Lauren Cimorelli Sick and Sad

Sick and Sad

My coughs echo in the darkness of our room, each bigger and larger than the next, no matter how much I try to control them. I turn into my pillow and stifle the sound as much as I can, trying not to wake the others up. I hadn't been feeling well since this morning but we had needed to film our new video for the YouTube channel so I just kept it to myself and tried to act as normal as possible.
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Lauren's POV
It honestly wasn't that hard considering the fact that I am the quietest out of all my sisters. The only thing is that my voice was terrible since I was so sick. It had to have cracked at least thirty times while we were recording in the studio, let alone all of the times that I sang in the wrong key, or my voice wouldn't go high enough on the harmony. What should have taken an hour or two had ended up taking almost all day and by the end of it all my sisters were annoyed with how many times I had screwed up.

We had driven home in an awkward silence and with a cloud of tension so thick that it would have taken a chainsaw to cut through it. When we pulled up in the driveway all the girls climbed out but not before throwing a few hurtful comments my way.

"Now I know that I can officially call you a waste of time and energy," Christina said.

"I'm going to be late to my friends party now! This is all your fault Lauren! Next time just don't come to the recording studio. You can't sing anyway," Amy said before running inside.

"I agree with Amy, why are you even in the band if your singing sounds like a dying yodeler?" Katherine said. At this point my eyes had begun to water and my sniffling had become a little more pronounced. I looked over at Dani and Lisa hoping they didn't feel the same way but Lisa only turned around and walked into the house. Dani wasn't far behind but not before throwing a scowl over her shoulder.

I turned around and shut the car door before looking at my reflection in the glass of the window. I had tears trailing down my cheeks and I looked even more sick than I had that morning. I turned around and lent my back against the car before sliding down to the ground and sobbing right there in the front yard.

My sisters thought I was worthless? They didn't think that I could sing? I had only messed up today. What about all the good I did for them. The perfect gift for Christmas? I comforting word on a bad day? A funny joke or sarcastic comment to make them laugh? It hit me then that they didn't even remember I had done any of these things anyway. Why would they even care? I'm obviously the black sheep of the family. The only one that doesn't have any talents. A memory rose unbidden in my mind. As it played I realized that what that boy had said had been right all along. The realization only made me sob harder. I brought my head up from my knees and decided to go up to my room so none of the neighbors would see my heart breaking.

I walked into the house quietly and shut the front door behind me. I shuffled passed the living room and saw all the girls either watching TV, listening to music, or just talking. I walked past and climbed the stairs slowly. Every few steps my vision swam and I stopped while putting a hand on my head and hissing through my clenched teeth. I squeezed my eyes shut until my head stopped hurting before opening them again cautiously.

I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye and turned slowly to see Lisa staring at me from the bottom of the steps. She had a glass of water in her hand and was facing the door to the kitchen, but it looked like she had stopped when she saw me. She looked at me for a moment longer before continuing her journey to the kitchen. I turned back to the stairs and finally made my way to the top. I let go of the railing after seeing that I was gripping it so hard my knuckles were white.

I whimpered as I walked into my room before laying myself on my bed. I whimpered a little louder as I collapsed onto my bed. Everything hurt. I decided to try and rest my eyes and maybe fall asleep. That might help.
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Lisa's POV
Today had been exhausting. While at the studio Lauren messed up her part so many times that we ended up being there for hours more than we had originally planned. By the end, everyone was frustrated with Lauren. The car ride back was dead silent. When we finally got back home everyone just seemed to explode with pent up rage before going inside. I saw Lauren glance at me with tears in her eyes but I was to annoyed to worry about it. I spun around on my heels and walked inside. I grabbed a glass of water before I sat on the couch with all the others then grabbed my headphones and put on my music.