Intertwined

Chapter 33

Lauren untangles her hand from my hair and grabs my hand in her small, cold ones. I sit back down in the chair. "Can you open the window and shut the lights off, please? I want sunlight, not light bulbs. I've been around light bulbs for months now." She asks in a whisper. Her big, green eyes looking at me pleadingly. "Anything for you." I smile at her, standing up and opening the window and then walking towards the door to shut off the light switches that were by the door. I go and sit back down again, Lauren's just staring out the window at the purple sky created by the sunrise. 

"Amazing isn't it?" Her voice speaks up after a moment.

"What?" 

"How after all this time, I've made it through hell several times. It's amazing I survived at all. Those men kill when they are bored. They never let anyone get away alive. But then some depressed, anorexic defies all the odds. Ha! Who would have thought?" her eyes are locked on the changing colors of the sky. She has a neutral expression on her face. I think she's in shock about the fact that she actually survived.

"Well, you're pretty extraordinary, it's not surprising that you made it. I knew you would." My voice sounds like that of a proud parent. She breaks her eyes away from the window and looks at me. "Thank you Camz. Thank you for everything." 

"It was my pleasure." I respond happily.

~

Lauren's POV

After a few hours, one by one my family and the girls begin to wake up. They all take their turns hugging me and saying sweet words to me. Nurses come and go, checking up on me. I'm given my first cup of food at around 10 A.M. and make it my mission to finish it. But instead, I end up having to ask Camila to carry me to the bathroom because I felt like throwing up. My stomach couldn't hold anything in it. I threw up everything I had drank while Camila held my hair back. The doctor said that it is completely normal and that I just have to keep trying to keep it down until my stomach can finally keep it all in. She said that that is what happens when you spend so much time starving. She said she's seen homeless people in the same position I'm in. We're not used to having food in our stomachs that when we finally do our stomachs reject it because it isn't "normal". 

Camila carries me back to bed when I'm done and puts the blanket over me. The exhaustion hits me as soon as I get into a comfortable position that doesn't hurt all the much. So I decide to just go back to sleep until I'm woken up again in the afternoon for my next "meal". They're starting off with giving me two of these liquid meals a day and then increase it to three when I can keep at least one of those meals down. And once I can keep all three down I will be given soft foods to actually chew. Then after about two days of that I will be given my first actual meal. But I'm going to be moved into a rehab after I can finally drink my three liquid meals. So, that's that. I'm going to rehab soon.

~

"Lauren, wake up. There are people here to see you." Camila's voice wakes me up as she shakes me. 

"Who?" I ask with my eyes still shut.

"You'll have to see for yourself." I can literally hear the smile in her voice. I sigh and open my eyes, rubbing them before having Camila help me sit up. 

"Look who's here." She says pointing to two little bodies sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room. I take a sharp intake of breath (which hurt like hell), trying not to cry but failing horribly. I tear slips out of my eye and a large smile takes over my face. 

"Lauren!" Lila wriggles out of Dani's grasp and runs over to my bed side. 

"Hey baby, how are you?" I say with a giggle at how adorable she is.