HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER SEVEN !
THE HEAT WAS SWELTERING down upon the teenagers as they all gathered round outside the cabin, each of them engaging in their own tasks. From sorting through their clothes to scavenging berries and roots for them to eat, everyone had something of worth to be doing.
Everyone but Travis Martinez, who had taken it upon himself to grab the dead cabin guys gun and brandishing it about, aiming it high and low at whatever little animals he saw. With zero training on how to handle a gun, mind you.
"Hey!" Van cried out as she rushed over and grabbed at the weapon his hands, attempting to pull it from his grip. "You don't know what the hell you're doing with that!"
Jackie scoffed from where she sat further up on the porch. "He's being fucking stupid."
Travis rolled his eyes while standing from the porch steps, gun still in hand before fixing a glare upon the group of girls. "No, what's stupid is the fact that we have a gun and we're not fucking using it."
A derivative, hearty chuckle fell from Nola's lips as she stared up at the Martinez boy. "And you think we would trust you with a gun?" She didn't trust Travis with a fork much less an actual weapon.
He was delusional to think that he could just go out into the woods guns-a-blazing and come back with any form of food for them. Surely the animals would hear him coming, seeing as how he stomped about everywhere with a sour look upon his face. Now, Nola wasn't stupid. He missed his dad but he certainly wasn't making it any easier on himself with his dickish behaviour.
Travis shot the brunette a glare before grasping the weapon tightly and aiming it up high. His finger pulled hard against the trigger, firing a round from the chamber at the squirrel in the tree. A thunderous bang filled the air, hurting the ears of those who stood nearby.
"Oh shit!" Someone suddenly called out. Natalie came into view as she ran from around the cabin, her hands up in the air as she questioned, "What the hell?"
"Hey! Give me that." They all glanced up to see Coach Ben standing in the doorway, using his makeshift crutches to hold himself up. The man moved forward and held out one of his hands. "Travis, give me the gun."
"This is a dangerous weapon and we will handle it as such. We understand?" Coach Ben explained. His tone was incredibly serious, reminding them all in that moment that the man was once in an authority position. Something that felt like so long ago.
Now holding the gun, the man shuffled his weight back to the crutches. "All right, that said, Travis is right. We're out of food. We're all feeling it. The good news is my father used to take me deer hunting every year as a kid. The bad news..."
A deep and heavy sigh fell from his lips. He hated having to admit it but realistically he knew that at this point in the game they would be down a player. He was decommissioned, on the bench so to speak.
"I am down to one fucking leg. Which means that if we want to eat, one of you is gonna have to learn how to use this thing." His words caused many to glance around at one another. Learning to wield and fire a gun had most likely not been very high on any of their to-do lists and now they had no choice.
Coach Ben was quick to get everyone gathered and lined up outside the cabin. If they were going to learn, better sooner rather than later. To avoid wasting ammo, the man decided to have everyone hold up the gun and balance a coin along the barrel. Whoever could keep it steady while pulling the trigger would move on to round two.
Taissa was first up and though she tried her damnedest, her hold upon the gun shook which sent the coin falling to the forest floor below. A sigh of frustration escaped from the Turner girl as Jackie retrieved the weapon from her. Jackie's attempt wasn't any better as she too sent the coin to the ground mere seconds after it was placed along the barrel by Misty.
"All right, come on let's keep it moving." Coach Ben stated as Jackie sulked over her failure to keep the weapon levelled. "Martinez. Let's go."
Travis pushed himself away from one of the wooden pillars from the cabins porch and made his way over to Coach Ben, grabbing onto the rifle. "Uh, yo. Javi, come try this." He uttered while waving over his little brother.
The young Martinez boy shot up from where he sat wedged in between Nola and Van, glaring daggers at Travis as he stomped past. The boys voice was harsh as he snapped, "Fuck you."
"Ooh." The collective voiced.
"Deserved." Nola muttered under her breath while Laura Lee took a more forward approach with a quip of, "Nice going, Flex." as she stared up at Travis.
The Martinez boy turned away from them all with a look of determination on his face. As the coin was placed along the barrel by Misty once again, only seconds had passed before the trigger clicked and the coin remained still on the end.
Travis allowed a smug, shit-eating grin to pull at his lips. "See, and that ladies, is how it's done." He bragged as he spun around on his heel and brandished the weapon in front of the girls, ignoring the series of middle fingers sent his way.
Coach Ben rolled his eyes before pulling the gun from Travis' hands. "Nice, Martinez. Nat, you're up."
Cheers from the girls of 'You got this, Nat.' or 'Yeah, wipe the floor with him, Natalie.' echoed in the wind that travelled through the trees. They wanted, no needed her to beat him.
They all watched with intrigue at how Natalie would fair using the gun. While practically on the edge of their seats, the group observed the blonde's hands shake as her breathing turned frantic just before the sight of the coin collapsing to the grass below. It was a gut punch for them all because of how badly they wanted her to succeed.
Travis cockily lowered his head to the frayed Natalie. "That's a shame. Now, you know what, next time we can just stick to something you're actually good at, like folding laundry or sucking—"
"Hey!" Many of them yelled at in defence of Natalie. Once again, Travis just had to be an asshole.
As if filled with some new sense of purpose, the Scatorccio girl suddenly announced, "I'm going again."
From her place behind the group, Jackie questioned, "Can she do that?"
Coach Ben thought it over for a split second before shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, I'll allow it."
"Okay, this is bullshit." Travis complained in annoyance, glancing over to the man. Why should she get to go again, he thought.
The coin was placed along the barrel for Natalie once more. The suspense loomed in the air, hanging over them all as they waited with bated breath for the reveal. After only a few seconds, though it felt like a lifetime, Natalie pulled the trigger with a steadiness that allows the coin to remain still.
Immediately they all began to cheer for the blonde. A series of clapping and 'yeahs' filled the air while Natalie smiled, pleased with herself.
Coach bit back a proud smile that fought hard to appear on his face. With as neutral an expression as he could muster up, the man uttered, "Nice job."
As everyone cheered for Natalie's success, Nola snickered at the sight of a pissed off Travis rushing off into the woods. "Oh come on, Flex. Don't run off now." She called out after him, laughter interwoven with her words.
"Nola." Coach Ben warned.
She simply shrugged her shoulders. She didn't feel bad, not after what he'd just said to Natalie. "I'm not sorry. Besides it's my turn now." She uttered while stepping forward and taking hold of the gun from Natalie.
She was quick to grip tightly to the weapon, holding it close to her torso while getting eye level with the barrel. A low thump of her heartbeat hit against the inside of her ear as she focused. This thumping was soon replaced by an all too familiar sound. The whirring grew louder and louder but clearer and clearer.
In that moment as she stared along the barrel, her body stiffened up significantly. As though her bones had calcified and hardened, she appeared seriously still, similar to that of a mannequin, to everyone else.
"Nola, you okay?" Coach Ben questioned. It was odd how still she had become.
His words were fuzzy and faded for the Rilke girl, barely able to be heard. All Nola could focus on was the whirring that was now so much more intelligible. What once was a simple but irritating sound that tormented her, was now almost speaking to her.
Not knowing why she was all of a sudden able to interpret the sound and not wanting to even attempt to pull the trigger, Nola purposely jostled the rifle to send the coin to the grass. The sound faded in seconds. Feigning annoyance with herself, the brunette sighed as she turned to the group. "Sorry guys. My hands just aren't steady enough."
She quickly shoved the weapon in Misty's direction causing the blonde to take hold of it just as Nola moved away towards the group. She stepped past everyone else and sat down at the back of the porch, wrapping her arms around her knees while pulling them to her chest and leaning against the wall of the cabin. Her breathing was a little rushed and fast paced though it was hidden from everyone as Crystal stood up to practice, allowing Nola to stew with her thoughts and worries alone.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE VERY MOMENT THAT practise was over, Nola had veered off from the group and headed out into the forest. She didn't go too far from the cabin but far enough to create a little distance between herself and the others. It was safe to say that Nola was spooked by what had happened and she felt like she was going insane.
It was a sound only she seemed to be able to hear and now it was slowly becoming intelligible. She hadn't been able to move earlier. Stiff as a board as though the sound had grasped her by the throat somehow and kept her from pulling away from the gun. She hated it.
"Here you are." Someone's voice pulled Nola from her thoughts. She turned her head to glance over at the person, only to find that it was Shauna. Nola hadn't even heard her approaching, she was that caught up in her own thoughts.
The Shipman girl shuffled forward, her shoes pulling up the leaves and dirt that blanketed the forest floor as she crossed over to Nola. With a soft smile, she explained, "I've been looking for you."
The Rilke girl observed as Shauna fell to the ground and cozied herself up against Nola. Her girlfriends behaviour brought the faintest of smiles to Nola's lips. "Yeah. Sorry I haven't been much help. I've just been feeling really overwhelmed today."
"You're okay." Shauna assured the brunette. She was concerned for Nola but didn't want to pressure her into speaking on her troubles if she wasn't ready yet. Shauna knew that Nola would tell her when it was time.
Silence overtook the two. It was calming to be able to just exist in one another's presence without the need to fill every silence with useless chatter.
As the two girls sat there, a small laugh fell past Shauna's lips. "This is the first time we've had some time alone since the crash." She explained once she saw the look of confusion from Nola.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Nola muttered. A sudden glint in her eye caught Shauna's attention as a seductive little smirk pulled at Nola's lips. "You know, despite being greasy, you look really pretty." The Rilke girl jested while effortlessly trailing her hand up Shauna's leg.
Shauna chuckled at Nola's shitty attempt at flirting. "Smooth."
Though she said this, the doe eyed girl found herself constantly floored by Nola's attempted at seduction, no matter how bad they were. It was hard not to. The idea that Nola continued to flirt with her despite them being together for almost a year at this point, despite knowing that there was no need, that she already had Shauna, caused warmth to bloom within in Shauna's chest.
Before Nola could utter another word, the Shipman girl pushed forward and captured Nola's lips with her own. A small squeak of surprise emitted from the Rilke girl though she quickly melted into the kiss. Shauna bought her hands up to gently cup Nola's face while shifting to lean on her knees. Her body towered over Nola, who welcomed the change by gripping onto Shauna's waist, fingers clutched tightly to the fabric of her top.
"Shauna!" The echoing voice of Jackie Taylor travelling through the trees caused a groan of annoyance to escape from Nola as she was forced to pull away from Shauna to avoid them being caught. As Shauna shuffled back and returned to sitting on the ground, yet another yell from Jackie filled the air. "Nola!"
"Oh my god! Is she serious?" Nola lowly complained as the Shipman girl giggled at the pissed off expression her girlfriend sported while she gently brushed her pad of her thumb over Nola's cheek before letting her hand fall to her lap. "It's like she can sense us together without her."
Jackie appeared from behind a nearby tree. A smile grew on her lips at the sight of her two friends. "There you guys are. Come on, it's time to eat." She stated while gesturing for the two girls two girls to follow her back to the cabin.
Both Nola and Shauna rose to their feet. After brushing off the dirt that clung to their clothing, both moved towards Jackie who welcomed the pair with a smile as she moved to the middle of them and interlocked her arms with each girl before pulling them towards the cabin.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
jamielee's thoughts.
chapter seven. not proofread.
lads another chapter finally! so we now have a bit more info on the sound that nola has been hearing. as many can guess, it's cause of the wilderness and it's attempting to communicate with her similar to how it communicates with lottie or taissa. anyway hope you enjoyed :)