HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR !

HER BODY WAS RIFE with a fever. A constant stream of sweat exuded from every pore, gathering thickly upon her forehead and dampening her greased up hair. Though Nola was in and out of consciousness, the brief whispered conversations of the group still made its way to her ears. They spoke of how bad she was getting, how the fever had yet to break despite how long it had been. The phrase 'not gonna make it' left everyone's lips far too often for her liking.

She knew they were right though. Her body was betraying her. No amount of cold, wet rags pressed to her forehead by Shauna or thick blankets draped over her body to break the fever by Stevie was working.

Laura Lee went first. Her life taken by a fiery inferno followed by the total destruction of the plane she had attempted to fly out of there. Jackie followed soon after. Alive one night then dead the next as her body lay frozen, buried beneath the snow that had come as a total shock. And after all this time, she would be the next to go. She would perish here in these woods, her body stashed in the meat-shed alongside Jackie's until they could be properly buried.

Punishment, Lottie had called it. A lesson from the Wilderness as a result of her insolence. Nola supposed it could be true. She hadn't listened to the voice since Jackie's death. She refused to allow it to control her. If that happened again, who knew what would happen? Who would die next?

            She had been buried under her blanket, her head resting upon her dalmatian puppy teddy bear that she'd assumed was lost forever until Natalie and Travis had found it during a hunt, wrapped up tightly in the multiple layers of clothing they had all taken to wearing to stave off the icy cold, when the faint whispers from the groups designated hunters chatting with Lottie caught her attention.

Natalie, whose nose was now a constant shade of pink, rolled her eyes as she looked up at Travis. "It's not like this Wicca bullshit is doing us any good." She uttered tiredly.

            She was shit talking Lottie's blessings that were given to the pair before every hunt. It was clear as day that Natalie didn't care much for the Matthews girl's attempts to protect them. She found it useless and a serious waste of time. Those few minutes could be used to more carefully hunt and find them all food.

"Well, you keep coming back alive, don't you?" Lottie rhetorically asked of the blonde. She was right, they had been coming back alive. Whether that was thanks to Lottie's blessings or

When it looked as though the pair was ready to set off, Nola rose from her bed of blankets as quickly as her fever stricken body could handle. "Hold up." She softly called out, catching their attention. The two looked at her gravely, taking in her sickly pale skin. Nola then smiled weakly at the two as she reached to give them both a quick hug. "Be safe out there. Come back to us."

            Travis pulled back from the embrace mutely. His gaze had grown more and more disheartened with each passing day and no sign of Javi. "Thanks, guys." He whispered before both he and Natalie turned away, pulled up the fabric that was used to protect their faces from the biting cold before slipping out into the snow.

            Once the door was closed and the room was silent once more, as the fire crackled and swirled, the Rilke girl let out a heavy sigh as she numbly stared up the tall brunette. "Why do you still do that shit, Lottie?"

            "It's protection, Nola. You know that." Lottie simply said with a shrug of the shoulders.

           Her deep brown eyes trailed up and down Nola's feeble body. She had gotten so much thinner. Her cheeks had become hollow, her clothes now hung dangerously off her body. She was deathly sick for so long now yet she was still with them. Lottie knew it was thanks to her. If she hadn't been keeping Nola's name mentioned in her daily thanks to the wilderness, the Rilke girl would have been taken from them long ago.

           But Lottie also knew that she couldn't get it going. Sooner or later, Nola would have to accept the help that was being offered up. "Why do you deny it? Why do you push it away instead of letting it help you?"

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            NOLA HAD BEEN WRAPPED up yet again amongst a sea of blankets. It had become the norm that whenever someone else wasn't using theirs or had tasks that didn't allow the warmth of a blanket, they would all wordless dump theirs atop the Rilke girl to keep her warm.

Frankly, she hated it. She hated feeling so useless. Yes, she was sick, bordering on near death, but that didn't matter. If she allowed this to continue, she would be doing the very thing that she had criticised Jackie so harshly for. Reaping the benefits of everyone else's hard work.

A sympathetic expression, that had become permanently fixed upon Stevie's dirtied face whenever she found herself tasked with keeping an eye on her, was painted upon the McClane girl's features. "How are you? How do you feel?" Stevie quietly asked as she reached out and brushed away a clump of hair that had become stuck to Nola's sweaty forehead.

"Like death." Nola groggily replied with a sniff. Her nose was blocked up bad meaning she had become quite the mouth-breather since she'd become sick. "Why can't it just hurry up and take me?"

The sympathy on Stevie's face then slipped away and was replaced by a look of frustration. "That's not funny."

Nola just weakly shrugged as her buried her face back into her blanket. "Wasn't aware I was joking." She sombrely replied to the McClane girl. Nola had reached the end of her rope, she was sick of being sick. Of being useless.

            Just as Stevie was preparing a reply, she was cut off by a pissed off Mari. "Okay, where the hell is Shauna with the meat?" The girl asked as she held the large spoon over the pot of stewed forest roots. Her eyes rolled when no one bothered to answer her. They all knew where she was. "Seriously? Are we just not going talk about how she's out in the meat shed all day with--dead ass Jackie?"

            Perhaps not wanting to talk on the touchy subject that was Shauna freezing away out in the meat shed, sitting for hours on end next to the stiff, frozen body of Jackie, Lottie just sighed. "Mari, leave it alone." She calmly uttered. This seemed enough to stop Mari from further complaining.

            Though it didn't stop the girl from uttering a final, huffed out, "It's been two months."

            Lottie couldn't help but look away for a moment. She knew what it was like. To lose the one person who understood you more than anyone. She had lost Laura Lee, Shauna had lost Jackie.

            Deciding to help quell the tension that brewed amongst the teenagers, Coach Ben chose to speak up. His voice was quiet, calm. "Give her some time, alright? She's still grieving."

            Akilah's gaze shifted to the ridges of the wooden floorboards as she uttered, "Yeah, or she's going full on Norman Bates."

            Whether any of them wanted to admit it, she was saying what they were all thinking. Shauna wasn't doing herself any favours sitting out there all day. It was morbid, what she was doing. Constantly sitting alongside the rigid Taylor girl was not healthy nor was it safe. The temperatures continued to drop everyday leaving the now heavily Shauna in a vulnerable state.

            Nearly another ten minutes had passed before the cabin's door finally squeaked open and revealed the bundled up Shipman girl carrying in the wooden cutting board adorned with cuts of bear meat. The harsh and freezing wind that howled outside began to flow through the cabin.

            As nearly everyone glanced up at her, somewhat impatiently and starved, Shauna impishly stared down at the cutting board. "I had to cut back the rations again. There's not much left." She mutely stated while shutting the door behind her and handing the meat over to Mari who quickly began lobbing in to the broth.

           Shauna quickly whisked her way towards her sickly ex girlfriend. She took in the lack of colour in Nola's face as she kneeled down to the ground next to the McClane girl who had yet to leave Nola's side. "How is she?" The brunette inquired, though the question was more aimed at Nola than Stevie.

           Ever since Nola had fallen ill, Stevie had been buzzing around her like a desperate little bee, just looking for an opportunity to sink her teeth into the Rilke girl and claim her as her own. Even when she wasn't needed, she still continued to linger. Whenever she wiped the sweat from Nola's brow or held her hand to comfort her, Shauna could feel the burn of Stevie's gaze. It was as though she was just waiting for Shauna to fuck up.

            Unaware of the disdain for Stevie that consumed the Shipman girl, Nola just painted a faltering smile upon her cracked lips as she jokingly breathed out, "Ready for the meat shed. Wanna reintroduce me to Jackie?"

            Shauna's soft gaze turned sharp right away. "Stop." She demanded with a deep frown. "You're not going anywhere. You'll be better in no time."

            "That's what you said over a month ago. Let's face it, Shauna. I'm not getting any better." Nola honestly stated. They all knew it. Shauna just didn't want to admit it and acknowledge that the only best friend she had left was on deaths door.

            Shauna defiantly shook her head. "You will." Her fingerless glove clad right hand brushed along the curve of Nola's cheek. Her doe eyes drank in the sight of the girl who breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm not losing you too."

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THE FRAGRANCE OF STEWED bear meat wafted throughout the small cabin, attacking everyone's noses and causing their stomach's to rumble from deep hunger. The time to eat was coming upon them faster than expected, not that any of them were complaining.

As Shauna prepared to fetch both herself and Nola a bowl, she found herself sitting idly on the ground next to the poorly Rilke girl. Her eyes had glazed over slightly as her hand was tucked deep inside her pocket. Held tightly in her palm was the frozen solid ear of Jackie Taylor. Slowly but surely it had begun to thaw while being encompassed by the heat of her hand. She needed to keep it secret, covert. No one could find out what she was doing.

            Her mind was racing. She knew it was wrong. Sick and wrong. But she'd never actually do it. No matter how much her body screamed at her, begged and pleaded, she couldn't do it. No matter how hungry she was, she could never eat Jackie's ear. Thankfully, before she could get carried away by her fucked up thoughts, her attention was captured by the beginnings of yet another bitch fest between Mari and Misty.

            "Hey. The fuck are you doing?" Mari breathed out jeeringly at the curly haired blonde, who had been idly stirring the large pot of broth with the ladle.

           Misty dropped the utensil instantly. She didn't want to be accused of tampering with the food again, despite the fact that she hadn't done it in the first place. Yes, they had been her mushrooms but Mari had been the one to put them into the soup on that fateful day. Why should she be getting all the shit for it when technically Mari was also at fault?

            "Me?" The blonde stuttered out as she slowly rose to her feet and fixed her glasses.

            Mari just rolled her eyes. Of course she was talking about her. Who else in the cabin had curly blonde hair, thick glasses and had poisoned them with hallucination causing mushrooms only two months ago? "Get away from that, you know the rules."

            "It's not like I'm gonna poison anyone." Her voice then grew quiet as she continued to speak, though this time in the faintest of whispers. "Again."

            Akilah sighed at the blonde. She tightened her grip on her bowl as she shook her head. "You drew the four this morning, Misty. You have to get the water."

           "But that's not fair. I—I've been doing it every day and it's freezing out there."

             When the two girls refused to back down from their stance, Misty's nose turned up in irritation. "Fine." She sourly uttered as she sidestepped the pair and made a move for the bucket they used to collect snow to melt down into drinkable water for them all.

            The buckets handle rattled obnoxiously as she swung it around, the girl making it a point to let everyone know that she was in fact going back outside into the cold for yet another day! The cabins door slammed behind as she went but not before a few snowflakes flew in and landed upon the floor.

            While Misty had been in her way out, Stevie had grabbed a bowl for Nola before Shauna had even gotten to her feet. Right away, the McClane girl kneeled down next to the sick brunette, taking the very place Shauna had been siting mere seconds ago and offered up the food.

            Unfortunately for Nola, even the smell of the food had left her feeling horrible. Her stomach churned violently at the idea of sipping down the soup. So instead of accepting the bowl, she just shook her head and explained, "I'm not hungry. Let someone else have it."

           Without hesitation, Stevie had turned to face the others in the room, worriedly exclaiming, "She won't eat." She hoped that drawing the groups attention would in a way shame Nola into eating. Heads turned in their direction and allowed them all to view Nola refusing her bowl.

            This just caused Nola to sigh and roll her eyes. "I'm not hungry. Is that a crime?" She inquired sarcastically. She could barely keep anything down, what was the point eating something that would inevitably make its way back up? She sucked on her teeth for a moment before she spoke once again. "I mean, come on. You're all starving. If I don't eat, you all get more, so what's the big deal?"

            Eyes became downcast in an instant. Many of them felt guilt bloom within their chests. They had thought exactly that. If she didn't eat, they could eat more. It was a selfish thought, they all knew it but the hunger that was constantly nestled in their gut did little to assuage those thoughts.

            Nola didn't blame them. If she'd been in their position and someone else had been sick, she would have thought the very same thing. A sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she calmly stated, "I'm not getting any better and you all know it. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to admit it."

            Lottie shook her head. If they were going to make it out of this place alive, they needed every single of them. None of them would get treated differently regardless of how sick they were. "No one's eating your share. You're sick, not dying. You need to eat." She earnestly uttered to her friend before returning to spooning mouthfuls of soup past her lips.

            And with that, everyone else also tore away their gaze and returned to eating their own food. Wordlessly, Shauna pulled the bowl for Nola from Stevie's hands, who frowned but didn't stop her mostly on account of her being pregnant, before sitting back down with the Rilke girl. Nola welcomed Shauna under the warmth of her blanket right away.

            Shauna set both bowls on the ground for a moment. Nola's deep brown eyes bore into her as she began to gently caress her thumb along the expanse of Nola's cheek. "Eat it or I shove it down your throat." Shauna honestly warned the girl. She wasn't losing Nola for anything, no matter how much she appeared ready to go. "It's your call."

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter twenty-four. not proofread.
first chapter of season two! so yeah, nola has become sick as a result of not conveying what the wilderness has been saying to her. anyway i hope you enjoyed!