-Greetings to everyone who's found there way here! Yes, I'm planning to take a shot at another something that I've wanted to do for a very long time. Ever since I first discovered the game Until Dawn, and discovered that thousands of other YouTubers had played this game and from the multitude of different experiences having played it themselves, I truly knew I had found a gem of a game! Which only further confused me as to why both there were so few stories to the Until Dawn section of Fanfiction, and why what was there was simply OC inserts and 'after events' of the story. Now don't get me wrong, that's all well and good, the latter one anyway, but no one had simply done a simple playthrough of the game, as it was, and wrote down what all had happened!

That's where I come in. I plan to novelize a very recent playthrough of the game I had done, while doing my best to keep in the mystery and especially fear of both what happens, and what 'could' happen. What I ended up with felt satisfactory in my opinion, so this is what I'm gonna roll with! So strap yourselves in everyone, because this one's gonna be a dozy!-

Blackwood Mountain. It was once described as being 'frozen in time'. Of course that was brought about by speculators and the superstitious sort. The truth of the matter was the mountain itself was always frozen, but that was one of the more defining features of it. It was said that it snowed constantly on this mountain. The snowfall would settle upon the natural earth and preserve it for all time. However, it was not just the snow and ice that the mountain was known for.

Visitors to the mountain would be quick to find how it was almost always dark upon this mountain. Even on the brightest noon of most days, the sun's light barely could pierce through the thick blanketing of trees the forest provided. As a result, the natural layout of the mountain was almost constantly shrouded in dark shadow. The lack of natural light reaching the ground itself also added an ominous feeling. What was intended to nowadays be a relaxing getaway resort for skiers and snowboarders instead evoked instead a feeling of unease from being upon the mountain. Thus, the Pines unfortunately hadn't seen much in the way of such recreation in recent years, resulting in fewer and fewer visitors.

But not everyone was swayed by this unease.

Successful horror movie mogul Bob Washington had actually purchased the mountain back in 1997. Businesses such as recreational skiing had nearly dried up by this point, which the man had seen as a 'lucrative investment'. However, everyone including his wife had simply seen that as a way to flex his financial freedom; the man was in the prime of success in Hollywood, and his wife wasn't exactly complaining at his 'purchase'. Their family of two at the time was fast becoming a larger one, and this actually turned out to be for the best. The Washington Lodge was claimed, built, and finally established for now the family of five.

The Washington family lived a roughly decent decade and a half in this lodge, surrounded by nature in all its glory. Bob had told his wife Melinda it was to help immerse himself in dark settings that only natural lighting, or rather 'natural darkness' as he called it, could provide. The wife eventually learned to live with her husband's strange sense of immersion methods, and eventually even came to adapt to it herself. At least to the point where it didn't bother her much anymore.

As for the children, they had little to no complaints. Having grown up in this lodge for practically their whole lives, it was as much a part of them as they were a part of it. The Washington Estate was home to them, flaws and all included.

The three children were also quite charming as well. Of course Melinda would've used much grander words to describe her own. There was Joshua the 'funny man', always wanting to entertain anyone close to him and put smiles on their faces. Hannah and her bleeding heart was eager to please her parents and friends. And the youngest Beth was always the serious one of the three. She had a good head on her shoulders; calm, level-headed, and always honest, sometimes to a fault. She was always looking to do the right thing, which often meant keeping her 'childish older siblings' in line. No one could've asked for a more wonderful trio of children.

School life for them was relatively ideal as well, aside from the absurdly long journey it would take them to trek down the mountain to simply reach the school bus stop. Despite their father being a rather rich and successful horror movie director, word of his fame hadn't quite reached the northwestern corner of the United States, much less across the border into Alberta, Canada. Thus, there was not really that much of a reputation awaiting the three kids at the school they attended. They found that making friends would be as any ordinary a task as any kid would have to do. The process was slow, but in the end, their circle had grown quite considerably. They would hang out at lunch, during classes, after school, even attend some football games where some of them actually took part in directly. They had their ups and downs, just like any friends would. But at the end of the day, the Washington children were glad with who they managed to befriend.

Of course the topic of where they lived had come up once or twice. This combined with the revelation of who their father was only added to their intrigue. After a few attempted persuasions, even 'friendly' coercion attempts, the Washington children eventually allowed their friends to see their estate on Blackwood Mountain. To say that they were amazed by where these three siblings lived would be an understatement. Introductions to the parents followed soon after, and eventually meet-ups at the Washington Lodge grew more and more frequent. After all, it was a massive house for only five people; what harm could introducing eight more within its walls do?

One particular night, in early February of 2014, the group of friends had all met up for a night of party. Some of the girls had objected to the fact that partying on a Sunday night wasn't exactly the best idea, but they eventually came around when the promise of games and pizza were involved. Bob and Melinda had also flown out to Hollywood for the former's production of his latest horror film project, which meant the eldest Josh was left as the host in charge. The young man of course wasted no chance in adding various alcohol beverages to the selection of drinks for the guests, claiming to want to 'spice things up a bit'. Hannah and Beth objected, but both relaxed upon realizing that they themselves would still be remaining sober throughout the night. Besides, not everyone would be taking part in drunken escapades it seemed; just those who joined along with Josh.

Beth Washington stood in front of the sink, scrubbing away food from one of the plates they had been using to eat. Hannah would've just opted to use the dishwasher, but she herself preferred to get her hands dirty; or rather, dirty and wet in this case. It was a little bit after they'd all had their fill of pizza, and the others were off in the living room doing something or other. She hadn't seen Josh nor Hannah up and about lately, so the task was up to her to clean these dishes. She looked down at the dish she held in her hands, the water from the faucet cascading over the porcelain plate. Their seasonal plates, ones that they brought out during Christmas. Beth liked the ones with the image of the fireplace, while Hannah thought the ones with the snowman on them were cute.

Her free hand rested over her stomach. She'd been hungry all day today, so much that her stomach had been growling almost constantly. Once or twice her friends had heard her, much to her embarrassment. Now though, she'd had her fill of pizza, and her poor tummy could finally shut up! Maybe now she could get around to playing some of those board games with the others without fear of being mortified.

Maybe she'd play a game with Sam, she was always a good sport. Seemed like no matter what game she played, she was always cheering on the other people that were playing, always trying to have a good time. Beth liked her, even though she was more Hannah's friend than her own, she was still fun to hang around with. She was also fun to talk to, the sort of person she could confide in and not fear judgement.

On the other hand, Josh was definitely buddy-buddy with Chris. They were the jokesters of their little circle. If those two ever played a game with her, they'd definitely be in it to win it. Their little competitive spirit sometimes got a little big for even Beth to handle. Still, seeing those smiles on her big brother's face often made the whole experiences worth it. He was a doofus, but he was her loveable doofus.

But, any plans for games with the gang would have to come later though. These dishes had to be washed and cleaned first. She wished Hannah would get her butt down here and help her out. She'd called for her a couple times, but she hadn't seen her in a while. Where could she have gone off to?

"Hmph, probably off swooning at the thought of Mike I bet..." she said to herself. Class Prez Michael Monroe wasn't quite the sort of person Beth herself would've fancied. According to her sister however, that hunk might as well have been the center of the world for her. Whatever, if Hannah wanted to get doe-eyed over a guy like him, who was she to complain? Besides, Hannah's smile was always a sight to see.

The dish she had in hand was finally clean. With a quick wiping of the towel it was now also completely dry. She then reached over to set it aside with the other clean dishes. As she stretched over, her gaze turned forward towards the kitchen window in front of her. Something caught her eye. All she'd seen before was the dark forest of trees, all covered with snow. Wind sounded like it was blowing really hard out there, from all those snowflakes that were falling. So, maybe it was her eyes playing tricks on her, but... was that a shadow she'd seen? A very humanoid shadow, standing over by that one big tree? She squinted her eyes and focused on that location again. But... nothing. No shadow, no human shaped thing, nada.

"Hey, did you see that...?" Beth said absent-mindedly, while glancing back behind her briefly, "Didn't Dad say it'd just be us this weekend?" Her eyes narrowed as she tried to pick out what she might've seen out there again. Could it have been one of those gardeners out there? She did remember her dad telling them to take a hiatus this weekend. So there shouldn't be any of them out there, especially at this hour of night.

She shook her head lightly; whatever it was, it's long gone. Or, maybe there was nothing even there at all. She turned herself around, looking back to the grand countertop.

"Josh?" Two figures lay draped over the edges of the smooth granite top. Chris and Josh lay with their arms wrapped around their heads, the sounds of snoring coming from both of them. Bottles could be seen standing up, with more than a few of them having been knocked over as well. The sheer number there, no wonder they had been passed out.

Beth made her way over to Josh's sleeping form. Her shoes clicked a little loudly against the floor, but the boy did not shuffle any in response. From her closer angle she was now at, Josh was definitely out cold and sleeping like a baby. She noticed one of the bottles close to his arm, then reached over to pick it up. As she twisted her wrist to turn the bottle, her suspicions were confirmed- the bottle was completely empty. This bottle of 'Jeremiah Cragg' Canadian Club Whiskey, which had not a drop left inside of it. Beth shook her head, while a sly smile started to creep up on her lips.

"Jeez Josh..." she said, gently setting the bottle back down on the countertop. She gave a dramatic pat of his shoulder, knowing that he'd likely not respond to it either in his state, "Once again dear brother, you've outdone us all." To her credit, a small grumbling sound could be heard from his lips after she spoke. It wasn't anything coherent though, just mumbles through barely parted lips.

Beth glanced back one more time back over at the sink, at the dishes that had yet to be cleaned. Part of her told her to get back over there and resume her chore, but another part of her relented. Her fingers had been worked to the bone already, hadn't they? She deserved a quick break. Maybe she could find the others in the living room playing a game already. She couldn't hear any sort of voices from the other room however, but it wouldn't hurt to go and check.

Beth made her way towards the twin doors that lead to the other room, when something else caught her eye. Against the dark gray of the granite countertop, a white object sharply contrasted against it. A piece of paper, one that definitely hadn't been there before.

With a tilted head, Beth's curiosity got the better of her as she reached for the paper. The side that faced her was blank, but flipping it over revealed something else.

"'Hannah... you look so damn hot in that shirt...'?" Beth read aloud to herself, while also scoffing at the absurdity of the initial line , "'But I bet you're even hotter out of it. Come to the guest room at 2 A.M. Mike...'" Really, the man actually decided to make a move for her sister in the end? After all her pestering to her for advice on how or if she herself could make the first move. Looks like that was all wasted effort in the end-

No, wait a minute. This couldn't actually have been Mike's. Not really. Beth squinted closer at the handwriting... Sure enough, it definitely wasn't his. It was far too precise, while Mike was known to be a little more 'sloppier' in his writing. So this would mean... someone else wrote this note to her sister, on Mike's behalf?

"Oh my God, just what has that naïve sister of mine gotten herself into now...?" she spoke aloud. Hannah was definitely not the 'brightest' of the three of them, and her heart tended to do the thinking for her most of the time. Her little 'trip' to the tattoo parlor a few months ago had perfectly demonstrated that.

Beth could already see this playing out in her head: Hannah would get overly excited about something having to do with Mike, gets her hopes up, then something happens to bring her spirits down again. And once that happens, her open arms is where she'd end up leaping into for the next day... or two. It wasn't good for her, especially since she'd never had a real boyfriend before! Didn't the other guys know that?

The short-haired girl glanced at her watch to find the time was 2:05 A.M. Dammit, if Hannah was following the note's request literally to the letter, then she's probably already meeting with Mike now. Time for her to channel 'Big Sister Beth' for Hannah again, despite being younger than her...

She placed down the piece of paper back onto the countertop where she'd found it and lifted her head back up. That was when she saw it. Through the kitchen window and outside in the dark of the forest. There was no mistaking it this time: a humanoid figure was definitely seen out there, moving from the right side to the left side!

Beth let out a gasp of surprise. She didn't catch a good look at who or what this figure was, but there was definitely someone out there!

Thinking quickly, she rushed back over to Josh's sleeping form and gripped his shoulders.

"Josh...! JOSH!" she shook him and spoke forcefully, "Josh, wake up! I saw someone..." Not even a miniscule grumble like before exiting from his lips this time, "Fuck!" With a final groan, Beth turned back and rushed back towards the doors she originally was going towards. She gripped each knob with both hands and pushed the doors open.

"Guys! There's someone outside..." she started to call out, but trailed off. There were her friends, out at the other end of the room. But, they didn't seem to regard her, or even notice her presence at all. They were all advancing towards the lodge's back door and going outside? "What the hell...?" she said to herself. Had they seen that person outside too? Beth swiftly made her way through the living room, while also making a pass for her pink padded jacket she'd left on the chair from before. She fixed it around her upper body as she followed in after her friends.

By now, the group had amassed directly outside the back door and stood in place while Beth was still making her way through the room. Right before she herself emerged, she heard,

"Hannah...!"

That was Sam's voice, calling out for... Hannah? Why would she.. Wait, could that really be who was out here? That figure she'd seen running past the window outside; that was her sister?!

"What's going on?" she finally questioned, having finally joined up with the others, "Was that Hannah? What's she doing out here?" She spun around to look at the faces of her friends. Matt and Ashley had blank looks on their faces, while Mike and Sam had rather guilty looks upon theirs.

"It's fine, she just can't take a joke," Jessica said, while waving a dismissive hand in the general direction of the forest line.

"It was just a prank, Han!" Emily half-heartedly called out into the forest. A prank? Is that what all this was about? But then, why did Hannah end up running into the forest, especially at this time of night?

"What did you do...?!" she slowly turned her gaze to look at all six of her friends before her. She could feel a sense of anger within her; did they do something that hurt her sister?

"We were just messing around, Beth, it wasn't serious," Mike added. And Mike, the guy that Hannah had been crushing on; he was in on this too!?

"You... JERKS!" Beth exclaimed. Most of the group winced slightly at her outburst, but Beth unconsciously took small steps towards the forest line, "How could you... Urgh-! I-I'll deal with you all- Hannah! HANNAH!" Her need to set them straight abandoned, Beth broke out into a run towards the forest's edge. She thought she heard them saying something behind her, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. She'd deal with them later, but first she'd find Hannah and bring her butt back to the lodge, right now!

When Beth was a little girl, around eight or nine years old, she would often take little nature hikes in the woods with Hannah and her mom. This was often done during the daytime, with a small lunch packed for when they'd take breaks. Of course, there were major differences between what was done then and what was happening now: she wasn't a kid anymore, she was going alone out into the forest, and she'd be running as opposed to any actual hiking. But the experiences of the past did gift her with a sense of familiarity of Blackwood Mountain's forest. She was also fairly certain that Hannah was familiar with the forest as well. She couldn't recall any time where she was ever scared of going out into them, whether by herself or with company.

Beth practically raced through the woods. Her eyes snapped back and forth between looking up in front of her, and watching down at the ground. Her own feet were starting to feel a little cold; she should not be wearing tennis shoes out here in the snow! But then again, she didn't know she'd be coming out here anyway. Before her were a set of footprints in the snow, equal in size to her own feet, following this beaten path she was also on. At least Hannah was following the paths familiar to the two of them from their youths. What she was doing right now was foolish, outright stupid even, but at least there was some sense in what she was doing at the moment.

As the path veered to the right slightly, Beth caught sight of a snow-covered log within the shadows. A quick leap forward and she easily jumped over the obstacle.

However, her next obstacle actually gave her pause, literally. This was the old wooden hiking platform and steps that she and the others would take. These steps were seen off to the right side, while the opposite side was a break in the rope railing. It would undoubtedly lead to the same direction as the steps would, but would it be safer to jump down?

"Fuck..." Beth cursed to herself. This wasn't the time to be heroic and reckless. She deftly made her way towards and down the wooden stairs. She was forced to take her steps carefully and deliberately though, as a thick blanket of snow had covered each one in white. Each step she took produced a small crunching sound beneath her feet.

Finally she reached the bottom, where she resumed her previous running speed. No need to worry about slipping here on the ground. And there before her were the tracks; good, she herself was on the right track.

Damn this mist, and this wind! Not only did it whip against her exposed face and hands, but it was making it all the harder to see in front of her! The fact that it was almost pitch black out here didn't help things either.

And Hannah! How far could she actually have run?! What could've caused her to run this far into the forest by herself?! Just what did those... those jerks back at the lodge do to her?! The more the questions piled up inside her mind, the more frustrated and angry she grew. This feeling seemed to fuel a strange warmth within her being. Perhaps she should be grateful; were it not for this 'burning' anger, she'd surely have frozen completely by now. Words would definitely be spoken with them once she'd found her sister, but she'd have to find her first.

Her rushed jog brought her to a forking pathway, with the footprints leading off to the left side. Beth wasted no time in following the tracks. Along the path that they ran, a small rope fence could be seen separating the beaten path from the tree-line. From what she could see, it was good that the tracks appeared to remain along the path and not off of it. This suggested that Hannah followed a standard path while she-

Beth slowly but surely brought her run to a halt. Something stood in her pathway, but it most definitely was not Hannah. There, standing before her, was a small group of animals. Elk, with a couple of them having a massive set of antlers upon their heads. The animals possessed fur of dark brown and were at least three times her own size. Upon her arrival, the herbivores slowly turned their heads up to regard her. Beth felt her blood within her freeze for a moment in surprise. She was not expecting to find anything other than her sister out here, so finding these elk here was a momentary surprise to her. A couple of them seemed to stick their noses out forth towards her, as if to sniff at her. Aside from that, they made no other actions.

Beth looked down at the ground to reaffirm what she already knew. Hannah's footprints continued on along this trail, well past this elk group. This suggested that she had already come by here, and that these creatures had only just recently appeared.

With a shake of her head, she made a quick jostle forward to give the elk enough of a scare. The group almost immediately scattered, breaking away and dashing into the dark of the trees. That's better, now she could see the-

"Jesus-!" Beth's blood suddenly ran cold again. She spun around in place as something filled the air surprised her again. It was a sound, maybe even that of some kind of... animal, but it wasn't from the elks. It was definitely not something she'd heard before, from any animal, "Fuck... shit..." She shook the feeling off, taking a few steps back in the footsteps' direction "Dammit Hannah... where are you?"

She then stood before the drop in the path, which was indicated by a large rock that she now stood upon. But looking down below, the footprints could still be seen on the path as well, meaning Hannah had definitely continued on that way. Beth braced herself as she dropped down onto the lower reaches of the path with a small grunt. Her feet were once again dipped in the ice cold of snow beneath her. If she didn't wrap this up quickly, she'd likely freeze to death herself. God only knows how Hannah must be feeling right now.

Speaking of which, where was she...?

Looking around, Beth sighed in annoyance. The full moon's light must not be able to shine through these thick trees, which made it all the harder to see where she was. She'd need something to...

Of course! Beth reached to her side pocket to retrieve her phone. She slid her finger across the front to unlock it, then activated its flashlight setting. Immediately a wide beam of white light illuminated the direct area before her. Now she could definitely see better. She regarded the phone's battery strength. She hadn't had a chance to charge it lately, as it was only at forty seven percent strength. This flashlight setting would probably only drain her battery that much faster, so she needed to wrap this up fast.

With her light leading the way, Beth much more carefully made her way along the path. Looking down at where the light shone, her worry only started to build. The tracks were still there, but the snowfall must have been filling them in, making them harder to see. If she didn't find Hannah soon, she might never! Oh, she was gonna get a good scolding once she found her! In fact, everyone at that lodge was due for a serious talk before this night would be through!

Beth suddenly yelped in surprise. Something had burst out from the left side of tree line, causing her to almost jump back. She felt her heart practically jump out her of chest! Her eyes however allowed her to slowly but surely identify what exactly had just happened- an elk had jumped out and was running a curved jagged run along the path in front of her, pretty much paying her no mind at all. Her heart-beat and breathing were running fast, but upon realizing no danger, she tried to calm herself down.

'Calm down, Beth,' she thought, 'Just an elk... it's fine...'

She pressed on with her walk, putting a little bit of strength into her strides. The path began to slowly rise up and to the right over a small hill in front of her.

"Hello...? Hello...?!" she called out hesitantly. There was no response, only fueling Beth's worry. Her sister better not be hurt or in any kind of pain or anything...!

The short-haired girl rounded the natural corner over the natural rise in the earth and prepared to carefully walk on. As she did so however, something was noticed out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't anything surprising nor jumping out at her this time. Rather, it was something that stuck out against the dark void that was Blackwood Pines forest. A small section of black was illuminated by the soft glow of something dark red and orange. Before Beth could study it further, it was gone. Like a flash of lightning it had vanished. The girl suddenly had the mental notion that a massive thunderclap would be following so soon after what she'd seen. The thought was disregarded as quickly as it entered her head however, and she kept on walking.

"HANNAH!" she called out. Still no response, only increasing Beth's worry. Seriously, how could she have gotten 'so' far out here...?

The path before her stretched out and straight again, about ten yards forward. Unfortunately, the footprint trail she had been following was beginning to grow more and more faint. Her alarm and anxiety continued to mount within her, with the cold itself stinging against her skin from the outside. On top of that, the misty air continued to make it harder for her to see that well in front of her. Still, she put trust in her general spatial awareness and walked onward a few more steps, crunching snow accompanying every step she took.

Off to the left side, that burst of light had returned. This time, Beth could both see it and hear it in clearer detail. It was most definitely bright orange in color, almost like fire! It even sounded like some kind of flame being shot out, like a flamethrower even! What the hell was that? Beth was starting to get really worried now, but this time for her own sake rather than her sister's.

With her phone-light held in one hand, and her other hand reaching up to bring down a low-hanging branch, Beth's heart soared upon seeing something. Or rather someone.

"Hannah...?" she gently spoke, almost in disbelief, "Hannah!" There she was, her long-haired twin, kneeling in the snow next to a nearby tree. All she had on her was that thin black shirt and jeans. Slowly, she inched her head around towards Beth's direction.

"Hello...?" she gently said. Yes, that was her usual shy voice; It didn't sound to Beth like she was in any kind of physical pain. Wasting little time the younger sister rushed over to the older sibling's side. She then pocketed her phone so she could undo her own padded jacket.

"Hannah! Oh my God, you must be freezing!" Beth cried out while finally reaching her. Hannah didn't look back at her with any relief. Instead, she turned her head away to look back at the snow beneath her. It was almost as if she were ashamed. Beth finally shook off her jacket completely and holding it in her hands draped it over Hannah's shoulders, "Here, take my coat." The older sister slowly but surely accepted the garment and slipped it on over her body while she was then raised to her feet. With out her own jacket covering her body, the thick warmth Beth had before had been greatly reduced. All she had to protect herself from the cold was her wool sweater, which wasn't nearly as cold-proof as the jacket. Hopefully, the two would be getting back to the lodge where she could remedy that.

"I'm such an idiot..." she spoke waveringly, "I'm so dumb." Having turned her face towards her, Beth could see that she had been crying. Her eyes appeared red and puffy, with her glasses being fogged up a little as well. For a moment, Beth's heart briefly went out to her older sister's pain. That is until she was reminded of why they were out here in the first place. That sympathy became replaced with worry.

"Yes you are!" she said, "Hannah, what were you thinking!? Why did you just run off like that into the woods at this time of night?!"

"Beth... they did this! Tricked me!" Hannah practically cried out, "Even Mike- oh God, Mike...!" Beth's eyes widened in surprise, then in mild anger. So those jerks did do something to her sister!? Well, they would have to come later. For now, they had to get back and out of these cold outdoors.

"Hannah... listen, it doesn't matter what happened; you should not have come out here by yourself!" Beth lightly admonished her sister. Hannah winced at the words leveled at her, but gave no response. She instinctively tightened the front zipper of the jacket upon her, "Now come on, let's get back to the lod-"

A snapping of twigs suddenly filled the air. The two sisters' heads cautiously looked over to the source. Or at least, where they thought the source was. The section of the forest they looked towards was especially dark, with little to no light to illuminate it. It'd be all too easy for any such thing to be concealed within it. Even such a thing that produced a strange sound. A small but still threatening screech that filled the air. Beth herself felt her lips twitch and her teeth chatter underneath them.

"Hannah?" she said.

"Beth...?" her sister spoke as well. The sound of more twigs snapping could be heard, which only confirmed that something... just, 'something', was there! Did it know the two of them were here as well? Cold shivers ran down both girls' spines, right before they broke into a run in the opposite direction.

The wind seemed to blow faster and whip against skin much harder as they ran. Time and even direction were forgotten in that moment, replaced entirely by the blind desire to escape. The girls were vaguely aware of the path they were running along. In direct contrast to Beth sounding more composed, Hannah could be heard letting out cries as she ran. Beth's heart pounded hard in her chest, a combination of fear amplifying her running pace.

Suddenly, a man-made structure presented itself before the two girls. A wooden walkway with a small roof overhead to shield from external precipitation. It was the 'wood bridge' as the girls had called it when they were younger. In the early days a small rushing stream actively flowed beneath the wood. The stream that was beneath it these days still flowed, but at much weaker strength due to the sheer amount of ice surrounding it.

Beth reached the wooden bridge end first and rushed across it, her footsteps ringing out against wood with each step. As she emerged out the other side, the sound of a thud reached her ears.

"Hannah-?!" she turned back to see that her sister had stumbled and fallen! Come on, this was no time for her to fall over like a klutz! She dashed back over to grab her sister's arm and lift her to her feet. As they resumed running, Beth thought she noted one of her pockets feeling a little lighter, but she paid no mind to it. The only thing she focused on was getting her and Hannah to safety.

Unfortunately, what lay before the two sisters was not escape. It was in fact the edge of a cliff! Their mother had always warned them to steer clear of the edges of the mountain, but that was helped back then with the railings set up to keep anyone from falling. This was years from those days however, and there was literally nothing to keep anyone from falling over them. In their haste, they had cornered themselves with whatever was chasing them having backed them up with their backs to a sheer drop!

"Jesus Christ!" Hannah said as she brought herself to a stop. She and Beth spun around carefully to face the direction they had come from. In addition to the screeching sound they'd been hearing, the sound of growling could also be heard. There was no doubting in their minds now that 'something' was out there. And even worse still, it seemed to be after them. But what was it even that was out there? Could it... Maybe it had something to do with that glow of fire she'd seen earlier? Is that what it was; some kind of dragon?! The absurdity of the notion almost broke the tension of turmoil in Beth's mind, until reality came rushing back to claim her. Something was out there, and it was probably dangerous and deadly.

Beth felt Hannah reach out and take her hand in hers. In her fear and terror-struck state of mind, Beth accepted it. She even squeezed the hand tighter. She glanced to both sides; dashing to either side meant rushing forward and closer towards whatever this thing was. It really had them backed up and trapped! Well, at least she had her sister's hand in hers...

"No... NO!" Beth heard Hannah practically cry out beside her. She herself could feel her heart beating in her chest, so hard it was practically going to burst out completely! The chill of the wind on her skin didn't seem to freeze her as much as before. All she could feel across her entire body was a freezing, gripping sensation of cold. In fact, Hannah's own hand, despite being just as cold as hers, was the only source of heat she could feel in the entire world right now. She wanted to cry too, she wanted to fall down, tuck herself into a ball, and let whatever that... thing was claim her and get it over with! She wanted to do all of that... But she couldn't. Not while Hannah was here with her. She was younger compared to her, and yet her sister always tended to look up to her instead of the other way around. She was always the more 'emotional' between the two of them, while Beth tended to look at things factually. Thus she was always 'Big Sister Beth' to Hannah, always there to comfort her through thick and thin.

And just like all other times, this time couldn't be any different.

"Shit... get back!" Beth said to her sister. The two of them took small steps backward, ironically closer to the edge of the cliff. They needed to be getting 'away' from there, but whatever was in the woods was still there, and likely wouldn't let them go! Hannah and Beth's hands squeezed each other tighter in that moment. The heat that built up between their locked hands was positively the strongest heat that had been felt all night. Beth found herself not wanting to let it go. She'd never give up that heat, just as she'd never give up Hannah.

"Fuck..." she cursed to herself. It was then however she felt a tug of Hannah's hand on hers. She snapped her head back just in time to see a more shocked look on her sister's face. in an instant, Beth's entire world, Hannah included, seemed to jolt itself to the side. Beth was almost uncertain as to what was happening exactly. The last thing she remember seeing was her sister falling over the cliff's edge, and in the process, her going down with her. Both girls screamed as loud as they could as they started to fall.

In her haste, Beth's hands became harder, colder, more solid. Beth's hands became hooks that would never let go of whatever they held on to. Her right hand held its firm grip on Hannah's hand, while her left hand shot out to grab onto something... anything!

A quick jolt, followed by pain of muscles in her arm being stretched, and the two sisters were no longer falling. The world around her had stopped rushing past her, and she could finally take stock of what all was going on.

She was alive... she was alive! How was she still alive?! Her left hand was practically frozen, in more ways than one. She had in fact managed to grab onto something to keep from falling. A tree root from the feel of it, though it held a thin layer of snow and ice on top of it where she held. From the crying below her and the accompanying weight applied to her right hand, Hannah was still down below her. The strain on her right hand was bad enough, but her sister was swaying! Unintentionally or not, this was hurting her arm even more!

"Beth!" Hannah cried out beneath her, "Help me! Don't let me go!" The younger sister curved her neck to look down at her. The distant ground below was a pale, almost white of snow, with a dark shadow of something even further below. On the other hand, the pink of the jacket Hannah had on her contrasted greatly against it. Even from where she was, Beth could see fresh tear-streaks running down along Hannah's cheeks. She wasn't sure if she herself was crying as well; she couldn't tell. Nor did she care. Nothing in the world mattered to her besides the situation she herself was in.

"I got you Hannah! Just-" Beth struggled to say. Her gaze was focused squarely on Hannah, not at all looking up at the cliff edge where they had fallen off of. She was almost certain she could hear that sound of flame again, directly above her. In fact, she could almost feel actual heat from said flames in that direction as well! However, she just couldn't bring herself to look up to confirm it. She just couldn't; Hannah had to take priority by getting her up and out of just hanging there!

"Hannah...!" Beth struggled to say, "I... I gotta, lift you up! Then, you gotta-!" Hannah suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream. Beth watched as her sister's eyes widened in pure terror. For a moment, Beth was almost confused as to what had gotten her so riled up just now. That is until she realized that her sister wasn't looking directly at 'her', but rather past her. Towards... the cliff edge...?

Beth turned her head up, and in her shock, almost loosened her left hand from its grip on the tree root. No longer did she see the black of the night sky. Instead, she saw something black, but it was actually a silhouette of something! A figure was seen, peering what might've been its head over the edge of the cliff, straight down at them! Beth's heart only continued to pound hard in her chest as she struggled to recompose herself. After doing what she could, she tried as best to study the figure.

Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything identifiable about... whatever this was. The only possible thing was that the figure was a person, humanoid even. It had strange reflective glasses on to keep its eyes from being seen, and a bandana on to conceal the entire half of its face. With a wool cap literally topped off to keep its hair from being seen on top of its head, there was nothing else that could be known about this... person. If Beth herself had to guess, the figure was a man at least. A completely silent man, even when looking down at the two sisters.

Just then, slowly but surely, the man reached out and stretched his right arm down towards her. He was just out of range, but with a little bit of effort on her part, Beth could theoretically reach up to grab it herself. But with Hannah literally in hand however...

"What-?" she found herself saying, "Who, who are you?"

"Beth! What's happening?!" Hannah called out beneath her, "I saw flames just now, and he appeared! What's he want with us?!"

"What?!" Beth's blood ran cold again. She snapped her head back down to look at Hannah, "Did you say 'flames'?!" Her sister nodded, as best she could anyway. Beth looked back up at the man, his hand still stretched out towards her. Was it really true then? Flames were now no longer a coincidence tonight. This man was somehow connected to them? Then... could it really be? Was 'this' the thing that had been chasing them? He seemed to know where they were for most of the time.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" she cried out. The man was silent, unspeaking. The only thing he did was shake his stretched hand towards her once, an urgent indication as to what she needed to be doing. A scowl began to form on Beth's face; just what was with this guy? Why was he not saying anything? What was he going to do to them? Would he hurt them? If so, why not just leave them there? Why was he trying to help them? And even after he did, then what?

Beth glanced back down again at Hannah, as if to confirm that her sister was still down there. Hannah looked back up at her, eyes pleading and begging along with incoherent crying. This was a bad position for either of them to be in. Between hanging off of a cliff, or being at whatever mercy this man had for them...

A deep feeling of warmth filled her being again. She had to save Hannah! Even if that meant putting their lives in the dubious, unknown hands of this stranger, this was one predicament that she had to get themselves out of! That she still had some margin of control over!

"Hannah, listen to me!" Beth looked back down at her sister's crying face, "I'm gonna, get you up there- take his hand!"

"What-"

"Don't argue! Just get ready...!" She looked back up in the general direction of the cliff edge, and the man's still out-stretched hand. Beth's scowl of uncertainty became one of determination. Her eyes met the lenses of the man's goggles as if to confirm what he wanted. Now she just had to do her part.

Mustering all the strength she had, she pulled both her arms taut to her body. This was an impromptu exercise in climbing if ever there was one. The very muscles in both of her arms screamed out in searing, burning pain. Very slowly but surely, Beth's head began to rise in level along with the rock and dirt of the cliff face, while she at least hoped that Hannah's whole body was doing the same beneath her. This was good, if she could just keep up this steady progress, she could get her up to-

The sound of creaking above her made her heart nearly stop. It was a small sound, but one that seemed to echo all throughout the land from how loud it was perceived. Beth's eyes shot up to the tree root she held a tight grip on. It was starting to break! Their combined weight was getting too much for it to hold!

"No... no no NO!" Beth cried out, she'd have to work fast, before the root itself breaks completely! She mustered even more strength to pull Hannah up. They couldn't die here! They had so much to live for! They had to go on living! But that could only happen if...

*SNAP!*

In a flash, the world instantly became a blur of colors from everything falling. Hannah and Beth's screams filled the air as they fell. This was really it, wasn't it? This was the end? This is where everything Beth had ever done would ultimately amount to? Her entire body tumbled through the air, making it impossible to get a feel for what was even up or down anymore. Air seemed to rush against her on all sides, not just from a single direction.

And in that moment, the youngest Washington girl suddenly saw it-

Her earliest memory, her seventh birthday party, her entire family celebrating in the lodge with a chocolate cake...

Hannah running up to her on their first day of school after bullies had messed with her, which led to much comforting on her part...

She and Hannah joining their brother Josh to see a comedian he was a fan of. Laughs were exchanged, in more ways than one...

The day Hannah introduced her to Sam, and the day that Beth would later come to learn would be the start of many more friends...

High School Senior Prom; everyone there at school, cracking jokes, letting loose, having a good time. They were all happy, which in turn, made her happy...

The last thing Beth experienced was a sharp arching of her back with an accompanying thud, before everything went dark, silent, and cold...

-And so there we go! The prologue to my attempt at novelizing this fantastic game! Now before we go any further, let me lay out some need to know tidbits first. Firstly, will this story be including collectibles? Erm, yes and no. What I mean is that there won't be any Totems that the characters just randomly stop what they're doing in the story to bend down and pick up. That to me felt like it brought everything to a halt, not to mention narratively would not make sense in context for what I have planned. As for the other 'clues', those are a definite 'maybe'. Some of them do help to enhance the story's narrative in how the characters end up reacting to them and what they themselves can learn about what all is going on. So those I feel will be beneficial, and will include them accordingly. Lastly, this is a novelization of 'my' most recent playthrough of this game, while maintaining the mystery of 'what' all happens. This means I'll be trying my best to write out what I remember myself doing while not giving away anything incriminating that would give an idea as to what had or will happen. My version of mystery, if you will.

So with all that out of the way, buckle in one and all for what I'm hoping will be a long, tense, bone-chilling ride! This is Until Dawn: Atychiphobia!-