"Daddy?" Lauren asked when she opened the door.
She found him sitting there with his face in his hands.
"What did I do wrong?" he asked.
"It wasn't your fault, daddy. It was mom's decision." she said to him.
"She's acting different. I don't even know who she is anymore. She has changed."
"I know, Daddy. And I think it's all my fault."
Kyle got up and went over to his daughter. He brought her close into a hug. "This was not your fault sweetie. It never was."
Lauren's eyes had already filled with tears. "But it was my fault. She got mad because I was friends with Landon. She hated that he was blind and because of that she started acting differently."
"Please, baby girl. Don't blame all this on yourself. If it was one person I never expected to react in the way she reacted, it was your mother. She surprised me in every way. But I found that during her high school years, a blind boy took her best friend. And she was killed because her blind friend couldn't protect her from those thugs."
Lauren understood then why it was that Cindy had reacted to Landon in the way she had done. But it didn't explain the way she had acted towards Laura.
"But Daddy, that makes no sense. I've never seen her like that. Ever."
"I know sweetie. You should go check on Emileigh. She's a bit shaken up."
"Okay." Lauren left upstairs and left her bags inside. Before she turned around to check on her Aunt Emileigh, she went up to the window and parted the curtains. She looked over to Landon's room. She saw that his curtains were open and he was there. At the same moment she realized this, Landon came to the window. Lauren's heart skipped a beat or two. She had no other choice than to turn around and leave. There was nothing she could do. If she waved, Landon wouldn't see her and she knew it wouldn't be of any use to open the window since his wasn't opened. She couldn't deny to herself that she missed being there with the Valentines, especially with Landon. Girl, she thought, get those thoughts out of your mind. Aunt Emileigh time.
As she got to Emileigh's room, Lauren heard cries. She knocked on the door and she said, "Aunt Emileigh, it's me. May I come in?"
"Yes," was the faint answer heard through the door.
Lauren pushed the door open and she went inside. When Emileigh looked up, she had a big bruise that ran from her chin to the tip of her side burn. Lauren gasped, "What happened?"
"Cindy." was all she said. "She saw that I came this morning with you guys and she slapped me across the face with I don't know what. It left this bruise."
"Oh Aunt Emileigh!" Lauren ran to Emileigh giving her a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"I don't know what's wrong with Cindy. She's had a drastic change. Hopefully a few weeks at our parents' house will do her some good."
"I'm scared." Lauren confessed. "I'm scared that she will never be the same. I don't understand why Landon has affected her so much. I don't understand it."
Emileigh hugged her. "Don't worry, sweetie. Everything will be fine. The reason she's reacting in the way she is is because of a childhood memory."
Lauren nodded. "Yeah I know all about it. Daddy already told me, but it doesn't explain why she went over to Laura and cussed her out or why she wanted to slap her or Landon."
"Don't worry, Lauren. I'm sure everything will be fine by the time she comes back."
"I hope so."
"You should go to sleep now. It's pretty late."
"I know, but I don't want to go to sleep. I'm too worried. But you need some rest. A lot has happened today."
Emileigh agreed and she then went to brush her teeth. When she came back into the room, she was dressed into her pajamas. Lauren tucked Emileigh in and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Auntie. Sleep tight."
Emileigh nodded and murmured, "You too."
Lauren switched the light switch to off. And then she closed the door behind her.
She walked over to her room. Once she had entered, Lauren walked over to the window again. The light that was once coming from the room was now off. She stared outside and opened her window. She sat on the edge of the window sill. She looked up to look for the moon, and when she did she felt comfort.
"Tell me what to do," she whispered. "I have no idea what I'm going to do. Show me a way in which I can help or understand my mom. Help me help her, somehow. I don't understand why she's acting the way she is. I don't know the whole story."
Lauren grabbed her paint and her painting essentials. She needed to paint right now. Before she went to sleep. It was what usually helped her calm down before she went to sleep when she was too nervous or just couldn't sleep. Her paint was all read and she dipped the paintbrush into the paint and brought it to the easel. Her hand once again took over and she felt how the calmness was seeping into her soul. She had brushed her teeth already and changed into her pajamas. Usually after she painted, she was beat.
This one, though would take longer than all the other paintings. And Lauren ended up going to sleep at 1 am. She was beat and she immediately started to dream.
In her dream, a beautiful girl of about seventeen walked with a young guy of about the same age. A few steps behind them was a another young girl.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a pair of big men dressed in all black came to attack them. The young man was trying to protect the girl that she was walking with, but the thugs were hitting him pretty good. The few times that the young man swung, he missed and he only landed farther away from the girl.
The girl was brought down to the floor and after she was beaten, they stabbed her. The other young girl ran after them and told them to leave. They almost attacked her when the young man went back and hit them with all the might he had. They ran away.
But the girl who had been stabbed was in bad condition. The other girl screamed and screamed for help. She got her phone out and she called the ambulance.
A few minutes later, the ambulance arrived and she was taken to the hospital. Later on, it was found out that the stab was fatal and the girl didn't make it.
In the waiting room, the other young girl was covered in her friend's blood and the late girl's parents were yelling at her, blaming her for the death of their daughter. This teenager begged and cried for them to listen to her, but the parents refused.
"It wasn't me! " she kept yelling but they didn't believe her.
At the funeral, she couldn't stop crying but the parents didn't believe that her suffering was real and so they told her to leave. When they buried the girl, she stayed at a distance because there was no way that the girl's parents would let her stay.
All of a sudden everything disappeared and Lauren was now standing in an empty street.
Her mom appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her. She dragged her with her.
"You have to stay with me, do you understand? You're in danger with that boy. I know what I'm saying." Cindy told her.
Lauren tried to resist her mom, but Cindy was too strong. "Mom, please. I don't want to go with you."
"Well, that's too bad. I'm taking you with me. He won't be able to hurt you where we're going."
"Mom, what are you talking about? Who are you talking about?"
"You know exactly who I'm talking about, Lauren."
The two were over a hill. There were so many people passing, just looking but none of them helped her.
"Help me please." Lauren turned desperately to them.
"Don't bother." Cindy turned to her. "They're not going to help you."
"Why are you doing this?" Lauren screamed.
"Because I want to protect you. And this way you'll be safe."
They kept walking. It seemed like they walked forever. And throughout the whole way, there were people staring, just standing. Lauren tried again and again to get their attention but they were doing nothing. As more time passed, Cindy's pulling got faster and her grip got tighter.
"Please , Mom." Lauren begged. "Please just let me go. I don't know what I've done wrong."
For the first time since her mother had arrived, Cindy stopped pulling and turned abruptly to face Lauren. She stared venomously at her daughter. "You know exactly what you've done. You've betrayed me in the worst way possible." Her eyes softened as some tears threatened to roll down her face. "But I'll make sure it won't happen again."
Cindy turned around then and began pulling Lauren by the wrist again. There was nothing that could stop Cindy. In the distance, Lauren saw a street and she knew that it led to a bridge. Fear overcame her as the realization dawned on her. She was going to jump off the bridge.
"Mom," she begged, "stop. What are you going to do?!"
"I'm going to keep you safe. I'm going to protect you from that monster." she said softly.
Lauren shook her head and weighed herself down. "No, please. No. I'm fine. Don't you see?"
"But you won't be for long."
This time as the people just stood there, Lauren screamed out to them to help her. They still hadn't budged. God, she thought, please help me. I don't know what's going on. Help me.
"Mom." she started screaming. "What the hell are you doing?! Stop!! Damn it, stop!"
"Baby I've got to keep you safe."
Lauren saw the bridge in front of her. Her body suddenly felt paralyzed. "Mom, please don't do this. Please."
Cindy had climbed the bridge and she had taken her daughter with her. "Don't worry you'll be safe now."
"No!!! No!! Mom, please don't jump, dammit. Don't fucking jump."
But it was too late. Both Lauren and Cindy jumped. They hit the hard rock water at a high speed. Lauren was amazed to find that she was still alive. She was starting to swim, when her mom surfaced out of the water.
"No, you don't. This is the only way you'll be safe."
Cindy lunged herself over Lauren and she plunged her down under the water. Lauren tried to fight it. She kept coming back, but as soon as she took a breath she was back under the water again.
"This is the only way you'll be safe." Cindy kept repeating.
Lauren was running out of breath. She was drowning. She was drowning because her mother didn't want her to live. As she felt the life seep out of her, Lauren woke up with a gasp.
Lauren sat up in her bed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She felt all around her and she had confirmed it was a dream. She looked at the clock. It was 4 am. She got out of bed. Her dad still wasn't awake. Neither was Emileigh. She took a quick shower and changed. She couldn't stay here. So she went to the only place she knew she would be safe.
She threw a pebble at Landon's window. And she kept throwing pebbles at his window. She was determined to wake him up. When he finally opened it she begged him to let her in. She waited at the door and in no time the door was opened for her.
Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she cried. "But I had a nightmare and I didn't want to wake anyone else at my house."
Landon invited her in and sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around Lauren. "It's okay," he tried to comfort her as she cried. "You want to tell me the dream? They say that if you tell someone it won't come true."
Lauren nodded and told Landon the dream. Lauren felt safe in his arms. It was something she couldn't explain, but she didn't want to think about it now. All she knew was that he was here and that made it all better. She would have to explain to her father what had happened and where she had gone later, but all she cared about now was that Landon was with her and he made everything better for her. She would always be grateful for everything he was doing. Eventually she'd pay him back for everything that he had done for her. No one had done so much for her as he was doing now. It made her forget all the trouble that her mom had caused; it made her forget how much the situation her father was in hurt her and it made her focus on the good. She'd always remember everything Landon had done for her. She was grateful to have him there with her. After she cried some more, Lauren fell asleep in Landon's arms and there were no more nightmares that night.