HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER FOURTEEN !

THE HEAVIEST OF SIGHS had tumbled past her lips as her body had been totally enveloped by the freezing cold temperatures of the lake. The water had washed over her warm, sweat-coated skin, soaking her clothes and sticking them to her body. She wasn't sure what had driven her to enter the lake fully clothed though as she waded further out in the large body of water, Nola found herself not caring.

Quickly she learned that as her body submerged beneath the waters, all of her senses filled significantly. All she saw in front of her was a blurry depth of darkness while her hearing had faded out, turning from a cacophony of sounds into nothing but a muffled silence. It was calm, peaceful. She was provided with a moment's reprieve from that shitty, all looming voice that was a constant in her ears and from the thoughts of betrayal that were etched into her brain.

Nola had stayed there, relishing in the silence that had been vacant from her life for oh so long until she could no more, until she needed to resurface and allow a breath of fresh oxygen to flow through to her lungs. Her body had floated atop the surface of the lake as the sun shone down.

            Only when the air grew colder and the sky began to darken did Nola reemerge from the lake, her clothes soaked through and clinging to her body and her bare feet scraping against the rocks. Her gaze had been downcast, eyes locked upon the ground with each step she took as she returned to the cabin.

            The faint sound of chatter reached her ears, growing louder the closer to the cabin she got. Her stomach had turned queasy at the thought of facing everyone, having to plaster on a fake smile and pretend that everything was okay when it just wasn't.

            The sound of Jackie's voice pulled the Rilke girl from her thoughts. "Hey, where've you been? You've—" Jackie fell silent as she took in the drenched appearance of her best friend. Confusion laced her words as she questioned, "Why are you all wet?"

            Nola just shrugged. "I was down by the lake."

            "And you fell in?" Jackie retorted jokingly. A small chuckle left her lips while she spoke, the girl totally oblivious to the sadness that swam around within Nola's hazel eyes.

            Nola returned the chuckle weakly as her head shook from side to side and water dripped from her hair and down her back. "No, I just felt like going for a swim. Needed to cool off, I guess." She simply responded as she moved to sit down on one of the logs.

The Taylor girl looked after her feeling quite perplexed by the odd feeling that resonated from Nola though her attention was soon captured by the joyous yell of Van as she exclaimed, "Oh my god, meat! Fuck yeah!"

The rest of the group quickly glanced up and smiles grew upon their lips. Travis and Natalie had been successful in their hunt for food. The two of them each holding on tight to long piece of wood that supported the weight of the now dead deer. Stomaches growled at the sight and mouths watered at the thought of chowing down on the cooked flesh later on that day.

As they moved closer to the cabin, eyes began to trail to the bloodied antlers of the deer. Van couldn't help but comment, "Whoa, that thing is gnarly." Her lips curled up in slight disgust.

Akilah couldn't help but agree as she stated, "It's like Freddy Krueger and Bambi had a baby." Not once did her eyes peel away from the crimson ichor that freely dripped to the forest floor.

"I'm not eating that." Javi felt grossed out by the sight before him. The dangling flesh that hung from the antlers was enough to put him off meat for life.

"Guys, relax." Coach Ben sighed as he hobbled closer, stopping just before the deer corpse. He was quick to explain,"Deers shed their antlers every season. This is normal."

Nola had remained seated throughout the entire thing, the girl unable to pull her eyes away, her eyes that swam with betrayal away from the ground. She couldn't bring herself to look up at Shauna who had arrived almost simultaneously with Natalie and Travis. No one here beside herself and Taissa knew what Shauna had been up to way off in the forest.

The heat of someone's gaze latched onto her burned the brunette. She could practically feel their eyes boring deep into her skull as though they were trying to read her mind.

Guilt wracked the body of Shauna Shipman. Never before, in her entire life, had she felt so horrible. No words could describe the disgust at herself she felt. She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to go through with the incredibly dangerous abortion method, one that would have likely left her internally bleeding. Now the proof of her guilt, of the betrayal and infidelity was growing within her womb, living and surviving off of every single thing that she consumed.

Her gaze upon Nola's wet figure was ripped away when Coach Scott inquired, "Shauna, do the honours?"

She weakly nodded her head as she moved to retrieve the blade from her backpack. Once she held it in her hand, she kneeled down next to the deer and began to slice open its belly, digging the sharp end of the blade into its flesh. The stomach came away with ease due to its softer tissue. Groans of horror and revulsion immediately followed as hundreds or even thousands of maggots swarmed the deer's insides, feasting upon its organs.

Jackie couldn't help but sarcastically quip, "That normal too, coach?" The way in which the man had been trying to minimise their worries by explaining things away was getting old to the girl. Things were going wrong, slowly but surely.

Stevie gagged behind her hand that she held up to cover her mouth and nose. "That's actually rancid." She said, her words coming out muffled.

"I'm not crazy." Lottie shakily uttered. She appeared quick fear-stricken as she sat on the ground, her eyes wide with fright.

"No, you have a gift." Laura Lee reassured her, reaching a hand out to gently rub along Lottie's shoulders. The blonde then turned to smile over at Nola. "You both do."

            Nola didn't want to hear this. She didn't want to hear that she had 'a gift' because that's most certainly not what she considered it. It was a burden, a heavy, horrible burden that seemed thrust upon her without her consent and before they had even crashed. It wasn't a gift, not in Nola's eyes.

"We cannot keep fucking doing this, you guys." Taissa passionately exclaimed, her eyes wide and pupils dilated. Her voice crawled up her throat as she continued, the girl now yelling. "What happens when winter gets here? We fucking starve to death or freeze?"

The slight breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves. The wooden logs that sat upon crackled beneath their weight. These were the only sounds that could be heard as everyone remained totally silent, not one of them daring to utter a word in disagreement. Taissa was right, after all. Things would only get harder, the closer to winter they got. With each passing day that saw no rescue, hope was seeping from them all and being replaced by pessimism. Only no one wished to discuss their true feelings, instead they all wished to remain ignorant and carry on believing they would be saved.

The Turner girl let out a harsh sigh. "We can't count on getting rescued anymore. All of us know that is not gonna happen. We have to save us." She sharply said, her gaze now morphed into a hard stare. "That's why I'm gonna go find help. I'm leaving in the morning, come with me if you want to get out of this fucking hellhole."

            And with that Taissa stuttered away back into the cabin, the heavy stomps of her feet colliding with the wooden floorboards, echoing through the silence that was left in her wake.

A thick tension lingered in the atmosphere for the remainder of the day. Not many words were exchanged amongst the group as they consumed the few berries that had been foraged, their stomaches still rumbling from hunger, before they all wordlessly began to prepare to sleep.

           Nola refused to glance Shauna's way, who had noticed the absence of Nola's sleeping supplies up the attic but refused to question it. She chose to spend the entire evening constantly in conversation with just about anyone but the Shipman girl. When the time to sleep came, a now completely dry Nola changed and set up her pillow and blanket while Jackie changed.

            As the brunette began to relax back into her pillow, the sound of Jackie's approaching footsteps caused her to glance up. The Taylor girls face was contorted in confusion as she questioned, "Why are you back down here? You finally fed up with Shauna's snoring?"

            Nola just shook her head. She didn't want to discuss it for fear of breaking out into broken sobs. "No." She lied with a small shrug. She then tried to ease away any further questions with humour. "The attic just made me uncomfortable, that's all. Besides aren't you glad you have me by your side again?"

            "You do stay pretty warm at night. I guess you're not the worst to have around." Jackie jokingly admitted as she nestled into her pillow. She pretended to think deeply for a moment before letting out a feigned sigh of annoyance. "Fine, you can stay."

            Nola couldn't hold back the amused chuckle that bubbled up her throat and past her lips. "Bite me. You'd probably freeze to death without me."

Jackie shifted around until she was laying facing her best friend. As she tucked her hand under her head, wedging it between her pillow and her cheek, she grinned over at Nola. "Maybe I'd rather freeze to death, did you ever think of that?"

"As if." The brunette replied, her lips tugged into a simpering smile. "You love me too much to mean that."

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"TAI, EVERYONE THINKS THIS is a bad idea." Van protested to the Turner girl the next day. Taissa had stuck with her plan of leaving and hiking until she found help for herself and the rest of the group. Nearly everyone was putting stock in the idea that her plan was stupid.

For one thing, she may end up choosing a direction that would bring her further into the forest and further away from help. She also didn't know what was out there. So far they had only seen deer but perhaps the rest of the woods had much more dangerous animals lurking, ready to attack. No amount of strength and willpower would save her if the animal truly wanted her dead. Taissa didn't care though. She was determined to see her plan through.

Taissa dug her heels into the dirt as she folded her arms across her chest and stared down at the group, her gaze full of determination. "Well, we have to do something. We're starving, there's nothing to hunt."

"The animals might be migrating." Misty posited with a frown.

Tai nodded her head in agreement. "That's probably why the only game we've seen for weeks was the one sick deer. And it's just gonna keep getting colder and not 'I better put on a coat' cold." She uttered. Her voice then turned gravely serious as she verbalised the life or death severity of their situation. "We're talking 'dying feels like falling asleep' cold."

Laura Lee raised her gaze from the spot on the ground that she had been staring intently at to glance over at Lottie. Softly she questioned, "What do you think, Lottie?"

Lottie slowly lifted her head, the girl now feeling the heat of many eyes upon her. Her head shook slightly as she mumbled out, "I don't know." She then returned to resting her chin upon her knees that she clutched her body.

Everyone began to discuss the plan once again, weighing up the pros and cons. Stevie however turned her head to peer over at the girl "What do you think?" Stevie quietly said as she gently nudged Nola.

The Rilke girl was quick to side eye the brunette sat next to her. "What do you mean?" She asked. Of course Nola knew what Stevie meant. Stevie had been the only one to heed all of her warnings but now it seemed that she looked to Nola for guidance.

            "About whether to go or not. I trust your judgement."

           "You shouldn't."

            Nola's reply caused a chuckle to roll from Stevie's tongue and her lips to tug into an amused grin. "Well, I do. So what do you think?"

           Thankfully for Nola, before she could muster up a response, Taissa raised the volume of her voice and cut their conversation short. "Look, guys, anyone who wants to come with me is welcome, but I'm going."

            "You're gonna want to take stuff with you, right? Like food and supplies?" Akilah's brows furrowed as she glanced around at the faces of the girls who looked her way. She turned back to stare at Taissa as she admitted, That's not up to you."

           Shauna sighed. "Well, you can't just send her out there with nothing."

            "This is insane. We don't know where we are, just that we're surrounded by big ass mountains." Van passionately exclaimed as she took in the conversation before her. She couldn't believe people were actually entertaining the idea of Taissa going on into the forest.

            The redhead narrowed her eyes into a slight glare aimed at Taissa. "What are you now? Edmund fucking Hillary?"

            Confusion washed over the features of Mari's face at the random name drop from the Palmer girl. "Who?"

            Taissa released a heavy sigh that caused her shoulders to droop considerably. "Like I said, we're not on an island. If we go south, we've got to run into something eventually. A road. A town, anything." She listed off all of the potential things she could possibly run into that would lead her to salvation.

            A shake of bleached hair from Natalie caused the group to look over at her as she uttered, "No, you can't take the rifle. I'm all for what you're trying to do, Tai, but the gun has to stay."

            Taissa looked slightly dejected but she understood. "Okay, fine. I could bring some of the stuff we don't use every day." She suggested. "One of the axes, the compass."

            Jackie chose to speak up. "There's a flare gun in the dead guy's plane." Her hand weakly gestured in the direction that the plane still sat covered in overgrown branches and piles of leaves.

            A scoff of disbelief escaped from Van as she stared wide eyed up at the blonde. "Do not tell me that you, of all people, are on board with this."

            Jackie's shoulders shrugged. "What she's saying makes sense. I mean, if she's willing to go, then..." her voice slowly trailed off, going quiet.

            "What if you're wrong?" Laura Lee questioned the Turner girl. "What if there's just nothing?"

            "I don't know." Was all that Taissa said in response. This was a lie, of course. She knew. They all knew.

            Lottie was quick to reply. "You do know."

            The Turner girl swallowed back the lump that began to form in her throat. Fear flooded her veins for the briefest of moments. "Yeah. If I'm wrong, I'll die out there."

            There was a beat of silence. No one dared to speak as the gravity of the situation truly sunk in for them all. After a moment, Taissa spoke up again, her voice once again filled with determination. "I'm leaving in an hour."

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter fourteen. not proofread.
sorry this took so long, I've just had serious writers block. season one is nearly over then i will begin writing season two and introduce adult Nola. I hope you enjoyed :)