xxx.

chapter seize.
sixteen.

xxx.

Alex headed into the cabin, having ignored the few glances that were shot her way. Jackie was easy to find; she was sitting in the kitchen, flipping rather aggressively through some magazine in an attempt to look busy. Alex knew she was upset, but she couldn't help but grin a little.

    " Why are you smiling like that? If you came in here to give me shit like Taissa, you can turn your happy ass right around. "

God damn. Alex thought to herself, but her smile didn't fade as she shook her head, " Jesus, Cap, why do you have to be so harsh? I'm smiling because I think you're funny. "

" There was nothing funny about that. " Jackie insisted, and Alex held her hands up in surrender.

      " Alright, you don't have to chew my head off now. " *She remarked, blowing a puff of air out as she went to lean against the back of one of the kitchen chairs. The tan girl looked over Jackie, a particular glint in her eyes.

        The team captain tried to ignore her, but after an undisclosed amount of silence, she turned her head and raised a brow, exasperated, " What are you doing? "

        " Trying to figure out if a raccoon died up your ass or if the smell of Misty's duffel bag is finally catching up to you. What's wrong? " She asked seriously, meeting the other girl's eyes finally.

         Jackie pressed her lips together, and when she didn't immediately respond, Alex figured she wasn't going to say anything, or if she did, it wouldn't be the truth. However, the blonde eventually threw her head back and her hands out by her sides, groaning in annoyance, " Fine. Things with Shauna and I feel..distant? She barely talks to me anymore, I'm lucky if she'll even look at me when I talk. And I miss Jeff, way more than I ever thought I could, and being out here..it's like, worse than hell on Earth. I feel like an outcast in the middle of nowhere. "

          Alex just stared at her, even after she was done talking, which earned her another look from Jackie, to which she jokingly said, " I asked what's wrong, not for your middle school troubles. "

          " Get out. " Jackie deadpanned, and the darker haired girl let out a quiet laugh, shaking her hands.

            " Sorry, I'm kidding. I don't do well with other people's emotions. " She insisted, shaking her hands dismissively.

Honestly, she didn't know how to respond, or what to say that would even remotely make her feel better. Alex thought Jeff was a complete dunce, and that Jackie could've done a lot better than him, but he was the exact type of boy a girl like Jackie would go for. She also wasn't particularly close to Shauna, she barely spoke to her outside of soccer, and even now that they were stranded in the woods with limited options of conversations, she had still only talked to her if it was about Jackie.

She, like everyone else, could still see the very obvious distance growing between Jackie and Shauna though. Jackie was left to her own devices more often, while Shauna usually had Taissa glued to her side. Alex could see it in Jackie's face that it was killing her, and that killed a piece of her, too. She had seen how Taissa and Van acted, and she knew firsthand those sorts of feelings. And the way she talked about Shauna ignoring her with such hurt in her eyes was the same.

Whether Jackie knew it, or if Shauna knew it, Alex did. To be forever cursed with more knowledge and awareness than those around you was usually just an inconvenience when it came to idiots like Misty or Travis, but with Jackie, it made being a girl that liked girls more difficult than she could explain. Jackie and Shauna were clearly in love with each other; they could argue over the dumbest thing, but would die for each other, and the way they looked at each other when the other wasn't looking could never be described as simply friendship.

Alex would know, she's been watching those looks for months now.

Before they crashed, Alex had just been entertaining her own stupid crush on Jackie as the cliche high school 'first love' that you never actually date, or even confess to, but you imagined a hundred different scenarios with them. There was no chance she would've confessed to anyone how she felt about Jackie, not even Van or Taissa, because she could live without Jackie knowing she liked her, or having Jackie be interested in her back.

Because Jeff was the type of boy a girl like Jackie looks for, and Shauna was the type of girl a girl like Jackie pours her soul and every ounce of care into. And Alex wasn't a boy, and she wasn't anything like Shauna.

" Jeff is definitely lost without you, he barely has enough brain cells to exist alone when we have practice, I'm sure he's losing it right now. " Alex claimed, picking at the chipped price of paint on the chair before she looked up at Jackie, tilting her head with a halfhearted smile. " As for Shauna, maybe talk to her? And I don't mean try to make awkward small talk, confront her. Ask why she's avoiding you, that's the only way to really get an answer. "

Jackie looked at her as if she had just stated the obvious, but before she could give a snappy remark, she sighed, " Then what if she says..I don't know, she doesn't want to be my friend anymore? That she thinks I'm useless, like the rest of them do. "

" Then fuck her, and fuck the rest of them. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, what are they going to do? Not let you sit at the lunch table? " Alex pointed out, albeit a bit harsher than she meant for it to sound so she added, " I don't think you're useless, and I like to believe I have a great judge of character. "

Jackie snorted at that, which made Alex raise a brow questionably, " What, you don't think so? You know, don't answer that. Take the advice or not, but you can't let whatever's going on with you and Shauna influence the way you talk to the others. Nat's one of the only people here that keeps her shit to herself, she's the last person I'd pick a fight with. "

" Yeah, I guess you're right. "

" Yeah, I know. " Alex grinned, straightening up and smacking the top of the table before she shoved her hands into her pockets. She lingered for a split second, a silly thought to say something more crossing her mind, but all she said was, " Now put that Jackie Taylor smile back on and don't let me find you pouting over Jeff Sadecki or Shauna Shipman again. "

" Are you sure you're not the captain? "

xxx.

Sam had finally decided on who to share the burden of Shauna's secret with, whether they wanted it or not. She sat on one of the logs out by the fire pit, picking at the black nail polish that Natalie had painted on for her that morning. Sam had spent most of that time contemplating her decision, though she did answer a few of Natalie's general questions and attempt to hold a normal conversation with her. She didn't want to tell her though, because she enjoyed the almost silent friendship they had developed, or at least began to develop. And while she was sure Natalie was observant enough to know she was hiding something, she wasn't nosy enough to ask.

Now, most of the group was either inside the cabin or walking through the woods to collect any twigs or sticks to add to their fire later. The two she wanted to tell often loitered around together, even if they hadn't been as of recently. She just had a feeling she'd find them together; or not really find them, but let them come across her.

" Contemplating life, Owens? " Alex called as she came out of the cabin, just as Theo came from the path in the trees, sparing them both a halfhearted glance.

         " Actually, I need to talk to you. Both of you. " Sam added that last part when Theo kept walking, and that caught both of their attention. The two soccer players looked to each other before they both moved closer to Sam with expectant expressions.

          She wasn't quite sure what made her think to tell both Alex and Theo. Maybe it was because Theo already seemed like she had a lot going on after the seance and she wouldn't be bothered to add another thing to her plate. Maybe it was because Alex seemed to be the most rational person out here, which was a surprise. Or maybe it was because Sam expected the two of them to be the only people that would be able to figure out what to do with the information. That's why she wanted to tell both of them, at least.

          Sam looked past both of them towards the cabin, making sure no one else was planning on coming out when she started to talk. She took a small step closer to them and her eyes shifted between the two of them a few times, " Shauna's been acting weird since the plane crash, I found her journal and read it, she's pregnant and it's Jeff Sadecki's baby. "

          She said it so bluntly that both Alex and Theo stared at her for a while, wondering if either of them heard that correctly. Alex grabbed the girl's elbow, pulling her further to the side as she whispered, " She's pregnant with Jeff's baby? "

           " She's pregnant? " Theo asked after that, emphasizing that it didn't really matter who it was with, being pregnant in their situation was practically suicide. The shorter girl looked between them before she further questioned Sam, " You're sure? "

           " I'm very sure, yes. " Sam confirmed with a solemn nod.

           " Okay, well..shit. What are we supposed to do? " Alex sat her hands on her hips, looking back at the cabin as she thought about her earlier conversation with Jackie. Suddenly, Shauna avoiding her best friend and supposedly getting a late period made more sense. " We can't take care of a baby out here. "

           " You think we're going to be out here that long? " Theo asked, but she didn't want to hear Alex's honest answer. If they hadn't been found yet, there probably weren't getting found any time soon. The pale girl pressed her lips to a thin line, contemplating, then said, " I don't think we should say anything. "

            " What? Why? "

             Theo shrugged lightly, " It's not our baby, not our problem. I don't care if she tells anyone or not. "

             Alex was a little surprised by her response, but she couldn't voice that she wanted to tell at least Jackie for the sake of personal reasons. Not because she wanted her and Shauna to drift further apart, but because Jackie deserved to know.

              " I just had to tell someone so I wasn't the only one that knew. " Sam said, as if she was trying to make it clear that she honestly didn't care what they did with the information. She just wanted to share it, she couldn't be bothered to know who they would tell or what they would do about it.

            Before either of them could say anything more, Sam headed towards the cabin without another word herself. Alex and Theo watched her leave, then looked at each other. The taller girl held her hands up, " The longer we are out here, the weirder these people get. "

           " Yeah, " Theo agreed, sighing as she turned towards Alex with her arms crossed. They hadn't gotten to speak much since the seance; they had passing looks to each other every now and then and idle chatter, but Theo has been sick to her stomach since then and was too nervous to tell anyone else after she sort of talked to Lottie about it. Though, since there was already a heavy secret between them, she figured Alex was likely the one person that wouldn't freak out or dismiss her. " I have something to tell you, too. "

        " Oh, god, you're not pregnant too, are you? "

         " What? No, how would I— " Theo's face flatlined as she gave her an 'are you serious?' expression, " I know you don't think that I would sleep with Travis— "

        " I didn't say Travis. You and Coach Scott hang out a lot, who knows, maybe Misty's right about you. " Alex joked, reaching a hand forward to poke the other girl's ribs, instantly being swatted at.

         " Not funny. " Theo stated, hugging her hands closer to her sides, " It's about Lottie. "

         " Oh, so a different toxic relationship of yours? " She fired back, but closed her eyes for a second like she regretted how she said it, " Sorry, that was supposed to be a joke. Kind of. Have you guys talked since..you know, she nearly strangled you? "

         " Barely. I don't think Taissa's right, I know..I know Lottie has been weird for a while, and ghosts or whatever aren't real, but.." Theo trailed off, letting out a frustrated exhale as she tried to word this so she wouldn't sound insane herself, " During the seance, when she did that? That wasn't Lottie, I know it wasn't her. "

          " So you think she actually got possessed? That we were really talking to spirits when talking about boob jobs and shit? " Alex asked, trying her best to not sound like she thought Theo was crazy either, but it was just a bit hard to take seriously.

          " I don't know, but Lottie sucks at French, and she's never done anything like that before. She..she talked about my mom, Alex, and said she was going to fucking eat me. " Theo pressed, looking up at Alex wearily, her eyes flickering over her face.

          " Oh, shit, " She replied, sitting her hands on her hips as she looked off into space for a moment before adding, " Maybe Lottie is into girls. "

          " Will you please take this seriously? "

          " Okay, I'm sorry, I just..find it hard to believe, is all. Is there anything else? "

          " ...Yeah, actually. I..I've been seeing things, when I touch her— and do not try and make a joke out of that, I mean it. " Theo inhaled deeply, flattening her hands down her body until they were at her sides, picking at the bottom of her jacket, " Like, bad things. Freezing at the bottom of water, an ocean, or the lake, sort of things. And it only happens when Lottie and I touch each other. "

         " Fuck, okay, maybe you should just keep your distance from her for now? " On the surface it didn't seem like such a hard task, especially after what she did, whether it was Lottie or not, but both Alex and Theo knew that it would be more complex than that. If Jackie was drawn to Shauna like a bee to a flower, Theo was a moth to Lottie's flame.

         " I guess, yeah. Or maybe I should try to trigger it by being near her? I don't know. " She out towards the trees, tucking her own issues away for a moment to ask, " Are you gonna tell Jackie about Shauna? "

          " I don't know. " Alex repeated her words, her eyes drifting to the ground where she nudged a small twig in the dirt with her shoe. After a second or so, she looked back up at Theo, " You don't think I should. "

          It wasn't a question, Theo acknowledged. She eventually locked eyes with Alex once more, shaking her head, " I don't know. You know Jackie better than I do, but I think we both know her reaction wouldn't be good. " She paused momentarily, then gave the tan girl a weak grin, " I'm not telling Alexandra Platt what to do, though. "

          " Good, I wasn't taking orders from Theodora Prince anyways. " She responded with a sharper smile, letting her gaze linger on the shorter senior before she said, " Alright, meeting dismissed. We'll regroup about our girl issues later. "

          " Girl issues, I wish. " Theo murmured after Alex began to walk off.

xxx.

        " I think I would actually die to drink chocolate milk right now. " Dana groaned, planting her chin in her hand, her elbow resting on the step of the porch. She winced as Tara dabbed a wet cloth against the wound in her abdomen, trying to avoid looking at it, " Or donuts, a jelly filled donut would be like winning the lottery right now. "

        " Mm. " Tara hummed absentmindedly, staring off the porch and to the area they had deemed the station to cut logs of wood into firewood. She was so unfocused that her hand hovered over a sensitive part of the wound and pressed right into it.

        " Ow, shit, Earth to Tara? " " Dana's hand snapped forward and wrapped around the blonde's wrist, dark brows lowered as she noticed her distracted look. The younger girl followed her gaze by the time Tara looked back to her, down at her hand, and started apologizing under her breath. " Oh, for the love of god. "

        " Sorry, does it really hurt that bad still? " Tara asked in concern, pulling the rag back to look at it when Dana let her head fall to the side, a disappointed expression on her face. Tara stared back at her, shaking her head a bit, " What? "

         " Travis, Tara? Please tell me you hit your head on a really big, really sharp rock. " Dana pleaded, making Tara glance back over as if she hadn't been staring over there for the past several minutes; Javi sat on one of the logs, messing with something in his hands while Travis swung the axe down to split the other wood in half, adding to his decent pile. " You've got to be kidding, right? I thought you thought he was a dick, too? "

          " I did—I do, I just..we had a conversation the other day, and he wasn't a complete ass, " Tara tried to defend herself, shaking her head a bit more forcefully that time as she continued to clean Dana's wound, " It's not like I have a crush on him or something, chill out. I was..thinking. "

          " Yeah, right. " Dana scoffed, but said nothing more about it, looking off in the other direction with an annoyance about her.

         Tara rolled her eyes and focused back on the gash. It was healing, or so Misty claimed, but the closer she looked at it, the worse it looked. They had been too afraid to try and stitch it together, hoping it would just grow back together, but there was still a pretty big gap on the surface. The outer edge of the wound was also dark red, almost purple, but Tara had no clue what your body should look like after a branch had been ran through it.

         She tossed the rag to the side and began to wrap the bandage back around, pinching it extra tight just to spite Dana before she glanced back one more time, finding Travis staring back at her. Embarrassed, the boy instantly looked away and grabbed another piece of wood, pretending poorly that he just so happened to be glancing over. Javi even noticed the strangeness, looking over at Tara too, offering her a short wave which the girl returned with a half smile.

  
xxx.

            Well, Theo somehow ended up doing the opposite of what Alex had suggested. It wasn't intentional, at least not consciously, but maybe it was a weird act of fate that Theo had decided to go up into the attic. She really had no reason to, the others were downstairs, some of them helping cook dinner while the rest were outside around the fire as the sky grew darker and the stars began to show themselves. When she climbed the final rung and pulled herself to the wooden floor, she found Lottie standing at the window, staring out of it.

          The dim light of night shined in, casting a shadow of Lottie onto the floorboards, and it made Theo stop in her tracks, having taken no more than three steps towards her. She stared at the shadow, wondering to herself if she expected to see it morph and become something monstrous. If she would rather it do that than remain the shape of Lottie, depending on what happened in this attic.

           " You said I'm making you see things. " Lottie suddenly spoke, and though it was quiet, Theo still looked down at the attic door cautiously. She slowly turned from the window to look at Theo, the scarring mark in the center of her forehead visible even in the dimness. " What did you mean by that? "

           As if stricken by the mere sound of her voice, Theo held a small breath in her lungs. It was only a few seconds, her mind too busy trying to find a response, an explanation, to worry about her breathing. Whereas Alex was the one person she thought wouldn't call her crazy, Lottie might've been the one that would actually understand what she was saying.

          " When I..touch you, I have these visions. I don't know what they are, they're confusing, but it feels so real. " Theo explained haphazardly, looking down at her hands, the fingerless gloves stuck to them like they were unremovable. She laced her fingers together, holding them behind her back, " And they're not.. dreams or nightmares, it doesn't just happen when I'm asleep, it's only happened when we touch. "

           Lottie appeared to be processing exactly what she was saying, chewing the inside of her lip as she tried to recall the times they'd made contact. After a moment, she pointed out, " That's why you've been wearing your gloves all day. "

          Theo watched the way her face shifted, like she felt guilty, and the pale girl nodded in response.

           " Can we try to do it again? " Lottie asked, and a long silence followed. Theo didn't know how good of an idea that was, but when she and Lottie made eye contact, she felt the uncertainty push back in her mind.

             Theo didn't say anything, she just averted her eyes to the floor so she could think clearer. She looked over her hands, balling them up. The worst that happens is she gets another vision, which she knows isn't real, no matter how real it feels. Or something worse happens that she couldn't even think of. When she looked back up, Lottie had taken another, hesitant step near her, her big brown eyes watching Theo warily.

             The shorter girl closed the rest of the distance, holding her hands out to Lottie. She didn't know if she was proving it to her, or trying to convince herself that they were real, and that they were actually connected to Lottie. She didn't know what to do with that conclusion if it was true, it really only opened more questions than she already had.

             Lottie glanced over her face once more, then lowered one of her hands to hover over Theo's. She carefully slipped one of her fingers under the other girl's glove, pulling it off and slowly lacing their hands together. Theo barely had time to take a breath before her vision distorted with a bright white flash.

            It was dark in an instant, but she could still make out the outlines of tall, thin trees with spindly limbs branching out from their bodies. It looked like a hazardous spiderweb against the pitch black sky, or a sharp dome, keeping whatever was under it inside. All she heard was white noise at first, until the sounds of animalistic growling and barking filled her ears, and a sudden, ear splitting screaming.

             She couldn't cover her ears, her arms felt pinned to her sides, and it was then that she realized she was on the ground. The screaming was coming from her, but it didn't sound like her, it didn't feel like her. Finally, she realized that the growling was coming from above her when she felt something wet fall onto her face. The face of a wolf lifted into her vision, sharp canines bared and drool flooding its mouth, but there was something else. It was warm, and darker than the saliva.

             Blood, it was blood. The sudden burning she felt erupted like an explosion of pain, and she could move, like she'd become aware of her own body again, regaining movement. A hand shakily raised despite the wolf presumably dropping its head back down to tear into her body, and she saw the glistening blood pour down the valleys between her fingers. But it wasn't her hand, not the thin, slender ones, the middle finger didn't have a bump on it, making it crooked from years of pushing too hard with her pencils.

             They were bigger, palm covered in calluses, and freckles scattered along the back of the hand.

             " Theo, Theo, stop, I'm here, okay? " Lottie'a voice sounded underwater, but she recognized it at an instant. When Theo's vision came back, she was staring at the other girl, lungs burning and heaving, trying to get us much oxygen as she could. They were knelt on the floor then, the moon glaring down on them through the window. She kept a hold on her forearms, her nails digging into Lottie's sleeves, holding her head between them as she caught her breath.

            Lottie held onto her silently, wondering what she was seeing while she had been watching Theo. The girl's eyes had glazed over, a milky white replacing sharp blue irises, and it was as if she'd stopped breathing for the duration of the vision. When it seemed like Theo was able to get her breath back, she simply said, " I believe you. "

            " I hope so. " Theo panted, lifting her head to look up at Lottie through her bangs before she actually straightened back up. The scream was still ringing in her ears, though it was muffled and distant now, enough that she could ignore it. She expected Lottie to say more than that; if she was really possessed that night, maybe she'd have some sort of insight, but she looked as if she didn't have any questions about it, like she already knew it was true and just wanted to confirm.

           " It was wolves, I think, this time.. " Theo trailed off, unsure. When she came out of the vision, it seemed like the details blurred and faded, making it hard to recall much other than general memories. Still, though, Lottie didn't seem like she needed to know what it was. There was no way she already knew, right? Or maybe she had the visions too? Theo tried to remember out loud though, if anything it might help her, " It wasn't me, though, I don't— "

          " I think..something has been out here with us. I don't know what it is, but it has to be connected, to what's been going on with me, and with you. " Lottie cut her off, swallowing down her words as she looked between Theo's eyes, drifting lower down her face, and back into her eyes. " Like it's connecting us. "

          Theo's heart was already racing, and it wasn't going to calm anytime soon. Her hands slipped from Lottie's forearms, dropping to sit on her legs instead as she suddenly felt the other girl's breath on her face. The inches between them miraculously got shorter, whether from Lottie or Theo, the latter didn't know, but she was the one that leaned forward to kiss her.

          It was nothing more than an innocent peck, short and soft despite lips chapped from the cooling air, and when she inched back from her, Theo's face grew redder, and it couldn't as easily be passed off on the cold. Unexpectedly, she had seen a short flash of what she imagined was a vision, but the contact was so short that it was more like blinking.

         Lottie's face was unreadable, at least to Theo, who practically held her breath, pressing her teeth against her lip as she waited for a real reaction. Though, all Lottie did was raise one of her hands, slowly, bringing it to the side of Theo's face with a look like she was asking for permission; to touch her, to kiss her back, or to put her into another vision, all potential options. But Theo didn't care which it was.

         Her thumb gently brushed her cheek, and their lips touched again, quick enough for Theo to still feel it before another vision tried to pass through. Maybe Theo's head couldn't focus on two things at once, and her subconscious prioritized kissing Lottie Matthews over whatever imagery was trying to force its way in. The occasional flash would come into her vision, but it would quickly be replaced with Lottie's face, her hair, her lips.

           Theo would have to tell Alex that her advice to stay away from Lottie seriously sucked ass.

xxx.

4,841 words.

hi 🫨
after however many months of ghosting, I return. this feels very filler but meh. also yes the wilderness is trying to ship theolottie/lottheo(??)

as always, any comments, feedback, questions are appreciated, and thanks to anyone still interested in this after a few months of no new content, I'll try to be a bit more motivated in posting

until then,
lauryn