Until Dawn: The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 10 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.

Chapter 10

SAM POV

I sighed and shook my head as I tried again to fill the bath, turning on the taps, mainly the hot tap. It still wasn't working the way that I wanted it to.

'Honestly, I just want to get a bath.' I thought to myself, exasperated.

"Sammy!" Josh suddenly yelled, catching my attention.

I turned my head, calling in return. "Whaaaaat?"

"You wanna help me get this fire going?"

I bit my lip and casually admitted. "Ummm, well, I was just getting into the bath."

There was a brief pause before Josh replied teasingly. "Oh! Well, do you need any help with that?"

"Hardy har." I groaned in reply, rolling my eyes and sighing.

I tried the taps again and checked the water. Still, the hot tap wasn't giving out hot water.

Giving up, I straightened up and muttered to myself, "Alright Josh, let's see if you know how to hook up the hot water in your big fancy lodge."

With that, I began to walk out of the bathroom, when suddenly, I heard a strange sound.

"Whoa..." I gasped. "What...was that?"

I didn't hear it again, so I decided that it would be best to ignore it and I began making my way back to the main room. As I began to walk along the balcony above the main room, I could hear Josh, Chris and Ashley below.

"Come on..." Josh was complaining, much as I had been earlier.

There was a pause then Chris queried, "How long do you think it'll take him?"

I could easily tell that Ashley was shrugging as she answered. "My money's on blankets for everyone!"

They then started jokingly cheering him on and I smiled, amused by their antics as I descended the stairs and approached them. Josh stood up from the fireplace and turned to them, shaking his head.

"Alright peanut gallery, you know what? I've got an idea for you two." he remarked.

"What?" Ashley replied, taken aback by his sudden remark.

Grinning, Josh explained, "Okay, well, I'm pretty that somewhere in this crazy place, we used to have... a spirit board."

Ashley made a face at that. "A what?"

"Wow..." Chris sarcastically gasped. "You have 'a spirit board'?"

Finally realizing just what he meant, Ashley asked incredulously, "Wait, are you saying...we should have a seance?"

Chris, however, shook his head. "Those things are a joke, man, they don't do shit."

"No way, bro." Josh insisted. "We used to do it all the time, me and...well..."

They all went quiet at that, knowing that he was talking about his sisters.

Biting my lip, I decided that, despite the obvious heavy moment, I needed to intervene. Perhaps my little problem would set up a nice distraction for Josh, taking his mind off of his obvious sorrow.

"Hey, Josh." I called out. "No hot water's kind of a major oversight, doncha think?"

Josh just smiled and gestured. "Yeah, yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler, it's in the basement."

"You guys see if you can find the spirit board." he said, turning to Chris and Ashley.

Enthusiastic, Ashley stood up. "Chris, let's go find it. It'll be like a scavenger hunt!"

"Ummm...okay..." Chris replied, uncertainly. "I guess so."

"Rad..." Josh replied happily. "You're not gonna regret it."

So we split up. Chris and Ashley headed off on their search while Josh began to walk towards the basement, inviting me along. I couldn't understand why things were so quiet.

"Josh, what's going on, where is everyone?"

Josh sighed and shrugged. "Well, Jess and Grant still haven't returned...It was risky, but I asked Mike to find them. Matt and Emily have also left, but they went a different way." he explained.

I shook my head, shocked by this. "Whoa, okay, we're all split up here. I mean, what if something happens, what if…?"

"Sam, whoa, whoa, whoa." Josh replied quickly. "Calm down, it'll be fine, alright. Nothing is going to happen, not this year."

I shifted, a little uncomfortable at that, but accepted that explanation. After all, if I couldn't trust Josh up here, who could I trust?

Once down in the basement, Josh turned to me, smirking.

"Hey, you notice how I gave Chris and Ash a mission together?" he queried, and when I nodded, he continued. "Yeah, I was thinking that they could use some 'alone time'."

I laughed good-naturedly and nodded. "They are very sweet together. I wish they'd just freakin' get on with it already."

Josh casually shrugged. "I swear, they just need, like...something to bond over, y'know? Some sort of traumatic event to send them into each other's arms."

I didn't know it at the time, but that very thing would happen to me before the night was over.

I chose not to say anything as Josh retrieved a flashlight from a drawer and opened the door. We began to descend, heading for the basement. Stopping just past the door, Josh sighed.

"You know, Sam..."

I turned to him, a little concerned.

"I just wanted to say..." He hesitated but, encouraged by me, continued. "It really means a lot to me, that everyone came back this year and, you know…that you came, Sam."

Gently touching his shoulder, I spoke as reassuringly as I could. "Josh, we're here for you, really. Whatever you need, whenever. We're all gonna make it through this together."

"Um, I want us to have a good time, you know." Josh stated.

I nodded and we began to make our way down, joking around a little with each other on the way.

Soon, we found the boiler cabinet and Josh got to work, opening it and preparing to set things up.

"Alright...sorry to drag you down into the bowels."

I shook my head. "Just get me some hot water and I'll be super-fine."

"I mean..." he replied, glancing at me, "I wouldn't want you coming down here on your own, you know?"

Looking around, I bit my lip. "Well, it is definitely creepy down here."

"Yep, not a place to be on your own."

While Josh worked, I spotted something in the cabinet and picked it up, a little surprised. It was a baseball bat.

"What's this doing here?" I asked, turning to show it to Josh. "Is this yours?"

Smiling widely, Josh took it from me and examined it, even giving a practice swing as he spoke.

"You bet it's mine." he said excitedly. "I used to play ball with my dad all the time. Of course, that was before he got too busy to hang out with me... Oh well, save it for the couch, right?"

I couldn't deny I was a little worried at how rapidly Josh's mood seemed to switch. Suspicion began to form inside me, but I held it back. Setting the baseball bat against the wall, Josh examined the boiler again.

"Okay, lemme see what I can do with this old hot water machine." he quipped, handing me the flashlight. "Here, can you...can you hold this?"

I took it, but then turned quickly, hearing a strange noise. "What was that?"

Josh turned to me. "What was what? Just shine it here so that I can see what I'm doing."

Turning, I did so, and held the light steady while Josh worked.

"Nice one." he said once he was finished. "Okay, first things first: we gotta increase the water pressure before we get the boiler fired up."

I bit my lip. "Sounds kinda complicated."

Josh shook his head. "No, it's actually pretty simple."

He then walked me through it and I took my place, ready. While Josh worked, the water pressure began to build and when the light flashed, just as instructed, I pulled the lever and the boiler came rumbling to life.

"Whoa!"

Josh grinned. "That's more like it, alright! Five, girl!"

Returning the grin, I high-fived Josh, who smiled widely before turning and closing the boiler cabinet. It was then, suddenly, that I was sure I heard the noise again.

"What the hell is that…?"

Josh stepped forwards, shrugging. "Could be a lot of things...and none of them nice..."

Seeing his smirk, I shook her head. "Hey, quit it."

"I'm just...just 'Joshing' ya."

I rolled my eyes and mock laughed at his bad joke.

Josh genuinely laughed, however, as he teased me. "You were really freaked out."

I scoffed and tried to protest. "I was not scared."

"No, no..." Josh replied quickly, still joking around. "You just jumped because you wanted to squeeze in some aerobics?"

"Don't be an a-hole, okay?" I continued to protest. "I totally didn't jump! All I said was, 'What was that?', which is a totally normal reaction to hearing a super creepy noise in a super creepy basement."

I was cut off by the sound happening again.

Josh tensed, stepping forwards slowly. Now both of us were looking down the corridor leading further into the basement.

"Okay, so, you hear that too, right? Josh?"

"What…?" he whispered in disbelief.

I shook my head. "The rhythm's like, weirdly regular..."

"Not...No, nothing 'regular' about it." Josh replied in a whisper.

I shuddered at that, but then squared my shoulders and put on a brave face. One of us had to do this.

"I'm gonna check it out." I said as I began to move down the corridor.

Josh was startled by this. "What? Why?"

"What do you care, fraidyface?"

"It's probably just, like, not anything." he said.

I shook my head. "Why don't you hold down the fort while I make sure?"

"Okay, whatever you say, madam." Josh snarked back.

I continued down the corridor until suddenly, a man wearing a hockey mask and a monk's robe leapt out, roaring. I screamed and turned to run. Josh stared and cried out.

"Whoa, Sam, whoa..."

I ran to him, pulling down a wooden pallet against the wall as he passed. Josh stood his ground until I just passed him and then he ran, too.

Josh and I continued to attempt to flee, but found ourselves hindered suddenly when we encountered a locked door.

"Oh, come ON now." I cried as I struggled with it. "Why are these doors locked!?"

Josh shook his head frantically. "To keep out strangers!"

I noticed that he was trying to cover me as I struggled to open the door. But it was no use, the monk caught up with us. I spun around and we pressed ourselves back against the door.

"Hey..." the monk said in a gravelly voice.

"What…?" I gasped.

"Heeyyyyy..."

"WHAT THE HELL!?" I choked out, my voice strangled from my earlier screaming.

The monk removed his hood and grinned as his identity was revealed.

"Boom!, you just got monked!" Chris announced triumphantly.

There was a stony silence before Josh burst out laughing and I just couldn't believe it.

"WHAT!?" I cried in outrage.

"Nice, nice one." Josh managed to say between laughs and he fist-bumped Chris. "That was good."

I spluttered, trying to get the words out, unable to believe what had just occurred. "Why w...why would you do that?"

"There's all this cool old movie crap down here." Chris explained. "What, was I...was I not supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?"

"Are you...are you serious?" I shot back before a sudden thought struck me. I turned to Josh and shoved his shoulder. "Were you in on this, you putz?"

"Nope." Josh defended before admitting, "But I wish I was, that was too good!"

The two high-fived and I groaned before we all finally left the basement, Josh locking the door behind us before we made our way to the main room.

With a heavy sigh, I glanced over at Chris.

"I'm ready to admit that your dumb little prank may have had a slight whiff of humor to it." I admitted.

Chris grinned in response. "Jokemaster!"

Shaking my head, I responded, "I said nothing about jokes. I said your prank, which was dumb-"

"Holy crap, you were scared, admit it." Josh cut in with another laugh.

"I was not!"

Josh wouldn't let it go, however. "Come on, you totally pissed yourself."

"Josh!"

Chris walked further ahead than us, to where Ashley was waiting. I stopped by the stairs going up. Josh followed Chris. As I watched, Ashley took a moment to take in Chris wearing the monk's robe.

"What..in God's name...are you wearing?" she asked at last.

Jokingly making the sign of the cross in front of her, Chris replied. "I found my true calling."

Clasping her hands together, Ashley jokingly replied, "Please tell me you're going to take a vow of silence."

Chris continued to joke, pretending to speak inaudibly, making Ashley laugh.

"Okay, okay, did you at least find the...thingy?"

"Boi-oi-oi-oing!" Chris produced the appropriate sound effect as he pulled the Ouija board from his costume. "Here's our one-way ticket to the spirit realm...!"

Ashley nodded and I sighed.

"You know what? You know what, no." I said. "I've just been through enough spooking for one night, okay? I see a hot bath in my crystal ball."

The others all nodded and I began to ascend the stairs.

I called back. "Alright? So have fun...! Oh, but watch out for that Josh. He's a schemer!" Josh; a schemer? I didn't even know the half of it at the time.

Josh just laughed and joined Chris and Ashley as they prepared to use the Ouija board, with me heading up for my bath at last.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.