Until Dawn: A New Path

Chapter 6 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

Reviews:

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks and yes, of course it is, it's all from the game. Things have just been changed around a bit.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks, here we go :)

Now onto the story.

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

Chapter 6

Chris grinned as he, Josh, and Ashley sat together. They had pulled three wooden chairs over to a small table in one corner of the room, set up the spirit board, and were now gathered around it.

Chris began to inform the others, taking some 'liberties' with his instructions. "So it says here: 'To communicate with the spirit world, you must free your mind of all preconceptions, drop all inhibitions, and generally give yourself over entirely to the will of others, sublimating your every desire to the whims of the Spirit-master,' which is me-"

"It doesn't say that." Ashley scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Chris laughed shortly before jokingly adding, "And all present will remove their garments at my sole discretion."

Josh groaned. "Chris, come on, this is serious."

"Oh, I'm deadly serious."

Finally, Ashley shook her head. "Oh, shush it, let's try this."

"Yes, please." Josh added.

All three of them placed their hands on the board.

"Okay then." Chris conceded at last. "Let's see what happens. Ashley, since you're a recent convert, why don't you be our medium for today?"

Biting her lip, Ashley nodded as they all touched the pointer. "Okay, um... Anyone there? Will you reveal yourself to us...if you're there?"

There was a lengthy pause where nothing happened. Then, to their shock, the pointer began moving, guiding their hands. They were startled and cried out in surprise and consternation.

"Wait a minute..." Chris gasped.

Josh practically choked his words out. "Did you do that?"

Ashley shook her head. "I didn't do anything!"

"It's moving again." Chris noted.

The pointer indeed began moving again, this time spelling out a word starting with H. They continued talking over each other.

"What's it spelling?" Josh cried out.

"Hold on." Ashley whispered worriedly. "How is this happening?"

Chris was still skeptical. "Are you moving it?"

Ashley shook her head vehemently. "I swear, it's just moving."

There was a pause as it finished spelling the word.

"Holy shit..." Josh whispered in disbelief.

Ashley repeated the word, utterly taken aback. "Help?"

Chris shook his head. "How are we supposed to help?"

"I don't know." Ashley retorted. "What does it mean?"

Chris thought for a moment. "We need to know who it is if we're supposed to help them."

Ashley nodded and asked, "Who are you? Oh, here it goes-"

The pointer began moving again. They read the word it spelled aloud, Josh reacting first, followed by Ashley, and then Chris, before the cycle repeated.

"Okay, 'S'."

"I"

"S"

"T"

"E"

"R"

"Sister..." Ashley said breathlessly. "Sister?"

"Whose sister?" Josh asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

Ashley and Chris shared a look, both clearly thinking the same thing.

Chris, however, still seemed a skeptic. "Oh come on, is this real?"

"Shut up." Josh snarled, before insisting, "Ask it whose sister."

Ashley shifted uneasily. Finally, however, she voiced her thoughts. "Josh, it's...it's gotta be..." She couldn't finish, but she didn't need to.

Josh realized it, but was still tense as he shot back, "Yeah? Okay, well, which sister is it, then?"

Chris nodded slowly. "Ashley, ask who it is."

Ashley shuddered, suddenly more afraid than ever. She considered for a moment before finally simply choosing at random.

"Who are we speaking to? Beth…is that you?"

The pointer suddenly moved to 'Yes' on the board.

"Oh God." Ashley whimpered, freaked out.

Chris was even more edgy now. "This is messed up."

Worried, Ashley immediately turned to Josh. "Josh, are you…?"

"I'm fine." he insisted.

"Are you sure? Because we can stop-" Ashley began to reply.

"No."

"Dude," Chris said softly, "It's cool..."

"I want to hear what it says." Josh explained, suddenly looking rather manic.

Ashley shook her head. "I don't know where to start."

They fell into a short silence, thinking.

Finally, Chris spoke up, a spark of interest in his eyes. "Think about it." he said quietly. "If this is actually Beth...I mean, we can find out what happened that night."

"Oh...kay..." Ashley whispered nervously. "Let me think…"

Finally, Ashley spoke again, voicing her question. "Beth... We want to know what happened to you that night. Can you tell us?"

The pointer began moving again.

Ashley spoke quickly, trying to keep up. "H-A-N-N..."

"It's spelling Hannah." Chris piped up.

But then Ashley realized, "Wait, it's still going."

"K-I-" Chris read.

Ashley continued. "L-L... Oh my god..."

The word finished, adding in 'E' and 'D'.

"Killed?" Josh exhaled. "Guys...guys, what's she talking about?"

Ashley shook her head, sounding as if she was borderline to a breakdown. "I don't know if I can keep doing this..."

"We have to." Josh insisted.

There was an edgy silence. Finally, Chris seemed to make up his mind. He spoke reassuringly to Ashley. "Just...just stay calm. I think it's saying that someone killed Hannah..."

"I don't know..." Ashley said shakily.

"I just..." Chris bit his lip. "Ask it something else!"

Ashley nodded, trying to regain her composure. "Okay, okay... How was Hannah killed?"

The pointer moved again as Ashley read out, beginning to spell the word, 'L-I-B-'

Chris immediately caught on. "Library. Maybe there's something in the library here..."

"P-R-O-O..." Ashley read out.

Chris, again, realized what was going on. "Proof, there's, there's…there's proof."

"In the library?" Ashley queried in disbelief.

Suddenly, the spirit board shook and flipped the pointer clean off the table, making all three jump back.

"Watch out!" Josh cried out.

The others also cried out. The lengthy silence was broken by Josh, shakily getting to his feet.

"You know what? No. This is bullshit." He was almost growling. "This isn't real..."

"Josh, I don't know what's going on." Ashley insisted.

Josh glared. "Listen, I don't know...I don't know if you think messing with me is somehow going to help me with my grief or whatever, but this is not cool!"

He began to storm off.

"Josh, no!" Ashley tried to explain, pointing out, "You wanted to use the spirit board!"

"Hey, calm down, it's not Ash's fault!" Chris tried to defend her.

Josh merely snarled at them, "I don't need this right now, okay?! You guys are full of it!"

With that, he stalked away, heading down into the basement.

Standing awkwardly, feeling guilty, Ashley turned to Chris.

"Sh-should we go after him?" she asked hesitantly.

Chris shook his head. "Ah man, I mean... He'll be okay. Let's...let's just give him some time."

Ashley trusted Chris. He was Josh's best friend, so he'd know how best to handle Josh when he was behaving like this.

All the same, she was freaked out. "I don't blame him. That was crazy! The pointer flew right off the table."

"I mean, if..." Chris began, unsure how to word what he was saying, "If you were faking it, you were doing one hell of a job-"

"I wasn't faking anything." Ashley insisted. "I think we should do what it says. We should look in the library."

Chris nodded in agreement and they prepared to do just that.

Walking through the darkened lodge with only a lit candlestick for light (held by Ashley), she and Chris began making their way to the staircase, which would lead down to the library.

"Do you really think the girls were communicating with us?" Chris asked at last, breaking the tense silence.

Ashley shook her head, groaning. "I don't know. I don't know if I wish they were or I wish they weren't."

Chris sighed, but then shrugged. "I guess we should find out."

They began to head down the stairs. As they did, Ashley bit her lip, looking around, just in case they ran into Josh. She still felt the need to apologize to him.

"Josh looked so freaked out at the seance." she commented.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, I mean, he looked like he was keeping it together, but..."

Ashley bowed her head guiltily and asked, "Do you think we shouldn't have mentioned his sisters?"

"I mean, it's why we came back up here." Chris replied, apparently trying to reassure her.

"Yeah..." Ashley agreed before pointing out, "But not to, like, have a seance. Maybe we went too far."

In the room before the library, something caught Ashley's eye. She thought that she saw light. The floorboard was on a hinge, so she lifted it up. Beneath it was a vent with light coming through. Electric lighting, despite the power being cut. She and Chris both agreed that something was seriously wrong with that and quickly left it. They soon entered the library and began looking around for the proof that was apparently there.

This led to a close call as they passed a bookshelf which suddenly seemed to launch a couple of books at their heads, narrowly missing them.

"Jesus, look out!" Chris yelled, doing his best to shield Ashley.

Ashley was understandably freaked out. "Ah, Chris! Holy crap..."

"Are you okay?"

"I think so." she replied, before looking at the bookshelf and pointing. "Look!"

"What?" Chris turned and noticed something, too.

"There was something behind the books. What is that?" she queried as they began to move closer.

"Is it a button?" Chris wondered aloud.

They got close enough to see that it was indeed a button and Ashley narrowed her eyes, tilting her head in confusion.

"Why would there be a button?"

Chris shrugged. "That's a good question."

Sadly, that did not ease Ashley's nerves in any way.

Sighing, she turned to him. "Well, should I push it?"

"That's what buttons are for, I guess." Chris replied warily.

Nodding slowly, Ashley reached out and then pressed the button, stepping back in shock as the bookcase and wall behind it began to move, revealing a secret passage.

"Whoa..." Chris gasped, amazed. "Panel opens, head explodes."

Ashley, however, was more frustrated. "What the...? Are we, like, in a movie right now?!"

Shifting a little, recalling all the spooks so far, Chris replied, "If we are, I hope it's a rom-com."

Smiling a little at that, Ashley privately agreed with those hopes before remarking, "Leave it to the Washingtons to have secret passages in their house."

"Maybe they didn't even know." Chris pointed out. "This place is super old."

They both stood on the threshold, unsure, and feeling unnerved.

Finally, Ashley voiced what they were both wondering. "So...should we take a look?"

Chris gestured. "After you."

"No." Ashley replied at once. "No, nonono... You go." She practically thrust the candlestick into his hand.

"Gee, thanks." he replied sarcastically.

Nevertheless, he entered the passage, noting that it wasn't all that large. The main object of interest was a desk at the far side. Specifically, what was on the desk. Picking it up, Chris found himself looking at a portrait photo of Hannah and Beth.

"Well?" Ashley queried.

Chris, however, was even more shocked as he turned it over to find, written on the back of the photo, a threatening note, promising to harm the twins.

"Whoa, is this..?"

"What did you find?" Ashley insisted.

"Holy cow..." Chris gasped, thinking how best to approach this, then finally speaking. "Now Ash...I don't want to freak you out, but...but look at this." As he spoke, he emerged from the passage to join her again.

"WHAT?" she asked. Just hearing him say that freaked her out. "CHRIS, what IS that?"

"I...I think this might be what the spirit board wanted us to find." he admitted.

"The clue?"

"Yeah, it's a letter." he explained.

Ashley reached out, asking to see it. She read it as Chris explained about it being a threat.

Reading the threat, Ashley gasped, horror filling her face. "Chris, this is serious." she burst out. "We need to find Josh right now."

Nodding, Chris followed her as they left the library, only to be freaked out by a door that had been locked, suddenly opening with nobody there to open it. Despite their nerves now practically being on a hair trigger, they followed the new path, which, if Chris' memory of the lodge served him right, would lead to the kitchen eventually.

"Do you think someone was actually after Hannah and Beth?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"If so, that would be...really messed up." Chris replied, even sounding a little unsure himself.

While exploring this new area, Chris spotted a letter. Reading it, he noted that it seemed to be talking about a dispute with local Native American tribes. On the back, he saw a note from Melinda Washington.

"Looks like this was written by Josh's mom."

Ashley nodded in confirmation, remembering what she had heard. "Yeah, she's really making an effort to set things right with some native tribe or something."

Chris had heard this, too. "Yeah, the bad karma goes back a long way."

Putting the letter down, they continued on their path, stopping in the last room before the kitchen. Chris turned to Ashley, who stopped, worried all over again upon seeing his expression.

"So, um..." he began, before finally spilling it. "I've just been thinking about something I saw earlier with Sam..."

"What?"

"There was this wanted poster, like, full-on western-style, you know?"

Ashley shrugged. "So?"

"And Sam really thought there was someone following her around..."

"So...so what?" Ashley replied, suddenly getting nervous again. "You're saying that there's some criminal up on the mountain with us?"

Chris nodded. That was just what he was thinking. He remembered more and quickly told Ashley.

"There was a message...on this answering machine I found and it...it was from this Sergeant, saying there was this guy who had just gotten out of prison and there was nothing he could do."

"What do you mean?" she asked, panic beginning to creep into her voice.

"He was saying it like...like a warning." Chris finished, before then realizing, "I mean, maybe that was whoever was down in the basement before, under the floorboards in the library, the light... That guy I told you about..."

Ashley wracked her brain. Chris had told her a lot of things. "Wait, wait, wait." she insisted. She couldn't put her finger on it. "What guy?!"

"The guy who threatened the Washingtons. He said he wanted to take revenge by burning the whole place down." Chris explained. "And I found that crazy psycho letter..."

Ashley groaned and turned away, wrapping her arms around herself. "Chris, if this is your way of trying to make me feel better... you're fired." she said bluntly.

Chris was about to reply when the door to the kitchen banged and suddenly they heard a scream.

"You hear that?" Chris gasped, turning at once.

Ashley recognized it and cried out, "That was Josh!"

Chris hurried forwards. "Coming from the kitchen!"

They called out to him, Chris telling him to hold on, as Ashley opened the kitchen door.

Suddenly, she was yanked into the room and the door slammed shut. Ashley began screaming and suddenly crying out in pain.

Panicking, Chris tried to open the doors. "Ashley?! Ash! What's going on? Lemme in!"

But the door was locked or jammed. Ashley grunted in pain again.

"Ashley, are you okay?!" he cried out.

Shaking his head, he began trying to force the door open, ramming into it. On his third try, he broke through, stumbling onto the ground. He struggled to his feet and saw Ashley out cold on the floor in front of him.

"Ash?" he whispered before panicking. "ASH! HEY!"

He cried out as a man dressed in a strange jumper suit and wearing a white demonic clown mask with demonic teeth and red along the upper lip acting as an exposed gum suddenly appeared in his field of vision and punched him right in the face, knocking him out cold, too.

The Masked Man then turned and began to drag Ashley's unconscious form away. Later, he stood on the landing of the steps leading upstairs and listened carefully. He could hear the sounds of another person moving upstairs in the bathroom. Smirking beneath his mask, he lit the candle on its holder next to the landing and turned, walking away.

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