Professor C (camren)

28 - Evocation

***This is an intense one. This may be a little rough cause I'm so tired (I'm always tired) and I still don't proofread. Note at the end. Thanks. 13581 words. HA!

Camila grew restless as days dragged on. The nights were longer, lonelier and no matter how exhausted she was, reprieve was but a distant lover. Its affections were widely sporadic, rare, nearly unfathomable some nights when the world was quiet and her thoughts were wild, feral and free to roam without bounds.

Her body yearned to be with another; specific of that warmth, that scent and when she couldn't take it anymore, she threw caution to the wind and raced to be in Lauren's arms.

She was done apologizing for feeling even if she was always forgiven.

And when she found her husband leaning against his car, she simply surrendered to reality – an amendable prisoner accepting her fate. She figured it was inevitable, the unravelling of a well-kept secret and a woman like Lauren was never meant to be a one.

Never.

"We need to talk."

A surge of nostalgia drenched her being, bringing her back to a night she'd never forget – a night roughly nine years ago. She'd heard that before; in a softer depth, a desperate cadence of a wounded heart. It was a call that bounced in the hollow crevice of Camila's being, prodding at her own aching heart.

Nothing ever hurt more. Pain carved her insides, leaving its frail foundation to collapse until all that was left was the stone-cold professor, in dire need of love she thought she never deserved.

Truthfully, she expected Luca to find out sooner. She expected fear to inundate her being, flushed in its destructive deluge but the flood never reached her ankles. It was there but it wasn't powerful enough to drown her.

Instead, she could hear the click of a rusty lock opened and the clatter of a shackle dropping to her feet as she realized she could break free from one of the restraints that held her back, kept her rooted to a dark place if she accepted the outstretched hand before her; the first step out of that dark, consuming abyss.

And so, she nodded.

"Get in." Luca opened the passenger door. It was a gentle command but a command, nonetheless.

Camila was compliant, having that unyielding trust in her husband, even when her car parked not too far from where they stood. For years, it was only him and that early morning wasn't any different. And frankly, she was exhausted and she had no more energy to run away from her own shadow.

In silence, they made their way to the estate but their thoughts were as loud as thunder, as unpredictable yet anticipated as lightning on a stormy night. The droning noise of the engine wasn't any help in piercing through the thick smog of tension enveloping the married couple though nothing could have appeased a congested mind except an honest conversation.

In the same manner, they entered the threshold of their grand home and into the master's bedroom. Camila went straight to the balcony, hankering for some fresh, cold air to nip at her skin, to sate her lungs while suffocating her at the same time. She relished in its journey down with every breath she greedily took while hoping she'd gather some strength to keep it together even if it hurt to breathe, to exist.

However, even well-constructed dams give out eventually. It had been nine years, after all.

It had served its purpose.

It was time to shed some light in the dark corner that she'd been taking refuge in.

"I thought we might need this." Luca offered an opened bottle of Spanish brandy to his wife, which she took with great embarrassment.