Our Deepest Scars

Chapter 6

The moment those words entered Camila's brain and she processed them, she felt like she had been punched hard in the chest. Gasping, she suffered for a moment without oxygen as she tried to breathe again.

"No. No, Mani. She....she can't be....why is she there? Is it serious? Is she going to be okay? What happened?" Camila's frantic words poured out of her mouth like a waterfall, her mind working too fast for her to fully consider which words she was speaking. She could have been talking in Spanish and she wouldn't have even noticed. Lauren was the only thing on her mind.

"Slow down, Mila, I don't know all the details. All I know is that she was taken to the UCLA Medical Center about half an hour ago." Normand replied in a shaking voice, reaching out to grasp the smaller girl's hand tightly in her own. "We were going to go down to see her right now if you want to come."

"Yes, I'm coming," Camila responded automatically. She leapt out of her bunk, her heartbeat racing. This couldn't be happening.
Please don't let anything bad happen to her, please let her have just broken her arm or something, Camila thought desperately. She didn't know how she would live with herself if the last interaction she ever had with the green eyed girl was when she intentionally stepped on her foot.

Within only a minute or two Camila was standing outside the bus, tapping her foot anxiously. Her carefully manicured nails were digging hard into her palms, creating small crescent-shaped ridges on her skin. After what felt like an age but was really only two minutes, the other three girls joined her outside the vehicle. Ally had tear tracks of worry etched upon her cheeks, and Dinah was pale and looked slightly nauseous with distress and apprehension.

"Let's go," Normani broke the silence to say. The girls nodded and entered a taxi which they had just called for to take them to the hospital.

The car journey lasted an hour, and this 60 minute time period was almost too much for Camila to handle. By the time they pulled up in the parking lot of the hospital, she was quivering with fright. She realised that she had no idea what to expect. Lauren could be getting a plaster cast on her wrist or lying in a bed connected to beeping machinery for all they knew.

The girls were in such an extreme emotional state that they almost forgot to pay the driver; only remembering when he cleared his throat loudly and gave them a meaningful glare.

"Thanks," he said gruffly once they had paid him. "I hope your friend's okay."

His words made the situation a little too real for Normani, who had tears sliding down her face. A tiny, stifled sob escaped her lips and Dinah put a consoling arm around her shoulders.

Camila muttered a thank you to their driver before taking Ally's hand and walking up to the sliding glass doors. The fact that they all looked a complete mess didn't bother them at all - they were too scared of what may have happened to their friend.

Approaching the desk, they addressed the receptionist, asking what room Lauren was in.

"Lauren Jauregui?" the woman inquired, and they nodded. "5th floor. I believe she already has some family members there, but you're welcome to go up as well if you'd like."

As soon as the receptionist had mentioned the floor number, Camila had dashed off to the elevators, jabbing the upwards button as hard as she could. The door opened painstakingly slowly and she held it open for the other girls to get in.

"Do they deliberately make these elevators slower than normal?" Dinah asked, attempting to brighten the dark atmosphere with a joke. It may have worked if her voice hadn't cracked at the end, giving away how scared she was for Lauren.

Ping.

"Fifth floor."

The girls tumbled out of the elevator in their eagerness to escape the confines of the small area. It was only once they were standing in the middle of a long, brightly lit corridor that they became aware of the fact that they didn't know the number of Lauren's room. All they could think of to do was move briskly up and down, peering into the small glass windows of each doom.

Fortunately, Ally caught sight of Lauren's dad, Mike, through the pane of glass in room 517. She knocked hesitantly, and the girls waited with bated breath for him to turn around and notice them. He did.

His body maneuvered to face them when he caught a glimpse of their faces at the door.
Straight away he moved over to the door and opening it narrowly enough for him to get through the gap, before closing it again. His face appeared weary and full of anxiety.

"Is she okay?" Dinah asked instantly, unable to wait any longer for the answer. "What happened to her?"

"Well, she hasn't woken up yet and she isn't looking too good at the moment," Mike said in a broken voice. "We're still waiting for some results from the doctors."

Camila's chest felt tight again and tears pricked the corners of her brown eyes. "What happened? Why is she even here?" she repeated Dinah's question.

"Well...she was staying at a friend's apartment for the night. I'm not sure why she was there." The girls exchanged looks at this, and Camila felt a ball of guilt building in the pit of her stomach. Mike didn't notice their shared glances, so continued. "I guess they were just talking, or hanging out...I don't know what your age does at sleepovers...but basically a fire started in the apartment."

"A fire?" Normani exclaimed. "A big one?"

"Big enough for Lauren to be trapped inside for a while until the fire trucks came to help."

"Oh my God..." Dinah whispered, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"She inhaled a lot of smoke and suffered some burns, a few of them pretty serious." he said, sighing deeply as he eyed the four emotional girls in front of him.

Camila's tears began to fall at his words. "C-can we see her?" She stumbled over the short sentence, her voice tremulous.

"Her mom and I were about to grab a drink, so you can go in for a little while. But I do warn you, she might not look the same as she usually does." he reminded them gently, placing a hand on Camila's shoulder in comfort.

"Thank you," Ally said, smiling sadly at him.

At that moment, Lauren's mom, Clara, exited the room. She was shaking like a leaf and looked distraught, which only intensified the girls' fear of what they were about to walk in and see.

"I said they could go in and see her," Mike muttered to his wife, and she exhaled a deep, quavering breath before nodding her assent.

"That's fine, girls. We'll be back in about 15 minutes to see her again. Don't forget, if anything happens, call the nurses immediately."

"We will, don't worry," Ally promised, and the other girls agreed quietly.

The couple joined hands before going back down the corridor the way the girls had just come from. As soon as they were alone, Camila began to sob.

"I-I'm sorry," she cried, turning away from the girls. "I don't know if I can handle seeing her."

Dinah walked to stand in front of Camila, and brushed the smaller girl's hair away from her eyes.

"Look at me, Mila. You're strong. You can do this. We'll be right beside you." Dinah took a deep breath in, motioning for Camila to copy her. The brunette did, and exhaled after a few seconds. Dinah took her hand and pulled her softly back around to Ally and Normani.

The girls glanced at each other, all of them willing another to do the hard job and open the door. Eventually Normani reached out a hand and pushed the wooden structure inwards. She took the first step into the hospital room and the others followed.

Camila avoided the bed for as long as she could, before she couldn't help but see it out of the corner of her brown eyes.

What she saw made her inhale sharply. Lauren was hooked up to such a large number of machines that Camila didn't even bother trying to count them. She had a drip coming out of her arm and a large oxygen mask covering her face. All along her arms were white, sterile wrappings, hiding the flesh underneath from sight.

She looked unrecognisable from the girl at the diner earlier that day.