Here We Are Again

Sam sits on the bus, on her way to the annual party at the Washington's lodge. It's been a long ride, and Sam has been listening to the radio, when a story she knows all too well comes on the news, one she's sick of hearing.

"Today marks the one year anniversary of the dreadful tragedy that took place on Mount Washington. Sherriff Annie Cline who was in charge of the investigation. . ." the broadcast skips, cutting out the end of the host's sentence.

The sheriff's voice comes on now, "Thanks for having me Marty." Sam can feel the somberness in the sheriff's voice. She had been tasked with finding the twins, and she failed. Even though Beth had turned up alive, Hannah had never been found, alive or dead.

"To all listeners, an update on Hannah Washington, who is still missing."

The sheriff continues, "One year ago today the Washington girls left the safety of their parents lodge and headed out into a snowstorm."

"Foul play?" asks the host.

"Not officially, no. There is one individual we're considering as a person of interest, but his whereabouts are currently unknown. He has an interesting history with the Washington family. He had warned them against pursuing a construction project, and claimed the land was sacred to his forefathers."

"You know there's still the old sanatorium on the mountain, could he be hiding there?"

"My officers did search the grounds, but the girls themselves couldn't have made it that far."

"Something about that mountain seems to breed tragic events."

"We were hoping to get some information on what happened when one of the sisters, Beth, was found alive by forest rangers a month later. Unfortunately she's suffering from amnesia, and still can't remember a thing about that night, or the entire month she was missing."

"We were all overjoyed to learn of Beth's survival of course," the host adds.

"It was a miracle," the sheriff agrees, her voice lighting up a bit. "Her chances of being alive after a month, in those mountains under those conditions? They were...well, nothing, honestly. I can't even imagine what it was like for her."

"She was very lucky."

"I don't think lucky is the right word."

"Of course," the radio host agrees, "We are aware of Beth's severe mental trauma from the experience, and we wish her the best of luck. Sheriff, what do you think it would take for someone to be able to block out an entire month of their life?"

"Something very, very traumatic. We renewed the investigation for a while, hoping if one sister was alive, maybe we'd find the other, but we still came up with nothing. Not even a corpse." the sheriff sighs, not enjoying having to remember all this. The signal goes quiet for a bit, and Sam is about to turn it off, thinking she's lost the signal, when Annie's voice comes back. "If any of Washington girl's friends or family are listening to this, I want to issue an apology, to all of you. I'm sorry we couldn't give you closure. The miraculous survival of Beth had nothing to do with us, by the time the rangers found her, we had already given up. After she was found, there was so much hope, we needed to find Hannah then, but we didn't...Beth, I'm sorry we couldn't find your sister."

The radio host was quiet for a moment. "Well, thank you for joining us Annie, that was very emotional. Our hearts go out to all the Washingtons tonight, to their children Beth and Josh, and to all their friends, on this, the anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of Hannah Washington."

Sam turns the radio off, after hearing that, she doesn't need to hear any other stupid news stories. She sighs, her mind already on Hannah. Sam was Hannah's best friend, but none of them had felt the blow more than Beth. She still can't believe Beth and Josh invited them up here again, after what happened last year. She digs out her phone, replaying the video that had been sent to her.

The video flashes on, showing the two remaining siblings, Josh and Beth.

"Well hello friends and fans," they both try to say at once, but it ends up sounding out of sync.

They both look at each other, "Aw what happened?" Josh asks.

"Sorry, I thought we were starting sooner."

"Whatever, let's try it again," Josh comes closer to the camera, refocusing it. "Take two!" He jokes, taking his place beside Beth. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Beth nods.

"Well hello friends and fans!" they say together, getting it right this time.

Sam chuckles, it's nice to see them in such a light tone for once.

"It is beyond awesome to have you guys all back this year. First off, I gotta say we're super excited to welcome all our pals back to the annual Blackwood winter getaway." He raises his arms, imitating a chant from a cheering crowd.

"I think we should address the uh. . . well you know," Beth mumbles to Josh.

"Oh, yeah of course," Josh nods.

Sam's smile drops, she knows what's coming. Beth takes the center view.

"So, I know that you're all probably really worried about me. I know that I've been pretty messed up for a while, and I really appreciate all of your concern. I . . . don't really wanna talk about this more than I have to, so, I just wanna say I'm seriously looking forward to this. Let's all try to just have some fun and try to get on with our lives, for the sake of my sister and. . . yeah."

"Okay," Josh bails her out of the awkward pause, "Let's not dwell too much on it."

"Yeah, you're right," nods Beth.

"Alright guys, sorry to end on such a sad tune, but we're gonna have a lot of fun tonight! So we'll see you there!"

The video cuts out. Sam lowers her phone, looking out the window at the approaching Mount Washington. Just knowing Hannah's still up there somewhere makes her shudder.

"Well, it can't be any worse than last year."

This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I decided to split it up into two parts because I wanted to get at least something out today. It's a bit short, but this also means the next one is already part way done.