Lauren sat upstairs on her bed. She looked out of her window to see Landon's room. How could she have let it happen. She should have known.
'Don't beat yourself up about it, Lauren.' her heart told her. 'It's not your fault.'
She got up off her bed and walked over to her window. She opened the curtains fully and then went to open the window. She looked out to see if there were any signs on Landon's part. To her disappointment, she saw nothing.
She looked away from the window and she found that her eyes filled up with tears. "Why did Mom have to be so mean to Landon. What in the world's name did he ever do to her? She didn't even give him a chance!!!!"
She paused as she realized what she just had said. Her mom never gave Landon a chance. She had thought she had understood what Landon had meant by it, but she was wrong. It wasn't until her mother judged Landon that she understood. There was nothing worse than not giving people the chance.
Cindy had taught her children to respect everyone regardless of what they looked like and regardless of what they had, such as conditions or sicknesses or deformations and such other things.
Where had that woman been an hour ago? Where had she gone to? she thought to herself. Maybe it's the money.
Lauren knew that her parents made a lot of money. That's why she always had the latest gadgets in technology or the latest clothes that were in fashion. When she was a child, her brother and her didn't have the same luxuries. But then their father became associated with one of the biggest law firms and his salary rose to the highest levels they had ever seen. Maybe it was the money that had caused the change.
There was so much to understand. There were so many questions left unanswered. But one that's kept running through Lauren's mind was, How dare she? How dare she treat someone like that and not feel even a little bit of remorse? Had her mother's heart turned to stone?
No, she shook her head. There was no way that it had happened. How can that have happened when she loved her father so much?
She went to the window again, wanting something to distract her. She was looking at the trees and thinking about the whole situation that she didn't see Lance's infuriated figure pass by.
A few minutes later, she decided that she was going to talk to her mom about all this. She had to make sure that Cindy understood that no matter what Cindy said, Lauren would not stop being Landon's friend. he was more different than anybody she had ever known. And if her mother refused to see that, Lauren would make sure that she herself didn't forget it. Although she doubted that she would ever forget Landon. He was special in more ways than one.
While Lauren was walking down the stairs to reach her mom in the kitchen, the doorbell rang. She saw how her mother went to the door and opened it.
She was surprised to see Lance there. She knew this had to do with Landon. Oh my god, she thought. He found out.
At this realization, she panicked and she ran towards her mom. From here, she could hear everything.
Lance looked furious. His eyes held so much hatred, so much anger that she had to admit scared her more than she thought it would. "Oh..I'm glad you're home." He spoke, directing it at Cindy.
Cindy smiled at Lance, obviously not noticing the tone of anger in his voice.
"Don't be such a hypocrite." He barked at her.
"What are you talking about, dear?"
"Don't call me dear. Don't fucking dare call me dear."
Cindy gasped. She had just heard the young man who had been smiling a while back cuss right in front of her. Then she became mad. She was not about to let some boy come and cuss at her. "Get out of my house."
"I'm not going anywhere." Lance stood his ground.
"Excuse me?"
"What you heard. I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm going to call the police. I'll call Kyle and file a lawsuit against you. Don't try me."
"I don't care. You can sue me all you want, but I'm here to talk about why you humiliated Landon, right in front of his face. I mean, sure people do it, but he's used to it being teenagers. Teenagers are so judgmental nowadays, but to be humiliated by you. An adult. That's pathetic."
Cindy's facial expression changed. She had an evil grin on her face. "So this is what all this resentment is about?"
She laughed.
Lauren who had been frozen in her spot knew what she wanted to do. Once Cindy laughed, Lauren took it as a sign to step in. She knew that Cindy would only make Lance's anger worse. She could be the cruelest woman on this universe when she wanted to be.
"Mom, please. Don't. Just apologize like you rightfully should." Lauren said, as she saw Lance turn to look at her. His expression softened when he saw her stick up for Landon.
Lauren gave him a don't-worry-I've-got-your-back smile as she turned to her mom, waiting for the answer.
"No! Lauren I'm not apologizing for anything I said."
All hell broke loose at that statement.
"You know, you're a real bitch," Lance started saying. "You think just because you came from some wealthy place, just because your husband is a lawyer and he makes more money that you're above everybody else. Well, sorry. You're wrong. Reality check, hun. There are people richer than you. People better looking than you'll ever be. And you know what, there are richer people than you who are probably more honest than you are.
Do you really think that money and looks is all in this world? Sure you have money. you can get whatever you want. But you are like those people who think that they are better than everybody else There is no honor and no honesty in that.
My brother, Landon. He's a better person than you'll ever be. He actually sees people for who they are. He doesn't go around judging people because of their looks or because of some physical or mental disability. He's honest, caring, understanding. Something, you'll never be."
Cindy stared at him. "Your little brother is just a waste of space on this Earth. He has no purpose here."
Lance walked up to her, his face inches away from hers. "What did you just say? What did you just fucking say?"
"You heard me. He's a piece of nothing."
"You piece of shit." Lance lunged at Cindy. Lauren ran to catch Lance before he did something that he would regret.
Lauren stood in front of him. "Lance, please. Leave. This is only going to get worse. I don't want you to get into trouble."
Cindy was sitting on the floor. When Lance had lunged at her, she was taken by surprise and because she tried to run away, she tripped over her own feet, landing with a thud on her butt.
Cindy got up. "You better listen to her, Lance. She doesn't care about what I said about Landon. She agrees with me."
Now it was Lauren's turn to be angry. She spun around so fast that her hair smacked her face at full force. "What did you say?" she asked in disbelief.
"You heard what I said. Thought I wasn't going to tell him?"
Lauren looked at her mother in disbelief. "How could you?! You know damn well that I was the one that told you that it was wrong. I agreed with nothing about what you said. I still don't agree. What you did to Landon is inhuman. How could you be so cruel."
Cindy smiled again. "Don't lie to me. Don't lie to Lance, either."
Lance cut it. "Sorry, Cindy. That plan isn't going to work. Landon told me that Lauren stood up for him. He was happy. He even told me that she went to check up on him."
At this statement, Cindy turned to Lauren, disbelief in her eyes. She had known that Lauren had left the house but she thought that Lauren had gone to the park. She never imagined that Lauren had gone after Landon.
Seeing the reaction from Cindy, Lance realized that he had said something that he wasn't supposed to. He watched Cindy as she stood up slowly.
"You went to check up on him?" Cindy now turned to her daughter and forgot that Lance was still in the house.
"Yes, yes I did. Because he's my friend and he understands me more than you will ever try to understand me." Lauren told her.
Cindy slapped her. Cindy slapped her so hard that Lauren fell to the floor.
"Cindy!" Emileigh and Kyle had yelled in unison.
Lauren got up and ran out of the house. She ran past Lance and she ignored the cries from both her father and her aunt.
"What happened here?" Kyle asked seriously, although there was a hint of worry in his voice.
Emileigh had run out after Lauren to see if she could catch up to her.
"He cussed at me and then he lunged at me. I was so scared." Cindy said, trying her best to sound innocent.
Lance scoffed. "Let me explain sir."
Kyle turned to look at him and he waited for his explanation.
"I admit, I did cuss her out but I came here to tell her to apologize to my brother for all that she had said about him. I came here pretty mad in the first place and she just stood behind her insults towards my brother. So yes, I cussed at her, I called her a hypocrite, I lunged at her.
But she slapped Lauren only because I told her that Lauren had gone to check up on Landon. Maybe I should have stayed quiet but she was accusing her daughter of agreeing with everything she had said."
Kyle turned to look at his wife. There was clear disappointment in his eyes. He couldn't believe what Lance was telling him, but his eyes told Kyle that he was telling the truth.
Kyle turned to Lance and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry for everything my wife has done. I don't know how to apologize to you, son. I don't think there's a way that you can forgive us."
Lance looked Kyle straight in the eye. "Don't worry, sir. Your kindness is enough. I'm sorry for disrupting you and being so rude and infuriated."
"Son, you don't have to apologize. Cindy here, needs to understand that people need to be treated with respect to receive respect back."
Kyle accompanied Lance to the door. Once the door was closed, he turned back to Cindy. He shook his head, and said, "If she doesn't come back, I'm blaming you." Then with that, he walked upstairs.
Cindy looked at the floor. There was nothing she could do this time to make the situation better.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Emileigh had run after Lauren. But Lauren was mad ans she knew that when Lauren was hurt or mad, she would run like she was a cheetah.
Emileigh looked everywhere. She was a good runner. She had participated in many marathons, just like Lauren had. But even with all that in her favor, Emileigh lost Lauren.
Stopping at the corner, Emileigh pulled out her cell phone. She knew that Lauren never left without it. So she was sure that she would have her phone now.
Emileigh dialed Lauren's phone number in and called her. The phone rang. This was a good sign. It meant that it had battery. But the call went straight ti voicemail.
Emileigh left a voicemail on Lauren's phone. "Hey, Lauren. Please call me when you get this. We're all worried. We need you to come back, sweetie. Please call me back."
She placed the cell phone in her pocket and she began to look for Lauren again. Lauren was no where to be found. She even went to the park and there was still no sign of her.
Emileigh looked at her watch. It was eleven thirty in the morning. All of this seemed surreal. At twelve, Emileigh tried to call Lauren again. The call went straight to voicemail again.
"Sweetie, please. Please Lauren come back. We're worried. We're looking for you. I'm looking for you. You know I'll always protect you sweetie. I always will. But please, come back. I know what your mother did was wrong, but you can't just leave without warning."
She ended the call. Then placed the phone back in her pocket. She had to make her way back. It took her close to two hours to get back and during that time there was no sign of Lauren anywhere.
For the third time, Emileigh called Lauren and the result was the same: voicemail.
"Lauren, please. Please. Call me back. You don't have to come back right now, but at least call me to let me know I'm okay. Please, honey...please."
She entered the house, and was met by Kyle and Cindy.
"So...where is she?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know." Emileigh said. "She won't even answer my calls." Then she turned to Cindy. "If something happens to her, I'm blaming you."
She walked away leaving, Kyle and Cindy alone.
Cindy turned to Kyle and opened her mouth to say something, but Kyle cut her off. "Don't. Say. A. Word."
With this, he left as well, leaving Cindy alone with her thoughts.