Watch your step | Caminah A.U

Prolouge

A week before her funeral, Camila didn't think she'd be having to put up with arguments with her friends about this. Her body sinks further into the couch and shoos away her mother with a hand action. She's never wanted anybody around when she's having these conversations. Any presence would cause disturbance in her façade of being strong.

"You and I both know she would have wanted this, Mila." The voice on the other side sighs. Days on end, this argument has been going on and, as the funeral draws near, the end of the fight seemingly hasn't been resolved.

"I know Normani, I know." Camila agrees, her heading nodding unconsciously. "How do we give her something we don't have though?"

Through the speaker there's silence. There isn't even an attempt at a response. Instead, there's nothing and finally the sound of the call ending. Every time Normani gets so frustrated about finding the answer to one question they hang up on each other. Camila does it because there is otherwise just minutes of silence between them.

Camila looks down at her phone and has half a mind to call Normani right back. Her fingers even hover over the girl's number but she doesn't. Her mother returns into the room minutes later with a supportive smile but Camila doesn't return it. She hasn't been the same since losing her close friend. Nothing seems to light her way up anymore.

"She'll understand Mija, She always has." Sinu says softly, rubbing her daughters back. They've always shared a strong mother-daughter bond but growing older has slowly started to deteriorate some of what they had.

"Normani or..." Camila trails off. After all this time she still couldn't find it in herself to say the name. It's amazing how getting to know somebody for so long and watching them leave can make you never want to hear the name again. With everything they've gone through, Camila still refuses to believe the truth sometimes.

Sinu sighs at her daughter's behavior. She's never seen her so lost. "They both will. You and I both know that."

"But how could we not know earlier?" Camila questions out loud. Her voice starts to strain and her face goes into the palm of her hands. "How could we not have noticed? She's dead and we can't even get her the final wish."

No answer. Nothing. There's no straight answer to give. Of course they would understand about not being able to get one thing considering about how long and daunting the process is but it was the final wish. The one and last thing they had requested and they wanted it to be played at her funeral.

"You denied her death for so long Mija." Sinu soothes, trying to calm Camila down. She couldn't let the girl beat herself up over this for too long. She had promised. "She's dead now Camila. L-"

"Don't say her name." Camila cuts in, her voice cracking. "You say it now and I'm going to start crying when I need to focus on this."

Sinu shakes her head. The longer the girl is in denial the more pain it's going to cause her. The only problem is she's her own mother and she doesn't want to be the one to break her heart like that. She's barely gotten used to it herself. Even though she was Camila's friend, they had shared a bond and when Sinu heard the news she broke down like a mother losing a daughter. Theoretical daughter that is.

"You can focus on this all you want but you're not going to get anywhere. It's takes months to get a license and it's too expensive. We wouldn't have the money anyway." Sinu explains but Camila's expression doesn't falter from what she can see. The girl's head was still buried in her hands after all.

There's nothing to give away or even suggest what's going on in Camila's mind. One thing is for sure though, it can't be good. Sure, some plans of hers actually worked out but playing with the law could only work out badly. Sinu doesn't want her daughter to be the face that the police are after, that wouldn't make anybody look good.