A Simple Folded Paper

68

The trial was approaching and Camila couldn't sleep. Over the last week, sleep was something that Camila could barely think about, although she couldn't remember a time where she was this tired.

She couldn't fall asleep, multiple thoughts crossing her mind. And, when she did, she had nightmares. She laid most part of the night just staring at Lauren, trying to relax along the girl she had fallen in love with for the last couple of months. Camila didn't know how Lauren could sleep at a time like this while Camila stayed awake, it wasn't even Camila who was facing a trial and possibly go to jail.

Over the last few days, Lauren tried to assure Camila that everything would be okay, even if Lauren really ended up behind bars. She had a tranquil conscience, Lauren protected Camila when she needed and would do it again, not even caring about the consequences. She rather go to jail than leaving Camila in that hell hole, at the mercy of that horrible man.

Camila could sleep a couple of hours per night but when she did fall asleep, the nightmares took care of waking her up. More often than not, she was able to hide them from Lauren but when her post-traumatic symptoms attacked her in her sleep as well, she couldn't help the violent shakes of her body that always woke up Lauren in the middle of the night.

After the nightmares, Lauren always held Camila tight under the blankets. Lauren always fell asleep again, but Camila just pretended to do that as well so Lauren could rest. There was no need in having two tired girls when it could only be one.

There was only a week left to the trial and Camila couldn't figure out if she wanted the day to come or not. She wanted because she would get to see her father probably go to jail and could finally put that day behind her back, but she didn't want to experience seeing her girlfriend go behind bars for her, for having defended her because Camila was too weak to do anything by herself.

Since they started dating, one thing that Camila was enjoying in their relationship was how Lauren took care of her, how Lauren protected her even if it was just by holding Camila's hand while they were crossing the street.

Now, Camila felt like it was her turn to do the same, she just didn't know what she could do. Lauren's dad had told Camila that there was nothing she could do and Camila never felt so useless. She wanted to do something, anything to save her girlfriend from a ruined life, but there was nothing she could do except to hold Lauren as much as she could and to enjoy their moments together, the same ones that could be their last for a while.

"Babe?", Camila was interrupted by Lauren's voice, who was laid on top of her on another one of Camila's sleepless nights.

Camila looked down at the girl in her arms, finding cute how Lauren's eyes were barely open, full of sleep. "Yeah?", she answered, caressing Lauren's cheek.

"Why are you awake?".

"I was just about to get some sleep.", Camila answered.

Lauren opened one of her eyes and tried to look at the clock on their nightstand. 03:52am. She sighed in defeat, knowing damn well this was happening all over again. "I won't tell you to not worry because I know you'll still worry, but we got this, okay?", Lauren asked hiding her face on the crook of Camila's neck. She gave a couple of soft kisses on the skin she could reach and closed her eyes.

However, she didn't want to go back to sleep until she was sure Camila was asleep as well. Her girlfriend looked like a zombie on the last week, she had been dragging her body and even failed a test. Lauren tried to lift her mood, to make Camila sleep and eat properly but Camila never followed her advice. Of course, Lauren had been a nervous and anxious mess with the trial as well, but she had to be the strong one. She had faith that everything would work out, her dad was a great lawyer and she had to trust him.