Chapter 4: Analyst

There was a knock on the door, again. Sam fixed her posture on the bed.
"Come on in." She affirmed.
"Good morning, Samantha." It was Dr. J Alan Hill again.
Samantha groaned as soon as she saw him and turned her back against him in the bed. She pretended she wanted more sleep. But she didn't. She just wanted to get out of this hospital. It only reminded her more of death and the amount of near-death experiences she endured during Blackwood.
"Look. I know you do not want to speak with me. But I think it is safe to say that you would just like to leave. I understand this. Unfortunately, I still need to give the Washingtons my psychiatric evaluation on you. You must begin to cooperate, Samantha. You might be stuck here even longer if you don't." He warned her. His tone was slick and bothersome. He was just a greedy shrink and she knew that. But he was right about one thing. She did not want to be stuck there for any longer.
She straightened her back.
"Alright, Doc. Let's get this over with."
He sat down in a chair next to the door.
"What happened on the night of Josh's disappearance?"
"Josh invited us all back to Blackwood for an annual winter lodge party. It had become a tradition. We were all skeptical at first. It had only been a year since the disappearance of Hannah and Beth but he seemed to be doing too well. But he was a party kind of person. Everyone got some video invitation. If the police need that as evidence, I think Emily and I still have our phones to prove it, we-"
"Do not worry about the police, Samantha. You are not being charged, nor are you going to be placed on trial. This isn't an interrogation." He assured her.
She sighed deeply and continued with the story.
"Well once my train arrived, I met Chris at the cable car station. He played around with the shooting lodge and I just watched. Eventually the cable car got to our station. We both got on. We exchanged some small talk about how Josh and Chris met. Then Chris mentioned something about some butterfly effect. Anyways-"
"Interesting, very interesting." Dr. Hill said to himself.
"We got to the lodge, but it was locked from the inside. Josh made some bullshit excuse that the lock was frozen, but right then and there all of us should've already questioned and elaborated on our instincts. None of us felt safe. We just felt sorry for Josh. We assumed he really needed this. We didn't know we were going to be his little guinea pigs. After that, everything happened quickly yet slowly at the same time. Everything happened so fast but I could've sworn the night didn't last six hours. More like seven different lifetimes. Seven lifetimes too long. We all felt like we were trapped in an eternal darkness. I kept thinking about how if I just didn't open my phone's message from Josh…I would have never showed up. I lost contact with Josh after the incident last year. I didn't talk with anyone really. I just wanted to forget that I was ever associated with those people." There was a crack in her voice. She decided to distract herself by looking out the cheap window shades.
"I saw these things. I found these articles and journals and evidence. Everything that would have vindicated Josh as the maniac trying to kill us-trying to torture us with his psychological pranks. He wanted revenge. But it was too much. He went off the rails. Besides him, there were these things in the mine. Wendigos. I would do anything to unsee it. Anything in the entire world. They were these humanoid, flesh-eating creatures that lurked in the dark. One of them almost killed Mike, but that's right when I found him. After that Mike and I continued through the mines together. We saw severed heads and the bodies hung on thin rope off some of the old mine panelling…We-we" Sam had begun to stutter. Remembering everything was like stabbing herself with a million daggers. She felt like she was choking on her own blood.
"We eventually found Beth's grave. And Hannah's survival journal. It was a documentation on her chronicles into becoming one of them. Into those things. She began to eat Beth after the 30th day. She was dying of hunger. She thought she needed to survive still. She thought someone was going to find her. But no one ever did. No one even knew about those fucking mines!" Sam's voice escalated. Her frustration with everything that happened that night was evident. He was noting everything down, this she saw. But he said nothing. Only listened. This made Sam uncomfortable. It felt like she was being secretly judged after everything she said.
She struggled to find a regular pace in her breathing.
"Calm down, please." Dr. Hill gestured with his hands.
They both didn't speak for a few moments. Right up until her breathing had become moderate again.
"How has it been like when you sleep at night? Any troubles?" He questioned.
"Yes. I have nightmares. About everything. The worst one I've had yet is the one where we're all at the lodge. Mike sacrificed his own being therefore the Wendigo wouldn't attack me. He was pushed away, knocked unconscious completely. I tried to save him. But time was running out. Nothing was definite. The end of the nightmare, I was standing in the snow, alone. Now one was with me. No one. This scream tunneled itself through the flames of the lodge and screeched into my ears. There was nothing I could do. I just wanted him back."
"Were you and Mike close before all of this?" Dr. Hill questioned her. She spoke of him as if they were longtime lovers, however he remembers how he spoke of Jessica. He was interested in what Sam thinks about the situation between him and Jessica as well.
"No, actually." He was glad she told the truth.
"We were just friends. We weren't close. In fact we never really talked that much one on one. I knew stuff about him from Emily. But other than that, I only knew what I saw."
"And what did you see?" Dr. Hill asked.
"He was a flirt. Kind of athletic, but more rugged in an outdoorsy kind of way. He likes dogs. I'm sorry, what does this have to do with anything?" Sam asked impatiently.
"I am just recording the development of relationships and…loyalty." Dr. Hill responded calmly.
"We weren't close before Blackwood-first and second times. But the desperate measures you can sustain with someone can also greatly impact the future bond or connection….or whatever." Sam replied lazily.
"Do you love him?" Dr. Hill sharply asked.
"Excuse me?" Sam scoffed.
"Nevermind. Your loyalty is apparent. That is good enough." Dr. Hill noted in his journal.
Sam frowned with displeasure. She was starting to get sick of this guy, disgusted actually.
"How are your eating habitats?" He pushed again.
"Sufficed." She spat back.
"Any feelings of amnesia?"
"I wish." Her hands were crossed. She began to stare him down. He was firing the shots but everything seemed to be ricocheting.
"Josh?" He inquired.
"Sad." She replied.
"Emily?"
"Apprehensive."
"Chris?"
"Fool."
"Jessica?" He smirked.
Samantha swallowed. Remembering that she was the one that they lost hit her like a ton of bricks. But she leveled her head and continued.
"Irreverent." She snapped.
Dr. Hill did not expect an answer, but he continued.
"Matt?"
"Good-natured."
"Ashley?"
"Vulnerable."
"Mike?"
"He's Michael to you." She fixed.
"Alright, then. What about 'Michael'?"
"Loyal." She closed her eyes as a single tear streamed down her right cheek. She quickly wiped it off with the sleeve of her sweater.
"If Blackwood had never occurred, what would you confess to all of your friends?"
"I would tell them I don't need anyone. I would tell them that I tried my best for them. I would tell Josh that I loved him with every inch of my being. Platonically, always. I was like his other sister. I would tell Emily that everything would be okay. I would tell Jessica to piss off. I would tell Ashley to wake up. I would tell Chris to find a new direction. I would tell Matt he has a big heart, he shouldn't be a pushover because of it. I would tell Hannah that I would miss her more than anything in the world. I would tell Beth that I am so incredibly, deeply sorry. I would tell Mike…I would tell Mike that he'll become one of the most important people to me."
Behind the door, Mike stood there. His hand frozen by the door-as if in a position to knock. He was stopped when he overheard his name. He heard it all. He cleared his throat while being entranced. He walked away quickly from the door and headed back to his room to pack up any belongings of his.
"Time to go." He murmured to himself in the low-lit room.