HEARING DAMAGE
ADULT NOLA - CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX !

THE LOOK ON JEFF Sadecki's face when he had returned to the family mini van only to find his wife's ex girlfriend stood there next to his daughter and wife was absolutely priceless. Though she had managed to maintain her amusement at how taken aback he looked, Nola had been laughing up a storm inside her head. It got even better when Shauna had declared it safer for the 'whole family' if Nola tagged along with them on their little journey to escape from danger.

Nola had never considered Jeff particularly smart in any way and had always regarded him as nothing more than Jackie's idiot boyfriend that she would leave behind once high school was over and done with. Though he did inevitably beat her in winning over Shauna, (by the sheer power of being the closest to Jackie that Shauna could get without outright stealing her identity) even now she didn't really consider him. For anything.

He was just...there.

Deep down, way, way down inside, Nola knew her feelings for Shauna never faded. Those feelings had just become dormant when her memories were locked away, and though she had snapped and barked at Shauna to leave her alone, when all of her memories came back, so too did the feelings. She loved Shauna but this wasn't her Shauna. This was an imposter burrowed within Shauna's skin, living this false life of the doting housewife.

Shauna wasn't a housewife. She was a fighter. She was articulate and intelligent, beautiful and witty. This Shauna was the complete opposite. Her Shauna would never had settled for a boring life of making house and cooking meals. Her Shauna would have fought tooth and nail to keep Nola in her life. And although this Shauna claimed to want Nola around, this Shauna thought a few words and a smile would fix things. Her Shauna would have killed for her.

This Shauna wasn't hers.

Perhaps that was why Nola had no issue with seeking out Callie to confirm what Lottie had claimed.

            "Cal, why don't you go check out your room? You got to be exhausted." Jeff suggested to his daughter, the man rubbing tiredly at his eyes as he, his family and Nola shuffled into the room at the Jolly Hitcher Inn.

            "Yeah, sure." Callie huffed with a roll of the eyes. Her words dripped with sarcasm as they rolled from her tongue. "Why would I want to know more about being marked for death?"

            Once Callie ducked into the adjoining room, shutting the door behind her, Jeff tossed his carrier bag to the carpeted floor. "So...how bad is it? Was it like the stuff from the journals?" He quietly asked his wife, knowing that Callie might still be able to hear him.

            Nola suddenly looked visibly thrown. "You've read those?" She asked in utter disbelief. She stared over at the Sadecki man for a moment, her lips twisted into a pissed off smirk at the sheer hilarity of what she was hearing, then her eyes flickered over to Shauna. "You let him read them?"

            Shauna just shrugged. "What?"

            This nonchalant attitude from the woman caused Nola to let out a sound that was a mix between a scoff and a chuckle. "It's just funny. I was never allowed to even go near them, let alone read them but Sadecki over here—" she gestured over at the man with the stupid expression on his face, "gets to?"

            For a moment, there was quiet. Shauna appeared to take her words seriously, even Jeff seemed shocked that Nola hadn't been able to read the journal despite her name appearing more times than he would have liked when he read them. Shauna remembered keeping the journals hidden away, even while they were out there, Nola hadn't been allowed to read them. Of course, Shauna hadn't given Jeff permission to read them. He had taken it upon himself to read them, to invade her privacy, when he had been in desperate need of blackmail material, but she also hadn't gotten all that mad when she found out.

            Finally, when it looked like she would offer up some form of an apology, Shauna turned away from Nola and faced her husband once again. "I don't know what's on the tape, Jeff." She replied with a frown. "I've had it for five minutes. I don't even know how to play the stupid thing."

           "I need...um, the truth." Jeff pleaded with his wife while his fingers pinched the top of his nose.

            "That is the truth, I-I swear." Neither Jeff nor Shauna looked like they actually believed what she was saying.

            Nola decided now was a good time to head out before the happy couple decided to delve deeper into their riveting marriage. "Well, while you two deal with this obvious rift in your marriage, I'm gonna go check out my room. Maybe get lost in the mini bar. Who knows?" She shrugged as she backed away to the hotel door, pulled it open then shut it behind her once she stepped out into the hallway.

The creak of her footsteps on the hallway floor was quickly matched with the rushed breathes of Callie Sadecki as the young girl ducked out of her hotel room, smartly using her own door instead of walking through the adjoining room. She moved with a quick pace, easily overtaking the Rilke woman. She fell motionless in the hallway, her arms now out flat and wide to prohibit Nola from passing her.

"Why are you here?" Callie questioned.

Nola was amused. She found the way in which Callie so desperately tried to stop her from slipping past her very funny. "Your mom invited me, Callie, remember?" She sarcastically quipped at the teenager.

Callie's brows furrowed at this response. "But why?"

All Nola could do was shrug. Not because she didn't know but because it certainly wasn't her place to speak with Callie on such things and also because she didn't really care. Callie wasn't her daughter, after all. Why would she tell Callie the truth when Shauna could struggle? That sounded much more satisfying.

"That's something you should be asking her, don't you think?" Callie's squared, defensive shoulders took a serious hit when she heard this. They crumbled with ease. Nola took this opportunity to bring up something near and dear to her heart. "You know about Lottie, right? What happened to her?"

The young Sadecki girl looked taken aback. She looked...nervous? Perhaps it was the lighting overhead that caused Callie to pull that face. She had no reason to be nervous, Nola thought.

"Y-yeah. It's really sad." Callie stuttered out, her arms rising up to fold tightly across her chest, the girl looked as though she was clutching something closely or barricading her chest lest her racing heart tear from her chest and escape.

Nola nodded solemnly. "It is. She was a really good friend of mine, you see. Her and I were so close even when I didn't remember anything about my past." A fond smile over her fallen friend graced her lips.

"She meant a lot to me." Nola continued. Slowly she would integrate the Wilderness into their conversation. She would begin with some light chatter, nothing too heavy. Best to ease the girl into it all. "And I know that you and her had gotten close before she passed."

"Not really." Callie immediately replied with a shake of her head. She was very much lying. Even if Nola didn't know the facts, she would be able to tell the girl was lying through her teeth.

"Callie, it's okay to grieve her. Lottie had a knack for making an impact on people." Nola breathed out through a chuckle, the woman feeling amused at Lottie's ability to always know what a person was feeling.

She looked over at the teenager before her, her next words rife with understanding and sympathy. "If you ever just want to talk about her, or anything, you know where I am."

And with that she walked past the young girl and headed down past a few more doors before finding and opening her hotel room door. Before officially disappearing inside, she offered Callie a small smile and a wave.

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NOLA WAS EXTREMELY BORED. She had foolishly not brought anything of interest along with her on this little excursion with the Sadecki clan and so she had been forced to resort to flipping through the same fourteen channels the little hotel offered, rolling her eyes every time that god awful reality show Repo Divorcees flashed across her screen. She had even gone as far as to contemplate getting drunk to pass the time, even taking the little, tiny bottles of alcohol from the mini bar, but had quickly tossed them aside when she realised she didn't want to deal with the hangover.

She had just settled on the cooking channel, where her favourite food show, Diners, Drive-in's and Dives was playing, a show that had surprised Lottie very much when she learned of Nola's (then Annie's) interest, when the door to her room all but slammed open.

She let out a shocked gasp as Shauna came stomping in. "Van and Taissa are here. We can finally find out what's on this tape." The Sadecki woman announced as she entered the room. Her eyes scanned the room, drinking it it's state and Nola's wide eyed gaze. "Are you drunk?"

"They're not open." Nola pointed out, her head shaking as she gestured over to the little bottles that were very much still sealed.

             As the Rilke woman sluggishly moved to her feet, letting out a sigh as she did, Shauna proceeded to rush her. "Let's go. The sooner we find out who's after us, the sooner things can go back to normal."

            "There is no normal for us, Shauna." Nola quipped back with a hard roll of her eyes.

            The two quickly ventured out into the hallway, Nola shutting the door behind her while Shauna fished out some sunglasses from her purse. She was rightly given a bewildered look when Nola turned around to face her.

"Why the sunglasses?" Nola asked the woman beside her as they began heading for the lobby. Shauna just mimed zipping her lips, telling Nola to shut up. So Nola obliged.

Until they got outside that is. "You realise it's night time, right? You look more suspicious with them on." She laughed boldly in Shauna's face, her hearty chuckle echoing over the dark, empty parking lot.

            Shauna didn't respond. The Sadecki woman just picked up speed with Nola trailing behind until they reached the familiar parked car on the other side of the lot. Three knocks in rapid succession followed before the sound of the car locks clicked. Shauna whipped open the car to the back seats, reached out to grab hold of Nola's sleeve then climbed inside, dragging Nola with her.

           "You had us come all the way out here and you don't invite us in?" Taissa asked in annoyance at Shauna. Her face became twisted at the sight of Nola. "And what are you doing here?"

           "I was strong armed into coming." Nola lied with a nonchalant shrug before pulling the car door closed behind her. She couldn't tell the truth, not with Shauna in the car.

            Shauna was swift to explain the very reason why they hadn't been invited in. "We need privacy." She then reluctantly added, "Plus, Jeff's already in his sleeping boxers." She then plucks the DAT tape from her purse.

            Everyone stared down at the tape with a sense of serious unease. "Let's listen to it." Taissa breathed out, her words shuddering as they left her lips. Her eyes were wide, her pupils shaking as she then repeated, "Let's fucking listen to it."

           Van took a calming breath before retrieving the tape from Shauna's hand. With remarkably steady hands, she popped open the DAT tape player, inserted the tape then pressed it shut. With a final, cursory glance at the faces of her friends sat around her, her thumb pressed down onto the play button before she perched the player atop the centre console.

            They waited with bated breath. And then it came.

           "Testing, testing. One, two, three." A female voice whispered into the recording device. Her voice sounded strained, tinged with discomfort, all the while a familiar cacophony of an animalistic nature echoed in the background. "Oh my God, what is this?"

           The melodic voices carried on filling the empty air, getting louder and louder with each approaching step the woman, a woman they all knew far too well, on the tape took.

           Suddenly a terrified, earth shaking cry broke through the singing. "No!"

           Van's index finger slammed down on the stop button with immense force as fear swarmed her gaze. She swallowed hard against the lump quickly forming in her throat.

No one could tear away their gaze from the tape player. An overwhelming, choking sense of reality settled amongst the four women as they sat in uneasy silence, trapped in the darkness that was their past and the sickening realisation that someone knew what they had done and had proof of it all.

           Then the shakiness of Van's voice tore through the quiet. "The only people that even know about this are either us or dead."

           "Clearly not." Nola retorted. She wasn't ashamed of the things they did but to know someone out there knew about it, about the sacred things they had partaken in while on their journey of growth and self acceptance of their true natures unsettled her greatly.

           Without a moment's hesitation, Taissa was ready to rid them all of the incriminating tape. "So we destroy it. Give it to me."

Van was quick to point out, "Well, it's not like this is gonna be the only copy."

In her own way Shauna attempted to calm the situation as best as she could. "I mean, it's obviously a threat, but right now, it's just a threat to me."

Though she seemed to mean well, her words were laced with stupidity. After all, in what world did a tape that included audio of them killing and hunting down three total strangers in the forest in the pitch black of night seriously be considered only a threat to Shauna? They were all on it, their voices could be heard, their names uttered. In what world was Shauna the only person threatened by this tapes existence?

Taissa's spun around to stare at her. "What, you still think this is Misty's doing?" She asked in disbelief.

Shauna shook her head. "No, I-I know it's not Misty, okay? But it came to my house. It was part of a series of events targeting me, and I will...um..." she reached into her purse and pulled out a phone.

            "What? Shauna?"

            Nola silently and sneakily creeped closer to the Sadecki woman to see what was happening. Her eyes quickly landed upon a white screen with the words 'new recording' across the top of the screen. It took maybe two seconds for Nola to deduce that this was Callie's doing, after all, why would Shauna be recording their conversation? And why was her brows furrowing in confusion?

            After bringing the recording to an end, deleting it and then shoving the device back into her purse, Shauna began trying to excuse herself. "Sorry, I have to go. It's an emergency."

Taissa looked concerned. "What kind of emergency?" She asked the Sadecki woman. She was worried this emergency affected them all. Was it Misty on the other end of the phone? Had she sent a text? Had Jeff gotten another genius idea to blackmail them all?

"An emergency." Shauna snapped back. She actually stopped what she was doing to shoot a warning glare at Taissa, daring her to keep pressing for information.

As Shauna pushed open the car door and stepped out, Nola leaned towards her friends in the front of the vehicle. With her voice low, she promised, "I'll find out what's going on." Then she too ducked out of the car, slamming the door closed behind her as she rushed to catch up to a stomping away Shauna. "She's clever, that daughter of yours. She's also incredibly fucking nosy."

            Her words told Shauna had she had seen the phone and knew what she was trying to keep hidden from the others.

            Shauna kept up her fast pace though she did at least slow down the slightest little bit. "Tell me about it." She huffed as the pair walked back into the hotel.

            "I don't know how you do it." The Rilke woman then commented with a dismissive shake of the head. She found herself feeling glad she had never had kids. They seemed like more hassle than they were worth.

            "Me either."

            "But hey, you chose this life, so." Nola shrugged as if she was just making an off handed comment but in reality it was clearly a dig at Shauna's life choices. She had no one but herself to blame for how her life and her family had turned out.

            Shauna looked mildly offended as she and Nola came to a stop outside the room she shared with her family. Nola sent her a small smile as if she hadn't just insulted her. "Well, this is where I leave you."

            Then without a second thought, Nola turned on her heel and headed down the hallway towards her own room, leaving Shauna behind to deal with her insolent daughter alone. She had been in room maybe ten minutes total before a text came through on her phone. A text from Misty Quigley.

            'Taissa met up with Lottie the day she died.'

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author's thoughts.
chapter fifty six, not proofread
so yeah Nola is so bitchy towards Shauna and Jeff, I know I'm writing this but her obvious disdain for that man cracks me up. Anyway I hope you enjoyed :)