Chapter Text
Nineteen-year-old Lily Hudson wakes with a gasp, her body quickly sitting upright on her bed. She is covered in sweat, and heaves heavy breaths, before furrowing her brow and trying to remember to the nightmare she had succumbed to just a moment ago, but no memory of it will come.
Suddenly her mom rushes into her room, flinging her door against the wall in her haste. "Lily? What's wrong, are you alright?", she questions worriedly as she sits at the foot of her daughter's bed, flicking her bedside light on.
"Y-yeah…I just...I don't know. I'm fine now, sorry for waking you."
"Are you having those nightmares again?", she muses, stroking Lily's hair.
"Yeah", Lily turns to her looking confused. "The thing is, I can never remember what it was about once I wake up. Absolutely no recollection. It's ridiculous", she mumbles, frustrated.
Just then her dad peeks in. "Lily? Lucy? Nightmares again?"
Lucy nods and turns to look at him. "Mhmm, she still can't remember what they're about. It's okay, go back to sleep Ryan."
"You sure?", he looks from his wife to his daughter and back.
"We're sure", the women say in unison.
"Alright, alright. I hope you can get some sleep, Lil", he nods and returns down their hallway.
Lucy takes her daughter's hand and sighs softly. "Do you want some melatonin to help you sleep?"
She nods slowly, an expression of thought and confusion on her face. "Thanks, Mom."
"Of course."
Lily looks around at her lush bedroom, large and modern, filled with trinkets and reminders of her childhood and high school years. Unfortunately, that did not include many pictures, as she was not a person who was prone to making many friends. In fact, she can be slightly rigid despite her kind heart and intelligent mind. She used to think that her lack of friends was due to her family's stature in the community. The notorious Hudsons. Net worth altogether, over a billion.
However, Lily is finding that maybe this isn't just about her family or what her last name is. Maybe she just builds these walls around herself to protect herself from, well, anything outside her little bubble. Her perfect life. Anything that could leave her vulnerable. That's what she learned early. Hudsons are never vulnerable. Never weak. A weak person cannot help other weak people. The outside world is cold and cruel, and she knows all too well the consequences of leaving the safe haven to explore other interests, due to one of her great-aunts the family refuses to speak of anymore, like she never existed. You're basically cut off. You lose everything, even your identity. Something Lily couldn't handle if she didn't have. Hell, she barely knew who she was even within the family never mind outside of it.
Lucy comes back into the room, stirring Lily from her thoughts as she places the melatonin gummies in her hand.
Quickly popping them in her mouth, she gets up and grabs a towel to dry her face before climbing back into bed, her mother giving her a worrisome look.
"Mom, I'm fine. Really. It was just a nightmare, and I'm not a little kid anymore. I'll be perfectly okay.", she states, trying to calm her mother. " Plus, it's not like they can come to life and hurt me", she adds for good measure.
"I know that. But you'll always be my little girl, Lil. These nightmares are getting more frequent and that's not normal."
"I'll handle them, alright?", Lily mumbles, pulling the lighter sheet back over her body. "I love you, I'll be fine, goodnight. You need some sleep too."
Lucy smiles fondly and sighs, her daughter as stubborn as ever. "Okay. Goodnight, I love you too." Before she exits her room, she clicks her lamp back off and closes her door the way Lily prefers.
Sighing deeply, Lily stares at the ceiling, knowing she most likely won't fall asleep again. At least not for some time. Also, she should probably start looking for her own place. As much as she loves her mother and they have a great bond due to their smaller than normal age gap of only seventeen years, sometimes she can be a bit...smothery. Then again, so are her dad's entire side of the family in a loyalty sort of way.
She groans and buries her face in her pillow, turning to the side. The last thing she wants to think about right now is the Hudson reputation. Always looming, ever attached to her soul, slowly sucking the individuality out of her.
.
.
.
The next day Lily walks into her and her dad's shared co-managerial office, holding up the paperwork she had just received from her grandmother, Celia Hudson.
"Good news, looks like the local food bank fundraiser event will more than likely surpass our goal. Also, donations have been flooding in, in preparation for that as well as the annual winter carnival."
Ryan looks up from his computer and smiles at her tenderly. "That's awesome news, hon. Thanks for checking up on those numbers for me."
"Yeah...no problem", she mumbles as she sits down at her own desk, feet away from Ryan's, fidgeting with her work blazer.
He looks over at her in concern. "Still tired?"
"I suppose so. I don't know really. Everything just seems…off, for some reason. But I'm sure I'll figure it out."
"Look, I can handle the logistics and such today. Why don't you take a break from the office and go down to the Hudson Family Shelter on Main Street. Everett was telling me yesterday that they're running a bit low on volunteers. A few had to quit for a while. One had a baby, one is moving and something else with the third. It might be nice to just decompress and y'know, hand out socks or blankets or something."
Of course her father, being a Hudson, thinks that seeing all these poor helpless families in need was a 'break' from work. She knows he doesn't mean it in any bad way, it's just how he was raised, and he really is a good and loving man.
"Sure. May as well make myself useful. See you later, Dad."
"See ya, Lil."
Lily grabs her purse and walks down the hall, fishing for her car keys when she bumps into someone.
"Oh!", she exclaims, then looks up. "Oh, grandmother. I'm so sorry. I was looking for my keys and- and I-"
Celia smiles and cups her face. "Don't worry. It's not like I broke a hip", she jokes, then her expression drops. "Oh Lily, you look exhausted. I knew your mother had a right to worry about all those nightmares. We should get you to a sleep center."
"Grandmother, I'm fine. I promise. Just a bit tired is all. I'm going to go down to the Hudson Family Shelter for the day and help them hand out some clothing and blankets. Figured if I can't concentrate here, I can make myself useful down there."
"Lily..."
"Celia...", Lily warned, only using her grandmother's first name when she wants her to back off.
"Alright. Well, go on then. Have a good day."
"You too, grandmother."
With that, Lily heads to her car and gets in, taking in a gulp of breath and releasing it slowly, feeling suffocated among those she loves the most, and not knowing quite why.