Here's a one-shot of Heather Donahue's POV after Josh goes missing. Enjoy!
I do not own the characters from The Blair Witch Project.
~Xoxomtmodnarxoxo
Have you ever tried to sleep after 8am in a tent?
I'll tell you now, it's impossible - it's like a fucking sauna in the tent just now, but at this point I'm way past caring - all I want is to have at least one night of sleep. Yet, how can I sleep now, after what has happened to us?
It's impossible to believe that Josh is now missing. It's even scarier the fact that what we're up against is practically invisible. Our curiosity is teased whenever we least suspect it. It could be anything that makes us lose our minds - a rustle, a bird, leaves, a simple tree… anything. I think I'm losing my mind. Mike claims he's not but I can tell he's becoming slightly deluded, too. Last night before we went back into the tent, I caught him eating a leaf. But I didn't confront him. I mean, would you?
Oh, well - time to start the day, I guess. I get up and inspect my hands and nails. Hmm, I'll need to clean my nails soon. I can't bear to wear my gloves now, they smell too revolting. I didn't expect the nights to be this cold; now it feels like Winter, you know, when your nose runs constantly and you end up looking like the fool with slime dripping out of your nostrils? Great. I feel absolutely disgusting. God, I could go for a nice, hot shower just now. And a swig of beer. And a fat, juicy hamburger…
No. I mustn't think about food. I know that I'm suppose to conserve our food rations, but it's at the point now where I'm just desperate for anything - even a jar of olives. Well… I could eat something just now. There's a bag of Cheetos in one of our backpacks… I desperately dig into the rucksack, without thinking. Oh, God, I want those Cheetos. I fear they are not there, or worse, already eaten… oh yes, here they are! Oh, food, food, FOOD!
…Yet, I can't do this to Mike - it's just not fair. Then again, if Mike isn't here he can't claim the bag of Cheetos as his own.
Come to think about it - where is Mike? I turn around and look at where his sleeping bag is. I shake the bundled heap. The small heap remains lifeless. How the hell can Mike sleep in this fucking heat? Honestly, what a show-off! I tear away the majority of the sleeping bag to reveal nothing at all. Mike isn't here. Mike isn't here.
MIKE ISN'T HERE.
"Mike?", I whimper, "Mike?"
There's no answer. I panic. First Josh, and now Mike. And then it'll be me. Heather Donahue. The person behind this project. The reason why we're lost in the woods. The idea of me on my own… with no food whatsoever… stuck here facing the inevitable…
"Mike!", I howl, tears forming in my eyes, "MIKE!"
There's no response. I weep fearfully. No, wait. There's a rustle outside. I hesitate. I don't want to go outside - daylight or nightfall - and yet… I have to. It feels as though I'm being controlled by a puppeteer and invisible strings - I don't want to go outside but for some odd reason despite telling myself that I can't go outside, my body says otherwise, as I tug my boots on and grab the camera. Oh, Jesus, I dread wondering what's waiting for me outside, but oddly enough I desperately want to get it on camera. I just have to…
"Mike?", I cry again, "Where are you?", there's no response, "Mike, please!"
I swear, he'd better not be fucking around because I am so not in the mood for it. The camera is on, ready to shoot good footage of anything in sight. Frightened, I fumble with the zip on the tent. Tears and snot are running down my face in an unpleasant manner, but I no longer care about what I look like - besides, how can I possibly think about appearances at a time like this? I unzip the tent, and rip the door of the tent open, the cool air hitting my sodden face, acting like a haven compared to the unbearable heat wave that lurks inside the tent. I suddenly close my eyes. And then I reluctantly re-open them. Funny, how you can be so scared of something that you're too scared to close your eyes but you're too scared to open them when they are shut.
There are leaves, hundreds of leaves. And there are branches. And there are trees surrounding us. I relax - what's so scary about this? It's practically the same thing we see every day. Only then do I realise that this is what we could be facing each day until the Blair Witch gets us. If she gets us. I mean, the stories we were told in the town of Burkittsville couldn't possibly be true… could they?
"Mike!", I howl, suddenly scared, "Mike!"
"What?", says a voice. I turn to my left. And sure enough, Mike is sitting on the ground next to a tree, swaying backwards and forwards in a rhythmic fashion. I feel even more unnerved and frightened. But relieved; Mike's here. At least that's something. Mike doesn't seem to notice my distress. He smiles and continues to rock backwards and forwards. I hesitate and wipe my tears and snot away, unsure what to do. It's uncomfortable enough to film Mike going crazy, but I can't just leave him on his own to suffer.
"I think we should go West today", Mike suddenly says. I still hesitate. We know we're both still lost in the Woods, but somehow claiming which direction to hike each day is a sudden comfort to our predicament. We know that if we just ensure ourselves that one day we will get out of the Woods, we will be fine. And as a result we will be stronger. Much stronger. Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger…
"You th-think?", I stammer as I slowly make my way towards Mike and sit down beside him. He nods determinedly.
"Uh-huh", he declares, "And if we go West, we'll find Josh. And if we find Josh, we'll be safe. And if we're safe, we can get out of here together and go home", and with that Mike suddenly cackles with laughter.
Like a Witch…
I nod. How would you respond to something like that?
"Do we have anything to eat?", Mike suddenly asks. I pause, thinking if the bag of Cheetos in the tent. I want us to work as a team, but I desperately want those bag of cheesy puffs all to myself. After all, it's Mike's fault that we're here - he was such a fucking idiot to kick the map into the river - our only way of getting out of here. I sit beside him, silent. The game Fortunately, Unfortunately began to play inside my mind: Fortunately, Mike and I are no longer fighting. Unfortunately, Mike deliberately lost our map. Fortunately, Mike and I are working as a team, especially since Josh went missing. Unfortunately, there is only one bag of Cheetos for one person. Fortunately… Fortunately… Mike is surprisingly good company after everything that's happened…
"There's a bag of Cheetos", I announce and climb into the tent. I come back out with the bag of cheesy puffs. I expertly open the bag and divide the contents into two. We eat the puffs eagerly, our stomachs gurgling with hunger and relief to receive some food for once. It isn't long until all the puffs are gone. But it isn't enough for us. We need more. More food. Anything to fill our empty stomachs.
"Is that it?", Mike asks in a despaired tone of voice.
"'Fraid so, yeah", I confess.
"Unless…", Mike suddenly says, "You're not just saying that so that you can eat the rest of our food supplies by yourself, are you?"
"Mike?", I whisper, "What the Hell?"
"Yeah", he whispers, "It makes sense now. You waited until I was out of the tent and then you took all of our food supplies and hid it in your backpack, didn't you, Heather?"
"I did not!", I recoil, "How can you accuse me of such a thing?"
"Because Heather", Mike snapped, "When I was out here I heard you rustling about inside and then I heard a backpack being opened, so don't try to fucking lie to me!"
"Do you see me as some sort of monster? I shared our last bit of our food supplies with you because it's fair! I can't believe you're accusing me of betraying you! I've done no such thing!"
"Yes you have!", he yells crazily, "It's your fault that we're stuck in this hellhole! It's your fault that Josh is missing! It's your fault that this-this witch thing is after us! Goddamn", he comments, "You're a fucking jinx!"
"Excuse me?", I howl at him, still clutching the camera in my hand, "You're the one who betrayed us all! Way fucking beyond, Mike! You were the one who was stupid enough to kick the map into the fucking river-"
"It didn't help anybody!", he argues.
"I knew exactly where we were on that map! But oh no, no, you just didn't agree with it so you just had to take matters into your own hands, am I right? You just loathed the idea of me being in charge and dragging you into the big, scary Woods! Am I right, Mike? Am I? Huh?"
"Fuck you!", he shouts pathetically.
"Oh, go fuck yourself!", I roar back, "I should have eaten those damn Cheetos all by myself! God, you're so pathetic!"
"You're the pathetic one! Why the hell do you still use that fucking camera?", Mike screams at me, "Stop using that fucking camera! It's not going to get us out of here, Heather!"
"I just need to catch this on camera!", I cry, "I just need to!"
And suddenly I sound pathetic. I stare at Mike. Mike stares back at me. The trees rustle above us in the breezy atmosphere, creating an uneasy feeling between us both.
"You know what?", Mike suddenly pipes up, "We're both pathetic", and with that he adds a little laugh. I can't believe my ears. Mike - laughing.
"One day we're gonna look back on this day and laugh", I giggle.
"Yeah, when pigs fly!", Mike laughs. A little too loudly. I don't want to ruin the moment and laugh with him. We snicker hysterically for a couple of minutes and soak up the sun where we're sitting. I switch off the camera, I don't need it. For now.
"Did you hear that?", Mike suddenly asks. I open my eyes and peer at him. It's afternoon. I hear nothing; just normal sounds that occur in the Woods. But there is another sound. Something crackling nearby. Like twigs snapping. I tense. It's somehow much scarier because it's in broad daylight, so we can see anything that can be hiding from us.
"What?", I whisper but I know what he means. Mike stands up suddenly and looks South from our position. The crackling noise continues. I join him and immediately switch the camera on. We hike to the persistent sound, even though we don't want to, but somehow we have to.
"Is it Josh?", I desperately ask, "Do you think it's Josh?"
"It could be", was Mike's response. We desperately march towards our destination and when we get there, there is… nothing. I can't help but feel the Blair Witch is deliberately teasing our curiosity but we listen closely around us and Mike peers at the area where the crackling noise comes from… and laughs to find a small dormouse wriggling underneath the leaves on the ground.
"It's a dormouse", he snickers. I can't help but laugh along with him. Hey, laughing is better than crying, right?
Mike surprises me by bending down and grabbing a hold of the small creature. He fumbles around in his pocket. I pray. Mike pulls out his penknife and holds the dormouse firmly in place. I reel back with horror as Mike suddenly slices it's body down the middle, blood spurting all over his hand and arm.
"Mike!", I scream as blood spurts onto the camera lens, "What the Hell?"
"I'm hungry, right?", he announces and begins to hike back to our camping site. I can't help but feel disappointed because I had been hoping that we would find Josh instead…
I follow Mike. Mike sits back down in his favourite area in our small camping site and hungrily devours the tiny rodent; his teeth rapidly breaking the dormouse's weak bones, gnawing the raw flesh, scarlet blood spilling out both of the corners of his mouth. I retch suddenly, unable to watch the performance in front of me. It's even too disgusting to watch on video, so I switch off the camera. It reminds me too much about Josh, about what might be happening to him…
No. I mustn't think about him. I mustn't think about the Blair Witch. Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger. Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger…
Mike senses me watching him and holds the bloody heap in his hands towards me.
"Sorry", he mumbles, "Want a bite?"
"N-no thanks", I stammer. Mike's new behaviour scares me. I don't want to end up like him. I suddenly want to get away, so I go back into our tent to put away the camera. As I peel open our tent, I find something placed delicately and accurately on top of my sleeping bag, therefore noticeable from my point of view. Feeling the blood drain away from my face, I slowly kneel down to see what the object is only to discover that it is a stick figure. But not just any stick figure; one of the stick figures we had come across beforehand a few days ago before Josh went missing. I know I had cut one down and taken one with me when we found them - which I had done behind Mike's and Josh's back - so I must have pulled out that one by mistake and left it lying on my sleeping bag when I was looking for the Cheetos. I suddenly tear open my backpack and nearly jump back with fear to discover that the stick figure I had cut down was still in my backpack…
So if that was the case… how did this stick figure get into our tent, but most importantly, my sleeping bag…? It couldn't have been Mike, he had been with me the entire time, so who…?
It's a sign. An unwanted sign. I scramble out of the tent trying very hard not to burst into tears. I'm next. The Blair Witch is coming for me next. Me, Heather Donahue. What have I done to deserve this fate worse than death? My heart beats rapidly with fear, the middle finger on my right hand tingling because I badly want to burst into tears, my legs are shaking in my muddy jeans.
But I can't think about the Blair Witch, and yet she remains in my mind. If I am to die, I don't want to waste my time thinking about… it. Instead, I huddle beside Mike underneath the tree and randomly cuddle into him. Mike surprises me by putting his arm around me. We hug and sway backwards and forwards companionably, enjoying the smooth swaying rhythm. I am officially going crazy. Mike offers me a leaf. I feel ravenous. I don't care about shit like poison ivy or the dirt on the leaf, I suddenly devour the plant eagerly, and strangely enough the leaf actually tastes quite nice once you get used to the strange taste. I shake at the memory of the stick figure on top of my sleeping bag.
"You okay?", Mike asks.
"I-I'm fine", I answer.
"Why are you shaking?", he enquires. I open my mouth to tell him… but end up shaking my head instead.
"Nothing", I say firmly, "It's nothing"
"But you'll tell me if there's any weird shit going on, right?", Mike suddenly demands. I nod.
"Good", he replies, "I'm sorry I shouted at you earlier"
"It's cool"
"I didn't mean to. I mean, you're a pretty cool person, really"
I suddenly burst out laughing.
"Thank God my boyfriend isn't here to hear that!", I comment.
"I mean as a friend", Mike declares whilst blushing madly, "I mean we're a good team, right?"
"Right", I answer, "And we'll stick by each other?"
"Yep, we'll stick together, no matter what happens"
"Through thick and thin", I say, knowing that the Blair Witch will come to get me tonight. Because it's possible. More than possible. I stare at some nearby trees hard until they become a green and brown haze.
"Don't worry Heather", Mike reassures me, "If we stick together and work as a team, we'll get out of here. We will get out of here"
And we sit under the shade of the tree, hugging each other. Comforting each other. Because we both have the feeling that something is watching us from afar. I have a feeling of what's going to be in store for me later on. But we can't show our fear in any way whatsoever, because if we do, we become vulnerable to the Witch.
We become hungry. We become cold. We become hunted.
Like we are just now. For as long as we are.
It's survival of the fittest. I now realise that it's important to have friends and a team.
Because from now on it's just me and Mike against the big, Scary Woods.
And the Big, Scary Witch.