quiet existence | toni shalifoe

nine

Back at camp, Fatin sits in the sand while flipping through Leah's book. She giggled quietly to herself at the notes written on each page. The brunette was torn away from the book at the sound of a body dropping down beside her.

"Oh, fuck!" Toni cursed.

"How are your BFFs?" Fatin questioned sarcastically.

"You mean Anya and Martha?" Toni confirmed before continuing. "Marty's over there sleeping off her pill bender and Anya is avoiding me at all costs." She takes a moment, then letting out a loud scoff. "BFF that's rich."

"Oh, no. Did you guys have a domestic?" Fatin fakes sympathy.

"I don't want to talk about it." Toni grumbles. "Like I could be bleeding, right? My guts spilling out into the streets, but if Shelby came along with a smile and some fucking muffins, then Martha would just walk right by me. And don't get me started on Anya, I mean fuck, like I am trying to sort shit out and she just fucking blanks me."

"Oh my god, see, this is why I don't get tight with girls. The drama, the jealousy, the petty revenge schemes. It's so cringey and small." Fatin retorts.

"Martha's getting taken for a joyride and Anya is too much in her own head." Toni complains. "All Shelby wants is to hang out with Marty long enough to put 'saved a little res girl' on her college apps. So, yeah, I'm not out here being petty. I'm just trying to protect my best friend and fix the past with Anya."

Fatin completely disregards what the Shalifoe teen was saying, opting to ask her own question. "Are you an Aries?"

"What? Who the fuck cares? God!" Toni yells, jumping to her feet and storming off.

———

Whilst looking for shelter, Dot and Shelby continued to bicker while Anya followed behind them silently.

"You know, if you really knew Andrew, you wouldn't be questioning his character. Yeah, he does a lot of BMX races for charity." Shelby defended.

"Are we really still on this?" Dot questioned with a groan.

"Yeah, maybe we should talk about something else?" Anya suggested.

"I had high hopes for you Shelby. You know, you come out swinging the other day with your whole 'let's find water, let's be resourceful' now here you are, getting twisted over some high-school bullshit." Dot grumbles, whilst continuing to walk.

Anya noticed how Shelby had stopped walking, causing her to glance back to the Texan with a questioning look. Shelby then clears her throat, grabbing the attention of Dot who mirrors Anya's former movements and turns to face the girl.

"You missed something while you were frickin' lecturing me." Shelby states with a smug smile on her face.

The Rivera teen then spots the cave that resided just to the left of Shelby, stepping closer with Dot trailing behind her. The brunette Texan starts to inspect the cave, while Anya and Shelby watched expectantly.

"Hmm, well it's small, but if it opens up on the inside, you know it could work." Dot announces with a small nod.

Shelby instantly gets down onto her knees by the entrance of the cave, reaching a hand up towards Anya and Dot. "Hand me your penlight. I'll take a look."

"You sure?" Dot questions.

"I could always do it." Anya suggests.

"Girls, I'll be fine.' Shelby reassures, before crawling into the cave.

Anya and Dot stand awkwardly, waiting for the blonde Texan to tell them what she could see.

"What do you see?" Dot urges.

"Is it big enough?" Anya questions expectantly.

"It's hard to say." Shelby answers unsurely. "It's like pitch black in here... wait, wait, what is that?"

"What is what?" Dot asks, sharing a concerned look with the blonde beside her.

"Wait, so... Oh my god. Stop, something got a hold of me! Somethings got a hold of me!" Shelby screams, frantically jerking her body around. "Help! Help!"

Anya is the first to rush forward, Dot soon following. The pair grab onto the girls legs, trying to tug her out of the cave.

"We've got you!" Dot reassures as they finally manage to pull the girl from the cave.

The Rivera teen instantly dropped Shelby's legs when she noticed the girl was in fact laughing.

"Oh, fuck you!" Dot yelled.

"Not cool Shelby." Anya spoke sadly.

"I got ya both, didn't I?" Shelby chuckles. "Btw it's useless in there, doesn't go deeper than a few feet."

"That's not fucking funny." Dot reprimanded.

"Hey, if we can't have a laugh here..." Shelby starts but is cut off by Anya.

"That's not really something to joke about Shelb." Anya retorted.

"Do you see me fucking laughing?" Dot yelled at the fellow Texan. "Jesus Christ, you cunt."

Dot then starts to collect some things from the floor, branches and twigs. While Anya turned to Shelby, watching as a bug flew straight into the girls mouth. Shelby begins to violently cough. "Oh my god, something just flew in my mouth."

"It's called fucking Karma." Dot spoke with no sympathy for the blonde, while Anya watched the Texan choke anxiously.

Shelby continues to violently choke, clawing at her neck. The Rivera teen reaches out to the girl, patting her back to try and ease her coughs. The blonde Texan continues to splutter, until something shoots from her mouth and lands right by Dot's foot. Dentures.

Anya's eyes widen slightly at the sight, watching as Shelby rushes forward to grab them before running away.

"Oh, Jesus, Shelby." Dot breathed out in frustration. "Are you kidding me? Where the hell are you going?"

"Shelby, wait!" Anya called out, trying to stop the upset blonde from disappearing into the trees.

"You know what, fine. You want to run off on your own. Okay, Shelby? You're on your fucking own." Dot yells to the girl.

Anya turns to the girl sending her a disapproving look. "Dot... we can't just leave her."

Dot simply shrugs in response, throwing herself down into the sand. Anya shakes her head at the girl's behavior before rushing into the woods and searching for Shelby.

———

Unedited
Word count: 1015