Disclaimer: I do not own Until Dawn

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Prologue

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"Hey…I didn't mean what I said."

"I know you didn't. I just felt left in the dark. I mean, you come home from what was supposed to be a two week vacation the night of, covered in blood with two officers telling me you just survived a miracle? I had no idea what was going on. You were scared."

"Chris was there."

"He didn't look much better then you. You all looked like hell. It took months to get you to like tomatoes again, or stomach a conversation with Ashley. What was I supposed to think, sis? That you had just fell off the mountain into a herd of pissed off deer?"

"Hey, don't talk about deer."

"Shut up, Matt."

"Well, I was dealing with my own problems, Ripley. It's not like you can expect us to hop back to smiles and fun after the shit we went through."

"That's not what I'm saying! You didn't say a word. You hardly called to me when you were having a rough time. That time in the elevator, where you practically had the whole mall freaking out about you pulling the emergency switch? That panic attack you had? You didn't call me. You didn't call anyone. I mean, you could have at least called Chris…"

"I wasn't thinking. I really- I can't- I couldn't think. It's just like Jess, Ripley. I suffer from PTSD too."

"Hey, if we want to bring up emotional trauma, can we do it now since Ashley is in the bathroom? I don't want her to hear this. Not yet, anyways."

"…We know Chris. We'll keep quiet."

"Thank you."

"What I'm trying to say is, I was a little torn up you didn't rely on me back then. I mean, I'm your sister, Sam. That has to count for something."

"Ripley, I love you to death. But hell will freeze over and melt again before you ever set foot on that damned mountain, you hear me?"

"You're kind of late on the lecture, since I already went there."

"Yeah, I know. I had to chase your sorry ass up it. Good god, Ripley, what were you thinking…"

"I was thinking I'd connect with you better. I was thinking that if this mountain- this insignificant mountain just as faceless as the rest- could change my sister and her friends so badly, I wanted to get an idea. Just some vague idea of what had happened, of what could have caused such an experience."

"Well, you found out spectacularly, didn't ya, Rippy?"

"As if you did any better, Mike. Mister chase-the-thing-that's-trying-to-kill-me and thinking it's a good idea."

"Enough, guys."

"Chris is right. We're here to talk about you being an idiot, Ripley."

"Well, Sam, I learn from the best."

"Watch it, missy. I'll ground you again."

"Okay! After getting chased by zombies, a one armed man, and the half crazy hobo, we still get grounded because you didn't give your sister a single phone call? Ripley, seriously, what the hell."

"Kim, it slipped my mind- and stop calling them zombies- and it was only for a few weeks-"

"You only got a few weeks?! I got grounded for an entire month!"

"Hey! You would forget a single phone call too! You were just as freaked out as I was being on that mountain!"

"Ripley."

"Oh, damn, Sam is pissed."

"Sis, c'mon. One phone call."

"I specifically asked you to send it to me when you got to the mountain. I was already scared you were going there alone-with Kim of course- but it didn't help. I was a wreck."

"I know. I'm sorry. But couldn't you have, I don't know, chosen a better time to give me a call?"

"Which call? The one where I find out you're trapped on the mountain or the one where a Wendigo is shrieking into my ear?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Face it Ripley, you are not getting out of this."

"Funny, that's the same thing Nick told me."

"Before he got eaten or after he tried to shoot you?"

"Kim, remember when I said staying still was our best defense? That applies here too."

"I'll shut up now."

"Well, let's get comfy then. It's story time."

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