HEARING DAMAGE
ADULT NOLA - CHAPTER FORTY-THREE !

THE NIGHT WAS CALM. Annie had long since retired to her room, having been far too exhausted once her daily task of cooking for everyone had been complete. Her first course of action was to relax which is exactly why the woman found herself lounging on her bed, lazily staring at the pages of her book. Though she was looking, she wasn't really taking in the words, something she'd regret later on but in that moment she didn't really care. She just didn't want to go to bed too early and risk waking up earlier than necessary in the morning. All in all, the night was calm. That is until there a sharp, sudden rap of knuckles against the outside of her door.

          Her brows instantly furrowed from confusion as her lips parted to gasp in surprise. Her eyes darted towards the door right away as she called out, "Come in?" Before she'd even uttered the sentence fully, the door had burst open revealing a heavy breathing Lisa. This caused Annie to quickly sit up. "Lisa, are you okay? What's wrong?"

           Lisa speedily slid into the room, peering out for just a second to make sure no one was around before shutting the door behind her. Once she turned on her heel and faced Annie, she began to divulge. "There's something strange going on. Like it's really weird."

           Annie couldn't help but look at the young girl strangely. She truly had no clue what Lisa was talking about or what had gotten her so panicked. "What do you mean?"

           "It's those people that showed up to see Charlotte. I saw them all talking to one another. They were like, whispering and shit. I don't trust them." Lisa explained with a sigh. Her hands had wrapped around her body as if a chill had gone down her spine, leaving her feeling uneasy and on edge.

           The March woman peered worryingly up at the girl before her. She well and truly looked afraid and that upset Annie, who had come to see Lisa as a close friend and little sister figure. She didn't wish to ever see her frightened. Wanting to perhaps calm the young girl, Annie tried her best to appear neutral. "They are a little odd, I'll admit but Charlotte seems okay with them being here so we probably have no reason to worry."

           She hoped that her casual tone when regarding the group that had arrived to see Charlotte might lessen the fear that had become marred across Lisa's face. That didn't work however as instead Lisa just began to look more upset.

            With eyes wide and her voice lowered to a whisper, Lisa explained, "I saw them holding knives while walking into the woods with Charlotte." That certainly had Annie on the edge of her seat. She hadn't been expecting the topic of knives as weapons when she returned to her room that evening.

           Lisa continued, "What if they hurt her? You heard Natalie. She thinks Charlotte is crazy. What's to stop them all thinking the same and trying to hurt her?"

            That was true. Natalie certainly hadn't shied away from slating Charlotte a lunatic from the moment she arrived to Camp Green Pine. Out of nowhere, Annie suddenly asked, "What if we go out and look for them?"

           She wasn't sure what possessed her to even ask this. She didn't want to go out and confront a potential dangerous group of people who by Lisa's word, had knives whether they were intended as weapons or not.

             Lisa nodded right away. "I'd feel much safer knowing we have a weapon of our own." She honestly uttered. She then shrugged her shoulders before pointing out, "We still have the shotgun Natalie was going to use to kill herself. We could use that."

            "Sure, if it makes you feel better." Annie comfortingly smiled the young girls way. Though just as the two began making for the door, she rushed to get out one final stipulation. "But...let's refrain from using it unless unnecessary, okay?"

            The shotgun came into their possession as soon as they could. With the weapon now held tightly in Lisa's grip, the two women headed for the woods, following along in the last place Lisa had seen the grip before they had disappeared into the trees. They looked for longer than either cared to admit and just when they were ready to admit defeat, there was a sudden, ear piercing gunshot blast that echoed through the still woods. Gasps of terror filled the air as both Annie and Lisa's head darted to face the direction the shot had rung out from.

            Before Annie could even suggest heading back and maybe calling the police instead of confronting the group themselves, Lisa wordlessly trudged forward, the young woman unwilling to let Charlotte roam the woods for even a second longer than necessary. Reluctantly, Annie followed behind her, keeping her gaze sharp as she glanced around for any sudden movements around them.

            As they moved closer and closer, suddenly the faint sound of a voice uttering, "You were always its favourite." broke through the sound of crickets in the night.

           Knowing they were right there, Lisa hurried forward with Annie hot on her heel. They arrived just in time to see Natalie with a knife in her hand held high in the air. "Why can't you ever stop?" She snapped angrily down at Charlotte who sat weakly on the ground.

"Don't move!" Lisa screamed, her voice echoing in the air as she advanced forward, the gun aimed directly at Natalie causing the woman to halt in place. "What did you do to her?"

Natalie glanced her way. A sadness seemed to fill her eyes at the sight of the young woman before her. "I told you to leave."

The sound of despair in Natalie's voice did little to calm Lisa, who shakily held the shotgun, keeping it aimed at Natalie as the woman slowly stepped towards herself and Annie. "What is she talking about? You killed people? Tell me!" Lisa sharply demanded.

She was forced to swallow back her emotions at the feeling of betrayal that coursed her veins. Her bottom lip still managed a quiver as she then asked, "Have you just been lying this whole time?"

"No, no, I—"

Natalie's feeble attempt to explain things away was swiftly cut off by yet again yell from Lisa. "Answer me!"

With the knife in one hand, Natalie held out the other to try and calm down the young girl. "Lisa, please. You need to just go." Natalie desperately pleaded while stepping further towards Lisa.

Right away, Lisa shook her head. She wasn't going to just walk away, not when Charlotte sat injured on the forest floor. "No, you need to drop the knife. Drop the knife, now!"

Perhaps knowing that there was no other way forward, Natalie reluctantly conceded. Her hand shook slightly as she released her grip and tossed the bladed weapon to the leaves. Just as the metal touched the dirt, there was a rush of panic that choked the air around them all. At once, Misty appeared from the side, aggressively running at Lisa.

"Misty, stop!" Someone cried out.

Without a second thought and with fearful eyes, Natalie's ran forward to try and cut the blonde off. She yelled out, "Lisa, move!" as she pushed the young woman away and blocked her from being attacked.

The syringe and needle in Misty's hand slammed with a thud against Natalie's shoulder causing everyone to harshly gasp. Realising what she had done, Misty ripped out the needle. Panicked sobs of 'no' left her lips as Natalie's body began to grow limp in her hold.

It felt like Annie's heart was going to burst inside her chest. She didn't want to believing what she was seeing was real. Despite her desire to run, to follow after Lisa who had vanished off into the trees, she found her feet glued to the ground, forced to watch on as the woman she'd come to know crumbled to the floor.

Just as sudden as the needle pierced Natalie's skin, a thunderous clanging filled Annie's ears. With each clang, a new image appeared in her mind.

Clang, her childhood. Clang, the face of a doe eyed girl peering over at her. Clang, a plane crashing. Clang, the desperate screams as she stared numbly at someone she clearly cared for frozen and covered in snow. Clang, a ravenous feasting of human flesh. Clang, a younger Charlotte being pummelled within an inch of her life. Clang, tattered playing cards to decide their fate. Clang, a young boy falling through shattered ice then being carved up. Clang, every harrowing, gut wrenching horror that had occurred in her past.

Everything had come back to her, all at once and in that moment, Nola wished she'd never remembered a thing. Never before had she wanted to live in ignorant bliss, not until this very moment.

Nola sat there numbly. Her head pounded so badly as she stared down at Natalie and Misty on the ground, listening on as Taissa worriedly asked, "What do we do?"

Misty snivelled. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman in her arms as she choked out an answer. "Nothing." She sobbed. Tears continued to stream down her face as she brokenly met Natalie's eyes. "It's too late."

            Lottie's eyes darted back and forth between Natalie and the March woman. How could she possibly explain all of this to her when she didn't remember anything? How could they get her to go along with whatever story had to be cooked up. "Annie—"

           She was silenced by the intensity of Nola's stare which became locked upon her. "I remember, Lottie." She quietly uttered. She couldn't bring herself to speak up, couldn't muster up the strength. "I remember it all."

          At the same time, Misty continued to hold onto the fading Scatorccio woman, rocking her back and forth as her eyes slowly slipped closed for the final time. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Whimpered Misty. She'd killed her best friend.

           Nola couldn't blink back the tears that stung at her eyes. They rushed like a waterfall down her cheeks as all the love, all the hate and jealousy she once felt for Natalie came rushing back, filling her up and overwhelming her. Her heart broke. It ached so violently in her chest, shattering piece by piece as she bore witness to the last bit of life in Natalie's eyes flicker away.

           The gentle sounds of crying echoed throughout the woods. Nobody moved a muscle, no one could utter a single word that didn't get overtaken by choked tears. Sooner than expected, their cries became dampened by the faint sound of sirens ringing out in the distance. It grew louder and louder, getting closer and closer until Lisa came running back by both police officers and paramedics by her side.

          One-by-one they all wandered behind the paramedics who began rushing Natalie's body back towards the ambulance, unaware that it was futile. Many of the Camp Green Pine residents had gathered, watching on in worry.

          Nola remained lingering at the back unable to bring herself to approach the rest of the women. She couldn't stomach it. She didn't want to look them in the eye. If they had all stayed away, everything would have been fine. Natalie would still be alive. Lottie wouldn't be getting shipped off to a mental institution and Nola would have remained totally oblivious to her rabid past.

          It seemed like her face didn't express that opinion however, as the women soon appeared in front of her just as she was lowering herself to sit in the grass. They peered down at her curiously. This was Nola. Someone they hadn't seen in such a long time. Years and years had passed since her disappearance only for them to find out she was at Lottie's compound, was part of her 'cult' and had lost all memory of who she was.

          Nola couldn't look up at them. She chose to instead just stare down at the row of shoes before her as her shoulders fell. With a deep, heavy sigh, she quietly voiced the one question that kept running through her mind.

           "Why couldn't you all have just stayed away?"

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jamielee's thoughts
chapter forty three, not proofread
so yeah she got her memories back finally but she also hates that she has them again. having to watch Natalie dying again was genuinely so upsetting cause she had so much to live for and the fact it was called a drug overdose was so hurtful cause she did try so hard to get clean.

I'm publishing this now cause I'm nearly done with the last chapter. As soon as it's finished, it'll be up as well. anyway I hope you enjoyed :)