STRANGERS ♱ yellowjackets

39. time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me

TIME NEVER MOVED FORWARD FOR NATALIE. Even after they were rescued from the wilderness, everything remained meaningless and shallow. The essence of life had slipped through her fingers, leaving her adrift in a sea of emptiness. After leading the group through the harrowing months in the wilderness, she had found a strange power in the spirit of Susann-Rose, who haunted her among the trees. But when they returned to civilization, the ghost of the blonde girl disappeared, leaving behind a wound that would never heal. Drugs and alcohol became the second-best way to forget the dead girl. Each drink and pill numbed the pain, but every coin has two sides; Natalie was terrified she'd forget Bunny completely. This fear drove her to rehab repeatedly, where she promised herself she'd get her act together, start a new life, and honor Bunny's memory.

Yet, she never did—she never went fully clean, nor did she move on with her life. She was haunted by the promise she made to take care of Bunny, a promise that now only highlighted how breakable and worthless her words were.

The years blurred together, and Natalie found herself back at the familiar bars, searching for oblivion in the bottom of a glass. She woke each morning with a hangover and a heart heavy with the past. Her mind was a labyrinth of guilt and sorrow, each twist and turn leading her back to the same unbearable truth: she couldn't change what happened. She couldn't bring Bunny back.

Natalie saw Bunny in everything. The ghost of the love of her life was woven into the fabric of her daily existence, a constant, bittersweet presence that she could never escape. Every shadowed corner of her life seemed to echo with Bunny's laugh, her voice, her ghostly touch.

In the mornings, as Natalie stumbled out of bed, she often found herself pausing at the window, staring into the distance where the sun's first light filtered through the trees. The golden rays reminded her of the way Bunny's hair glowed under the sun, a halo of light that framed her face with an ethereal beauty. On rainy days, the gentle patter of raindrops against the windowpane mimicked the soft cadence of Bunny's voice, murmuring secrets and shared dreams in the stillness of the night.

Walking down the street, Natalie's eyes would catch flashes of blonde hair among the crowds, making her heart skip a beat. She knew it wasn't possible, but for a moment, she would forget reality, lost in the illusion that Bunny was still alive, still walking beside her. The scent of lavender, Bunny's favorite, would occasionally waft from a passing stranger or a nearby garden, pulling Natalie back into memories of shared summer afternoons, lying in fields of wildflowers and making plans for a future that never came.

At the bar, the clinking of glasses and the hum of conversation would sometimes drown out the world, but then a certain song would play on the jukebox, and Bunny would be there again, singing along, her eyes closed, lost in the music. Natalie would sit silently, her fingers tracing the rim of her glass, her mind awash with the vivid image of Bunny dancing, carefree and alive, her spirit untamed by the horrors they had faced.

In the quiet moments of the night, when sleep eluded her, Natalie would lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. The shadows cast by the moonlight would dance and flicker, forming shapes that reminded her of the forest where they had fought to survive. Bunny's face would appear in the darkness, her eyes full of unspoken words, her smile a ghostly comfort that offered both solace and torment.

Even in her dreams, Bunny was a constant companion. Natalie would find herself back in the wilderness, the two of them huddled together for warmth, whispering promises to each other. She would wake up with a start, the weight of those broken promises heavy on her chest, Bunny's presence lingering like a phantom pain.

Everywhere Natalie looked, Bunny was there, a spectral imprint on the world around her. She saw her in the changing leaves of autumn, each fiery red and gold leaf a reminder of the life that had been snuffed out too soon. She heard her in the laughter of children playing in the park, their innocent joy a stark contrast to the darkness that had enveloped their lives.