Silence had filled the room hours ago, broken only by the nurse who would occasionally come to check on the unconscious patient. Even Sam, who had been told to rest, refused to stay in her own room. Her eyes were heavy-lidded as she watched the heart rate monitor beep above the hospital bed.

Chris couldn't distract himself with his phone - he had called his parents after the cops finished interrogating everyone. Since then he only glanced at it to check the time. In the chair next to him sat Ashley. They held hands for a while at first, but it felt forced and they both eventually let go. Mike had Jessica sitting in his lap in the third chair, their wounds cleaned and bandaged. Matt, Emily, and Sam were perched on the windowsill. And Josh…

By some miracle, Mike and Sam had successfully gotten him out of the mines. They said he was delirious when they found him and had to wrestle to get him over some ledges. Shortly after the lodge caught fire, he fell unconscious. Ever since then he was kept stable. Chris wasn't the praying type, but he might consider it if Josh didn't wake soon. Even if the conversations the group would have terrified him, underneath it all Josh was still his best friend. He couldn't lose him. It almost happened twice in one night. He was tired of the fear. So when he heard a grunt from Josh's hospital bed, he leaped out of his seat and gripped the side railing.

Josh lifted a hand to his head and dropped it when he touched the bandage that had been wrapped around it. "What…?" he muttered, voice slightly hoarse. The others all sat up straighter.

"Hey, man. You're in the hospital. Hit your head when you… when you fell," Chris explained reluctantly. It might have been the wendigo's intention to kill him when it dropped him so deep into the mines. Josh furrowed his brows.

"I fell?" he inquired.

"It was a pretty nasty injury. I guess it's normal for your memory to be fuzzy."

"Was I that out of it?"

Chris chuckled and it was flat, humorless. The night before wasn't exactly something to joke about. He drew in a deep breath and nodded, tapping a finger on the bed railing. "Yeah," he replied, "you were, uh… you were pretty out of it." The others shifted uncomfortably.

Josh tried to sit up, then seemed to think better of it. "Embarrassing." he grumbled. Green eyes scanned over the room, darkened with perplexity. "You guys look like shit. What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Mike interjected. He was obviously a bit irked.

A shake of the head indicated no. Josh didn't remember. He looked around at all his friends' faces again as if searching for something. No one knew what to say; most of their relationships had become strained. They shouldn't leave him clueless like this though. Chris was about to remind Josh of what happened, when the older male asked another question.

"Where are Hannah and Beth?"

Jessica and Mike exchanged a look. Matt pursed his lips, Emily stared in disbelief, Ashley covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. Chris was too taken aback to respond. Thankfully Sam provided an answer after a moment's hesitation. "Josh… they're gone," she said. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Chris could hardly stand to watch. It was a repeat of last year, only this time he was seeing it with clear vision and a sound mind. Josh's eyes widened and he sat bolt upright with no regard for his own killer headache. He didn't want to believe it, but the solemn expressions on his friends' faces confirmed that his sisters were not coming back. To make it worse, he turned his horrified, desperate gaze towards Chris. Chris had to inhale deeply so his voice wouldn't waver. This was different from last year. This time he had been awake for everything.

"They're dead. There was nothing we could do. You… You saw Hannah, bro. She was- we couldn't help her." Looking down at his hands, he gripped the railing tighter and sniffled. He didn't want to lose his composure. Not in front of everyone else.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" demanded Josh. He gripped the thin bedsheets in his fists.

Ashley stood up and headed for the door. "I'm sorry, I can't. I can't do this. I'll get the doctor," she announced while leaving, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve. Yet another moment of silence followed. Forgetting the previous night was one thing - the doctor had warned them that memory loss could be a side effect of head trauma - but if Josh couldn't recall his sisters' "disappearance" from a whole year ago… That couldn't be normal. The beeping of the heart rate monitor fluctuated.

"No. That's impossible. We were drinking and talking. Beth and Hannah were right there with us, in the great room. What do you mean they're dead? What happened? For fuck's sake, someone just tell me!"

"Josh, that was-" Sam began, but was interrupted by the arrival of a doctor and a nurse. It was perfect timing on their part: Josh was reaching for the IVs in his arm like he was going to pull them out. Since he was starting to act hysterical, the group of friends were ushered out of the room. Ashley was standing outside the door. Her eyes still glistened with tears.

Chris slumped against the wall, leaning his head back. He took off his glasses and dragged a hand down his face. "What the hell," he breathed. This couldn't be happening. After encountering wendigos he believed their lives couldn't possibly get any worse. Apparently the universe wasn't done screwing with them yet. How were they supposed to deal with this? Tell Josh about last year's prank and let him go through emotional turmoil again? What if his anger rekindled? What if he did something dangerous again?

Emily clicked her tongue, snapping him out of contemplation.

"Okay. You all know I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But I don't buy it," she stated. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she eyed the door to Josh's room. "What if it's another game? He's still off his meds, right? I think he's still trying to guilt trip us. It's too convenient that he'd forget the whole year, like, down to the exact day."

She had a point. Chris hated that. The pain in Josh's eyes had looked so real, but if he was capable of faking smiles, even of faking his own death, then they couldn't deny the possibility. Chris put his glasses back on. "Let's see what the doctor says," he sighed.


Doctor Velasquez was the first one to give him clear information. She didn't know all the details but she explained what she could. The lodge caught fire. Perhaps exploded, according to his friends. He was a suspect - there were hints in all their stories that he had a breakdown and tried to hurt them. Firefighters were still trying to put out flames at both the lodge and the sanatorium. His parents were on their way to see him. It was too much to process at once and the new IVs made focusing difficult. Maybe he did have a breakdown, but how could he forget Hannah and Beth being in trouble?

"I'm sorry, Joshua. Your sisters have been dead for a year," Velasquez told him.

"What's today's date?" he asked.

"February third. Five o'clock in the evening."

"Then yesterday was the second. The party. They were there," he persisted. The doctor held her stance. The party took place last year. Throughout the last twelve months he had struggled with severe depression, which led to his supposed breakdown. He could expect police to come by and question him. And question him they did; after the doctor finished tending to him, two officers entered the room. Most of their inquiries Josh couldn't answer. He didn't want to cause trouble, so he admitted to the underage drinking at the party - last year's party. He had no idea what happened at the lodge, or why his friends thought he was dead at one point, or what happened to Hannah and Beth, or how the sanatorium caught fire, or why Sam told them to check the mines.

When they finished, the shorter cop's focus shifted from Josh to Doctor Velasquez. "We'll have to come back when he's recovered," he said. His tone was cold and skeptical. "Hopefully your memory will return, mister Washington." And with that they were gone. The exchange left a twisted ache of anxiety in Josh's stomach. He requested to be alone for a while. He needed time. He was still processing the loss of his sisters. The last time he spoke to either of them was before the alcohol blurred his thoughts. To think that was a year ago…

It was almost nine o'clock when his parents arrived. Both were frazzled, and for once in his life, his father ignored his cell phone when it buzzed from his pocket. They looked older than Josh remembered, even if only twelve months had passed; his father's face was wrinkled with frown lines and there were flecks of gray in his hair. His mother had covered the dark circles under her eyes with makeup. She hugged him and cried the hardest Josh had ever seen. If she was this shaken, then all the stories must have been true.

"Mom, I- I'm sorry. I don't know what…"

"Don't you worry about a thing, honey. All you have to do is get better. Everyone is safe. That's all that matters."

No comfort was to be found in those words. How could he get better if he didn't know what happened in the first place? And by everyone, she wasn't including Hannah and Beth. For the first time since he woke up, Josh took this chance to weep. His tears soaked the shoulder of Melinda's blouse. He could feel his father's hand on his back rubbing soothing circles. They had not been this close to him in years - even the ones he could recall - and contributed to his gloom.

They stayed the night with him. At the request of his parents, he was transferred to a California hospital late the next morning so he could be closer to home. His friends gathered to see him off. They were probably working on travel plans of their own. It was an underwhelming experience. They all looked as exhausted as he felt, and for some reason, they were distant. Almost cautious. As if they should be the ones with wavering trust. He couldn't shake the feeling they were hiding something.