Synopsis: The survivors of the mountain said nothing. They kept the experience locked tight inside their hearts. No wonder their grandchildren are so curious about the history of their grandparents. So when they all receive a letter in the post tempting them to the mountain, what will they discover? And what really went down on that mountain?
Genre: Mystery, Humour, Romance, Angst, Horror
Ending: All survive
Rating: T/M – Just in case, you know...
A/N: It's encouraging to see the response to this fic! I'm hoping it'll only get better from here! I'm debating on two different approaches for this fic so far (as to what is going to happen) so watch this space! Replies to reviews will be at the bottom of my chapters for this fic.
Also, just so you guys know, this fic is going to switch between a couple of POV's, just like 'After' did. It should be pretty easy to follow!
Chapter Two
Because half cousins always have hair grips
"Well, technically, we're half cousins," I shrug nonchalantly, completely unfazed by the two pairs of eyes that are glaring daggers at me. "It's a long story," I sigh. "Our grandma," I start, flicking a hand between myself and Miriam, "Got married to my granddad. And they had my dad. And then they got divorced and our grandma upped and married some other guy and had her," I say, pointing to Miriam, "Mom."
I let out a breath of air like all this talking has sucked out all my energy. Miriam slides her gaze over to me, a meaningful yet subtle look in her eyes. One that says, 'Did you really have to say that?'
Every. Time.
"Why are you here?" The Asian dude narrows his eyes at me, completely disregarding everything that I just said. Rude.
"Presumedly," I shuffle, sticking my hand into my pocket and pulling out a folded letter, "For the same reason as you."
The girl – the one who was decent enough to shake my hand – audibly gasps. I chuckle.
"I assume you don't need to see it?" I question, offering the letter over to her. Her eyes hover across it, debating, before she stiffly shakes her head.
"Good," I smile before pulling the letter back and stuffing it once again into my pocket. "Because I have a feeling I'd get tired of that."
"Why?" the girl asks cautiously, her voice tight and constrained. I can see the anxiety in her eyes. This girl needs to seriously lighten up. "You think there's more of us?"
"Well, sure," I send her a crooked grin – one which she really doesn't seem to appreciate, before circling around, the snow crunching underneath my hiking boots. The pair of strangers stiffen their shoulders, shifting to make sure their eyes are on me the whole time. I shrug them off.
Miriam huddles beside me, matching my long strides with tiny ones of hers – poor girl, she's always been short. She's the only one I won't shrug off. Ever since her mom died and she came to live with us, I've adopted her as more of a sister. Not one of the annoying sister kinds. The ones I want to protect.
"Do you really think we came here unprepared?" I say casually, striding towards the door of the cable car station, feeling the hard gaze of the two strangers on my back. Irritating.
Miriam tugs at my elbow. I glance at her, my gaze settling and easing. Seriously, she's my weakness.
She points down at her backpack. Her eyes ask, 'Should we show them?'
"Sure," I nod, tugging on the handle of the door – locked as I'd expected.
Just before Miriam slips behind me to show the pair the contents of our bag, I reach out and snag a hair grip from her hair. She freezes, clasping onto her head like I've just ripped off one of her limbs. She glares at me. I grin back, a look that says 'You love me really'.
She mocks me with one of her stupid faces before tugging out the plastic folder from her backpack and pushing it towards the two dumbstruck strangers.
I pry the hair grip open with my teeth before crouching down at eye level with the lock, inserting the hair grip into it.
Another one of those gasps come from the strawberry headed girl and I can hear the flicking of paper. "Do you really think we'd come here without doing any research?"
"What is this?" The Asian guy mutters harshly under his breath.
I feign surprise and turn my gaze up to look at him. His dark eyes are shadowed by the moonlight. But I can tell they are staring darkly and directly at me. He's not comfortable with me here.
I snort. He's all tight up about me encroaching on his territory. Seriously, the dude needs to calm down. I'm not gonna hit on strawberry top.
"Newspaper articles," I muse with a smirk. "Miriam checked out any articles about Blackwood Mountain in the last fifty or sixty odd years. Handy having a half-cousin who's a studying historian. She gets a free past into the archives."
I send a proud grin in Miriam's direction who sends me an unamused smile. I wink at her. She looks like she wants to slap me on the ear and tell me to behave. Ever the mother figure.
"Washington sisters missing," Strawberry top reads from the top article in the folder, her eyes skimming the words quickly. I can see the fear and anxiety rising up in her eyes, like she's suffocating from it. Her voice certainly sounds like that. "You think our grandparents had something to do with this?" Her eyes lift, settling them on the Asian dude. Her eyebrows are knotted in thought.
Asian dude plucks the folder from her hands, skimming his finger across the page. "The sisters were spending time with their brother and seven of their friends at their parents lodge at the top of the mountain when they went missing. No one has seen them since." Asian dude's jaw tightens, his adam's apple jerking as he swallows. His eyes are dark. "Maybe they were one of the friends?"
I shake my head, amused, returning my attention to the lock. I stick my tongue out, mocking the way Miriam always looks like when she's concentrating – I'm pretty sure I just felt her glare smack me at the back of the neck – as I wiggle the hair grip inside the lock. Waiting for that telling click.
"Are their names in here?" Strawberry top's voice asks.
No answer. That was probably Asian dude shaking his head. Does any of them think we'd actually need to come here if we'd found all the answers already?
I can hear the girl breathe. I can almost hear the sound her mind working, twisting, the cogs groaning. "So they had something to do with those girls disappearances?" Smart girl.
"Apparently," I hum before the lock clicks and I victoriously pull the hair grip out and grin. "There! Open!"
Successfully, I stretch to my feet and twist the handle, the door easily swinging open. "Tada," I smile smugly, proudly spreading my arm in the direction of it.
Asian dude glares at me as the pair pass me, into the room. His look is a warning; 'Don't think so highly of yourself'.
I shake my head, amused, before scooping Miriam's arm into mine. She glances at me worried but I give her a reassuring smile. There's nothing to be worried about. "Come on, partner," I hum, mockingly skipping into the cable car station. Miriam looks like she'd rather die.
"It's not here," the Asian dude's voice echoes in the small, tight room. The cable car station looks like a tramps hideaway. It's covered in dust and rust and stinks of rotting bananas. I wrinkle my nose and glance jokingly at Miriam, wafting my hand in front of my face. Miriam rolls her eyes, unamused. Though my experienced eyes can recognise the slightest tug at the side of her lips. The tiniest hint of a smile. She loves me really.
The cable car station is also eerily vacant of the all important cable car.
"Not much use now," Strawberry top sighs, adjusting her beanie on her head, her shoulder slumping, irritated. "Might as well go home now."
But before she can storm out of the building, Miriam has snapped her arm up to point out the window. There, the ominous creaking trailing behind it, is the cable car. Slowly creeping down the wire towards us.
"Somebody's up there," the Asian guy's voice is tight, his eyes locked on the metal cage of a car creaking towards us.
"Looks like somebody installed their brain this morning," I retort. That cable car would not be moving right now. Not without someone at the top controlling it.
Somebody knows we're here. Someone's expecting us.
…
A/N: HeatherIsobel: For some reason, you can't drag me away from writing an UD fanfic xD
DouchebagMentlegen: Ding ding, pretty much correct – aside from the fact that Emily did not hook up with Matt... ;) And, as explained in this chapter. Weylyn is both Mike and Jess' grandchild, but Miriam is only Jess'. It's kind of complicated. Also Patricia is a total red herring. I just plucked a name out of the top of my head XD No meaning behind it, sorry!
Indy0321: Ahaha, yep! I'm glad you loved 'After'! Although this one is going to be quite different – though it still has the mystery aspect – I hope you'll love it just as much! And well done for getting almost all the grandparents right!
DreamsCPape: 'Break' is not a word in my vocabulary xD I'm glad you love this one, despite it being OC based... I wanted to try something slightly different. And it's fun to dictate what the grandchildren of the original characters would look/act like xD Updating daily? I can't guarantee it, but by the rate I'm going right now, probably XD I have two pairings of the original characters; Chris and Ash (obviously...), and Mike and Jess (though they didn't stay together, as can be seen in this chapter). I'm smiling too! Reading your review! Thanks!