HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER NINETEEN !

SOFT SNORES OF EXHAUSTION from the gaggle of girls haphazardly laying about the cabins main room floor, filled the air. Their limbs were tangled upon amongst their sleeping supplies, some with blankets thrown over their faces while others had shuffled off their pillows during the night and had been laying flat on the floorboards.

            A contemplative Laura Lee stood by the window, staring out at the morning sun as it peaked in and lit up the room, the glow cascading along the closed eyes of the girls upon the ground. Her mind was run wild with choices, her heart racing with anticipation for what she was about to embark on. After breathing in deep and slowly allowing the air to brush past her lips, Laura Lee turned on her heel and headed to stand next to the table that was placed at the back of the cabin.

            "I have an announcement." She proclaimed to the room. When her voice did little to rouse the girls from their slumber, the blonde sighed and grabbed hold of a metal ladle that sat on a bench beside her and began to bang it aggressively. "Hello! Everybody, excuse me!"

            The sound of metal clunking loudly harassed the groups eardrums, forcing them all to peel open their eyes and groggily clamber free from their blankets. Each of them stared up at the blonde with bleary eyes as they slowly sat up.

            "What the fuck?" Stevie quickly muttered to herself as she carded her fingers through her messy, tatted hair.

            An eager though somewhat nervous smile tugged at the corners of Laura Lee's lips as she looked down at the group. "Thank you. In light of the expedition ending as it did, I have decided that I'm going to take the dead guys plane and fly south. I'm gonna find us help and I'm going to get us out of here."

            Lottie stared up at the blonde with a perplexed expression painted across her face. "You're gonna fly?" Her brows furrowed as she questioned her friend.

"But y-you don't know how." Natalie piped up from her place amongst the mess of blankets sprawled across the floor. As she said this, Shauna and Taissa appeared at the doorway that led to the attic.

Laura Lee was quick to reply, "I've been studying the flight manual for weeks. And I checked the gas tank, it's full." She confidently stated with a nod of affirmation. "I use to watch my grandpa fly. He even let me steer a few times. I know that I can do this."

Sensing that she might need to convince them further, Laura Lee gestured towards the passed out redhead that still lay upon the table in front of the fire. "You can deny that Van needs serious medical attention."

"She's not the only one." Jackie suddenly proclaimed, causing everyone to turn their heads in her direction in confusion. She ignored their looks and instead focused her gaze upon her friend that stood, arms folded and leaning against the wall. "Shauna, tell them."

Shauna truly looked like a deer caught in headlights as her deep brown eyes widened in fear while she stared back at her friend. Her voice cracked while she stuttered out, "I-I really don't..."

"Tell them." Jackie swiftly cut the Shipman girl off as she repeated her words.

            Nola quickly realised what was going on. Clearly while she was away, Shauna had made the decision to come clean about her pregnancy to Jackie. The brunette wondered if her ex-girlfriend had been as honest about the baby's father.

            Her eyes rolled in annoyance as she uttered, "Jesus Christ." before falling back down to lay upon her pillow once more, her head hitting the plumped up pillow with a thump. A series of strange looks were sent her way, all of which she ignored.

           "What is it?"

           "Yeah, tell us what?"

            Shauna found her gaze falling upon her now ex-girlfriend. An ache of sorrow bloomed within her chest as she quietly muttered out her predicament. "I'm-I'm pregnant."

            Akilah, in an almost childlike wonder, inquired, "You were having sex?"

           The Quigley girl jumped to her feet and stepped forward, stopping when she was barely an inch away from Shauna, the Shipman girl able to feel Misty's breath along the nape of her neck. "How far along are you?"

            "Wait." Mari said. Her right eyebrow was quirked up in slight accusation as she then asked, "Did you get knocked up here?"

            "No, I—"

            Yet again, the blonde Taylor girl cut Shauna off. "It doesn't matter when it happened. Okay, it just matters that we get them both help."

            The faintest, mischievous smirk formed upon Jackie's lips. It was a 'blink and you'll miss it' smirk, one that you had to really look for in order to see. She almost appeared to be getting joy from making Shauna uncomfortable.

            "Alright, can everyone just..." Coach Scott began before cutting himself off with a sigh. He honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. Flying a plane? "Laura Lee, you can't do this. No, it's not even close to safe."

           Her head shook from side to side, the ends of her hair lightly brushing against the bare flesh of her shoulders. "There is no safe anymore, Coach Scott. It's going to be winter soon. If I don't do this, we're..." she briefly looked around at everyone then spoke words dripping with honesty. "We're all gonna fucking starve."

           Nola peeled her eyes, that had fallen shut in an attempt to disassociate from the discussion, back open and slowly raised up from the pillow again, all the while keeping her gaze locked upon the blonde. It was a known fact that Laura Lee did not swear unless truly provoked. If a word like fuck was leaving her lips, then she truly believed her statement.

            Her words were met with an unapologetic shrug. "Alright, well...I'm still the only adult here. So, no. I'm not gonna let you do it." Coach Ben replied with a tone of finality. The man believed that his words would be enough to stop her or anyone else from getting any stupid, life threatening ideas.

            The always sweet, 'All God's creatures' Laura Lee remained firm in her belief as she took a defiant step toward the crutch dependant man and strongly uttered, "What are you gonna do to stop me, Coach?"

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PERHAPS IT WAS A bad idea that Laura Lee take the dead guys plane or perhaps it was a good thing. Either way, that didn't stop everyone from quickly getting to work, all of them ignoring Ben who pleaded with them to think this through more, freeing the plane from the overgrowth that had caged it to its little hideaway amongst the trees.

As Nola worked on, grabbing and ripping bushes from the root buried deep in the dirt so as to avoid it catching on the wheels of the plane, she couldn't help but glance over once she heard the faintest sounds of commotion emitting from Jackie and Shauna. Her gaze landed upon the pair just in time to watch as her ex-girlfriend pulled a branch from the ground, threw it aside in frustration before stomping away.

The assumption was that the flannel clad girl was pissed off that Jackie had so brazenly revealed her pregnancy without much regard for Shauna's feelings on the matter. Nola wasn't entirely sure if that was the reason for their little spat though she could make an educated guess.

Jackie had been acting very...odd, ever since she and the rest of the girls had returned to the cabin. At first, Nola had just brushed it off, assumed it was just her imagination but when the blonde suddenly began to step away anytime Nola was near her and sometimes crossed to the other side of the room just to get away from her, Nola could tell something was off with Jackie.

A muted sigh left her lips as she wiped away the dirt that covered her hands on the fabric of her jean shorts. Figuring that now was as good a time as any, the Rilke girl rose up from the ground and began to make her way over to her friend. "Are you pissed at me or something?"

Jackie's eyes widened in surprise as her gaze shifted away from the dirt and up at Nola, who now stood staring expectantly down at her. "What do you mean?" The blonde asked, feigning innocence.

Deep down inside, festering within her gut was a rage. A betrayal. No words in the English language could truly convey just how Jackie was feeling. She'd seen it all, with her own two eyes. They had drunk in every single word scrawled down in Shauna's journal, every sordid, dirty little secret that had been kept from her. From Shauna's pregnancy with her boyfriend's baby to the relationship that Nola and Shauna had shared for over a year!

Lie after lie was told to her as she went along happily, oblivious to the shit that was carrying on behind her back.

Nola's hands perched upon her hips as her shoulders fell with a deep exhale. "You've barely looked at me since I came back. I mean, you've practically treated me like a pariah." The Rilke girl explained, totally unaware of the irritation that Jackie felt towards her. "Did I do something that I'm not aware of?"

"I don't know, did you?"

Silence befell the two as the friends continued to look at one another. Nola's brows furrowed in confusion. She truly didn't understand where this hostility was suddenly coming from. She didn't know why Jackie was acting this way, why she was treated her like shit.

Nola's began to aggressively rub at her own face while her shoulders shook as she shuddered out a breath. "Jack, what are you doing? You've been acting really weird and you even spilled to everyone that Shauna's pregnant." She pointed out, throwing one of her hands in the general direction that Shauna had headed.

           Jackie was quick to wave off the brunette's claim. "For her sake and the baby's. It's not really time to be keeping secrets, right?"

           The tone she used was sweet, the expression she wore was one of sincerity. There was no obvious reason as to why Nola shouldn't have believed her friend but she just couldn't shake the feeling that Jackie wasn't being as genuine as she let on. For a moment, she actually thought she could see a vindictive glint within Jackie's hazel coloured eyes.

           She briefly squinted at the blonde, trying to find something that would give away what she was really thinking, trying to see behind the mask her friend was wearing. When that mask refused to slip away, Nola just let out a sigh and muttered, "Whatever."

           She proceeded to kneel back into the dirt and begin pulling at the pesky greenery once more. She didn't get very far before Jackie piped up and asked, "Can I get my necklace back?"

          Nola's hands froze midair. Her head swung around right away and looked over at the blonde, at her friend, who just stared emotionlessly back at her. Her own hand was held out, palm facing the sky as she awaited the familiar feel of silver. Her actions were cold, she knew this. She'd never asked for the necklace back from Shauna, she'd allowed the Shipman girl to hold on it until it did its duty of providing comfort and was returned.

          In that moment however, Jackie didn't care if she hurt Nola. She didn't care if her feelings were hurt. Why should she? Nola hadn't cared when she'd kept such a big secret from her.

          Dirt covered hands raised up to the clasp that sat against the nape of her neck. The necklace came undone with ease, falling willingly into Nola's left hand. She slowly rose to her feet, oblivious to the wobble that appeared in her bottom lip. Without a word, she shakily placed the necklace in her Jackie's hand before sniffing back her emotions, spinning on her heel and heading as far from the girl as she could get.

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THE ATMOSPHERE WAS SOMBER. While everyone was proud of Laura Lee and the dangerous rescue attempt she was about to embark on, as they got closer to the time she would be setting off, fear for the girl began to wash over them. However instead of allowing it to show and freaking out the blonde, they choose to just remain sadly smiling.

The runway was cleared up, free of any and all vines that could have gotten trapped within the wheels. She was clear for take off. In her hand held her teddy bear, Leonard and swung over her shoulders was her backpack. Her pupils shook slightly as she began to make her way towards the plane. On her way, she was pulled into many embraces. Arms wrapped tightly around her, holding her close. She was pulled into a side embrace by Travis, was hugged by Jackie. Had been smothered by the embrace of Shauna, Javi and Akilah. Everyone stepped forward to bid her fond farewell.

When it was her turn to hug the heroic girl, Nola sent her a small smile of appreciation while tugging the blonde into her arms. The tips of her fingers gripped tightly to the white, knitted cardigan Laura Lee wore. "Thank you for being brave for us all." She whispered lowly, her words for Laura Lee and Laura Lee only to hear.

The two then parted ways and Laura Lee was pulled into yet another hug, this time by Lottie Matthews, who held her tightly, almost on the edge of refusing to let her go. She knew that this was Laura Lee's wish, her wish to do what she believed was her part and save them. And so Lottie did finally released her, albeit holding back tears as she did.

The door to the plane creaked as it was tugged open by the blonde. The metal shrieked beneath her weight as she stepped inside and took her seat behind the steering wheel. Her teddy bear was placed beside her, the small brown bear acting as her co-pilot.

Coach Ben huffed and puffed while making his way through the group that stood by and watched her prepare herself. "For godsake, Laura Lee, please. Don't do this." The man pleaded with the blonde, hoping to make her see sense.

"Thanks for worrying about me, Coach." Laura Lee responded with a tight-lipped smile. She slowly shuffled forward and grasped onto the handle of the door. As she got ready to tug on it, she glanced at the man one last time and uttered, "But this is my purpose."

Then the door slammed shut in his face, his words going in one ear and out the other. Nothing he could say would convince Laura Lee to stay. The engine sputtered briefly then changed into a gentle purr. Inside the plane, Laura Lee smiled proudly. She then put the plane into gear and slowly pushed it forward. The wheels rolled as the small aircraft began quickly picking up speed and heading down the runway.

"Oh my god, she's doing it!"

Everyone began to cheer and chase after the plane, running as fast as they could, following behind as it started to lift up from the ground. Laura Lee and the plane began to fly over the lake just as the group reached the waters edge. They continued to look on in astonishment as their friend succeeded in flying a plane.

She was going to do it. She was going to fly south and find help. They'd be rescued and it would all be thanks to her.

"Is that smoke?" Jackie suddenly asked.

Smiles faded away and faces dropped as they all began to take notice of the thick, black smoke that began to billow out of the plane. Before any of them could really react, a loud, thunderous crash rocked the earth, sending shockwaves toward them as the plane exploded into a fiery inferno.

Their bodies shook. Many watched on stunned, their jaws slackened. Their eyes stung with tears that flowed like a flood down their cheeks. Burning pieces of debris from the plane crashed into the water below.

Laura Lee was gone. In just a few seconds, the girl was taken from them. Plucked from the mortal coil by an unforgiving God that chose one of the worst, most horrific ways for her to perish.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter nineteen. not proofread.
I had to rewatch her death to write this and i literally couldn't stop crying. anyway i hope you enjoyed :)