Penumbra
[Josh/Wendigo!Josh x Reader]

Chapter 2

Mike...Chris...Matt...

You opened your eyes again, and stared blankly at the dirty floor of the cave. You knew you weren't a whore. Not a slut. Josh had just jumped to bad conclusions about your relationship with the three other boys. They were just brothers in your eyes though, nothing more. People you could rely on in the tough times, people who would cheer you up during the sad ones. After all, Mike had Jess, Chris had Ashley, and Matt...well he had Emily...

He never seemed happy with her though. He pandered to the girl, he was a total cuck, but she never gave him much in return. You had rarely seen the two kiss or share an affectionate moment together during the time you were up on this cursed mountain, and considering how horny Mike had been acting with Jess, that was quite surprising.

Maybe Josh had suspected you liked Matt because you always tried to spend time with him. Truth be told, you felt sorry for the guy. He wasn't perfect, he had a bad habit of getting too defensive at times, but he was a genuinely nice guy. There wasn't really any bad blood between you and Emily, but you could see how obviously she was using him, and it made you pity the guy.

Perhaps you had just wanted Matt to know that he didn't need Emily. Sure, you weren't going to replace her in the girlfriend role, but you could still be a good friend for him in general. He needed that. Everyone needed that.

Josh probably needed it too...

Turning your head, you peeked around the rock and looked at Josh again. The noises had ceased, he had finished eating, but still crouched and crawled when he moved around, as if he had truly transformed into some sort of feral beast. His large eyes would catch the shafts of light sometimes while he scuttled around, making them glow creepily, like those of a family pet in a darkened room.

No. Josh had Chris, didn't he? The two had always been inseparable, and you'd known them for a long time. Josh would always call him 'Cochise', and give him that signature cheeky smile, before no doubt getting the guy involved in some kind of mischief. Like two oversized kids, they were kind of annoying when they teamed up like that...but it was cute...

Had he really been so convinced that you liked those guys? Chris...Mike...Matt. Hadn't he seen how obvious it was that you liked him? Had that not been the basis for all his playful teasing? The way he'd always step a little closer to you whenever you spoke, deliberately press his hand against the nearest surface and lean over you, just to make you feel even smaller than him, or casually brush his hand across your back whenever he shifted past.

Had it not been as obvious to him, as it was to you?

"Okay [Y/N], you gotta watch your step when you're coming down here, alright? The steps are broken at the bottom...and some of the uh, the floorboards stick up a bit, can make you trip if you're not careful."
"I'll be careful."

You walked behind Josh cautiously, as he led you through the musty corridor. Everything smelt strongly of damp wood down here, probably a combination of the building itself and the heavy snow outside. Maybe there was a leak or a gap somewhere, where the snow was melting in? This place had been abandoned after all...and was now reduced to something more than a little derelict.

You watched his back. He wasn't wearing his padded waterproof coat any more, because he had given it to you instead, after you dropped your woollen one in the snow by accident, and got it soaked in icy water. Naturally, being a kind-hearted soul, you had initially refused his gesture. However, Josh was insistent about these kinds of things. It seemed he truly cared about you...

Or maybe you were jumping to conclusions. You had always been bad for that when it came to boys. He was probably just thinking like a gentleman, and doing the right thing.

"Josh..." You spoke up all of a sudden, and saw him turn round, making sure he shone the torch at the wall instead of your face so you didn't get blinded. He almost immediately lit up when you spoke to him, naturally eager for any kind of conversation he could have with you, no matter how short or on what subject. Even in this dim light, you looked as gorgeous as ever. Were you the perfect girl? He wondered that...

"Yeah? What is it?" He asked.
"...Listen..." You sighed out in a slow exhale, and he could tell this would be one of those long conversations he liked so much. However, the tone in your voice made him worry. He leaned against the electrical box. At least they had come this far.

Swallowing thickly, you spoke up a little louder, since your voice had sounded a little croaky. Or maybe, in your uneasiness, you had just imagined it being that way.
"About what happened...you know, before...I'm so, so sorry." You breathed out, as if it was a relief to finally say that in your own words. "Hannah and Beth were my friends, they were almost like family to me too...I only wish I could have been braver, and done something to stop it..."

Josh listened closely, watching you with just as much intent. There was evidently a large amount of pain behind your words, and it showed on your face too, crumpling your comely expression into a visage of sadness. It was clear, you felt a lot of regret.

However, you were the one person who he never wanted an apology from. Mostly because he couldn't see how you had done anything wrong.
"[Y/N], you don't need to apologise for anything. I know it, Sam told me that you and her had nothing to do with that prank. And even with the others..." Josh smiled sadly, though there was something strange in his expression, which you didn't notice because you kept your head down.

"...I'll forgive them too. I think we can put this mess behind us..."

Josh hadn't meant it. Josh hadn't meant a word of it.

His vengeful prank had been worse in a thousand ways, and you almost wondered if he had held himself back so he wouldn't actually kill the others in the process. Or risk harming you. Maybe he had desired to do so though. Maybe he had even lied to you, or perhaps you had just been delusional.

Maybe he didn't care about you. Maybe he would happily see you dead. Maybe he really did blame you for what happened to his sisters.

The Wendigo that he was slowly becoming crouched on its haunches, and cream-hued eyes flitted around the cavern. You quickly moved your head back behind the rock before they could settle upon you. You feared what might happen to you if you ended up being his prisoner here.

Yet you had to remind yourself. Keep reminding yourself...

I came here to bring him back. Hell, I should have come sooner. I should have...and maybe he wouldn't be in this state...

Maybe there would still be a shred of humanity left...

You knew you had to approach him, but you were scared. Josh was a monster now, and the chances that he would either tear you to shreds and swallow you down on the spot, or end up listening and hugging it out with you, weren't even 50/50.

Even before...he hadn't hesitated to capture you, even if he hadn't hurt you...

"Shit...shit...shit..."

You were huddled behind a stone wall, only this one wasn't in a cave, it was in the basement of the cabin you'd come to stay in. The finest cabin that the Washington's owned. A bitterly reminiscent place for you, and your friends. Who were now gone...leaving you alone here.

Well, not entirely alone. Sam had gone for a bath after getting the heating sorted, but since then you hadn't seen her anywhere. You hadn't even had time to go upstairs and knock on the bathroom door, for you had seen him...standing there...

A man in a mask. Denim overalls, stained with something...and whatever that something was, you didn't want to guess, but it looked like a dry, old scarlet hue. It was hard to see him clearly in the dim light, which you and Josh had gone down to the basement to fix along with the heating in the first place, but even with the electrics on, most of the house was still stooped in darkness.

Before you had even taken time to think, you had run. A flight response, sending you down to the basement where you and Josh had been before, and you now found yourself crouching just by the electrical box where you had stopped and spoken before. You wondered why you had chosen this place specifically, but then you remembered. It was somewhere around here...

Trying not to make too much noise, you cautiously looked around, until your eyes scanned the shadows and settled upon a cardboard box, with a familiar wooden bat jutting out of the top. Glancing to your left to see if the maniac had come this way, you supposed he hadn't, and reached out tentatively, stretching your arm and fingers out as far as they would go, to save yourself leaving the safety of your little spot and risking being seen.

The relief you felt when your hand successfully wrapped itself around the handle of the bat, was like a soothing wave, and you lifted the bat out, thankful that nothing else was knocked over inside the box when you did. Pulling it close to your chest, you pressed the wooden weapon to your snow-moistened shirt, and held your breath. Fully back against the wall again, you listened...

Step. Step. Step.

Heavy. Methodical.
He was here. And he was coming for you.

You didn't know who he was, though you also didn't know that you would later find out the shocking truth. At that point, you had been none the wiser to Josh's supposed 'death' (though Sam would tearfully tell you when you finally ran into her again). Him, like the others, just seemed to be missing somewhere out on that mountain.

Things weren't right. And now, not even this lodge was safe. Blackwood Pines was a haunted, dire place...

"Kitten...where are you hiding?"
A deep, distorted voice teased, as you could feel the wooden floorboards creak under his weight. Daring to shoot a look from the corners of your eyes, you saw him standing there. When he turned his head slightly, you saw his head, not obscured by shadows now, and nearly screamed, until you realised that it was just a mask. A creepy one though, with porcelain skin, exposed rose-coloured gums and rotten yellow teeth.

The man (though perhaps it wasn't) had matted, wavy hair down just past his shoulders, the colour of jet black. His gloved hands were holding some kind of canister, and he playfully tapped what seemed to be a muzzle against the metal side of it. You could just about catch the faint smell of gas in the air.

"Don't you know I can smell you, [Y/N]? I can smell your fear..."

You shuddered violently, and involuntarily let out a small gasp of fear. That was enough. He immediately turned and growled with amusement.
"Gotcha!"
"Nn!" You let out a frightened moan, as you took off again and tried to race past him, bat in hand and ready to swing. He caught you though, making you drop it with a loud, hollow clatter, a firm, strong arm wrapping around your neck, while his other hand held the transparent muzzle to your mouth and nose, and let the gas travel up your nostrils.

Almost immediately, you gave out. The last thing you remembered, as you went limp in his arms, was his voice cooing near your ear.
"So sorry..."

You still remembered vividly, the way Josh had smirked at you when he had so proudly revealed it was him the whole time. Naturally, you had been horrified. Not least because of how he treated you, but the others too. Jess was dead, according to Mike. Ashley had a nasty bruise on her eye from where Josh had punched her, and both her and Chris had been utterly traumatised after the traps they had endured.

How could he? You remembered thinking. How could he do this to us?

Revenge...
"Revenge is the best medicine!" He had said, with such enthusiasm. You'd felt the bile rise in your throat when he did so. Would Hannah and Beth really have wanted that? For him to torture his friends, as payback for a silly prank, with a tragic pay-off that they could have never anticipated?

As you edged closer to the half-Wendigo before you, you felt a little anger. Maybe he deserved to be left here, alone, to rot away with the other monsters of the mountain. Maybe that would be the revenge of you and your friends.

Then again...Josh hadn't intended to kill, or to hurt anyone. Jess had turned up broken, but alive, and you'd all made it out okay. Seeing Josh in this state...wasn't this repentance enough for him?

Perhaps...or perhaps not.

Either way...you weren't going back empty-handed.
Your hand reached out...and laid itself upon his shoulder...