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The next day was a tough one for Josephine, to say the least. After literally crying herself to sleep, she woke up the next morning, hurting everywhere on her body. Her mouth and throat felt dry from screaming and crying, and her eyes were crusted with dried tears. Out of everywhere that hurt, her lungs and ribs hurt the most. It hurt to breathe, and every time she did, it left her shuddering in pain. Her reddened, puffy eyes looked down at the little purple, crochet bunny in her arms and immediately thought of her aunt Rachel who made it. Where was she? Her father had mentioned last night, while he was hurting the little girl, that she was gone. Gone where? Did she go in a trip? Maybe she went to go and get something for Josephine. If she was, she hoped she would come home soon. Her aunt always made her feel better when she was hurting.
Josephine realized then that she had to go to preschool that day, and since her aunt wasn't back yet, she had to find her own way to get there. She thought that she could maybe ask her father to take her, but just the thought of potentially seeing him again made her lungs and ribs hurt again. She decided that maybe she'd walk instead.
The toddler slowly sat up, trying to resist crying again at the pain that flared there. She scooted off the bed and set her feet on the ground, holding onto the edge of the bed as she stood up so she wouldn't fall. Her stomach made a growling noise which made her realize she hadn't had dinner last night. Her aunt usually made her cereal in the morning, but she thought that she could make it on her own while she was away. It couldn't be that much harder than making a cheese sandwich.
Josephine left her bunny on the bed, so she could get her later, and limped into the kitchen. There were still pieces of glass on the ground, so the three year old had to step around them on her tiptoes. Her father was nowhere to be seen, so she figured he hadn't come home last night. Maybe he wouldn't come home at all. Josephine liked to think that.
The redheaded girl found the box of cereal, but it was on top of the refrigerator, but no matter how hard she tried to reach for it on her tiptoes, or wish that she could jump that high, she couldn't reach it. She sighed softly and decided to have a cheese sandwich instead. She opened the refrigerator door, but there was no cheese left. She decided a piece of bread would be fine.
While getting dressed, Josephine finally noticed that something was sticking out of her leg still. She sat down and looked at it curiously. It was the same glass from the weird, brown bottles her aunt would throw out. When she touched it, pain seared through her leg and she almost started crying again. She sniffed and decided to just put a bandaid over it so it would stop hurting. And maybe some of that gross cream stuff, too. Her aunt Rachel always said that would help it stop hurting, too.
She limped into the bathroom and sat down in front of the cabinet. Opening it, she smiled when she saw the Barbie bandaids she had begged her aunt to get while they were at the store a while ago. She got them for Josephine, but told her to only use them for emergencies. Looking at all of her bruises and cuts, she decided it was an emergency. She took out eight band aids and the gross cream out, putting it on the biggest cuts and bruises. It stung a little bit on the cuts, especially the one that had the brown glass in it, but they felt better once she put the pink bandaids on them. She threw away all of the little wrappers and walked out of the bathroom, feeling proud of herself that she could put the band aids on and feel better on her own.
Josephine grabbed her coat and put it on when she thought of something. She hurried back to the room she and her aunt had shared and grabbed her bunny. The bunny looked a little sad, so she grabbed another band aid from the bathroom and put it on it, hoping it would make it happier. She decided to bring it to school with her so she could show Tiffany and Ms. Kennedy her new animal her aunt had made, and so she wouldn't miss her aunt as much.
It was cold outside, and it still continued to rain from last night. Since she didn't have an umbrella, Josephine zipped up her jacket, her bunny inside, and put her hood over her head. She wore a pair of green rain boots that looked like frogs and kept her feet warm and dry. And after shutting the door to her house, she started on her adventure to her school.
For some reason, when Josephine got to school, Ms. Kennedy was very mad. She apparently didn't like that Josephine was sopping wet when she walked in, nor did she like the fact that she walked in instead of being driven. She made the little redhead take off her frog rain boots and jacket, but let her keep her new bunny. When she asked Josephine why she was covered in bandaids, she told her teacher she fell. She didn't want Ms. Kennedy to be mad at her like her father had been.
After playing with Tiffany and showing all of the other kids her bunny throughout the day, Ms. Kennedy told Josephine that she'd be taking her home again. The little girl asked why her aunt wasn't picking her up, but Ms. Kennedy didn't respond. She must've been still gone. But Josephine was happy to get to ride in her teacher's car again; she liked the cool seats in there and the fact that she didn't have to use a car seat. Plus, she got to wear her rain boots again, which Tiffany said she liked, too.
Ms. Kennedy dropped her off after a few minutes and told Josephine to get her father to drop her off tomorrow. Josephine told her she couldn't ask him, and when she was asked why, she said it was because her aunt would come back and take her like she always did. That didn't seem to make Ms. Kennedy very happy, but she didn't know why. She told Josephine that she'd see her the next day and left.
Later that night Josephine had more bread for dinner, plus a little bit if a brownie she found. She hoped her aunt wouldn't mind. She tried to read her book again when she heard the front door open and slam shut again. She heard her father shout her name angrily and start stomping back to her room. She immediately grew worried and grabbed her bunny and book. She hopped off the bed and shimmied under it, her eyes wide and fearful as she held both to her chest.
Her door was slammed open and she heard the labored breathing of her father. The air smelled like the strange liquid again. "Josephine! Get your ass out here!" he growled, prowling around the room. She listened fearfully as he opened up her and her aunt's shared closest, rummaging around in it. He searched the rest of the room before seemingly giving up and slamming the door shut behind him.
At the sound of him leaving, Josephine dared to breathe again. Just the thought of what could've happened if he had found her made her bruises and cuts hurt. Would he have thrown something at her again? Kicked her again? Pulled her hair? Or just yelled at her? She didn't want to know.
Worried that he'd come back to look for her again, she hurriedly grabbed her pillow off the bed and went back under it. She curled up on the dusty, dirty floor with her rabbit and book, praying for the time when her aunt would finally come back to her.