HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER TWENTY !

            WEEKS HAD PASSED SINCE the untimely and tragic passing of Laura Lee, who had left them in a fiery blaze. Everyone had been understandably low spirited. Food was growing increasingly sparse. Neither Natalie nor Travis were proving successful in the hunting aspect of being stranded in the woods, leaving them to scavenge and feast upon the creepy crawlies that were buried beneath the earth.

            Everyone was gathered inside the cabin, clutching onto their own little bowl of fried worms that had been procured and cooked up by Akilah and Shauna. Noses were turned up in disgust at the idea of eating something they never would have considered chowing down on before. The fried skin of the worms crunched between their teeth while its softer insides oozed out and lingered upon their taste buds.

            It was quite gross but at least it was food and thanks to Akilah and her Girl Scouts knowledge, they knew that eating the little critters would provide them with some much needed protein.

            Shauna had settled down onto the floor, her own bowl in her hands as she readied herself to eat the crispy worms when she noticed that Jackie had yet to touch hers. "Jack, you have to eat."

            Jackie sighed. She glanced up at the brunette while breathing out, "Why? What does it matter at this point?"

            She was just done with the whole thing. She couldn't stand doing all of this shit. Eating bugs so they could survive? And for how long? Would they ever even be rescued?

            The rattling of Mari's bowl as it was practically thrown to the floor caused them all to look at the girl as she rose to her feet, exclaiming, "Okay, I can't do this anymore." She headed to the pantry and brought out a jar was filled to the brim with a dark purple liquid.

            "What is that?" Coach Ben questioned the girl, the man curiously peering at the jar as Mari kneeled to the floor and began to unscrew the lid.

             "It was some berries I was trying to save but I think it turned to booze." She responded with a shrug. She continued to twist off the top while saying, "I don't know about the rest of you but I could use a drink."

             Taissa's brows furrowed. "Do we think it's safe?"

             The only adult in the room allowed an almost amused smile to paint upon his lips as he honestly responded, "Do we care?"

            "I have a few more." Mari informed the group, all of them looked intrigued at the prospect of drinking alcohol even if it was simply fermented berries.

            A small smile twisted upon Jackie's lips as she was hit with an idea. She then stated, "If we have booze, let's have a party." This could be a good way to raise morale, get everyone out of their slump.

            Taissa rolled her eyes at this. "Yeah, cause we've got so much to celebrate." The girl sarcastically quipped with a sigh, allowing her gaze to briefly drift back to Van, who had been avoiding them all ever since she'd been attacked.

            Jackie glanced over at her. "Do we need a reason? We're gonna be dead in a few weeks." Perhaps she was wrong for uttering her words in a tone so cavalier but it was true. They were getting weaker, food was becoming increasingly hard to find. Sooner or later they would all die of starvation.

             "There's a full moon tomorrow night." Misty spoke up. Partying into the night and having the full moon light up your surroundings sounded pretty fucking awesome.

              Akilah then added, "And it's almost homecoming."

             "We packed dresses, right?" Lottie then brought up, reminding the girls of their dresses that until this moment, they hadn't gotten a chance to wear. The smallest smile appeared on Lottie's lips. "For the awards dinner?"

            The Taylor girl lifted up her hand and gestured in Lottie's direction. "There we go. We have dresses, we have booze. We can decorate. Have a sort of, moon homecoming."

            "More like a doom homecoming." Taissa jokingly uttered. The sound of rustling behind her caused the girl to turn her head in time to watch as Van stomped away towards the attic.

            "A Doomcoming." Lottie gravely stated with a raise of her eyebrows. It was a party to celebrate their inevitable demise, after all.

             Natalie let out a hearty laugh at the wordplay. "Now that's a party idea." She said, chuckling lowly to herself as she pointed over at the Matthews girl.

            Perhaps it was the gross worm texture that lingered upon her tastebuds that left the girl desperate for some alcohol but Nola also couldn't help but quietly laugh as she spoke up. "Yeah, Doomcoming's got a nice ring to it." Laughter was woven within her words.

            Jackie stared over at her friend for a moment, someone that she'd barely spoken to in weeks apart from the odd relay of information from someone else or when she remembered the fun times they spent together and mentioned them to Nola before aj could stop herself, before nodding her head with a grin. "Alright, Doomcoming. Tomorrow night."

            She then looked around at the faces of her fellow survivors while her grin grew wider. "We'll drink rotten berries and celebrate our impending death."

            Once they had all ingested their portion of the worms, many of them got to work right away. This party, their doomcoming gave them all a sense of purpose, something to look forward to. For the greater part of the day, until the sun started to fade away and was replaced by the shadows of night, they spent every waking moment gathering up and decorating the cabin's exterior with flowers.

             Even later in the evening when they were still stuck scarfing down fried worms, they didn't mind as much as the idea of partying the next day kept their spirits high.

            Nola found herself comfortably sitting on the ground in front of the crackling fire, her body leaning against one of the chairs that was occupied by Lottie. Both girls were busying themselves with preparing their accessories for the festivities tomorrow.

            When her fingers got tired of weaving each wild flower together and around the small headband she'd made out of twigs, she let out a small sigh and glanced back at the Matthews girl, watching for a moment as the girl continued to create her headdress. It was beautifully fashioned together and consisted of a pair of deer antlers that held a cream coloured veil.

            "That's beautiful, Lot." She commented with a sweet smile aimed at the Matthews girl.

            Lottie returned the smile as she too looked away from her crown. "Thanks, so is yours." Her gaze fell to the intricately arranged crown of wild flowers in Nola's hands. "Flower crown, huh?"

           The Rilke girl nodded. "Yeah, I figured since we have so many different types here that we never had as kids, I might as well make them into a crown." A chuckle tumbled free from her lips as she began to mess about with the stems. "This honestly beats those shitty daisies I used to use."

            Both of the girls laughed together before returning to their respective crowns. After a few more minutes and a couple more additional flowers added, Nola was able to create the perfect crown, fitting for a queen.

           "Lottie?" She suddenly asked, turning back to look at the girl. When Lottie gave a hum of acknowledgement, Nola grinned at her and then proceeded to say, "Would you do me the honour of being my date to Doomcoming?"

            Lottie's shoulders fell as she exhaled deeply. She pretended to think on the suggestion for the briefest moment before her persona broke and a smile formed on her lips once again. "The honour's all mine."

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            "LET THE DOOMCOMING BEGIN." Lottie cheerfully announced the next day. The weather was perfect, the decorative flowers strewn around was perfect. Wooden torches were placed all around, the glow of the fire providing the perfect lighting that would serve them useful once the sun set for the day. And being on the tail end of autumn allowed the beautiful leaves of amber and mahogany to decorate the forest floor.

            All in all, the entire place looked absolutely beautiful. The atmosphere was amazing and spirits were high. Each and every one of them welcomed the vacancy of thoughts pertaining to their impending doom from their minds, even if was just for the night.

            In pairs, everyone arrived under the arch that had been set up. They all had dressed up, kitted out in their fanciest clothing they had packed prior to the crash.

            When nearly everyone had gathered around together, that was when they were greeted by the appearance of Taissa and the recently allusive Van. Masks created by Taissa to lessen the embarrassment felt by the self conscious Palmer girl, were worn by the pair. Bright eyes and wide smiles were aimed towards the two. A brief pause that consisted of glancing around somewhat nervously was then followed up by Taissa grabbing hold of Van's face, yanking the girl towards her and attaching her lips to the redheads.

            "Woo hoo!" Cheered the onlookers. A celebratory round of applause resounded in the air as grins of pride for their two friends painted upon the faces of the group. The Turner girl couldn't help but giggle, a very un-Taissa thing to do, into the kiss, the sound of her laughter muffled.

            The Rilke girl found herself wearing an all too excited grin for her friends. She'd had her suspicions on the two back when they were just girls playing soccer together but to see with her own two eyes the love that Taissa and Van clearly had for one another left her elated.

            She greatly admired their courage though found herself feeling envious and a little sad. In the back of her mind, Nola wondered if perhaps she had been courageous enough to announce her relationship with Shauna, then maybe they wouldn't have ended the way they did. If Nola had been brave, would they still be together, would Shauna not have cheated?

            Before Nola could delve further into that thought however, her attention was grabbed by the sight of a hand extending towards her. Her gaze lifted to the face of Stevie McClane, the girl wearing minimal makeup though had gone crazy on fixing up her hair by creating a crown out of her own hair. She was holding out a bowl for the Rilke girl in one hand, one that smelled heavenly and had the unmistakable look of mushrooms floating around in it, and in the other held out a metal cup of the berry wine that Mari had created by accident.

            She accepted the offering with an appreciative smile then quickly began to slurp down the soup, enjoying every single gulp that trickled down the back of her throat. It appeared everyone was enjoying the meal as many had nearly finished their bowl and others were tipping it back to get every last drop.

            Just then, Lottie stepped toward the group. "Stop."

            Looks of confusion were sent the brunette's way as everyone turned to look at her, their brows all furrowing with perplexity. Van took the lead and inquired, "What's wrong?"

            Any excitement Lottie had before now had vanished from her face and it was instead replaced by a somber expression, one that left the group feeling worried. Finally, the Matthews girl spoke up, explaining to them all, "We should have a moment of silence for Laura Lee."

            A flash of the blonde appeared in many of their minds, each of them able to see her hopeful face that had smiled out at them from inside the plane just moments before it took off. Their moods grew sober in a split second. Their heads now hung low as the moment of silence for Laura Lee commenced.

            Taissa then held out her cup, raising it high in the air while sadly uttering, "To Laura Lee."

            The rest followed suit, each extending out their cup of berry wine in remembrance to the girl who had been taken from them far too soon. Murmurs of "Laura Lee." filled the air. Nola glanced around briefly at everyone else, watching what they did before she too then raised her cup to her lips and welcomed a sip of the purple liquid.

            Perhaps being the only one brave enough to approach the subject of returning the party to one of celebration, Natalie who stood clad in her leopard print dress and fishnet tights, smiled and questioned, "So, what now?"

            Jackie stepped forward with her own smile. "Now we just need a DJ to pump up the volume." She jokingly stately while raising her hands up and down as though she was pumping up the volume by hand. Her words garnered small bouts of laughter from the others.

            "What we need is a slow dance."

            Awkward, tight-lipped smiles were sent towards Misty as she so obviously uttered those words for Coach Ben's benefit. No one knew how to feel about how Misty was acting. The way she would stare up at the man, randomly gawk at him, hell sometimes her eyes looked as though they would bust out of her head in the shape of hearts. Still, pity for the Quigley girl did bloom within their chests as they watched how sadly she pined for a man very clearly uninterested in her.

            Slow and melodic hums from Lottie dragged their eyes away from Misty and turned their gaze towards her. She wore an impish looking smile, one that barely showed her teeth though still allowed the onlookers to observe the happiness she felt in that moment.

            Feeling bold and becoming slightly tipsy from the fermented berries she had ingested, the purple dress wearing Turner girl began to sing. "There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea." Her words were intercut with laughter which caused her voice to sound wobbly as it left her lips.

            Amused grins were aimed at the girl as she continued to sing though this time she faced her girlfriend, serenading the redhead who decided to join in on the somewhat butchered rendition of Seal's 'Kiss from a rose'. "You became the light on the dark side of me."

            As the two girls sang and provided laughter and entertainment for the rest, Jackie quickly grabbed Travis, tugged him out on the makeshift dancefloor, wrapped her arms around his neck before beginning to sway from side to side. From where she stood off at the side with Stevie, Nola allowed her attention to be captured by the sight of the blonde, rendering her effectively useless in the conversation she had been having with Stevie, who hadn't noticed Nola's lack of attention and had continued to tell the story of when she was a kid playing dress up with her cousin.

           With furrowed brows and a frown forming upon her gloss painted lips, Nola just couldn't rip away her gaze from her friend. If Jackie could even be considered that anymore. No matter how she looked at it, Jackie had been acting incredibly distant with everyone but especially her and Shauna. As though the two girls had done something to hurt her but if that was true, why hadn't she confronted either of them? And she couldn't have found out about the truth of Shauna's pregnancy otherwise she definitely would have confronted Shauna.

           And now she was suddenly interested in going after Travis despite never having expressed interest in him before. No matter how Nola looked at it, she just couldn't wrap her head around it.

           Her jaw had dropped, it practically hitting the floor when she watched Jackie all of a sudden leading Travis towards the woods but not before she looked back at Shauna with a prideful smirk. Right away, Nola began storming over towards her ex-girlfriend and altogether abandoning her conversation with Stevie. This would be the first time since Shauna shamefully admitted her betrayal that the pair would utter a word to one another.

           Shauna glanced up at the sound of footsteps approaching her and the disappointed look she wore faded away and was replaced by one of hope. She hoped that maybe Nola was going to talk to her, just like old times before...before everything she had done.

           Her hope too faded away once the Rilke girl grumbled out, "What the hell is she doing?" all the while gesturing towards the direction that Jackie had dragged Travis towards.

            "She's decided to not die a virgin." Shauna tiredly admitted with a sigh while shifting her gaze back to the cup of purple tinted berry wine in her hands. Her shoulders slumped with disappointment and sadness, because of course Nola didn't want to talk to her unless it was about Jackie.

            "Christ." The Rilke girl quietly breathed out. Her head slowly shook from side to side as the feeling of displeasure began to settle within her gut. She released a deep exhale while taking a seat on the log beside Shauna, who unknowingly began to smile ever so slightly. "She's unbelievable."

            The Shipman girl looked over at the girl who caused her heart to soar. She drank in the sight of Nola dressed so beautifully in her pretty little pink dress that sat so perfectly upon her body. Shauna swallowed nervously as her mouth grew dry. "You look really pretty." She then coyly complimented.

            Nola peered over at Shauna through the corner of her eye. She should have been annoyed at her attempt to be kind but couldn't find it in herself anymore. She wasn't angry with Shauna anymore. She couldn't bring herself to be.

    Her shoulder bumped into Shauna's in a comforting way as she smiled back and uttered, "Right back at ya."

"I'm sure you hate me." The Shipman girl sadly said, feeling sorry for herself despite knowing she didn't deserve to feel sorry for herself. Nola shook her head however and swiftly replied, "I could never hate you, Shauna. You'll always mean the world to me even if we're no longer together."

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BEFORE LONG, THE MOODS of everyone had shifted from ones of joyful celebration to ones of utter giddiness. Shrill, high pitched laughter at absolutely nothing filled the air and spaced out expressions became painted upon many faces.

Nola had long toppled over to the ground and had been laid out flat amongst the dirt. Twigs and soil had become imbedded within her hair and caked upon her exposed skin, not that she really cared. In that moment, none of them had any worries. Their heads were practically empty, void of all negativity that usually resided there. All thoughts of their impending doom seemed to vanish.

The contents of her cup had been drank up fast. The liquid had spilled past her lips and down the sides of her face, staining her pale skin a light hue of purple and causing it and her hands to become sticky. She found herself incredibly interested in the lines that traveled along her palms. Each one was acted as a little crevice for the berry wine to become wedge within.

"You look like a tree." Van suddenly excitedly told her girlfriend as she grinned from ear the ear. Her words caused both herself and Taissa to heartily laugh. "Like a really hot tree."

Still giggling, the Palmer girl turned her attention to the rest of the group, all of them in equal states of high. "Guys, doesn't Taissa look like a tree?"

Slowly everyone turned to look at the Turner girl. Misty lifted her gaze and landed her bleary eyes upon Taissa. Shauna ripped her attention away from the random piece of aeroplane that dangled from a branch. Nola rolled her body around on the forest floor until she was able to look at the girl.

"She kinda does." Akilah replied.

Mari widely smiled as she posited the idea, "Or does the trees look like Taissa?" While asking this, she began looking up at the trees that surrounded them, all of them slowly morphing to look like Taissa for a brief moment.

"I feel weird." Javi admitted as he lay on the ground, his body pressed up against a log as he stared up at the different coloured leaves above.

Lottie suddenly spoke up. "Shh. Do you feel that?"

Almost right away, without knowing what she truly meant, everyone, every single of them felt something. Almost like a pulse that ran through their body's, tickled at their skin and rushed blood to their brains.

Van nodded, the holding out her hands. "I think I do. Like energy coming up from the ground."

"Something's coming." The Matthews girl then said

A sound of pounding within her ears suddenly caused Nola to gasp and sit up. Dirt and stray twigs tumbled from her hair as she continued to listen. The thuds were rhythmic, like thick boots hitting the ground. "She's right." The Rilke girl stated as the corners of her lips tugged up into a smile. "I can hear it. It's stomping towards us."

Shauna suddenly clutched at her belly and exhaled sharply. Her actions grabbed Taissa's attention who glanced at her worriedly and asked, "What's wrong?"

Still protectively holding her stomach, The Shipman girl admitted, "It...it moved."

This caused Taissa to fall to her knees and pressed her ear up against Shauna's belly. The fabric of Shauna's blue dress scratched at her ear. You guys...something's happening."

"No, something's coming." Lottie matter of factly proclaimed. She stepped toward a hollow out tree stump with purpose before taking a knee and closing her eyes.

Everyone watched her, intrigued by her actions and all practically salivating for what she would say next. Slowly, her eyes reopened and with her crimson painted lips, she uttered, "We won't be hungry much longer."

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author's thoughts.
chapter twenty. not proofread.
writing people tripping out on mushrooms is so difficult lmao anyway i hope you enjoyed :) and big things are coming in the next chapter so look forward to that