ashes to ashes ➵ camren

8. is it the same for you?

Listen while you read - Antichrist by The 1975

"Well, this has been fun, but I need a shower before the water shuts off," Dinah nods, standing up and glancing out the window. She, along with Lauren and Camila, had been sitting on the floor of the living room and fooling around with the camera. But now, it was starting to get dark out, which means they need to make as much use of the light as they could.

"Walz, why don't you take Lauren up to the loft? You've got stuff up there she can borrow, right?" Dinah calls back to her as she retrieved a towel from the hallway closet. Camila tenses, but nods quickly. Lauren, however, watches in confusion as Dinah disappears out onto the porch with her towel.

"Outdoor showers," Camila nods, noticing Lauren's confusion. "Trees don't have plumbing." She rises to her feet, shyly offering Lauren her hand to help her up aswell. "C'mon. We've gotta get ready for bed before the lights shut off."

"Bed?" Lauren scrambles up to her feet. "What?"

"Oh, right," Camila laughs, awkwardly shoving her hands into her pockets. "We always stay out here on Fridays." She pauses for a moment before motioning for Lauren to follow her.

"Why?" Lauren asks, jogging to catch up with Camila as the smaller girl leads them through the house. Lauren watches as Camila reaches up, pulling down the trap door on the roof and allowing yet another ladder to descend down to the floor in an accordion motion. Lauren cranes her next to peer up into the room.

"They aren't safe," Camila mutters, almost inaudibly. Before Lauren can ask any more questions, the smaller girl climbs the ladder, and the green eyed girl hurries to follow. She's not sure what's so special about Friday's, and she's not too sure if she wants to find out.

Lauren rises to her feet in the small room, looking around curiously. There's two large windows on the wall, and when Lauren moves over to peer through them, she suddenly realizes just how far up they are. Even though the treehouse is in the forest, she can catch a glimpse of the ocean from where she stands.

There's a mattress on the floor, and there's pillows and blankets strewn everywhere. There's one small oil lamp hanging from a hook beside the bed, along with a rectangular chest pushed against the wall. But besides that, the small room is empty. Camila sits down on the bed and sighs softly.

"The beach isn't safe?" Lauren asks, revisiting the conversation because she purely cannot resist. Camila simply nods, and Lauren sits down beside her.

"Do I want to know?" Lauren sighs. She's tired of hearing bad news.

"Fridays are eviction days," Camila explains, looking down at her feet and wiggling her toes in her shoes absentmindedly. "They round up all the prisoners and take them out on a boat... It's basically... they drop them in the water... out real far. It's like some sort of game to them," the brown eyed girl grits her teeth, and all of a sudden Lauren senses the bitter edge to her voice.

"They force them to get in the water and then leave them there. They... they line up a bunch of guys on the beach to wait for anyone who tries to swim back. If they do... they shoot them. And they laugh about it. They laugh about killing these people. They laugh about taking brothers away from sisters. Lovers away from lovers. Parents away from children. Mothers away from their daughters."

At this point, Camila's voice cracks and Lauren watches in shock as the smaller girl shakes her head and hides her face in her hands. The green eyed girl isn't sure what to do when she realizes. Camila's words resonate with her.

"I'm sorry," Lauren whispers, sitting beside the girl and feeling horribly awkward because she isn't sure what to do. She never seems to have the right words to make someone feel better.