A Light in the Dark

Chapter 26

Trigger warning: some dark thoughts like the last time

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She hugged her upper body tighter as she walked across the street and forced herself to go faster. People could die in accidents... New York City was basically a giant death trap. There were so many opportunities... cars, subways, bridges, high buildings... one step or one jump and everything could be over...

Camila bit her lip and stared straight ahead as she picked up her speed. It was only around the corner, then she was safe. Only one more crossroad. Lauren was worth it. She could to it for her and for her little sister. For her new friends. For her mother. There were people who cared. She just had to remind herself.

She concentrated on the sounds around her, looking for a distraction. Car horns, engines, people talking, laughing... No one spared her a glance, everyone was too invested in their own little world to notice the others around them.

Silently she wondered whether she had once walked by another person who felt the same way as she did at the moment. It was possible. She had always ignored other people. She had ignored strangers and never taken a closer look. Camila wiped another tear away that had escaped her eyes. What if she could have helped someone just by being more aware of her surroundings? But that didn't matter anymore...

She let out a shaky breath when she stopped at the next traffic light and watched the cars speeding by. If she took just one step... but it didn't necessarily mean that she would be dead on impact... she could get paralyzed and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair, not feeling anything below her neck...

After the red light disappeared, she quickly made her way across. She could see it now in front of her. She was almost there...

With a heavy sigh she pushed against the door and the, by now, familiar ringing filled her ears. Looking up, she noticed that Ally was standing behind the counter, laughing with another customer. Relief flooded through her body and for the first time since her father had stopped by, she started to relax slightly.

Ally looked up at the sound of the bell and her laughter stopped as a confused yet concerned expression appeared on her face.

"Mila?"

Camila tried to fake a smile, but she knew she was failing miserably. She was really not in the mood to even try and look as if she was happy.

She walked up to the end of the counter and sat down on a stool. Ally quickly finished her conversation with the customer and walked over to her slouched form.

"Mila, where is your jacket? You'll catch your death!"

Would that be so bad? Camila closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She hadn't noticed that she had forgotten her jacket, she had been too focused on getting out of her apartment as soon as possible. She was lucky that she had remembered her shoes...

"There you go, drink up," Ally's voice shook her out of her thoughts and she opened her eyes.

In front of her was her favorite drink, a steamy hot chocolate.

"Thanks," she mumbled and carefully took a small sip, knowing that Ally was still looking her over. "Can I stay here for a little while?"

"Of course! This is a café, you know?" Ally tried to joke, but frowned when there was no reaction at all. "Is everything okay?"

Camila shrugged and looked down to her mug.

"Mila, you look like you've been crying," Ally said softly. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"