"I wish I never went on that airplane" Nicole signed, her motions displaying how defeated she felt in this hellish moment.
Nicole Wilson was one of the best players on her soccer team. She was also one of the happiest. That was until on the way to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
May 1996: The Canadian Wilderness
It was around 3am and the moon was bright enough for Nicole to see clearly. The fire had clearly burnt out a while ago so all the brunette could see were outlines of trees made out of a blue glowing light. She sat up and looked around at everyone sleeping, finding one sleeping area empty, it was Van's. Nicole started to panic, the only noises she could hear were the crickets and her own panicked breathing.
Nicole stood up, her mind foggy. She could barely think as she walked in some random direction to try to find Van.
Nicole then heard another sound, a ripping and growling noise rang out through her head and the small area surrounding the source of the noise. Nicole followed the noises and ran towards them, her legs carrying her as fast as they could. She found a clearing and slowed to a stop.
The brunette looked around for any sign pointing to where the sound was coming from, breathing heavily. She looked ahead at the ground and saw a piece of fabric, the fabric was striped. Nicole knew immediately that it was one of Van's shirts.
The growling and ripping was getting louder and louder. Nicole continued to follow, looking at the ground for more fabric. She quickly stopped once a shoe attached to a leg came into her field of vision and the ripping and growling stopped as small footsteps faded out.
Nicole looked up and saw Van, bloodied and limp, almost half of her face basically gone from what Nicole could see in the dim light. Nicole tried to scream but nothing came out. Only choked back gasps left her throat as she cried silently.
Van opened one of her eyes and stared at Nicole
"You did this to me, Nic. I hope you're happy." Van's voice came out strained and painful as she guilt tripped Nicole. Nicole gasped for air but felt like the wind had been knocked out of her as she tried to breathe.
——
Nicole woke up in a cold sweat, the cool morning breeze covering her slightly sticky arms in goosebumps immediately. Nicole sat up quickly, looking around for Van and found her looking right at the brunette. She sighed in relief when she saw the redhead.
"Are you okay? You were hyperventilating, I thought you were going into cardiac arrest" Van explained, her hand on Nicole's shoulder now and a small smile on her face, clearly amused by her own comment. Nicole exhaled sharply, trying to forget what she saw and what she heard.
"Yeah. I'm okay. Just a nightmare" Nicole responded 'not too far from what we're going through' she finished her sentence in her head as she didn't want to see Van upset at her sudden pessimism.
Van nodded in understanding, her face slightly dropping as she finally remembered how bad the situation they were in was. Nicole could tell that Van had been thinking the same thought she did.
"Hey, Van. Could you help us? We were thinking of digging some graves for our teammates who didn't make it." Lottie asked Van and the redhead nodded, standing up. Nicole looked around and almost everyone was up and moving, some were just waking up but they all were awake somehow. The brunette reached for the wrap around her head and took it off, she was sure the bleeding stopped by now and she was right, just the right amount of pressure was added and now she was fine - the small pulsing pain in her wound barely bothered her. Nicole then got up and started to help with the rest of the group.
