After

Chapter 27

Lauren feels the person beside her move and grows worried, she thought she was safe, but was it all a dream? It's possible, she's dreamt of being rescued many times now and this could just be one of them. Lauren convinces herself she is back at the horrible house with Brad, Tristan, James, and Connor and every movement the person who is in bed with her makes, she grows worried they are going to wake up and hurt her more. She can't really feel her arms and legs right now, but her ribs are in a lot of pain, she must have taken a beating the night before and passed out because of it. She can't imagine what whoever is next to her did to her while she was even less able to defend herself than normal.

She allows herself to cry and soon the pillow underneath her head grows wet with her tears. How stupid of her to think she actually got out, that's never going to happen. She sniffles and awakes the person beside her which frightens her more. They, in the dark, sit up and begin to rub her arm, "Shhh, it's ok Lo. You're fine." Camila's voice sends a wave of comfort over Lauren.

"Camila?" Lauren asks, "Where are we?"

"We're at the apartment with Mani, Ally, and Dinah. Why do you ask?"

"But we-I thought-" Lauren can't seem to form a decent sentence and finally sighs and regains her thoughts, "So we aren't at Brad's house anymore?"

"No, we got out of there. We're safe now, I swear."

"Are you sure?" Camila nods but Lauren doesn't see, "Then why do I feel like they beat me again?"

"Lo, do you not remember?" Camila asks, not wanting to have to remind Lauren of what she did, but of course Lauren doesn't remember at the moment, "You jumped out of a building. You tried to end your life."

Lauren suddenly remembers all of what happened and lets out another cry, "Oh yeah." She whispers, "I'm sorry Camila."

"Who?" Camila asks, confusing Lauren for a moment before she realizes what Camila meant."

"Camz. I'm sorry Camz." Lauren gently smiles. Camila somehow knew how to make Lauren smile again. Maybe it is possible to get better.

Lauren and Camila don't talk after that, they just lay in the dark and fall back asleep, only to wake up hours later to light streaming in from the window, invading their eyes. Lauren rolls over to her other side and looks at Camila who is waking up. Her eyes flutter open and Lauren notices how red they are. "Are-Are you ok?"

"Hm? Yeah." Camila whispers, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Tell me the truth Camz."

"I said I'm fine." Camila grows defensive.

"And I told you to tell me the truth." Lauren replies, equally as defensive, "Of anyone in the world I would think you would be the one who would be honest with me."

Camila pauses, unsure if she should tell Lauren the truth or not, but she finally decides to do so, "I dream about when I was there, and I dream about it a lot. And it's never the same dream, they're always different and I'm forced to remember and relive what happened."

"I'm sorry Camz, I-" Lauren begins.

"Last night it was about the first time Tristan raped me, the night before it was when they locked me in that room and had to watch videos of when they had Mani, Ally, and Dinah too and whipped them. And the night before that when they came into our room and drugged you and tied me to a chair and forced my eyes open as they freaking raped you and I was begging for them to stop because you weren't conscious, and then when you did wake up they beat you, stopped, and did the same to me but didn't drug me. Lauren they did everything they could to hurt us and even though we're away and we don't have to make new horrible memories, I'm reliving the old ones and it's just as bad Lauren. We left but the memories didn't." By the time Camila finishes, she is sobbing hysterically.