HEARING DAMAGE
ADULT NOLA - CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN !

"HOW'S YOUR HAND?" ANNIE worryingly asked as she observed the wounded look that was a fixture upon Lisa's face for the foreseeable future. The young girl cupped her injured hand to her body, her thumb running gently along the white bandage that was wrapped tightly around it.

The next day had come around fairly quick. News of the attack on Lisa had made the rounds through the camp. Blood had been pouring from her palm as she staggered her way to the infirmary the night prior.

"Hurts." Lisa lowly muttered while returning to her previous task of preparing the smoothie that had been requested by Charlotte.

          Annie nodded her head in understanding. "That makes sense." She breathed out as she too continued with her tasks. Yet again, Charlotte had asked that Annie prepare a meal for the newcomer and so she had been busily cooking. A pensive look flashed across her face. "That woman, Natalie? She did it, right?"

            She looked away from the stove for a brief moment to glance over at the injured girl, who just mutely nodded her head. Annie sadly sighed for the girl. "I'm sorry, Lisa. I can make you something if that would make you feel better?" The March woman then suggested with a bright smile.

          The small of smiles broke up Lisa's lips at Annie's attempt to cheer her up. "No, it's okay, Annie. I better just get this to Charlotte." She stated while holding up the now completed smoothie. "Thank you, though."

          Lisa then sent the older woman a quick smile before dashing out of the kitchen and making her way towards the walking paths in search of Charlotte. She found the woman quickly enough, walking side by side with Lisa's attacker. Whirl making her way closer to the pair, she couldn't help but hear part of their conversation.

Natalie was somewhat snarling at the camps leader. "She's been here all this time? What the fuck, Lottie?"

Lisa wondered who they were talking about. It was clear the two women knew one another so were they discussing someone from their past? She knew everyone at the camp and no one seemed closer to Charlotte than the rest. Not wanting to dwell on the topic anymore longer, Lisa just shook her head lightly before stepping alongside Charlotte and offering up the smoothie.

Charlotte accepted the smoothie with a grateful smile though it quickly disappeared from her lips. "I smell butterscotch. Did you—did you put maca root in here?" The woman questioned, just barely hiding her annoyance. A false looking smile then tugged at her lips. "Hmm. I asked for ashwagandha. I want my focus increased, not my libido."

Lisa immediately began to stutter. "I-I'm sorry Charlotte. I must have mixed it up when I was talking with Annie. I can go down and make you another one."

Almost instantly, at the mention of Annie, Lisa clocked the shared look between the two women. Could it have been Annie they had been talking about? Was she the woman Natalie seemed annoyed at having been at Camp Green Pine all this time?

Charlotte nodded. "It's all right. I'll drink it." Her hand that held the cup retracted to her body and slowly raised up to her mouth. As she prepared to take a sip, she then humorously joked. "I mean, it can't hurt, right?"

As Lisa smiled in appreciation for Charlotte's understanding, her attention was pulled away by the low voice of Natalie. "Sorry about your hand."

Lisa refused to acknowledge her apology and instead just monotonously stated, "Your food should be ready." Before walking away from the pair and leaving them to finish their conversation.

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           THE SOUND OF THE large door to the kitchen being pushed open should have been enough to capture her attention but with her mind focused on other things, the March woman had remained oblivious to the approaching black haired figure as she sauntered through the kitchen as though she'd not a care in the world.

            "This for me then?" Drawled out the woman as she gestured towards the plate of food.

            "Christ!" Annie suddenly cried out as she whipped herself around and laid eyes upon the person who had scared the living daylights out of her. There stood the woman from last night, the woman who had stabbed Lisa and hit one of the others.

            Annie's hand flew to her chest, pressing tightly to the fabric that rested atop her flesh. Her heart pounded wildly within her body. A nervous, awkward and breathy chuckle emerged from the woman as she nodded her head. "You scared me. Yes, it is."

            Natalie raised a brow. She observed the food that sat upon the plate. "Have you been the one making all of my food? You know, picking and choosing each and every little morsel of food that went on the plate?" Her words seemed inquisitive though her voice appeared accusatory. Almost as if she didn't believe that Annie had chosen the food which confused the woman greatly.

           So far, every single item of food she'd been given while at Camp Green Pine had given her such a serious sense of nostalgia. They'd all been things she'd enjoyed while as a young girl, many from before the crash and subsequent year and a half lost and starving in the Canadian Wilderness.

          When she'd eyed the little trinket that hung around Lisa's neck, the one baring the very symbol that had haunted her past and burdened her future, Natalie had been right in assuming Lottie had been involved. That Lottie had been the one choosing the food she ate, almost like some twisted way of reminding her of when her life wasn't so fucked up. Though never in her wildest dreams would she have suspected Nola—sorry, Annie, had been the one pulling the strings on the food she ate.

            But here she stood, clad in her 'heliotrope' coloured outfit, which was very clearly a uniform since this place was most definitely a cult, and donning the very same necklace though now totally unaware of the history, the blood, the sacrifice and savagery that surrounded it.

            The March woman just nodded her head, albeit slowly and confused. "I chose the ingredients, yeah." She felt dumb with her reply but what was this woman expecting from her?

            She quickly returned to fulfilling her duties, looking away from the newest arrival without a second thought. In a time that she should be been able to be lost in her own thoughts was instead infiltrated by the raising of a temper. It took Annie no more than a minute to realise that there had been no retreating footsteps, no clatter of cutlery against the plate. No, Natalie had never left and was in fact still standing in the same spot, her eyes glued to the back of Annie's head.

           Annie sucked on her teeth for just a second before plastering on a faux smile, spinning on her heel and asking ever so sweetly, "Can I help you with something?"

            "Lottie, she uh—" Natalie began, her eyes squinting as her gestured broadly to the door as if Lottie was currently stood there. She looked as though her head hurt. Like she was trying to figure something out. "She said your name was Annie?"

           There was a nod of agreement at her question. "That's right. Wasn't always, of course but it is now." The March woman then admitted. Every time the topic of her unknown past was broached, Annie quickly found herself feeling melancholy.

           "What's that mean?"

            Annie shrugged her shoulders. As she began to tidy up the kitchen, now hearing the scraps of silverware as Natalie finally began to eat, she explained. "Well, my entire life before becoming Annie is a mystery to me." The soapy sponge she held in her grip was clutched tightly now. "It's like that part of my memories is just bathed in shadow. Hidden in the dark."

            Sounds nice, Natalie internally mused. Getting to wipe away your past like that, not having to carry the burden that was the mind-numbing consequences of your actions.

            The Scatorccio woman sighed. She proceeded to scoop up another bite, bring it halfway to her mouth before pausing and uttering, "Maybe you're better off not remembering. If I could block out my past, I'd have done it a long time ago."

          She meant this. Not haven to go about your day remembering the shittiest part so of your life sounded like a dream. She wondered what would have happened to her, how her life would have turned out if she'd been the one to enter a dissociative fugue. 

Annie didn't agree.

Her bottom lip wobbled a bit as her head shook sadly. "I'd give anything to remember what I've forgotten. My name, my family, friends. If I ever loved anyone. Living without the past isn't the freedom people expect it to be."

Natalie stood motionless for a moment. She looked ready to argue, perhaps attempt to convince Annie of the otherwise, but when she clocked the rush of emotion that attacked the brunettes body, she chose to keep her mouth shut, save for the few mouthfuls of food she enjoyed in silence.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter twenty seven. not proofread.
there's a little bit more information regarding nola and her memory loss. I hope that I'm portraying Natalie correctly, please let me know if I'm not. also the adult chapters will eventually get longer once misty arrives. anyway i hoped you enjoyed :)