[1996]
"Has hitting something ever fixed it?" asked Van as she aggressively shakes and taps the walkman she was holding.
After everyone had their fill of eating some meat from the deer that Natalie and Travis caught earlier, the girls were once again so full of energy that they decided to party and do a little choreography. The problem was that the walkman's battery that they were using ran out before the music even ended, which was, of course, a huge bummer.
"Maybe try blowing on it?" Mari suggested, which the red-haired woman did next without hesitation.
Suddenly, they heard a loud creak coming from the attic that made everybody look up. If she were honest, Agami would say it was really creepy because that sounded like someone was taking a nice evening walk in the attic and not just random things falling on its wooden floor or small animals playing in their cabin's loft.
"Hell nah. I'm out of here," said Agami, her voice appearing to be so done about everything, then shoving Misty to the side as she made her way towards the door to exit the cabin.
She can hear everyone talking about it, but she's not in the mood to participate. She had a really long day, and the last thing she needs at the moment are ghosts or any creepy shenanigans. Laura Lee was even calling her name, but Agami just raised both of her hands and shook her head, ignoring the woman, and walked straight to the porch.
The night was still young. But being stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the wilds far from civilization, will make you feel like you were sent to a different world once the sun disappeared and the darkness took over the sky. That if you dare explore the night woods filled with nothing but giant trees and unknown predators, death will be waiting for you, as the moon wouldn't even be there to guide you.
Agami heard light footsteps coming from her side, and when she checked to see who it was, her upper lip curled up a little as a gesture of greeting, knowing that there's no need to be hostile towards the person.
"You're not going to rest?" Agami asked in a gentle voice.
"I'm not yet sleepy," Javi replied shyly. He then extended his hand in front of Agami, scratching behind his ear, as he handed her something that she didn't even notice he was holding at first because of the lack of light. "Can you play something?" he asked Agami nicely.
She took the flute from Javi's hand gently, not wanting to do any damage to it or even scratch the wooden instrument that Goldman kept with so much care.
"Yeah, I guess," she responded to the young man.
Agami completely forgot about the existence of the flute because of the weird things that were happening to her. With Javi bringing it to her, she was reminded of why she even took it in the first place. Maybe it could help her ease her mind for the night.
She took a long and deep breath, closed both her eyes, and raised the flute all through her lips. Without wasting a second, Agami then started to blow air into the blowhole of the instrument. Her fingers danced over the holes smoothly, which helped her create the perfect notes that flowed out from the flute. The soothing melody that Agami produces as she continues to play envelopes the whole area. She even felt a warm breeze touch her skin, as if the wilderness were answering her serenade, and it gave her a sense of peace that she hadn't felt in days.
The music echoed in the woods for minutes, and even she couldn't tell how many times she repeatedly played the same melody over time. But one thing's for sure. Anyone who will hear it will never get tired of listening to it, as if it's just comparable to breathing if the melodious tunes that Agami makes with the flute will forever be set on repeat. But to end it, she slowly tunes down the loudness by blowing less air on the last repeat until the sound completely fades.
When she put the flute down, Agami turned to face Javi again, only to find out that some of the girls were now standing on the porch with them.
"And you just watched me blow and hit the walkman like an idiot?" said Van.
"Who would fucking dance to 'This Is How We Do It' in flute instrumental?", responded Agami, staring at Van in disbelief.
Laura Lee slowly raised her hand, which earned a weird stare from everyone.
Agami speaks in a flat voice. "Of course you are. Surely you would dance to the piano cover of Macarena."
Natalie, who was quiet to the side, let out a muffled laugh.
"Alright, everyone, let's get inside. We should all get some sleep," said Taissa.
They went back inside the cabin, one by one. Agami wrapped her arm around Javi's shoulder and shook him a little as they entered the wooden shack together, to which he just responded with a smile. Travis may be nothing but an asshole, but his brother was his complete opposite. Javi was just a silent kid and probably the least problematic person among all of them.
The night went by so fast, and Agami was thankful that she finally had the first full and complete sleep without any interruptions after many nights. Maybe playing the flute did help her have a peaceful rest so much that when she woke up, nobody's sleeping beside her except Jackie, who was still covered in a blanket and lying not far from her. The door was wide open, and she could see the morning sun outside and hear indistinct chatter.
She got off the mattress and put them aside, along with the blanket she used to sleep on. Her eyes then landed on the sleeping woman, who was lying in the middle, and just shook her head from the sight. Although she couldn't blame Jackie, with that full dinner they had last night and the cold morning weather, it will really tempt you to just lay all day and do nothing.
Agami immediately went outside to join the other girls, who were all busy doing different things. She then walked near the fire to check whatever they were cooking, only to grimace when she saw bloody stuff on the right caldron. Agami roamed her eyes around, staring at the girls one after another.
"Don't tell me you all have periods right now," she stated, which earned everyone's attention.
"Our periods have synched up," replied Akilah.
"How is that even possible?" Agami responded.
"Because we're a team, Dick," said Natalie in her usual tone.
"That didn't help explain things at all?" Agami replied in a flat voice, making her way to sit beside the woman, then grabbed her own bowl to eat some breakfast.
"Suck it up. As if you don't get the monthly bloody shit like the rest of us," Natalie retorted, then laughed.
Agami swallowed the food in her mouth before making a reply. "Oh, I won't," she said, then swallowed another spoonful of food before speaking again. "I'm pregnant."
Everybody stopped what they were doing. They all stared at Agami with horror, and that immediately made her regret saying it.
"The fuck did you just say?" said Taissa in a serious voice.
Agami gulped. "I was joking. Chill guys."
Nobody responded after that, and everyone was still staring at her in silence. Natalie could only pinch the bridge of her nose while Taissa ran her hand through her face upon hearing Agami's words.
"Bad joke? Sorry," said Agami, her voice full of regret.
"Seriously, did you have sex with someone before we boarded the plane?" Akilah asked Agami, her face straight.
Agami furrowed her brows at the question. "What the fuck?"
When she roamed her eyes around again, the girls were still staring at her seriously, as if they were all waiting for her answer.
Most of them didn't know Agami before they boarded the plane together, so Akilah's question made sense to them. Nobody knows what the woman was up to before their flight, and not a single one of them even expected the plane to crash, so if the woman really boarded the plane knowing that she's pregnant on their supposed three-day trip to Seattle that went fully wrong, it would be a huge problem for everyone.
Agami then cackled. "Are you seriously waiting for me to answer that?" she asked everyone.
"Just answer the damn question," said Taissa, her voice full of authority.
"It doesn't matter if I did!" Agami defended herself.
"Yes, it is!" replied Taissa.
"Hey, my sex life is none of your business!" exclaimed Agami.
"We don't care about your sex life, Dick. But answer the goddamn question," said Natalie, emphasizing the first part of her statement.
"Fine! If it's a yes that you want to hear, then yes! Jesus Christ!" Agami yelled in frustration, hoping that that would finally make the girls stop asking any further.
But she could only massage her temple upon hearing another question from Van. "Well, did you use a fucking condom?"
"Seriously? Why would you even move on to that question?" she told the red-haired woman.
"So you didn't use any condoms. Did you at least take some contraceptives?"
"No, Charlotte. I did not," she sighed, then smiled sarcastically at Lottie. "Oh, god. Everyone, please stop asking such questions."
"If you don't use condoms or take any contraceptives, then how are you able to prevent pregnancy?"
"Fuck you, Quigley! I'm not that stupid to get myself pregnant!"
"Then answer our questions, dipshit. You had sex before boarding the plane, didn't use condoms or contraceptives, and your fucking period is late! Kindly enlighten us on how we would be so fucking sure that you're not pregnant right now!"
"You guys are giving me a headache!"
"Fuck's sake, Dick. Just say whatever method you're using for birth control, because we have to make sure that it's fucking effective!"
"LESBIANISM, BITCHES!"
With that, the exchange of screaming finally stopped, just for the silence to take over. Agami shut her eyes firmly, then let out a long, heavy, and shaky breath. When she opened it again and looked over at Natalie, the woman with the bleached hair was biting her lips, but Agami knew what her eyes were saying. All she wanted to do to Natalie was punch her in the face, but she could only do that to her mind.
"Shit, I didn't see that coming," said Van, then finally let out the laugh she had been holding for almost a minute.
The others joined her and started laughing as well. Agami just flipped her middle finger at everyone and rolled her eyes at them as she spoke one more time.
"And for your information, I'm not late on my period. I just had it before we boarded. So enjoy your menses, cocksuckers," she said, pausing for a moment before finishing her statement. "Also, I never had sex. Fuck you all, bitches who can't take a baby joke."
Agami finished her breakfast after that, ignoring the huge grin on Van's face and Natalie's teasing. Once she was done, she made her way to the lake, where she volunteered to check the net that they put near the shore, hoping it caught some fish they could have for lunch. But there was nothing. It didn't catch anything.
She wasn't surprised about it at all, not because it's not possible for the lake to have any fish, but for the reason that the net's holes were too big and that some part of it was even ripped. Agami stared at the view of the lake and watched the water's current in silence, wondering if the idea she had on her mind would work. But just as she told Van, there's only one way to find out, so she made her way back to the cabin.
"Got anything?" Shauna asked her.
Agami flipped the bucket she was holding upside down. "Nothing."
The girls groaned in disappointment.
"Not that I'm being picky or anything, but we definitely need to eat other things aside from meat," said Mari.
"And even if Travis and I go out there every day to hunt, there's no guarantee that we'll always come back with something like yesterday," said Natalie.
"Should we start maybe preserving the meat?" Shauna asked everyone, taking on her role as the butcher for the group.
Taissa nodded. "There's nothing wrong with making sure we still have something to eat in the following days," she said. Shauna then responded by saying she would start later but asking them how she should do it.
"Cut it into thin strips, then dry them under the sun, I guess. That's the only way we could preserve them. I mean, we don't even have salt right now," said Agami, shrugging her shoulders.
"Great. We're gonna have jerky every day," Natalie commented. Taissa rolled her eyes.
"Well, you don't have to if you choose not to eat every day."
Before the two could even get into a heated argument, Agami spoke again.
"Who among here can dive confidently and hold their breath underwater for a long time?" she asked everyone.
They looked at her in confusion for asking such a question in the middle of a meat preservation discussion. But Agami ignored the weird stares they were giving her.
A few seconds later, one of the girls raised her hand. Agami sighed heavily, seeing who it was. "So, no one?" she asked the girls one more time.
Everybody furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, then pointed at the girl who raised her hand, which Agami still chose to ignore.
"Oh boy, there's a reason why you girls are state champions of soccer," she sarcastically remarked at the group.
Lottie took a few steps forward as she spoke to Agami. "Are you seriously ignoring the fact that one of us raised their hand?"
Agami blew some air out of her mouth, then smiled at everyone.
"Alright, let me rephrase my question," she said, pausing for a moment before she continued. "Who among you can dive confidently and hold their breath underwater for a long time except Laura Lee?"
The woman then lowered her hand and glared at Agami, finally getting a hold of the situation.
"Are you kidding me right now?" Laura Lee asked Agami, which Akilah agreed to by asking a follow-up question.
"Yeah, what's wrong with Laura Lee? Do you have a problem with her?"
Agami ignored Akilah and her accusations and just stared directly into Laura Lee's eyes as she responded to the blonde woman's question.
"And are you seriously forgetting how you found Jesus?" she told the woman in a serious voice.
A few moments later, an exaggerated laughter coming from Van filled the air while the others remained oblivious to what was happening.
"What?" Lottie asked, still confused.
Agami sighed heavily, finally giving up, and simply accepted the fact that it was only Laura Lee who could possibly be with her. With that, Agami conceited.
"Whatever. Just don't go bump your head on some rocks out there when you dive. We can't afford to start a new religion here."
She left everyone wondering about what just happened and let Van do the honors of telling them the story. She went inside the cabin and searched for the box containing tools that they found when they were cleaning the cabin. Agami packed everything she thought might come in handy later, especially the handsaw, and put them in a sack together. She shook her head as she saw Jackie still sleeping on the floor on her way out of the cabin.
When she arrived outside, the girls were laughing as they surrounded Van while Laura Lee stood behind them, obviously trying to make them stop. When the blonde woman saw Agami again, she threw daggers at the woman. She mumbled 'what' and looked at Laura Lee innocently as if she didn't start whatever was happening.
Agami walked to where Van was standing, tapped the red-haired woman's shoulder to get her attention, but let her finish laughing before speaking.
"If you have nothing else to do, come with me," said Agami.
Van composed herself before replying. "Where?"
"To find some dead and dry tree logs, I'm planning to make a raft so Lee and I can try spear fishing in the middle of the lake, or maybe try diving if we still can't catch something with that," explained Agami.
"You thought of that?" Taissa asked Agami.
The woman's eyes slightly widened upon realizing something.
"Shit, I should have told you first. I didn't mean to be-"
"No. I just mean it's great thinking. Going in the middle of the lake makes total sense if we can't catch something with the net," Taissa said and nodded, a smile visible on her face.
"Well then, can I borrow your girl for a while?" Agami asked Taissa in a low voice, making sure that it was only the three of them who heard that. "Because I'm definitely gonna need some help building that raft,"
Taissa lost her smile after hearing Agami's words, but before she could speak again, Agami grabbed Van by the left arm and pulled her away from everyone, making their way to the woods.
"What the actual fuck?" Van asked Agami.
"Ahh, the three of us are going to hell," said Agami, laughing as they walked.
Van didn't reply to that, as she understood what the woman meant.
Looking for dead and dry tree logs wasn't easy since most that they stumbled upon were either too short or too cracked to be put to use. They were exploring the woods for almost two hours now, and they only found three logs that they're not even sure would be useful in building the raft. After another hour of finding one more log and carrying it all the way near the lake, they decided to go back to the others to have lunch.
As they were taking their time walking back to the cabin, Van started a conversation.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" said the redhead. Agami didn't say another word and just nodded.
"Why were you on that plane with us? I know the school sent you to come, but Tai said she was surprised that you actually joined us," asked Van.
"Doing your homework, I see," replied Agami, grinning at Van. "The club adviser said she will let me write an entire section in the school newspaper if I go with you, and I really need that for credentials. So you see, that old woman knows how to get me."
Van nodded after hearing Agami's response but was still not satisfied with the woman's answer.
"Just that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for me, I wanted to prove myself by winning nationals-that I am actually good at something."
Agami remained silent and just listened to Van.
"For Nat, I think it's securing her ticket out of her current life. Then there's Tai, who always wanted to be good at everything, and for Shauna, I think it's about stepping out of her comfort zone." said the red-haired woman, pausing for a while.
"We have other reasons for boarding that plane, you know. Not just playing soccer." Van then stared at Agami. "What about you?"
Without any hesitation, Agami gave the woman her honest answer after finally understanding what she meant with her question. "Charlotte."
That made Van stop taking another step. "What?"
"I said, Charlotte."
"Wait, do you have a thing for our Lottie?"
"You mean like your thing with Turner?"
"Yeah?"
"It's not like that."
"Then what?"
Agami scratched the back of her head, not knowing how she could even explain things to Van. Surely sharing prophetic dreams with one another sounds like a joke.
"Well, to make a long story short, I was involved in some incident during my freshman year, and she was present there," she simply told Van. "Maybe I will tell you someday."
The red-haired woman nodded, not pushing the subject more since she could tell it was personal from how Agami sounded. But before they could even reach the cabin, she spoke again.
"Are you sure you don't have a thing for Lottie? You don't stand a chance, but I could still try and put up a good word for you."
"Oh, fuck off, Palmer."