Paper Scars || camren

Chapter Five

"How did it go?" Clara greeted her daughter as she walked in her hotel room.

Lauren looked up, not wanting to share the private information. It took everything she had to keep it together. "Didn't go as well as Dr. Palmer would hope, but some progress." She lied.

Clara smiled, "Great." She said before she left to take a shower.

Once again, Lauren was left alone. The feelings she had tried so hard to bury were coming back again like vomit. She knew she had to stay strong for her mom, who was leaving in a couple of days, for the group, and herself. She swiftly put her earphones in and somehow fell asleep.

-

It was days like these Lauren hated the most. She knew they would happen every once in a while, but today was relentless. She could barely stand up without getting dizzy from flashbacks of the night that changed everything. It wasn't helping that she was at rehearsals either. She had to sit out for most of it and breathe deeply, but it wasn't helping. She could hear the faint screaming again and she could feel herself coming in and out of conscious. It was almost as if she was there again. She felt extremely nauseous and hadn't been able to open her eyes ever since she sat down. The memories were coming fast and they wouldn't stop. One after another, out of order, different parts of the night. It began with a whisper, quickly turning into blood-curdling screams. "Make it stop! Stop!" Lauren began bawling. She forgot where she was. "Stop!" She screamed. She felt hands on her, shaking her. She could barely make out her name being called. "Make it stop!" The memories were flitting now, going at a speed even she couldn't catch up with.

Camila flinched at every scream. She was the only one at a distance from Lauren. She watched as the other girls desperately tried to shake her out of it but couldn't move. She couldn't help but cry at the sight of Lauren like this and knowing she was most likely the reason for it killed her.

Suddenly, the screaming stopped. Dinah quickly stood up as the other girls backed away. "Come on, Lauren." She spoke softly. Lauren kept repeating, 'I'm sorry.' in a small whisper, over and over again. "It's okay, Lauren. I'm here. It's Dinah. Let's go outside, okay?" Camila watched as the two girls left with tear-stained faces. Normani and Ally consoled each other, remembering the last time they'd found Lauren like that. Camila remained where she was, paralyzed at the event that had just occurred.

-

The rest of rehearsal was cancelled as Clara's mom found out what took place while she was in the bathroom. The fact that she was expected to leave in two days haunted her to no end, especially at the condition her daughter was in. She watched as her daughter slept for a while until she heard a knock at the door. Through the peephole, she saw Ally, Normani, and Dinah. She greeted them after opening the door and smiled. "I could use a break. I didn't want to leave her alone so I'm glad you're here. She's been asleep for a while, you can wake her if you'd like." She slipped out of the room discreetly.

The three girls discussed waking her up but decided against it. They waited patiently as she slept, conversing among themselves.

"Maybe we took this on too fast." Said Ally, a look of concern on her face. "I mean you saw her. She didn't even know where she was."

"I don't know what will happen." Dinah admitted. "She wouldn't snap out of it. You guys all saw." She paused. "I didn't know it was going to be this hard. I really thought she made a lot of progress over the last couple of days. When I took her outside, she couldn't say anything else other than how sorry she was. It was just like that night."

Normani interjected. "It was nothing like that night. That night I was scared, not just for her emotional being but for her life. You're forgetting how horrible it was." She swallowed hard at the memory. "She's come a long way. She just had a setback today."