Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 66

A/N: Hey guys, so I've actually split this chapter because I want to give you something before I go on holiday. I won't have time to update until I'm back so I hope that you enjoy this and everyone has good week. When I'm back there will be the second half of this chapter which will contain explicit scenes as promised (don't worry, I hadn't forgotten). We're getting steadily closer to the end now and I just want to say thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this story. You're support has been amazing and I think somewhat undeserved a lot of the time. You're all so nice and complimentary x

Camila sat on her bed, her right hand strumming mindlessly at her guitar as it had been for the last hour and a half. It was Tuesday evening two days later and she was home alone, her mom having taken Sofi to ballet practice and her dad opting to stay late at the office in order to finish an important presentation for work. She'd been trying to learn a new song, 'I Will Wait' by Mumford and Sons but as usual, the fingers of her left hand were clumsy and she struggled to form the correct position to play the chords she needed to, her frustration growing with every off key note that afflicted her ears. "Jesus," Camila

cursed, resting her guitar across her lap for a moment, the neck of it sinking into the duvet as she lay it down in order to flex the fingers of her left hand which were complaining painfully. Camila used the thumb of her right hand to massage the scar across her left wrist and palm for a few minutes, her fingers kneading in to the flesh there firmly, stretching it out. She sighed with relief as she felt the tension in her taut muscles start to evaporate and the pain in the tissue beneath her fingers ease significantly to the point that she no longer felt as though her hand was in a constant state of cramping. Finally, Camila shook the limb gently in the air before her, loosening it further and once satisfied that she wasn't at risk of developing debilitating repetitive strain injury from playing again and prolonging her hands use, she lowered it back down and grasped hold of the guitar neck once more. She was about to pick the guitar back up, to try and continue with what was apparently an almost impossible task when her eyes fell on the pine surface of her bedroom desk, to where the manila envelope her attorney had delivered to the house on Sunday still sat untouched. Camila slid the guitar on to the bed beside her and stood up slowly, her eyes never leaving the envelope, her gaze firmly fixed on the item which had been mocking her for the past two days. After the movie had finished on Sunday and Nemo was once again reunited with his dad, Camila's mom had attempted to get her to open the envelope Mr Arnold had bought to the house. She'd pressed her daughter to finally look at the pictures of

herself following the accident, to see the devastation that the solid, one tonne vehicle had inflicted on her body in all its gruesome and uncensored glory. Camila though, had other ideas and despite the pressure from her mom, she would not ruin what she believed had otherwise been an almost perfect day with something that, on reflection, she considered to be both a little bit morbid and potentially selfdestructive. So far, Camila had managed to put off looking at the unpleasant images for two days, but, as with everything else surrounding the accident, she knew that she couldn't delay dealing with it forever and so she'd text Lauren this morning and arranged for her to come round after school to view the photographs with her. In fact, Camila had been waiting for Lauren's arrival now for almost an hour and a half, her girlfriend apparently running late, her tardiness being the inspiration behind Camila's impromptu guitar practice which, if the smaller girl was honest with herself, was nothing more than a vain attempt at distracting herself from the impending task at hand. Camila wandered over to the desk hesitantly and came to a stop just in front of it, her hand drifting down so that her fingertips could graze the surface of the manila envelope whilst her eyes studied it thoughtfully. Silently, Camila debated opening the packet and pulling out just the end of a picture; to reveal a tiny portion of the image, so that she could have a quick look. She