Across the Years ( Camren )

Who's the villain

no one's pov

In the week since Camila had arrived, things had swiftly gone from bad to worse. Lauren did her best to make Camz feel welcome. She even made meals just like Thomas the cook did, back in the past. But Camila remained quiet and withdrawn. Things between them quickly fizzled out.

Each night Lauren went to sleep on the couch, trying to think of how to help Camila, how to help them. But nothing seemed to work.

A devastating setback happened on the 2nd day back. Lauren had to go to her school to register for classes for the upcoming term. She told Camila she was going to her school and would return in about 2-3 hours. Camila said she was fine and Lauren left.

Feeling a bit brave and a little curious to see what the town looked like, she decided to take a short walk. She put on one of the conservative dresses Lauren had gotten her and went out. She quickly found the Inn her father used to own, but other than that building, everything was different. Even the inn looked larger and different. In the old days, the inn was home. Especially when her mother would greet people at the door.

Now it was just another strange looking pub.

Even more heartbreaking is when she walked around the pub, hoping see her house, it was gone. Just a car park as Lauren called it. In fact there was no sign it was ever there, nor the woods that once sat behind it. It was all just odd looking houses and other buildings. The world she had once known had been simply erased.

Heartbroken to see her house gone, she simply moved on. A short while later she realized she was lost. In her own home town and she had no idea where she was. It was a very unnerving experience and after some wandering around she managed to find her way back. But she was very upset and burst into tears as soon as she got home.

Lauren who arrived shortly after Camila got home found her upset and tried to console her. Camila said she simply wanted to be alone and shut herself into the bedroom.

Things only seemed to get worse and soon they were more like strangers living together than lovers. They didn't even speak much to each other and a tension seemed to fill the air.

Lauren kept trying to help ease Camila into the modern age, but soon found herself very depressed as her efforts all seemed to fail.

Days passed and Camila spend most of her time either reading books from the 1800's or reviewing her old diary entries in the bedroom. She refused to read any of the ones she didn't remember writing.

She did eventually use a bit of technology as Lauren bought some classical music CD's and showed Camila how to play them. She missed music and sometimes would listen to them. But she was too scared and homesick to do much else.

With each passing day Lauren, only grew more depressed. She would spend hours watching tv or would sit on the roof looking at what few stars she could see and getting drunk.

The thing about being nostalgic for the old days, that people tend to forget the bad times. Camila herself soon fell victim to that. She would read the early entries where Austin was still charming and handsome, how he would shower her with attention. Slowly she began to wonder if he really wasn't that bad.

Two weeks passed and Lauren was about to reenter school for her 2nd year at college. Things with Camila were distant and increasingly tense as Lauren noticed she spent more and more time reading her diaries. Lauren of course never stopped taking care of Camila, doing all the wash, fixing all the meals. Lauren dared not to ask Camila for help, but at the same time, started to resent that Camila never offered to help. They did eat together, but more and more those meals were eaten in silence.