Screaming in silence (camren)

Chapter 8

"Can you hear her?"
I giggled and looked up at my father. "Yes. She sounds beautiful."
    He smiled at little me as we walked hand in hand the hallway. As he pushed a big door open quietly we slipped in. And then I began to run as fast as I could to my mothers embrace. She picked me up and sang to me in French while we danced on the stage. My mother's voice was beautiful regardless at the fact I couldn't understand French back then.
    As she stopped singing my father cheered her. " tell me honey, what did you think?"
    "I loved it mommy!" I exclaimed as I was clinging more to her."
    "How about me and you sing something together?"
"Mama, I can't sing though." I hoped she would ask me again even if I told her that.
"Yes you can honey, come on we have to sing on stage together." She smiled at me and took my hand up the stairs to the stage. She brushed my hair out of my face and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Let sing baby."
"Yes mama." We began to sing to a song together. I began to scan and see if my dad was watching. Once I locked eyes with him he smile very proudly.
"I'm watching, baby." I couldn't tell if he was speaking to me or to my mother but I smiled and looked up to see her wink at him.
I knew my singing wasn't perfect but my mom always told me it was wonderful. She always made me the happiest person ever, especially her embraces. "Go join your father now honey, I have to finish the rehearsal."
I gave her a kiss and I skipped off the stage to my father.
I woke up to Lauren kicking the mattress. She was not looking happy at all. She had a bowl in his hand and it had steam rising up from it.
"Oatmeal."
Of course it was oatmeal. Couldn't she say something such as "good morning" or "I've brought you breakfast?" I sat up, the pain in my chest much better than the day before, and threw my legs over the side of the mattress. Lauren handed me the bowl and walked up the stairs without saying another word. I waited until she was out of sight before devouring the warm breakfast. It was instant oatmeal, that was much clear, but I didn't care. It was enough to get me through the morning.
    When I finished, I stood up and looked around. All the recent events that had happened made be have an anxiety attack. It was overpowering my whole body and I had no choice but to throw myself on the mattress. I began to cry but I put myself together by thinking I had to stay strong. Lauren had stopped them and I was safe for now. I took a hesitant step towards the stairs, it felt as if I was walking for the first time in my life.
   I began to roam the room that now was my home in a cynical way. The faucet on the was basin was rusted. I turned the knobs and felt a thick, brown stream of water flow into the drain. I had to let it run for a few moments before it turned clear, I didn't trust the water enough to drink it. I began to open the fridge but was hit with a disgusting smell. There was molded fruit and leftovers that were almost black, yet their was newly bought beers.
Turning around, I walked to the stairs and peered up, surprised to find the door had been left open. I grabbed my toothbrush and climbed slowly up the rickety wooden staircase, waiting for one of the trembling boards to crack under my feet. I stepped hesitantly into the bright living room, unsure of who I would find. I had lost all sense of time in the windowless basement and the clock on the wall read 10:57.
Lauren sat at the table, a laptop open in front of her, and an angry expression on her face. She didn't look at me as I entered the room although I knew she heard me. Her green eyes glowed in the reflection of the screen, and her full lips were purses tightly together.
  I knew she was probably investigating my family, searching to find which relative pay the most for my safe return. Yet I didn't want to be there if she happened to stumble upon my father's name. I took my toothbrush and walked up the stairs to the bathroom. The window had been boarded shut. Even the house now felt more like a prison, but at least I was able to roam it freely.
I felt sick when I looked at my face in the mirror my already bruised and beaten face was now swollen around my eyes. I stripped my clothes off and I turned on the water in the shower. I lathered my body with soap,washed my hair repeatedly, and then lathered my body again. But nothing could wash away the feeling of Austin's hands on my skin or his tongue on my face.
When I was done, I opened the shower curtain and screamed, jumped back against the wall as I saw Lauren's infuriated face inches away from mine.
What are you doing? I signed to her when I had control of my shaking hands.
"Tell me, Camila, what about this don't you understand? Keeping these secrets from me isn't going to help you."
I don't know...
"Speak! They're fucking gone!"
" I don't know what you're talking about." I lied as I reach for my towel from the day before. Lauren grabbed it and threw it at me, throwing her hands up frustration.
"This isn't funny. If Austin and Shawn find out who your father is, we're fucked.
"No, I'm already fucked," I snapped at her. "You've kidnapped me remember? regardless of if they find out or not this isn't gonna and well for me."
   "It will go a lot better if you do exactly what I say and stop lying."
   " Why should I do anything you say ?" I challenged her although I already knew the answer.
   She grabbed my arm and brought her face closer to mine. "You want a repeat of last night? maybe next time I won't hear your scream."
      My face became solemn and I looked away. "I don't want that to happen again."I finally admitted.
   Lauren's fingers turn my head towards hers " I won't let it. Just tell me if there's anything else you're keeping from me."
I shook my head. She didn't want to know my whole life story. She wanted the money now she knew exactly where to get it. I don't know if she realized the boat she was throwing herself into. A senator's daughter, even one that hasn't been able to maintain a functional relationship with her father since age six, wasn't someone to be toyed with. The resources at my fathers disposal were almost endless and Lauren was going to be lucky if she was able to outsmart them.
"Get dressed and come downstairs. We've got a lot to talk about." She released my arm and left me standing in the shower. A clean shirt had replace the blood stained one she had given me yesterday and was neatly folded on the ground next to my jeans.

    I dressed quickly and walked downstairs. Lauren sat the computer. I sat across from her and watched her read an article on the screen. I prayed it wasn't one of the archived tabloid reports of my adolescent behavior. Eventually she closed the browser and stared at me with those green eyes of her's.
  "You're father is said to be a favorite of the GOP." I nodded.
    "Senator Alejandro comes from a long line of political figures but is the first to be a senator." I blinked.
   "What would he do if he knew his daughter was kidnapped while hitchhiking?"
  I looked away, afraid to answer. My father would do anything he could to get me back. That was his obligation. If the press found out,he might act, in front of the cameras at least, like he would want me back. But I was a burden to him he, a rebel child who challenged his conservative ideals. He had, over the course of my life, paid me to keep quiet and out of the spotlight. To everyone who mattered, I was the ideal daughter. One even to be pitied because of my handicap.
   I looked back at Lauren who waited for my response.
    "He would he want me back."
    "Does he know where you were?"
I shook my head. my father thought I was in Europe visiting places. I had cashed in my graduation present (first class tickets to Rome) and packed my bag, hitching a ride from the airport with nowhere in particular to go. Months of freedom ahead of me traveling most of the east coast with the courtesy of strangers and lonely drivers. Sure it was dangerous but after graduation with a degree that I had no desire to use I was logging for a little excitement.
"Does he know who you are with?" Lauren asked
"Dinah? does he know you were with Dinah, the woman you killed with your car?"
  Lauren answered with the glare.
   "No." I admitted. I met her in my adventure.
    "you don't like your father do you?" Lauren asked without a pause.
    Now it was my turn to glare. "what does it matter?"
   "let me guess your father fell in love with your mother the beautiful and favorite opera singer, but couldn't handle the stress of juggling your family and his career. So he left you and your mother with a large monthly allowance to keep you happy?"          
    "Something like that."
     "something but not quite?" Lauren raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I remember us being happy. Until I lost most of my hearing, we were happy. He could handle anything and everything until that was taken away from me."
"what happened?" Lauren looked genuinely interested, an expression which I haven't seen before.
"My mother didn't believe in medicine and or doctors or anything like that. My dad blamed her for my handicap."
"And now you're angry because she's dead and he uses your disadvantage to his advances in his political career.
"Yes. And now you're scared because ransoming a  senators daughter is going to be a lot more harder than ransoming a lonely hitchhiker."
Lauren raised an eyebrow and we stared at each other for a minute. She had such a intuition about me it was scary. I was amazed at how much she could learn from a few hours on the Internet and a few in my company.
"You don't even want to go home, do you , Camila?"
That bastard. I just want to leave here, I signed, not wanting her to hear me say it.
good luck trying.
I turned away, unable to look at her any longer. I didn't know what life is going to be like here. I didn't know if I could expect Austin and his pathetic younger brother to attack me every night. I didn't know if Lauren would get tired of protecting me and say to hell with it. Maybe she would let Austin kill me if things didn't go her way.