and you call it love

the way you know the whole time jackie’s going to die. she represents civilization she stands for the old rules and privilege they lived by. she’s not perfect and she’s not terrible she’s just built for the life she had before and nothing else. when she dies the old rules die. her death is unintentional but it is the result of the group’s first collective act of cruelty since the plane crash, and marks a turning point in all their lives. new rules. it is winter and they will have to change to survive. with jackie gone they can submit to the genre, they can give into the horrors and the dream logic and the hysteria and the hunger. the rules of civilization, like apologizing to your best friend after you betray her, no longer apply. she died because shauna could not apologize to her. and shauna carries that guilt and carries jackie inside her the rest of her life. you love your best friend so much you consume her. you killed her so you marry her boyfriend and you go to her stupid birthday parties 25 years after her death and you hold onto her ghost like a vice.