The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 68 Part 3

Camila's POV

The faint sound of a heart monitor filled my ears as I stirred.

Each beat bringing me back into the real world. The living world. My world.

"Camz?"

I stopped moving and slowly opened my eyes to meet green ones.

"Baby?"

I furrowed her brows in confusion before I felt a rush of air fill my nose from a plastic tube.

I looked down at myself and noticed that I was wearing a hospital gown and was covered with medical equipment.

"How are you feeling?"

I ignored the question and groggily asked, "What happened to me?"

Lauren's relief faded. She frowned and clenched her fist before she averted my gaze.

"Lauren?" I asked before her eyes began to stain with tears of self hate.

She hesitated.

"Tell me."

"After I let myself fall, you jumped after me and you broke my fall."

"Is that why I'm-"

"Yeah." Lauren interrupted, "You hit the side of a rock before you bumped your head on something too, I'm not sure what though. And you knocked out. But I was able to get you out of the water before anything else happened. And after that, Akela called the ambulance. I...I was so scared Camz." She admitted, "I thought you were going to die and that it was going to be all my fault."

"But I didn't."

"But you almost did..."

"That doesn't matter. I did it for you.  For us."

"You should've just let me jump."

"I couldn't do that."

"..."

"What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I have a few fractures in my arm and shoulder...and scrapes here and there, but it's nothing compared to what happened to you."

"I'm hurt?" I said before I realized that I couldn't move my leg. I tried to get up to look at the damage, but my rib age ached along with my head.

"Stop moving." Lauren insisted.

"Why?"

"Because you're really fucked up and it's all my fault." She said before she clenched her teeth and spit, "Because I'm selfish."

"You're not-"

"-I just...couldn't handle the truth...and that's all I've ever wanted."

"But why? I don't understand."

"Because, my whole life was a lie. My dad constructed the story of my life behind my back because I'm not the daughter he wanted. And I wanted to blame him for everything. And blame her for everything. But I couldn't, because she was a piece on her dad's chessboard too. And all she ever wanted was to get away from him, and I gave her that, all while our parents tried to mold us into the perfect straight daughters they wanted. To scare me out of ever loving again. But because of you, she failed and now I accidentally set her free in an attempt to set myself free. And that...just fucked me up. But what hurts the most is that the person who was supposed to love me most in the world, just...didn't. He did everything in his power to save that damn company while destroying my life in the process. And he didn't even care how much it hurt. How much it's always hurt."