Shauna had barely slept since her exchange with Jackie a few hours earlier. She wished she could blame it on the dropping temperature, but in reality, the lack of sleep stemmed from arguing with her best friend.
"Not an argument," Shauna thought as she turned to her other side. "A fight," And while she wanted so much to be the one who was right, she knew there was blame to go around.
Apparently Shauna wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep, because she heard Tai readjusting her position as well. Shauna inadvertently opened her eyes at the sound, but almost immediately her attention was drawn to the snowflakes falling outside the attic window.
"No!" Shauna threw back the covers and clambered down the ladder to the first floor, not caring who she woke in the process. A quick scan of the room revealed Jackie wasn't among the team, which meant she was still outside. Trying not to trip over the grumbling girls, Shauna made her way across the room, threw the front door open, and ran to the slumped figure next to the long-extinguished fire pit.
"Jackie?" Shauna half shouted as she dropped to her knees. When her friend didn't respond, Shauna began to shake her. "Jackie, wake up!" Fear began to twist her stomach when Jackie suddenly gave a small flinch and mumbled something incomprehensible.
"She's alive," Shauna breathed. "Come on, we need to get you inside," When Jackie didn't respond, Shauna bent over her friend's body and checked the pulse, only to have her heart leap into her throat at how slow it was.
"Help!" Shauna screamed into the night as snowflakes began to fall even more heavily around them. "Someone help me bring Jackie inside!" By now the rest of the team was huddled around the door; Tai and Misty were the first ones to break away and join her side.
"She's barely conscious," Shauna cried as the others assessed the situation, "I don't think she can stand," With a strained yet combined effort, the three carried Jackie into the cabin.
"She's suffering from hypothermia," Misty said as they set her down in the bedroom and began to lay extra coverings over her, "We should keep her in a horizontal position,"
As the cabin came alive with the sounds of scurrying, Shauna took Jackie's frozen hands in hers. "Please stay with us," she begged. "Please don't die because of me,"
Hours later Jackie began to regain consciousness. She became vaguely aware that she was lying on the bed in the cabin, unlike where she last remembered falling asleep. She'd dreamt some of her team members carried her inside…or had that really happened? She was still too tired to care.
What did seize Jackie's attention was Shauna sleeping on the floor next to her. With nobody else in the room, it was almost as if her old friend was guarding her.
Without warning, Shauna's eyes opened. At the sight of Jackie awake, Shauna was on her feet instantaneously.
"Hey. How do you feel?"
A part of Jackie wanted to turn onto her other side and ignore the question all together, but she didn't feel this was the best response. "Tired," she answered instead. At least that was the truth.
"Rest as much as you need," Shauna said. "We have a fire going. I can get you a cup of warm water if you'd like,"
Noting the complete 180 from last night's conversation, Jackie flat-out asked "Why are you being so nice to me?"
Shauna's face fell. "Do you remember anything from last night after you fell asleep?" she asked quietly.
"No," Then, remembering the dream-like sequence, Jackie added "Maybe seeing some of you try to carry me at one point, but that's about it,"
Shauna knelt beside the bed. "You were suffering from hypothermia," she said. "Your temperature, your pulse…it was extremely low. Fortunately, Misty was able to provide aid, otherwise you would have…" Shauna trailed off, unable to bring herself to say the word.
"I would have died?" Jackie finished.
"Yeah," Shauna looked away, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "That,"
For the first time since reading Shauna's diary, Jackie felt a surge of compassion for her old friend. What happened between Shauna and Jeff still left a gaping hole in her heart, but as she lay there trying to remember anything from the encounter last night, Jackie vaguely recalled hearing Shauna scream for help.
"You saved me," Jackie said.
"We saved you," Shauna corrected.
"Yeah, but you came outside. You found me. And you called for help,"
Shauna's gaze dropped to the floor. "I couldn't let anything happen to my best friend,"
"I know," Jackie's voice was softer now. "Despite the…choices that were made, the things that were said last night…I know,"
Shauna swallowed as tears filled her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry. About Jeff, about almost killing Travis, about everything,"
"And I'm sorry too. About what I said and about Travis,"
"We've all done some bad stuff, and this…" Shauna gestured around them, "…place…doesn't help," She turned back to Jackie, a resolute expression on her face. "From now on, we work together as a team. That way we might still have a chance of making it through the winter,"
Jackie nodded. "No more secrets, no more lies,"
"Yes," Shauna agreed. "No more secrets, no more lies,"
There was a moment of silence as the two girls thought about everything that had happened within the last few months: the love, the loss, the grief. Those emotions rang just as true in the forest as they did in the civilized world; in some ways, even more.
"I'll take you up on that offer for warm water," Jackie said. "Can you bring some over?"
"Yes," Shauna said, "Absolutely,"
Jackie watched Shauna leave the room, thinking about how this near brush with death put things into perspective for both of them. They had a long way to go before they could heal, but as of this morning she knew they had both taken the necessary step in the right direction.
