theadora in character

season one, episode one.
may 1996 | somewhere in the wilderness

Gabriella walker is dead.

she should be. everyone back home thinks she is. it's been three years; you would think so, too.

but she isn't. sometimes she wishes she is. the woods gets lonely and her father gets mean and there's nowhere to turn. nowhere to run, because even here is better than out there. she'd know, because she tried once. when she first got here, gabby had tried with everything in her.

hunger had gnawed deep into her bones and the trees started screaming with her. everything was grasping, trying to latch onto her ankles and pull her back into the earth. she was cold and afraid but still that goddamn ego of hers kept her from returning to his doorstep. if she could just find the plane he'd brought her here on lifetimes ago, maybe she could get away. even if she crashed at least she'd have gotten out.

he'd caught her four hours later, pressed against tree bark so tight it made patterns in her back. she had teeth marks in her palms from trying to quiet her breathing.

but that was back when she was still stupid, still naive. before she kept track of the days by the scars in her skin. before she learned how to hunt, how to shoot. she's grown a lot since then. thickened.

she isn't afraid of him anymore because he's already done his worst. all that's left would be to kill her. which, in gabriella's opinion, wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.

unless she beat him to it. [which she did.]

"you couldn't kill a rabbit if it was starin' you in the face beggin' you to." her father seethes. he's got her backed into a corner in the attic; she's got his shotgun.

"but you're not a rabbit, are you?" gabriella cocks the weapon.

"you don't even know where we're at." raymond spits as if she needed the reminder. "you kill me, that's a death sentence."

"being here is a death sentence!" gabby shouts. her fingers tremble on the trigger but not out of fear; out of anticipation.

"quit the drama. you and i both know you're better off here than with your mother." he might as well have slapped her. "you ever wonder how you're still here, how no one's found you? that's 'cause no one's lookin', babygirl. not your mom, not your sister, no one." his eyes grow dark and he moves forward slowly and deliberately. gabriella eyes every step, hears every creak in the floorboard. "i could kill you right now and no one would even bat an eye. no one's coming to save you, gab—"

crack !

gabriella walker shoots her father in the chest. his fingertips, inches from her hair mere seconds ago, fall away. his face, once so threatening, goes pale. raymond sinks to the floorboards and gabby could sob with relief. she swipes the back of a hand across her forehead; when it comes back it's dotted with blood spatter. the sound of the gunshot still rattles her chest. now what?

she sinks to the floor of the attic where her dead father now rests. she wonders what to do with him, if there's anything to be done. she doesn't get to wonder long before shouts are heard from the front porch and the door rattles under force. gabriella startles. she hasn't seen another human being in over three years. frozen, her ironclad grip on the shotgun returns.

"hello? anyone home?" a chorus of girls' voices ring out. gabriella remains frozen in place. maybe if she doesn't make a sound they'll go away.

"we need help!" there's the distinct creak of the front door and gabriella curses herself. she forgot
to lock it, because why would she? they were in the middle of fucking nowhere.

she pressed herself against the floorboards, listening intently to the voices murmuring below. "maybe they just...went on a hike?" a hopeful voice suggests, a second girl.

there's a scoff. a third girl. "yeah, like a decade ago."

gabriella grits her teeth. yeah, sorry. we weren't exactly expecting visitors.

"you guys check the pantry, see if there's any food." a fourth voice carries. gabby listens as they go room to room, cupboard to cupboard. they aren't leaving and gabriella is growing anxious because neither is she.

and now they're going through her food, which is all she has left now that raymond is dead and she'll be doing all the hunting.

gabriella forced herself to her feet. she's wearing a men's shirt five sizes too big because she's outgrown all the clothing she brought with her three years ago. she reloads her fathers shotgun and opens the hatch to the attic, descending down its ladder in one swift motion. she lands on her feet with a thud, capturing the attention of the intruders in the kitchen. they curse, jumping in alarm.

"guys, it's a fucking kid!" a teenaged girl with bleach blonde hair speaks first. there's a brief pause as the others turn to her alarm. for a moment the girls—gabby and these strangers—stare at each other in silence. both parties become deer in headlights. neither knew where the other had come from.

but just as quick as it had arrived the silence vanished. the strange girls all spoke at once, shouting over one another. "where'd she come from?" "do you know where we are?" "can you get us home?"

gabriella shakes off her initial bewilderment and swings the shotgun in front of herself. there's dirt under her fingernails and she suspects on her face too. she's show she doesn't look the most presentable but again—they weren't expecting visitors. gabby lays a dusted pointer against the trigger. "get the fuck out of my house or i'll shoot!"

as if she needed proof, a shrill scream comes from upstairs. a girls voice cries out, "there's a dead guy up here!"

"i think she fucking shot him!"

gabriella walker is no longer dead.