Our Deepest Scars

Chapter 35

Camila lay on top of her bed, fully clothed and clutching a half eaten sandwich in her hand. She couldn't bring herself to finish it, but at least she had managed to eat a little. That's what she told herself. But in the back of her mind, negative thoughts were battling their way to the forefront, screaming at her to chuck the remainder of the food away and try to burn off what she had already eaten. Sighing, Camila attempted to ignore them.

The brunette had been home for two days. When she had arrived at her house in the early evening a couple of days before, her family had been shocked but overjoyed at the sight of Camila when they opened the front door.

"Mija!" Her mom had pulled her into a hug instantly, frowning deeply as she felt her daughter's frail frame with bones jutting out of her pale skin. "Are you okay? Why did you come home?"

Camila had avoided telling her parents exactly what had happened with Lauren; she just said that the two were having some difficulties in their relationship. Sinu had seen the hurt and pain in the younger Latina's eyes, but didn't push the girl. She knew that when Camila was ready to talk about it, she would.

That night, the family had all sat down to eat dinner together. Sofi was ecstatic to see her sister, bouncing up and down in her seat and grabbing Camila's hand every couple of minutes. In her young mind, it was just her older sister as normal. She couldn't see the emptiness in Camila's brown eyes; the body that was slowly crumbling and deteriorating; the slump of her shoulders under the weight of all the stress and anxiety and emotional torment.

But her parents could. Noticing immediately the way that Camila was fidgeting and smearing her food around the plate, her mother had beckoned the small brunette quietly into the hallway.

"Camila, you can't do this again," she had said in a tone laced with fear and distress. "Last time you ended up in rehab."

Her daughter bit her lip and let her eyes roam around, looking everywhere but the woman in front of her. Eventually Camila couldn't look away any longer. "I've just had a bad couple of weeks," she muttered softly, her chocolate orbs looking up at Sinu's face guiltily.

"A bad couple of weeks? Mija, you're so tiny. You can't keep doing this every time something goes wrong! I don't know what happened between you and Lauren," she squeezed Camila's hand as she saw tears spring to the girl's eyes, "but I know that whatever it was, it's not worth risking your health for."

Camila nodded, allowing her mother to pull her gently into a warm hug. She missed being embraced by her mom like this; being on tour meant that seeing her family was almost impossible. Together they had returned to the kitchen and the small brunette had eaten half of her food under the watchful gaze of her mother, receiving another hug and a smile when she had pushed her plate away.

This memory came back to Camila as she lay dejectedly in her bedroom, and picturing her mom's face, she took another bite of the sandwich in her hand.

"Kaki?" Sofi's nickname for her sister rang out and the brunette sat up sharply from the bed.

"Yeah? Come in, Sofi," she called out, smoothing her hair and plastering a smile on her face. She didn't want her little sister to know that anything was wrong with her.

The door was pushed open slowly and Sofi entered the room, holding something in her hand. "Come her—" Camila began, patting the bed for her sister to sit down, but the younger girl shook her head insistently.

"No, Kaki, I have to give you this!" She held up a phone and passed it to Camila, who stared blankly at it. "Dinah told me to give you the phone," Sofi said, gesturing frantically for her sister to answer the call.