Me Without You

"No one's getting to you while I'm here, princess."

Lauren hadn't touched the cancer stick in well over two years and very rarely had she ever felt the need for it in her relationship with Keana.

Because their relationship had sort of been that textbook fluff kind that most people dreamed about or at the very least wished they'd had. They'd had no real issues in theirs, nothing that would warrant too much stress on Lauren's part but of course for the green-eyed girl to expect that same smooth sailing in her relationship with Camila was ridiculous.

So there she sat overlooking the city on her apartment balcony whilst her girlfriend was getting what little rest she could following the eventful day they'd both had. Lauren had waited until Camila was finally sound asleep before she'd snuck out of the bed only to dash to the nearest convenience store still openly at that ungodly hour and settled herself in for a sleepless night occupied by smoke and city lights.

The air smelt almost stale but Lauren was sure that was the bitter aftertaste of the day's event still lingering in her subconscious.

She wondered how she'd be able to go to her classes tomorrow, they were compulsory since they were her first ones but the thought of leaving Camila after what happened...even just for a few hours...she couldn't. She was sure she couldn't. Camila had promised she'd spend the day at her parents' house and would even wait for Lauren to pick her up but for the raven-haired girl that simply wasn't enough.

Camila, to Lauren, would never be safe unless she was directly in the older girl's line of sight.

Almost instinctively as the thought crossed her mind, her head shot back to see the brunette sound sleep on their bed, her hand clutching the blanket on Lauren's side.

Lauren brought the cigarette to her lips again and exhaled the swirls of grey, almost entranced by them for a moment before she reminded herself of just how bad the habit was. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, her eyes closed and all she saw was the fear that darted across Camila's eyes as she revealed what was inside the box.

Camila gasped as her eyes landed on the contents.

It was an eye. Very obviously an animal eye and if Lauren had to guess, she would assume probably a cow, easily purchased from any butcher.

The large, brown pupil staring up at her lifelessly.

The box was clear of any other contents besides the eye and a small piece of paper taped to the inside.

I always loved the colour of your eyes. It read.

It took a while for Lauren's brain to process what exactly she had just seen and read, and when it finally clicked on, she shut the box back up and made a beeline for the front door. She pretty much yanked it from the frame before darting out into the hallway, her eyes scanning every corner as her fists clenched.

She raced down to the end of it and rounded the corner in the hopes of catching the culprit but found it as deserted as the one their apartment was situated in.

"Lauren, come on, we have to call the police." She felt a yanking on her arm and her head shot to find Camila's frightened eyes meeting her own.

"Go back inside and lock the door, like hell I'm letting this fucker get away with this." If whoever sent the box had the goal of pissing Lauren off, they'd definitely succeeded, she was well and truly enraged at the idea of someone sending her girlfriend that.

"Lauren, it could be anyone, they could still be here!" Camila tugged at the older girl's arm again.

"I fucking hope they are so I can kill them," The raven-haired girl spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes going back to scanning everywhere again until they landed on the watering eyes of her girlfriend. "Shit, come here," Lauren pulled the shaken girl into her and hugged her tight, smoothing her hair down in the back and whispering soft 'It's okays' into her ear, promising she'd never let anyone hurt her.