Intertwined

Chapter 7

As I approach the door, I hear sobbing. I make an attempt to open the door but it's locked. I take a few steps back and slam my shoulder onto her door. I do it again and again until there is a crack in the door. The skin on my fingers peel as I rip away the wood from the crack. When I make a hole big enough, I stick my hand through the door looking for the doorknob. I hear her sobs suddenly stop and then her voice say, "I'm so sorry Lauren." I frantically search for the knob. My hand feels something smooth and I immediately unlock the door. The door opens and I find her standing on a wooden chair with a rope around her neck. "Please. Don't do it." I beg her with tears streaming down my cheeks. "I'm so sorry." She whispers before kicking the chair from under her. She starts to claw at the rope and kick her feet frantically. I run over to her and try to get her down. I grab the chair and run over to her once again. I grab her waist and attempt to take the rope off her neck but she kicks me off the chair and continues to suffocate. By now I am screaming for her to stop and for someone to help me. I try to get her down but her flailing body keeps resisting. Her face goes from a dark shade of red to a white. She stops flailing her limbs. Her body goes limp and I watch as she takes her last breath. 

She's dead

~

I wake up to someone shaking me violently. I shoot up out of my bed and look around. Camila is sitting on the bed looking at me with tear stains on her cheeks. I take a seat on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. My body suddenly loses control and I start to sob. I stand up and grab my lamp, throwing it to the ground. I grab anything in sight and throw it in anger. Screams erupt from my mouth. I grab at my hair, pulling it and then clawing at my face. Hot, angry tears fall from my eyes, making me claw at them, hating that I'm crying. I punch at walls without a care that my knuckles are bleeding. The memory remains fresh in my mind. I keep destroying things and clawing at my skin until several pairs of arms grab me. Two hands grab my wild arms and two hands hold down one of my legs while another two hold down my other leg. I look around to see Dinah holding my arms down, Ally and Normani holding down my legs, and Camila in the corner with a hand over her mouth, blocking her sobs from being heard.

The girls pick me up off the ground in onto my bed. Ally lets go of my leg and walks over to where Camila was, helping her up. Camila stood up and walked over to where I was. She laid down beside me and put her hand in mine. 

"What the hell just happened?" Normani asks me, clearly concerned with my erratic behavior. I just shook my head in response. Normani raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Lauren, that sure as hell didn't look like nothing. I'm gonna ask you once again. What the hell just happened?" 

I looked over at Camila and right then and there, looking in her sad eyes, I knew that I had to tell them. I told them about my eating habits, depression, cutting, Evangeline. Everything I told Camila. They were pretty shocked. But it still didn't answer their question. So I told them.

"After the whole Evangeline thing, my parents really wanted me to go to therapy. They signed me up for this group therapy thing and I refused to go. They threatened me that if I didn't go, they would send me to a very strict rehab that was thousands of miles away from Miami. I agreed to go because I didn't want to go to a rehab where I couldn't avoid calories or hide in my room and cry. In rehab, they would make me go to therapy anyways so either way I'd go to therapy. When I went, I met this girl named Leah. Me and her sat next to each other at group therapy for a while. One day, we just bonded. We had been getting close from our small talks before and after therapy. She had struggled with self harm, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and a slight eating disorder. Soon, we were hanging out at each others houses and meeting up at the park. I finally thought that I was letting go of Evangeline. I thought I was ready to stop the blaming on myself. Leah and I were getting close. I loved her almost as much as I loved Evangeline. Leah and I had each other to lean on when times were hard. We called each other when we needed someone. We were best friends for two years. Two years. I was 15 when I got her call. She had been having a really hard time at home. Her problems had been getting worse and I had gotten to the point where I was checking her wrists to make sure she was okay. Her parents were out to meet with a divorce attorney one day and she was home alone. Her little sister, Madelyn, was at a friends house. She called me and I thought she wanted to hang out. The moment I picked up my phone, she began talking. I still remember what she said to me: 'Laur, I just want to thank you for being such a great friend. You have brought so much happiness upon my life. You have always been here for me and I can never repay you for all you have done. Just know that I love you so so much and I will always be with you. I'm sorry. Goodbye Lauren.' I knew that this was serious so I ran all the way to her house. When I got to her room, the door was locked. I heard her sobs on the other side of the door. I had to crack the wooden door by breaking it down with my shoulder. I had made a crack big enough for me to stick my fingers into and rip wood off. I ripped wood off until there was a big enough hole for me to stick my arm in and unlock the door. I was having trouble finding the doorknob when I heard her crying stop and she said to me 'I'm so sorry Lauren' I managed unlocked the door and ran in. She was on a wooden chair and a rope was around her neck. She gave me this look that I will never forget. Her foot kicked the chair out from under her and the rope on her neck began to suffocate her. She was clawing at the rope and kicking her feet violently. I tried to help her. I tried to save her. She kept resisting and kicking me in order to get me away from her. I kept trying. I watched as her face went from red to white. I saw her take her last breath. She died right before me. I could've saved her. She should have let me save her. Now she's six feet under the ground because I didn't try hard enough." I was bawling my eyes out. The painful memory replayed in my mind and it was absolutely unbearable. The girls were crying silent tears while trying to get me to calm down. 

"Everyone I get close to always ends up dead. What's wrong with me?" I ask softly. I could no longer cry any tears. I just felt numb. The empty feeling in my chest returns and my emotions wash away, all except for pain. 

"Nothing. Lauren, nothing is wrong with you. None of that was your fault okay?" Dinah responded, her voice hoarse. I just shrug in response. I lay down, my back facing away from everyone, and I stare at the wall blankly, like I have so many times before. 

"Come on Laur. Get up. Let's get you cleaned up." Ally said in a soft voice. I just stare at the wall. I hear a sigh and then someone rolls me over and pulls me up so that I am sitting with my back leaning against the headboard of the bed. Camila runs and grabs the first aid kit and then comes back. I just stare ahead blankly, completely unresponsive to the pain. Bandages soon cover my bloody knuckles and right hand. My left leg is bandaged up since it has a deep gash in it from the broken shards of glass that once belonged to my lamp. My face is cleaned with a damp towel. Blood drips down my forehead and Ally offers to check it out. She examines my head and finds a deep cut on the top of my head from me clawing at my head. Once I am all bandaged up, they lay me down on my bed and cover me with my favorite blanket. My eyes remain open, staring at the wall in front of me. Everyone starts to clean up the mess in my room. I tune out everything around me and fall asleep in less than a few minutes.

Camila's POV

I didn't know it was this bad. I wish I could tell her it was just a nightmare but I can't because it really did happen. Her behavior earlier scared me shitless. I had no idea what to do or how to stop her. The girls came when they heard the screaming and crashing. I am still so scared. 

Now I see why Lauren is so doubtful about my promise to always stay by her side. Both of her best friends died in her arms, before her eyes, and both of them had promised to always be by her side. They both died and left her to fend for herself...

I'm not leaving her. EVER. I will make sure that I stay because she doesn't need another person, that promised her to stay, die. I love her and I will always love her. I'm not gonna leave her, that's for sure.