Chapter 3

TW: mention of death

Camille walked into the school she'd be leaving soon.

She dreaded for the day to be over because she knew that meant she'd have to go home and face her mother.

Classes went on and then it was lunch.

She had gotten her lunch and walked to a table to sit down with Dean. Although she didn't see him, he wasn't there yet, which was strange considering he usually was always seated and waiting for her.

She got up leaving her tray there and walked out to the outside seating area. She saw Dean's friend Jackson.

"Um hey, Do you know where Dean is, he's usually sitting down.. but he's not, and he didn't answer my text."

Jackson shook his head quickly and walked away.

Camille was confused and stared at him walking away seemingly fast. She decided to continue looking around. She came over to a hallway of the school, a gap where the building didn't connect. She happened to look around the corner and saw a girl and a boy standing there, seeming to be in a conversation.

She recognized that back, it was Dean... Her heart began to beat faster. She waited and listened.

"Dean... I didn't know exactly how to tell you this... but I like you... and I have for years, but Camille got in the way, and she ruined everything, I liked you first, so why not me?"

Dean shook his head and said, "Lia, I'm sorry, this must have taken up a lot of courage for you to say this to me, and I don't want to hurt you, you've been my friend for a long time... but I'm in love with Camille, I will always be in love with Camille."

Lia nodded feeling broken hearted, she turned and walked away leaving Dean standing there.

Dean turned to walk out of the hallway, and he saw Camille standing there.

She smiled at his softly and he let out a sigh.

"Did you hear any of that?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but it's not like you did anything wrong, so don't worry about me..."

The rest of the day went on, and then Camille had to go home again, it was what she dreaded the most.

Though her mom didn't check her phone today, infact it seemed that her mother wasn't even home.

She went upstairs, the same dreary and gray house. She walked down the hallway and into the room where her grandmother lie to talk to her again...

She sat down at the seat next to her and grabbed her hand. But something was different this time... instead of the usual warm hand, the only thing making Camille feel as though her grandmother knew she was there, it was ice cold.

Camille stood up with anxiety spewing out of her, she bent down and put her head to her chest, she didn't hear a heartbeat, her grandmother already breathed very weakly, so she didn't notice that she wasn't breathing. But it was very clear that her grandmother had passed away at some point today.

She started choking on her sobs, her mother wasn't here, she was alone dealing with this. She tried calling her mom.... no answer, she called again..... no answer.

Instead this time she dialed 911.

"Hello this is the emergency services, do you have an emergency."

Camille tried to breath through her tears.

"I think my grandmother has passed. She lives at home with my mother and I, and I came home today and came upstairs to check on her and she's ice cold... I don't hear a heartbeat either.."

"Okay we will have EMS dispatched there shortly, can you please tell me what your address is."

"XXX XXX XX Street."

"Okay thank you, please wait, they will be there in about 5 minutes."

Camille hung up the phone.

She sat down in a daze, and not too long there were pounds at the door.

She ran downstairs and led them to the room. They transferred her grandmother onto a stretcher, and covered her with a cloth. They'd be taking her to the morgue, until the guardian for her was contacted and arranged the funeral.

As they were asking her questions, a car pulled up rather roughly, her mother frantically climbed out of the car. And ran up to the EMS.

"Hello this is Laura James, I'm Denise's guardian."

The EMS turned towards Camille's mother.

"Hello Mrs. James, I'm very sorry to inform you of your mother's passing, your daughter here called us because she came home from school and happened to discover her. We will have her transported to the morgue until you arrange the funeral proceedings. Again we are very sorry for your loss and hope you have considerable time to grieve."

With that they closed the truck and drove away.

Camille her eyes still wet, and tear stained cheeks, she watched the ambulance get further and further down the street.

Her mother just sighed and went inside.

When Camille came inside she found her mother sitting at the table with her head in her hands.

"I called you three times... why didn't you answer.... do you find me that unimportant that you couldn't even answer.. if I called back to back then it clearly had to have been something urgent."

Her mother still not looking up said, "I was having lunch with a friend... I turned my phone off because I think it's impolite to constantly having it going off if you are conversing."

"Friend huh?"

Her mother looked up.

"Excuse me?"

"It was a guy, you two were probably doing more than just having a conversation or eating lunch. And listen I'm happy for you because I understand that Dad is a piece of shit.... but you don't even seemed affected by this, you know what this is going to do to me.... I'm the one who found her dead, I was the one who tried to spend some time with her almost everyday, instead of leaving her back there in that room alone.... you are unbelievable... you have the time to go out and be with a man, but you don't care about your family who sits at home right there with you."

Without giving her mother time to respond she ran upstairs to her room.