Never Let Me Go (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 12: Living Not Dreaming

Go.

Camila let out a series of shaking breaths as she met the colourful gaze. Only seconds later the voice sounded again. It was louder this time, more urgent. Both male and female, old and young, weathered and new.

Go. Now.

Camila looked around for some kind of clue as to where her mind was directing her, then noticed that the height of the walls had dropped, and they were just receding enough for her to wriggle her body through the top. Camila reached up, pressed down on the cold surface above, and hoisted herself up and out of danger. Looking over the side once more, the figure still stood, two walls pried apart by an act of sheer force.

"Hey!" The brunette shouted down to the stranger, reaching a hand out. "Take my hand! Let me help you!" Something within her was determined to save this person who had so kindly done the same for her. Looking up into Camila's, the pair of eyes gazed at her with a sense of fierce longing, the colour of crystal blue-green. Almond shaped eyelids slipped closed slowly, and Camila's body went into panic.

"Hey!" She tried again. "Come on, I can get you out of there!" the brunette pleaded down to the shadowy figure. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight when the person succumbed to the iron pressure and was crushed away.

She couldn't save him.

***

Lauren could feel a slow weight start to press down on her chest, the pressure inducing a pain in her abdomen that didn't seem like it was at all finished spreading. "Ally what's going on?" Her tone coated in a new layer of intensity.

"Okay, did she tell you about what happened with her brother's place?" Ally asked, continuing to pace idly. "When we went up there to clear it out?"

"She mentioned that it didn't happen." Lauren nodded. "Something about some sort of incident in the building?"

"That's right." The woman nodded. "It wasn't anything serious, apparently there were a few carbon monoxide alarms set off, and they just evacuated the building of all it's tenants so they could make sure the area was clear. False positives like that tend to happen all the time."

"That's scary." Lauren murmured. "So what else?"

"We were on our way to drop Sofi back off at her place, and Camila just... sorta shut down."

Lauren blinked. "What?"

"I don't know how to explain it." Ally started to pace again. "We were heading back to the car, Camila was trailing behind the two of us, I think she was a little bit discouraged that we didn't get access to the building at the time, but she was doing a really great job at not showing it."

"Okay...?" Lauren nodded, pressing the shorter girl to continue.

"When Sofi and I arrived, we turned around to see that she had stopped walking, and was just... sorta staring at nothing."

"At nothing?"

"Well, I guess it was technically at something over our shoulders, but it really seemed like it was nothing." Ally corrected. "Sofi went back to her before I did, trying to talk to her and snap her back but nothing seemed to work. She was just sorta... unresponsive. Her breathing was uneven, I could tell from the rise and fall of her shoulders that something was happening we just couldn't see it."

As Ally spoke, Lauren heard a soft shuffling sound upstairs before footsteps on the descent. She reached forward and took the brunette's hand, yanking her backwards and ushering her out to the back porch before sliding the glass door closed. "So what happened?"