Love Restrained

chapter nineteen

XIX

Walking softly so they wouldn't wake the others, Hayden and Natalie made their way to the door as quiet as possible, after putting the most warm clothes they could find around.

"Wait" Lottie, who was by the window, whispered, causing the girls to stop. 

She gently grabbed Hayden's hand to put something the girl wasn't sure what it was but Lottie claimed that it would protect her, so she just accepted and smiled in gratitude at her friend. Lottie did the same with Natalie, but her reaction to it was always different.

The thing is that the last couple months Lottie started acting different, constantly talking about the wilderness and how it hears them and sometimes doing some rituals that only some of the girls would engage in.

That behavior Lottie was having lately divided the group. Some girls such as Mari, Misty and Van would follow Lottie like she was some type of messiah that had all the answers, while others, such as Natalie, Taissa and Shauna, would just say it was complete bullshit and that the girl was slowly losing her mind.

As for Hayden, she didn't follow Lottie like she was in some kind of cult, but she wouldn't deny that some things couldn't be just coincidence, and since Lottie was her best friend, she accepted all the rituals she would propose and preferred to believe that it was indeed for good luck.

She watched as Lottie pricked her own finger and spilled the blood into a mug with tea, hading it to her.

"It's not like this wicca bullshit is doing us any good." Natalie looked at Hayden as the girl  passed the mug to her so she could drink it first.

"Well, you keep coming back alive, don't you?" Lottie replied.

Nat looked at Lottie and then gave the liquid one final look before drinking and passing the rest to Hayden, who drank it without questionig, earning a satisfied look from Lottie.

"Thanks Lot." Hayden returned her the mug and headed for the door, followed by Natalie.

The two girls walked through the snow just like they've been doing for the last two months. Today was pleasant compared to the last weeks they had, at least the sun was out, giving them a little bit of warmth as they walked through the white snow.

Honestly, things have been tougher than before lately. The energy around the cabin was always tense, especially after what happened with Jackie.

Nobody talked about the girl. They've put her body in the shack, and there she would stay until the ground defrosted and she could be buried.

Shauna spent most part of her days in there with her dead best friend. Obviously everyone thought that was very weird, except for Lottie, who wouldn't allow anybody to interfere in the Shauna situation, explaining that it was part of her grief process.

Jackie's death was already enough damage to the group, but it wasn't the only bad thing at the moment. Javi was still missing. That meant that Travis was now a part of the hunting group, transforming it into a trio since he would constantly go out with them to search for his brother.

Today was an exception, and Hayden couldn't be more glad that Travis didn't join them, because that meant that she would have some alone time with Natalie.

"I honestly don't know why we're still trying." Hayden said as they walked through the snow with no sign of animal life anywhere.

"Don't pretend you just go out to hunt at this point." Natalie, who was a few feet ahead of her, turned around to smirk at the girl.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hayden played dumb.

"Oh really?" Natalie got closer to her "I guess we'll have to keep going then." She said just inches away from the girl's face before turning back around to keep walking.