Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The first time that she saw her again was on TV. And out of all the wrong that had happened to them, this somehow felt like the worst even though she knew it wasn't.
Everything they did out there felt right. It felt like survival. Then they came home where food was everywhere and people said “I love you.” People talked to each other about everything and nothing. They gave hugs. No one was just food. That was crazy.
Yet, even after all that happened, Shauna still trusted the survivors more than anyone else. Shauna had to trust them. They were all so out of contact.
Everyone unplugged their phones. Reporters were calling at all hours. Misty snuck out to a convenience store a few weeks after the return. She was caught immediately. Shauna thought she probably wanted the attention. Still, she didn't talk. That was all that mattered.
Shauna couldn't believe when she saw that Jackie would be doing a TV show in the TV Guide. She told her mother it must have been a mistake. Shauna barely talked anymore but she told her that was a mistake. Her mother seemed relieved if not totally convinced.
And then there Jackie was on Oprah. She talked their bullshit story. They starved and scavenged. Some people tragically died. She broke down sobbing. Truly sobbing.
It all just made Shauna sick. She was wearing one of those beautiful sundresses her family put her in for occasions. It all just hung on her though. She hadn't gained the weight back. She looked like a skeleton. She looked more dead on that television show than she did in the woods when they were literally fighting to survive.
It was all wrong. All just wrong.
Maybe it was just the pain of it all. Shauna hadn't seen or spoken to Jackie in months. Jackie hadn't even come to see their daughter.
Their baby had never even been under fluorescent lights. The world could be too loud, too bright. There were so many more people than she had ever been exposed to in new life. She cried constantly. Shauna held her. She cooed to her not to worry. Jackie would be there soon.
When Jackie wasn't there soon, Shauna had begun to worry. She thought maybe something had happened. Maybe Jackie couldn't handle being home. She could barely handle her parents when she thought that she was moving out at age eighteen. She could barely imagine how Jackie was holding up now.
Good enough to be on a talk show. Good enough to go out but not have time for Shauna and Molly. Something shattered in Shauna.
Shauna tried to get back to normal. She really did. She tried for her family. She tried for Molly. She couldn't do it anymore. Not if Jackie wasn't coming back.