Lauren Cimorelli Sick and Sad

Maybe I Am Just A Little To Much Sometimes

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Christina's POV
What in the world is going on? First we learn about Lauren's disappearing episode, then we find a stalkers room filled with videos and pictures of Lauren, and then get cornered by Cynthia. This can't be good at all. I step in front of my other sisters protectively.

"Hello girls, I see that you have stumbled across my...collection we'll call it. I hope that you find it as fascinating as I do." I grimace at her. Everything that is in this room makes me want to gag. It scares me all the more to know that Lauren was never safe. There was always someone watching her, following her, hurting her. It wasn't fair. Why was any of this happening? Cynthia steps into the room and looks at the multiple tables. She stalks by each one looking at the content before making her way all around the room and back to the doorway. I see her slip a flash drive into her pocket.

"I'll tell you what. You have my permission to look through these. There is nothing overly useful left and I think it would be a good idea to understand what poor Lauren was really going through. Oh, I take that back, is going through." Cynthia smiles devilishly as she turns on her heels and heads back into the hallway. I turn my back to the doorway and look at my sisters.

"Where do you want to start girls?" I ask. They all look at each other before turning back to me and shrugging their shoulders. I see Lisa frowning out of the corner of my eye. "Lisa, what's the matter?" She looks ashamed for a moment making me wonder what she is thinking.

"Don't take this the wrong way but...do we really want to look through this stuff?" I stare at her flabbergasted. How could she say that. Before I have to time to yell at her she continues, "I mean I know that this is important but it's one thing to hear about it and another to see it happen right in front of you. I'm just not sure that any of us are ready to see that. I almost puked watching the video with the dogs. I don't know what might happen if we watch the rest of them." I sigh resigned. She was right. It would be a lot to take in but at the same time...

"I want to know what Lauren was going through. I'm going to watch it but I don't blame anyone if they don't want to see this." The room is quiet as everyone thinks silently to themselves. Eventually Dani looks at me.

"I want to watch it." I smile encouragingly at her.

"I want to as well." Katherine answers. Amy kicks the ground a bit before answering.

"Me three." I smile wider at the cheesy joke. We all turn to Lisa and she looks at all of us. She rolls her eyes with a smile on her face.

"Alright, let's do it." We look around the room.

"Where do you want to start? I ask again. The girls look to the DVDs and then to the projector.

"We should start with the pictures first. At least get used to that before jumping right in with the videos." Lisa says and it nod my head in agreement. We walk to the side of the room and shuffle through the pile of photos until we find the ones dating back to before the tour. We split them up and clear off on of the other tables to lay them out. As creepy as the pictures are they are also beautiful. Lauren is standing tall and radiant with a large smile on her face in almost all the pictures. It's amazing to witness the fact that once Lauren was happy. I can't remember the last time she smiled that wide.

We pull out another stack of cards from right after tour began and I can already see a difference. Lauren is slouching slightly, her smile still wide, but lacking some of the joy from before. We cycle through the rest of the pictures slowly. A week after tour began and Lauren can be seen with her back straight in all the pictures. Not because she is feeling more confident but because the bruises on her back and stomach are to painful to allow her to relax. Her smile seems forced in the pictures.