A/N: What's up, my fellow readers? :) I hope you are all having a great day.

"Until Dawn" was most definitely one of my top most favorite video games in all of existence. Not only did I play it multiple times, but I enjoyed the game so much that this idea formed in my brain shortly after I played it the first time.

Summary: Its been a year since the mysterious disappearances of the Washington triplets: Hannah, Beth, and Scott. Now, twelve friends are in desperate need of closure. They return to the Washington lodge on Blackwood Mountain, completely unprepared for the night of horrifying terrors and secrets that's coming their way.

For months, I've debated on whether or not to write this story; but now, I've decided to embrace it and bring it to life for your entertainment and suspense. Basically, I'm going to be writing out the entire game and sticking to the exact same plot, all while adding some more characters, scenes, and decisions of my own. :D

These new characters are:

1) Scott Washington

2) Russell Curtis

3) Chelsea Amberwood

4) Lucas Mitchell

5) Ethan Miller

Thirteen overall characters ... who will live and who will die? You'll have to read and see.

Warning: This story is only rated T for Teen because it includes language, innuendos, and graphic descriptions of violence and gore. Also, if you never played "Until Dawn" or at least watched it online, this story will obviously contain spoilers.

Also: Since the game is over six hours long, please keep in mind that chapters will be lengthy and will require plenty of time to work on. I'm balancing schoolwork on the side of this, along with a few other fanfics.

Feel free to share your thoughts and give me feedback, whether you PM them to me or post them in the reviews. I very much appreciate and look forward to feedback, so please don't hold back on reviewing. :D

Every decision has the chance of altering something throughout this story. There will be many of my own little twists along the way. Make sure you read very carefully. ;) Relationship statuses/character traits will appear in the next chapter.

Now, it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy! Have fun reading the prologue!


The Butterfly Effect

A tiny butterfly flapping its wings today may lead to a devastating hurricane weeks from now.

The smallest decision can dramatically change the future.

Your actions will shape how the story unfolds.

Your story ... is one of many possibilities.

Choose your actions carefully.


Russell's POV

ONE YEAR AGO. FEBRUARY 2, 2014.

It was Hannah's idea to throw a party, but it took a lot of convincing from Beth to get me invited. From what I heard, the whole gang was going to be there and Scott knew nothing about it until last minute. Which, to be honest, wasn't much of a surprise to anyone. Scott Washington was usually always the last one to find out about his sisters' plans, courtesy of his own jam-packed schedule. Not only was he on the track, ice hockey, and basketball team, but he also participated in a majority of the videos on Josh's blog and even found the time to help organize Mike's class president campaign. Plus, he had straight A's and was involved in a happy, committed, and ... "active" relationship with Ashley.

Everyone - inside and out of the group - seemed to agree that Scott looked a lot like Simon Nessman, who was this "legendary" male model that my first sister was absolutely obsessed over. In a way, I guess I could see it. Scott had the same slicked back hairstyle and very similar bone structure, but his eyes were much rounder and they weren't brown. Instead, they were the same milky shade of green as Josh's eyes. Also, despite how he usually wore contacts, Scott had a pair of glasses that would've matched Chris's down to a tee if they hadn't been brown. He was very proud of his appearance, needless to say.

The two of us went way back and I got along perfectly fine with Josh and Beth on the side, but Hannah was a different story. For some strange reason, she wanted nothing at all to do with me. Beth knew, considering she was the one who Hannah confided in about everything, and she constantly tried to figure out what the problem was so she could fix it. However, she never could. Josh, on the other hand, pretended that there was nothing going on for the sake of the rest of the group; and Scott ... well, of course Hannah refused to let him find out about how much she despised me. I was his best friend, for crying out loud!

The Washington family always tried to maintain close relationships and avoid conflict, especially the triplets. In fact, during spring break last year, the three of them decided to take a trip to a tattoo parlor while Josh went to see some horror film with Mike, Matt, and Lucas. Beth had always been on the fence about getting a tattoo, but Scott figured that it would be a great way for him to kick off break and Hannah, I guess, always wanted one. So, while Beth just sat in the waiting room and studied some samples, Hannah got the small image of a black butterfly designed on her shoulder and Scott got a medium-sized, dark blue lightning bolt printed on the right side of his neck.

As for me, I was like the Americanized version of the actor Danila Kozlovsky. I had the exact same shoulder-length hair, except mine was slightly wavier and dusty blonde. Not only that, but I had a light olive complexion, my eyes perfectly resembled two pale blue sheets of ice, and there was a small, bright red scar slashed across the bridge of my nose from a birthday incident.

Back when I turned sixteen, Josh decided to celebrate by sneaking me, Scott, and Chris into a late-night bar with a couple of fake IDs. At first, the evening seemed fine with the four of us shooting darts, playing pool, gossiping, cracking jokes, and downing some margaritas on the side of our birthday shots. But then, around one in the morning, everything was shot to hell when Josh, now completely wasted, tried picking up a girl without realizing that she was there with another guy. Plus, to make the situation even worse, this guy was a huge and buff biker dude that was dressed entirely from head to toe in leather and had enough metal in his face to stun a metal detector.

Long story short: one hell of a fight broke out and I was slammed in the nose with a shot glass, causing me to be stuck with this minor injury and even the nickname Scarface (courtesy of none other than Joshua Washington) for the rest of my life. Scott, on the other hand, had dislocated the biker dude's jaw and was expected to face charges over assault and battery. That is, until the officer on duty found out who his father was.

Bob Washington was a famous and unbelievably wealthy movie director, mostly known for his horror films that involved a lot of gore, complex relationships, abrupt jumpscares, and twisted endings. I swear, with every movie he ever produced, he had audiences trampling over each other to get to the theater before the film had even been released. He was also well-known for buying Blackwood Mountain and having his family's lodge built right on top, which was where Hannah's invitations stated that the party was going to be held. So, when Mr. Washington agreed to sign a couple of autographs, the police "coincidentally" decided to let Scott off with a warning instead. Talk about an eventful birthday, huh?

On the bright side, considering the outcomes of that night, I didn't see how this winter getaway could possibly end with anything worse. The fifteen of us were just going to get together to have fun and enjoy the luxurious lifestyle while we could. There would be no nosy professors staring directly over our shoulders or any overbearing parents barging in every few minutes to make sure that everything was okay. We had the entire mountain all to ourselves: a college kid's dream. What could possibly go wrong?


WASHINGTON LODGE. BLACKWOOD MOUNTAIN. ALBERTA, CANADA.

12:45

This wasn't my first time visiting the Washington Estate, but it was my first time during the winter. The lodge was hauntingly beautiful - an enchanting maze that was constructed entirely out of sturdy wood, polished grey bricks, and mortar. Unfortunately, it still had its disadvantages. Since it was so large, not only was it remarkably easy to get lost while exploring, but Josh made it perfectly clear that in order to prevent a fuse from blowing, we weren't allowed to use so much of the electricity at once. So, it looks like tonight's main source of light was going to be provided by the moon, along with a couple of Mrs. Washington's candles and just a few of the dim ceiling lights.

I was currently in the kitchen, staring out one of the windows with a half-empty can of Coke in my hand. A violent snowstorm was just starting to stir up, making it difficult for me to see hardly anything except for a couple of nearby trees. Now, I was really starting to regret how I had talked my professor into letting me take one of the DSLR cameras with me on this trip to make up for my lack of pictures on my previous assignment. How in the hell was I supposed to get any interesting shots with the weather like this? Snow was getting swept all over the place in thick wisps and frost was beginning to form right before my eyes along the edges of the window. Looks like I'm going to have to improvise and find things worthy enough to be captured on film inside of this place instead.

My camera was where it had been almost this entire night: suspending by its strap and resting lopsidedly against my hip, waiting to be used. Aside from that, I was wearing an orange-and-black, button-down, long-sleeved flannel with some worn out jeans and a pair of dark brown army boots that used to belong to my dad. I also had a pair of onyx-black aviators hanging out from the single pocket of my flannel, considering it had momentarily slipped my mind while I was packing that this wasn't one of my usual summertime visits.

The outdoor shutters were beginning to rattle around from the wind, making it sound like somebody was trying to break in.

I kept my eyes on the storm, watching in boredom as the not-so-tiny snowflakes swirled around in a bunch of patterns. Then, just as I was about to make a move to take another sip of my soda ... I could've sworn that there was something out there that caught my eye. For a moment, I froze, already making the assumption that one of the group members must've decided to go outside. But that didn't make any sense. It was far too dangerous to be out there right now. So, with my curiosity getting the best of me, I dared myself to get closer to the window.

I leaned a little over the counter and squinted, trying to focus my eyes on whatever it was that I'd seen. By this point, there was so much snow being blown around that I could just barely notice the railing of veranda that was right outside the window. Though, further out in the yard ... I spotted something. Just between a couple of the trees that stood beside the long, icy path that led to the cable car station, I noticed this mysterious figure. I couldn't make out any of their features, due to how horrible the blizzard was, but by what I could see ... it looked like he or she had a very lanky figure and was crouching down like a dog behind a few rocks. Not only that, but they were as still as a statue, as if they had no problem at all with this god-awful weather.

"What in the hell..." I muttered, pinching the shutters between my fingers as I leaned in even closer to the window in a miserable attempt to get a better view. "Is tha-"

SLAM!

A loud gasp escaped from my lips and I tore my hand away from the shutters, smacking it directly over my heart at the abrupt sound. As I did, I heard two new sounds: one, someone trying to swallow their laughter, and two, someone else allowing theirs to erupt out of them like a volcano.

"Whoa, Russ, relax," said the one who was starting to let their chuckles slip out, "it's just me and Mike."

Immediately recognizing the voice, I groaned and rolled my eyes. After that, I turned my head and saw none other than Scott now standing beside me, dressed in a black-and-grey striped shirt with mid-length sleeves, a pair of designer jeans, a dark green puffer vest that he'd left unzipped, and a pair of black wool socks. He was also wearing a royal blue beanie that belonged to Josh atop his head and he had his glasses pushed up the bridge of his nose, giving it away that he must've forgotten to pack his contacts. His tattoo was completely visible, too.

A goofy grin was spread practically ear-to-ear across his face, exposing his vague dimples. He had purposely slammed his hand down on the counter to startle me. I swear, if there was one main thing that he and Josh had in common, it was taking any possible opportunity that was given to them to scare the shit out of their friends.

"Dammit, Scott!" I sneered, shoving him in the shoulder before I spun around on my heels and rested my lower back against the counter. "Don't sneak up on me like that. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Mike's laughter was just starting to die down from where he was standing on the opposite side of the kitchen. He pretended to wipe a tear away from the corner of his eye as he spoke through his remaining snickers, "Jeez, Russell. Cool your jets. Over-exaggerate much?"

I rolled my eyes again and crossed my arms over my chest, still feeling my heart pounding a million miles per hour in my chest. "Shut up, Mike." I mumbled, making sure that it was low enough under my breath so he wouldn't hear. I didn't have anything against Mike - he was a good pal to have; but sometimes, it really annoyed me when he pushed my buttons like that for his own entertainment.

"Hey, man, my bad. I'm sorry." Scott said as he gave me a friendly slap on the back.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I rebuked, despite how the look in my eyes gave it away that I really did accept his apology.

With his face still decorated by his highly amused grin, Scott turned away from me and started to approach the humongous island. Which, by the way, was cluttered by dozens of beer bottles, multiple gallons of soda, some plastic cups that'd been tipped over and long forgotten about, and ... Ethan.

Until now, I'd completely forgotten that Ethan had been in the kitchen with me this entire time. He was basically the male version of Allison Reynolds from The Breakfast Club, sitting on top of the granite counter in some sort of yoga position. If I remembered correctly, it was known as the lotus position - when you crossed your legs so your feet were resting on top of the opposite thighs. He had a fair complexion and unruly, chocolate-brown hair that was decorated with intense red, blue, and purple highlights. Then, there was his outfit: jet-black jeans with a few multicolored patches sewn over the rips, an oversized crimson sweater, ratty converse, five multicolored beaded bracelets (two on one wrist and three on the other), and even a necklace that had a pendant shaped like a dreamcatcher hanging from it.

Needless to say, Ethan was very ... different. There was nothing mentally wrong with him or anything like that. He just didn't ... like following society? I think that's the best way to put it. He didn't like the idea of being the same as everyone else, so he morphed himself into the being he was today. I'm not going to lie, I often found the things he said and did to be very weird and eerie; but he was my friend and I was willing to accept him.

"So, what are you guys doing in here?" I asked, directing my words only to Mike and Scott since I knew that Ethan wasn't going to break out of his silence anytime soon.

"It's my family's lodge," Scott declared. He raised his arms up in the air, as if he was being applaud for. "I can go wherever the hell I want, whenever I want ... and I was kind of in the mood for a drink."

He sort of mumbled the last sentence to himself, and I definitely would've chuckled if I hadn't been caught up in thinking about the strange figure I'd seen outside.

"Yeah, and, uh..." Mike drawled, gaining my attention in less than a second. He looked down at the floor and waited a couple of seconds before he continued, "...Emily wants me to fix her a margarita."

Scott breathed a quick snort, no doubt finding it hilarious that the strong-minded Michael Munroe was whipped; but he didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed a brand new plastic cup from beside the fridge and returned to the island, where he then unscrewed the cap on the half-empty gallon of Sprite and started to pour. About halfway, he stopped and uncapped one of the unopened bottles of beer, taking a sip of it before he poured the rest into the same cup. It's official: I will never understand his taste buds.

"Another margarita?" I asked, not knowing whether I sounded more confused or more in disbelief. "Didn't she already have two?"

Mike scratched the back of his neck, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, well ... she's not drunk yet and really wants another one. You know how she is."

"Yeah, you're right, I do know how she is. That bitch makes Godzilla look like a winner." With that thought ringing in my head, I lifted my Coke up to my lips and took a nonchalant swig to prevent saying it out loud. Then, after swallowing, I watched as Scott passed another plastic cup over the island to Mike and said, "Well, it's her margarita, Munroe. If it's so important to her, then why isn't she in here making it herself?"

"She doesn't want to risk spilling anything on her new jacket."

I groaned slightly at that pathetic excuse and raised my can up again as the next insult rolled into my mind, "Translation: Queen Bee-yotch doesn't want to get her lazy ass off her throne."

"Make sure you go easy on the tequila, Mike." Scott cautioned as he kicked back against the refrigerator. "It's only night one and Josh wants to make every possible ounce we have last this whole trip."

Mike made a motion that was supposed to represent him saluting. "Will do."

I really didn't understand Emily. I've known her ever since we were in the seventh grade and, believe it or not, she used to be my best female friend in the group. Back then, she was very honest, funny, and charitable; but now ... she was a nothing more than a manipulative and possessive bitch. Ever since her mom landed this job as VP at some kind of fashion industry, Emily thought that she was on top of the world. That was back in freshman year - back when she decided that she was "too good" to be anything above an acquiescence with people like me. Now, since her and Mike have been together since junior year, her bitchiness has flown way off the charts.

You know what makes that even worse? The fact that Mike had the habit of constantly reminding me in some way that we used to be best friends. Whether that was one of the methods he used to push my buttons or not, I had no idea. Either way, it really got on my nerves ... and the last thing I needed right now was to be reminded of my past with that whore. To be honest, I can't believe I ever considered her a friend. Despite how I usually kept it to myself, I had a huge grudge against her and it was more than likely never going to go away. I've tried plenty of times to take it into consideration that she was probably the way that she was because her mother spoiled her rotten and her father had left before she even turned two, but ... no. There were absolutely no parents in history that could be blamed for such a bitch.

Suddenly, I heard Scott's voice interrupting my thoughts, "What about you, Russ?"

"Hm?" I had zoned out longer than I'd anticipated, staring blankly in the direction of the fireplace that was on the far opposite end of the kitchen like an idiot. Mike had even finished gathering all of the ingredients to make Emily's margarita and was in the middle of adding the tequila.

The eldest of the Washington triplets took down a gulp of his creation before repeating himself, "Why are you in here?"

"Oh, um ... I'm just drifting around the lodge, I guess." I pursed my lips and glanced over my shoulder so I could be staring out into the storm again. "Hey, Scott?"

"Mm-hm?"

I narrowed my eyes, almost straining them as I tried my hardest to spot the lanky figure again. "By any chance ... when you were over here..." I drawled hesitantly, "...did you see that?"

"See what?" Scott inquired.

"I thought I saw someone out there ... by the path leading to the cable car station."

Scott cocked an eyebrow in confusion and peered over at Mike. The two of them stared past Ethan and exchanged glances like they were in the middle of a telepathic discussion.

"Well, buddy, that's impossible." Scott remarked after he turned his attention back over to me. "Everyone is inside and my dad told me, Beth, Josh, and Hannah that it's just going to be all of us this weekend. There's no one else on this entire mountain."

I turned my back on the window again, doubt glimmering in my eyes. "But I could've sworn-"

"Russell, come on." Mike cut me off as he tacked a slice of lemon on the rim of Emily's margarita. "How can you see anything out there in all of that snow? Face it, your mind is playing tricks on you. Probably because you're stressing yourself out over that assignment for your photography class. And besides, if you really did see something, it was probably just a deer or a fox or some other type of animal."

Scott nodded a little, "Mike's right, Russ." He then took a sip of his beverage that was big enough to have his cheeks puff out, lifting his cup in the air as he swallowed. "Why don't you have a drink? It'll help you loosen up."

I furrowed my brow, flicking my eyes back and forth from him to Mike. "The two of you claim that I'm having hallucinations and the first thing you do, Scott, is offer me alcohol?"

"Hey," Mike flashed a cheeky smile in my direction, "next to food and sex, alcohol is the best cure for anything."

Scott snickered slightly, "Amen to that."

In another weak attempt to locate the mysterious figure, I gazed over my shoulder again; but it was no use. It was a total whiteout out there and, judging by the few shapes that I could make out, whoever that strange person was - if there had even a person to begin with - was gone. Maybe Mike and Scott were right ... but I just couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been out there, watching us...


X Insist (there's something out there)/Ignore (forget about it) X

Choice Chosen: Ignore


Maybe if I just ... ignored it ... it would go away. After all, like Scott said ... we were the only ones up here.

"Well, thanks, but no thanks." I said after turning back around. I rested my lower back against the counter again and held up my Coke can. "I already have a drink anyway."

Mike stared at me like I had just grown a second head.

At the same time, Scott gestured to the hundreds of beer bottles that hadn't been opened yet and said with a laugh, "I'm talking about a real drink."

"I already had two beers," I informed with a sudden sly tone starting to slip across my tongue, "and unlike some people, I don't drink to get drunk."

"Whoa, whoa ... wait a minute." The eldest Washington triplet coughed a few times. "Name one time I have ever gotten drunk."

One of the corners of my mouth twitched, forming half of a smug grin. "Seventh grade, Kyle Rochester's house party. Ring any bells?" I prodded. "You chugged all of the liquor that Kyle had broken out of his old man's liquor cabinet and danced to Party in the USA on top of the coffee table? I stayed with you to make sure that you would be okay after you passed out in the lounge and when you woke up, you threw up in Chris's backpack?"

A faint blush burned across Scott's cheeks, his eyes now wide and glassy from the memories coming back to him. He ran the tip of his tongue across his lips and opened his mouth, no doubt going to try changing the topic; but before he could get a word out, he was cut off from the sound of Chris calling out from the living room, "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Mike and I simultaneously called back in the most nonchalant tones that we could muster. Which, by the way, took a lot of willpower since we were both on the verge of cracking up.

"All right, all right. I get your point, Scarface. No more beer for you tonight." Scott said with a slight roll of his eyes. "What about you, Munroe?"

"Yeah, I'll have another one. Toss it over."

Scott obliged, snatching up one of the sealed bottles before he tossed it across the island like a basketball. It soared past Ethan, who still hadn't moved a muscle or said a word this entire time, and Mike caught it with no difficulties.

"And you, Ethan?" Scott asked, but all he got in return was silence. So, Scott took a sip of his drink and swallowed before trying again, "Ethan? ... You thirsty, buddy?" This time, Ethan drew in a deep breath through his nose, held it in for a couple of seconds, and then slowly exhaled through his mouth; but his eyes still remained shut. "Ethan?" Scott went for a third try, only to be given the same response.

"Yo, Ethan!" Mike, being the closest one to the chocolate-haired lad, placed a hand on his knee and shook his leg. "You in there, dude?"

At last, Ethan's eyes shot open and Mike immediately pulled his hand away. Right now, I think it's a good time to mention that Ethan's eyes were so dark to the point where they almost looked black. For a moment, he looked like he had just seen a ghost; but then, after looking at me, Mike, and Scott, he groaned and began to talk in his usual disapproving voice.

"Well, shit, guys!" He unfolded his legs so they were now lying flat across the countertop, a pointed look masking his face. "Don't you know that it's bad luck to disturb someone while they're in their peace zone?"

I raised an eyebrow and exchanged glances with Scott, just as Mike spoke awkwardly, "Uh, yeah ... sorry about that, man. We'll try to keep that in mind from now on."

"We'll definitely keep that in mind from now on." Scott corrected with an entertained smile spread widely across his lips. "Sorry for disturbing you. I just wanted to know if you wanted a drink."

There was a brief moment of hesitation, in which Ethan pursed his lips and fiddled around with the dreamcatcher pendant that was around his neck. Then, while studying some of the abandoned cups with a nearby candle illuminating his eyes, he said simply, "Sure, why not? I'll take whatever it was that you made for me before."

Scott snapped his fingers and grabbed a fresh cup. "You got it."

Mike took a swig of his alcohol and watched along with me as the oldest Washington triplet prepared Ethan's drink. It was a mixture of crushed ice, Orange Crush soda, some Sprite, and about an ounce of tequila. I crinkled my nose and sipped some more of my Coke to prevent myself from gagging.

"Here you go." Scott said as he handed the finished product over to Ethan. "Enjoy, dude."

"Thanks." Instead of keeping the drink in his hands, Ethan curled his legs back up so he was almost in the fetal position and secured the cup between his knees. Then, after depositing in a straw, he wrapped his arms around his shins and began to sip with a majority of his hair hanging in front of his face like that was the most casual way to enjoy a drink.

Mike peeked up at the ceiling and shook his head, looking both unnerved and hypocritical.

At the same time, Scott decided to walk back over to where I was standing and lean against the counter beside me again.

"'Peace zone'?" I asked in a whisper.

Scott raised his shoulders and chuckled a little as he watched Ethan blow a couple of bubbles in his drink. Then, he turned his head to look at me and whispered back, "If he's so determined to be this way, then who are we to stop him? He is who he is."

Just then, a new voice pierced through the air like sharp blades, "Michael!"

Mike immediately started to cough from what must've been his beer going down the wrong pipe. He smacked himself in the chest a few times and then buried his mouth in his arm in an attempt to subdue the coughing.

"Oh, great," I quietly groaned, listening to the words echo across my mind, "here comes the Wicked Witch of the West."

One of the large hardwood doors shot open and Emily - the Queen of the Bitches herself - came storming into the room with an impatient scowl plastered on her face. She looked like she was out to draw blood, her sunkissed cheeks stained bright red and dark brown eyes overflowing with bitterness. She marched right up to Mike and crossed her arms over her chest, showing no concern for his heaving whatsoever.

"Michael, what in the hell is taking you so long?" Emily demanded, refusing to acknowledge the presence of me, Ethan, and Scott. "You've been keeping me waiting for almost a whole twenty minutes! Seriously, it shouldn't take this long to make one lousy margarita."

Mike dropped his arm back down to his side and huffed. "It only took a few minutes for me to fix the margarita, Em." He almost sounded tired - like he couldn't believe that he was about to get sucked into another argument with his girlfriend.

"If that's the case, then what are you still doing in here?" Emily placed her hands on her hips and began to speak teasingly. "What, you would rather be spending time with the guys instead of your own girlfriend? Because, if I remember correctly, you weren't moaning out Russell's or Voodoo Boy's names last night."

Ethan shot daggers in her direction, still curled up in a ball and going back and forth from sipping to blowing bubbles in his drink. Right now, his eyes looked scary enough to the point where I could've sworn that they were seconds away from burning holes right through Emily's forehead. If that didn't get the point across that he hated being referred to as Voodoo Boy, I didn't have the slightest clue as to what would.

Scott emitted a low whistle and looked down at the floor, pretending to readjust his glasses.


X Keep Quiet/Speak Up X

Choice Chosen: Speak Up


"Excuse me, princess," I spoke up with a disgusted glare smeared across my face, "but there are other people in this room and, believe it or not, none of us are interested in hearing about your sex life. Keep it to yourself."

Emily's plump lips molded into an insulting grin as she turned her head to look at me. "At least I don't ever have to worry about taking matters into my own hands or dying with my undies full of cobwebs," she chuckled nastily, "face it, Scarface, you're just jealous."

"Jealous of what?" I narrowed my eyes at how much venom was dripping from her voice when she said my nickname; but a bitter laugh escaped from my mouth at what I said next. "In case you haven't stopped spreading your legs for strangers long enough to notice, I don't need to have sex with Sam in order to keep our relationship maintained."

By this point, Mike's cheeks were smoldering like two pools of lava; but I couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed.

The pride in Emily's eyes started to falter. "God, I really don't understand what she sees in you," she growled, referring to none other than Sam, "she can seriously do so much better than your pathetic ass."

"Funny you should say that ... because I just so happen to think the same exact thing every time I see Mike with his tongue shoved down your throat, Emelina."

Now, Emily really looked like she was on the verge of flinging herself across the kitchen to lash out on me. If there was one main thing that she couldn't stand, maybe even more than seeing other girls hit on Mike, it was being called by her official name. There was even a rumor once in sophomore year that she slept with Dylan Turner and then broke up with him the following day because he kept screaming out "Emelina" instead of "Emily". Normally, I wasn't the type of person who listened to rumors without being shown any evidence; but when it involved Emily and her sleazy ass, it was very easy to believe.

After what felt like an eternity, Mike cut in to prevent this showdown from escalating any further. "Hey, Em," he said, giving his girlfriend's arm a small nudge, "I have your drink right here."

Emily, with her face still flushed, ripped the plastic cup out of Mike's hand and immediately began to examine it. "Michael ... what in the hell is this?" She pointed to the lemon slice that was attached to the rim with scorn.

"Uh..." Confusion sparked across Mike's pale brown orbs, "...a slice of lemon?"

The young Asian woman groaned exasperatedly, looking like she was seconds away from ripping her boyfriend's hair out. "You should know by now that I always drink my margaritas with slices of lime on the side!" she complained. "And what's this? ... Crushed ice? We went over this God knows how many times, Michael! The only time I liked crushed ice is when I'm drinking tea! Any other time, it's supposed to be cubed!"

Scott pursed his lips and scratched the back of his neck, just as I slumped back against the counter and pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Ethan was still scowling, almost like he was trying to wield Emily's "new" racer-styled jacket to burst into flames.

"I'm sorry, Em." Mike droned, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't want to hear any apologizes. Just make sure that you get it right next time." At last, Emily spun back around and strut out of the kitchen with her margarita - but not without shooting one final icy glare in my direction.

"For the love of all of Mother Earth," Ethan growled, not even waiting for the door to fully shut from Em's departure, "that girl can't go a day without giving off bad vibes. It's sickening ... barbaric."

Mike placed his hands on his hips and turned to look at our chocolate-haired friend, shaking his head slightly. "Don't start," he said as calmly as he could manage, despite the snippy glint that was in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes and sat my Coke down on the counter, having no desire to drink what was left. Then, I removed the lens cap from my camera and positioned it the way I'd been taught ever since middle school journalism. I sure as hell didn't want to spend another second talking about Emily. So, why not take a couple of pictures? They might've not consisted of high mountain views or interesting discoveries in the forest, but I could still find stories to present to my class with shots of my friends. That is, if I tweaked them well enough so my professor wouldn't find out about any of the alcohol.

"Hey, Scott," I said, spinning the dial around a few times before raising the eyepiece up to my face, "smile."

With an overdramatic sigh, Scott broke out a grin that remarkably looked a lot like Josh's and coolly leaned against the counter while thrusting his now empty cup into the air. I readjusted the lens just slightly and then pressed down on the correct button, causing an audible click to ring through the air. Then, I watched as it appeared as clear as day on the screen with a satisfied grin on my face.

The oldest Washington triplet snickered. "Damn, Russell. Has anybody ever broke it to you that you are a totally helpless being without a camera in your possession?"

"Quit being a smartass and help me with at least one more shot. Seriously, the last thing I need when this trip comes to an end is my professor lecturing my ears off about how it was 'so irresponsible' of me to not have reached my deadline."

"All right, all right, all right." Scott caved. He waved his arm, motioning for me to follow him as he began to walk around to the opposite side of the large island. I complied, spinning the dial on my camera again as I watched my best friend wedge himself between Mike and the modern white chair that Ethan was now resting his feet on.

"Mike. Ethan. Time to smile for the paparazzi." Scott positioned his elbow against Ethan's knee and flashed the camera another 'party time' grin as he rested his head against his fist. At the same time, Mike draped his arm across Scott's shoulders and raised an eyebrow as a confident grin curled up on one of the corners of his mouth. In all honesty, it looked like he was checking out a girl. Although, Ethan didn't smile. Instead, he placed one of his hands against his chest, clenched a fistful of his sweater, and lifted his cup up to his face so only his hazel eyes could be seen peering over the top. And even without the flash, he almost blinked.

"Three, two, one ... got it." I snapped the picture and lowered the camera to look at my three friends, who had already dropped their poses. "All right, guys, that was a good one. Thanks ... I'm going to go see if I can find some more stuff to take pictures of for my presentation."

"Okay, Mr. Party Animal. Have at it." Scott said as he playfully rolled his milky green eyes. "If you ever get the chance, try upstairs. I think my mom bought some new paintings and sculptures that you can take a look at, but you are more than welcome to take pictures of anything that you find fascinating."

A new smile welded up on the corners of my lips. "Thanks, Scott."

"Don't mention it, dude. What are friends for?"

I was very grateful to have such an awesome best friend like him. We bumped our knuckles together, right before he turned away to prepare another drink for himself and I whisked around on my heels, heading for the hardwood doors.

"Good luck, Russ!" Mike called out as he saluted me with two fingers.

"Thanks!"


WASHING LODGE LIVING ROOM

01:02

I pushed the door open and allowed it to close by itself behind me. Now, I was standing in the humongous living room of the Washington lodge. This room had everything - a huge fireplace with a plasma screen TV embedded in the wall above it, two long couches that provided enough space for the entire Brady Bunch family, expensive (though weirdly shaped) vases, and ... a brass sphere hanging from the ceiling? That "decoration" was entirely new to me, considering my previous visit to the Washington Estate was sometime last summer and it wasn't here then. Plus, the last time I was here, there wasn't any beer bottles, dented soda cans, plastic cups, or junk food scattered across the carpet and coffee tables.

Beth and Hannah were currently by the fancy staircase, engaged in some type of conversation that had both of them laughing. Emily, on the other hand, was slowly pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace, looking like she was about to die of boredom with her margarita still in her hand. She must've been waiting for Mike to come back out.

Jessica was sitting in the armchair that was closest to the fireplace and flipping through Fifty Shades of Grey. Judging by the intrigued blush and naughty smile that was covering her porcelain-white face, it was obvious that she must have been reading a pretty graphic scene.

As for Ashley, she was sitting at the end of one of the couches and enjoying a bag of Doritos while participating in one of those magazine friendship quizzes with Chelsea. A little away from them, Ashley's cousin, Lucas, was lying flat on his back and looking up at the ceiling with an unlit cigarette dancing from one corner of his mouth to the other. Like usual, he was plugged into his iPod and drowning out everything else that was going on around him with his music.

Sam, who just so happened to be wearing the red-and-white sweater that I had given her as a gift last Christmas, was socializing with Matt on the other couch; and lastly, Chris was standing in front of one of the windows, sipping a beer while looking out into the blizzard.

For some strange reason, Josh was nowhere in sight; but I didn't put much thought into it. I was too caught up in staring up at the brass sphere through the eyepiece of my camera, zooming in on it and waiting until it was no longer blurry in my sight before I took the shot. Then, as I lowered the camera back down, I caught a glimpse of Chelsea getting up from the couch with her hands jammed in the back pockets of her bedazzled jeans. Aside from those, she was wearing a pair of black snow boots that were trimmed with realistic faux rabbit fur, a camouflage jacket, and a yellow tank top that had the words "Weird? Bitch, I'm Limited Edition" printed on in in black cursive letters.

Chelsea Amberwood was a very pretty girl. To me, she was the second most attractive female in the whole group - after Sam, who would always remain in first place. Her skin looked like it was made out of dark melted caramel and her eyes perfectly resembled two polished emeralds. She also had a small diamond stud pierced into the right side of her nose and dark mahogany hair that was scrunched up in a bunch of long, natural curls. Sometimes, I found it very difficult to believe that she didn't have a boyfriend yet.

Chelsea stepped over a few empty pretzel bags and walked over to me, her rosy lips already twisted into a grin. "Hey, Scarface," she said, now standing at my side, "I see you're caught up in that camera of yours again." She then glanced in the direction that I was still looking in and laid her eyes on the massive sphere. "It looks like the Washingtons are running out of ideas on how to decorate all of the space they got here."

"I don't think it should even be called a 'decoration'." I remarked, sounding just as clueless as I looked. "What in the hell is that thing supposed to be anyway?"

"Uh ... I'm not sure." Chelsea scratched the back of her neck in thought. "I think Josh said something about it being a prop from one of his old man's movies. Mr. Washington was tired of keeping it in storage and wanted to do something with it, if I remember correctly."

I cocked an eyebrow at her, still confused. "So, he decided to suspend it from the ceiling?"

"So it seems." Chelsea drew her hands out of her pockets and placed them on her hips, chuckling. "I swear, Russ, if there was any possible way to get up there, I would spend hours swinging around on that thing without a care in the world."

"Oh, yeah?" It was my turn to laugh as I imagined the dozens of horrible things that could possibly go wrong if something like that ever happened. "Now that would make one hell of a great shot ... and God knows I need them. My presentation is just a couple of days away and I'm still over eighty photos short."

Chelsea touched her chin and glanced at my camera, watching with curious eyes as I spun the dial around a few times again. Then, after a brief pause, she snapped her fingers and said, "I have an idea." She spun around on her tiptoes and trotted over to where Sam and Matt were sitting, not even giving me the chance to say anything back. As soon as she made it over to them, she almost made Matt drop his Bloody Mary as she lunged at his side and leaned in close to whisper something into his ear. For a moment, Matt looked lost; but then, after peeking over at me, one of his good-natured grins swept across his face and he nodded at our emerald-eyed friend.

"Sure." I heard him say, right before he took a hold of Chelsea's hand and stood up from the sofa with her. They walked until they made it to the front of the other couch, making sure that they weren't invading Lucas and Ashley's space on the far opposite end as they stopped to look at each other. "Ready?" Matt asked, and when Chelsea nodded in response, he didn't think twice before hauling her up into the air and placing her effortlessly on top of his shoulders.

Then, after making sure that she was settled, Matt wrapped one of his arms around Chelsea's shin to prevent her from falling back and Chelsea lifted her arms up into the air with a large smile on her face. From just the right angle, it really did look like she was holding up the brass sphere all by herself.

"Wahoo!" Beth cheered, throwing a fist up into the air before clapping her hands like a cheerleader. "Let's go, Matt and Chelsea, let's go!"

Sam clapped along, grinning brightly. "Yeah, you guys look great!"

"We got some badasses in the house!" Chris sang like a hipster as he pretended to 'raise the roof' with his beer bottle still in his hand. That had me, Ashley, and Matt laughing, but the looks on Emily and Jessica's faces gave it away that they were both starting to get very irritated.

"What do you say, Russ?" Matt asked. He positioned his other hand into the shape of a gun and pointed it at me, still smiling. "This worthy enough for a picture?"

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed, causing Sam to playfully roll her teal eyes and Ashley to giggle through a mouthful of Doritos. I lifted the camera up to my face and, after readjusting the lens again, snapped the picture. Luckily, it came out looking just as perfect as my three previous ones. "That was really great." I said after the photo appeared on the screen. "Thanks, you two."

Chelsea dropped her arms. "No problem."

"Glad to help, man." Matt said at the exact same time, just as he carefully unwrapped his arm from around Chelsea's leg and began to help her down.

"Ohh, Samantha~" I sang teasingly. I was already looking at her through the camera's eyepiece and spinning the dial to prepare for another photo.

My girlfriend scoffed playfully and took a swig of her Diet Cola before speaking, "You are the biggest nerd I have ever met in my entire life, Russell." Then, she positioned herself like The Thinker - except, instead of looking down at the ground with a focused glare on her face, she had her head turned in my direction and was showing off her pearly white teeth with that smile I loved so much.

"I know, but..." I took the picture and flashed her a flirtatious smirk, "...it's obvious that you wouldn't have me any other way, doll face."

A bright pink tint melted across Sam's cheeks. She chuckled softly and waved her arm through the air, motioning for me to carry on with my photography elsewhere. Now was probably the best time for me to follow Scott's suggestion and head upstairs; but I wasn't planning on just walking past Beth and Hannah like they weren't there. If there was one main thing that Josh and Scott both despised, it was people treating their sisters unfairly. So, as I approached the staircase, I prepared myself for a conversation. Not that I had a problem with it, of course.

Beth was still standing on the first stair and leaning against the railing while Hannah remained sitting on the third stair, looking up at her. At the sound of my footsteps, they both immediately turned their heads to look at me; but while a friendly grin broke out across Beth's olive face, Hannah's brown eyes seemed to darken like two storm clouds. Seriously, I had no idea what her problem with me was. She practically worshiped the ground that everyone - literally everyone - walked on, except for me.

"Jeez, Curtis," Beth chuckled, addressing me by my surname, "I swear, ninety-nine percent of the time I see you, it's like I'm experiencing a live photoshoot."

I grinned, trying not to show any embarrassment. "I hope that's not a bad thing."

"Oh, of course not." The youngest Washington triplet shook her head at me and spoke reassuringly. "It just shows how dedicated you are to your career choice. Scott showed me some of the albums you made with your parents and all of the photos were absolutely breathtaking. I especially loved the one that captured the view of Niagara Falls."

"Well, I'm glad that you liked them."

At that moment, it came to my realization that I hadn't thanked either of the Washington girls for inviting me yet. I'd been so caught up in seeing everyone together again that it sort of slipped to the back of my mind. My icy blue eyes flickered over to Hannah, who was still staring at me like she had caught me trying to steal money out of her purse. If it wasn't for Beth, I wouldn't have been invited with the rest of the group to begin with ... but Hannah was still technically the hostess.


X Thank Beth/Thank Both X

Choice Chosen: Thank Both


It only made sense to thank both of them. Even with Hannah giving me the cold shoulder, I always tried taking the high road with her. Especially since I was dating her best friend and her brother was my best friend.

I flicked my attention back and forth between the sisters. "Hey, before I forget," I began with genuine sincerity, "I really want to thank you guys for inviting me up here. I love visiting this place. The mountains provide me with plenty of inspiration and it feels great to be surrounded by the whole gang again."

Beth raised her hand, signaling for me to stop. "There's no need to thank us, Russell. Really, you deserve to be here with the rest of us and we're just glad that you could make it." She then twisted around to look at her sibling. "Right, Hannah?"

"Uh ... yeah, sure." Hannah replied as she pushed some strands of her mid-length, black hair out of her face. It was official: she hated me to the point where she didn't even bother trying to make herself sound convincing.

I pursed my lips, just as Beth sighed and glanced back at me apologetically.

"Well ... it's been awhile since I've seen either of you. College has been pretty hectic these past couple of months and I'm still trying to adjust to only seeing my family on the weekends. But you both look great." I gave a quick up-and-down gesture to both of them and then lifted my camera up, trying to paper over the awkwardness. I've been through enough moments with Hannah to know just when it was the best time to change the topic. "How about a quick shot?" I asked kindly.

"Yeah! Yeah, that's a great idea." Beth almost instantly perked back up and motioned for Hannah to stand. "Come on, Hannah. It's only one pic."

Hannah gave her eyes a slight roll, but turned her head a little to the side and pretended to readjust her square glasses to hide it. Then, she stood up and stepped down two stairs so she could be standing on the same one as her sister. Beth wrapped her arm around Hannah's and hovered her other hand directly over her heart, signing peace with a full-toothed grin covering her face. Hannah, on the other hand, leaned slightly against her sister and forced her lips into a taut smile that made her almost look constipated. I swear, if I had been anyone else in the group, even Emily or Jess, Hannah wouldn't have hesitated to give me an actual smile; but I was going to take what I could get.

I took the picture and studied how it turned out on the screen. "Beautiful." I declared proudly.

"Careful." Beth cautioned as she pointed a finger at me teasingly. "You wouldn't want to make Sammy over there jealous."

Hannah folded her arms and hung her head so she could be glaring down at her brown leather boots. Like Emily, she thought that Sam shouldn't have been involved with me of all guys on the planet; but at least Hannah kept those thoughts to herself.

I flashed a genuine smile and laughed sarcastically, "Hardy-hardy-har-har."

"How long have you two been together now?" Beth asked, cocking her head a little to the left. "A year?"

"Two years." I corrected.

"Ugh!" Emily's voice suddenly erupted through the air, causing everyone in the room to immediately snap their attention over to her. "This place is so freaking freezing!"

"Well, maybe next time, you should consider wearing a pair of pants that don't look like they're spray painted on." I thought to myself, no longer grinning.

The Asian groaned again and froze in her tracks, looking like a five-year-old that was seconds away from throwing a tantrum. "Doesn't anybody know how to crank up the heat?" she demanded.

Chelsea rolled her eyes, now standing between the two coffee tables with Matt's half-drank Bloody Mary in her hand. "You know, Drama Queen," she stated bluntly, "you're standing right in front of a fireplace. If you're still so damn cold, start a fire."

"Excuse me? Do I look like a lumberjack?" Emily scoffed and held up one of her hands to show off her maroon nails. "I just got a manicure and I'm not planning to break a nail anytime soon."

Chelsea shrugged sarcastically. "Well, then it looks like your ass is going to freeze." Then, just as she was about to lift the Bloody Mary up to her mouth, she stopped and pretended to study Emily. "Although, it doesn't look like there's much of an ass back there to freeze to begin with."

"Hey!" Emily snapped like a junkyard dog, taking a stomp forward. "You better watch your fat mouth, bitch!"

Danger electrocuted through Chelsea's bright green orbs. "No, you better watch it," she sneered, "because the next time you call me a bitch, I won't hesitate to kick your flat, oh-so-freezing, snobby ass right off of this mountain!"

I almost chuckled at that. One of the main reasons that Chelsea and I got along so well was because we both didn't mind putting Emily in her place. Except, Chelsea did it a lot more intensely.

"There's no need for that." Matt - being the peacemaker that he was - intervened as quickly and calmly as possible, looping an arm around Chelsea's waist to prevent her from trying to charge towards Emily. "Come on, guys, we're here to have fun, remember? Let's not waste any of our time at each other's throats when we could be partying together."

"Matt, how about instead of playing the role of a counselor, you use those muscles of yours for something more than just tossing around a football?" Emily asked as she harshly pointed at a couple of short, neatly stacked logs. "Start a fire, would you?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, I'll do it." Chelsea groaned. In the blink of an eye, she chugged down what was left of the Bloody Mary and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "And when I'm done, I'll consider getting drunk in order to forget about this whole conversation."

By this point, I had already begun walking up the stairs, not wanting to risk sticking around for anymore arguments.

"Hey," Hannah spoke up as she and Beth turned to look at me, "where do you think you're going?"

I froze on the seventh step to look back at them. "Scott said that I was more than welcome to look around upstairs for anything interesting to take pictures of."

"It's okay, Han." Beth said, giving her sister's arm a reassuring squeeze before she glanced back at me. "Go ahead. Have fun exploring."

"Just don't break anything." Hannah warned. "Everything in this lodge is practically irreplaceable. You break it, you buy it."

Beth nudged her slightly, but said nothing.

Now, I was starting to look bored. "I've never broken anything in this place before, Hannah ... so don't worry about that. I'll be back down in a bit." After that, I turned back around and continued my way up the stairs, taking them two at a time.


01:12

"Okay..." I murmured to myself after making it up to the third floor, my camera already in position. "Let's see what we can find up here."

I began to explore, walking across the long loft that overlooked the entire living room as carefully as possible. I wasn't a cautious freak or anything like that, but since there were no lit candles or dimmed lights up here for the time being, I had only the moonlight to depend on and I didn't want to risk tripping over anything. So, after making it to the large set of doors at one of the ends of the loft, I pushed only one open and entered this incredibly short and dusty hallway. It might've not seemed like much, but believe it or not, this teeny hall connected one half of the entire Washington mansion to the other half.

I walked past the grandfather clock that read the time 1:12 A.M. and snapped a photo of a few vases that were made to look like faces at the opposite end of the hall. Then, I exited through the next set of doors and was immediately greeted by a much brighter shower of moonlight. Old-fashioned pots containing dead plants were lined up across one of the windowsills and I could still hear the rest of the group laughing together and sparking up new conversations in the distance. I kept walking, taking pictures of almost all of Mrs. Washington's new paintings and sculptures that I spotted along the way. That is, until my attention was grabbed by something else: Scott's bedroom door, just barely cracked open like it always was.

"Hmm..." I pursed my lips and just stood there for what felt like an eternity, thinking. "Should I...?"


X Keep Walking/Take A Look X

Choice Chosen: Take A Look


Scott and I were as close as brothers. We've been in each other's rooms thousands of times and it wasn't like I was planning to go in there to take pictures of all of his stuff without permission. All I was going to do was walk in, take a look around, and then walk back out. No harm done. So, after placing the camera back down against my hip, I approached the medium-sized door, slid my fingers through the thin crack, and opened it. An eerie creak echoed through the air. Then, I entered, already feeling a bunch of childhood memories wash over me.

Scott's bedroom was a lot neater than one would assume for a teenager's. The floor was constructed out of shiny mahogany wood and the walls, except for one, were painted teal with posters of different rock bands decorating them. The other wall was constructed out of grey stone and taken over by two medium-sized windows that provided an incredible view of the forest.

A king-size bed sat between them, covered by a black-and-red striped blanket and matching pillows. Also, at the foot of the bed, two brown beanbag chairs were slumped directly beside each other on the floor. Across the room from them, there was a massive plasma screen TV placed on top of an ebony table, surrounded by millions of video games, DVDs, and CD's that were organized in a variety of perfect stacks.

Mrs. Washington was a neat freak for sure.

There were also a couple of long shelves stretched across the wall above the bed, showing off hundreds of polished trophies, plaques, and ribbons that Scott had been rewarded with for accomplishing so damn much on the track, ice hockey, and basketball teams. And lastly, other than the huge walk-in closet, the chandelier that looked like it was made out of many miniature disco balls, and the grey wolf skin rug, he had a brand new stereo and his laptop placed on top of a desk beside the door.

The moonlight easily shined through the translucent black drapes and bathed the entire room in silvery light.

"Wow," I muttered with a grin crossed over my face, "it doesn't look like much has changed in here since my last visit."

I glanced up, noticing that there were still a few clusters of glow-in-the-dark stars plastered on the ceiling from Scott's childhood. When the two of us were kids, we used to lie on the floor and stare at those things for hours during our sleepovers. I was surprised that they still worked, just barely glowing bright green right before my eyes. It definitely would've been much more noticeable if the moonlight wasn't pouring in.

I then walked over to the dresser and studied the many framed photos that Scott had nicely arranged across the top. A majority of them were of him with none other than Josh, Hannah, and Beth. In one, the triplets were gathered together in the arms of a midway mall Santa and two-year-old Josh was bouncing giddily on his knee. In another, Scott was holding up his acceptance letter to Brown University with Josh's arm looped proudly around his shoulders. There was also a very recent picture of the four of them goofing around together: Beth was doing the duck face, Josh was giving himself a pig nose with his eyes crossed, Hannah was pretending to be a fainting maiden, and Scott had his tongue sticking out in a goofy grin. You could definitely tell that they were having a blast.

I also noticed a photo that was of me and Scott, dating back to when we were six-years-old and attending summer camp together. We were both wearing matching 'Camp Saltwater' T-shirts that were covered in grass stains, paint was smeared in straight lines across our cheeks, our foreheads were smudged with dirt, and we were flashing wide grins. Mine had a gap in it from a missing baby tooth and Scott was showing off the friendship bracelet that I had made for him during Arts & Crafts out of yarn and multicolored beads. That exact same bracelet just so happened to be hanging off from the edge of the frame, too.

Also, in the picture beside that one, me, Scott, and Mike were standing together in front of the White House during our eighth grade field trip to DC. Mike was pretending to flex his muscles, Scott was making it look like he was getting ready to scale the gate, and I was laughing at their antics.

In another frame, Ashley was wearing a lime green bikini, her hair was pulled back in a soaked ponytail, and she was in the middle of enjoying a piggyback ride from Scott across the beach. You could also see Jessica sunbathing and Chelsea getting ready to serve a volleyball to Sam in the background.

Then, in another photo, Scott had his arms wrapped around Ashley's waist as she sat on a swing, his chin resting against the purple-and-brown beanie that was atop her head. Both of them had gentle smiles decorating their faces. Lucas and Emily were also in the background of that one. Emily was filing her nails, evidently unaware that a picture was being taken, and Lucas had his hand positioned in the rock and roll symbol. I remember taking both of those pictures just last summer ... good times.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind, causing me to jump.

"What the shit?!" I blurted out as I quickly spun around to see none other than Josh now standing in the room with me.

He snickered at how startled I looked and said humorously, "Well, nice to run into you again, too, Scarface."

"Shit ... Josh, it's only you." I sighed and placed my hand over my heart, feeling it beating so hard to the point where I was surprised that its outline couldn't be seen through my clothes. "What in the hell is it with you Washingtons constantly sneaking up on me?!"

Josh held his hands up to his shoulders, still chuckling. "Sorry, dude. Sometimes, you make it too easy to startle and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't take advantage of that from time to time?" Then, he dropped his arms back down to his sides and turned curious. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Oh, uh ... I was just ... looking for you." I replied, sounding terribly unconvincing. If he found out that I was in the middle of trying to work on homework during a party, he would flip.

An amused smile cracked across Josh's face. "In my little brother's bedroom?" He chuckled.

"Well..." I peeked over my shoulder at the sea of photos and scratched the back of my neck, trying to play it cool. "I saw that the door was cracked open-"

The eldest Washington cut in softly, "Like it always is."

"And ... I guess I got a little sidetracked." I finished somewhat honestly.

"Sidetracked from what exactly?" Josh asked, evidently not falling for my lie on me trying to find him. When I pursed my lips and kept quiet that time, a knowing glint formed in his pale green eyes and he said, "Damn ... you were working on that assignment for your photography class again, weren't you?"

Well, so much for that plan.

"Okay, fine! I was." I caved, causing the eldest Washington to release an exasperated groan. "Look, I'm sorry, but Professor Hamilton is a major asshole! If I don't finish taking all of the required pictures and get them uploaded for my presentation as soon as I get back to campus, he's going to fail me and chew me out in front of the whole class."

"Russ, you've been stressing yourself out over that ever since we first got here!" Josh pointed out. He reached his hand out and placed it on top of my shoulder again. "Trust me, homework can wait. There's plenty of time for it later. As of now, the whole gang is together for the first time in over a year and we're having a party with no parents, no teachers, no rules, and absolutely no responsibilities."

"I've actually been told that it's a good thing that I focus so much on my career choice." I informed, recalling Beth's voice back downstairs.

Josh crossed his arms, maintaining a perfectly calm tone. "Not when it's the only thing on your mind twenty-four-seven, Scarface. You're forgetting the whole reason as to why we're all up here in my family's lodge. You know what you need? To push college to the back of your mind, allow yourself to take a break, and have some fun without photography for a change." A sly grin suddenly broke out across his lips. "Did Beth, Scott, or Hannah tell you about the new hot tub that our dad had installed last month? It has wicked jets and the water is relaxing as hell. You should give it a try with Sam ... after all, it's in the room that's to the left of the basement. Completely soundproof." He sort of sang the last word and chuckled suggestively.

I couldn't resist rolling my eyes, but I looked down and pretended to fiddle around with something on my camera to prevent Josh from seeing me do so. Don't get me wrong, Josh was my second best friend in the entire group. Next to Scott, I knew that I could count on him and talk to him about anything; but sometimes, it got on my nerves when he tried convincing me to have sex with Sam. Even after two years of dating, we had never slept together and I was pretty sure that she wouldn't want our first time being in a friend's hot tub during a party. Not that I wanted it to be our first time location either, because I didn't.

"Josh, just out of curiosity," I glanced back up at him and raised an eyebrow, "you do know that there's much more to relationships than sleeping together, right?"

The eldest Washington scoffed, but continued to smile. "Of course I do, Russ. In case you've forgotten, I've been in a few sexless relationships in the past. I'm just saying that it's different for you and Sammy. It's been two whole years since you first asked her out and you still haven't invited her down to the bone zone."

I could feel my cheeks starting to bluster from a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. "Why in the hell do you call it that?" I asked in a lame attempt to change the topic.

"Why not?" Josh asked with a small shrug and snicker. "Take it from me, it's actually a very fun place to go."

I groaned quietly and pinched the bridge of my nose, rubbing my scar. Though, instead of allowing myself to get angry, I spoke with complete honesty laced around my voice. "Well, Sam and I are in no rush to dive into the 'bone zone'." I even went as far as including air quotes around Josh's made-up term, no matter how much it made me want to cringe. "We're waiting for the right moment and I can guarantee that it's not during a party with all of our friends hanging around."

With a huff, Josh finally dropped it and nodded. "All right, all right. I get it. No need to go any further ... but, if you want, the offer is still on the table for you to take her down to the hot tub."

I knew for a fact that if I had been anybody else in the gang, Josh wouldn't have stopped prodding the conversation along. If I had to guess, he only backed off when I asked him to because I was Scott's best friend and he didn't want to risk pissing Scott off. If there was one main thing that the Washington kids despised, it was arguing with each other. Plus, it didn't help that their mom was constantly away with her own business and their dad was often too busy producing his movies to even come home.

"Well ... I have to admit that that does sound like a pretty good idea," I said a little hesitantly, "but I'm afraid I can't. Considering that this is a winter getaway, it never crossed my mind to pack a swimsuit."

Josh snapped his fingers. "Hey, man, no worries. I got you covered." Then, with another broad grin spreading across his face, the eldest Washington strolled over to Scott's closet, slid the door open in one swift motion, and walked in. For what felt like hours, nothing but the sounds of hangers being pushed around, cubbyholes being slid in and out, and just plain rummaging filled the air. Eventually, Josh came back out and tossed me a pair of dark green trunks that still had the price tag hanging from the waistband. I caught them with no difficulties.

"There you go. I'm sure that Scott won't mind you borrowing a pair. But before you get dressed, there's one more thing that I'm going to need you to do." Josh informed, right before extended his arm out towards me. "Give me your camera."

I immediately jerked my head back up to look at him. "What?" I demanded, confused. "Why?"

"Like I said, you need to take a break from photography and have some fun without it for a change. So, I want you to give me your camera so I can put it in my safe." Josh explained with his hand remaining held out in front of me. "I promise that I'll give it back to you in the morning. But as of tonight, you need to let loose with the rest of us and put this assignment of yours on hold. Okay?"

I hesitated.


X Hand It Over/Hold Back X

Choice Chosen: Hand It Over


Then, with a roll of my eyes, I removed the leather strap from around me and quickly handed the camera over to the eldest Washington to get it over with.

"All right, fine." I grumbled, choosing to ignore the satisfaction that was glimmering in Josh's eyes. "Just be careful with it. It belongs to Professor Hamilton and the last thing I want to do when this weekend comes to an end is pay him for damaged property."

"Don't worry, Scarface. I'll make sure that it stays one hundred percent safe. Scout's honor." Chuckling, Josh raised three fingers and began to approach the door with my camera secured in his other hand. "Now, get dressed and don't forget to stop by the kitchen for some drinks before you head down to the hot tub."

Before I got the chance to say anything back, he left.


01:25

Until now, I had failed to notice just how drafty this place was. Now, all I had on to protect me from the freezing cold temperature was the pair of swimming trunks that Josh had pulled out of Scott's closet and my (now unbuttoned) flannel. But luckily, as I started to descend back down the stairs, it came to my attention pretty fast that the living room was starting to heat up from the fire that was now crackling in the fireplace.

"Hallelujah! Thank you, Chelsea!"

Everyone was still enjoying themselves, caught up in new activities.

Mike was currently sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the burning embers, looking like he was lost in daydreaming with his arm draped around Emily. Ashley, on the other hand, was curled up on the couch and in the middle of painting Chelsea's nails with Lucas standing nearby. He was engaged in a conversation with Ethan and Matt, still wearing one of his earbuds and chowing down on what looked like the leftover half of a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato. As for Jessica, she was posing in front of one of the icy windows and taking about a dozen selfies per second, using the blizzard to her advantage. And lastly, since Chris and the Washington's were nowhere in sight, Sam was now relaxing in the armchair that was closest to the first couch.

I tiptoed over and a smirk twisted across my lips as I placed my hands over Sam's eyes from behind. "Hey, beautiful. Just the girl I wanted to see." I cooed almost directly into her ear, right before I planted a quick kiss just below her lobe.

Sam scoffed, but couldn't hold back her cheeky grin. "God, Russell, you are so corny." She chuckled and rested her head against the back of the armchair so she could be looking up at me. "Mark my words, if this is your new way of asking me to pose for anymore pictures ... I'm going to give you three seconds to run before I break that camera right upside your head."

I snickered along and kept my arms wrapped around her. "Well then," I said, refusing to break eye contact, "I guess it's a good thing that Josh took my camera and locked it away in his safe until morning after all."

For a moment, Sam faltered in confusion and raised an eyebrow. "He took your camera?" she asked. "How come?"

"Oh, you know ... something about me needing to 'take a break' and 'learn how to have fun without photography' for a change."

My girlfriend chuckled again. "I can't even remember the last time I saw you without a camera. And now, look at you ... you have no choice but to go a whole night without one. How do you plan on surviving?"

"Funny you should ask..."

After a moment, I peeked up and noticed that Ashley and Chelsea were looking over at us with large smiles plastered on their faces. They quickly snapped their heads back down and, while Chelsea broke out into giggles, I heard Ashley whisper to her, "They are so cute." Chelsea nodded in agreement and watched as the redhead started to spread the glittery, salmon polish across her other set of nails.

With a playful roll of my eyes, I glanced back down so I was looking into Sam's eyes again. "I actually came to see if you'd be interested in accompanying me downstairs in the Washington's brand new Jacuzzi."

Sam slid around halfway in the chair and flung her legs over the arm so she could get a better view of me. "Oh, really?" She smirked, just now realizing that I was wearing a pair of Scott's swimming trunks.

"Yes, really." I said as I gently pushed a few strands of her light blonde hair out of her face and tucked them behind her ear. "Josh suggested that the two of us needed some ... you know, alone time."

"Of course he did." Sam muttered, right before she flung her feet back down to the floor and stood up. Then, with a joking sigh, she walked around to the other side of the armchair and said, "All right, Romeo. I'll join you."

I looped my arms around her waist and rested my forehead against hers, which probably looked a little funny since I was six-foot-three.

"Excellent." I said.

"But," Sam placed the tip of her finger against my chest, speaking both softly and seriously, "there will be absolutely no funny business."

I furrowed my brow and took a quick scan around the room to make sure that nobody was listening. After confirming that nobody was, I locked my eyes back on my girlfriend and whispered, "Sammy, do you really think that I want to risk giving my virginity to you when it's a possibility that any of our friends could end up walking in on accident?"

"You better not. Otherwise, we're going to wind up being guests on the Jerry Springer Show." With a humorous smile, Sam pecked me on the cheek and backed out of my arms in the direction of the stairs. "I'll go change into my bathing suit."

"Whoa, hold on a sec." I stared at her in disbelief, my eyes slightly wide. "You mean, you actually brought swimwear with you on this trip?"

"Of course I did." Sam answered as she placed her hands on her hips. "Always be prepared when you're visiting the Washington Estate, Russ."

"Good point. I'll try to remember that for next time." I turned my head and looked over at the kitchen doors, recalling what Josh had said to me before he abandoned me in Scott's room. "Okay, so, I'm going to go take another small trip to the kitchen. When you're through changing, come and get me. I'll be in there."

Sam gave me a thumbs up. "All right, I got it. I'll be quick."

"Relax, it's not like we're on a time limit and this place is gonna blow up or anything. Take your time." I snickered and gave my girlfriend a teasing slap on the butt, right before I winked at her. "I'll be waiting."

Sam's face immediately morphed into a playful glare; but instead of saying anything back to me, she just rolled her eyes, turned her back on me, and started her way up the stairs. At the same time, I strolled over to the other side of the living room and heard a conversation as clear as day taking place on the opposite side of the kitchen doors. I froze in my tracks, not being able to help myself. Like usual, my curiosity got the best of me and for a moment, I just stood there and listened. It was Scott, Beth, and Josh.

"Do you guys think it's ever going to stop?" Beth asked, sounding both concerned and mesmerized. "I swear, this is the craziest snowstorm that has ever happened while we were up here."

"It should blow over by morning." Josh declared, followed by what sounded like him popping off the cap to a bottle. "Dad always checks the weather before allowing us to come up here. If he said that it was fine, then we have nothing to worry about."

"Josh has a point, sis." Scott said confidently. "We're all safe inside the lodge. And besides, we've been through plenty of blizzards before. Let's keep making the best of this one. After all, we're here with our best buds, two cozy fires, and an ass load of alcohol."

Josh laughed. "I couldn't have said it any better myself, little bro."

"Jeez, Josh, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm eighteen-years-old, a college student. I'm not little." Scott rebuked. Then, after a split second, he changed the subject. "Hey, maybe in the morning, we can convince the gang to head outside so we can all have a massive snowball fight."

Beth was immediately on board, "That's a great idea, Scott!"

"Yeah, why not? I'm game." Josh said with a slight hiccup at the end. He was still sober, but it was obvious that he was in the process of getting himself wasted. "Make sure you let Hannah know when she comes back down from her room."

"I will." Beth assured.

I started to feel a little bad for eavesdropping, so I decided that right then would be the best time for me to walk in. As soon as I entered, I saw that Scott was now sitting in one of the island chairs with his legs kicked up and resting across the countertop. Josh was standing across from him on the opposite side of the island, casually leaning forward with a brand new bottle of beer in his hand. And lastly, Beth was standing in the same spot that I'd been in earlier and looking out into the snowstorm. Although, at the sound of the door closing behind me, the three of them turned their heads in my direction.

"Uh ... wow, Russell," Beth said, evidently amused as she studied me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, "that's quite an outfit swap you did there. Aren't you ... you know, cold?"

"Oh, I'm freezing." I confirmed with total honesty.

The youngest member of the Washington family chuckled and spun back around so she could continue looking out the window.

"What in the hell are you doing dressed like that, man?" Scott asked. Judging by the grin that was on his face, it was obvious that he was just as entertained as his sister. "Are you trying to get frostbite?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get a word out, the eldest Washington beat me to it.

"Actually, he's taking a break from his photography homework and getting ready to take a little detour downstairs to the brand new hot tub with Sam." He took a swig from his bottle and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, hiccuping again after he swallowed. "Which reminds me, Scott, I sort of told him that he could borrow a pair of your trunks."

"That's fine with me. God knows that I have too many swimsuits." Scott said as he sunk a little deeper into his chair, getting more comfortable. "Feel free to keep those, Russ. Maybe it'll help get the point across to my mom that I'm not going to drop the ice hockey team for the swimming team anytime soon."

On the side of being a business woman and a huge neat freak, Mrs. Washington was actually a very overprotective mother. She might've been proud of all of Scott's trophies and other awards, but she absolutely hated how he wasn't on, and I quote, 'much safer sports teams'. So, she basically spoiled Scott with a bunch of swimming gear in the hopes of convincing him to abandon ice hockey. Though, it never worked. Scott didn't mind swimming, but he sure as hell didn't like it enough to join a club for it either.

"All right, Scott. Thanks." I said, feeling a boatload of awkwardness lift off of me. We might've borrowed plenty of things from each other, but clothes wasn't on the list.

Scott made a gesture with his hand that I could tell meant 'no problem', just as Josh spoke up again. "So, Scarface," he said, "what type of drinks would you like to take down with you and Sammy?"

I deadpanned and rubbed the side of my neck in thought. "Uh ... I'm not sure..." Then, I shrugged. "Dr Peppers, I guess?"

"Oh, come on, Russell," Josh scoffed, staring at me like I had just tried walking through a wall, "you're up in the mountains during a snowstorm and you're about to spend some alone time with your girlfriend in the coolest hot tub known to man. You can't hold yourself back now." He must've noticed that he was beginning to sound 'a tad bit' overdramatic, because he paused to take another sip of beer. After he swallowed, his voice was back to its natural volume. "I'm just saying, we have plenty of other beverages here to choose from. There's beer, gin, scotch, moonshine-"

"You might as well just save your breath, Josh." Scott interrupted with a couple of snickers leaking from his voice. "It's no use. Trust me, I already tried earlier to convince him to drink up with me and Mike and he wouldn't budge."

"Maybe so, little bro," Josh said, intending the rhyme, "but that was before he promised me that he would loosen up and have some fun with the rest of us." He glanced over at me again, looking very pleased with himself. "Isn't that right, Russell?"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, wondering how in the hell I didn't see that coming.


X Give In/Hold Back X

Choice Chosen: Give In


"All right, fine." I gave in, crossing my arms with a small huff. "Do you guys have any champagne?"

"Now we're talking!" Josh chuckled and snapped his fingers, already starting to saunter over to one of the cupboards. "I know for a fact that my mom hides some in here for some of those high-class business shindigs of hers ... I just need to find where." He sort of mumbled the last sentence to himself, opening the cupboard up and resting his hand against his chin in deep concentration as he examined the roomy shelves. Each of them were covered by perfectly organized glassware - crystal wine glasses, glossy teacups, plates that had designs of birds and flowers painted on them ... the list could go on forever.

I looked over at Beth, only to see that she was still captivated by the blizzard. Her head was slightly tilted, as if she was in the middle of imagining that we were all safely trapped inside of a snow globe.

"I have to say, Russ," Scott said, causing me to turn back to him, "it's good to hear that you finally agreed to take a break from your assignment."

I breathed a small, humorous laugh. "Define 'agreed'."

Scott playfully rolled his eyes and swept his legs off from the counter, right before he leaned forward and swiped a Granny Smith up from the fruit bowl. "All I'm going to say is this," he declared, "there's a whole world going on around you and Josh made a pretty good move with taking your camera away for the night. You need to pull your attention away from the lens long enough to realize that there's plenty of other things for us to do while we're young. At this rate, you're going to wind up being the photographer at your own wedding."

"What's so bad about that?" I asked, smirking. "It'll help save money."

"You're ruining the good point I'm trying to make, dude." Scott shook his head, miserably failing to keep a straight face. "Josh may be annoying on a regular basis, but like me, he's full of some pretty awesome and crafty ideas. Just wait. As soon as this night comes to an end, you'll claim it as one of the greatest nights in your entire life." He then took a bite out of the apple and chewed between words. "You'll see."

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that whole 'me being annoying on a regular basis' part." Josh snickered. He was still tapping his chin and peering through the cupboard, now knelt down on one knee. "Scott, do you know where Mom put the champagne?"

"Check the lowest shelf. Behind the punch bowl."

The eldest Washington obeyed and carefully pushed the large, crystalline bowl aside. Behind it, there were about five bottles of champagne placed closely together.

"Ah-ha! Bingo." Josh proclaimed as he grabbed one of the bottles and stood back up. Then, after picking out two long-stemmed glasses from the middle shelf, he nudged the cupboard shut with his foot and walked back over to the island. "All right, Scarface. Here you go. I can already tell that you and Sammy will enjoy it." Josh reached across the counter and placed the champagne down in front of me, followed by the crystal wine glasses.

"Thanks, Josh."

Just then, the sound of the door flying open swept through the kitchen. At first, I thought that it was Sam coming to get me; but when I turned to see, I realized that it was actually Chris. He was holding a medium-sized box in his hands and his back was resting flat against the door, indicating that he had backed up into it in order to get in.

"Shit, this thing weighs a ton..." Chris muttered as he strolled in, his arms straining slightly. Then, he said in a much more audible tone, "All right. I got the stuff that Lucas brought."

"Awesome, Cochise!" Josh whooped. He met his best bud about halfway and took the box from him, placing it down on the counter beside Scott. "I knew that we could count on him to bring some Jeremiah Cragg! This shit is the best!"

"If it wasn't a party before, it sure as hell will be one now." Chris confirmed, rubbing his bicep.

Josh grabbed a knife from the nearby holder and carefully sliced it across the tape, unsealing the box. After that, he sat the knife aside, opened the flaps, and began to happily unpack the many bottles of Jeremiah Cragg. At the same time, Chris just so happened to glance over at me and, for the first time, notice my new attire. In the blink of an eye, his lips molded into a humorous smile and I could just picture a lightbulb flicking on over his head.

"Hey, how come nobody told me that we were gonna have a swimsuit competition?" Chris asked. He glanced around the kitchen like he actually was expecting an answer. "If I had known beforehand, I would've packed my speedos."

"Well, there's an image that's gonna haunt me for the rest of my life." Scott huffed and hung his head back so he could be staring up at the ceiling. "Yep, it's official. Thanks a lot, Christopher. I'm going to be having plenty of nightmares tonight."

Chris raised his arm to make it look like he was gesturing to someone up on a balcony, right before he said in his best Shakespearean voice, "What a man calls a nightmare is what a woman calls her very own dream come true." Then, he dropped the pose and continued normally. "And I bet that's exactly what a woman would call it if she saw me in one of those things."

A new smirk found its way across my face. "Or she would call it a major reason to stay single." I said smartly.

Almost instantly, Scott and Josh burst out laughing. The sudden eruption of noise caused Beth to peer over her shoulder with her eyebrows knitted together in confusion; but after noticing that Chris - the joke master of the group - was now in the room with us, the realization dawned on her that we must've been in the middle of goofing around. So, with a playful roll of her eyes and a small giggle, Beth turned back around and allowed herself to be captured by the view of the outside world being bombarded with snow again.

"Oh, man!" Scott exclaimed as his and Josh's laughter finally started to die down. "Russ ... dude, that was pure genius. Up top!" He held up one of his hands with an entertained grin still decorating his face and I didn't think twice before giving him a high-five.

Josh looked at Chris and pretended to wipe a tear away from the corner of his eye. "Sorry, Cochise," he apologized, still snickering, "that was just too good not to laugh at."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, wise guys." Chris chuckled and waved his arm through the air, indicating that the joke was over. Then, almost abruptly, his amusement faded away and something - like realization - shot through his eyes. "Oh, Josh, I just remembered: when I went to the garage to get the drinks that Lucas brought, I didn't see any other boxes out there. It was the only one."

"What?" The eldest Washington turned his head and locked his eyes on his brother, now confused. "Scott, I thought that you said that you would pick up some more vodka and red wine on the way up here."

Scott bit down on his bottom lip and kicked his legs back up onto the counter, crossing his ankles. "Well, uh ... that was the original plan, but..." He twirled the bright green apple around in his fingertips, pretending to examine it as a wide smirk broke out across his face. "I sort of ... got distracted. After all, it was my job to pick up Ashley and ... let's just say that the two of us found some time to spare during one of the pit stops ... and then at a few more of the pit stops after that."

"Oh, boy..." Josh said, evidently not knowing what else to say. The vague grin on his face also made it clear that he didn't feel comfortable with hearing about his younger brother's sex life. Of course, if he had been anybody else, Josh wouldn't have hesitated to laugh, clap them on the back, and dig even deeper into the conversation by cracking jokes; but not with Scott.

"Ugh!" I cringed and wrinkled my nose, trying to burn that vivid picture out of my brain. "TMI, dude. Just TMI."

"Sorry." Scott snickered, right before he took a much more satisfied bite out of his apple. "It's just the circle of life."

Just then, I noticed how disappointed Chris looked. He was avoiding eye contact and looking down at the floor, pinning his lips as tightly together as he could to prevent himself from frowning. He actually had the biggest crush on Ashley and everyone in the gang knew that ... except for Scott and Ashley herself. So, listening to his best friend's little brother talk about sleeping with her clearly wasn't something that he would enjoy doing. And nobody was planning to let Scott find out anytime soon. If he knew, only God knows what would happen.

Instead of saying anything, all Chris did was snatch up one of the bottles of Jeremiah Cragg, yank the cork out, and begin downing it like he was in the middle of a chugging competition. At the same time, the door flew open again and this time, I was right about who it was. There Sam stood, now wrapped up in pastel blue towel with goosebumps covering both of her arms and a nearby candle illuminating some of her hair.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Look at you, Sammy!" Josh exclaimed. He smirked and positioned his hands to make it look like he was staring at her through a telescope. "Are you sure you're not keeping it a secret from all of us that you're from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see!"

Sam grinned and shook her head in amusement. "Very funny, Josh."

A quiet groan escaped from my throat at the god-awful pickup line and I placed my hands on my hips. A slight glare swept across my face. There were actually two things that annoyed me when it came to Josh. Aside from him trying to convince me from to sleep with Sam, he always found (or even made) opportunities to flirt with her. Don't get me wrong, I knew that he didn't actually like her anymore than a friend and was only joking. He did the same thing on a regular basis with Chelsea and plenty of other girls. I had no problem with that. In fact, I thought that it was pretty funny ... but not when he did it to my girlfriend.

"Wasn't it?" Josh asked, snickering as he grabbed a bottle of Jeremiah Cragg and slipped his other hand into his pocket.

"No, it was cheesy as hell." Scott replied humorously. "But on the bright side, Josh, I think we found the reason as to why you're currently single. You have terrible pickup lines."

The eldest Washington scowled at him playfully. "Hey, I'd watch my mouth if I were you, little bro." He reached across the island and gently shoved Scott upside the head. "Don't think I won't come over there and show your ass who's boss."

"I'm not little!"

"Sure, Scott. Whatever you say." With a hiccup, Josh ripped the cork out of his bottle, threw his head back, and started taking large gulps. If he and Chris kept chugging like that, they were both going to be drunk off their asses in just a matter of time. No wonder they wanted Lucas to bring that stuff.

"Brrr!" Sam huffed and folded her hands over her mouth, blowing into them. Then, as she started to rub them together as quickly as she could, she flicked her attention back over to me. "Hey, Russell, how about we head down to the Jacuzzi before the two of us become ice sculptures?"

I nodded, gathering the champagne and two crystal glasses in one hand. "Yeah, let's get going." After that, I wrapped my other arm around Sam's shoulders and glanced back at Scott, Chris, and Josh, giving them a look that meant, 'We will see you guys in a bit.'

Chris must've understood, because he raised his hand and waved farewell to us. Knowing him, he would've said something if his mouth hadn't been full of Jeremiah Cragg, causing his cheeks to be puffed out like a chipmunk's. Josh, on the other hand, flashed another sly grin as he stopped drinking long enough to say in a teasing sing-song voice, "All right, you two. Have fun~"

"But not too much fun!" Scott cautioned immediately after, chuckling. "I like that hot tub and I don't want it to end up contaminated!"

"You guys are so lucky that you're my friends." At last, with that thought on my mind and a small roll of my eyes, I escorted my girlfriend out of the kitchen.


01:38

"Do you know which room it's in?" Sam asked, referring to the Jacuzzi with curiosity glowing in her eyes. "There are so many doors to choose from down here. It's like a maze."

The two of us had just finished descending down the staircase that led down to the first floor and we were now standing still, looking from left to right. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, considering there wasn't as much moonlight being provided down here like it was upstairs. Also, it was much draftier and judging by how Sam had just finished tightening her towel around herself a bit more, we didn't have much longer before she would transform into a human Popsicle. It wasn't like I was doing any better, but out of the many things that Sam and I had in common, one of them was this: we refused to complain unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Yeah, I know ... Josh said it's in the room to the left of the basement." I recalled. I turned my head and stared at the basement door, closed and embedded in another section of rock that had been built into a wall. Then, I turned myself slightly so I could be staring down the corridor. Sure enough, just a little down from an abandoned table and an unused chair that was still covered in safety plastic, there was the door that Josh must've been talking about. "There it is," I confirmed, "come on, Sam."

We sped-walked across the floor, eager to escape the cold. Though, instead of immediately entering the room, I stepped aside and held the door open for Sam - so she could go in first.

"After you, milady." I said in the cheesiest accent known to man. Not only that, but I crossed my ankles and bowed like a total dork.

Sam snickered. "You've been spending far too much time with Mike and Scott lately." She strolled into the room, the soft sound of her footsteps pitter-patting against the floor.

"Tell me about it." Chuckling along, I straightened myself back up, walked in after her, and shut the door behind me.

Almost instantly, I felt the goosebumps melt away from my skin and the sweet aroma of lavender whisked through the air. It was like a cozy steam room, painted beige with a grey marble floor that was so clean to the point where it cast an upside-down reflection of everything. Two wrought iron racks hung on the wall, supporting perfectly rolled up towels that had fancy W's sewed into the bottom left corners. Aside from that, two crimson pots that contained phony flowers suspended from the ceiling in both of the room's bottom corners. Two wicker sofas, a matching rocking chair, a coffee table, and a shay carpet were also arranged in a social gathering position in the upper left corner of the room. Then, across from all of that, there was the Jacuzzi.

Josh really wasn't kidding when he said that it was the coolest hot tub in all of existence. Just by looking at it, I could tell that the whole gang could fit inside and wade around without ever having to worry about knocking into each other or running out of space. Plus, it had built-in headrests, a slim granite counter that stretched around the entire thing, and two sets of stairs that led up to it. The first staircase was only three steps that hiked up to the platform, while the second staircase had only two steps that were only there to help people climb in to the tub. Each stair also had two old-fashioned lanterns placed on both ends, casting a relaxing and romantic glow around the whole room.

"Holy damn." I muttered under my breath, surprised.

"Wow." Sam drawled shortly after with an impressed smile printed across her face. "Looks pretty neat, huh?"

As she said this, she unwrapped the towel from around her body and tossed it across the back of one of the couches. Now, she stood before me in a well-fitted, solid white, one-piece swimsuit that was decorated in a bunch of tiny red cherries. Also, there were no straps, the bottom half was designed to look more like a pair of shorts, and ruffles were incorporated into the sweetheart neckline. Needless to say, she looked hot.

"Yeah, it's very cool ... just like Josh described it." I replied, still referring to the room as my lips morphed into a flirty grin. "All we need now is some music."

"I can handle that." Sam assured as she strolled over to the hot tub's built-in counter, placed her phone down on it, and took a minute to scroll through her playlist. Eventually, she selected Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven and glanced over her shoulder at me. Our admiration for classical music was another thing that we had in common. "I think this sounds about right. What about you, Russ?" Sam asked, the look in her eyes giving it away that she already knew my answer.

Though, I still spoke, "It's perfect, Sammy."

"Good." My girlfriend tilted her head a little to the side, just now noticing the champagne and long-stemmed glasses that were in my hand. "What's that you got there?"

"Oh, you mean this?" I raised the medium-sized bottle up so it could be seen better and carefully waved it around, not wanting to risk accidentally dropping it. "It's just a little gift from the Washingtons ... who wouldn't stop nagging me until I agreed to take some type of alcohol."

Sam crossed her arms over her chest and sauntered back over to me, dragging her feet with every step she took to make it look like she was ice-skating across the floor. "So you chose champagne?" she asked, evidently having no problem with that. Like me, she wasn't a heavy drinker and drank with a limit - so champagne was definitely the best route to take.

"What else?" I asked as I handed one of the glasses over to her. After that, I tore off the shiny gold wrapping that was secured around the top of the bottle and, after recalling the technique that my dad used while doing this every New Years Eve, yanked the cork out with just my fingers. Unfortunately, I must've done something incorrectly, because the cork soared out of my hand and all the way across to the other side of the room at the speed of lightning. Plus, a mild POP echoed through the air and a gush of champagne shot out like a rapid. With a laugh, Sam managed to catch some of it in her glass; but the rest of it rained down and splashed against the marble floor.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, watching as the puddle fizzed like acid right before my eyes. "My bad ... maybe I should've asked Josh for a bottle opener when I had the chance."

"Yeah, that probably would've been a good idea." Sammy retrieved her towel from the couch and placed it down on the floor like she was getting ready to relax on the beach so it would absorb the liquid. "But don't worry about it. This sure as hell doesn't compare to the mess that's upstairs."

"Well, you know the Washington's. When they're having a party, they mean business." I tilted the bottle and began to pour the champagne into my girlfriend's glass, right before I dug my incredibly corny accent back out and insisted, "Ladies first, madame."

Sam chuckled again. "Oh, what a gentleman."

By the time the glass was half-full, I stopped and started to pour my own glass. Even with the sound of the water rippling in the Jacuzzi from the jets, I could still hear the beverage fizzing. Then, when I finished, I sat the bottle down on the counter beside Sammy's phone.

"And what is it exactly that we'll be toasting to?" Sam asked as she wiped a runaway drop of champagne away from the side of her glass with her finger.

"Hmm..." I hesitated for about five seconds before a wide smile broke out across my face. "How about a toast to this weekend with all of our friends? May it turn out to be one of the best trips to look back on in each of our lives."

"I like the sound of that." Sam said, grinning back. She raised her champagne up in the air. "To this weekend."

I followed her example and repeated, "To this weekend." Then, we clinked our glasses together and started to drink. The tiny bubbles tickled the inside of my mouth and washed down my throat like a waterfall, leaving the insanely sweet and crisp taste behind on my tongue. I swear, it was like tasting a piece of heaven.

"Mmm." Sam purred, finishing her champagne around the same time as I did mine. "Delicious."

I winked at her. "Dom Perignon is definitely one of the best kinds of champagne out there."

My girlfriend handed her glass back over to me. "You've had some before?" she asked, sounding both surprised and curious.

"Yeah, but only a couple of times. It's been a while." I sat the crystalware down on the counter. "The last time I had any was back in freshman year when the guys came over to my place for a guys-only party."

Sam snorted and hunched over, placing her hands on her knees in amusement. Then, after a moment, she straightened herself back up and said, "Oh my God. You do realize that no matter how many times you refer to it as a 'guys-only party', it won't change the fact that it was really a sleepover, right?"

I couldn't resist letting out a mere snicker. "Oh, shut up." I said, shoving her arm playfully.

Sammy continued to cutely snicker, right before she wrapped her arms around my neck and placed her lips against mine in a long, gentle kiss. Believe it or not, the two of us were hardly ever romantic. When you're involved with a group of friends like ours, it's very difficult to do anything that involved romance without getting teased or bombarded with embarrassing questions. Sam and I might've held hands and flirted in front of the others, but kissing was something we usually did in private. And yet, we still had to deal with so many sex jokes.

I almost instantly melted into the kiss, feeling an intense blush tingle across my cheeks at the wonderful feeling. God, I loved her. However, just as I started to reach my hand up to caress her cheek, Sam took a hold of it and broke apart from me with a playful smirk. She backed away, tracing her fingertips across the palm of my hand before she twirled around on her heels and scampered up onto the hot tub's platform.

I chuckled, placing my hands on my hips. "You're cruel, you know that?"

"And what's so wrong with that?" Sam asked as she froze in her tracks and looked back at me, still acting completely nonchalant. "Cruel or not, you still love me."

"I never said I didn't."

Sam walked up the next set of stairs and treated the edge of the Jacuzzi like it was a hurdle, jumping in. As soon as her skin came in contact with the foamy water, she released a blissful sigh. Then, after wading across to the other side, she took a seat at the upper right corner and laid her head back against the headrest. The water completely submerged her, leaving out only her shoulders, neck, and head.

"What are you waiting for, Romeo?" Sam asked, still smiling. "You planning on getting in anytime soon?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." I pulled my flannel off and tossed it over to the sofa, leaving me in just the dark green pair of swimming trunks. "How's the water?"

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself."

I playfully rolled my eyes and walked up the platform, listening to the gentle melody of Moonlight Sonata as it continued to whisk through the air. Then, after I stepped up onto the first stair of the second staircase, I dipped my hand into the water to test it. It was unbelievably warm and very pleasant to the touch, pulsating through my fingers from a nearby jet. Finally, after pulling my hand back out, I climbed in without even needing the second stair and the sweet scent of lavender grew stronger. It must've been coming from the foam.

"Damn, this is amazing." I said, noticing how perfectly sleek the floor felt against my feet as I strolled through the water. "I wish my family was as loaded as the Washington's. My old man won't even let me get a new camera until next Christmas. Until then, I'm stuck using my phone and the camera assigned to me from campus."

"Well, to be fair," Sam noted, "you do have four younger sisters who need to make it to college someday, too."

I took a seat beside her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "I know, but still." Humor suddenly invaded my voice. "You think I can convince Mr. and Mrs. Washington to take one of them? I'm pretty sure that Josh and Scott would just love to have another little sister."

Sammy chuckled and playfully elbowed me in the ribs. "Come on, Russell. I've met your sisters and they're not that bad. You should be happy that you have such a big family."

"No, you should be happy that you're an only child." I retaliated. "Trust me, they act completely different when it's just me around."

"Well, we don't have to worry about them right now. Right now, it's just you and me ... and with a group of amazing friends like ours, we better savor this moment while we can." Sam scooted a little closer to my side and smiled. "So, what do you want to do?"

Just like that, my eyes lit up and a coy smirk tore widely across my face. "Wanna make out?" I asked.

Sam didn't think twice before pulling me into a very passionate kiss.


01:53

After about fifteen minutes of going back and forth from making out to taking turns drinking out of the champagne bottle, Sam and I decided to wrap up our time in the hot tub. We both had been warmed up and agreed that it was time to reunite with the rest of the gang. So, after drying off and getting our winter clothes back on (without looking at each other), we exited the room side-by-side with my arm tangled around her waist and blissful grins decorating our faces.

"You know something, Sammy?" I said as the two of us began scaling up the flight of stairs, taking our sweet time with every step. "I think it's safe to say that the time we spent in there was, by far, the most fun I've had on this entire trip."

My girlfriend snickered. "Oh, really?" Judging by the teasing note in her voice, it was obvious that she thought that I was, once again, being corny.

I halted in the direct center of the staircase and turned to stare at her saucily. "Yes, really." I confirmed with a wink, right before I unwrapped my arm from around her and took a hold of her hand. Then, with our fingers interlocking and palms generating heat against each other, I spun her around like a ballerina and pulled her in against my chest so I could take a moment to just rest my chin on top of her head. Now, her cheeks were tinted with a bright shade of pink and both of us were chuckling.

"Well, we still have tomorrow." Sam reminded. She pecked me on the cheek and continued up the stairs, still holding my hand. "Plenty of more memories to make."

I traced my thumb across her knuckles and popped the 'p' as I said, "Yep."

Although, as soon as we made it back up to the second floor, it came to our attention that nobody was in the living room anymore. There was still a fire crackling in the fireplace, moonlight pouring in through the icy windows, and trash scattered all over the place; but not a soul was in sight. Plus, to make the setting even more creepy, the blizzard had gotten worse - if that was even possible. In the blink of an eye, Sammy and I grew confused, no longer smiling.

"What the hell?" Sam battered her eyes, scanning every possible inch of the room. "Where is everybody?"

"Uh..." I drawled, also unable to spot anyone. "I'm not sure ... they were all here when we went downstairs."

"Do you think they decided to call it a night?"

"No way, not possible. It's not even two yet." I noticed the deep creases in both of the couches and pursed my lips in thought. "Hmm ... wherever they are, they must've gotten up and left just recently. Maybe we should check the kitchen."

Sam nodded, looking just as curious as I did. "Yeah, all right."

We strolled over to the kitchen doors and sure enough, when we entered, we found where a majority of the gang had disappeared to. Matt, Ashley, Lucas, and Hannah were still MIA, but everyone else was there. Emily, Ethan, Jess, and Mike were standing in a circle beside the island. I didn't have the slightest clue what they were up to, but Emily was wearing a mischievous smile, Jessica was having a very hard time containing her giggles, and Ethan was in the middle of scribbling something down on a piece of paper. He was perfectly balanced in the tree position and using his knee as a surface as he wrote.

Sam released my hand and stepped in between Emily and Ethan, looking the most confused I've ever seen her before. "Hey," she said, "what's going on here?"

Ethan just barely peeked up at her with excitement bursting in his eyes like fireworks. Though, he remained silent and continued to work on whatever it was that he was writing. Jess, on the other hand, glanced over her shoulder at Beth - who was still looking out the window, completely oblivious to everything that was going on behind her. Then, after confirming that she wasn't watching, Jessica turned back to Sam and began going into a long explanation; but I didn't bother sticking around to listen. My attention had been grabbed my something else, so I snaked past Jess and Mike to get to it.

At the opposite end of the island, Josh and Chris were lying across the countertop like two dead fish, passed out cold. They were both snoring quietly and surrounded by dozens of plastic cups, along with many bottles of Jeremiah Cragg that had been sucked dry. In fact, Chris was still holding a slightly crushed cup in one hand and a half-empty bottle of the heavy liquor was lying underneath his other. I stood beside the chair that Josh was sitting in, which was where Scott had been lounging earlier, and placed my hands on my hips.

"Well, it looks like the two of you spent your time productively." I grumbled sardonically, flicking my eyes back and forth between my two wasted buddies. Then, with a small huff, I stretched my arms across the counter and easily pried the two items out of Chris's hands. "I think you've had enough alcohol for tonight, Cochise."

He groaned slightly, but didn't even stir from his slumber.

I sat the bottle and cup aside, right before I turned around and noticed that Scott was standing at the far other end of the kitchen. He was leaning over the back of the leather sofa that was in front of the second fireplace, doing something that I couldn't see. So, I strode over to his side and peered over the couch with him, only to discover that he was covering Chelsea up with a thick wool quilt. She was lying on her side, facing the fire and softly breathing through her wide-open mouth with a few of her curls suspending in front of her face.

"What happened here?" I asked, unable to resist chuckling from how funny I thought she looked. "Don't tell me that she got drunk like Thing One and Thing Two over there."

"Nah, she just got tired and conked out. It's been a long night for her." Scott replied as he finished tucking the blanket around our emerald-eyed friend. Then, as soon as he turned to look at me, his warm grin morphed into a teasing smirk. "So, how was your alone time with Samantha? Did the two of you enjoy the Jacuzzi?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, hesitating for a moment. "I'll admit..." I smiled and peeked up at the ceiling, as if I was questioning what I was about to say, "...it turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would in the first place."

"Now that's what I like to hear! It's good to know that you're finally starting to let yourself off the leash." Scott remarked, giving me a playful slap on the side of my shoulder. "Make sure that you tell me everything that happened between you and Sam in the morning. As of now..." He grabbed a black garbage bag from where it was slung over his shoulder and opened it up like a parachute, "...I really need to get a head-start on picking up all of the trash in the living room so it'll be less of a mess to deal with by the end of this weekend."

"All right, Scott." I saluted him with two fingers, just like Mike had done to me over an hour ago. "Have fun with that."

"Oh, I will." My best friend snickered at his own sarcasm and bumped his knuckles against mine, right before he started his way out of the kitchen. Although, just as he was about to pass by the circle ... I noticed Ethan quickly sneak the sheet of paper that he'd been writing on previously behind his back. Then, as soon as the door closed behind Scott from his departure, the chocolate-haired lad brought the piece of paper back out in front of him and held it out to Jess. She immediately took it from him, but made sure to avoid touching his hand while doing so.

"What the..." I muttered under my breath, trying to make sense of what I had just witnessed. "What are they doing over there?"

Jessica flashed a sneaky grin and backed up, placing the piece of paper neatly down on the counter. At the same time, I hurried over as nonchalantly as possible and saw a look of pure worry now masking Sam's face as I helped myself to the space that was between her and Emily.

"Oh my God!" Emily exclaimed in a whisper when Jess turned back around. "I can't believe you actually did this!"

The blonde with short pigtails quickly shushed her, causing me to raise an eyebrow in dead confusion. Then, to make this whole thing even more unclear for me, she took another small glance back to make sure for the second time that Beth hadn't been alerted.

"Don't you guys think this is a little bit cruel?" Sam asked, blinking nervously.

"Oh, come on. She deserves it." Jess rebuked.

Just like that, my girlfriend's voice grew much more defensive. "It is not her fault that she has a huge crush on Mike-"

"This is about Hannah?" Now, I knew exactly who they were talking about. Ever since middle school, Hannah has possessed such an obsession with Mike that it made Chris's crush on Ashley seem microscopic; but there was still so much that I didn't understand about what was going on right now.

"'Huge' is an understatement." Ethan interjected with his hands now folded upright, completing the tree pose. "Whenever she's in his presence, her aura shines brighter than the sun."

Emily rolled her eyes at that statement, while Jessica completely ignored it and continued talking like Ethan hadn't said a word.

"Hannah's been making moves on him. I'm just looking out for my girl Em." She pointed at the Asian, right before she spun around and strut out of the kitchen with her boots clicking against the stone floor.

Emily quickly followed her into the living room with Ethan and Mike in hot pursuit. Although, Sammy and I were much more reluctant. We remained where we were like our feet were nailed to the floor and exchanged glances. She still looked totally uneasy and by this point, I was overflowing with confusion. Unfortunately, before I could open my mouth to ask her what was going on, Sam took off after the others like the devil had suddenly burst into the room. I immediately followed, noticing on my way out that Matt and Ashley had suddenly appeared beside the door.

Scott was too caught up in cleaning up all of the garbage to even notice the group piling out of the kitchen.

"Just because he's class Prez doesn't mean he belongs to everyone. Mike is my man." Emily declared, looking back at her boyfriend with a seductive glint in her eyes.

"Hey, Em." Mike said, just as Ethan skipped further ahead and strolled down one of the corridors with a swag in each step. "I'm not anybody's man."

The Asian instantly snorted and said in a sing-song voice, "Whatever you say, Darling~"

I froze in my tracks beside a pillar and smacked my arms down at my sides, watching as Sam started hiking up the stairs. Then, I gazed over at Mike, Emily, and Jessica, realizing that they were heading down the same hallway that Ethan had already vanished down.

"What the hell is going on in this lodge tonight?" I asked myself, making sure to keep my voice low enough so nobody would hear me.

I had to make a decision on where to go.


X Follow Sam/Follow Group X

Choice Chosen: Follow Sam


"Wait for me, Sammy." I made a move to approach the staircase, but before I could even manage taking my second step, somebody grab my arm. With no hesitation, I turned my head and saw that it was Matt. He and Ashley were the caboose of the group, wearing smiles that were equally giddy. Something definitely wasn't adding up here. Everyone, except for Sam, seemed to have been on board with whatever it was that was going on here. And I knew nothing about it except for the fact that it involved Hannah.

"Hey, Russell, where are you going?" Matt asked as he began leading me away from the stairs and down the corridor with the others. "Come on, the fun's this way."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I pulled my arm out of his grip and narrowed my eyes inquisitively. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Ashley promised. She scampered ahead with chuckles slipping out of her mouth. "Now hurry up! It's almost time!"

"Almost time for what?" I pursed my lips, feeling my curiosity starting to overpower me for the millionth time tonight. If no one was gonna answer my questions, then this was the only way left for me to figure out what these guys were up to. So, I reluctantly agreed to follow Matt and Ashley down the hall. As I did, I heard the sound of Sam's voice calling out Hannah's name from somewhere up on the third floor.


01:58

Just as I thought that I couldn't get anymore confused, I was proven wrong when I ended up in one of the guestrooms. As soon as I walked in, I witnessed Ashley quickly trot over to a partition that was on the other side of the room and dunk behind it, giggling like that was suddenly all she knew how to do. At the same time, Matt climbed into the wardrobe with - was that a selfie stick? - being held in his hand. As for Ethan, he was already crouched down behind the rocking chair and peeking out with such a huge smirk on his face that I could've sworn his cheeks were seconds away from splitting. Not trying to sound offence or anything, but if I didn't know him, I would've definitely mistaken him for a squatter by now.

"Guys, you have to make sure that you stay quiet!" Mike cautioned as he watched Emily and Jess, who also couldn't stop giggling to save their lives, get down on their stomachs and shimmy underneath the bed as fast as they could. Then, Mike turned his attention over in my direction and noticed that I hadn't moved an inch from where I was still standing in front of the door. He held his hands out at his sides in uncertainty and said, "What are you waiting for, Scarface?"

"Mike, what in the heck is going on in here?" I asked, avoiding his question. I walked to the center of the room and stood before him. "Why is everyone hiding?"

Mike grinned. "You'll see, man."

"No." I raised my eyebrows in dead seriousness, sick of receiving that answer. "I want to know right now. Sam looked pretty worried back in the kitchen and even though Hannah doesn't exactly see eye-to-eye with me, that doesn't change the fact that I really do care about her. She's my best friend's little sister and I consider her as a friend of mine. So, I deserve to know what this whole thing is about. You're not trying to scare her, are you?"

"Whoa, man. Relax." Mike said, making it sound like I had just got done screaming in his face. "We're not going to scare her. We're just going to have some harmless fun. No need to get all worked up about it, okay? There's absolutely nothing to worry about. I'll be handling everything myself and all you have to do is stay out of sight with the others."

It was obvious that he wasn't telling me the whole story, but I didn't have the slightest clue as to why. When it came to the gang, I was usually the last person who had secrets kept from them.

"But-"

Ashley interrupted me, climbing out from her hiding place. "Come on, Russell," she said as she fast-walked over to me and looped her arm around mine, "you heard Mike. We have to hide."

"All right, all right." I gave in with a roll of my eyes, finding it very difficult to believe that I had become this desperate to get to the bottom of this. "I'll hide."

After pulling me across the room, Ashley grabbed the edge of the partition and stretched it further out to provide a wider hiding space. At the same time, Mike crossed his arms and looked at the clock with a mixture of satisfaction and excitement glimmering in his pale brown orbs. It had just struck two A.M. ... and as I knelt down behind the partition like I was getting ready to say a prayer with my best friend's girlfriend, I could've sworn that I detected the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway.

Was that Sammy coming to find us? I closed one of my eyes and treated one of the slim openings of the partition like a peephole, peeking out.

"Opp ... she's here!" Emily whispered, just as Mike finished giving himself a quick hair check. "Shh ... shh..."

"Oh, this is gonna be great." Ethan snickered, sinking himself deeper into the shadows that was behind the rocking chair. The two bitches under the bed instantly shushed him, causing him to roll his eyes. Though, his excitement didn't falter the tiniest bit.

"Mike?" A sweet and gentle voice suddenly called out from the hall, causing every muscle in my body to grow stiff. That wasn't Sam ... it was Hannah ... and I don't know why, but hearing her voice at that moment made me feel very uncomfortable.

"What the hell am I doing? I shouldn't be hiding in here. I should be with Sam." I thought to myself as I bit down on my bottom lip, feeling my uneasiness grow stronger and mix with my curiosity. Not a great combination, by the way. "Whatever these guys are up to, it feels wrong ... but ... maybe there's a chance that I'm just being paranoid. According to Mike, this is just some harmless fun and we're all friends here. They wouldn't actually do anything to hurt Hannah ... would they?"

Just then, the door cracked open and Hannah entered the room, holding a candlestick.

"Mike?" She closed the door quickly behind her and turned around, looking like a lovesick puppy. "It's Hannah."

Mike took a step forward and greeted her, "Hey, Hannah."


Beth's POV

WASHINGTON LODGE KITCHEN

02:00

There was something - or somebody - outside. Even through all of the snow, I could just barely make out the shape of a figure standing further back in the yard. It almost looked like they were staring directly through the shutters at me and watching my every move; but before I could try getting a better view of them, the dark figure turned away and quickly marched off into the woods. There was no way in hell that I had just imagined that.

"Hey ... did you see that?" I asked, taking a quick peek over my shoulder before I glanced out the window again. "Dad said it would just be us this weekend." When I didn't get a response from anyone, I spun around and realized that I was now the only conscious one in the kitchen. "Josh?"

He and Chris were knocked out on the counter, snoring up a storm. At first, I thought that they had just fallen asleep in one of the worst places possible; but when I approached the island and walked around to the other side, I noticed an empty bottle resting beside Josh. I picked it up and turned it around, exposing the label that read Jeremiah Cragg.

"Jeez, Josh..." My lips twirled into a humorous smile and I sat the bottle back down, smacking my brother's arm. "Once again, brother, you've outdone us all." I shook him a little at my final word, but all he did was groan and remain in his drunk coma.

Just then, I was caught off guard when I heard a new voice say, "Actually, that bottle was mine."

A startled gasp pounced out of my throat and I jerked myself around so fast that I was surprised that I didn't receive whiplash. My eyes immediately landed on Lucas, who was now standing at the far opposite end of the island. He was dressed in a close-fitted, light grey sweater that was covered in dark blue stripes. There was only one stripe - the one across his chest - that was different. It was red. Also, aside from his teal sneakers and ordinary pair of jeans, he had a phony shark tooth necklace hanging around his neck and a pale brown beanie placed atop his head.

I swear, he had the palest skin that I've ever seen before in my entire life. It was accompanied by a small group of freckles that were scattered across his nose, a bold pair of electric blue eyes, and mid-length hair that was the color of cinnamon. I'll admit, he was pretty attractive ... but he was also very cunning. He could literally sneak around, whether he realized he was doing it or not, and avoid getting caught ninety-nine percent of the time.

"Oh, Lucas. It's only you." I placed my hand over my heart, relieved. "You scared me."

"Yeah, I noticed. Sorry about that." His voice was perfectly nonchalant, making it obvious that he's been told the same thing plenty of times in the past.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I huffed and dropped my arm back down to my side, feeling my heart finally starting to go back to its original pace. "Where have you been lately? I haven't seen you around for almost half an hour now."

"I've been in the bathroom." Lucas groaned, suddenly sounding annoyed and vaguely ill. Until now, I had failed to notice the pale shade of green that was smeared across his cheeks. "Here's a tip for you, Beth..." He raised a fist up to his mouth to smother a cough, "...never, and I repeat never, chug a whole bottle of Jeremiah Cragg after eating a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato. It's definitely not..." A gag interrupted him that time,"...a good combination."

I crinkled my nose in disgust.

"Ugh ... I need a cancer stick to get this god-awful taste out of my mouth." Lucas grumbled. He shoved a section of his bangs out of his face, right before he jammed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a loose cigarette. According to Ashley, who just so happened to be Lucas's cousin, he's been smoking for about a month now; and nobody in the gang knew the reason behind why he started. "Do you have a lighter that I can borrow?" Lucas asked, staring at me with a hopeful glow in his eyes.

"Um, yeah ... sure." I answered, still trying to burn that gross mental picture of him vomiting out of my brain. "I think my dad has one in here somewhere. Just check the drawers."

"All right, thanks."

Lucas took an audible step across the floor, getting ready to begin his scavenger hunt; but then, he froze and turned his attention over to the counter. Something had grabbed his attention, causing him to absently slip the cigarette back into his pocket.

"What the..." Lucas muttered under his breath as he picked the item up. It was a piece of paper - a note, to be exact. Then, after a moment, he gazed back down the island and said with his eyes narrowed in confusion, "Hey, Beth, what's this?"

I cocked my head a little to the side, looking just as lost as he did. "I'm - I'm not sure ... I've never seen that before."

"Well, this looks like Ethan's handwriting." Lucas noted. His eyebrows knitted together in deep thought and he ran his finger across the note, making it obvious that he was reading it; but then, his eyes widened and this vicious scowl crossed over his face, making a chill automatically run down my spine. "Shit..." His voice dropped to a whisper - a very pissed off whisper. "Shit, shit, shit!" After that, he threw the letter back down on the counter and whisked around on his heels, taking off at the speed of lightning.

"Hey! Lucas! Wait!" I raced to the middle of the island, calling out to him. "What's the matter? Lucas!"

He didn't respond, bolting out of the kitchen like he was being chased by a monster. Though, on his way out, he ended up bumping into Scott, who just so happened to be entering the room at that exact moment. Scott's back rammed against the door and he quickly grabbed the knob to prevent himself from falling; but instead of stopping to apologize or to express any sort of concern, Lucas kept running like nothing had happened.

"Whoa, Luke! Where's the fire?" Scott asked. He watched our cinnamon-haired friend run away and then turned to look at me with concern glowing in his eyes. "What was that about?"

"I honestly have no idea." I replied, walking the rest of the way down the long counter. Then, I grabbed the letter and held it up, showing it to Scott as I explained, "He just saw this and freaked out."

"What? ... Let me see that." Scott sat the plump trash bag that he'd been holding aside and snatched the note out of my hand to examine it. A spark of confusion shot through his voice. "This ... this is a letter addressed to Hannah."

I placed my hands on my hips. "What's it say?"

Scott readjusted his glasses slightly and began scanning his eyes across the words, reading them out loud.

Hannah,

You look so damn hot in that shirt ... but I bet you're even hotter out of it.

Come to the guest room at 2:00 A.M. ;)

Mike

XXX

Scott's eyes immediately widened and he didn't think twice before doing a double-take of the letter. After finishing it the second time, he shot hateful daggers at the piece of paper and started grinding his teeth protectively.

"Oh my God." I grimaced, recalling what Lucas had said about all of that being in Ethan's handwriting. "What did our naive sister get herself into now?"

"I don't know." Scott said as he placed the note back down on the counter and then turned to face me. "But we're gonna find out."

"Ugh." I groaned, shook my head, and glanced back at Josh, who was still past out. "Intervention time."


Mike's POV

WASHINGTON LODGE GUEST ROOM

02:01

"I got your note." Hannah said, nervously shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

In all honesty, I couldn't blame her for doing that. I was dating Emily, who wasn't exactly the most easy-going or charitable person on the planet. She hated it when I socialized with other girls - even the ones who have been close friends of mine since early childhood. There was even this one time she caught Sara Turner talking to me between classes and decided to "get even" with her by spreading a rumor around the whole school that Sara had a threesome with two teachers. Then, to make the "payback" even more hard-hitting, she said the following week that Sara had received an STD. Long story short: I never saw Sara's face again ... and all she did was congratulate me for becoming Class President.

So, if this was going to work, I was gonna have to prevent Hannah from getting scared so she wouldn't run off.

"Glad you could make it." I said with a serene smile.

A shy grin crossed over Hannah's face and she looked down, tugging lightly (and suggestively) at the bottom of her blouse. Then, when she lifted her head again, I noticed the excited sparkle in her eyes and the faint blush that was dusted across her cheeks. Don't get me wrong, I thought that she was a fairly cute girl; but I had no true romantic interest in her. The two of us were nothing more than acquaintances, which was what we would always be.

"Maybe we should start with a little, you know," I gave a coy shrug, "making out ... and see where it goes from there."

Hannah didn't say anything back. For a brief moment, she just stood there by the candlelight and stared at me, blushing. But then, thing's got really interesting when she reached up and started to fiddle around with the buttons on her blouse.

My eyes lit up and I raised my eyebrows, intrigued. "Ohhhhhh ... hell yeah." I whispered low enough so Emily wouldn't hear and watched as Hannah undid the first few buttons. I was starting to see a lot more skin - skin that I could tell Hannah was too shy to show off to anybody else.

Unfortunately, just as I thought that I was about to get a steamy sneak peek of her cleavage, a familiar voice spoke up "a little" too loudly.

"Oh my God! She's taking her shirt off!"

"Dammit, Jessica!" I mentally screamed and sent a small scowl in the direction of the bed. "Screw you and your big mouth!"

"What...?" Hannah squeaked, stumbling back a small step as she leaned over and spotted Emily and Jessica. "Oh my God!"

Knowing that our cover had been blown, everyone came out from their hiding spots. Russell pounced up so fast that he almost knocked the partition over, not even waiting for Ashley to fold it aside. Unlike the others, he was wearing a horrified look that perfectly resembled a deer caught in headlights.

I watched Hannah quickly cross her arms over her chest to prevent her blouse from falling down. The color rushed out of her skin and as soon as I digested just how crushed she looked, I felt a strong wave of guilt come crashing down on me. Shit, why did I agree to do this?!

"Matt?!" Hannah asked, making it known that she had seen the jock behind me with the video camera. "Ethan?! ... R-Russell?!"

For some reason, her voice cracked slightly when she said Russell's name. Tears were threatening to spill down her face as she looked around at the rest of the group and blurted out, "What are you doing here?!"

I looked down at the floor in regret, just as the door flew open. Lucas and Sam came bounding in, immediately locking their attention on the distressed Washington.

"Oh my God, Hannah..." Lucas said, panting slightly as he spoke. His cheeks were bright red, giving it away that he'd been sprinting to get here, and his eyes were soft - a clear mixture of guilt and pity.

"Hannah!" Sam exclaimed at the exact same time. She approached her best friend in an attempt to comfort her. "Hannah, hey, honey ... don't..."

"This shouldn't have happened, Hannah..." Russell spoke up, still wearing his wide-eyed deer expression.

"Han, please don't cry." Lucas pleaded. "This is just ... one huge misunderstanding..."

"It's just a-" Sam tried to explain.

"Listen, Hannah, uh..." I cut in, trying to find the right words to say, "this all kinda got out of hand, but..."

"Mike...!" Hannah cried out, looking absolutely humiliated and heartbroken.

I cringed at how betrayed she sounded and opened my mouth to say something else. But before I could get a word out, Hannah had already yanked the door open and took off running out of the room.

"Stupid prank." Sam sighed, clearly upset.

Lucas shot the entire room a venomous stare. "What in the hell were you idiots thinking?!" He spat, making it very hard to believe that his voice had been drowning in sympathy just seconds before. "How could you do that to her?! The last time I checked, we were all supposed to be friends here! For Christ's sake, the only reason Hannah organized this whole thing was so we could get the chance to hang out all together again and how do your dumb asses repay her?! By using her crush for your own twisted games and making her cry!"

"God, Luke, chill your aura. She'll get over it." Ethan said. "After all, it was just a prank."

"Wait, what?!" Russell spun around on his heels and backed up from Ashley and Voodoo Boy, as if they had suddenly become infected with the plague. "W-what did you just say it was?!"

Ethan pursed his lips and pretended to fiddle around with one of his beaded bracelets as he repeated himself, "A prank."

Lucas let out a mere, sarcastic chuckle and shook his head. "Oh, no ... no, no." He said, wagging his finger like he was lecturing a bunch of kindergartners. "You see, putting whipped cream in somebody's hand and tickling their nose with a feather is a prank. This, on the other hand, was downright bullying and harassment!"

"Lucas, please calm down." Ashley said, obviously wanting to defuse the situation. "We didn't mean for her-"

"You know what, Ash?" Lucas interjected. He narrowed his eyes at her in a degrading manner. "You're the last person I want to talk to or hear from right now ... I can't believe you ... my own cousin ... participated in something as stupid as this. You're Scott's girlfriend, for crying out loud!"

A deep frown slipped across Ashley's face. "Luke..."

"Don't bother." Lucas growled, raising his hand before he turned his back on all of us. "I can't believe I actually spend my life with you pricks. I'm ashamed to even know any of you right now."

He stormed out of the room and switched back over to his sympathetic tone as he called out Hannah's name.

Ashley became stock-still, staring at the door in a mixture of hurt, guilt, and shock. "Shit..." She sighed.

Just then, Russell's face hardened into a scowl. "I can't believe you guys!" He bellowed. "This was your idea of a prank?! Oh my God! ... Guys, that was so messed up!"

Jessica scoffed. "Don't even bother trying to play the precious, little, innocent being, Russell." She pointed at him and spoke condescendingly. "You were involved just as much as the rest of us."

"That's complete bullshit and you know it!" Russell snapped, looking like he was seconds away from kicking someone in the balls. "I didn't even know what in the hell I was walking into! And even when I did ask what was going on, the only thing that I was told was to hide!" He then flicked his attention over to me and lowered his voice into a vicious whisper. "But that was just so I wouldn't intervene with this sick plan ... wasn't it?"

I almost winced, feeling the dread in my chest increasing with every passing second. "Russ..." I said in an attempt to lessen the tension.

"No." He cut me off with pure anger in his eyes, shaking his head. "You knew that if I knew the truth behind this whole shenanigan in the first place, I would've stopped it from happening ... so, you lied to me in order to make sure that I would stay out of the way."

Unfortunately, he wasn't wrong.

"Russell, this whole thing..." I tried to explain again, "...it just got out of hand."

"You're damn right it did." Russell snarled, right before he spun around on his heels to face the door and mumbled, "'Just some harmless fun' ... yeah, right ... you're all a bunch of assholes." Then, he threw the door open so fast that it slammed against the wall and bolted out of the room, calling for Hannah.

Ethan bit down on his bottom lip, just now starting to look unsettled.

I sighed. "Uh ... damn!"

Sam turned to look at all of us, evidently pissed from hearing about how we had tricked her boyfriend into joining our group.

"You guys are jerks." She fumed. "You know that?"

After that, instead of sticking around for a response, she hurried out the door to go find Hannah.


Scott's POV

WASHINGTON LODGE KITCHEN

I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell that something wasn't right. After reading that letter, I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Of course, part of it was probably because I was angered (and also disturbed) by the mental picture of one of my friends wanting to get naked with my sister; but I could feel something inside of me saying that wasn't entirely it. After all, I've seen Mike's signature plenty of times before ... and that wasn't it. So, if he wasn't the one who left the letter for Hannah, then who-

A figure suddenly bolted past the window, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. I just barely had enough time to spot what looked like dark hair and a dark shirt before the figure was no longer in sight. Beth must've seen it too, because she released a small gasp and took a step back from the island. My eyes grew as I thought about the minor details that I had seen, and a nerve-wracking guess on the figure's identity formed in my brain.

"Beth," I said, sounding just as worried as I looked, "please don't tell me that was who I think it was."

Beth answered quickly and honestly. "I-I don't know. I didn't get a good look."

"Well, we can't just stand here! We need to do something. Right now!"


X Wake Josh/Find Others X

Choice Chosen: Wake Josh


With no hesitation, my sister and I dashed over to Josh, ignoring how I almost tripped from how slippery the floor was. Beth stood on one side of him and harshly shook his arm while I stood on the other side, shoving his shoulder just as roughly.

"Josh!" Beth bellowed urgently, but he didn't even stir. "Josh!"

"Come on, man! Wake up!" I exclaimed almost directly into his ear. "It's an emergency! We just saw somebody run past the window! You have to wake up!" I started smacking him on the back and squeezing his bicep as hard as I could. "Josh!" I switched back to rattling his shoulder, but all he did was let out a vague snore and remain in his deep, drunken sleep. "Dammit!" I hissed, giving up. "It's no use. He's going to be out cold like this for God knows how long."

Beth dropped an F-bomb at my statement and ripped her arms away from our brother in defeat.

"Shit ... come on, Beth. Time to change tactics." I said as I started racing towards the door. "We need to find the others and warn them."

My sister didn't think twice before following me, leaving Josh and Chelsea behind for the time being. Trust me, if Chelsea wasn't such a heavy sleeper, I would've tried waking her up; but we didn't have time for that right now.

"Guys!" Beth called out as soon as she and I charged into the living room. "There's someone outside!"

"We just saw them run past the window!" I contributed, only to notice afterwards that nobody was there. I wrinkled my brow in confusion and turned my head, catching a glimpse of the gang hurrying over to the front door, which was now wide open.

"What the hell...?" Beth took the words right out of my mouth and grabbed her fuchsia jacket from where it was lying across the nearby armchair. As we jogged to catch up with the others, she pulled it on and I quickly zipped up my puffer vest, bracing myself for the freezing outdoors. Although, at that moment, I didn't even care that I didn't have shoes on.

"Hannah!" Sam's voice called out as soon as the group finished piling out the door.

I could've sworn that I felt my heart lock up in my chest. My hunch on who that was running outside the window had been confirmed ... and it honestly made me feel like I'd just fallen into my worst nightmare.

"Hannah, come back!" Ethan hollered next. "It's not safe out there with Mother Nature tonight!"

"Oh, shut up, Ethan!" Emily sneered.

Beth and I finally made it outside, shoving our way to the front of the group just in time to spot Hannah disappearing into the woods.

A slight cringe slipped across my face as I felt the snow already starting to leak through my wool socks. It literally felt like dozens of pointy icicles were stabbing repeatedly at my flesh; but instead of going back inside to get some boots, I shoved my discomfort to the far back of my mind and remained focused on the actual situation.

"What's going on?" Beth inquired, turning to look at our friends. "Where's our sister going?"

"Yeah, why is she running out there?" I demanded in a tone that was just as concerned. "What the hell happened?"

Jessica groaned and waved her arm dismissively. "Ugh, it's fine. She just can't take a joke."

"It was just a prank, Han!" Emily called out into the blizzard, her voice haughty.

"Stop calling it that!" Russell ordered, staring bitterly at the Asian. Whatever happened here, I could tell that he hadn't been involved.

"What did you do?!" Beth fumed.

Mike tried to play it cool, shrugging slightly. "We were just messing around, guys. It wasn't serious-"

"WHAT?!" I blurted out so loudly that I could've sworn I made some of the trees shake.

"You JERKS!" Beth yelled immediately after. Then, after glaring at the whole group, she turned away and started sprinting towards the woods. "Hannah! HANNAH!"

"BETH!" I hollered, watching in fear as her figure started to grow hazy right before my eyes from the large puffs of snow. This really was my worst nightmare.

I quickly snapped my attention back over to Mike. It all made sense to me now - that "love letter" had been part of some shitty excuse of a joke and now, both of my sisters were out there in the dark woods during a dangerous snowstorm. That might've not been Mike's handwriting that I saw, but it was pretty obvious that he was the main participant of this so-called "prank." After all, he knew that Hannah had a huge crush on him.

"You are so eff'd up, Munroe!" I bellowed, standing directly in front of him with fury electrocuting through my eyes. "I seriously can't believe this bullshit! I helped you become Class President and this is how you repay me?! By messing with my sister?!" With every word I spoke, my voice grew sharper and my fists started to tremble at my sides from how much I was clenching them. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, just as I did something that I can guarantee nobody saw coming. I threw my fist back and, with as much force as possible, nailed Mike square in the jaw.

Complete shock crossed over the entire group's faces, just as Mike let out a loud holler of pain and stumbled back a couple of steps. It looked like he was about to fall right on his ass, but he managed to regain his footing at the edge of the Welcome mat. Then, when he straightened himself back up, he rested his hand against his jaw and exclaimed at me in utter disbelief, "What the hell, man?!"

"Holy shit!" Ethan yelped at the exact same time.

"Whoa there, Scott!" Matt intervened, trying to speak in the calmest voice possible. "I really think you should calm down."

"No, Mike deserved it!" Lucas barked.

Emily shoved Ashley's cousin in the arm and objected immediately. "Like hell he did!"

I noticed Ashley starting to nervously pick at the edge of her beanie from the corner of my eye; but I didn't have time to deal with her right now. I still needed some time to digest how she - of all people in the gang - had participated in such a god-awful "prank" on my sister.

I kept my ferocious scowl locked on Mike and refused to acknowledge the others. "You're out of here ... I never want to see your ass around either of my sisters or this place ever again, you hear me?!" I began to take large steps backwards, snarling like a junkyard dog. "By the time I get back, you better have your bags packed because I want you gone! I don't care where you go, but you sure as hell won't be staying here for the rest of the weekend, Munroe! Congratulations on being a douche and ruining the party!"

"Scott, dude-" Mike attempted to speak, still holding his jaw; but I didn't stick around to listen.

"BETH!" I whipped around and bolted as fast as I could - which was pretty damn fast - in the direction of the woods. "BETH, WAIT FOR ME!"

"SCOTT, NO!" Ashley's voice called out after me, drenched in horror. "IT'S TOO DANGEROUS OUT THERE!"

"COME BACK, SCOTT!" Russell hollered next, sounding just as terrified as my girlfriend. "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE SHOES ON!"

Nonetheless, I kept running and refused to look back.


Beth's POV

BLACKWOOD FOREST

Scott - being the star athlete that he was - caught up with me pretty quickly. Now, we were trampling through the woods together, jumping over fallen logs, dodging rocks, and smacking tree branches out of our way. The wind wailed like a ferocious beast, stinging our faces, and the snow crunched loudly beneath our feet as we raced down an upcoming curve in the path. Then, as soon as the two of us leaped over a log that had been almost completely camouflaged by the snow, we arrived at a wooden platform that had a rickety set of stairs connected at its side.

"Oh, shit!" Scott cursed. He skidded to a halt right in the center of the platform and shot his arm out in front of me, making sure that I stopped along with him. "Be careful on this thing, Beth. It doesn't look like its been brought up to code in quite a while."

"Hannah's been here." I said, drawing in slightly deeper breaths than usual. "I can feel it."

"Yeah, so can I." My brother turned to look at me, the concern in his pale green eyes immediately increasing. "Are you okay?" He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Do you need your inhaler?"

I kept panting, unable to resist rolling my eyes. "Scott, I haven't had an asthma attack ever since we were ten."

"I know, but you know the saying. It's better to be safe than sorry." Scott remarked as he reached into his jeans and, to my surprise, pulled out my old childhood inhaler. "You may leave it behind, but I never do." He pocketed it again, ignoring some of the snowflakes as they splatted against his glasses.

"Well, as much as I appreciate your concern, I'm not the one who is currently distraught and by themselves somewhere in the woods!" I had to raise my voice in order to be heard over the wind, turning my attention back to the view that he and I got from the platform. I cuffed my hands around my mouth and called out as loudly as I could, "HANNAH!" Unfortunately, there was no response, causing me to mumble a quick F-bomb and glance back at my brother. "We need to get down from this stupid thing!" I groaned.

"Which way do you suggest we use?" Scott asked. He was currently flicking his eyes back and forth from the worn-out looking staircase to an open edge of the platform.


X Fast/Safe X

Choice Chosen: Fast


"There's no time for stairs." I replied almost instantly. "We need to find Hannah before the three of us freeze to death out here!"

Scott nodded, "Agreed!" He was the first one to charge over to the edge of the platform, bending his knees to lessen the risk of a hard landing. Then, he dropped and landed gracefully on his feet. I was on his heels in less than a second, squatting down before plopping right next to him on the snowy ground. After that, we started running as fast as our legs could carry us down the next path, only to notice that there was a pair of footprints leading down in the same direction. Breathing hard, Scott and I followed them ... despite how I couldn't help but think that these footprints seemed to be a bit too big to be Hannah's.

Suddenly, there was an intersection. Scott and I jerked to a stop and stood side-by-side, just as the faint sound of twigs being snapped in the distance crept through the air. A few startled crows burst out of the trees that lined the left path and flew away, cawing. The noise came from that way, but the footprints continued down the right path.


X Follow Footprints/Follow Noise X

Choice Chosen: Follow Noise


"Scott..." I said, staring at the footprints a little uneasily, "...is it just me or ... do those footprints look a little too big to be from Hannah?"

"Uh..." Scott hesitated for a moment, studying the prints, "...they are pretty large ... but ... maybe Frank just decided to stop by to check on some of the stuff up here or something."

Frank was our family's personal handyman, who often visited the mountain to examine anything that could somehow break down or become damaged. His drop-ins were always random, but he still made sure to call every time so we would know that he was hanging around.

"Without calling to let our parents know?" I asked, voicing my confused thought.

Scott shot an answer back quickly, "Maybe his phone was out or he just forgot!" Then, he grabbed me by my wrist and started pulling me down the left path with him. "This way! That noise could've been from Hannah!"

I still felt unsure about his whole Frank theory, but I kept my mouth shut, pushed the mysterious footprints to the back of my mind, and followed him. However, we were both starting to run low on stamina and had no choice but to resort to jogging. Panting, Scott jumped over a stray branch on the ground and spun back around to see me, considering I had momentarily stopped to take a quick glance around. Hannah was still nowhere in sight and I ended up almost tripping over the same branch; but caught myself right on time and continued down the trail with my brother.

By this point, my face had become achingly numb from how cold the wind was and I could practically hear my heartbeat ringing in my ears. It was safe to assume that Scott was on the same boat. The deeper we got into the woods, the more the temperature dropped and the worse the blizzard got.

"Dammit, Hannah..." I spun around and squinted my eyes in the darkness, still having no luck in finding my sister, "...where are you?"

Scott, much to his dismay, needed a breather. I stopped by his side and patted his back, watching as he leaned over and rested his hands on his knees.

"I swear..." Scott huffed with anger flickering in his eyes, "...with God as my witness ... when we get back to the lodge ... I'm going to strangle those guys, starting with Mike." The venom increased in his voice at the mention of Emily's boyfriend.

"I seriously can't believe they did this." I said, still looking around in every direction possible for Hannah. "I mean, even Ash-"

Scott straightened himself back up and made eye contact with me. "Please..." His anger dissolved, only to be replaced by disappointment, "...don't bring that up. Not right now."

A small, but very sympathetic frown slipped across my lips. I knew how much he loved Ashley. They two of them have been together for three years straight and it was obvious that he was hurt by how she had cooperated in this pathetic "joke."

"Sorry, Scott."

"Don't worry about it." My brother started loping down the trail again with me in hot pursuit. "We can cross that bridge later. As for now, let's find Hannah and get the hell back to the estate."

Shortly after he said that, we stumbled upon another split path and we instantly froze in our tracks. On the right trail, there were footprints that looked a lot smaller than the previous ones implanted in the snow; but on the left, there was this strange looking shadow swaying slightly from a hidden section of the woods. I could've sworn that I caught a glimpse of somebody running down the right path. Scott must've seen it too, because he cuffed his hands around his mouth and called out over the wind, "Han! Hannah, is that you?" As soon as he said that, I noticed the shadow on the other path disappear like it didn't want to be caught.

"S-Scott!" I exclaimed, starting to feel a hell of a lot more unsettled.

"I-I'm sure it was just an animal!" Scott said. He wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders and held me close to his side. "Like a deer or something! I must've spooked it off." Although, the look in his eyes gave it away that even he was starting to have a difficult time believing his own theories.


X Follow Shadow/Fallow Footprints X

Choice Chosen: Follow Footprints


Scott studied the footprints for a couple of seconds, right before he started down the right path and exclaimed, "Come on, these footprints look much more like Hannah's!"

I didn't think twice before bolting after him, panting and occasionally glancing back to make sure that whoever or whatever caused that shadow wasn't following us. Then, after dodging a couple of more tree branches, we arrived at the top of another wooden platform. I sighed in exhaustion and knelt down, placing my hand down on the rundown surface before I leaped off and landed delicately on my feet. Scott was right on my tail, deciding to take a seat on the edge of the platform before pushing himself off and striking the ground perfectly beside me.

"Dammit, Beth," he grumbled as he dusted some snow off the back of his pants, "if we don't find Hannah soon, all three of us are gonna end up dying out here from hypothermia."

I narrowed my eyes at the treetops, noticing that the moonlight was starting to decrease. It was getting so much more difficult to see out here and Scott had a major point. So, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone, holding it out in front of me.

"Okay, seriously?" Scott demanded almost instantly. "Is now really the time for a selfie?"

I shot him a slight glare and responded by silently sliding my finger across the screen to unlock my phone. A bright beam of light was immediately elicited from the lens, spreading a good couple of feet across the snow in front of us. My brother straightened his lips, furrowed his brow, and rubbed the back of his neck, giving it away that he felt stupid for accusing me of wanting to do such a dumb thing right now.

"Oh ... that's actually not a bad idea, sis." Scott said, right before he reached into one of the pockets on his puffer vest and pulled out his own cell phone. While turning it on, I was able to catch a peek of his screensaver. It was a picture of him and Ashley sharing a passionate kiss in our mom's garden with one of his arms draped around her and the other extended out at a certain angle to take the shot. Though, it vanished when he swiped his finger across the screen and enabled the vibrant light from his own lens. "Onward we go." Scott huffed, filling the air with a misty cloud that had been formed from his breath.

We continued down the next (and much wider) path, shining our lights in every possible direction.

"Hannah!" I hollered, still unable to spot her anywhere.

"Han!" Scott called out shortly after. He pointed his cell phone in the direction of some large rocks, causing another group of crows to charge out of their hiding spots and fly away. "Han, where are you?"

"Huh..." I thought to myself as we walked through an opening between a few trees. The gate that had been built there long ago looked like it had somehow been broken apart. "I wonder what the hell caused that..." I shined my light on a couple of the damaged fence pieces, but then continued walking like I hadn't noticed them. It was probably just the storm that tore it up.

Suddenly, just as Scott and I approached this skinny tree that sat by itself in the middle of the trail, we were caught off guard when a large elk came bounding out from the treeline. A startled shriek escaped from my mouth and Scott didn't think twice before putting himself in front of me, going into his defensive older brother stance. Luckily, instead of proposing any threats, the elk continued on its way without acknowledging us.

"Shit, that thing almost gave me a heart attack." Scott sneered. "I hate the woods at this hour."

I groaned, "Mom and Dad are so going to kill us for this."

The two of us kept walking and as we approached a slight incline, I couldn't help but feel like we were being watched. "Hello?" I shouted, getting tired of just hearing the screeching wind and the snow crunching underneath our feet, "Hellooo?!"

"Hannah!" Scott hollered. He directed his light towards a couple of more trees while I zig-zagged mine across the ground.

"Um ... Scott?" Out of the blue, my light fell on this strange item that was lying in the snow. I knelt down with my brother by my side and picked it up, realizing that it was a remarkably carved piece of wood that was outlined in black paint. "What the heck is this?" I questioned.


Totem Found: Death Totem

Information: Predicts the death of Hannah, Beth, and Scott at the bottom of a cavern.

Note: Remember, not all totems are guaranteed to come true. Depending on what decisions are made will determine the future. Be careful at all times.


Scott squinted, also casting his light over the item. "It ... it looks like a totem." He tilted his head slightly. "You know about those weird rumors about native tribes being up here in the past. Somebody must've left it behind as a gag ... to trick whoever comes up here into believing those crazy stories."

I huffed and placed the totem back down on the ground. "Just as I thought that things couldn't possibly get any creepier out here tonight." I grumbled, standing back up. "Come on, let's go ... that thing is freaky."

We continued on, taking large and brisk steps through the snow as the path curved and continued to incline.

"Huh?" I froze in my tracks, causing my brother to bump into me, and I turned my head at the sound of a loud blaze. Scott must've heard it too, because he immediately turned his light in the same direction as the noise. Through a minor gap among a large group of trees and some rocks, I could've sworn that we caught a glimpse of a bright orange glow lighting up the air - like fire.

"What the shit...?" Scott muttered as he and I started walking again. The trail was finally starting to straighten out, but that didn't do anything to help with our uneasiness. Something very strange was going on in these woods tonight.

"HANNAH!" I hollered, still waving my cell phone around.

Suddenly, as soon as Scott and I passed by a large log that had been knocked down, we were stunned still again. Just to the left of us, a little above some more trees and on some other path, there was a much more distinct blow of what was most definitely fire. It soared across the air in a scorching wave and then disappeared, making my heart almost leap up into my throat.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, not knowing whether I sounded more scared or more curious.

"I-I'm not sure." Scott answered with a slight stutter. "But something tells me it's not good. We need to hurry!"

I automatically agreed with him. The two of us picked up the pace, sticking close and using our phones to keep our path illuminated. We stepped over some tangled roots that were just barely peeking out from the snow and pushed some more branches out of our way. Then, as soon as I shoved the final branch aside with Scott at my left side, we noticed a similar figure crouched down on the ground. It was Hannah, who was holding herself like she was trying to give herself a hug with tears already starting to freeze against her cheeks.

"Hannah?" I whispered, watching as she turned to look at me and our brother. "Hannah!"

"Hello?" Hannah whimpered.

Scott let out a deep breath of relief and exclaimed, "Oh, thank Christ!"

"Hannah!" I jogged over to her with Scott right behind me and unzipped my jacket, pulling it off. "Oh my God, you must be freezing!"

Hannah looked away, as if she was too embarrassed (or possibly too ashamed) of herself to look at either of us.

"Here." I wrapped my jacket around her shoulders. "Take my coat."

Almost immediately after I did that, Scott unzipped his dark green puffer vest and said, "And you take this, Beth. I don't want either of you to freeze." He slipped it up my arms and zipped it up for me like Josh used to do for all three of us when we were kids.

"I'm such an idiot!" Hannah cried, standing up with snow now coating her knees and shins. "I'm so dumb..."

"No, you're not." I said as I took a hold of her freezing hands in an attempt to comfort her. "You didn't know what they were up to. It wasn't your fault."

"And I swear, Han," Scott butted in with wrath dancing in his eyes again, "when we get back, each of them are going to get one hell of an earful from me."

Hannah sniffled and looked down again. "S-Scott," she said after a short pause, "you don't even have shoes on!"

Scott cringed slightly and my eyes shot huge.

"What?!" I exclaimed. I shot my attention down to the ground and saw that Hannah was right. The hems of our brother's jeans were soaked from the snow and the only protection that he had on his feet was a pair of wool socks. Which, of course, were completely drenched. I felt dumb for not noticing this as soon as we left the lodge, and judging by how Scott grimaced again, it was obvious that his feet must've been beyond cold.

"Scott, you were out here with me this entire time with no shoes?!" I demanded, evidently worried. "Don't you realize how dangerous that is?!"

"Hey." Scott interjected in a dead serious tone. He flicked his eyes back and forth from me to Hannah. "If I have to get frostbite in order to keep you two safe, I'll do it. That's what brothers are for."

I opened my mouth to say something back; but before I could get a word out, there was the sound of bushes rustling around. Then, after a couple of more twigs snapped, a bone-chilling shriek filled the air. With no hesitation, Hannah, Scott, and I snapped our heads in the direction of the noise and saw ... something ... squatting behind a few trees and staring back at us. Unfortunately, it was too dark to tell what it was ... but it was very skinny and it made my skin crawl.

"Hannah..."

"Beth..."

We both simultaneously turned to Scott, who was still staring at the thing in the forest with large eyes.

"Scott..." I said.

"Girls..." He started backing up with me and Hannah doing the same, terror in each step. Then, after hearing another scary wail from the creature, Scott yelled at the top of his lungs, "RUN!"

The three of us instantly spun around and bolted as fast as we could down the first trail that we saw. Along the way, Hannah was hyperventilating and having a far difficult time with keeping up with me and Scott. Whatever was in the woods, it was coming after us and we had to escape. Scott was a little further ahead of Hannah and I; but after we split apart to avoid running into another slim tree that sat by itself in the middle of the trail, Scott slowed down in order to grab Hannah's hand. He started pulling her along, trying to help her increase her speed while using the light from his cell phone to illuminate our path.

However, when I started racing across a rundown bridge that we had stumbled upon, Hannah ended up tripping. She brought Scott down with her and a loud CRACK echoed through the air from his phone slamming down against the rotted floorboards. The light from the lens immediately malfunctioned and it was evident that the screen had been broken.

"Shit!" Scott groaned from the harsh impact, while Hannah kept crying in fear.

"Hannah!" I exclaimed, immediately skidding to a halt at the other end of the bridge. "Scott!"

I didn't think twice before charging back, using one hand to grab Hannah's arm and the other hand to grab Scott's arm. Then, after hauling them back up onto their feet, the three of us raced across the bridge. Unfortunately, in the process, Scott and I ended up dropping both of our phones and leaving them behind. Now, we only had the moonlight to depend on.

"Stay close!" Scott hollered, just as the sound of another terrifying screech came from somewhere behind us.

I dared myself to look back, still running. It was difficult to see anything through the thick clouds of blowing snow, but I could still feel the eyes of whatever was chasing us watching our every move. It was close.

Suddenly, after a couple of more seconds, our running was put to an end when the three of us realized that we had trapped ourselves at the top of a very steep cliff.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" Hannah exclaimed, staring at the edge of the cliff in horror.

While turning to face whatever it was that was approaching us, Scott took a large step forward. As he did so, he took one of my hands in his own and one of Hannah's in his other, squeezing them tightly as a protective scowl crossed over his face.

"Get the hell away from us!" Scott bellowed, just as the hazy outline of the thing started to break through the blizzard. "If you want to take me, fine! But you better leave my sisters alone!"

"No!" I cried, starting to panic. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed how horribly close my siblings and I were from the drop-off. "No! Shit! No!" I went on, trying to put on a firm face as I then turned back to the unidentified figure and yelled, "Get back!"

Mine and Hannah's grip on Scott's hands increased as the three of us continued to step back.

"Holy shit..." Scott huffed, just as I dropped an F-bomb. For the first time, we had seen what this thing looked like.

"No!" I wailed again.

Without thinking due to her terror, Hannah took another step that was too far back. She leaned back against the old Danger sign, causing it to break in half and send her toppling over the edge. A hair-raising scream fled out of Hannah's mouth as she fell, taking me and Scott with her since none of us expected the fall. Scott and I screamed as well, but I managed to shoot my free arm up and grab a branch that was protruding from the side of the cliff. At the same time, Scott's glasses had fallen off his face and continued to drop the whole way down, disappearing from sight.

I clenched my teeth, feeling my muscles already starting to strain from how I was holding the weight of both of my siblings, as well as my own. All that was below us was a dark abyss, packed with large, pointy rocks and a light blanket of snow that would do shit for us if we fell from this height.

My heart was pounding faster than I've ever felt it pound before and I could hear the sound of Hannah's cries getting even louder. She was furthest below, grasping Scott's other hand and trying her hardest to reach her other arm up so she could have a better chance at hanging on. Unfortunately, Hannah didn't have much upper body strength and could only manage keeping one of her arms stretched out. No matter how many times she tried reaching her other one up, it quivered and dropped back down.

"Hannah! Han!" Scott called out. He was looking down at her, keeping his grip as firm as possible. "Don't look down, all right? Look up at me! I got you, baby sis! I got you!"

Just then, a swarm of flames emerged from above our heads and I could've sworn that Hannah was about to wet herself.

I could feel Scott's hand starting to slip from my own, causing me to look down at him and our sister.

"Hold on!" I begged, still gritting my teeth as I watched Scott look up at me with fear in his eyes. "Hold on!"

By this point, tears were starting to weld up in the corners of my eyes. It wasn't the physical pain that was getting to me - it was the emotional pain. If I couldn't hold on to Scott and Hannah, I was going to lose two of the three greatest siblings that anyone could ever ask for. At the same time, if I couldn't hold on to the branch, all three of us were going to perish and leave Josh all by himself. Why in the hell did the gang have to do chase us out of the estate like this?

"If it wasn't for that 'prank' of theirs, we wouldn't be in this predicament." With that thought ringing in my head, I glanced back up just in time to see another shadowy figure appear at the edge of the drop-off. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but whoever they were, they had what looked like some type of tank placed on their back. They reached their hand down, making Hannah choke back on another terrified squeal. Scott's eyes widened, giving it away that he was on the same boat as her.

I looked down at the two of them again. The tears in my eyes were starting to sting from the wind and my arms felt like they were seconds away from being dislocated. This was definitely the hardest decision that I was going to have to make in my entire life. I sniffled slightly, keeping my attention locked on Scott and Hannah for a couple of more seconds before I glanced back up at the extended hand of the figure.


X Drop Hannah & Scott/Let Go X

Choice Chosen: Let Go


There was no way in hell I could bring myself to let go of my siblings. As triplets, we've been through everything together ... and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did such a god-awful thing. So ... that only left one option...

"I'm so sorry, Josh..." I whispered under my breath, nearly choking on my words as a few tears leaked down my cheeks. "...We're so sorry..."

The figure reached their arm out a little further and made an attempt to snatch a hold of my hand ... but I had already released the branch, piercing the air with the bloodcurdling screams of me, Hannah, and Scott as we fell down the cliff.


A/N: This was most definitely thee longest prologue that I've ever written!

I hope you all enjoyed it! Keep in mind, I look forward to feedback and I very much appreciate it. Don't be shy to share your opinions. Feel free to PM them to me or leave them in the reviews. :D :D

I have decided to create a poll on my page. Cast your vote and share with me which of the five new characters is your favorite so far!

Again: Chapters will be lengthy (considering how long the game is) and will require time for me to plan out/work on since I'm juggling schoolwork and other fanfics on the side of this. Nonetheless, never worry about me abandoning this story because I won't. It'll just take time, so please understand that and be patient. Thank you. :)

Also, just to clear some things up quickly:

1) Why did Scott personally attack Mike and none of the others for the prank? - As stated in the chapter, Scott was furious with how Mike knew that Hannah had a crush on him and still went along with the prank. Plus, after finding the note that was forged by Ethan, Scott figured out that Mike was the main participant.

2) Is Ethan a hippie? - I can see why that would be assumed, but no. He's just supposed to be very peculiar and different.

Well, I believe I said everything that I wanted to say. Stay tuned for the next chapter and remember to always read carefully. ;)

Thanks, everyone! :D :D :) :)