twenty.

(Emily, I'm Sorry)

ACT ONE - CHAPTER TWENTY

1996

A sense of relief flooded over Emily at the very first sighting of a deer, it seemed that there was hope after all.

She couldn't help but glance upward, a mental thank you echoing through her mind. Maybe she still had some belief in her after all.

Natalie lifted the gun to her shoulder, without saying a word to either Travis or Emily.

Visibly stiffened by the new situation in front of her, tears welled up in Natalie's eyes, visions of her past flashing through her mind.

Emily wanted to take the gun from her, take the burden away from her...however, Emily also understood that this was something the other girl had to do.

A shaky breath escaped Natalie's lips as she pulled the trigger. This one action sent a bullet tearing through the flesh of the deer, causing it to collapse.

Emily flinched, her eyes darting away from the animal, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic toward the deer. It had just been so unsuspecting, there was no noise, and no warning before its life was taken.

Natalie lowered the gun, clicking the safety back on, she shared a look with Emily, but she knew there was nothing the other blonde could do to comfort her.

Not with Travis there at least...no one knew about them, and if anyone was to be the first to find out Natalie certainly wouldn't let it be him.

They approached the animal in silence, Natalie crouching down beside it, Emily joining her.

"We'll be alright," Emily whispered, silence following her words.

After what felt like forever, the three of them finally made it back to the cabin, deer hanging from a stick as they carried it back.

"Good work you guys," Ben spoke, as they set the deer down on the ground, "It was all Natalie," Travis replied.

"I really don't like to agree with him, however, yes it was all Nat." Emily spoke, sharing a look with her.

"So, what do we do with it now?" Natalie asked, inching closer to Emily, leaning on her a bit.

"Well, first we have to bleed it out." Coach Ben explained, then holding out a knife, "So, who wants to try?"

No one responded at first, the idea of bleeding out the dead animal was not very appealing to anyone of the teenagers. That was until Shauna spoke up, "I'll give it a try."

Shauna crossed the small space, accepting the knife, "Right across the throat," coach instructed. Emily looked away as Shauna knelt down, slitting the throat of the deer.

The whole group sat around a fire just outside of the cabin, finally eating. The day had been a small victory in the course of what the crash had been like so far...Emily wasn't going to take it for granted.

Not for one second.

"I owe you an apology."

The girl with seemingly golden blonde hair looked over at Emily, thoroughly confused by her apology.

"I've been kind of a bitch...since like freshman year." Emily continued, giving Laura Lee a small smile, "What I did...how our friendship ended wasn't right...at all."

Emily paused, stealing a small glance in Natalie's direction, "I was...and still am working through a lot of personal shit." she looked back over to Laura Lee, "I know that we're teammates, and our plane fucking crashed, so this seems like totally unimportant by the grand scheme of things but..."

Laura Lee smiled at her gently, waiting for her to continue, "I was hoping you could give our friendship another shot?"

"I would really like that." Laura Lee spoke, her smile growing wider.

"Really?" Emily asked, a smile of her own forming, "Is this the part where we hug or whatever?"

Laura Lee laughed, offering Emily a small hug, which in the moment Emily couldn't have been more grateful for.

"I missed you, Em." Laura Lee smiled sadly, and she nodded, "I missed you too."

Shortly after, Laura Lee was deep into another conversation and Emily's focus was back on Natalie.

"Proud of you, Emy," Natalie whispered, and Emily fought off the tears that built up almost immediately at her words.

Natalie understood how important it was for Emily to say those things to Laura Lee, to repair that friendship...or start to anyway.

Dancing around the dimly lit cabin had been the most fun the team had in quite a while, however everything came to a halt as the music cut off.

"Damn it," Van muttered, picking up the device and whacking it a couple of times, "Has hitting something ever fixed it?"

"Maybe try blowing on it," Mari suggested, Van following the instructions.

The ceiling above creaked, Emily looked up along with the rest of them.

"Uh, the fuck was that?"

"You heard it too?" Lottie asked, her voice filling with relief, causing Ash's worried glance to find her.

"It was probably just a branch." Taissa reasoned and Emily nodded, not really wanting to continue speaking about the odd noise.

"Inside on the floor?" Mari questioned, and Taissa sighed.

"What if it's...him?"

"What?" Shauna looked over at Mari, "The dead guy?"

"Umm, yeah."

"You know what it probably was?" Natalie started, and just based on her tone received a look from Emily basically saying 'really?'

"The dead guy's missing fingers trying to find a way out."

Some laughter and some exclamations broke out amongst the group. Emily smiled at her their hands brushing against one another briefly.

"You really have to encourage them?" Taissa questioned, and Natalie laughed.

"You gotta admit it didn't sound like it was on the roof."

"Fine," Jackie started, "Then it was a rat...or a raccoon or something, I don't know—"

Lottie shushed the group, her eyes trained on the ceiling, "Listen."

Taissa rolled her eyes and Emily lightly elbowed her, "Just humor us."

"Well I don't Here anything now," Mari dropped her hands to her sides.

"Alright, alright," Coach interrupted, "You know what I think it was? I think it was the ghost deciding it was time to get some sleep and we should probably do the same. Yeah?"

They all sort of agreed, Emily didn't, not really. She really didn't want to go through another night of nightmares.

"How are things with, Nat?" Taissa smiled teasingly, chopping another piece of wood while Emily stacked some of the already cut pieces.

A small smiled tugged at Emily's lips, she glanced around finding that everyone else was engrossed in their tasks at hand.

"Good, yeah," Emily nodded, her gaze shifting back to the wood, "What about you and Van?"

Taissa teasing smile dropped almost immediately, "You knew about that?"

Emily's eyes found her friend again, and she nodded, "Tai, I know everything."

Taissa arched an eyebrow at her, but despite the serious tone of Emily's previous sentence the two broke out in laughter.

—

Ash caught up to Jackie who was muttering under her breath as she carried the empty bucket to the lake.

"Jackie!" The blonde haired girl turned around facing Ash, "Have you seen Lottie? I think she wandered off really early this morning. I'm worried about her."

"She does seem...off." Jackie agreed, "Walk with me to get water and then I'll help you look."

Ash looked around at the trees her eyes darting around, almost worried something would jump out at them any second.

"How's Emily doing?" Jackie asked softly, regaining Ash's attention, "I knew about the nightmares...before all of this. I think I did something to piss her off, she hasn't been talking to me."

Ash shifted her eyes from the trees back to Jackie, "I don't think she's pissed at you, Jackie. I think she's just...pre occupied."

Jackie's eyes widened, "With Travis?"

Ash was totally taken back by her words, a look of disgust flashing across her delicate features.

"God no!" She rushed out, "Do you not remember her breaking his nose?"

Jackie shrugged, "He's an asshole, but that doesn't mean he's not at least somewhat attractive."

They finally broke through the trees and the lake came into view. A soft sigh left Ash's lips, "Found her."

"What's she doing out there?" Jackie whispered, and Ash shook her head. She really didn't know.

Lottie stood fully clothed, hip deep in the water, "Lottie? Aren't you cold?" Jackie questioned softly.

"Yeah," she glanced down at her hands, almost confused, "Actually. Thought it'd be warmer."

"Right." Jackie shared a concerned look with Ash.

"Just get the water, I've got her." Ash whispered, and Jackie nodded, crouching down to fill the bucket with water.

Once Jackie disappeared through the trees, Ash pulled her shoes off gently approaching Lottie who still stood in the lake.

"Are you okay, Lot?" Ash asked quietly, the cool water sloshing around as she walked.

"I don't—I don't know."

The shorter brunette held out her hand, "Come on Lottie, let's go back."

Lottie accepted her hand but shook her head, "I don't wanna go back there."

"Okay," Ash sighed, "How about we just go for a walk?"