Van never took another flight after she got back to society. It was like her number one rule, and it made a lot of sense. So it figures that afterlife would be a fucking airplane/cinema. Hell and heaven all in one, who would've thought? Van almost made her peace with death, she was on the edge for so long now that it would be strange for her not to get used to the idea. But to die like this? She was fuming.
"Are you fucking serious?" Van looked at the screen, her eyes locked on the screen as her lifeless body bled out "Melissa kills me?"
"Technically, the knife was in your hand." Mari shrugged; she liked Van, but after falling into that pit, it was hard to feel sympathy for any of them.
"Fucking Melissa !?" The redhead was still in shock.
"If it makes you feel any better" Nat sat in front of her "Misty fucking Quigley killed me, so..."
It, in fact, did not make Van feel any better.
The television in front of her continued on, now showing Taissa crying over her body.
"Can I talk to her?" Van felt her heart breaking. She just wanted to tell her that she was okay.
"If she's traumatized enough." Nat gave her a half smile. "I tried talking to you guys, but only Misty saw me. Though Jackie has full-on conversations with Shauna almost every day"
Jackie shrugged from her seat.
"Fuck" Van shook her head "It wasn't supposed to be like this"
"You really fucked up there, Palmer" Jackie got closer to them "Made me lose my window seat."
"I told you Van was next," Javi said, victoriously looking out the window.
"You... you bet on my death?"
"Well... not yours exactly," Jackie explained. "We just like to guess who's joining us next; as you can see, there isn't a lot to do around here. Don't take it personally, almost everyone has been guessing you ever since you revealed your cancer."
Van looked around, being met with guilt-looking faces: Javi, Travis, Mari, Nat, Coach Ben... even Laura Lee was avoiding her eyes. God, was she such a losing dog like this?
"Hey" Nat tried to console her "It's not personal okay, and look, not everyone guessed that it would be you. Jackie here was rooting for you."
"Rooting for me or just against Melissa?"
"Same thing, really."
Jackie had been rooting for Melissa's death for so many years, and when someone finally got close, this was what happened. Fucking hell.
"Leave her alone, guys," Coach Ben interrupted.
"Why do you still only have one leg?" Van questioned. Everyone else seemed pretty intact despite their deaths.
"Is this what you're questioning right now?" Travis joined in.
"I mean... yeah?" Van looked around "What even are the rules to this place? Why do I still have my scars and coach has one leg but Jackie...?"
"Still have my flesh?" Jackie cut her, although she didn’t look pissed. "You guys ate me after I was dead, remember? I was already here."
Van felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. Had Jackie been watching them ever since that first winter?
“Don’t worry, Van. We have a very strict forgiving policy here,” Jackie assured her. “I mean, Javi has forgiven Nat for sacrificing him…”
Javi nodded, still very focused on his window.
“...Coach Ben has forgiven Mari for turning him in.”
Coach Ben agreed.
“And Mari has forgiven you all for the pit.” Jackie turned Mari, who quickly turned away. Seemed like Mari hadn’t done much forgiving.
“Mari,” Jackie used her captain voice, “We can’t hold grudges around here.”
“Yeah?" Mari mocked, "Are you gonna tell Melissa that when she spawns next to you?”
Van did her best to keep her laughter in, watching as Jackie used all her strength to not launch at the girl. Jackie breathed in and went back to captain mode, ignoring the comment.
“And I have forgiven you all for feasting on my body after I died.”
"Pretty sure Shauna feasted before you died, too," Nat smirked. Getting a smack on the head from her captain. Mari snorted from afar.
On the television, Shauna and Tai now chased after Melissa.
"Is the TV always on?" Van questioned.
"Yes," Nat answered.
"And... how does it know what to play? I mean, we aren't always together. Does it just... skip and cut a lot?"
"We got to the conclusion," Laura Lee answered, "that it plays what it needs to be seen the most. It's basically how much someone in here needs to see it. When Javi arrived, it showed more of Travis; when Travis arrived, we mostly saw Nat; when Nat got here, we basically only saw Lottie, and now that you're here, I'm guessing it will show Tai a lot."
Van felt her cheeks burning, noticing that Nat was almost as red as her.
"It's mostly Shauna, though," Mari said, bored.
"Shauna?" Van asked. It was a stupid question once she stopped to think about it.
Everyone turned to Jackie.
"I'm not apologizing." Jackie shrugged.
"You don't have to." Lottie appeared out of nowhere. Javi jumped out of his seat. Poor kid.
"Lottie" Van was still getting used to the idea that Lottie was dead; what a coincidence that she was too now. "Who even killed you? Your death is the one thing everyone is trying to figure out."
"We don't know," Nat said bitterly.
"W-what?" Van looked around. "Why not?"
"I can't tell you," Lottie said ominously.
"Why not?" Van's mind began to race. maybe It was real all along and was now messing with them even in the afterlife. Maybe something even darker was keeping Lottie in silence because it didn't want them to know. Maybe the wilderness somehow had killed Lottie and was now holding their souls captive-
"I don't like spoilers," Lottie answered.
"I- Are you fucking serious?" Van was bewildered.
"She is," all of them answered. It had been over a month, and still no one knew why Lottie was dead. It was so annoying.
Van sank into her seat. Fucking hell.
"What happens when we're all back on the plane?" The redhead still had so many questions.
"Maybe it will fly us to heaven," Laura Lee smiled. And Van felt something that it had been so long since she had felt it. She felt the extreme need to tell Laura Lee to shut the fuck up.
"I think it will take us back," Lottie said quietly. Van felt a shiver in her spine. Okay, so Lottie was still Lottie in here.
"I think nothing will happen" Nat diverged from the subject. She was good at keeping Lottie grounded. "We'll probably just watch Jeff, or something."
Van could feel Jackie's eyes rolling from her seat.
"Fuck" Van laughed, this whole situation was insane "I'd rather die."