no one knows what their breaking point will be until they reach it, no limits to how far they will push themselves until they simply snap. while josie’s no fool to think that hers had already come and gone ( or that she might be lucky enough to only have one ), she wasn’t sure what she had expected when she left for edinburgh just a few days ago, but it wasn’t where she was now. not looking like a right, proper mess in this moment, in some godforsaken park that she couldn’t even find the name of. the yellow streetlights cast tear - stained cheeks in an almost sickly glow, knees pulled to her chest where she sat on the cold metal bench. the general look of not having slept ( at least well ) in a handful of days, though that hadn’t really been anything new in months. she’d walked almost half an hour after leaving her car god only knows where just to wind up inside the empty park. a certain solitude that was more unsettling than comforting.
really, she wasn’t sure how long she’d been out there, or how much time had passed between her return to guildford and the moment she’d texted jace asking if he could pick her up. and though josie is loathe for him to see her this way, with her seams all frayed and looking like one wrong move might unravel what still held her together, she is grateful. grateful that he had answered, and grateful that he was willing. and thankful, she thinks, that that is the only question he asks. fingers are numb in the cold as they twist a loose thread in the knee rip of her jeans, and josie has to clench her jaw to push back the threat of another wave of tears. ❝ no, ❞ she answers after a long moment, when she’s more positive her voice will not tremble. there’d been a reason she hadn’t called, after all. ❝ i don’t think i do. ❞ not yet, at least, not when it burned so harshly at the forefront of her mind. ❝ i just need a moment, before we go back to the school. ❞ she can’t find enough of her voice to say thank you, and you don’t know how much this means to me, but oh does she think it.