#josies flashback

[fallincloversims]

Josie: I fought with them for hours but it didn't get me anywhere. Their original plan was for Wyatt and Jess to get married, but after she left that wasn't an option.

That's why they'd kept me shut in the house all those years, so I couldn't do what she did.

I was desperate. I tried to find Mrs Murata only to find out Mom had fired her and made her leave without saying goodbye.

I couldn't face the idea of being trapped in that life forever, so I did the only thing I could think of.

I went to the cliffs next to my house...

[fallincloversims]

Josie: My teenage years were lonely and boring. I didn't get to do any of the things teens are supposed to do. Then on my young adult birthday, Mom said we were having a party.

She'd bought me a new dress and even let me wear her best jewellery. She was actually nice to me...

[fallincloversims]

Josie: But my name--

Teddy: Doesn't matter. A new name for a new life, Josie Hazelwood is real to me. You can tell me your old name if you want, but I don't need to know.

Josie: Is it OK if I don't? I just want to leave that part in the past...

Teddy: Of course it's OK.

Josie: So... No more secrets.

Teddy: None. You know everything and now I do too... I can't believe I'm not the biggest criminal in this relationship--

Josie: Teddy, that's NOT funny!

Teddy: Too soon? Fair enough. I'm just so happy you're home, Josie.

Josie: So am I. The happiest.

[fallincloversims]

Teddy: They never tried to find you?

Josie: Not as far as I know. I didn't have any friends to go to and they'd never bought me a phone that they could have used to track me. They'd cut me off from Mrs Murata, the only person who would have cared that I'd gone missing...

I spent the first couple of years moving around a lot and trying not to socialise much.

I knew I couldn't do that forever, but if I was going to settle in one place I had to be careful. I had to be sure...

Teddy: What do you mean?

[fallincloversims]

Josie: I told my parents the next day that I would do what they wanted, and I spent the next couple of weeks acting as if everything was fine whilst I made a plan.

My Dad had a safe in his office. We all had access to it, even me. In case of an emergency, he told us.

On the night I left, I waited until everyone was asleep and let myself into the safe. I only planned to take some money to help me get away, but I realised there was more than just cash in there.

There were documents, hundreds of them.

[fallincloversims]

Josie: It wasn't a party, not really. The only guests were my Dad's business partner and his wife, and their son, Wyatt. Even Mrs Murata wasn't there. Wyatt was a few years older than me and I'd heard of him, but we'd never met.

My parents made me sit next to Wyatt at dinner. It was so awkward, I'd been isolated from people my own age for so long I had no idea what to say. He didn't seem to mind, he spent the whole night talking about himself and how he was looking forward to joining the business.

[fallincloversims]

Josie: After what happened with Jess, my parents decided I wasn't going to high school. Mrs Murata was a teacher before she came to work for us, so she home schooled me. I was barely allowed out of the house, and now I didn't even have my sister to keep me company.

My friends stopped visiting but I had ways to keep busy. I desperately wanted horse riding lessons but Mom refused. She hated animals, and anything else that might have made me happy. I was just trying to kill time until I could go to university and escape that house.

[fallincloversims]

Teddy: What happened?

Josie: She left. Ran away in the middle of the night with Zac. I wish I could speak to her and find out if everything worked out OK, but I have no idea where she is. Our parents never even tried to look for her, they told everyone she'd gone travelling.

Teddy: She never got in contact?

Josie: Not with me. Mrs Murata told me she'd had a message from her about a year after she left. She was still with Zac and they had a son, but she didn't say where they were living and she didn't reply to any messages after that.