HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER EIGHT !

THANKS TO AKILAH AND her previous stint in the Girl Scouts, she had been well informed enough to help them all forage for berries. The group, minus Natalie and Travis who had ventured off in the opposite direction with the gun to hunt for them, all headed off into the forest to scavenge.

   Once they found a nice enough area, with quite a few bushels of berries, Akilah somewhat confidently gave them all a quick run down of what to be on the look out for and what to avoid.

   Laura Lee glanced above herself at the towering trees, her brows furrowed as she questioned, "Are any of these like, maple syrup trees?"

"What?" Taissa gave her a funny look as she passed by.

   Nola, who was crouched on the ground, chimed in, "Don't they only exist in Canada?" Frankly, Nola had no idea if Maple Trees only existed in Canada. She just knew that the country was largely associated with the product after seeing a 'Made In Canada' stamp upon the bottle she used for her pancakes.

    "Don't!" Akilah suddenly yelled, capturing everyone's attention. She ran over and batted away a clump of berries that Misty had been ready to eat. "Eat that kind. It's poisonous."

   A fun little smirk appeared on Van's face at the word poisonous. "Like 'kill you' poisonous or 'trip your balls off' poisonous?" She inquired with a suggestive look, her eyebrows raised high.

    "What? I don't know." Akilah replied. Her voice was filled with confusion cause why would she know that? "My Girl Scout trip leader didn't get all that specific about it."

    "Akilah?" Taissa piped up. She too was crouched on the ground, holding up a small stem of berries for Akilah to judge whether they were safe or not for consumption.

    "Okay, now those I know for sure will make you puke. Don't touch it." She warned sternly. Her words caused many to nod their heads once they mentally took note of what those berries looked like. They all knew to avoid them now.

   Misty let out a heavy sigh. Her hands fell to her hips as she glanced over at Akilah in slight annoyance. "Could you just show us something that's actually edible so we can get going?"

"What's the big hurry?" Taissa rose from the ground, brushing off stray dirt from her clothing while questioning the blonde.

Van, ever the brave, chose to bring up what they had all noticed between Misty and the adult of the group. "Coach need a sponge bath?" She uttered lowly, her voice dripping with a suggestive tone.

   The atmosphere grew tense immediately. There was split second of silence before Taissa broke it with her laughter. The Quigley girl's nostrils flared as she stormed off like a petulant child while the remainder of the girls bit back smiles, very clearly having not appreciated the comment. Guilt filled laughter sprung from both Van and Taissa as they watched her leave the area and disappear behind a nearby wall of trees.

A voice then called out, "Uh guys?"

   It was unmistakable Jackie. The voice had her slight high pitch that was practically her trademark. "Jackie? What is it?" Someone called back, curious as to what she wanted.

The Taylor girl rose her voice in what sounded like excitement. "Guys! Come here!"

   Their feet were quick to run in the direction of the blondes voice. They brushed past the low hanging branches that threatened to hit them in the face and rounded around a thick collection of bushes to lay their eyes upon...a plane?

Sitting before them, tangled in vines and covered in dirt and leaves was a small passenger plane. They couldn't believe their eyes. Could it be? Could this be what they needed to this place? Was it their ticket to freedom from the wilderness that they were trapped in?

"Holy shit." Mari breathed out at the sight.

Taissa was quick to ask, "What is this doing here?" as they all walked over and examined the plane.

    "It must've belonged to the dead guy." Jackie replied, stopping in front of the plane and beside Van, who ran her hand over the dirtied blade.

"I wonder if it still works." Laura Lee practically ran to the small door of the plane and pried it open before climbing inside.

   Mere seconds after she entered and after fiddling with a few buttons, the plane's engine suddenly rumbled alive and the propeller began to spin, picking up serious speed incredibly fast. The vessel started to creep forward, making its way towards Jackie and Van who was stood only a few feet away, inches from crashing into them both.

Jackie, without a second thought, grabbed hold of Van and pushed her to the ground and out of the way as everyone began to scream for Laura Lee to "Turn it off!" They all were on the edge of their seat, teeth gritted and nails digging into their palms as the plane continued towards her with no plan on stopping. Finally, after Laura Lee pushed and pulled at every button and lever possible, it finally came to a stop, the nose of the plane inches from the wide eyed Taylor girl.

They all breathed a huge sigh of relief, all of them except for Lottie who uttered, "It didn't want him to leave." Her gaze was filled with fear as her voice caused unsettle to envelope the girls.

   Nola found herself trailing her gaze back to the plane, watching as the propeller continued to turn slowly while it shut off. What Lottie said was true. If this plane had belonged to the dead guy then why hadn't he used it? Why had he simply allowed himself to die in that chair? What if something had stopped him from leaving?

    "I think she might be right." As the words fell from her lips, a deep sense of dread washed over the Rilke girl. She got the feeling that things were gonna get worse before they got better.

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   AFTER JACKIE'S NEAR DEATH experience, all of them gathered up a few berries that were safe to consume then returned to the cabin. They waited on the porch for Natalie and Travis to come back, most lost in thought as they sorted out the berries or washed clothes.

   Creeping through the trees came the two new hunters of the group, heaving the dead body of a hulking mass of light brown fur covered deer. It was a serious sight for sore eyes. Gasps of shock filled the air as everyone rushed to their feet, their eyes wide in surprise.

   Nola's jaw slackened and her mouth gaped open. Her stomach rumbled just at the sight of the deer. As she moved forward she blurted out a, "No fucking way!"

   Van ran up alongside the group that had gathered, her hands held out in front of her. "Wow, okay." The Palmer girl uttered as she attempted to help lower the deer to the ground.

    "Nice work you two." Coach Ben congratulated the pair on their amazing performance. They would be able to eat a proper meal thanks to them.

The Martinez boy shook his head. "It was all Natalie." He explained, pushing all of the praise to the blonde.

   An appreciative smile graced Natalie's dirt covered face. While taking deep gasps for fresh oxygen, the blondes gaze shifted between the deer and the coach. "So, what do we do with it now?"

    "Well...first thing we gotta do is bleed it out." He uttered, receiving looks of confusion in response. Surely he didn't expect them to do it? Unaware or uncaring to the girls reaction, the man held up a hunters knife. "Who wants to try it?"

Silence befell the group.

   Their eyes nervously glanced around between each other, no one wanting to be the one to offer up their services. Who exactly wanted to slice and dice at the animal? Sure eating meat was one thing, catching and skinning it was something else entirely.

"I'll give it a try." Shauna suddenly announced, her voice slightly low as she stared down at the deer. The Shipman girl was quick to grab the knife that was held out to her, ignoring the looks sent her way.

She crouched down on the ground, one knee pressing deep into the dirt as her hand reached out to grip onto the fur. "Just right across the throat." Coach Ben instructed which Shauna carefully followed.

The knife's sharp blade slid along the taut flesh with ease. Thick crimson liquid flowed free from the sliced neck, glooping onto the ground below and staining the blades of grass. Everyone watched on as some wicked sense of intrigue began to pool deep within their gut.

   Groans of relief and moans of satisfied hunger filled the night air only a few hours later. Shauna had taken control of dealing with the deer's body, bleeding it out and skinning it before chopping it into smaller chunks that had then be tossed into the frying pan.

   The mouth watering scent had wafted through the air, making everyone desperate to tug into the meat. At the very first chance they all got to dig in, burned fingers be damned, every single one of them grasped the chunks of deer in their hands and began to scoff it down, the juices of the meat lingering upon their taste buds as it slid down the backs of their throats.

   The fire was roaring brilliantly. An amazing heat had washed over the group as they continued to chow down on the meat. From where she sat wedged in between Van and Stevie, Nola found herself glancing over at her girlfriend. Sitting a little bit away from the group, Shauna was alternating between eating and separating the meat for their breakfast the next morning.

   Deciding that she wanted to keep the Shipman girl company, Nola rose up from where she sat and began to make her way over to the busy girl. "Want some help?" Nola asked Shauna with a soft smile.

Shauna's hands halted in place, stopping mid slice as her eyes shot up to the brunette stood before her. She shook her head with a smile of her own, replying, "I'm good but you can sit here with me, if you want."

"Yeah, okay." Nola agreed, sitting herself down on the tree trunk beside Shauna.

   No words past that were exchanged between the two girls, both choosing to simply sit in the comforting silence that existed between them. The faint chatter and crackling of burning embers provided a welcoming ambiance that neither felt the need to ruin with idle words.

   Only a few minutes of peace were given however as Nola spent her time taking in the view before her. The warmth of the fire, the comfort of the group talking amongst themselves was ruined the very second she caught a glimpse of a stuck out leg and Coach Ben hurtling towards the ground, face pressed into the dirt.

    "Are you okay?" Misty suddenly cried out in concern, the girl dropping the pile of logs she had been carrying and kneeling next to the man. "You need to be more careful."

   Nola knew what she had seen. It wasn't a trick of the light and it wasn't her mind playing with her. As plain as the nose on her face, Nola had watched as Misty deliberately stuck out her foot into the coach's path and deliberately caused the man to collapse to the forest floor.

   But what could she do? It wasn't exactly as though she could tell anyone? Who would believe her? Because yeah, Misty was a little...odd, but purposefully hurting Coach Ben more? That wasn't exactly believable.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter eight. not proofread.
another chapter. we have nola agreeing with lottie on the wilderness not wanting the dead guy to leave plus they've already had a taste of wild game now which we all know will be interesting down the line. anyway hope you enjoyed :)