[007] god's punishment

                             As the sun went down and night quickly arrived, Suki was growing more and more troubled.

                              She wanted to believe that it was merely the shadows playing tricks on her. But Suki swore she could see shadow people moving through the trees. It was to the point where Suki left the others and decided to go and investigate on her own. She wouldn't get very far before she spotted something absolutely magnificent.

                             It was a deer, one with large antlers and eyes that glowed in the light. There was something hanging on the antlers, although Suki couldn't tell what it was. Suki feels drawn towards it and begins walking to it. The deer turns around and walks away, and Suki feels as though she was supposed to go and follow it. She forgets all about Courtney and the others, only focusing on the deer. 

                             "Wait," Suki says out loud, growing desperate as she continued to chase after it. "Wait!"

                             When Suki finally gets close enough to reach it, she finally sees what was hanging off of its antlers. It looked like bloodied flesh. Suki screams out of horror, falling to the ground and landing on her ass. The deer begins to approach her now, towering over her with its menacing glowing eyes. Suki was frozen out of fear, and she couldn't move. Her legs just stopped working and all she could do was stare up into its eyes.

                            But before it could successfully get her, a shadow grabs her attention and Suki looks towards it. The shadowy figure bends down and Suki sees a flash of blonde hair, realizing that it was just Courtney. The girl looked genuinely concerned as she cups Suki's face and forces her back into reality. Suki takes deep breaths to try and calm herself while she locked eyes with Courtney.

                             "I was worried about you. What the hell are you doing out here?" Courtney questioned.

                             "I was chasing after the deer. Didn't you see it?" Suki answered.

                             Courtney looks around but there was no sign of any deer. It was just the two of them in the dark and creepy woods. "I don't see anything. Are you sure?"

                             "I know what I saw! It was big and it had glowing eyes. And there was flesh on its antlers," Suki responded, holding onto Courtney. "How could you not have seen it?"

                             "Okay, that's enough. There's no fucking deer. You're tired and hungry and you're seeing shit. I don't need you going crazy on me, Suki. You're the only one I have left out here. I can't lose you," Courtney snapped.

                             Suki nods. She was sounding a lot like her mom and look where she had ended up. "I'm here. I promise I'm here."

                             Courtney sighs in relief before she stands up, helping to pull Suki up to her feet. Suki grabs her hand but she quickly grows concerned when Courtney holds onto her side all over again.

                             "You need to sit down. Let's go back with the others," Suki says, slinging Courtney's arm around her neck and helping the blonde walk with her.

                             Courtney wasn't in that much pain anymore but she still allowed Suki to hold onto her anymore. Having Suki so close to her and being taken care of like this felt nice. Plus, Suki taking care of her meant she wouldn't have to worry about Natalie anymore. So really, this whole injury was proving to be more of a bonus than a disadvantage.

                             "I'm sure the plane has an emergency transmitter sending out a distress signal. They'll be here to rescue us by morning," Shauna declared by the time the other girls came back, sitting down next to each other.

                             "Still... maybe we should conserve some food?" Jackie asks, frowning as she looked over a very grumpy Van eating corn chips. "In case they don't get here till later in the day?"

                             "You want to save the corn nuts?" Van scoffed which immediately shut Jackie down.

                             "I can't wait to get out of there," Courtney says, flipping her hair over her shoulder while Suki continued to look around for any sign of the shadow people or even the deer.

                             "Hey, are you alright?" Lottie questioned, looking over at Suki and frowning in concern.

                             "I'm fine," Suki quickly answers, looking back down at her hands. "You haven't seen anything weird, have you?"

                             "No... why? Did you?" Lottie asks her.

                             "No," Suki answers, once again quickly. "Just, uh, forget I even asked."

                              She didn't need anyone else to think that she was crazy. Suki mentally berates herself for even asking. But little did Suki know; she wasn't entirely alone in sensing that something was off about their surroundings.

                              "You okay, Laura Lee?" Taissa asks the blonde who looked like she was about to burst into tears, resting a hand on her arm to comfort her.

                             "This is all my fault. I did something really bad," Laura Lee answers, her voice wavering from how emotional she was getting. "I kept screwing up in my piano lesson last week. Mrs. Brophy kept yelling at me, Sharp. F sharp. F sharp. I just... I couldn't take it anymore. So I called her a bad word. Just in my head, but... God heard me. Now we're all being punished."

                             "What did you call her?" Taissa inquired.

                             "I've got to hear this," Courtney remarked, making Suki glare at her for a moment.

                             "Cunt," Laura Lee confesses in a whisper, waiting for the others to agree and say that she had done something terrible.

                             But the opposite had happened. Courtney immediately started laughing and Van joined her, even after Taissa nudged her arm. Everyone around the campfire laughed, unable to help themselves. It was probably the only funny thing to happen all day since it had been nothing but pure disaster ever since they had crashed into the wilderness. So laughing about something as trivial as a mere curse word felt amazing in that moment.

                           "I steal shitty clothes from T.J. Maxx," Lottie blurted out suddenly, which made the other girls look at her.

                           "What?" Courtney and Suki both ask at the same time, turning to look at each other before giggling once more.

                          "I return them, and I get credit that I never use, and I have thousands of dollars in T.J. bucks," Lottie explained.

                          "That's absolutely insane," Suki laughs.

                          "I, uh... I used to sneak downstairs after everybody had gone to bed and watch The Color of Night so I could pause it on Bruce Willis's wang," Jackie confessed next.

                         That earned some more laughter. No one thought that the golden girl and their team captain was capable of watching something remotely dirty. But the fact that she had said wang was also pretty funny too.

                        "That is definitely why we crashed," Taissa says in between laughs.

                        "I mean, Jeff's not bad, but damn," Jackie continued.

                        "Come on, Courtney. Does Perfect Barbie have any sins that caused us to land here?" Van questioned.

                        "Nope," Courtney immediately answered.

                        "None? There's no way that you don't have one sin you committed," Mari challenges.

                        "Fine. I once lied and said my parents were dead just so I could get out of taking a test. I was so believable that I got out of doing my homework for five months before they finally caught on. If this is God's punishment, I still wouldn't say sorry. I only wish I could've kept the lie going," Courtney admits.

                        Or better yet, Courtney's mom could've actually died so she'd really be able to get people sorry for her.

                        "Holy shit. I think I remember that. You were an excellent actress at eleven years old," Taissa stated.

                        Courtney smiles. She was still acting even now. "Thank you. Now it's your turn, Suki."

                        "I... I clogged my aunt's sink with food while doing dishes one night. I thought she had a garbage disposal but she didn't. So her entire sink was clogged and it took a while for her to fix it. But when she asked me who did it, I lied and said it was one of my cousins," Suki shrugs. That was about the worst she could think of. 

                        "That is terrible. You're a terrible person, Suki Blair," Natalie chuckles.

                        Suki just laughs, hiding her face in her hands.

                        "What about you, Shipman? Any secrets big enough to crash a goddamn plane?" Jackie questioned as she looked at her best friend for an answer.

                        Shauna's smile faltered and she looked nervous as hell. But before she could even try and come up with an answer, the sound of Coach Scott screaming quickly filled the air.

                        All of the girls stood up but only Van, Taissa, and Akilah went. Suki just held onto Courtney, feeling absolutely terrified. And Courtney held Suki close, hugging her.

                        "It's gonna be alright, Suki. It's going to be just fine," Courtney comforts Suki, her hands running through Suki's dark hair.

                        Natalie turns to look at them, locking eyes with Courtney who had been glaring at her the whole time. As much as Natalie hated to admit it, it actually made her feel a little scared. She quickly looks away from the two and focuses her attention on the campfire instead. Courtney just smiles softly before continuing to hold her best friend.

                        Although Suki didn't feel like sleeping at all, she'd soon manage to fall asleep with the other girls. But it wouldn't be very peaceful. Very quickly, she'd be transported into yet another nightmare.

                        She was back in the same dark forest as before, surrounded by shadows all around her. Suki doesn't even know where she's going. But she feels as though she's being led there by a force she can't even understand. She keeps walking until she sees some sort of cabin, the lights appearing to be on like someone was there.

                        Just as Suki begins to walk up the stairs, the door creaks open slowly. She paused, unsure of who might be walking out the door. But then she sees it's her mother and Suki feels better. She rushes into her mom's arms, hugging her close, even despite her horrifying appearance. Suki's clothes were wet and she could smell the water and the rot that eminated from her mother.

                        But she didn't care.

                        "Mom, what are you doing here?" Suki asks, pulling away from her.

                        "I told you I'd always be here with you, didn't I? You're going to need me even more than ever," her mom answered, smiling down at her.

                        "What am I supposed to do? We're stuck," Suki frowned. "The plane crashed and we can't leave."

                        "This is exactly what I was afraid of. I knew this would happen. That's why I wanted to take you with me so you could avoid this," her mom sighed, looking truly sad.

                        "You knew?" Suki asked. She didn't understand how. Her mom had died years before this could happen. How could she have known?

                        "I saw it. I need you to protect yourself, Suki. I need you to stay strong. You're just like me and that's very dangerous. If you aren't careful, you'll let her in," her mom warned her.

                        "Who? Who is she?" Suki questioned.

                        "She's a monster. She'll corrupt you. But... it's not entirely her fault. She's only a product of the wilderness. If anything, it's this place. The dark energy can corrupt anyone and turn them into a monster. But you mustn't let that happen to you," her mom answered but it felt like she was speaking in riddles at this point.

                        "Mom, you're not making any sense. Just tell me what's going on. I need you," Suki begged.

                        A dark hand suddenly appeared, grabbing onto her mom's shoulder. Not wanting her daughter to be dragged away with her, she pushes Suki away and lets herself get dragged into the darkness by it. The door to the cabin then slams shut and that's when Suki wakes up from her dream.

                        She shot up, glancing around to see that the others were still asleep. Even though Suki knew it was a nightmare, it still felt so real. She could even smell the lake water and wet, rotting flesh.

                        Suki climbs out of her makeshift bed, reluctantly moving away from Courtney who had an arm wrapped around her. She rushes away from the rest of the group and finds a tree to throw up at. Thankfully, it wasn't much.

                        When Suki finishes, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before standing straight up. Before she could even try and make sense of her dream, she heard what sounded like banging noises.

                        Suki follows the sounds and sees Misty a distance away. It looked like she was banging something. Whatever it was, it looked as though it took a lot of effort. Suki tried to move closer to see what it was, only to step on a branch. Misty stops what she's doing and Suki has no choice but to hide behind a tree. Misty looked around to see who it was but didn't find anyone.

                        And Suki decides to run back to where the others were so Misty didn't catch her. She'd just have to sneak back over there in the morning and find out what Misty had been smashing.

(🌲🔪🦌)

word count: 2224
notes: this took months but i hope you all enjoyed this update! suki basically saw misty smashing the emergency transmitter which is definitely going to come into play later