Did you see her?

Who: Charlotte and Joshua.
When: Early morning.
Where: The wonderful world of text messages.

Charlotte was only half awake when she scrambled out of her bed, tears spilling out of her eyes as she gasped in horror and ended up tripping over one of the dogs. Charlotte hit the hardwood floor with a dull thud and she winced, and stilled for a moment as she waited to see if anyone had heard her. What time was it? Did she wake her mom and Valen up? After several moments of continued silence, she determined that she hadn't, and turned to sit on her knees as she started digging underneath her bed for where she'd left her phone, plugged in to charge overnight. Anna climbed down off of the bed and curled up at Charlotte's side, resting her head on her legs. Charlotte felt comforted by her presence, but still couldn't quite get over her state of terror and shock.

When she found her phone, her initial reaction was, surprisingly, not to call Lullaby. The thought of telling Lullaby what she had seen was utterly terrifying. No, instead she thumbed around through her options, looking for Joshua's number in her (very small) address book. She wasn't sure what kind of schedule he had, but she texted him anyway.

Did you see her?

The answer came back almost immediately, as Joshua already had his phone in his hands. He was trying to find a way to word a text to Lullaby that wouldn't freak her the hell out, and kept coming up empty. But then one came through from Charlotte, so he sent one back.

Yes. You too?

Charlotte hadn't expected such an immediate reply, and both squeaked and jumped in surprised when it beeped in. Right, great lesson to turn the sound off. Biting her bottom lip through a frown, she read Joshua's message and quickly texted him back.

Yes. What do we do now?

Dont know. I'm going to try and see her at lunch. Dont know what it means. You ok?

Joshua hit send and sighed. This was exhausting already, even though he felt like he was a bundle of nervous energy at the same time.

Worried. I won't talk to her until after you do though, if you want. You okay?

Charlotte tried to tell herself that this was a desperate, horrible situation, and it would have been perfectly acceptable to use netspeak. Her fingers weren't buying it. Oh well. Taking the time to type everything in was calming her down a little, at least.

That was nice of her. Which wasn't terribly surprising, given what he'd seen of Charlotte thusfar. He beeped out a reply to her, pausing once to shake out a hand that was sort of unsteady.

Scared and kind of sick. Thanks tho, I want her to hear it from me. then we should all talk.

I'll keep my phone on, I'll be around whenever you need me. Should I gather up anyone else, or just the three of us?

She was going with the assumption that Lulu had probably told Joshua everything about their lunch meeting a few days ago, including the fact that Dean was having the dreams too. She wished she'd been smart enough to get everyone's phone numbers.

Joshua considered that, leg bouncing rapidly as he sat on the bed. She had told him that Dean was having the dreams too, which bothered him to no end. Amongst the other things that bothered him to no end about that guy's very existence.

Let me talk to her first, see what she wants to do, was what he settled on telling Charlotte. Because to him? What Lullaby wanted was his strict priority. Then we'll get with you.

Good plan. Thank you, Joshua. Good luck.

Charlotte leaned forward against her bed, and pet her dog's head as she tried to take a deep, calming breath. It would be okay. Right?