(small trigger warning: there's mentions of abuse but you won't see it in the chapters. You'll only hear about it being explained but it's rare)

It's been 6 years. Camila's just missing at this point. There's nothing that we can do because we don't know why she left. The most I know is the day she left and the time but I haven't said anything to anybody. She said she would come back for me. But when? I'm 17 now. And she's still not back.

Over the years I started to believe that maybe she forgot about me. She never gave me a reason on why she left. She promised to come back. Never did. I was going to figure out why she left. I want to know what was her reason for leaving and never returning.

"Lauren! It's time to go!" My dad yelled from downstairs. Him and my mom wanted to take me out to a place they took Camila before. I don't want to go. I told them I didn't want to but over the years they started to change...

My dad left the house often and came home late and abused my mom or yelled at me. Yelling turned into me getting hit from time to time. When Camila was still here it was never like this. They were nice. They were happy and they weren't abusive. When she left everything just wasn't normal.

"I don't want to go. Just leave me alone!" I yelled back and leaned against the headboard of my bed.

He stopped yelling for a few minutes and the last thing I heard was a door slam. I sighed in relief while grabbing my bag and waiting a few minutes. Most times when my dad yelled at me he would give up and they would just go on with their lives. Me, on the other hand, I would sneak off to my best friend's house. She would let me stay over and we would go to a lot of places today. Which is where I was headed today.

xx

The walk from my house to my best friend's house was about 15 minutes. I got there faster than last time since I decided to take a shortcut.

When I arrived there, Mrs. Hamilton opened the door for me. She gave me a warming smile while allowing me to enter into their home like everytime. "Mani is in her room as usual. I'm guessing you're staying over for the night?" I nodded and she chuckled. "Okay well dinner will be ready later. But I'll be out for a while so please tell Mani not to break another vase"

I giggled and gave her a thumbs up while walking up to Normani's room. She was playing Just Dance and singing along to the song while dancing. She noticed me after a few seconds and tackled me into a hug. "Ah the third night in the row you've been here. Exciting!"

"My parents left again so I had no choice but to come here" I shrugged and climbed up to the top bunk of the bunk bed that was in her room.

Norman paused her game and sat on the couch/bed that was underneath the top bunk. Which was where I normally slept when I come over. She looked up at me and hummed in agreement. "Any news about your sister?"

"Nope. She hasn't even came into contact with me. It's been 6 years. It's better to give up at this point. I won't be surprised if she's dead or something by now"

She climbed up on the bed and hit my arm. "Stop that. She's probably out here somewhere. Who knows?"

I shook my head and leaned against the wall. "I just miss her. I was more close to her than my own parents. She was like my sister and my mom. It just hurts that the last things she said to me was 'I'll be back for you. Just give me time' "

Those words hit me a bit hard as I thought about Camila. She left me, my parents take their anger out on me, and I'm just hopeless.

"I believe you'll find her soon. Just give her time."

Yep that's the words that get me everytime...

Just give her time.