It was all over the news.

Remaining survivors of the Yellowjackets disaster, now rescued and safely returned to Wiskayok, the haunting nightmare of the women's soccer team being stuck in the wilderness without a single person knowing if they'd ever be found again. Your heart dropped within the pits of your stomach, the list of names — a massive blur of faces, their eyes looked lost, distant even. They wouldn't dare look into the ushering calls of the reporters, being pushed back into civilization after over a year of being away from it.

It definitely would feel alienating, for them. Even if you don't know what happened.. you know that it wasn't a pretty situation.

"I can't.." Lottie's quiet murmur against your shirt, her hand barely clutching onto the covers of your bed. It had been the first time you heard her voice ever since they've arrived, and you knew that she hadn't talked at all — her parents had said so, after they made her go through numerous tests and everything. To ensure that she can be fixed. Her brows had furrowed, eyes closed shut in a manner that could be seen as one in distress.

Her head rests on your shoulder, a slow, steady rhythm of her breathing keeps you at bay. She's here. She is alive. That's all that should matter, right?

"Don't.. don't let them take me.." She whispers, a tone that could barely be heard from a distance, but you understood her all the same. Your heart aches, and it hurts to see your friend to be like this.