Four days had passed and it was officially the day before Lauren had to kill Camila. It felt weird to put a name to the brunette's face after just referring to her as 'munchkin' or 'stranger'.
Lauren decided she preferred to call her munchkin.
"Hey, I'm just letting you know that I'm going out," Lauren informed the younger girl who was still sat in the basement.
Despite Lauren's many attempts to convince her to leave, she refused to stay in any other room.
"Please stay," Camila pleaded, her voice barely audible, "don't leave me."
"What's wrong munchkin, scared of storms?" Lauren chuckled.
It had been raining all day and it was now eleven o'clock. The wind was howling and thunderstorms predicted for later that day.
"Oh my god you are," Lauren exclaimed when Camila didn't reply. "Sorry munchkin, I have to go out, it's my job."
"Take me with you, how do you know I won't try to escape," Camila challenged and Lauren let out a dry laugh.
"One, I could think of nothing worse than being stuck in a car with you, two, people would see you and three, the whole house is alarmed and I'm locking you in here so you can't get out," With every reason Lauren listed off Camila felt her heart drop a little bit more.
She hated thunderstorms.
She was scared of many things. Meeting new people, the dark, crowds, nearly any public situation, but she was terrified of storms.
When she was a kid the minute she heard thunder she would crawl in between her parents in their bed and when she got too big for that she would curl up in her bed, play music on her headphones at full volume and in most cases, cry.
"Please," Camila repeated hopelessly and Lauren swore she could feel her heart break at the fearful tone of her voice.
And that scared her more than anything.
"I need to go," She snapped, trying to push the last thought of of her head. She stormed up the stairs, slamming the door to the basement closed and locking it, placing the key in her back pocket.
After checking all the alarms in her house were working, she walked out of her large house, locking the door before pulling up her head and running to her car.
Camila wasn't sure how long it was, but after what seemed to be an hour the first bang of thunder shook the house.
She let out a shriek as the first rumble sounded, pulling her knees closer to her chest. Not long after lightning flashed and Camila clenched her eyes shut, curling up in the corner.
"Breathe Camila," She mumbled, willing herself to relax.
All of her calmness disappeared when it rumbled for the second time and she could feel tears brimming her eyes.
She was locked in a house on her own. If something happened no one would know.
She was miles away from everything and as far as anyone knew, she was at home with her father.
Her breathing began to quicken as the storm got worse and her heart began to pound so hard against her chest it started to hurt. She clutched one hand over it, trying to steady her rapid breathing.
It wasn't long before her chest began heading up and down and she realised what was going to happen.
She was going to have a panic attack.
"No no no no," She cried, knotting her fingers in her long hair and pulling on it.
She had anxiety attacks from being as young as thirteen.
A few years ago they became so severe and frequent she had to get medication and she'd been on them ever since. However, she'd left her medication in her purse which Lauren had disposed of.
She frantically racked her brain for what technique her therapist had taught her but her mind was blank, her head caught in a whirlwind of panic.
She struggled to catch her breath as she panted for air, which was a huge difficulty through the sobs.
Camila clamped her hands over ears, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to drown out the sound of the ongoing storm.
Lauren struggled to see the road as she drove through the rain lashing down. She pulled up outside of a large house and groaned as she stepped out of her warm car, her body shuddering as the cold rain drenched her.
She ran towards the house, barging down the door and immediately being met with her victim
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her face contorting in confusion.
Let's just say her family were well known with the Society.
"You know why I'm here Jesy, I know about the girl," Lauren sneered, her face set in a hard glare.
She watched as the color drained from the girl's face and she made an attempt to run for the door. Lauren caught her arm easily, injecting a syringe into her vein and catching her body before it can fall to the floor.
Now for the fun part.
Lauren carried her to her car, not before tying her up, and strapped her in the back seat.
As she started to longish drive home she watched as the storm worsened and her thoughts drifted back to Camila.
She must be terrified.
Lauren didn't have something she was truly afraid of, sure she was scared of losing her loved ones but they were irrational fears, not something that happened often.
She didn't know how it felt.
All it took was a few moments of imagining the fear Camila must be going through for Lauren to change her route by a few miles, dropping Jesy off at the base into Normani's possession before returning to her house.
Oh god, she was turning soft.
This was one of her biggest fears about keeping the stranger alive. She was scared that she'd become attached to her and it would become impossible to kill her and although she hadn't yet formed a bond with the brunette, she defiantly didn't want her to be in any sort of bad situation.
When she first walked in the silence hit her like a brick.
"Camila," She hollered, unlocking the door the the basement and rushing down the stairs.
Her eyes squinted to adjust to the darkness and she could make our her petite body curled in the corner. Hysterical sobs were coming out of her mouth and Lauren flicked on the light, running over to her.
She expected to see her flinch at the brightness but Camila didn't move, not even when Lauren placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on munchkin," Lauren shook her shoulders, watching as her head wobbled back and forth.
"Snap out of it Camila," She shouted, gently tapping the brunette's face and the younger girl's head shot up, finally coming out of her daze.
The next thing she did was completely unexpected.
The small girl launched herself into Lauren's arms and as much as the older girl tried to convince herself to push her away, to leave her alone since she'd be gone tomorrow anyway, her arms wrapped around her petite figure and she held her tightly.
"It's okay, it's okay munchkin," Lauren soothed, stroking her tangled mass of hair.
Just looked at her, Lauren could tell she'd obviously had a panic attack or something along the lines of one. Her skin was sweaty, despite her being skin being freezing to the touch, and her breathing was ragged.
"Camila, calm down," She said firmly, grabbing her face and forcing her to look at her.
After a few seconds, Camila's face relaxed and Lauren felt her body loosen.
"There you go, it's okay," She smiled and Camila sobbed into her shoulder.
"No it's not, nothing's okay," She argued and Lauren rubbed her back, feeling extremely guilty.
Not only had she caused the girl to have a panic attack but she knew that she was part of the reason she was so upset.
"Hey, munchkin you need to relax," Lauren told her.
When she never replied she scooped her into her arms before standing up.
Camila was too distraught to even notice, of care at this point, as Lauren carried her into the bathroom, standing her on her feet as she started to run the bath.
"Are you going to watch me?" Camila asked gently, suddenly feeling self conscious.
"I'm going to help you, you can't even move your hand," Lauren reminded her, tugging on the dirty t-shirt that she'd been wearing since she got here.
Camila reluctantly lifted her arms up above her head and Lauren pulled the t-shirt off, leaving her in just a bra and her jeans.
Camila's arms snaked around her taut stomach which had became significantly skinnier since before she arrived.
Lauren finished undressing her and helped tower her into the bathtub.
Camila let out a content sigh as her body became submerged in the warm water.
She'd never been so thankful to take a bath in her life and she deeply regretted the many times she's thrown tantrums as a kid when her parents forced her to take one.
Lauren was on her knees at the side of the tub and she unwrapped the bandage from Camila's wrist, throwing it in the sanitary bin.
Her wrist was no longer swollen and her bruising was only a faint blue.
Lauren took the brunette's left hand in hers, rubbing the dirt off of her smooth skin and Camila swore it was the best feeling she'd ever experienced in her life.
"Let me wash your hair for you," Lauren suggested after a while and Camila agreed, laying back so her head was submerged in the water. Lauren massaged shampoo into her long mass of hair, doing the same with conditioner before finding it out.
"Here, you should probably get out now," Lauren laughed slightly as she realised they'd been in the bathroom for almost an hour. Camila's breathing had finally returned to its normal pace, however she still hadn't spoken expect for her one sentence.
As soon as she stepped out of the bath she was wrapped into a large towel and guided to what she was guessing was Lauren's bedroom.
It was surprisingly normal for a serial killer.
"I'll get you some of my clothes, they'll be too big but it's better than what you've got," Lauren told her and Camila nodded, gratefully taking the t-shirt and shorts.
After she'd dried herself and tied her hair into a braid, she got changed into the clean clothes and look at Lauren, unsure of what to do next.
"Follow me," The older girl gestured for her to follow and Camila obliged, frowning as she realised they were in the kitchen.
"Are you going to kill me?" Camila finally spoke, her voice wavering and Lauren laughed.
"No, I'm going to help you cool a meal. You need to eat and since you think I'm going to poison you, you can cook," She explained and Camila felt partial relief, partial panic wash over her.
She had no idea how to cook.
"I don't know what to do," She admitted, fiddling with the material of her t-shirt.
"Well, its best we start with something easy then munchkin," Lauren pulled out some ingredients from the cub board before gesturing for Camila to join her at the island.
Lauren knew what she was doing was dangerous but she couldn't help herself.
She couldn't put the young girl through anymore pain.
"Crack the eggs into the bowl and then whisk it," Lauren instructed and Camila did as she was told, taking her time in order to not drop anything, which knowing Camila, was a likely thing for her to do.
Lauren pulled out a knife from the door, walking over to the chopping board. Camila visibly tensed as she saw the weapon, distancing herself from the older girl.
"Don't worry, I'm only going to chop up the spinach," Lauren rolled her eyes at the girl's anxiousness.
After about fifteen minuets they both sat down at the dining table opposite each other, starting to eat their omelettes.
"Why were you scared when I pulled out the knife?" Lauren questioned, placing a bite of food in her mouth.
"I thought you might hurt me, like you did to my father," Camila furrowed her eyebrows, pushing her food around her plate. Their eyes met and in that moment Lauren knew what Camila though of her.
A psychopath.
She thought she was nothing more than a cold-blooded killed.
"There's a lot you don't know about me but you should know, I am a human. I'm not a monster," Lauren sighed and Camila only reposted with a small, "oh".
"You killed my father," Camila said for about the tenth time she'd been there.
"Don't you get it munchkin, I had to. You don't understand, you don't understand anything about me," Lauren shouted, getting frustrated at the reputation the younger brunette had so easily created for her.
"Then tell me, tell me why you killed him, tell me why you live all alone in the middle of nowhere. Make me understand," Camila raised her voice to match Lauren's, positive that she would regret it later.
However, right now she didn't care.
She was angry.
"I can't, it'll put us both in danger," Lauren cried out, raising her hands in the air in frustration.
"Put me in danger, are you kidding me? I've been locked in this house for days with a stranger who kills people and you're scared of putting me in danger," Camila exclaimed and Lauren stood up, walking to the trash can scraping the remains of her meal in it.
Camila did the same, throwing her plate and cutlery in the sink.
"Even if I let you go where would you go, huh? Both your parents are dead," Lauren snapped and she instantly knew she hit a sensitive spot.
"Camila I'm sorry," She apologised as the younger girl's eyes filled with tears.
"No, you're right. I obviously can't live alone because I can't even experience a thunder storm without having a panic attack, god help me if something serious happened," Her voice cracked and Lauren stepped forward, placing a hand on her arm.
"That doesn't justify it," Lauren argued softly and Camila's eyes met her emerald green ones.
"Why are you being nice to me?" She whispered and Lauren didn't reply, she just pulled the smaller girl into her arms and hugged her.
In that moment, she seemed so fragile that Lauren wanted nothing more than to hold her in her arms and protect her from the world.
But she did the opposite.
Lauren pulled out a syringe and inserted it into the brunette's neck.
Lauren immediately felt the girl become limper and she pulled away, her large brown eyes full of betrayal.
That was the only way she could react before she collapsed and Lauren caught her nice she could hit the wooden floor.
She swore this was one of the worst things she'd ever felt in her life.