Bad News

Bad News - Chap. 31

Chapter 31

 

She kissed the side of Lauren’s head and closed her eyes for a minute. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Lauren slipped her free hand up to Camila’s right wrist that was hanging over her shoulders. She started playing with the small bracelet and read the words again. Fight back.

 

‘’Camz?’’ she asked softly. ‘’Yeah babe?’’ Camila answered. ‘’Where did you get this?’’ she asked curiously, playing with the bracelet. Camila sighed and turned her head to look at Lauren.

Lauren saw the debate in Camila’s eyes. ‘’You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I was just curious, never mind.’’ Lauren said quickly, but Camila shook her head. ‘’No, I want to tell you. It’s just.. a hard topic for me. Lauren nodded her head against Camila’s shoulder.

She picked up the hand with the bracelet and started playing with Camila’s fingers until Camila gathered her thoughts. After some minutes of silence, and a few deep breaths from Camila, she spoke up.

‘’I got it from my dad.’’ She said, and Lauren stopped playing with her fingers. She sat up and looked at her. Lauren pulled Camila’s hand into her lap while she sat up too. ‘’I’ve had it since I was four years old. He gave it to me just before they left.’’ She told her.

‘’Where did they go?’’ Lauren asked carefully. She could see that it was hard for Camila to talk about this and she didn’t want to upset her. ‘’I don’t even know.’’ Camila answered. Lauren furrowed her eyebrows. ‘’Did they just.. leave you?’’ she asked. Camila shook her head.

‘’No, they didn’t. I was dropped off at my grandma’s until they would be back again. They.. They were volunteers at an emergency organization. Whenever something happened in the world, they would go there to help.’’ She explained. Lauren nodded, waiting patiently for Camila to continue.

‘’There was this earthquake. Somewhere in the world, I have no idea where it was. And they went up there to help the victims. They helped cleaning up, providing people with food and water and medicine. My mom was a nurse, so she took care of the wounded. My dad would help people to build up their houses again and get rid of all the junk and the chunks on the streets.’’ Camila said.

‘’Wow.’’ Lauren breathed. ‘’So your parents were all about helping people?’’ Lauren asked her. Camila nodded. ‘’Then why are you so against it Camz?’’ She asked her slowly, afraid of hurting her feelings in any way.

Camila sighed softly. ‘’Remember when I told you, that helping other people always means losing something yourself?’’ she asked Lauren. She nodded. ‘’Yeah, you told me that when you didn’t want me to help you about the whole Chloe and Jason situation, right?’’ she asked, needing the confirmation. Camila nodded.

‘’My parents lost their lives with helping other people.’’ She whispered. Lauren leaned a little bit forward, her eyes wide. ‘’What? How?’’ she asked. Camila took a deep breath.

‘’They were there a week after the earthquake. They had helped a lot of people already, but they didn’t know that there was going to be some sort of after-shock. They were both at the hospital that day, working together in the same room, when it happened. The hospital collapsed, and they were buried under it. They died because they were there, helping others.’’ Camila finished.