The Party (GxG) (Camren) **EDITING**

Chapter 18

Lauren was floating through an endless void. Drifting aimlessly with not a care or a worry. Her mind felt as weightless as her body, as if they had both abandoned the human notion of gravity for a more preferable climate. She neither felt hot nor cold, her naked state of being no longer evoking a self-aware bout of anxiety, that would often cause her to fidget. At peace was the only way in which she could describe herself. There was something so inexorably euphoric about the empty state of tranquility in which her mind currently resided.

She felt free.

There were no endless thoughts pervading her consciousness, or horrific memories that induced some fearful trauma that seemed to plague her every decision. There was nothing that could turn ashen her joy or introduce terror into her numbed mind. For once, she felt fully content in her blissful ignorance and experienced no lingering guilt as a consequence.

She was conscious of the knowledge that the further she floated, the closer she was to abandoning reality and adopting nirvana as her new found home, but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

And yet...

She was mildly aware of something keeping her anchored to the physical world, something that resided deeply within her being. Her soul was not free to leave without severing the final attachment that prevented her from reaching the enlightened freedom she sort. As heavy as her want grew to become, it could not overpower the adamant need that kept her rooted to her body. Torn between the two worlds and residing in a limbo, she was forced to face the one thing she was so reluctant to lose.

...Camila...

The name was a soft whisper on the tail of a breeze. It was so achingly familiar and yet she could not recall what the word even meant. Her mind had lost all concept of words, language but a forgotten communication tool abandoned along with her worldly connection. The sound echoed within her, vibrating familiarly through her being in gentle persuasion. It was merely a feeling, a sensation that persisted with a continuous strength that warred with her strongest desire.

Through the blanket of darkness her blind eyes caught a glimpse of something. Something that seemed to align itself with the indefinite feeling that had swept her into indecision. A flash of chocolate brown and a hint of delicate lips curved into a coy smile.

...Camila...

The name flashed once again through her mind, filling her soul with warmth. There was a longing that was attached with the familiar sound, an aching need that burned within her. Her soul thrummed to the tune that the name had become, her entire self bursting with need toward that single forgotten sound.

A slightly raspy voice barely whispered something; a name. "Lauren..."
The beautiful sound sent the shivers to her core of her very being. Almost instantly Lauren recognised her ownership of the meaningless noise.
The voice was calling for her.

She felt the pull grow increasingly stronger, dragging her away from the tempting promise of eternal peace and toward the voice that grew increasingly louder. She felt fireworks erupt in tingles throughout her limbs as she neared the source of the desperate pull. The closer she approached, the stronger her conviction became; this was where she was supposed to go. She found herself shouting, screaming that mixture of sound that seemed to make so much sense to her subconscious.

"Camila... Camila. Camila!"

She felt as if she were drowning, that the nirvana promised had merely been a farce to tempt her into oblivion. But now she knew. She knew  that she had to fight the strong currents and frigid temperatures to get home. She knew that she would have to use her every strength to pull through the imposing fog that persisted to dull her consciousness and evaporate her every thought.