HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER FOUR !

   SMALL STONES SCRAPED AGAINST her knees as she kneeled down on the forest floor. Together, along with Misty who had been stationed down by Coach Scott's leg, Nola and Taissa had been sitting by his upper body. Their job was to make sure the man continued to breathe, otherwise the hard working Misty had been inputting would be for naught.

   Misty's gaze flitted back and forth between the bloody stump and everyone else. "All right, bleeding's slowing down. We need to disinfect it somehow. Maybe something from the bar cart." She immediately glanced up at Lottie.

   If anyone knew anything about the plane, it would have been Lottie, seeing as how her father had been the one to privately charter the vessel.

   "There wasn't one." Lottie responded as she looked down at Misty. When the Quigley girl widened her eyes in annoyance, Lottie then tried to defend the lack of a alcohol filled bar cart. "I mean, it was just soda. It's cheaper that way."

    "Maybe somebody brought contraband." The collective gaze turned to face Natalie Scatorccio, the only one among them ballsy enough to bring along alcohol and the like.

   Feeling eyes on her, the bleach blonde slowly lifted up her head to gaze back. "Okay. Wow." Her voice was raspy as she spoke. A slight look of offence flashed cross her face, though it was gone as quick as it arrived.

"Well, did you?" Jackie inquired, her right brow raised upward.

    "Obviously." Natalie uttered with a teasing shaking of the head. She threw her hands up in the air in defeat, however. "But I stashed it in my bag, and God knows where that is now."

    Van, who had been searching high and low amongst the suitcases that had been found, suddenly spoke up. "Guys, how about this?" Her voice carried through the trees as she held up a bottle of Nail Polish Remover.

    "Hey, that's m—" Jackie attempted to protest, though when many turned to glance her way, she trailed off. Seconds later she cleared her throat before a tight-lipped smile appeared on her face. "A great idea, Van."

   Misty rose to her feet and dashed over to Van, retrieving the bottle from Van. Her eyes danced across the ingredients label. "Witch Hazel, Isopropyl Alcohol. Actually, this could work. Okay." A wide smile grew as she made her way back over.

After uncapping the bottle, Misty made quick work of apply the liquid on the exposed and bloody flesh. The Coach shot up, yelling out in absolute agony. "Lie back. Lie back." Taissa begged of the man as she and Nola attempted to hold the man down.

The coach fought against their grip using every ounce of strength he had left, though his efforts were futile as they easily overpowered him and shoved him back down to the ground.

"Jesus! Fuck, my leg!" The Coach cried out in utter agony. His eyes grew wide in horror while his head began to turn and he looked every which way at the group. "Oh, fuck! Is it bad?"

Silence. Nothing but the breeze that travelled through the trees.

"How bad is it?" The man demanded to know. No one knew what to say. What exactly could you say to someone that had just lost their leg? Mangled in the crash and then chopped off by a axe wielding teenager? Not exactly easy to explain.

When nobody spoke, Misty took it upon herself. "Well, the good news is—"

She was cut off in seconds by Taissa. "You're gonna be fine, Coach. You got pretty banged up, but Misty's doing a really good job. Right, Misty?"

The atmosphere was tense between the two as they stared at one another. The Turner girl knew what Misty had been planning on doing. She had been planning on telling the Coach the truth, something that couldn't happen.

The Rilke girl watched as Taissa pulled Misty away. "Yeah, she's really saving the day, Coach." Nola lowly muttered to the man as she attempted to adjust the backpack he lay on, anything to provide the man some much needed comfort in such a shitty time.

She truly meant those words. Without Misty, they would have been totally fucked!

   All she wanted in the world in that moment was the be with her friends, her girlfriend. They had all faced a near death sentence, they should have died in that crash but miraculously they hadn't. They had been the lucky few that survived and it bothered Nola greatly that she couldn't celebrate publicly and kiss her girlfriend. She'd barely even seen Shauna once Misty gave them all jobs.

Still she was grateful for the Quigley girl. They all were.

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   NOLA HAD MADE THE decision to go searching for the remaining suitcases that were still missing. After making sure that the coach was resting as well as he possibly could, the young Rilke girl had begun her trek into the trees. As the once warm breeze started to cool and the sun began to set, she scanned around the surrounding forest floor.

She desperately wanted to find her suitcase. She wanted her clothes and her own personal affects. Though it was deemed childish to carry around a teddy bear, the small, spotted Dalmatian puppy that was packed amongst her things, had been with her since she could remember.

She needed to find it. She couldn't just return home after they were found without it.

The overgrown reeds that grew from the ground brushed against her bare ankles, itching her. She was seriously beginning to regret choosing to wear three-quarter length pants. A grunted sigh fell from her lips as she halted in place and kneeled to the ground to scratch at her ankles.

Too distracted by the itch and the relief felt once her nails ran over her skins surface, Nola had failed to notice the figure that crept closer to her.

"You're a hard person to track down, you know?" Jackie Taylor jokingly quipped, with an awkward, little smile.

   The sound of her voice had spooked the Rilke girl causing her to let out a gasp as she spun around, her heart racing. Jackie shot her an apologetic look while taking a step toward her friend and asking, "What are you doing all the way out here?"

As her racing heart slowly calmed, Nola released a heavy sigh. "Trying to find all of our suitcases. They have to be here somewhere. I've got stuff in mine that could be useful." She explained as she began to search around again.

"I'll bet." Jackie said while following behind the girl, both of their feet crunching the leaves beneath their shoes.

"What do you want, Jackie?" Nola briefly glanced back at the blonde. "I know you want something cause I doubt you came after me to help me find our bags, you know, since you already found yours."

    "You know I didn't actually want to leave Van, right? I was trying to save you and Shauna." As she spoke, Jackie placed emphasis on both Nola and Shauna. She wanted to explain her choices on that plane.

   The Rilke girl glanced back at her friend before nodding her head. "I know that. If you're trying to convince me, you don't have to. I know what you were trying to do. I'm just glad Van is actually okay."

Her words trailed off as the feeling of guilt overwhelmed the brunette. Her eyes started to sting as tears began to form and her chest grew heavier. Unaware of her friends emotions though sensing that Nola was not yet finished despite the pause she had taken, Jackie chose to remain silent, waiting for her friend to continue.

Nola swallowed hard past the lump that had formed in her throat. "The thought of her dying and it being our fault just...I wanna throw up at even the thought."

   She was being honest. Though they were stranded in some forest somewhere after their plane crashed, all Nola could think about was Van dying at their hands. Thankfully she hadn't but what if she had? Nola would never have forgiven herself.

   A shuddered breath fell from her lips. "Jackie, what are we gonna do?" At once her tears she held back suddenly poured down her cheeks as her shoulders shook with emotion.

    "Hey, come here." Jackie rushed forward and pulled her sobbing friend into her arms, holding the girl closer as she cried. Jackie comfortingly patted Nola's head. "It's gonna be okay."

"I'm so fucking scared! H-how is everyone else staying so calm?" Nola exclaimed, her voice muffled by Jackie's team jacket.

With a hard sniff and a wipe of her hand over her nose, Nola pulled from the embrace. "Misty's like fucking Doogie Howser! I've literally never heard that girl talk more than she has in the last few hours."

"Yeah, she's kinda kickin' ass." Jackie breathily laughed.

Before either had the chance to continue speaking, a blood curdling scream echoed through the trees, catching both of them off guard. Their heads shot to face the direction it came from.

"What the fuck was that?" Nola's voiced cracked. She and Jackie quickly abandoned the search for suitcases and raced through the forest to find the source of the scream.

They quickly happened upon the rest of the group gathered around a shaking Laura Lee, clutching tightly to a teddy bear. Everyone was glancing up which caused both Nola and Jackie to do the same. Above them all, lodged in the tree branches, was Coach Martinez.

Only recognisable by the yellow and navy Yellowjackets coach shirt he wore. Gasps of horror resounded the group as they stared wide eyed up at the man they had all looked up to, knowing the man was surely dead. No one could survive being impaled in the abdomen and god knows how long the man had been there before they saw him.

Hard, fast stomps on the ground filled the air causing many to glance away from the bloody scene above. Running towards them was the man's son, Javi, crying out at the sight. "Dad! Dad!"

"Javi, come here. Javi!" Shauna exclaimed, grabbing hold of the boy and pulling him into her arms. She held him close and tight despite his struggles to get to his dad.

Misty appeared beside them all, the girl having been right behind Javi. While staring up she questioned, "Holy Macaroni, is-is that..."

"He's gotta be dead, right?" Natalie posited the idea. He had to be, right? There was no way in hell the man was still alive.

A look of contemplation washed over Jackie's face briefly before her clapped her hands together. "Okay, who has the best arm?" She asked while glancing around at her fellow Yellowjackets.

Mari was quick to step forward. "I do, Jackie."

An affirmative nod came from Jackie. "I'm thinking we can try and throw things at him and see if he moves."

"Javi, it's okay. It's all gonna be okay." Nola attempted to comfort the young boy as she moved to stand near him and Shauna. She was quick to pull Shauna closer, not caring about the others as her gaze flashed around the surrounding woods, desperately searching for Javi's older brother. "Where the fuck is Travis?"

   Both Taissa and Van were quick to surround the Taylor girl. "You want to throw rocks at Coach who fell out of a fucking plane?" Taissa harshly whispered, keeping her voice low to avoid Javi hearing.

A sigh fell from Jackie's lips. Her arms waved about in the air as she explained, "I didn't say rocks. Someone's shoe or whatever."

"Oh, yeah, that's a fuck-ton smarter. You're on fire today, Jackie." Van sarcastically quipped at the Taylor girl. A false look of surprise appeared on her face as she uttered, "Oh, wait. That was supposed to be me, huh?"

"What?" Confusion marred across the features of the Turner girl's face.

Shauna stepped away from Javi, pulling herself free of Nola's grasp, confident Nola could continue to comfort him alone, and towards the girls. "Okay, guys, stop it. We need a plan here."

"We could lower him with ropes." Laura Lee suggested, though when she received many a look at the clear lack of ropes they possessed, she sighed while throwing her hands in the air. "Vines, then, I don't know."

   Natalie released a deep breath dripping with frustration as she stared over at her religious teammate. "Fuck's sake, Laura Lee, we're not gonna Tarzan him out of a tree."

From where she stood next to the still sobbing boy, the Rilke girl shot the blonde an annoyed look. "Hey, she's trying her best. I'm not hearing you coming up with anything."

"Yeah, you got a better idea?" Jackie snapped over at Natalie.

"Than shoes and vines?" The blonde scoffed. Her eyes squinted briefly before blowing wide open as she swung her hands high in the air, gesturing to the tree. "Sure. Let's just cut the fucking tree down."

   Before anyone could entertain or reject Natalie's suggestion, Travis-who had been missing for quite some time, came running over to the group, crying out, "Dad? Dad!"

"Travis! Don't!" Many screamed out as the boy dashed past them all and began to climb up the tree. His fingers dug deep into the tree trunk, the bark scrapping harshly against his skin as his continued to climb, all the while everyone followed his every move with their eyes.

The higher he climbed and the closer to his dad he got, the more the nerves settled into the pits of everyone's stomachs.

   Misty stumbled over the earth, her hands full with large pieces of fabric. "There was all I could find, okay. Grab a corner and if somebody falls on it." She commanded while handing everything out.

   Everyone hustled about to tie together the ends of the fabric to create a large enough surface to catch someone if they fell. Quick and heavy breathes filled the air as the atmosphere turned frantic, the high the Martinez boy climbed.

   Finally he reached the branch where his father lay dead. Slowly Travis crept forward as the others watched in terror, unable to peel their eyes away from the sight above them. The branch appeared weak under the combined weight of Travis and his dad leading to a resounding crack to emit as it began to break.

"Travis, get back!" Van yelled as she ushered everyone to step away from the tree.

That branch was coming down and it was coming down fast.

Travis scurried back and clung himself to the trunk just as the weight proved too much for the branch causing it to break off. Gasps of horror and fearful whimpers emitted from the group as they all looked away from the sight as in just a few seconds, the branch and Coach Martinez slammed into the forest floor, letting out a thunderous crash that shook the earth.

Their heads slowly turned around to look back, stomachs churning at the terrifying sight before them. The coach's body lay flat against the dirt, decorated in blood and a branch sticking out of his abdomen. It was enough to cause Nola to rush away a few feet before spewing out her guts, the girl unable to handle the stomach curdling any longer.

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THE MOOD WAS MOURNFUL as the girls carried back the coach's body on a makeshift stretcher. No one knew what to say and so refused to say anything at all. Once they returned to the crash site, Natalie immediately began to light a fire while the others placed Coach Martinez's body inside the plane amongst the other bodies of those they had lost, wrapped it up in the blankets before moving to sit round the slowly building, burning embers.

   The sun had set as they sat in silence around the fire. As the stones and twigs dug into their legs, no one could bring themselves to complain. Complaining would get them nowhere and after everything that had happened that day, stones and twigs was the least of their concerns. Instead, they all chose to simply stare into the fire and enjoy the brush of warmth across their faces.

   Nola however, had been unable to enjoy the warmth as the awful sound of machinery had returned once more. Drumming in her ears and hurting her brain. A grimace appeared across the Rilke girls face as she looked around herself, attempting to find the direction the noise came from.

   Unaware of her girlfriends troubles, Shauna chose to speak up. "I'm sure the plane has an emergency transmitter sending out a distress signal. They'll be here to rescue us by morning." She tried to comfort everyone though she didn't know for sure. She could only hope.

    "Still..." Jackie began, awkwardly glancing back and forth between Shauna and Van, who had been angrily chewing on a pack of CornNuts from the plane. "Maybe we should conserve some food? Incase they don't get here until later in the day?"

The Palmer girl stopped chewing and instead clenched her jaw. "You want to save the CornNuts?" She asked with a glare over at Jackie.

   The fire crackled as it continued to grow, flames dancing in the wind. Everyone went silent again, focusing on the fire once more. Suddenly Nola stood from the forest floor, capturing the attention of those who sat round the fire.

    "Does anyone hear that?" She asked as she slowly walked towards the pitch black forest. No matter what direction she looked in, the sound never seemed to get louder. It was as though it was all around her.

    "Nola, you okay?" Jackie looked off after her friend in concern. Their conversation from earlier in the day still fresh in her mind. She knew Nora was not handling things well.

    "It's that fucking sound again." The brunette growled out in frustration while bringing her hands up and threw her hair, tightly gripping her roots before releasing her hold. "I heard it on the plane before we crashed."

"I can't hear anything."

    "Me neither." Taissa replied in agreement. Keeping her gaze locked on the frazzled looking Nola, she quickly attempted to offer up some words of comfort. "It's probably just your mind playing tricks on you. The darkness can do that."

Shauna nodded along. She was worried about her. "Just come and sit back down."

   Despite the sound still very much present in her ears, knowing that no one else could hear it and probably thought she was going crazy, Nola chose to plaster on a fake smile before returning to sit next to Shauna and Jackie, who handed over Nola's varsity jacket that had been found in the wreckage of the plane.

   She bundled up in her jacket, grateful for the heat it provided, while desperately ignoring the whirring clang that persisted. With a small smile, she accepted Shauna's hand that had been held out. Their fingers intertwined as Nola cozied herself up against the Shipman girl. Thankfully, they could blame a desperate need for comfort on their closeness.

   Taissa glanced over at a shaking Laura Lee, who fists had been clenching and unclenching for a few minutes. "You okay, Laura Lee?"

    "This is all my fault. I did something really bad." Laura Lee muttered while keeping her head low. "I kept screwing up in my piano lesson last week. Mrs Brophy kept yelling at me. Sharp. F sharp, F sharp."

Unaware of the sceptical looks that many shared, She sniffed before continuing, "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?" The Turner girl questioned curiously.

"Cunt."

   Soft, muffled laughter broke out at the girl's admission. That softness soon turned into full blown cackles as everyone was unable to contain the joy much longer. Even Laura Lee managed a giggle at her own expense as everyone became enveloped in the first sign of happiness they had received since the crash.

"I steal shitty clothes from T.J Maxx." Lottie suddenly blurted out, receiving looks of confusion from the still laughing group.

"What?"

The Matthews girl elaborate, "I return them and I get credit that I never use. I have thousands of dollars in T.J Bucks." Her explanation caused a second round of roaring laughter to begin as she dropped her hands into her face with an embarrassed grin.

"I...I used to sneak downstairs after everybody had gone to bed and watch the Colour of Night so I could pause it on Bruce Willis' wang." Jackie admitted as her cheeks became rosy. She appeared proud of herself despite the blush.

Taissa chuckled as she sarcastically quipped, "That is definitely why we crashed."

"I mean, Jeff's not bad, but damn!"

    "What about you, Shipman?" Jackie then curiously asked as she turned to face her best friend beside her. "Any secrets big enough to crash a goddamn plane?"

    "Um..." Shauna faintly replied, her gaze flickering briefly over to a simpering Nola though before she could reply, a agonising scream of pain emitted from just a bit further in the woods.

   Everyone jumped to their feet instantly and rushed over to the direction of the scream. Their eyes landed upon a crouched Misty Quigley next to their passed out Coach. Held in her hands was a piping hot axe.

"What the fuck, Misty?"

    "I had to stop the bleeding for good." She explained, keeping her eyes locked on the now cauterised wound of Coach Ben while the others stared down at her in concern.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter four. not proofread.
there will be more moments between nola and everyone else soon, i promise. i just have to develop the story a bit first. anyway hope you enjoyed :)