"I can't believe it's been a year," a voice spoke, staring down the long cliff face into the deep, dark chasm below. Following his words, a faint stream of white breath drifted down into the abyss. White snowflakes drifted daintily down, enveloping the sides in slippery ice. The boy who spoke glanced up at the seven other figures standing with him.
"No reason to be a buzzkill, Josh," a girl shrouded in expensive looking clothing scoffed. Emily was freezing. She could feel the goosebumps awkwardly press against the soft wool of the interior of her shirt. Besides, the accident was simply that. An accident. She wasn't a heartless bitch who didn't care, but still, it was stupid to constantly bring something up that only dampened the spirits of the group. Plus, it was fucking cold.
Sam and Ashley both turned to glare at Emily who shrugged. Her boyfriend, Matt, nudged her gently. Emily turned and glared at him. His once semi-intimidating glare went instantly to embarrassed subordination. Sam's voice shifted down to a whisper as she reprehended Emily. "He's still grieving."
A cold laugh jolted them from the awkward silence that formed. "Come on guys," Josh said, turning away from the cliff, "my ass is freezing off. Let's go."
The group followed after Josh, once more absorbed into their various conversations.
"So this cabin," Jess drawled, twisting a strand of blonde hair around her finger. "Is it really as nice as Josh makes it out to be?"
Mike gave her a mischievous look. "It does its job," he shrugs suggestively. "Let's just say that cabin has seen way more action than Chris has ever seen."
"Hey!" Chris shouted indignantly, picking his head up. "I've seen... Some..."
"The internet doesn't count, Cochise," Josh joked, shoving his friend with his shoulder.
Chris laughed and shrugged nonchalantly. "As if you pervs have never-"
"Okay!" Sam interrupted, putting a hand up. "You guys are acting gross. Let's talk about something else."
"Like what, Samantha," Josh asked, emphasizing her full name teasingly. The group all knew she hated her name. It was too much of a mouthful, "like other things," the boys would never failingly pipe up when she defended her nickname.
"Like what are we gonna do for this weekend? We have to have some stuff planned. I didn't bring my hiking equipment for nothing."
"You can hike," Emily said, gesturing her hand in a dismissive manner. "I'm going to relax. I didn't come to this house to freeze to death."
"You think I, Josh Washington, planned nothing? I'm offended!" Josh gasped, holding a mocking hand to his heart. "I'm hurt, Samantha!"
She laughed, her hands trembling in the cold. She had stupidly forgotten her gloves at the bottom of her luggage, and now she was probably going to get frostbite.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, a freezing cold wind hit the group, prompting an eruption of protest as the group whined to Josh.
"Are we almost there?" Emily whined, pressing up against Matt. Matt lovingly took off his jacket and wrapped it around Emily's shoulders. She scoffed and jolted from his grasp. "Couldn't have done that before we left?"
Matt looked down, feigning indifference. He considered himself pretty good at maintaining his anger, but after what he saw through the binoculars, he couldn't help but glare at the back of Mike's head. He felt a hand brush against his shoulder.
"It's okay," Ashley whispered. "He's a dick. Not worth it."
Matt nodded thankfully and whispered, "Thank you. And thanks for letting me see that earlier. I appreciate the honesty."
Ashley nodded in acknowledgement. She walked forward until she matched pace with Chris and Josh. The two were joking around about something or other, but when they noticed her, shut up immediately.
"And there she is! Speak of the devil!" Josh announced, nudging Chris with his elbow.
"Me? Were you two talking about me?" Ashley stuttered, trying unsuccessfully to mask the uneasy feeling that gave her.
"I was just telling Chris that this lodge is a magical place. Oh, and after Mike and Jess are done, the guest cabin is great too."
"Come on, man, cut it out," Chris murmured, pretending to clean his already clean glasses.
Ashley flushed and changed the conversation.
"So, Josh, how's college going?"
"Oh- err, I dropped out."
"Josh!" she gasped. "Why?"
"My dad was offering me a job without needing a degree. I didn't see the point in wasting away in school for another three years. You know, the best producers never went to college."
"I'm going to have to see some statistics on that 'fact,'" Chris teased, rolling his eyes at his friend's logic.
"Trust is an important thing in every relationship Chris," Josh chastised. "Have a little faith."
"We're here!" Josh announced, pointing to the figure of the lodge slowly coming into view. The group broke out in cheers and raced to the warm lodge.
Wind whistled in Sam's ear before she stopped suddenly. The whispering had turned into a piercing scream that made her cover her ears. The group continued forward, so Sam wondered if she'd imagined it.
"Hey, Jess!" she said to the only figure waking. "Did-did you hear that?"
Jess seemed perplexed. "The scream?"
So she hadn't imagined it!
"Let's go," Sam said, grasping Jess' hand and running forward. Sam was brave, but she knew if some animal was lurking out here, that could be bad. She'd read somewhere mountain lions sounded like women screaming. No way would she be caught between Jess and a mountain lion.
As the lodge door slammed behind them, it seemed as though it was just them who heard the the sound. They looked worriedly at each other before Mike grabbed Jess' waist.
"Michael! I swear-" the girl couldn't finish the sentence before erupting into a series of unstoppable laughter.
"At least get to the cabin before you do that, porn stars," Josh spoke, throwing Mike a key. "Here's the key, scram. Oh yeah, and turn on the generator, it's dark out there."
Jess stood up and grabbed Mike's hand. She gave a pointed look toward Emily as she left, giving a smug smirk to the other girl. Emily's fists turned white as she clenched them in anger.
"Whore," she whispered as Jess passed. She grabbed Matt's hand pointedly and forced her eyes away from the other girl. No way would she let that skank know Jess got to her.
"Damn," Josh swore, flicking at the lighter in vain. "No lighter fluid. Can one of you guys go get the matches?"
"Why can't you?" Chris asked.
"Because what would I do with you if I did everything myself?"
Chris grinned. "Fair enough. Where are they?"
"They should be on the kitchen counter. Oh and Matt, if you'd be a dear and go into the bathroom and get some deodorant."
"Are you saying something?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow and sniffing his shirt.
"No man, I just have an idea." Josh's face went from neutral to mischievous in a second. Matt raised an eyebrow and headed upstairs.
Chris went into the kitchen to see the matches sitting on top the counter. He scooped the pack up and counted them. Eight matches. Well, if Josh couldn't light with one, at least he had seven others to use.
As he made his way back to the living room, he noticed all the Indian garb around. Creepy statues of Indian creatures lined the shelves with random portraits of random Indians on the walls.
"Hey Josh!" he called after seeing a particular painting of some Native American holding an axe.
"What?" Josh called from the other room.
"What's with this creepy Indian portrait?"
"Chris, we're freezing out asses in here. You don't want Ashley's ass to freeze off, I'm sure." Josh replied. "You can admire Squanto later!"
Chris shook his head at Josh's "subtle" teasing and began to move away from the portrait when all of a sudden a gust of wind hit him square in the face. He shuddered as snow burned his eyes. As his vision cleared, he saw the side door ajar, rattling in the wind. Josh had mentioned the reparation that still needed to be done on the lodge. Chris scoffed. With all the Washingtons money, they couldn't afford to fix a door?
As he closed the door with a thud, he suddenly grew suspicious of the silence in the other room. He creeped quietly to the threshold, a strange sense of discomfort prickling in his bones. As he turned the corner, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His friends were just blankly staring at him.
"Do I have something on my face?" he asked, rubbing his nose. Josh's normally darker skin was pale, and Ashley seemed to be shaking.
"What's wrong?" he asked, the sinking feeling returning.
"Ashley thinks she saw someone outside," Josh said. His words tried to hide his own fear, but Chris knew Josh was feeling uneasy.
"It's Mike or Jess no doubt. Where's Matt? It could even be him," Chris dismissed, handing Josh the matches.
"Matt wouldn't be so stupid," Emily retorted, as she looked around, visibly unnerved.
Even Emily's afraid? Chris did feel odd about that. Chris and the others had always thought Emily's ego would never even met her come close to feeling fear.
Ashley shook her head. "They- they didn't look familiar. And we heard Matt call down from upstairs. He's the one who told us."
"Then it's Mike and Jess," Chris reasoned.
"I don't know man," Josh stated. "Somethings off. He looked like he was holding a machete or some shit."
Chris walked over the the door. He latched it closed.
"Now the big, bad, scary monster can't get it. Feel better?"
Josh seemed to instantly feel at ease as he said, "No, because you're still here."
Chris faked offense. "Don't be jealous because I'm not the one who almost wet himself."
Ashley spoke up, "What about Mike and Jess? How will they get back in?"
"They'll knock," Chris stated, placing a soothing hand on Ashley's shoulder. He instantly took it off when he realized what he was doing.
"What if," Ashley's voice dropped off here. "What if the man comes back and tries to get them?"
Josh chuckled. "Okay Ash, I know we think we saw something, but honestly it was probably like, a deer or something."
"Deer don't hold machetes Josh," Ashley shot back.
"Whatever, oh my God I'm starved. You got any food in this house, Joshua?" Emily interrupted.
"Well, maybe if you tried the fridge you'd have some luck," Josh offered sarcastically
"This house is like a maze Josh. Whoever designed this shit needs to get fired, pronto."
The crew laughed at that. Even Ashley relaxed a little, shifting her hair from her eyes.
Chris looked up suddenly, eyebrows crinkled in confusion, then concern.
"Wait, where's Sam?"
Everyone looked around. Sure enough, the blonde girl had slipped away.
"Sam!" Chris called, and the others, minus Emily, joined in. Emily chowed down on a granola bar and sat on the couch.
"She's probably in the bathroom or something," Emily suggested, waving a hand dismissively. "Let her piss in peace."
Matt came downstairs a few moments after, and the crew all turned hopefully.
"Missed me that much?" he asked, but then sighed awkwardly when the looks were of disappointment. "Guess not."
"We can't find Sam," Ashley told him, color draining from her face as she pictured the machete man looking ominously outside.
"Oh, she passed me on her way up. She's taking a bath."
"What the fuck, Matt," Emily shouted, standing up to face the younger, yet bigger boy. "How do you know she's taking a bath?"
"Err- I was getting the deodorant and she came in holding a towel. I left, I mean I just assumed-"
Emily huffed and sat down, arms crossed. Matt seemed flabbergasted by the response.
"It's okay man, many of us would've paid for a show like that," Josh reassured him with a smile.
"No, no, it wasn't like that!"
Chris, Ashley, and Josh erupted in laughter. The constant fluctuation between tension and comedy was seriously putting Ashley off, but she didn't want to seem like a chicken and voice her concern. After all, it was just a weekend they were here. She can do this.
"Mike, oh my God," Jess groaned. "Are we almost there?"
Mike shrugged. "Just a ways I suppose. Oh shit, Josh!"
The pathway was blocked with a mineshaft that had been boarded up. Only a sliver of a hole remained, big enough for the two to fit but not very promising looking.
"Come on, I'm not going back now to stare at the peanut gallery," Jess declared, grabbing Mike's wrist and dragging him through the entrance. Mike sneezed as the dust hit his face. Jess groaned in disgust.
"I feel myself catching diseases in here," she said, crinkling her nose. Suddenly she gasped as she fell face forward off of the steep drop off onto the tracks.
"Oww, damn it Mike!" she grimaced, dusting the dirt off of her.
"Are you all right?" Mike called down to her, sliding down the steep drop off to meet her.
"All seven of my limbs are in tact," she reassured him, grabbing her boobs in emphasis.
"Well, we can check when we get to the cabin," Mike flirted. Jess laughed.
"Shut up, dork," she said, dusting off her still dirty pants.
The two continued on down the dank, dark mine. Eventually they reached another roadblock, but the managed to push a mine cart out of the way. Jess coughed as a dust cloud hit her square in the face.
"I'm going to be so dirty by the time we get there. Damn, sorry Mike."
"I was counting on you being dirty," he replied with a suggestive wink. She shoved him.
"Pervert!"
"Aww, Jess, like you're so much cleaner than me. You're the one who wanted-"
Suddenly a shriek, louder than anything before sounded from right behind them. The two froze, their breaths coming out in fast, white gusts.
"Mike," Jess whispered, careful not to speak too loudly. "What-what was that?"
The two could feel some sort of presence behind them. Footsteps, smacking against the concrete of the track, grew louder and louder before they seemed to be right behind the duo.
"Run!" Mike shrieked and grabbed Jess' hand. The two raced for a small opening toward the end of the shaft. Jess gasped when they arrived. It was too small for both of them to go at once.
"Go Jess," he commanded, ushering her toward the hole. "Go tell the others!"
"Mike, I can't leave you!"
"Bye Jess," Mike stated, his expression determined. Jess nodded and squirmed out of the hole and into the cold snow. "I- I love you, okay?"
Jess peeked through the hole. "I love you too, now fucking run." He nodded and turned toward another branch of the mine. Another scream, sounding only a few feet away, caused them both to race off.
As Jess ran through the woods, anxiously trying to get away from whatever was behind her, she couldn't even think. Not about Mike, not about the creature, not about anything. Not until she came across a particularly tall tree that loomed ominously above her. She stopped to catch her breath as the tears began to pool in her eyes.
Her boyfriend was probably dead, her friends unaware of anything wrong, and now she was lost in the woods. Fucking great.
Hello, it's me. I reread this chapter and hated it, so I rewrote it. Sorry for the confusion about updating to the followers I got. (Thank you by the way, you guys rock!)