Beneath The Waves

Camila's Past

Camila

Camila sits on her bed; her back against the cabin wall, her legs crossed, and her eyes focused on the ring in between her fingers.

It's late. Everyone has already gone down to sleeping quarters and the only one up besides Camila is (hopefully) Normani steering the ship. There's an eerie feeling of being awake while everyone is sleeping, and the flickering light of her cabin's lit lantern and the sway of the ship only adds to it.

The captain is sat in only her unbuttoned poet shirt, and underwear—rather vulnerable for the young lady but she feels really vulnerable right now, staring at this piece of jewelry.

There's an empty kind of feeling that reflects from this ring into her soul, reminding her of what it meant, and what she did.

"Goddamnit." Her eyes grow wet unwillingly and she quickly tries to wipe them away before the tears get the chance to fall.

She slides the ring onto her finger where it once took place on Lauren's and suddenly, she feels like she's within her, wearing the ring she lost that night. With blurry vision, she takes the ring off—it doesn't belong to her. It never did. She supposes it did once upon a time but truthfully, it always belonged to Lauren. A lot of things will always belong to Lauren.

Oh, Lauren. Camila remembers her but, then again, how could she forget?

Mid-January, 1722

It's early morning, too early for any of the crew to be up—Camila makes sure of it. She sneaks down the ladder to the third level. To be sure not to wake the younger boys in the cell nearby, she doesn't light the lantern. Softly planting her feet on the ground, she walks to the prisoner she is quite fond of.

"Lauren," she whispers, hoping the dark-haired girl is awake. "Lauren."

"Yes?" Lauren responds and Camila can hear her standing up as her boots scrape the wooden deck.

Camila takes a deep breath, "look," she pulls out a key. "I don't want you stuck down here. I, um..." she is nervous about this whole thing; every little thing about this plan she's conducted in her head. But her throbbing heart in her chest is urging her forward.

"You what?" The prisoner asks, leaning forward into the cell bars. She is so close, Camila can see her nose poke through the bars.

It feels rushed coming out of the captain's mouth. "I want you to stay in my cabin instead."

She can practically hear the gentle smile in Lauren's husky sigh. "I miss you, too. But we both know I cannot go up there. What if your crew finds out?"

"They won't. I promise." Camila says sincerely. Pale hands make their way around the cell bars and Camila puts her hand over one, rubbing her thumb over the ruby ring she gave Lauren. "I have this storage unit underneath my bed where I keep old maps and shit like that. I can hide you in there if worst comes to worst."

There is hesitation, neither of the girls miss it, but Lauren feels too close to Camila's heart to say no—and she longs to be closer. "Okay, I trust you."

"Okay, quickly." Camila unlocks Lauren's cell. In the darkness, the younger girl feels arms wrap around her body tightly, squeezing her as if she might be a dream or a mere wish. Lauren's scent fills her senses and Camila can't help but hug her back even tighter. After parting and as both of the girls hurry up the ladder, she already misses Lauren's embrace.

Lauren abruptly stops behind her, "ouch, my ring is stuck." Rising sunlight above Camila's head makes her panic and her heart start to pound.