A Light in the Dark

Chapter 54

"Thanks for coming along," Lauren said softly and squeezed her hand.

Camila looked out of the car window towards the cemetery and bit her lip. Lauren had suggested they would come here the day after Thanksgiving and of course she had agreed. She let her gaze wander over the countless of tombstones and shivered slightly. This was it. Hailee's final resting place. The thought alone caused a lump in her throat. It shouldn't have happened...

"Babe? Are you okay?"

She blinked a few times, trying to get rid of her teary eyes and nodded resolutely. It was not her time to be upset, she had to be strong for Lauren.

"Yeah, I just... I've never been to a cemetery before," she lied, hoping that she didn't sound like she was about to cry.

Lauren gave her a concerned look and Camila wanted to punch herself. It should be the other way around... this should be about Lauren and not about her.

"It's alright, I get it. It's not the most... comforting place, I guess. Although it can be," Lauren added quietly and her eyes followed Camila's previous line of sight. "It's a way to remember them, you know? It's... when everything gets tough and you need to... you can come here and talk to them. You can tell them what you couldn't when they were still with you. It's just... it's a good way of coping, I guess..."

Camila looked back to the tombstones and swallowed dryly, not knowing what to say. There was nothing to say. It was sort of her fault that they were even here... that the grave even existed...

Lauren cleared her throat. "Um, yeah... anyway... let's go?"

She nodded silently and they left the car. It was obvious that Lauren seemed to have gotten some directions on where to go since she was leading her confidently around the tombstones, trees and bushes. Camila couldn't help but look at every grave they passed, and her stomach twisted unpleasantly. There were so many...

The walk was long and after quite a few lefts and rights, Lauren stopped in front of a large, still very new looking headstone that seemed to consist of marble. It was of an elegant design, but that wasn't what made Camila stop in her tracks. With wide eyes she stared in shock at the stone, completely taken by surprise, as Lauren knelt down to lay a bouquet of white lilies on the grass.

But Camila couldn't move her eyes from the all to familiar face that was staring right back at her. "That's... she..."

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Lauren whispered and her fingers reached out to gently touch the black and white photograph that was engraved on the stone.

"It..." Camila stopped herself and tried to tear her gaze away from the shy smile and her stomach turned. "It looks... so... real," she managed to choke out, but thankfully Lauren didn't notice her weird behavior. This was going to be more difficult than she had thought...

"Her parents spent a small fortune on it." Lauren shook her head and brought her hand back. "They wanted her to be remembered... as if anyone who knew her could forget..."

Biting her lip, Camila finally tore her eyes away from Hailee's and instead read the elegant cursive script below her name.

"Dearly loved daughter, sister and friend

Lost too soon, but never forgotten.
Her memory will live forever in our hearts."

Taking a shaky breath, she glanced back up. Was she only imagining it or was there an accusing look in Hailee's eyes? Was she going crazy? It was only a picture, something on a stone... but still... she shouldn't be here. Shivers ran down her spine and she took a small step back. This was wrong...