doomsday. [ yellowjackets ]

quinze.

xxx.

chapter quinze.
fifteen.

xxx.

        " Seriously, how the fuck are there no fucking berries? " Mari exclaimed, kicking a large shrub that her and Akilah had been scavenging through for the past few minutes.

        Half of the group had gone out the next morning to search for berries, or at least something they could make a soup out of while Natalie and Travis went out on another hunt, hopefully one more successful than the last. Theo had only really agreed to help because she didn't want anyone getting upset with her, since she had been a bit distant and quiet with them all after the seance. Taissa was the one that it bothered most of all, she thought Theo was overreacting to the whole Lottie thing still, but Theo was done arguing with her about it. She knew what she saw, what she heard, and what she felt. She wasn't overreacting.

          " The birds could be picking them off, or mice? " Akilah suggested, and Van sighed as she kneeled down on the ground to take a short break.

         " I'd eat the crap out of a mouse right now. " The ginger admitted with a sort of longing tone that made Mari , Akilah, and Alex all give her a disgusted expression.

          " Ew. "

          " Gross. "

          " You know, some animals live off eating their own vomit. " Lottie chimed in, unprompted.

          " Okay, thanks for that image, Lot. " Van remarked sarcastically with a short nod.

          " Did Dead Cabin Guy tell you that or do you guys just chat about blood and stuff? " Mari asked tauntingly, to which Lottie just casually rose to her feet with a small eye roll.

           " No, we mostly talk about how Danny Mears dumped you for his own cousin. " As Lottie walked past Mari with a somewhat smug look and the girl tried to defend herself to the others, she approached Theo.

        The shorter girl was still crouched by one of the bushes, but she wasn't really looking, moreso she was absentmindedly staring at the green leaves and picking at the ends of the small branches to make herself look busy. When a hand gently touched her shoulder, she flinched and instantly her head shot up to see Lottie standing over her; while she didn't move as quickly as she could've, Theo did shift enough to knock the girl's hand off of her, to which a hurt expression appeared in Lottie's brown eyes.

        Theo cleared her throat awkwardly and rose to her feet, crossing her arms against her chest as if to block her body from the taller girl, and said nothing. She was glad that Lottie, and everyone else apparently, had recovered from whatever the hell happened in the attic, but she hadn't. She didn't know how everyone could just keep going about their stupid berry hunting and chores as if something seriously fucking weird didn't happen two nights ago.

        " Hey..uh, you okay? " This was also the first time Lottie was actually talking to Theo since then, and she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

       Are you serious? Theo wanted to ask, but she held back the sharp response. She knew, rationally, that Lottie wasn't the one saying those things to her or looking as if she would've choked her out right then and there. But, it was irrational to blame it on..what, a ghost? A spirit that possessed her? None of it made sense either way. Why would she say that about her mother? Lottie had never been cold or otherwise out to get her before then, but as soon as she told the others what she was saying in French, it was like something snapped.