"How's it going in here?" Patricia asked gently, popping her head around the door to check up on her niece. There was no verbal reply but a strangled sob reverberating through the room answered the question just as well. Patricia could practically hear their heart breaking. Her heart, in turn, shattered as well for both her own loss and for seeing her niece experiencing such indescribable heartache. A girl at such a tender age should not have to go through this.
On moving further into the room, Patricia laid eyes on a hunched up figure in the corner in the shadows beside her parent's old dresser. The teenager's jean clad legs pulled up to her chest with her head hanging in sorrow on her knees as a mass of dark hair formed a curtain, making her face invisible. However it wasn't too hard to guess the expression the face held. After all, all anyone had seen when inspecting the girl over the past week was swollen, red eyes and tear stained cheeks. Of course everyone understood and sympathised massively with her. Lauren had lost her parents. It was not the time to be judging appearances.
"Ally and I have finished packing the kitchen and I think Brandon and Jerry are almost done with the garage," Patricia stated, treating the task of boxing up all the Jauregui's worthily belongings much like a military operation. It was a job that needed to be done and letting emotions get in the way would only prolong the process, ultimately making it more painful.
Lauren hadn't heard her aunt enter the room nor her update. Her mind was so clouded with grief and longing for her family that she had cut herself off into a world of her own. She just stared through her watery, blurred vision down at the picture balanced on the gradient of thighs. To a stranger the photo was simply of a tall, well built man posing next to a naturally beautiful woman bearing a full set of white teeth as she beamed into the camera. To Lauren the image contained so much more. It contained her world; her mother and father. The two people she loved unconditionally. The two people who had been ripped forcefully from her life little under a week ago.
Lauren didn't remember the photograph being taken. It was dated years before she was even born, her parents looking so youthful and radiant. But that's exactly what hit Lauren so hard emotionally upon seeing it. The vast contrast between their careless smiles here and the last mental photograph she retained of them was shocking. Her parents had hardly resembled the characters in the photo; blood, heavy bruising and gaping wounds had distorted their appearances. Lying on their death beds, side by side, Lauren could've easily not recognised them.
The mourning teenager was broken out of her trance as she felt a hand start to softly caress her shoulder. She didn't bother looking up, Lauren recognised the scent of Patricia's perfume. In her normal mindset she'd be appreciative for the effort her aunt, uncle and cousins had expended to comfort her. But she didn't want to be consoled. She was inconsolable, nothing was going to take away the sharp ache of her heartbreak.
Patricia sighed, she'd never witnessed someone so anguished. "Honey I know it's difficult but it has to be done. Come on, let's get you up sweetheart."
Thankfully for her aunt, Lauren complied and held out a dejected hand, letting herself be pulled to her feet. Patricia grasped her palm tightly, directing the younger girl to stand in front of the dresser. She started by clearing the surface, gathering the few photo frames, jewellery pieces and various trinkets into her arms. She knew Lauren would want to retain these items. After placing them into the cardboard box she'd given to her niece to fill earlier, she returned to the dresser opening drawers and shuffling through the items.
"Would you like to keep these?" Patricia asked, holding up several t-shirts belonging to Lauren's father.
Lauren couldn't even bring herself to nod her head. Upon seeing a particular shirt the woman was suspending by her fingertips, a cascade of memories had started to play out in front of her eyes.
