"I'm serious Chris, he's making real progress! He actually managed a full sentence this morning. Yeah, it took me a second to understand him, but that's not the point." Curled up on the sofa, buried under a mountain of blankets, Sam allowed herself a soft smile. Things were finally starting to look up. "I know it doesn't seem like a huge deal, but-"
"Are you kidding?" Through the choppy signal, Chris' voice was bubbly, barely contained. "This is awesome! Are you sure he's okay though, with the whole thing last night."
Right, of course. Why did Sam get the feeling she was going to regret telling Chris about that? "Neither of us are okay, not really; but we're trying to be. He's dealing with it, I think. I'm pretty sure he feels better now I know about it, anyway." Absently, her free hand worried a fray in the thick blanket.
Josh was doing better, wasn't he? It wasn't just her projecting her hopes onto him? She had failed to notice his suffering the first time around, had thought he was perfectly fine when he was barely covering it up. It was possible it was the same all over again, and she was just in denial without even realising it...
"Hey, earth to Sammy! You still there?"
"Huh?" Chris' voice rang in her ears, but his words barely registered. Frowning slightly, Sam slid down further into the pile of blankets. "Sorry. I was... it's not important."
Outside, snow continued to batter the little cabin. Through the window she saw only a haze of blinding white. It was even beginning to collect on the sill of the broken window, although the wind was hammering in the opposite direction. Shivering, she pulled the blanket closer.
On the other end of the line, Chris let out a huff. Sam pictured him rolling his eyes, hands on hips. "Something's on your mind, Sam. I can tell. Even a million miles apart, I can still read you like a book."
It was true. Chris - and just about everyone else, really - always said she was too transparent. Lying had never been her strong suit. Until now, it had always been something she prided herself on. "Well," she began - but fell short, pursing her lips. Where to even begin? Did she even want to bring Chris into this? The answer was clear. "Really, it's nothing. I'll tell you some other time."
Chris' heavy disappointment seemed to radiate through the phone. "Sammy, you're avoiding! Fine, I won't force you. I have to go anyway - Ash is coming over, and we've even convinced Mike, Jess and Matt to come. Emily's still a work in progress, but we'll get there."
Sam smiled fondly, chest feeling a little lighter at the news. "Great! Let me know how it goes; and I'll keep you updated on Josh. Have fun!"
"I'll try, but Jess is still being awkward. Not that I blame her or anything, but you know how it is." Distantly, the high pitched ring of a bell echoed. "Oh, that'll be Ash. See you soon, Sam!"
"Bye Chris. Good luck."
The phone clicked off, leaving Sam sitting there in silence. It was just her and the white noise of snow falling against the cabin roof. Closing here eyes, Sam let out a breath. This was the first time she had relaxed in forever, since way before her return to Blackwood Mountain. It would be nice if it could last just a little longer.
Hold on. Silence meant she was the only one here; that meant no Josh. Eyes snapping open, Sam bolted upright as she whirled to face the bedroom door. She had left him there in the early hours of the morning under a pile of duvets, but it was almost midday now and he still hadn't appeared.
Okay, there was no reason to freak. He had a ridiculously stressful day; he just needed to sleep it off. Or perhaps he was avoiding her out of embarrassment. It wouldn't be the first time.
Sam flung the blanket away, tossing her phone onto the sofa as she crept over to the bedroom. The door was closed just the way she left it, no light coming from the sliver of a gap underneath. Pushing the door open, Sam silently prayed to find Josh curled up in the same position she remembered.
The bedroom was bare. Instead of being piled onto the bed with a sleeping Josh beneath, they were thrown into a careless heap by the foot of the bed. It was cold too, as if the outside ice was creeping in - like from the broken window in the living room.
Except this time the cause was an open window, not broken. Opened from inside, too, if the unhooked latch was anything to go by.
So where the hell was Josh, and why had he disappeared without a word?
Sam felt sick. Her stomach rolled, heavy and uneasy as she stared, wide eyed, at the window. If she had just kept a better eye on him, paid more attention, this wouldn't have happened! Why was she always fucking things up? Squeezing her eyes shut Sam sucked in a breath and tried to calm the jittering of her heart.
Think about this Sammy, she told herself, don't panic. What can you do?
Well, there was the obvious - go out and look for him. In the middle of a snowstorm. With practically no visibility. While injured. Even she knew that was stupid. The other option was to huddle up somewhere warm and wait for him to come back - in other words, she was completely useless.
She stood there with her arms held stiffly by her side, fighting back the swell of tears that threatened to spill again.
Something slammed nearby; the sound of something crashing against a wall, so loud in the eerie silence it sent Sam's heart racing. She flinched, chest somersaulting, and spun on her heel - nearly tripping over her own feet in the process. The hell was that?
Then, faintly, a low growl reached her ears.
Shit shit shit. A Wendigo? The same one that kept coming back? But it was daytime - unless somehow the storm sheltered them from the sun. No, they weren't vampires, it didn't matter if it was sunny or not. Probably. Then what?
"Josh?" she called timidly, slowly making her way over to the bedroom door. Peeking her head into the living room she saw the front door swinging gently - as if it had been thrown open and then bounced against the wall. That was one mystery solved.
The pistol was in the bedside cabinet but she tried to reason that she didn't need it. Maybe it was just the wind. She never did bother to lock the door, for all the good it would do with a shattered window right beside it. Yeah, just the wind.
Sam only took one baby step before rushing back to grab the gun. The weight of the cool metal in her hands felt reassuring. Sighing, Sam gripped it in her hands as she made her way back to the living room.
Other than the door, everything was just the way she left it. Blanket thrown to the floor, phone on the sofa, kitchen door angled open. Wait, that wasn't right! Carefully stepping over the blanket, Sam crept to the kitchen. Her foot hit something damp and mildly sticky, like juice that had been spilled and left to dry. Except this juice was crimson. Blood. Bile rose to the back of her throat and she swallowed down the bitter taste with a grimace. Her hands were damp, clutching the gun like it was the only thing on the earth that mattered, but it didn't do much to help the hammering of her heart in her chest.
Nudging open the kitchen door, Sam expected the worst.
She certainly didn't expect to see Josh, back turned to her, tearing into a malformed chunk of raw meat. There were still clumps of grey-white fur clinging to it, snapped bones peeking through bloody red flesh.
Stumbling back, Sam gagged. Her hand flew to her face as if to physically shield herself. Before she could stop herself, a shriek left her lips. "Josh, what the hell! Is that a rabbit? Get it out of the kitchen!"
Josh's head whipped around, milky eyes locking with hers. For a moment he sat crouched, frozen in place, entire body perfectly still. He blinked once, twice - and then something seemed to click as a blush bloomed across his pallid cheeks. "Not what it looks like!" he sputtered out. His gangly body did a poor job of hiding the bloody carcass, but he crouched between it and Sam, casting a nervous look between them.
"I guess it's not just human flesh you have a taste for, huh?" Sam risked a smile, but it fell flat on her lips, "really though, can you please get that out of here. You know I can barely look at raw meat inside a package, never mind freshly killed." Even with Josh in the way she could see splatters of bright red blood and half-chewed meat. Looking away, Sam tried not to think about Josh tearing into it with those needlepoint teeth.
"S-sorry. It's" Josh dropped his gaze, eyebrows furrowed as he struggled with his words. Sam wanted nothing more than to pull him into a hug, to cling to him and never let go - but the blood soaked overalls weren't convincing her to get any closer. "Can't eat anything else."
Sam deflated. God, Josh had it so much worse than she had ever anticipated. Heaviness settled deep in her stomach, a familiar feeling now. "I'm sorry, Josh. I'll just... leave you to it. I'll clean up later." If she had the stomach for it.
Josh risked a quick glance up, but he only shifted awkwardly, hunching in on himself even more. No matter how much time passed, it was still creepy how flexible he was - even Sam, with regular exercise and a history of gymnastics behind her couldn't hunch like that without pain. With Josh, it just looked so natural, like sitting any other way would be uncomfortable.
"I'll go take a shower. See you in a bit, okay?" Sam turned to leave, but a gentle tug on her t-shirt brought her back to Josh. Raising a brow, she tried to focus on him - and not the mess behind.
"Thanks. For not being weird about it." He smiled, seemingly oblivious to the way it pulled back his torn lip, making the mess of teeth all the more visible as they curled their way up his cheek. Somehow, it was kind of cute.
Shaking her head, Sam smiled over at him. "Don't sweat it. That's what friends are for, right?" Leaning over, Sam placed a quick peck to his forehead. For a split second it almost seemed like he leaned into the barely-there kiss. For a split second, Sam almost wanted to kiss him for real.
This mountain was really messing with her mind.
