"I can't believe this." Lain said overwhelmed with disgust and anger fuming out of her ears. Tears were rolling down her eyes as she stared ahead out the open window. The warm sunshine that beamed into the room wasn't enough to help the chills running down the woman's back.
Shaking her head Lain turned to her wife seeing her eyes still glued to the pages of Lauren's journal. "Babe?" Lain called for her but there was no response.
Her wife's face seemed distant. There wasn't an ounce of emotion on the woman.
"Babe?" Lain was barely able to say out loud as her voice cracked every time her eyes merely glanced over Lauren's journal. She was afraid to get another glimpse an entry.
Swallowing down her coming tears, Nina hiccuped as she turned to face her wife's red swollen eyes. "How could anybody do such horrible things?" She said with such a strained voice that she was almost unrecognizable.
"I don't know." Lain threw her hands up into air before they came slamming back down onto her thighs. "These monsters clearly. Ugh! I can't believe you made a deal where we went out to eat with them! We ate with the men who hurt our girls and did nothing about it. They walked out cleanly while we had to deal with the repercussions of that night."
Running her hands through her curly hair Nina sighed. "I know. I know babe. I messed up big time okay. How was I suppose to know what was going to happen that night with your mother though? I didn't know she was going to be there. Besides I thought I was doing what was best for my family."
"Doing what's best for our family would've been to turn those assholes in! And instead we let them leave." Lain had to pause and breathe before she would've gotten worked up over a new topic that she knew both her and Nina didn't need to be reminded of. "Look Nina, I'm sorry. I know you meant well. I just...I want justice for them. I want something to happen to those guys for everything that they did. I want them to suffer more than they made our girls."
"I do too. I want them to feel just how much it hurts to be in those girls positions. I wish things would've went differently, Lain. You have no idea how much I wish it was. I swear if I could change things I would."
"I know you do babe." Lain exhaled sharply. "I still can't believe all the things Lauren said happened to them though."
Nodding as she agreed Nina's fist bawled up as she looked down at the last entry they had left off at. "I can't believe she said they were beaten and whipped on a daily basis just because they'd have to use the bathroom. How inhuman do you have to be to not have the simple decency to let someone who's already in the worst possible place use the bathroom without some kind of punishment. It's sickening!"
Feeling choked up by the tears surfacing Lain couldn't bare to hear her wife speak like that. It was awful having to read Lauren's journal the first time around, but being reminded of the contents within for a second time was just revolting.
"They were only kids too when they got stuck in there! Who does that?! My poor babies. I don't know how they survived in there for so long." Nina dropped her head as she frustratedly slammed Lauren's book shut and threw it behind her on the bed.
"We didn't."
The women were surprised to hear as they threw their heads towards the doorway. Standing there they spotted both Faye and Kaila. Their oldest held onto Kaila's arm trying to tug her away from the couple, but downstairs Kaila got impatient.
Wanting the women desperately she ran away from Faye but hearing the women crying about her past put Kaila right back into reality. Both girls had froze as they just listened into the painful conversation that fueled Lauren's tears downstairs.
"I'm sorry-" Faye tried to excuse them in this sensitive time for the couple but Kaila pulled her arm out of Faye's grasp as she walked in nervously.
"We didn't survive in there." She lowly said as her eyes stayed glued to the floor in front of her. With her hands held together she walked closer to the women. "Nobody survived in there...we-we were just alive."
Wiping away her silent tears Kaila's voice began to quiver. "When I arrived there I was thrown into a room filled with others, but you could feel there was no life in that room. Instead it was like being in a room full of mannequins. Everything we did was restricted." Swallowing hard the girl couldn't bring herself to get closer to the couple. She felt dirty talking about the past she worked so hard to forget.
But nobody can forget something like that. No matter how hard they try or how much good they throw in front of it—the shadows of the past stayed glued to their backs. Following them at every turn. Throwing a flicker of fear at every chance it could find. And reeking havoc when vulnerability was present.
"You want to know the worst part of it all?" She asked wiping away the tear droplets on her chin. "If we made the smallest mistake, they would take it out on our entire group." She said as a memory full of screaming and begging for the pain to stop made her entire body cringe.
It wasn't long before Kaila felt her legs getting weak. She could barely stand as they wobbled around like two pieces of seaweed.
"We all tried so hard to listen. Nobody wanted to go through that pain. And we certainly didn't want any of the others having to go through it as well." Shutting her eyes she wept into her hands. "We tried so hard for each other."
Just as she was about to collapse she felt a pair of arms surrounding her body, holding her upright as they slowly got down onto the floor together.
By now Kaila knew the arms of the women well, and this pair didn't belong to either of them.
Looking up from behind her hands, Kaila saw Lauren staring at her with agony in her eyes. Pulling the girl into her embrace, the two shared a moment on the floor as they cried on one another's shoulders.
There was a moment when nothing but tears could be heard through the house. The girls sobs had grown and grown until there was nothing left to hear. The women and Faye contributed to their endless cycle as well, but compared to the girls they were a only a small droplet.
Feeling another pair of arms surround both of their bodies the girls looked over finding Faye had joined them in their embrace. Looking at them pitifully she pulled them closer as their silence was welcomed.
Looking to one another the women got off the bed as they wrapped their arms around all of their girls. Keeping all of them safe within their grasp, everyone cried together.
"I'm sorry you girls had to go through all of that." Lain said into their huddle as she pressed loving kisses onto their heads. "I wish we had got there sooner to get you girls out of there."
As much as the past hurt and stabbed their healing hearts, Lauren could feel her warmth returning by the presence of her family. Turning towards Lain, she tenderly pressed a kiss back to the woman's cheek. "You got us though and that's all that matters."
Feeling herself getting more emotional Lain cried harder as the girls in her arms leaned into their affection.
In the midst of their family moment, their was a room full of mixed emotions.
Love. Hate. Happiness. Anger. Hope. Fear.
And everyone felt it all.
"If there was a way that I could go back in time and make sure none of that happened to you girls, I would do it in a heartbeat." Nina said with certainty.
But Kaila thought otherwise.
Shaking her head the girl looked at Nina with her teary eyes. "It was hell that place. It's something I would never wish upon my darkest enemies. But there is no way I'd ever take back what happened there." She said confidently. More confident than ever before.
"But why?" Nina asked in disbelief.
"Cause if we'd never got sent there, we would never have met you all."
Feeling even more tears surfacing than before everyone was bawling hard enough that if they didn't stop soon Lauren's entire room would be flooded.
"I'm so happy you both joined our family!" Faye said with a small smile as she squeezed the girls in her arms even tighter than before. "Five's the perfect number after all."
"Agreed." Lain said with a soft smile.
"I also second that." Nina said as the girls in the center couldn't help but giggle slightly.
There wasn't a more prefect place for them. And Kaila and Lauren knew that well. "I love you guys." They said simultaneously reaching out as wide as they could as they squeezed them all tightly.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off