HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER SIX !

AT THE SIGHT OF a cabin dead ahead filled them all with a sense of relief as they raced on. Could it be? Was this there chance at salvation? Every one of them all hoped desperately, with every fibre in their being that this was it. Someone would be inside and would call for help, allowing them to return to their lives.

"Guys it's here." Shauna suddenly announced in excitement causing all of the group to follow her as she ran ahead towards the wooden building, all of them giddy in the prospect of being rescued.

Taissa was quick to press her face against the window, peering into the room beyond. "I don't see anybody." She uttered.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" Mari yelled, her voice loud and booming. She hoped that maybe someone was inside but perhaps up the stairs or in a back room?

"Please, we need help!" Nola joined in on the calling for help as did many of the others. Their voices carried in the air, most certainly reaching the farthest corners of the cabin though no reply came.

The front door was pushed open after Jackie pressed down on the handle. It opened up and allowed everyone the chance to see into the room. One by one, they all packed into the cabin, each taking in their surroundings.

"Maybe they just went on a hike?" Akilah suggested with a hopeful shrug of the shoulders.

"Yeah, like a decade ago." Jackie retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. With a look of disgust she moved around the room, her nose wrinkled at the sight of cobwebs everywhere. "It reeks in here."

The entire place was covered in spiderwebs. Dust had collected over every surface, wood for the fireplace lay unused in the corner. Above the fireplace was a giant animal skull. Ropes and other survival equipment such as knives, hammers and pick axes were hung up on the walls. All of them covered in years worth of dust.

There was only one real conclusion. This place was more than likely abandoned.

    "You guys, check the pantry. See if there's any food." Taissa advised the group, gesturing towards the pantry off to the side. Her hands fell to her hips as she continued, "Everyone else, look around for stuff we can use. First aid, flashlights, tools."

Everyone fanned out at Taissa's suggestion, beginning to search high and low for anything and everything that could help them. No sooner had they begun to move about till their attention was captured by a pissed off Tai exclaiming, "What the hell? Jackie, that's not your personal buffet."

Many heads turned to glance over at both girls. The sight before them was revolting to say the least. The can of food Jackie had picked up from the pantry and quite selfishly opened for herself, had been filled to the brim with maggots.

The Taylor girl loosened her grip on the can, sending it flying to the cabin floor. "See, this is why we should've stayed in the plane!" Jackie yelled as she wiped her fingers against the fabric of her shorts.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. What could they say? Only a handful of them had chosen to stay behind with the plane and so far, while they hadn't found anyone that could help them return to civilisation, they had at least found a cabin that they could possibly use to sleep in and shield themselves from the continuing hot weather.

Was Jackie just complaining for the sake of it?

Van's arms crossed over her chest as she stared over at the blonde. "Yeah, well we didn't. So this is helping how exactly?" She uttered, refusing to back down and allow Jackie to complain about a decision already made. What point was there being upset about something that couldn't be changed?

Jackie's feet immediately carried her across the room as she stomped from the cabin and out the front door. "This is a fucking nightmare."

Mari glanced around in worry after watching Jackie take off. "Should we go after her?" The girl questioned, her words mainly aimed at Shauna and Nola, Jackie's best friends.

"Let's just give her some time. Some room to breathe, yeah?" Nola replied to the girl, sending what she hoped was a smile of confidence. Chasing after Jackie would do them no good. "Let's keep looking."

Nola loved Jackie but the Taylor girl wasn't exactly happy with her at the moment. Perhaps all she needed was a chance to cool off before she would be willing to hear out her friend. At least that's what Nola hoped was the case.

   Everyone returned back to the task at hand, while the thought of a upset Jackie lingered in the back of their minds. They continued to search around the cabin, making sure to find anything of use.

    "Well, hello." Van exclaimed with laughter interwoven with her word. Nola, like the others, turned her head to glance the redheads way as she slammed down a large pile of magazines on the table, sending dust flying through the air. "Don't worry guys, we might be stuck in the middle of nowhere but hey, at least there's porn."

Soft bouts of laughter filled the air. Smiles grew upon the lips of many at the large mass of porno magazines that lay on the table. Some of them ventured towards the table, curiosity getting the better of them.

Mari grinned at the sight before her. "Hey, this guy kinda looks like you, flex." She commented at the Martinez boy, pointing down at the dark haired, naked man on the page.

"If only any of you actually looked like her." Travis replied like the asshole he was. The boy was definitely not getting into Nola's good books anytime soon. Why did he have to be so rude?

"Okay, yeah. Very funny." The Palmer girl responded, not giving him the reaction he had hoped for. "Do guys, like actually jerk off to this stuff?"

A mischievous grin pulled at Travis' lips at the question. "Nah, we-we hate that shit. You know, you can't even tell what her favourite book is."

Van sent him an unamused look. "Ha Ha."

Nola peered down at the magazine curiously. Of course she'd seen the naked female body before, whether it was her own, Shauna's or when she saw some random body part when in the locker room after a game. She was certainly no stranger to the female body.

"The female body is fascinating cause what the fuck is that?" She was astounded at the body that was splayed across the pages. There was parts of the woman on the page that she'd simply never seen before.

"I don't know, dude." Van muttered while shaking her head.

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EVERYONE HAD BEEN HARD at work, searching around the cabin. They had made the decision to stay inside the building, choosing to protect themselves from the elements. It wasn't as if anyone else was staying there, after all. Akilah had set off on her own task, determined to rid the place of at least a few spiderwebs. The rest, minus Jackie and Shauna who had gone to comfort her, had successfully discovered a good amount of blankets they could use.

"Fuck! God!" Came the sudden cry from just outside. Many of them gasped before rushing out, their eyes landing upon a toppled over Coach Ben, face down in the dirt. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

The man glared up at them all as they stared down at him, unsure of what to do. "What the fuck do you want?" Coach Ben screamed at them, hating the feeling of their eyes on him and disgusted by the pity they exuded.

Misty took a few steps forward, reaching out to help the man back to the small porch he had been perched upon. In an instant, Coach Ben swung his hand back and whacked the Quigley girl across the face. "Get the fuck away from me, Misty!"

She flew back, her hands slamming hard against the wood of the porch as everyone flinched at the force in which he had hit her. Misty slowly turned her head round to reveal blood dripping from her mouth and down her chin.

No one knew what to do. Did they say something? Did they defend the blonde from their coach or did they give him the benefit of the doubt as none of them knew how they'd react to suddenly being down a leg?

   Without hesitation, Misty chose to forget her own pain and pull Coach Ben into an embrace. Her voice was calm, soothing even as she spoke. "It's okay. Come here, it's alright."

Whimpers of a broken man filled the air as he fell back into Misty's arms, unable to bring himself to muster up any strength to fight against her hold like he normally would have. "I can't just be like this now. Why couldn't I have died?"

"Because we needed you." Misty quietly said. She continued to softly whisper words of comfort to the man while holding him close, even as everyone began to walk away.

Like the others, Nola chose to step away, allowing the man to wallow in private. She spun round on her heel just in time to see Jackie beginning to head back inside. This was it, now or never. They needed to talk.

"Hey." The Rilke girl called out as she reached out a hand, fingers just barely gripping onto the fabric of Jackie's t-shirt. The blonde turned to glance at her just as Nola asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

    "Sure." With that, the two moved off to the side. They headed a few feet away from the cabin, along a brush of trees that led out into the forest. Once far away enough to gain some privacy, the two girls halted in place and simply stood for what felt like hours but in reality had only been about thirty seconds.

A deep, heavy sigh emerged from the brunette. "Look, Jackie. I get that you're pissed at me for not backing you up about the plane, but I really did think it was the best thing for us to keep moving." Nola explained, her hands waving nervously in the air. She had been quite cavalier earlier in the day on Jackie's attitude but now she was stressed.

She didn't want to lose one of her best friends over something so trivial. Plus she also knew that she'd been keeping quite a big secret from Jackie for the last year or so, so perhaps apologising would ease some of Nola's guilt.

The Rilke girl continued, "You can stay mad at me if you want, but I hope you understand that it wasn't my intention to side against you."

"It's fine." Jackie was quick to wave off her friend's concern. She too didn't feel like fighting over something couldn't be helped. She just wanted her friend back.

Nola was confused. This wasn't like Jackie at all. If there was only one thing that Jackie Taylor was good at, it was holding a grudge. "It is?" She inquired, involuntarily tilting her head slightly to the side, similar to a cartoon dog.

"Yeah, I was being a bit of a bitch before." This was a big thing for Jackie. She was an amazing friend, one of the best you could ever have, but admitting she'd been a bitch? Perhaps they had all died in that crash cause there was no way.

"Well, I didn't want to say anything but—" the brunette stumbled slightly while laughing as Jackie gently shoved her. "Kidding. Are we good?"

"We're good. Come here." A smile broke across Jackie's lips as she opened up her arms and motioned for her friend to accept the embrace. Nola fell into Jackie's arms in seconds, both enjoying the comfort and warmth that came from the hug.

"I love you, Jackie." Nola softly muttered while tightening her grip on the blonde's waist. She didn't want to let go yet. This was the first true sense of relief she'd felt since the crash. Who knew how long it would be till the next.

Jackie nodded her head that was buried within the crook of Nola's neck. With a heavy sigh that saw her shoulders collapse, the Taylor girl spoke back. "Love you too."

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NOLA GASPED FOR AIR as she awoke deep into the night. After a few days of enjoyable silence the dreaded mechanical whirring had returned. Her ears hurt horribly, her brain feeling as though it was vibrating in her head. A hiss pushed past her lips as she gritted her teeth while removing her arm from around Shauna's waist, somewhere it had naturally fallen while asleep, and pushed herself to sit up.

Using the array of blankets they had found, everyone had come to the agreement to lay down amongst one another to conserve heat. Nola had been wedged next to Shauna with Mari on her other side. As she sat up and her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, a figure in white caught her attention.

"Lottie?" She softly muttered while getting up and moving over to the Matthews girl. She seemed almost catatonic as Nola crouched down next to her. With a single hand, Nola reached out and lightly rubbed up and down Lottie's arm. "You okay?"

Lottie's glazed over eyes shifted over to peer up at the brunette. One of her hands that had been laying on her lap lifted and grabbed onto Nola's, catching her off guard. Her voice was quiet, a mere whisper as she uttered, "You can feel it, can't you?"

Nola was confused. Feel what exactly? "What do you mean?"

   Lottie removed her gaze from Nola and instead glanced around the room, looking up high and low as a slight shiver brushed over body. "This place, there's something wrong with it."

   It was no secret to anyone that Lottie had been sneaking her medication over the last couple days, why she hid it Nola had no idea, but it was also clear that she was running out which had many pitying her. Whatever she was taking, she clearly needed.

    "Lottie, everything's gonna be okay. Just lay down. I'll be back in a few minutes." Nola said while ushering the Matthews girl to relax back into her blanket. It seemed to work as Lottie lay down quite fast, reclining back to the floor.

   After a quick glance Lottie's way, the Rilke girl slowly stood back up and tiptoed over to the front door. It let out a single creak as she pulled it open and closed, allowing herself to be enveloped by the brisk night air that brushed over her and travelled through her clothes.

   The sound had returned once more, only now it seemed to be getting louder. Every time it returned, the volume increased ever so slightly. She felt like she was going insane because why couldn't anyone else hear it? It didn't make any sense.

    "God, please don't start again." She quietly snapped, her hands reaching up and grabbing hold of her hair by the roots. Anything to cause even just the slightest of pain seemed to muffle the sound, if only for a second. "Please stop."

She didn't want to worry anyone. She also didn't want to be viewed as crazy, which she had heard Travis muttered under his breath the last time she'd heard the sound. The worry that flashed through Shauna and Jackie's eyes whenever Nola had held her head in her hands caused the girl to remain silent on the topic. She didn't want to bring it up and cause unnecessary worry.

   Finally, after what felt like hours and the sky began to lightened as the sun slowly rose, the noise and all of its annoyances attached subsided until all Nola could hear was the chirp of birds from their nests and the distant sloshing from the lake.

   As Nola tiptoed back into cabin, the girl unwilling the wake anyone just yet and remind them of their situation, she closed the door while her eyes trained upon an awake and alert Natalie, who was staring directly at a sleeping Lottie. "How is she?"

"Scared." Natalie whispered back, her gaze shifting to watch Nola get back under her blankets.

    "Aren't we all?" The Rilke girl lowly muttered under her breath, though due to the silence that enveloped the cabin, Natalie heard her loud and clear. A tight-lipped smile appeared on Nola's face as she moved her to lay back down. While burrowing into her blanket she uttered a quiet, "Night, Nat." effectively ending the conversation before it could begin.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter six. not proofread.
jackie and nola have made up dudes. they were all so excited for the cabin and yet it was a dead-end which is horrible. the sound is back again which isn't fun for Nola. anyway hope you enjoyed :)