A Light in the Dark

Chapter 16

"Camila, I'm not kidding! I don't fucking care that we missed our flight! We're not going anywhere until you tell me who the fuck did this to you, so that I can rip his fucking head off!"

Lauren angrily walked in circles around her old room. She had been restricting herself for the last few hours from marching up to Camila and demanding some answers. Instead she had made some phone calls and had afterwards locked herself with Chris in her brother's room.

But now she was on fire.

"You don't get to just sit here and let them get away with this! I will not stand for this shit! These people, whoever they are, were willing to let you stay outside for an entire night or maybe even longer! They tied you to a tree and gagged you, Camz! They obviously didn't want you to be found!"

Camila watched Lauren who was just about to lose it. "I don't kn-"

"Don't give me that fucking bullshit of an excuse again!" Lauren cut her off, completely irritated. "You saw them. You know them. Don't tell me again that you didn't see or hear anything! Because, guess what? I'm not fucking stupid!"

The green-eyed girl huffed and balled up her fists.

"What kind of people just tie an innocent girl to a fucking tree in the middle of a forest?! Who does that?" she ranted, gesturing wildly. "And then they have the nerve to write this shit on your face with a permanent marker! Who the fuck even cares about who you love?! That's not any of their fucking business! You didn't do anything and they take you to a place where you're not able to get out by yourself and they think it's funny or something? How can people be so cruel towards another human being and just..."

Suddenly, Lauren stopped dead in her tracks. She was staring blankly at the wall, her eyes as big as saucers. Her mouth was still open, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Lauren?" Camila asked worriedly. "Lauren, are you okay?"

"Oh my..." Lauren breathed out and blinked rapidly.

Camila watched concerned as the green-eyed girl got paler by the second. "Lauren?"

"No, no, no," she whispered frantically, running her fingers through her hair. She mouthed something that Camila couldn't make out, before darting out of the room and into the bathroom.

"Lauren?!"

Camila carefully sat up, only to be overcome by a wave of dizziness. Her mother had told her that she had a concussion, but she didn't care. She had to make sure that Lauren was okay.

Just when she was about to stand up and hobble to the bathroom, Lauren came back.

"What do you think you're doing?" she rasped and walked quickly to the bed. "Your mom said that you're not allowed to stand up by yourself!"

"But you ran into the bathroom and you were so pale... I got worried," Camila argued and Lauren smiled weakly.

"Thanks. I just got... a little sick," she explained hesitantly and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I noticed. Are you okay?"

Lauren slowly took her hand and gently intertwined their fingers. "Camz... I'm going to ask you something important and you'll have to be completely honest with me, okay? I have to know. This is as much about me as it is about you..."

Camila frowned slightly and looked down to their hands. She had trouble concentrating because of that warm feeling that had spread through her body since the green-eyed girl had taken her hand. It had happened a few times this past week and the intensity of it had grown steadily each time they had some sort of physical contact or when their eyes met or something other confusing. Was that a normal occurrence if someone had a crush? She never had one before and she wasn't sure if the feelings were supposed to grow. She wanted them to go away.