And have you come to a decision yet?" her mother asked

"Well,... no."

"We want you to go." her dad said to her

She looked at him and frowned "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"But dad, you need me here..."

"Sweetie, we can't keep you here forever, you need to go out and have fun and relax and have a normal life."

"Are you sure?"

"Honey, just go," her mom interrupted "It'll be a distraction and besides you'll be out of this house for a while" she sighed "This place is too depressing. All the grief and mourning you have around you here is not good for your own sanity. Aunt Marianne really would love for you to spend some time with her... Lord knows, Nick will want you around too, you're the one link he has with Piper.. and think about Joyleigh.."

"But-"

"Your mom and I will do just fine without you, we'll miss you, but we're grown people, we can take care of ourselves. It's not good that you're practically in charge here.. we want you to go."

Jo looked at them oddly, it was like they wanted her out of the house.. but then again, they were right, she'd be out of this hell hole for a little while and away from all the memories that it contained. Slowly she nodded "Ok. I guess I'll go call auntie Mari and tell her.."

"Great!" her parents smiled.

~*~*~

"Hello?" her aunt picked up the phone

"Auntie Mari, how much yelling did that take?"

"Jo! Hello sweetheart!" Marianne laughed

"It's like they're brainwashed or something, they practically begged me to go with you!"

"I know, ain't it great? Yea, sure, it took some convincing and especially confronting.. but that's my specialty, remember?"

The two women laughed

"So pack your bags my darling. We're goin' to Florida!"

"Yay!"

~*~*~

Dear Piper,

Guess what? I'm going to Florida!

Apparently, aunt Marianne had a talk with mom and dad and basically confronted them with their immature behavior and convinced them it was best for me to go with her.

You should have seen mom, it was so odd, she was all like nearly begging me to go!
It was funny, really.

For the first time in 4 weeks, I got something to look forward to.

Nick called me and said he was happy I'd be in Florida soon.
He wants to have a memorial stone placed in the garden. So Joyleigh and he will have somewhere to go to, to remember you, without having to fly all the way to Indiana.
I think it's a nice idea, and I told him that too. I promised him I'd keep your spirit alive and tell little Joyleigh all about her wonderful mommy.
He choked up and nearly cried.
He's still very much upset.. which is normal and pretty logical of course. I just hope he won't dwell over your death forever and while being so caught up in his mourning, forget about the little girl he now has full responsibility of.

Joyleigh is doing great by the way, she's turned out really well... her health I mean.
She's so cute, makes me go 'awwww' all the time.

AJ called too and told me he was glad I'd be out of the manic-depressive environment for a while, lol.
He makes me laugh, his sense of humor is quite like auntie Mari's.
And, yea, I promised him I'd hang out with him sometime, when I'm in Florida.

Well, sis, I gotta go pack now, I have no clue how long I'll be staying, but my guess is... long..

Love always and all the big-sistah-hugs in the world,
xoxo,
Jolynn Aurea~ or just Josy