lost // camren

1

"What are you waiting for, Lauren?" Todd's eyes shone brightly, his excitement matching the small, green eyed girl sitting before him.  She didn't wait another second before eagerly ripping through the paper, all the brightly colored wrappings falling to the ground in a circle around her feet.  Satisfied with her destruction of the paper, she focused on what had actually been wrapped.

It was a rectangular box, maybe the width of an encyclopedia and the length of how far her right arm could reach out. She regarded it with a cocked eyebrow and a skeptical glance thrown to Todd, who only shrugged with the hint of a smile gracing his lips.  She licked her lips, shaking the box gently and not hearing any objects clank around on the inside.  Furrowing her thick eyebrows, she ran her fingers along the edges, searching for the tape that had enclosed the box.

She grabbed the scissors off the table that was now presenting her gifts in the orderly manner Todd had managed to set them up in after Lauren had savagely torn open.  He wasn't surprised by her almost barbaric actions, though.  He was even used to them.  He had been trying desperately for the seven years Lauren had been alive to keep her calm and teach her to control herself, but it was hard and she was still learning the ropes.

She quickly snipped through the tape that was around the box and then gently put the scissors back on the table.  She took a deep breath as a chill sent shivers up her spine.  She glanced around the room, not sure why she suddenly got an almost eerie feeling in her bones as she held the white box in her lap.

"Go on, now," Todd urged her, not bothering to try and hide the animated smile that was crossing his features widely now.  "I know you'll love it."

She gulped, nodding slightly as she slowly lifted the top off the box.  She almost wanted to squeeze her eyes shut to help keep the surprises that could come at her at bay, but she knew it would make her look suspicious and Todd had done nothing but prove himself worthy of her trust.  He was basically her adoptive father.

She put the box aside and sifted through the white wrapping paper, pulling out a soft fabric that was what she least expected to be in the box.

She took the fabric all the way out of the paper and inspected it closer.  It was a scarlet red sweatshirt that had to be made of the softest fabric on Earth, she supposed.  She looked at the golden-yellowish lettering on the front that read: "PROPERTY OF GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH" with two broomsticks making an X-shape and separating GRYFFINDOR and putting it on top of the two broomsticks and making QUIDDITCH go underneath it.  In the same golden colored lettering, the words: "EST 1092" were written on the sweatshirt.  EST was written on the left side and 1092 was on the right.

She hadn't even noticed that her smile had grown so big that it had begun to make her cheeks sore.  She looked over the front once more and her smile seemingly to only grow wider with each passing second.  Then, she twirled the fabric over in her fingers and inspected the back.

If only she had let herself stay in awe at the sight of the front of the sweatshirt.

She slowly processed the letters that were neatly stitched onto the back of it, right over the shoulder blades.  "M. JAUREGUI" was in big block letters with a small seven stitched above it.  She felt her breathing catch in her throat and a lump was beginning to form in her throat.

"I know that it may not have been the best idea, but I felt like you were old enough and I wanted you to have it.  If I had kept it boxed up in the attic any longer, I was afraid that the moths would've gotten to it," Todd tried to lighten the mood that had so drastically taken a turn for the worst.  "I hope I didn't upset you by giving it you--"