The Labeller

Chapter One

"Now you'll never forget who you belong to, princess."

Lauren brought herself out the dark abyss that was her mind. Getting lost in there was dangerous, as it brought back that dull pain in her heart that she'd spent the best part of two years trying to remedy. Ever since that night, Lauren had been trying and failing to forget and just move on and focus on reality and not her demons. Well, her demon. Only recently had she been able to look at her photo without clutching at her scar as though she were still bleeding. Now, she can examine her features and manage to go a full two minutes with scratching at her neck nervously. It was progress that her therapist persuaded her to recognize, even though it seemed small.

"Jauregui, is that report finished?" The sound of her supervisors high pitched tone shook her from her mind again. "Yeah, it's there." Lauren responded tiredly, the small woman watched her in disgust. Ever since Lauren had been moved into her department, she'd looked for any way to get her out. It went both ways since Lauren had been begging to go back into the field. Though, they won't let her until she's stable, which she's not. "There's a mistake in this." Her supervisor complained and Lauren snatched it out her hands in annoyance. "You asked me to complete an average scale on the genders of all the missing people in the US, this year. Of the 15,207 people currently missing, approximately 60% are male and 40% are female. How is that a mistake, Judy?" Said women stuttered dumbly, she knew that there wasn't a problem, she only wanted to start one. "Carry on giving me back talk and I'll have you working as a janitor faster than you can pull a trigger." Judy threatened weakly and hobbled away. Making Lauren question if her superiors truly wanted her to get better when that women tests her patience every day.

The green eyed girl closed down the last bit of work before going through her emails. As she scrolled through the endless rejections about going into the field, past her mothers empty threats and her father's pleas for her to come home she found what she wanted. The infinite amount of emails between her and that demon she can't seem to be rid of. Her therapist said that she should take bay steps in forgetting her. Starting by simply blocking her number and all socials, then progressing to intimate emails, clothing and finally pictures and videos. Lauren was currently on the emails, which she had been on since a month ago. Every time she see's the username, or see's the sweet comments left by that woman she can practically feel her stood behind her. Sometimes when she's alone, she can smell her perfume and even hear her voice. It was so bad in the first few months after, that Lauren would see her stood behind her in reflections. Now, her demon lurks in her dreams and deep thoughts and of course, she's permanently etched into her skin.

"Baby steps my ass." Lauren muttered in anger as she tried to delete as many emails as she could, almost deleting important messages from her therapist. Just as Lauren went to go on her smoke break, her desktop pinged which signaled a message. Upon opening it, she was surprised to see the department head of homicide to be contacting her.

Lauren Jauregui,

I'm sincerely sorry if I have disturbed you in any way. This is just too important for me to arrange a sit down and in fact time is precious so I'll make this quick. Would you please meet me at the stated address tomorrow morning at 7. It is very much required you attend as it regards not only a case but your reinstatement into homicide.

Don't be late.

-Theo James

Lauren reread the email several times, dissecting every word. Theo James, the man that oversees homicide in the FBI wants to meet her to discuss a case and talk about reinstating her as detective. This was the moment Lauren had been waiting for since her demon was taken far far away from her. This was the moment that she could rebuild her life and maybe her nightmares would fade. Maybe she could look in the mirror and forget what the scar on her neck meant.