the broken mirror ➸ camren

Chapter eight

Lauren had made a mistake.

She hadn't devoted enough time on deciding if she wanted to see the homeless girl again, or if her mind was just stuck to that event because of how scared she'd been that night, but the girl wouldn't leave her mind so easily.

Opening the door of her house, she checked on her purse once again.

It was ridiculous of her to carry a purse when she visited the pharmacy, but she didn't want to relive anything similar to that attempt in rape. The purse only contained a small thing; a pair of scissors.

Lauren had decided that she wouldn't wander around small alleys unprepared again, it'd been a big mistake of her part the previous time.

She hated the fact that she had to buy her stepfather's medicine herself, but she preferred that from the usual nightly beating or whipping.

"Don't you dare be late again as you did last night! I have no fucking idea what you got yourself so busy with, but I won't accept that again," Clara had told her before she left for the pharmacy.

Lauren was wearing the hood of her sweater. The weather seemed ready to take revenge for something- the rain was close.

She started to walk along the familiar road with the small raindrops wetting her hair ends that were left out from the hood.

The alleys were the same dark and terrifying tonight too.

Lauren wanted to turn on her heels and go back-the memory of yesterday's night surged her mind again.

You got this ... some day you'll become famous. You'll make headlines. You won't need to walk these roads.

She took a deep breath and made her way towards the first alley. This was were she'd been practically trapped by those men.

Suddenly, an idea went through her mind.

The homeless girl.

As Lauren remembered, the warehouse in which the girl lived was in the next alley. She could speed up a little and go there. If anything happened to her, she'd cry for help- and the girl would probably hear her, right?

Lauren grew annoyed by her own thought. Since when was she in need of homeless people's help? Some day in the future she'd have her own bodyguards.

She had already embarassed herself enough by asking the girl to stay with her after she'd saved her - she shouldn't be thinking of that option again.

So she kept walking until she was finally out of the dangerous alley.

Relief washed over her. She kept on walking to the pharmacy.

Five minutes later, she found herself stepping out of the store.

It'd sound stupid, but she was proud of herself. She had managed to avoid unfortunate situations.

She then started to jog towards her house, more lively this time. Reaching the group of the alleys again, her gaze fell on a leak.

The little corner of the homeless girl. From there, that girl had shown her how she could watch almost the entire road. She'd added that it was her favorite place.

And that must've been actually true, since the slim figure of a brunette was clearly emerging from up there.

Lauren stopped on her tracks and turned her whole body towards the figure.

The girl was staring at her. The bright chocolate-brown eyes looked at Lauren with an undefined look. The green eyed girl could swear she'd been stared at for a long time now. The brunette had actually recognized her, though. She remembered her. But what did she want to check? If she was managing to cross the alley? Lauren felt angry and relieved at the same time.

On one hand, this homeless girl had no right to watch her as if she wasn't able to take care of herself. On the other hand, if anything had happened to Lauren, she'd have someone to come to her rescue.

Suddenly, the girl's small hand was raised in an attempt to some kind of a greeting, as if she was signalising Lauren to not be afraid.

The dream Lauren'd experienced was now unfolding in front of her surprised eyes. The warmth she had seen in the eyes of the strange girl in her sleep was here, right in front of her. She could feel it again.

The emotion that went through Lauren wasn't something she liked. She felt highly insecure. That wasn't good. She couldn't trust some homeless, street girl. That wouldn't be responsible.

She shouldn't have even talked to her the first time they met. If Clara knew that her daughter had spoken a word to a homeless, she would be incredibly disappointed. Lauren'd get beated up, that was for sure.

She gave the girl another uncertain look without meeting her gaze and left without reciprocating the friendly greeting the homeless had tried to offer.

She rushed through the dark alleys with her thoughts washing over her mind.

When she returned home, Clara was waiting for her in the living room.

"You're on time. Now get yourself in your bedroom and put your face mask on. You've got a rehearsal tomorrow."

Lauren obeyed without speaking a word. Making her way to her own room, she saw a shirt thrown out of the bedroom, lying down on the floor.

Oh no...

Garry was home.

Lauren's eyes started watering immediately. No one was going to save her tonight.

Tomorrow she would have to get her aching body out of the bed and cover it with two palettes of make-up. She would have to pose againon the catwalk with her legs and arms aching too.

Garry had tried to rape her many times in the past, but Clara never let it happen. She might was cold-hearted but she knew that rape could result in a very unfortunate effect on Lauren's psychology. It wasn't like she really cared that much about her - she just wanted her to be cheerful and happy on the catwalk, which Lauren was most of the time.

She may had been forced to do that but she'd also learned to enjoy it.

But it wasn't enough to heal the wounds that Garry had opened. He was angry he couldn't use her body for his entertainment and tried to take revenge of her for that at every chance he got.

Leather belts, chairs, and kicks were just some of the things Lauren had to accept on her body.

He had hit her many times, quite seriously, with injuries that ended up needing months to heal but never above the throat. Clara had forbidden any kind of wear to the perfect porcelain she considered to be Lauren's face.

Dolls end up being ripped off by the many wears.

"Lauren," Garry's coarse voice came out of the bedroom. "Come here now."
The girl lowered her head as tears of pure fear started soaking her eyes and running down her cheeks, ruining the perfect make-up she'd put on this morning.

Sometimes Lauren wished she could break like a porcelain.

hallo beautiful people chapter eight is hereeee. how many of u watched the grammys? camila KILLED IT! her performance was 🔥 anyway hope u enjoyed this chapter, more to come soon! xx