last update for 2023, let's fucking end the year with a bang
but first-
and Havana Liu as Yumi Heineken
***
"You have to be kidding," Jackie mumbles. "I thought she was locked up somewhere in Switzerland?"
"Apparently not anymore," replied Taissa, sitting on the chair near her, evidently stressed over their situation.
"Misty," she called the woman in glasses. "Didn't they maintain permanent residence there?" Van asked.
"That's what Mr. Matthews said, like, 22 years ago. It's not like we share a coffee and have a nice talk about it. I was just lucky to be passing by their mansion when he was selling it," responded Misty, recalling a memory from more than two decades ago.
"And he immediately dismissed me when he realized I'm one of the plane crash survivors and asked where Lottie was," she added to her statement, repeating the same thing she told everyone before.
Shauna, who has been quiet for a while, finally joined the conversation. "I've read in one article that Matthews' business is doing well," she informed everyone. "Maybe she's here for a business trip?"
"Running a goddamn camp doesn't sound like a short business trip, Shauna," Natalie replied sarcastically.
Taissa exhaled heavily, trying hard to make sense of what was happening, but she couldn't. Nobody knows what happens to Lottie after Malcolm transfers her into a Swiss mental institution, and that was more than two decades ago. None of them probably thought they would hear about Lottie again.
"There's only one way to find out whatever she's up to," said Taissa. "We need to talk to Lottie."
Natalie let out an exaggerated laugh, as if she treated what Taissa said as a joke.
"You want us to bust into that camp to see her?" she asked the woman. "It's Lottie, Tai. Do you even think about whatever's waiting for us there if we do that?"
Silence enveloped the atmosphere. But that didn't last long when Jackie spoke again.
"Let's do it," she stated, ignoring what Natalie said. "We'll see what the fuck Lottie was up to."
"Just like that?" Shauna asked her best friend.
"Yeah, just like that," replied Jackie, as if what they were about to do was simple.
"If we do this, are you even sure that she will face us?" asked Natalie. "She didn't reach out to any of us in the past years. I get it if her dick of a father didn't let her talk to any of us before, but may I remind you it's been two decades?"
When none of the girls responded to her, Natalie continued to speak.
"It's her choice to leave us," she said.
They all looked at her, certain that she meant another thing.
Lottie Matthews abandoned Natalie Scatorccio. She took it the hardest when Lottie disappeared, and they all witnessed how it affected Natalie. They all came to the conclusion that Lottie had probably moved on from the incident and chosen to simply live a normal life in Switzerland.
But after finding out she was running a camp and somehow using the symbol that fucked them all up at the maximum level, perhaps the woman didn't move on at all.
It wouldn't be their business anymore if Lottie was still stuck in the past. It's just that the woman was risking every little secret they all swore to keep from the public. And they can't just watch and do nothing about it.
"But we have to stop her," said Van in a stern voice.
Natalie stared at the red-haired woman, a grin visible on her face.
"Oh, now you want to stop her?" she asked Van mockingly. "Finally renouncing your faith in the cult you all started that made her worse? Retiring from being Lottie's right hand?"
The red-haired woman walks slowly to where Natalie was standing, anger building up in her system.
"Let me remind you who was the reason why Lottie stopped talking," she told Natalie. "She went nonverbal because of you, Nat. Then what, huh? Masking your guilt by taking care of her to make yourself feel better?"
Van's concern for Natalie's feelings earlier is now gone. All she wanted to do was wipe that smirk off the woman's face in any way she would be allowed to.
But as tension builds up between the two, Shauna stands on the space gap.
"Stop. This isn't the right time for this," she said, smoothing things over before they could even say hurtful things to each other.
Taissa pulled her wife back a little, with Misty doing the same thing over Natalie.
Natalie popped open another can of beer to quench her thirst and resume her drinking, which they interrupted, waiting for the tension between her and Van to gradually lessen.
She knows that there's no way she could stop them from doing what they all wanted to do-she couldn't stop them before either. But it won't be good either if she leaves them on their own.
"There's a cheap inn two blocks away from here. It's already dark. You could spend the night there," said Natalie in a much calmer voice, finally giving up.
If you can't stop them, join them.
"What? No, we could still drive-"
"Jackie." Shauna stopped the woman, giving her a meaningful look.
The woman gave up and simply rolled her eyes.
They packed up their things and exited Natalie's house one by one to check out the inn she was talking about where they could spend the night before leaving the next day to visit Camp Green Pine.
But Misty remained still and stood near the door, holding her bag and laptop, looking at Natalie with pleading eyes.
"Can't I just stay here with you?" she asked Natalie, who immediately responded.
"No."
"Please?"
"I said, no."
"We could use this time to bond, you know. Like catch up-"
"Misty, get the fuck out."
***
[1996]
The sun was almost out when Jackie, Natalie, and Agami-whose body was still recovering after carrying Van on her back for miles-reached the cabin.
Like Natalie claimed, Agami only needed a few minutes to rest to at least recover a little energy she lost, then forced herself to move again. She didn't want to stay out in the woods after dark either, so she didn't dare slack off too long and decided to rest fully once they're back at the cabin.
But she couldn't. Not when Van's cries and screams of pain from getting her face stitched up without any anesthesia were the first thing they heard the moment they entered the cabin.
Natalie immediately rushed to help the others hold Van properly still to avoid any more problems as Akilah closed her wounds, while Jackie stood not far from the group and couldn't help but move back and forth from tension. She even saw Lottie sitting and covering her ears to probably tone down the sound of hearing Van's sharp cries.
The scene overwhelmed Agami so much that she decided to go out once again, a few meters away from the cabin, and sit down on the ground. She then unconsciously starts hitting her head on her knees repeatedly to try to get out of sight of Van's scratched face and piercing cries of pain in her mind.
"She'll be fine, she'll be fine, she'll be fine," Agami whispered to herself.
A cold breeze that sent shivers down her spine suddenly passed by where she was standing, or rather, it seemed to envelope her body.
"I brought her back... I brought her back..."
Agami knows her emotions were clearly all over the place. But she felt powerless over her own mind and body. Was it because of fatigue? Is she that drowsy that her legs moved on their own and stood up?
"I successfully brought them back. They're here now."
How did she end up standing in front of a tree with that symbol, holding a sharp stone with her hand, and carving something on it?
"I won't let them leave."
She wanted to stop. But she wouldn't stop. It wanted her to keep doing it.
And once she was done or felt like she was done, Agami stepped away from the tree. As if she were a machine with a switch, she immediately threw the rock she used as she finally got back the control on her own body.
There, it finally registered to her what she did on the symbol.
Three long lines surround it-vertical ones on both sides and a horizontal one on top. As she stared and tried to make sense of what she added, it appeared to have created an image of a barrier around the symbol.
A what feels like a heavy hand that she suddenly felt on her left shoulder is what brought her back to reality. She immediately pushed away the arm of the person out of both surprise and fear, and at that moment she knew she wouldn't hesitate to attack whoever it was if they meant her any harm.
Agami stared at Lottie, terrified of the woman, terrified of it. But the expression visible on Lottie's face-the look that she was giving her-was enough to snap her out of her trance.
"What are you doing out here?" Lottie asked in a worried voice, holding a lamp in her hand, which served as the source of light between them.
Agami's eyes roamed around, and she only realized that it was already dark. She then ran both her hands over her face anxiously, attempting to fully wake herself up, and looked back at Lottie once more.
That's when she noticed that the tall brunette in front of her was already staring at what's behind her-the tree-or specifically at the symbol.
The light emitting from the lamp helped Agami see Lottie's face, which was now filled with confusion, as she walked closer to the tree, then began tracing them gently with her hand.
"You drew something on it," said Lottie in a low voice, staring once again at Agami. "Why?"
Agami shook her head repeatedly. "Not now," she told Lottie. "How's Palmer? Is she okay?" she changed the topic.
"She passed out after Akilah finished the stitch-from pain and exhaustion, I guess," replied the woman.
But Lottie couldn't let go of what was happening at the moment. So she tried her luck again by asking Agami about it.
"What's the thing that you carved?" she asked Agami, who was obviously not in her best mood and didn't respond to her question.
"Was it some-"
"For Christ sake! Fuck off, Matthews!"
Agami's enraged scream startled Lottie so much that she almost fell down when she stepped back. The woman's eyes were so red, and she was glaring directly at her, looking like she was ready to hurt her. And it was the first time she saw Agami acting that way-looking at her that way.
"You know what I'm thinking right now, huh?" Agami asked Lottie furiously, "Why did we not stop them from leaving?"
Lottie didn't respond, her mind going back to the visions she had when Laura Lee baptized her on the lake. They lacked clarity, they felt symbolic. Unclear yet still terrifying. But she chose not to overthink them.
"What happened to Palmer is on us, do you hear me?" Agami stated, guilt painted all over her face.
Lottie remained quiet.
"It's on us,' repeated Agami before leaving the woman alone.
She went back to the cabin right after that. The noise was finally gone, and everyone was so quiet that the thuds from the soles of her boots as she walked towards the unconscious injured woman were heard in the four corners of the room.
Taissa was sitting beside Shauna, their hands tightly gripping one another as they both stared blankly. Akilah and Misty were cleaning everything they used on treating Van, as well as preparing something they would later use to change the bandages on the red-haired woman's face. Then there were Jackie and Natalie, who were just sitting across from each other, both quiet and fidgeting with things they were holding.
Agami sat on the empty chair beside Van, trying to calm herself down and distract herself from thinking about what happened just then.
Her eyes landed on her bag, which was sitting on the ground and was luckily within her reach. As she picks it up, she immediately searches for one thing-the flute.
But instead of playing the same melody she plays every night, an old memory flashes through her mind.
She closed her eyes as she tried to recall the humming sound that her mother used to sing when she was still a kid, and she tried to recreate the same tune on the wooden flute. If the one she usually plays was calming and comforting to the feeling, the melody coming out of the flute right now was both heartfelt and sentimental.
The sound lingered in the cabin. Agami was worried that she might be playing something too emotional that she's not supposed to play at the moment given the situation, but when she didn't receive any complaints from the girls, she didn't stop.
Once she decided to end it, the first thing that caught her eye as she opened them was Lottie, who was leaning on the doorframe of their cabin and watching her intently. And she stared back. She didn't break their eye contact, as if they were talking about something only they could understand without saying a word.
But that only lasted for a few seconds when she felt a movement beside her.
Van, who was still weak, tried to sit up from where she was lying. To her surprise, Taissa didn't rush to the red-haired woman and simply watched her quietly, as if she were restraining herself from approaching Van. Misty, on the other hand, was about to help the injured woman when she noticed her struggle to get up, but as she walked toward them, Agami gave her a knowing look and shook her head.
They had to let her do it herself. Pity is definitely the last thing that Van needs.
To Agami's confusion, the red-haired woman handed her something, which she accepted without any question. As she checked the item that Van gave her, she could only smirk at the sight of it.
"Critical...hit..." said Van, her shaking hands pointing at her own face.
Agami clenched the knife in her right hand while her left hand went to cover her own mouth. Slowly, her shoulders started moving, and some kind of stifled laugh was heard in the quiet cabin. Until she finally let out a loud and almost breathless laugh, which will surely make anyone who hears it think that the woman finally lost it.
But she couldn't help it. Everything was already mixed up in her system, and she was so sure that she was laughing in an exaggerated way, yet she didn't stop. She sounded so insensitive about the situation, over Van.
Taissa was about to say something when Agami finally spoke up.
"You're officially the bitch that God couldn't kill," she told Van.
Everyone in the room stared at the woman unbelievably, as they couldn't grasp how Agami was treating the situation as a laughable matter, like she always does in many things.
But shortly, their attention shifted to the injured woman, who just let out a chortle, looking up at the ceiling as her shoulders moved and her lips curled up a little.
That's when it struck them that it was just what Van needed. Something that none of them-not even Taissa, the person who knew the woman the best-consider.
She didn't need the depressing looks, apologies for what happened, or sentiments of guilt. Right now, Van needed the one thing she always gave them. And Agami understood what it was.
Their long day had finally ended. Agami finally learns from Taissa about what actually happened the other night as she tells Shauna the story behind it. They listened to every word she said, and they both saw how guilty the woman was about what happened, blaming herself for everything.
But what surprised her the most was the fact that Taissa was sleepwalking. That explains why she sometimes sees the woman leave the attic on random nights when everybody is already sleeping, which wakes her up, yet she simply ignores it.
"Blaming yourself for what happened is a good way to drive yourself crazy. You should stop," Agami told Taissa.
But she does blame herself and Lottie for what happened. She was a hypocrite.
"Did you hear what I just said?" asked the woman one more time.
"All of it," replied Agami. "It's not your fault that you sleepwalk, you know."
"I fell asleep when I was supposed to watch over them. I was the one incharge-"
"I don't think Palmer would appreciate what you're doing right now," Agami cut off. "No one's blaming you either. I'm sure nobody sees this one coming."
The last part was, somehow, a lie. She did dream of it. But it was the aftermath that she saw, not what happened before. She might have a gut feeling about the danger that's coming, yes. But she didn't know how exactly it would happen.
When Agami woke up, the sun was not up yet, and it was still a little dark outside, but Taissa and Shauna were already up. Although none of them are going down the attic yet, the women spent comfortable silence, wondering what awaits them today.
Not Agami. She knew exactly how she would start her day, and she immediately went down in an attempt to drag Natalie with her.
Natalie was still sleeping with everyone when she went down, so she kicked the woman on the leg gently but enough to wake her up as she spoke in a low voice.
"Scat, get up," she told Natalie.
"Go away," replied the woman, half asleep.
Agami shook her head, not backing down. "I'm not giving anyone their share if I have to carry that deer all the way here alone."
That woke Natalie up immediately, getting up from where she was lying.
"We'll leave in five," she told Agami, who then just smiled teasingly at her as a response.
Their walk back to the place where they caught the deer went smoothly. Fortunately for them, it was still there, and no other animal found its body, which means they will no longer be hungry for at least a week. It probably took them a few hours to go back to the cabin, given that the two of them were carrying something heavy that slowed them down.
Agami thought that they would be greeted by the girls once they were within sight of the cabin. But instead, there's no one outside doing chores or anything, and it's all quiet.
"Weird," she said as the two of them put down the stick where they tied the deer.
"I'll check inside," Natalie stated, also confused about what's happening.
Agami nodded her head in agreement. "I'll head to the lake. Maybe they went for a swim," she replied, hoping she could find Shauna there to start butchering.
As she went to the lake, nobody was there either. The current was calm, given that the wind was not strong.
But when did she come down to the lake? Why was she sitting in the raft that she and Laura Lee made, holding the paddle stick, and rowing in the middle of the lake?
Agami tried to stand up in confusion, balancing herself in the shaky raft and holding the long stick in her hands. She closed her eyes and listened to the wind as if it were telling her something. And as she opened them again, something from the sky caught her attention.
There was fire-it was raining fire. But as the ashes fell from the sky and touched her skin, they turned into droplets of blood.
A splash from her left side, which indicates that something has fallen, was heard. Agami immediately checked. And there, she saw a small, familiar teddy bear, completely burned, slowly descending into the water.
"Agami!" she heard a loud voice calling to her, which pulled her out of a trance.
That's when she realized that she was not on the lake but just on the shore and standing over the log raft-only she was actually holding the long stick they used as a paddle.
"I've been calling you many times! Why the hell are you ignoring me!?" asked Natalie, clearly annoyed over the situation.
"What-I, ah, huh?" said Agami, visibly confused. "I didn't hear you."
"Forget about that," replied Natalie. "I know where they are, and we gotta go."
"Where are they?" she asked Natalie, her heart hammering through her chest.
"Van told me everybody went out to prepare the Cessna plane," responded the woman. "Laura Lee's gonna fly it."
Agami froze. Things are finally starting to come together and fit like a puzzle.
From the moment she touched the plane for the first time-which triggered the strange happenings for her-down to what she just witnessed.
And that is why, the moment they rejoined the group, who were almost done with their preparations, Agami immediately searched for Lottie and forced the woman to face her. Everyone's attention is shifting towards them.
"Did you see something when Lee baptized you in the lake?" she asked Lottie.
The brunette obviously became uncomfortable when she noticed that everyone was looking at her and Agami, so she tried to dodge the question.
"I don't know what you're talking-"
"WHAT DID YOU SEE!?"
Agami's loud scream startled everyone, and her intense eyes terrified Lottie. So she gives the woman what she wants, repeating the same things she told Laura Lee when her friend asked her the same thing.
"The holy spirit. I saw fire and light," she told Agami, pausing for a moment before finishing her statement, revealing some things she didn't tell Laura Lee.
"And her-" said Lottie mindfully, sparing Laura Lee a glance. "turning into a silhouette as they grew brighter behind her."
Agami finally let go of Lottie, her expression changing drastically.
"That's no holy spirit."
No one was able to stop Agami. They couldn't do anything to stop her. It happened so fast, and they have no power over her.
Agami unshouldered the gun from Natalie's body, taking it, and cocking it immediately as she raised its muzzle. The next thing they knew, the woman pointed it in a direction that everybody knew she wasn't supposed to, pulling the trigger twice and shooting the plane.