STRANGERS ♱ yellowjackets

05. way down we go

SUSANN-ROSE WANTED TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER BROTHER BEFORE LEAVING, but PJ hadn't come home that night. Neither Susann-Rose nor Phil were worried. It was normal for the boy to be gone for days at a time. It still made Bunny upset.

"Are you ready?", Lottie asks as she takes Bunny's suitcase from the girl. Susann-Rose nods with a smile as she walks to the other side of Lottie's car. Lottie's dad rented a private jet for the team, and since the girls are neighbors they decided to drive together to the airport. Bunny takes a final look at the Hopper house, the perfect green lawn, tall white walls and clean windows, and the notable absence of her mother in the soul of the property. Bunny wanted to be angry at her brother for not saying goodbye to her.

"What's wrong?", Lottie asks the blonde girl with a small frown. Bunny shakes her head as she fiddles with her necklace. "I'm mad at PJ. He didn't come home last night", Bunny sighs and stares out of the window. Lottie gives the girl a questioning frown, "Isn't he always out?"

Bunny shrugs and doesn't answer, Lottie takes that as a cue to change the subject.

Truthfully, Bunny needed her brother now more than ever. The anniversary of their mother's death was only a few days away. Bunny wasn't sure if the others remembered, but she didn't want to remind them. She didn't want to be a burden to anybody, especially now when they were going to nationals. She didn't want anyone to treat her any differently. But the other part of her needed someone to cry to. And she had hoped it would've been PJ. Again, her mind wandered to Nat. How unfair that she gets to hear all of PJ's thoughts and sorrows and Bunny had to only guess what her brother was thinking. She barely knew him anymore. And that made her want to kill herself.

"Hey", Lottie calls for the girl, "are you listening?"

Bunny snaps out of her trance and looks at the dark-haired girl with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"It's fine", Lottie says, understanding the girl's absent-mindedness.

As Bunny follows Lottie into the plane her mouth falls open in awe. She has never been in a private plane before; it just looks so expensive. Almost like even breathing the air costs hundreds.

"Are you excited?", Taissa asks and shakes the girl's shoulders lightly. Bunny giggles and looks over her shoulder at the girl, "Obviously!"

Coach Scott helped Bunny get her bag up above her seat. As she takes her seat next to Taissa with an excited smile, Natalie can't help but stare at the girl from her seat. Her eyes burn holes in the girl's skull. Worry and anxiety filled her stare. As Bunny feels someone staring she turns around and Natalie's head snaps in the other direction.

"I hope you brought your tarot cards with you. I thought we could do some readings at the hotel", Taissa says and the blonde looks back at her best friend. Her smile widens as she nods. "You know I go nowhere without them!"

"Yeah, I kinda counted on that", Taissa lets out a laugh. As the seatbelt light goes on Bunny clicks on the seatbelt, tightening it so that she can barely breathe.

"Are you tired?", Taissa asks as Bunny lets out a small yawn. Bunny only shakes her head causing Taissa to snort. The taller girl shakes off her jacket, setting it on Bunny's lap as a blanket. "I heard you talking to Shauna, you barely got a blink of sleep last night", Taissa says and cocks an eyebrow. Bunny yawns again and gives up, she sets her head on Taissa's shoulder as the taller girl makes sure her own seatbelt is on. "Knock yourself out", Tai says. Bunny hums tiredly as she lets her eyes flutter shut, "Wake me up when we're there."

Everything is shaking. Bunny wakes up as her body jolts forward and her head makes contact with the seat in front of her. She's wearing an oxygen mask, Taissa must have put it on. Bunny looks around, gripping the armrests as panic freezes her whole body into one solid scared mass. The screams feel like warm wax in her ears, excruciatingly burning her brain. She feels Taissa's hand intertwining with her own. The two girls share a look of horror and complete surrender as death tightens the grip on the two.