A Light in the Dark

Chapter 55

Camila looked up to the cloudless sky and quietly hummed to herself. It had taken her a while to get herself together, but she had managed. It was something she was quite proud of regarding her history of mental breakdowns which had even almost resulted in losing her life.

Sighing, she wondered whether it was weird to just lie beside a grave on a cemetery and look into the sky... it probably was. But she had nowhere else to go, so why shouldn't she just wait here instead of walking around in a part of Miami she didn't know? Besides, Lauren would come back. She was going to come back and they would talk it out. She wouldn't leave her here all day... she would come back. It was the only thought that kept her sane, the only thing that stopped her from doing something stupid. Lauren would come back. She was angry, but she would come back.

The only question was when.

Camila glanced for the hundredth time at her cell phone and frowned. It had already been two hours since Lauren had stormed off and she hadn't called. Although she did say that she needed some time for herself and that was the only reason why Camila hadn't texted or called her herself. Lauren wouldn't leave her here on a cemetery just like that...

With great reluctance she looked over to the headstone beside her that she had successfully ignored since her almost breakdown and she slowly sat up. Lauren had said that it would be okay to talk to them... that it helped a lot of people.

Maybe... maybe it was okay to try? She had to talk to someone  or she would go insane. Literally. The mantra that Lauren would come back was not going to help her forever. She could already start to feel the doubts and questions coming, and that was something she didn't want to experience. Not when no one else was around.

Camila cleared her throat and took a quick look around to make sure that she was alone, but the area was still just as vacated as it had been for the last two hours.

"Um... H-Hailee?" she asked quietly. "It's me, um... Karla. I just... I mean, I guess you already heard Lauren's and my conversation... I think? I don't..."

Camila sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was awkward.

"I've never done this before, so please bear with me... Um, I... I wanted to... to apologize..." she slowly trailed off, looking at the date of death, and shook her head. "Right... as if I could do or say anything to you that would... I don't know... bring you back to life or something..."

This was a mistake. She had no right to talk to this girl, she had no right to even be here...

"I did tell someone, you know?" Camila added, feeling the sudden need to defend herself, to explain herself to at least one person since Lauren didn't want to listen. "I'm not protecting them, I would never  do that. You know that, right? I should have been there at the party... or maybe we should have told the teachers about the bullying in the very beginning... but it's in the past and... and you can't change it, right? No... no matter how badly you wish you could..."

Swallowing dryly, she glanced down to the white lilies.

"I didn't know that... that they would do something like that. They were... cruel and... and sadistic, but... had I even suspected what they were capable of... Dammit, Hailee, I would have told someone way back in middle school! I never would have lied for them..."

She let out a shuddering breath and looked up again, her eyes were drawn back to Hailee's face that was engraved on the white stone. This could have easily been her own grave... had she gone to the party, maybe it would have been her and not Hailee... or would it have been both of them?

"I'm not sure if I'm able to tell Lauren. If it turns out that he was really apart of it... I think it would destroy her... I'm scared. I don't know how she would react to hear that her first love... I don't know how I would react either if it were me... God, this is so fucked up..."