Lauren Cimorelli Sick and Sad

Feeling The Storm Inside , Hiding The Pain Behind My Eyes

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Lisa's POV
We explore the rest of the rooms to see that they are all exactly the same. I decide to claim the room right next to Lauren's, that way I can be right there if she needs me. The others take the ones across the hall, Christina right across from Lauren, Dani next to her, and Katherine at the beginning of the hall, which means Amy will get the last one on the other side of me. Once the rooms are divided up we walk back into Lauren's room. Lauren is napping in the bed with Amy running her hand through her hair gently. It's adorable to witness and brings a small smile to my face. Amy looks up at us and I can see that we interrupted her train of thought.

"Hey guys." Amy says with a smile.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask.

"Just thinking about some stuff."

"Such as..." I wait for more.

"Do you remember that time when Lauren bought me VIP tickets to go see that band I loved?" This was news to me.

"No. When did that happen?" The other girls look intrigued and we all climb onto the bed carefully, ready for a story. Amy goes on to tell us about how she wasn't able to save enough money for a concert and Lauren had surprised her with VIP tickets the day of. Amy had been able to meet the band and have a great time that night. I couldn't have been more proud of Lauren as I heard about it.

"I always assumed that you guys knew about it or helped her earn the money but I guess it was just her. It was really sweet of her to think of me." She continues to run her hand rhythmically through Lauren's hair. We sit in a comfortable silence until we hear a timid knock at the door. We glance at each other with questioning looks before Christina goes over to the door and opens it slowly. On the other side is the Chinese woman from earlier. She looks around anxiously.

"May I come in?" Christina looks back at us and all we can do is shrug. She moves to the side hesitantly and the woman walks into the room quickly. We get off the bed and step in front of Lauren protectively. What was she doing here? I notice that she is holding a box in her hands. When I look at it closer I see that it is a first aid kit.

"Girls, I think she was serious about helping. Look." The others see the first aid kit as well and drop their threatening stance, looking at the woman quizzically.

"You're working with that creep Cynthia and she obviously hates us so why are you helping Lauren?" Dani ask untrusting.

"Cynthia only said that I was going to be teaching someone how to dance. I'm a talented instructor from China and I was paid to come and teach Lauren. I didn't know that any of this was happening. They only hired me because I am known to be strict, but when Lauren walked through the door to the studio I could tell something was wrong. She kept collapsing and looked as if she was hurt. When she broke down after the lesson was over I knew I had to find out what was going on. I walked to the hotel room afterwards and I saw what was in there... It was literally a metal mold of her that was designed to hold her in place until the air ran out, then open when the carbon dioxide pressure built up." The woman looked down. "I talked to Cynthia and told her I wanted in. That way I could look after Lauren when the others were planning something terrible." It was a lot to take in but I could see in the woman's eyes that she was being honest.

"I believe you." She looks at me in surprise, but smiles once she has processed what I had said.

"Thank you." She holds up the kit a little. "May I...?" She motions to the bed and I nod. She walks around to the side of the bed with the rest of us trailing behind her. I pull the covers off of Lauren then shake her shoulder gently. Her eyes open slowly.

"Hey Lo, there's a lady here that's here to help I promise. I'm going to be right here the whole time, alright?" She looks past me at the woman and tenses up then looks back at me with wide eyes. I shush her, "Lo, she explained everything and she doesn't want to hurt you. She's here to wrap up your cuts." After a few moments she relaxes back into the bed. I climb in next to her and help her sit up. She swings her legs over the side of the bed then looks at the woman.