Dance On Our Graves

Chapter 16

Trigger Warning: Violence / Blood

There's a pounding in Lauren's head unlike any other. It takes a few seconds for her to blink her eyes open and when she focuses enough, she finds herself staring at the white expanse blanketing her vision. Some kind of a wall. Lauren's face is on a hard flat surface. It's cold and smells terrible. She vaguely registers some kind of warm liquid dripping down the back of her neck.

Lauren put her hand on the ground and start to push up. Her head is throbbing, but she has to find out where she is. One glance down the hallway, Lauren sees that she's on the first floor of her apartment building.

Lauren shakes her head and rubbed her eyes. Lauren can't remember what happened or why she was on the floor. She pushes her hair out of her face and feels something wet and sticky as her hand travels over the crown of her head. Her stomach lurches with the realization of what it is even before she looks at the red on her hand.

Once she's on her feet and takes in more around her, Lauren noticed that her purse is on the ground, contents scattered across the floor, in a shotgun blast of cosmetics and personal items. As she bends down to pick it up, her eyes flash to the front door of the building. The security door is broken, the glass cracked. It looks like someone kicked it in...

Then Lauren takes off running for the stairs. He's here. He kicked in the door and shoved her so hard that she fell and hit her head. And he's on his way up to their apartment.

It feels like Lauren run up a million stairs before she step off their floor. The second Lauren burst through the door, she wants to start yelling but bite her tongue. If he's not in yet, her calling Camila could cause her to open the door and then he'd be inside. With Camila and Emily.

Lauren runs so hard that her legs burn, but she won't stop because the closer she gets, the louder the bangs get. Lauren can hear him yelling, "Camila let me it!"

He doesn't hear Lauren coming, but she throws her body weight at him and knocks him away from the door. "Call the cops!" Lauren yelled, trying to get up and away from him before he can stand.

Shawn looks like he hasn't changed out of his courtroom suit since the case was closed yesterday. He also looks drunk and enraged.

"Lauren!" Camila gasps.

Lauren looks behind her and sees her standing with the door open behind her. Lauren can't see Emily, but she knows she's in there. "Close the door!" Lauren yells and when she doesn't do it immediately she yells louder, "Close the fucking door!"

When Lauren looks back at Shawn, he's rushing Lauren. Lauren feels the force of his body crushing hers against the wall. Lauren can smell the alcohol seeping through his pores and all over his breath as he pants from the exertion. "You crazy fucking bitch," he spits at Lauren.

Lauren glances at the door of the apartment and finds that it is closed now. She shoves him away from her and manages to hook her foot around one of his ankles so that he falls on his ass. She'd laugh if she didn't feel so dizzy. She shakes her head to try to get it clear, but she doesn't do it in time because as she's bending over to keep herself from falling, he grabs her hair and yanks her to the ground.

Lauren fell with a heavy thud. Or maybe that was his fist connecting with her stomach. She can't tell because it hurts everywhere. She lay on the ground and rolled onto her back, the cracked ceiling coming into a hazy view.

Lauren wants to lay there and wait for someone to find her. She doesn't think she can move. She doesn't think she wants to. Then she remembers why she's fighting in the first place. Camila and Emily are inside and she's going to protect them. At any cost.