Til Death Do us Part (Camren)

Chapter 7.5

Lauren's POV

The water is still, this early in the morning. It's silent, other than the humming of insects in the trees. The sky is beginning to brighten, though there is no sun in the sky just yet. Nothing about this place has changed since I was last here. The only difference is the loneliness.

"Lauren?"

I turn my head from the lake to look for the owner of the voice. My wide eyes fall on a beautiful girl standing amongst the trees with her hands wringing together behind her back - long dirty-blonde hair framing the face I knew so well, the face I never thought I would see again.

"Al-Alexa?"

This can't be real. She's gone. Alexa is gone.

"I've missed you, Laur," she speaks in the most foreign of familiar voices. She leaves the dark cover of trees stepping into the light, cautiously walking toward me, while I am paralyzed. She takes a seat on the shoreline next to me and we spend the next few moments in silence - she, looking out at the still water, and I looking at her. I want to reach out and touch her, but I am afraid to shatter my own illusion.

"Remember when my dad first took us here, Laur?" She asks, making me turn my gaze to look at all of our surroundings.

A small smile tugs on my lips at the memory. "Yeah Lex... he took us fishing here. He somehow thought it was a good idea to wake up two 9 year olds before the sun to do something as exciting as fishing," I reply, shaking my head with a small huff and looking at my hands as they sift through the fine sand around the lake.

"He spent the first two hours trying to get us to simply stay still. He was so frustrated because we kept scaring all of his fish away," Alexa says, never looking away from the water, but smiling as well. "He eventually told us to get lost and go find something to do in the woods, so we spent the next hour constructing the coolest fort of sticks." She now breaks her gaze from the water and looks behind us, causing me to do the same.

"No way. Lex, that can't be..."

"It is," she replies. In the woods you can just barely make out the form of many sticks and branches, propped up around a tree in the most sorry excuse for a place of shelter. We both turn, facing the water again.

"Remember how eventually my dad came and found us, helping us finish the fort? He was so disappointed when he wasn't able to fit in it with us."

"When I asked him why he was helping us he said because the fish were boring him and we looked like we were having more fun," I chuckle, remembering Chief when he was just Detective Ferrer, and basically my second dad.

We sit in silence again, just enjoying one anothers company. I haven't felt this at peace since before the accident.

"I've missed you, Lex," I say, feeling a tightness behind my eyes, "I never thought I would see you again."

Alexa smiles softly as her brown eyes turn to meet green.

"I wish you didn't have to go. There was a time you swore you weren't going to leave me. You did, though," I say, choking back tears.

"Laur, you know I didn't have a choice. I never would have left you alone had I been given the choice," she says, reaching for my hand and lacing our fingers.

"I never thought I would see you again," I repeat. Tears are now flowing freely, and for the first time - I don't fight them. Alexa squeezes my hand reassuringly and uses her thumb to wipe away my tears. "You never should have gotten in the car that night. Lex, what the fuck were you thinking? You knew he was drunk. Why didn't you call me? Why did you get in that fucking car, Lex," I plead through broken sobs.