Warning, since this is the second book, it probable won't make any sense to those who haven't read Side Effects may Include.
"You can't change what happened last year." Dr. Hill stated coldly from behind me, causing me to jump. I stared out at the mountains that once entranced me with their beauty, were now cold and distant.
"You don't know anything about last you," I snapped, pushing past him as I walked towards the cable car station. Josh came to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I shivered as the wind bit at my face, secretly missing my long hair, that was now cut just bellow my chin. I pulled Josh's beanie further onto my head. The others slowly began to arrive from the path.
The first to break from the trees was Sam. Her blond hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail and she was wearing Hannah's locket that I found in the mines last year. She strode over to where Josh and I stood.
"This is so weird." She muttered, looking around.
"I just," Josh started, taking a deep breath, "I can't believe we're back." A flare of red appeared from the mouth of the woods. Ashley gripped Chris's hand as he led her towards us. Josh stared down at his feet. Ashley stopped a few feet away, like if she came any closer, Josh would somehow rip her head off. I squeezed Josh's arm before letting go and moving to Ash.
"Hey Lex," Ashley murmured softly.
"I've barely seen you all year, and all I get is 'Hey Lex?" I joked shyly. She looked up and gave me a small smile. Without thinking, I pulled the red head into a hug. "I missed you Ash."
"I missed you too, Lex." She sighed, hugging me back. "It's been hard without you around."
"We'll I'm sure Chris has kept you company." I teased trying to defuse the tension. Her smile grew slightly.
"What, no hug for me?" A quiet voice said from behind me. I back away and Jessica pushed pass me to hug Ashley. I wasn't surprised to find out the two had become friends. Ash and Jess faced some of the worst the mountain had to offer last year. I figured they found comfort with each other.
"Hey Jess," I muttered awkwardly. The blond glanced at me before turning away to say goodbye to her psychiatrist. The only thing worse than Dr. Hill coming with us was that he was the only one staying with us. The other shrinks had other work they had to attend to. Because Dr. Hill had three patients in one place- and since he came up with idea of going back in the first place- he decided to tag along.
"Speak of the devil," I whispered to myself as he approached me. I stepped away from Ashley so they wouldn't hear us.
"Quite the view, don't you think?" he wondered, looking around at the scenery. I rolled my eyes.
"Is the view of the ocean from your cushy office not enough?" I hissed. I shuddered as he chuckled at my hostility.
"Sometimes, a little change is just what we need." He turned around and strode off in the other direction. I growled in frustration. I knew he was hiding something, and I had been trying to figure out his secret all year. I watched as Josh shuffled away from Chris and Sam to stand next to me.
"What did he want?" Josh asked, slipping arm around my waist. I huddled next to him
"Just 'enjoying the scenery'," I answered sarcastically. "I can't shake the feeling that he's up to something." I admitted.
"I feel that way about everyone," Josh surveyed the others. "You're the only one I can really trust." He whispered, gently kissing the top of my head.
"Well don't you two look cozy," an instantly recognizable voice sneered from behind me. I pulled away from Josh to glare at Emily. "Sorry," she stepped towards me, "didn't mean to disturb the happy couple."
While the year drew some of us closer, it only pushed Emily farther away. She became even colder and more spiteful than she had ever been. There was one thing we agree on; I should have died, not Mike.
"Leave her alone Em," Matt pleaded. Matt was the only person who could stand being around her. As far as I knew, they weren't together, Emily made sure of that after he left in the mines, even thought it was the only way for him to survive.
"Just trying to be social," Emily shrugged and walked off.
"Sorry about her," Matt said apologetically. "She isn't usually like that."
"Only around me, right?" I scoffed. He nodded sadly. "You would think surviving the mines together would give our relationship a boost." I joked. We all laughed lightly.
"I read in the news that you guys are tying the knot," Matt observed the ring on my finger. Josh and I had meant to keep our engagement private, but as soon as his parents found out, they called in a journalist. They thought that it would do good to show the public that their schizophrenic son was healing. They had no idea what we had gone through together.
Soon after his proposal was announced, my parents came to my apartment for the first time in three years while Josh was at an appointment. They wanted to 'congratulate' us by saying the wedding was a horrible idea.
"I will not have my daughter marrying a psychopath," were my mother's exact words. I forced them to leave without a second thought. They weren't my parents as a kid, so what gave them the right to barge into my life?
Matt jogged to catch up with Emily, and the last member emerged from the woods. Josh's grip on my waste tightened. I knew that I should've hated Isaac, but I just couldn't bring myself to be angry with him. Throughout the year, everyone had somebody to help them, except Isaac. He was deserted by all of us and even I felt pity for him. Isaac waved at us slightly as he passed but said nothing.
"I guess it's time to head up to the lodge," Josh sighed. The gathering split into two groups; Sam, Jess, Isaac, Chris, and Ashley took the first cable car. Sam wanted to come with us, but I told her that we'd handle ourselves. That left Hill, Matt, Emily, Josh, and me in the next trip. The wait for the car was agonizingly silent. As the cable car drifted towards us in the distance, I took in a sharp yet shaky breath.
"After everything, this scares you?" Emily scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Fears are often heightened after a traumatic exper-" Dr. Hill began, but Emily put a hand up to stop him.
"Don't give me your psychological crap!" She snapped and returned her ice cold glare to me. "You really think that this even compares to what we went through last year? What that thing did to us? I was almost shot by-" She cut herself off suddenly, remembering Hill, who watched her with interest.
"Just remember who saved you," I hissed, entering the cable car. I sat by the window, Josh sitting closely beside me. The other three took up the other side. I watched Dr. Hill write something in his book and decided to look out the window. Realization of where we were going seemed to hit me all at once. What if I couldn't' do this? What if I lost it in front of everyone? The car screeched to a stop suddenly. I clutched Josh's hand in panic. We weren't even half way there.
"What the hell?" Emily shrieked.
"Josh?" I asked, trying to hide my terror. It found us. It somehow jammed the cables and it was coming for us.
"I'm sure this happens all the time," Matt suggested, his voice shaky as well. "Right Josh?"
"Y-yeah," Josh stuttered, "It will be going in a minute."
"I'll text Sam, let her know we're stuck." I pulled out my phone and told Sam the car broke down, glad that the signal wasn't completely gone yet.
'Okay' was all she replied
"Great! What, so are we just supposed to wait for it to work?" Emily whined, looking at me as if it was my fault.
"It seems that is the situation, yes." Dr. Hill said calmly, almost… glad.
"Shut up," Emily and I snapped.
"It's only for a few minutes Em," Matt tried to calm her down.
"Yeah, a few minutes with two psychos and their shrink." She sneered. Josh cringed and I lunged out of my seat, causing the entire car to shake. Matt was up and holding me back before I could get to her.
"When we get out of this thing, I want you as far away from Josh and I as possible or I will tear your pretty little throat out." I snarled.
"No problem," she muttered with a satisfied smirk.
"I'm really sorry, Lex," Matt whispered as he sat me back down, Josh instantly grabbing my hand.
"I know it's hard," Josh said into my ear, "But try not to act out in front of him." He motioned to Dr. Hill, who was silently writing away in his little notebook.
"It would be a shame if someone accidentally threw that stupid note book in the fire place while he was sleeping." I snickered. Josh laughed quietly and kissed my forehead. The car jerked forward, nearly flinging me out of my seat. Thankfully, the rest of the ride didn't take long. Emily quickly stormed into the station.
"Are you guys okay?" Ashley asked, meekly watching Emily's angered expression.
"Yeah," I lied.
"Just a minor cat-fight, nothing that couldn't be handled," Josh held up his hand in a claw and hissed.
"Great," she sighed.
"It's no big deal," I promised.
"One of the wires was loose," Chris explained, coming out of the station, his eyes hoping we understood, "That's the reason the car stopped." I nodded. Just a wire. Chris sighed and ran his fingers through his hair the way he does when he's nervous.
"What's wrong?" Josh wondered.
"You just- you should come see this." Chris led us to a newly renovated part of the station. Sam sat on a bench next to the door, he tear brimmed eyes staring off into space. A table rested against the wall holding three pictures: Hannah, Beth, and Mike. The frames were surrounded by fake candles and belongings like Hannah's tennis racket or Beth's favorite bracelet. On the wall was a map that Josh had vandalized to try to scare us.
"The past is beyond our control," I read, marveling the Christmas light spanning out of the map like a web, covering all four walls. Littered in between the bulbs were picture of Hannah's tennis tournaments, an article about Mike's class president election, and anything involving the three. I tried to muffle a sob as I looked at a picture of the entire group dressed up for a Halloween party… at the cabin.
"Who-who did all this?" Josh turned to Chris, a singly tear streaming down his cheek.
"Ash and I came up here about three months ago." Jess answered quietly from the corner. "Mrs. Washington through it might be a good idea to make a… memorial I guess."
"Where did all of you-" Emily came through the door, stopping abruptly as soon as she saw the room. "Oh my god." She dropped her bags and her entire body started to shake. "Matt!" she screamed.
"Em!" Matt grabbed her trembling hands. "Em, it's okay.'
"No, no Matt they're-they're gone."
"I know Em, I know." Matt pushed a hair away from Emily's face and her breath started to slow. The pair turned to the group that was watching them in shock. Emily was the toughest person here, if she couldn't handle being back, how would the rest of us?
"What are you looking at?" She snapped.
"There's the Emily we all know and love." Isaac scoffed quietly, staring out the window. For a moment, all of us stood there in silence, pondering the words before us. The past is beyond our control- I repeated in my mind.
I wrapped Mike's jacket closer around me, letting Josh pull me to his chest. We were both terrified. Of being back, of what could happen, but most of all, we feared ourselves. Sam stood up and walked slowly to the table.
"I thought you might want this back," she murmured just loud enough to be heard. She lifted Hannah's locket over her head and placed it in front of the picture frame. She touched her fingers to the glass and whispered something I couldn't quite make out. The Sam- the one who hid her pain for the benefit of others, who helped even if she didn't know how- straightened her shoulders, wiped away her tears, and put on a brave face.
"Perhaps we should get to the lodge before it gets dark." Dr. Hill suggested from the doorway. It felt as if a curtain was lifted and we were all pulled from a beautiful yet painful memory into the present.
Emily and matt rushed out of the room, followed by Chris, Ashley, and Jess. Isaac looked like he wanted to say something, but left without a word. Sam turned to leave, her eyes lingered on the smiling brunette, motioning for Josh and I to leave as well, but I couldn't bring myself to go just yet.
I walked around the room, trying to get lost in each photographed piece of our lives. And for a brief, glorious moment, it felt like nothing had changed. I pictured myself standing at Mike's election party. There was a keg in the kitchen and a couple making out in the corner. It was all exactly as I remembered. We were all cheering and Mike had his arm drunkenly draped around my shoulders. I glanced at the window, expecting to find the big oak tree that was in Mike's front yard. Instead I saw the snow covered pines of Mt. Blackwood and a pair of warm brown eyes staring back at me.
"Alexis?" Josh's voice brought me out of my trance. I turned my head to look at him. "You okay?"
"Yeah," I changed my focus back to the window, finding nothing but a streak of white fur darting into the woods. Josh skeptically took my hand and led me to the door. I looked around one the last time, taking in each detail. "Beyond our control… huh," I muttered before turning off the lights.
The first chapter is here! I am so excited to finally get to post this and I hope you guys are excited to read it. The tension with Emily is building and a new mystery is revealed. I also posted the one shot in Josh's point of view of scenes that weren't in the first story, all after the events on Blackwood occurred. Dr. Hill is as creepy as ever and Alexis is regretting the decision to come back. But why would Hill want them all to go back? A question that must be answered! Again I really hope you guys love it and I will hopefully be getting a second chapter up soon. P.S to all you artist fans, if one of you would like to draw the memorial scene, I would love to see it! Comments are welcome.