You Help Me Live (Camren)

Chapter 22: Bruised (Camila's P.O.V)

Camila's P.O.V: 

Once my hands got so cold that I couldn't feel them, I decided that it might be time to leave the bathroom. I couldn't make myself go to class, so I just left the building. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I just couldn't be around her anymore.  

I'm not sure how my feet knew where to take me, but they did. They took me straight to the place that could always bring me happiness; even as a kid.  

Sure, the park was a normal place to go when you felt upset. It had fresh air, and trees, flowers, kids at play. It was the epitome of peaceful thoughts. No matter where I moved, I always made a point to know how close I was to a park. It was a place that I could just go and escape. 

I loved when I could go on the swings, and close my eyes to think I was flying. I would swing for hours, enjoying the feeling of my stomach going to my throat. It sounds weird to say, but it just made me feel like I was a different person, who could leave at any time to go back to my true home. I could forget about the pain, and sorrow, that consumed my thoughts. 

I looked around at the green grass and trees reaching to the sky around me and took in a large breath of air before making my way to a bench seated a little off the path that ran through the park. 

The metal was slightly cold since the sun was still coming up. I didn't mind the cold; I was used to it at this point. I was filled with a cold, blue, achy feeling for so long, that heat didn't even reach me anymore. 

I felt my phone vibrating in my skirt pocket and didn't bother to see what it was about. All I did was turn it off. I didn't want to be distracted from the peace around me. I wanted to let my mind drift up with the trees, and fly away with the birds.  

I closed my eyes and leaned my head on the bench. I wasn't tired, but by doing this, the sun just barely hit my face, warming what outer layers it could seep into. I was close to blocking out everything, when I heard a few distant laughs coming from somewhere around me. I could tell that they were a child. 

I opened my eyes and saw a mother and daughter playing tag. You could tell that the mother was purposely running slowly, to let the child catch her, but the little girl didn't notice. She was completely consumed with winning the game. 

I chuckled out how striking the resemblance was to my own mother and me. I thought of the Saturday's that she would wake me up before the sun, and we would quickly get dressed so we could drive off to our favorite spot in the park. Once there, my mom would sit us down on the picnic blanket she had, and wrap her arms around me to shield me from the cold that the sun hadn't yet ripped away.  

As the sun would rise, my mother would slowly release me from her grasp and start to make jokes, so I would be in fits of laughter. Then we would run around playing until our cheeks were red from being baked by the same sun we had previously watched rise. Those were the days I waited for all week. Those were the memories that I could never forget. 

The mother and child had just grown tired of their game, and now they were lying on the grass looking up at the sky. I laughed, because that was what I did when ever clouds were in the sky. 

Once I started to feel like my staring was somehow ruining their time together, I closed my eyes, and leaned my head back on the bench. I still felt terrible for what I had done, but at least here, I could be someone different. 

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'- 

I opened my eyes and saw that the sun was directly overhead. It stung my eyes for a moment, before I looked away. I shielded my eyes in an effort to let them adjust, and once they had, I got up and stretched my stiff limbs.