the broken mirror ➸ camren

Chapter seven

The alarm went off, snapping Lauren out of her weird dream. Yesterday's night was so unusual for her that had affected her sleep.

Lauren was in a dark road. It was drizzling and there wasn't another soul in sight. The sound that made her turn around abruptly came out of two black-hooded men. Lauren shuddered and retreated.

She knew damn well the next part of this story. She had re-experienced this moment. A small, brown-haired girl was about to come to her rescue, right?

Wrong.

Before the men could get a chance to get closer, a bigger figure stopped them.

It was Garry.

He walked past the men and came up to Lauren with a belt swirling around his fingers. The girl was about to scream, but when she did, there was no voice coming out of her mouth.

She shut her eyes closed and got ready to feel the pang, until a thunder echoed and Garry fell to the ground. Someone had knocked him down.

Lauren opened her eyes and stared at the small figure in front of her.

It was the homeless girl.

Her hair, as well as her clothes were soaked, but she had a smile on her face.
Lauren got up from the ground. She searched for Garry with her gaze but he was nowhere to be found.

The rain had almost stopped and the girl was staring at her with her brown eyes full of sympathy.

"Aren't you angry?" she asked Lauren.

"Don't be afraid," the girl replied softly. "I was just staring at you from up there." She gestured towards the deserted and half wrecked apartment that Lauren remembered as the loft the girl lived in.

Lauren lurched out of her sleep and rubbed uncomfortably at her forehead, realizing that she'd just had a dreadful dream. Luckily, the alarm hadn't been going off too loudly, so perhaps Lauren would be lucky enough to refrain from the fucking morning beating for today.

She rolled out of her bed. In less than an hour she had to leave for her catwalk rehearsal with Ally and Dinah.

Fortunately, they'd settled for coffee afterwards, Lauren was definitely in need of a distraction from her dream and thoughts about it.

She brushed her teeth, took a quick shower, cleaned up her body with lavender emulsion and gently combed her hair with her special brush. She just opted for a simple dress, as Harley, the girls' costume designer, was going to get her dressed.

When she was finally ready, she rushed to the kitchen as quietly as she could to get a snack. Thank God, Clara and Garry hadn't woken up yet.

I wish they won't, Lauren thought as she picked up an apple. When she eventually got out of the villa, she let out a sigh of relief.

She took a taxi and within a few minutes she'd reached her destination.

Her rehearsals took place in a big amphitheater where a runway had been placed exclusively for the girls to practise. She walked in and headed straight into the dressing rooms as she was already ten minutes late.

"Where have you been?" Dinah asked her, reaching her friend.

"I couldn't come before taking a shower," Lauren stated the obvious.

"Typical Laur," Ally interjected, doing her hair in front of her mirror.

Harley, the costume designer and Fernando, the hairstylist, stormed in the dressing room to get the girls dressed for the rehearsal.