-I'm back again, and this time a little bit faster with an update on Atychiphobia. I'd say this is because I've decided to buckle down and focus all my writing efforts on this story in particular, as opposed to before where I tried to juggle multiple projects at once. Unlike the other two stories, this story I know for absolute certain has an ending to it and I know exactly how to get to it. So, I'll take down this beast of a story first, then get back to the other ones. Sorry to the fans of the other two, but know that I have not abandoned those two at all; just taking an 'extended hiatus' while I unclutter my own mind.
And with all that out of the way, enjoy this latest chapter!-
Ashley watched from her seat she was sitting in. Everything was slowly being put into place for the seance to commence. The room they chose to perform this in was no longer completely dark, much to her personal delight. Instead Josh was walking back and forth to different candles placed at various points in the room, lighting them up. While the room itself was no longer dark, the small light it was beginning to be filled with instead with that eerie glow of candle-light. Creepy as it felt, it was definitely setting a good atmosphere for what was about to happen.
In fact, this whole thing was kind of sparking her creative spark for a poem, in the back of her mind.
'Realms apart, Veil-divided, a simple wooden board- a window to the beyond,' she thought in her head, 'Hm, not terribly big, but it's something for now.'
Chris meanwhile was sitting at the same table as her, reading off the instructions as the Spirit Board had listed.
"So, it says here..." he said, reading set of paper instructions that came with the Spirit Board, "'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 whim of the Spirit-Master', which is me-"
"It doesn't say that!" Ashley interjected. Now Chris was making this sound like one of those complicated board games that he liked to play where people acted out fantasy stories.
"And all present will remove their garments at my sole discretion!" Chris concluded with a grin on his face. By now Josh had finished setting up the lighting of candles around the room and was taking his seat. He also held no smile on his face in response to Chris' creative interpretations.
"Chris come on, this is serious," he spoke in an equally serious and pressing tone. Chris' response was to simply place his fists on his hips and make a strange face with his head slightly crooked as he leaned in towards the two.
"Oh-ho-ho, I'm 'deadly' serious!" Now he was imitating one of those characters from that game as well, some wizard man who's name she wouldn't even try to pronounce. This guy could be such a geek sometimes...
"Oh shush it! Let's just try it..." Ashley said in an effort to get them all on track.
"Yes, please," Josh hastily agreed.
"Okay then, let's see what happens..." Chris said with a shrug. Taking a quick breath herself, Ash and the boys placed their hands upon the board, preparing to 'commune' with the Spirit World. What exactly was to happen Ash wasn't entirely sure, but she did find it kind of exciting all the same, "Ashley, since you're a recent convert, why don't you be our medium for the evening?"
"Okay, um..." she said, momentarily considering what exactly to say. As she placed a single finger on the pointer as was instructed her to do, she looked up into the candle illuminated darkness of the room, as if trying to see out towards these spirits directly, "Is anyone there? Will you reveal yourself to us if... you're there...?"
A handful of seconds passed, followed by more. Within that time however, there was nothing. No sounds other than the howling of wind outside, no breezes within to be felt, nothing. Glancing out of the corners of her eyes, neither Chris nor Josh seemed to sense anything neither. Was there really nothing that would happen like Chris said? Even now the pointer they all had their fingers on did nothing, just remaining stationary in-
Suddenly, Ashley felt movement under her finger! The pointer, it moved! She nearly jumped a little in her seat as she felt it circle around on the board in front of her!
"Wait a minute-!" Chris said with an amused laugh.
"Did you do that?" Josh said.
"I didn't do anything!" Ashley nervously said.
"It's moving again!" Chris directed their attention back down to the pointer. The amusement he was expressing was written as clearly on his face as could be heard in his voice. Ash almost wished she could share in his enthusiasm; she on the other hand felt more and more nervous as the pointer continued to move. Some spirit really was here?!
"'H'..." she voiced the first letter the pointer hovered over.
"What's it spelling?" Josh could be heard saying.
"Hold on." The pointer continued to move across the board.
"How's this happening?" Josh continued to say.
"Are you moving it?" Chris spoke up.
"I swear it's just moving...!" The pointer finally ceased its movements entirely. Despite feeling like it was moving at lightning speed, the letters it highlighted were clear to see what they spelled.
"Holy shit..." Josh breathed
"'Help'?" Ashley said, looking up and between the two boys. Josh's eyes were narrowed with increasing concern, while Chris on the other hand simply eyed the board with an aloof expression on his face.
"How are we supposed to help?" he questioned.
"I don't know! What does it mean...?" Ash said.
"Well we need to know who it is if we're supposed to help them," Chris reminded her. Ashley gave a quick nod, looking back towards the board. She took a moment to shake off her initial surprise before continuing.
"Who are you...?" she said. Slowly the pointer beneath their fingers began to move again, "Oh, here it goes..." As the pointer slowly and deliberately moved over each individual letter, the three kids vocalized them one at a time.
"Okay, 'S'."
"'I'."
"'S'."
"'T'."
"'E."
"'R." The pointer stopped moving again, and again filling the kids with varying levels of anxiety as to what it had spelled before them.
"Sister..." Ashley said, "Sister?" There was almost no way it could be, yet it made the most sense. She glanced up at Josh's face to see that he was very much distressed at the moment. His eyes were widened a little and his breathing was a little heavier. It was a wonder he was still managing to keep his finger anchored to the pointer this whole time.
"Who's sister...?" he breathed.
"Oh come on, is this for real-?" Chris said.
"Shut up!" Josh cut him off before looking directly at Ash, "Ask it whose sister."
"Josh! It's..." Ashley started, but stammered over her words. She didn't want to believe it either despite how obvious it was, yet she was hesitant to outright suggest it to him directly, "It's gotta be..." To her credit Josh didn't seemed to dispute her unspoken logic.
"Yeah? Okay well..." he himself stumbled over his words. The distress on his face was still ever-present, "Which sister is it then?"
"Ashley ask which one," Chris chimed in seriously this time. Ashley took a quick breath to calm herself yet again. Her first time using a Spirit Board, much less actually acting the medium to a Seance, and she was already speaking to someone close to them from beyond. Any doubts she'd had previously about this were quickly dispelled. However this would only get more difficult as they still needed to discern who exactly was speaking to them.
"Who... are we speaking to?" Ashley carefully asked. After a moment of consideration, she decided to add in, "Beth? Is that you?" She looked back down at the board, almost praying that her question not be answered at all.
The pointer slowly began to move again. However instead of moving to highlight individual letters for clarification, it instead moved towards the top corners of the board designated for yes and no answers. It slid directly over the 'yes', and Ashley was certain the blood began to freeze within her. It actually was her, speaking to them right now!
"Oh God..." she said.
"This is messed up..." Chris said. Ashley looked over at Josh to see that while his frantic breathing had slowed down, the distress was still present on his face.
"Josh?" she asked him, "Are you-?"
"I'm fine," he replied simply.
"Are you sure, because we can stop-"
"No," he replied again.
"Dude... It's cool-" Chris tried to assure him as well but was cut off just as quickly.
"I wanna hear what it says!" Ash and Chris could see him looking up and at them directly. The distress was written plainly upon his face, but also with a healthy amount of desperation as well. Looks like there was no talking him out of this. However, Ash herself found herself at a bit of a loss as to what exactly she could inquire next.
"I don't know where to start...!"
"Well, think about it," Chris offered, drawing her attention to him, "If this is actually Beth, I mean... we could find out what happened that night." Crazy as this was, that at least was somewhat sound logic in Ash's mind. She turned to look at Josh first before continuing.
"Josh...?" she asked with concern. His look of distress did not fade from his face, but he at least was breathing a little slower this time.
"... I can handle it," he simply said.
"Okay, um... let me think," Ashley said. To be talking with a friend who was long thought to be dead for a whole year... What exactly could she say? She'd had a whole year to think over what they'd done to them the last time. Her mind was in turmoil with guilt and regret, just as it was now in this moment. Still, she assured herself that she would try her best not to feel anymore of that regret nowadays. Of course she wasn't talking directly to the victims of that prank during that time. Man, this was complicated.
After a moment of thought, Ashley mentally composed herself with a question she thought up in her mind.
"Beth... we want to know what happened to you that night," she said, "Can you tell us?" Almost immediately this time, the pointer was on its move again, literally spelling something out to the three kids.
"'H'," Ashley read aloud, "'A'... 'N'... 'N'..."
"It's spelling Hannah," Chris deduced.
"Wait- it's still going," Ash felt the pointer continuing to move, somehow sensing that they had already known what it was spelling.
"'K'... 'I'..." Chris spelled out.
"'L'... 'L'...?!" Ashley chimed in. Her anxiety was beginning to spike again at what was being literally spelled out before them.
"'Killed'...?" Josh spoke in disbelief. Ashley put her free hand to her own mouth in shock as well, "Guys... guys, what's she talking about?"
"I don't know if I can keep doing this..." Ashley didn't even try to hide the fear in her own voice. She was feeling beyond scared and mortified by this point. An actual spirit from the past coming back to smite them for a terrible thing they did. She wanted nothing more than to yank her finger away from the pointer and break away from this whole thing, right here and now.
"But we have to-" Josh said.
"Guys, let-let's just calm down," Chris cut them both off, "I think it's saying that... that someone killed Hannah. Right?"
"I don't know!" Ashley said.
"I just... Just, ask it something else, Ash," Chris told her. In her mental panic she could hear that Chris was asking her in earnest, in his softer, calming tone. There was merit to his claim as well too. They weren't the ones who killed Hannah after all. And as horrible as it was to think, something else had to have been what killed her. Or, perhaps both of them in this case.
"Alright, okay..." she said to calm herself before posing her next question, "Who killed Hannah? Who was it?" Immediately after asking the question, Ashley began to wish this spirit wouldn't answer it. She wished that it would just suddenly leave them alone, dropping this whole thing right here and now. A convenient excuse to not re-open such a painful wound in this manner. Her hope was dashed however as the pointer began to move yet again.
"'L'... 'I'... 'B'..." Ash read out.
"The library; maybe there's something in the library here?" Chris guessed again before the spelling had finished. The pointer again began to spell a new word.
"'P'... 'R'... 'O'... 'O'..."
"'Proof', there-there's proof!"
"In the library-?"
The pointer suddenly shook violently underneath Ash and the boy's fingertips. All three of them yet out various yelps as it suddenly shoot across the board and down onto the floor. Ashley herself even jumped from her seat in surprise. The nerves in her body were spiking all over and sending her heart racing yet again.
And just like that, it was over. The pointer ceased all movements even while on the floor, leaving the three teens to reel from what had just happened. Chris could be heard letting out an exhale of breath.
"Holy shit!" Ashley rubbed her hands on her head before turning to him, "Chris-"
"You know what... No, this is bullshit. This isn't real..." Her attention was suddenly drawn to Josh. He was speaking very low, almost in a whisper, as if speaking to himself. The look of distress and panic was still plastered across his face. His eyes seemed to be staring directly straight in front of him, yet not solely focused on anything at all. He was shaking his head a little yet frequently, even as he slowly rose from his chair.
"Josh! I don't know what's going on...!" Ash tried to say.
"Listen..." he cut her off, "I don't know... I don't know if you think messing with me is gonna help me deal with my grief or whatever, but... this is not cool!" His speaking tone slowly turned from its distress to anger the more he ranted to the two of them.
"Josh no!" Ashley protested, indicating to the board, "You wanted to use the Spirit Board!" The boy however chose not to listen to her and began to storm off and out of the room.
"H-hey calm down, it's not Ash's fault-!"
"I don't need this right now, okay?! You guys are FULL of it!" he let out a final exclamation of his anger to them as he finally stormed out of the room and down the stairs. Chris and Ash were left stunned and behind in the room by themselves. The girl was beginning to calm down a little from the spirit talking to them through the board, but then this had to happen as well.
"So..." she spoke up, "Should we go after him?"
"Ah man..." Chris said as he shook his own head, "I mean, he'll be okay, I think. Let's... let's just give him some time."
"I don't blame him," Ash said, pointing to the board and where the pointer had been, "That was crazy! The pointer flew right off the table!"
"I mean, if-if you were faking it, you were doing one hell of a job-"
"I wasn't faking anything!" Ashley quickly cut in, "But, I think we should do what it says; we should look in the library."
"JESS-?!"
What the hell? Where had Jess gone? She was right there, but now she wasn't, and next thing Mike he heard someone screaming?! There was no time for further thought; he had to find her, now!
He quickly clambered up on top of the snow-covered landslide as he had seen Jess do moments ago. As he pulled his right foot up, he suddenly felt it slip and cause his body to fall briefly onto the cold snow underneath him.
"Ow! Fuck Nuggets...!" he cursed to himself. Cold snow had just now gotten on a... very sensitive place for him just now! This was so not something he needed...
Eventually he did manage to pull himself to his feet atop the snowdrift. After wiping off the snow residue from his pants, he scanned the other side. To his more or less confusion, not only was Jess nowhere to be seen, but nothing could be seen there. No footprints, no disturbed bushes or sticks, nothing. Where the heck was she?
"Jessica...?" he called out, but no response came, "Aw come on..."
He jumped down to the ground of the other side with a grunt, before proceeded to walk out along the trail.
"Jess? Where did you go?" he called out again, with still no response from his girlfriend. The wind was starting to wipe at his skin just a little harder he noticed. Maybe this was a sign; he always hated whenever he was alone, and being with someone like Jess definitely helped with that, "This... it's not funny!"
Mike took a few careful steps up the trail's path, crunching through the snow as he did so. He aimed the flashlight's beam in all directions in front of him, trying to spot Jess' familiar form out here. Nothing could be seen however, and he could feel the worry start to build up within him. The fact that he was by himself right now was bad enough, but if something had happened to her... well, he would simply find her first.
After a couple more steps, Mike came across a sharp turn to the right in the path. But something else lay directly before him: an old machine buried in the ice, a bulldozer probably. The window of the door that faced him had no ice nor snow upon it, which set Mike's mind wondering. There was no way... could she actually...?
"Jess? Honey?" he carefully approached the machine's door and gripped the handle, the feeling of ice felt within his fingers, "You in there?" He tugged downward on the handle, but the door did not give. The force of his tugs knocked over a couple of glass bottles that could be seen inside the machine's cabin. Carefully Mike leaned his face up close to the window to get a better look-
Something burst up from inside the cabin up to the window! A scary face that popped up outta nowhere!
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Mike jumped back with a scream. His nerves felt like they were electrified in that moment, which thankfully lasted only a moment, "Whoa... Christ!" Having stumbled back, he took a moment to take a few calming breaths. Finally he looked up at what had just scared him. There in the window stood... a wooden mask?
"Scared the blue outta my jeans...!" he said to himself, followed up with a nervous laugh, "The hell's that doing in there anyway...?" Could Jess have done that? Why would she though, was she trying to scare him any worse than he was already feeling?
He much carefully peeked his head up close to the window again, fearful that some other scary thing might pop up and surprise him again. Thankfully, nothing else did appear in the window this time. Although, this did fill Mike with a sense of unease yet again, as it meant that Jess wasn't in here either. There was nothing in this old machine.
"Seriously...?" he stepped away from the old bulldozer completely and cast his gaze to the right-bound path, "This is still not funny!" He still couldn't see any footprints in the snow other than his own, but there weren't many other places that she could've gone off to. With that he proceeded to walk to the right and along the nature-shrouded pathway.
In Mike's mind, he was feeling a little conflicted. On the one hand was still that feeling of anxiety welling up within from him being alone, in the woods right now, without Jess. But on the other hand, there was still that confusion as to not only where she was right now, but how she went missing. Did something happen, or was she doing something on purpose?
"I totally promise I won't murder you when I find-"
"RRRAAAAAAAA!"
Mike's world exploded yet again as something burst up directly in front of him. A humanoid figure with horns atop its head. In the midst of Mike's scream he was vaguely aware of letting out, the anxiety he felt within him burst up. This was really it, wasn't it? He was gonna get eaten by a-
All noise was quickly drowned out suddenly by laughter. Mike refocused his eyes to see that this 'figure' that had jumped up and scared him was none other than Jess, holding a set of deer antlers in her hands!
"HA HA HA! Oh my god!" Jess laughed as she set the antlers down, "That was SO good!"
"Oh god, no..." Mike said with a shake of his head while trying to steady his nerves, "No it wasn't...!" Looking back up he caught sight of Jess walking away from him as she reached down to pick something up. Once in hand she quickly made her way over to him, her phone in hand.
"Wait wait wait, you gotta see this-!" she said in between her laughter and trying to shove her phone up close to his face.
"I'm not seeing anyth- no!" Mike petulantly tried to dismiss, but Jess only further kept the phone up so that he could scarcely look at anything else. Suddenly, a sound of a recorded sound could be heard from her phone, followed by a familiar image. The image of Mike himself being scared and screaming! "You recorded that?!"
"Ah-ha ha! Look at your face!" Jess only laughed further. Mike could feel his anxiety welling up again, in addition to a mix of humiliation from having been 'spotted' in a very vulnerable state.
"I was scared, Jess!" he protested, "And you can't just jump out at somebody; I'm in the middle of the woods, it's scary!"
"Aw, did I scare you...?" Jess teasingly asked as she caressed his cheek, which only further embarrassed him.
"And if you send that to anybody..." Mike followed up as he pointed to her phone she had pocketed.
"You'll what?" Jess maintained her cheeky smile at him. This was unfortunately more than enough to melt the welling anxiety within Mike. She always had this effect on him, able to calm down even his angriest moments with that little smile she made. Even now he was starting to struggle in finding the right words for what he would do if she did send that vid to anyone.
"I'm gonna... kill ya..." Jess' laughter-induced smile was more than enough to see that even Mike knew he wouldn't do anything. Like he could ever stay mad at her, for anything.
"I didn't know you had such a cute little lady-like scream, Michael!" she added, "Guess you never really know someone until you scared the pants off of 'em!" By now Mike had calmed his nerves down by a great deal from that initial scare. He was starting to see this situation in a different, clearer light, which was ironic since it was still dark out here. Was there any reason he couldn't follow this up with his usual Mike Charm?
"Far as I can tell, my pants are still on!" he playfully said.
"Oh, is that so?" Jess coyly asked.
"Yep, looks like you'll just have to try harder!" With a motion of his hand he led the two of them back along the trail. The thick of the woods that they were trekking through at the moment looked like it was starting to clear up, with heavier trees starting to thin out and allow more moonlight to shine through. It would make seeing the trail they walked.
"A challenge, eh?" Jess noted beside him, "Well I hope you're strapped in! Cause you're about the feel the full force of my mind-melting- huh...?" Her sudden stop in talking caused Mike to stop as well. He looked back to his side to see that she had stopped as well, but was looking at something off to the side. Even without the flashlight lighting up her face, he could still see that familiar smile of hers growing from what she was looking at, "Well well well! Look at THIS fun, little lovebird carving!"
She pointed her finger up to the tree she was looking at and stepped back, allowing Mike to step forward in her place. He held the light beam up to view the tree bark itself, and nearly paled at what he saw. A scratched in image of a heart, an arrow piercing two ends of it, and two single letters carved in the very center. An abstract image, but one that Mike recognized all too well.
"An 'M'... and an 'E'!" Jess could be heard behind him before adding, "Any idea what that could mean...?"
Okay, maybe she didn't know? Mike remembered this being the very spot that he and Em had gone to around last year when they were still going out. He distinctly remembered that impulse he had to suddenly 'mark their names for the ages' on the nearest thing he could find, which unfortunately turned out to be this very tree. And one that his current girlfriend Jess was gazing upon right now. But, maybe she didn't know? And maybe he could play this off as well as he had been doing so far...?
"Erm, it could be anyone, like..." Mike said while wracking his brain for names that sounded really old that he could use to fill in the metaphorical blanks here, "Elizabeth, and... Myron..."
"Or maybe 'Mike and Emily'?" Mike shot his head to look at Jess in surprise. Crap, looks like he'd been made. His reaction caused her to let out a little laugh, "Relax, I just didn't realize you were so sappy! Pun intended!" So, she knew, but she wasn't upset or something by this? Mike could feel a little bit of relief in his being from learning this. And if that was the case, looks like it was time to play this off as charmingly as he had been doing so far...!
"Hey, I may look like a 'tough, rugged, manly man' on the exterior, but deep down? I'm in touch with my feelings," he assured her, before gesturing towards the tree carving, "I'm not afraid to show a little affection every now and then!"
"Oh yeah?" Jess said, her face suggesting playful intrigue, "You gonna show 'me' some affection later?"
"Girl, all KINDS of affection!"
"Ooh, is that a check I can cash?" Jess coyly added with a laugh, "Okay, let's go, Casanova!" With that Mike quickly followed after Jess, while feeling all the more pleased with himself. He was starting to lose track now of how many times he'd been able to turn something bad into something smooth! Looks like his usual charms and wit were working overtime this evening! If this keeps up, then sexy times aplenty awaited them at the cabin at this rate!
To their side the sound of rushing water only grew louder as the two walked on. Finally, upon clearing the thin tree line that separated them from the source, Mike and Jess could see the large river directly beneath them, with a small waterfall not too far away. There was also a wooden bridge that stretched out across the river which from the angle of the path suggested, they were meant to cross over. It looked about as stable and sturdy as the last one they had crossed over, so with Mike leading the way, the two made their way across.
"Wow! Kinda like a real Winter Wonderland out here!" Jess said behind him. In Mike's mind he had to agree; while it was a little dark to see, there was definitely that snowy appeal this place had going for it. Even the roaring sounds of the waterfall directly to their left added its own level of ambiance.
"Girl you know I hook you up!" he said.
"Mm-hmm!" The two made their way across the bridge, albeit carefully to avoid slips on the snow that covered the flat surfaces. Last thing either of them would want is to slip and fall; that water below looked particularly freezing.
The two finally reached the end of the bridge and the other side of the river, where the path continued on. There were plenty more trees that lined both sides of the trail that rose into a slight incline upwards again, with a couple more wooden steps placed in between. They'd better hurry and get to this cabin though, as Mike was starting to feel that slight chill in the air once again.
However it was once he cleared the first set of wooden steps that something filled the air once again. It was rather distant, like before, but it sounded vaguely familiar yet again. The sound of a screech? A scream?
"The hell was that...?" he said to himself. He traced the flashlight's beam left and right as he continued to walk forward, if a little slower.
"Was it... someone screaming?" Jess asked. He was certain he was talking to himself only when he said that, but Jess must have heard him question it as well.
"Naw, no, probably just a... a squirrel, or... something," he half-heartedly assured her. He had no clue what that could've been either, and it was almost a little worrying not knowing. But, at least whatever it was, it sounded way far away from where they were...
"Creep-Town..." Jess could be heard saying. In a way it kind of was, but at the same time, maybe it wasn't all that bad. By now Mike noticed that a couple of nearby light posts above them were on and shining their light down, illuminating the path so they could at least see it by this point. A small thing, but at least Mike could see the slight leftward curve the path was beginning to take-
*SNAP*
Mike stopped instantly. The sound of something snapping put him on alert once again. The sound of footsteps ceasing their snow-crunching told him that Jess had stopped too.
"Shh...!" he quietly said. Without moving his head too much, he drifted his eyes to the side, in the direction he'd heard the noise.
"What?" Jess asked.
"Did you hear that?" Carefully, Mike lifted his head up to gaze upon the tree-line completely. His eyes scanned for any sort of movement, anything that stood out from the stark white of the surrounding snow.
"No?" After a moment of scanning, the boy couldn't see anything either. Maybe it was nothing, but... no, something had to have made that noise just now. Something that had to be close by still...
"Hello!" he called out, "Someone there?" There was no response to his call, at least nothing beyond the light sound of wind howling. There wasn't even any like creature sounds or anything; just... silence. This didn't feel right, a feeling Mike couldn't shake from his being. Something was out there, at worst maybe a wolf or a bear. But maybe...
Looking down, he reached towards his foot and picked up a rock. The near icy-mineral felt just as cold to his touch, but he cocked it back anyway. Whatever was out there had to be scared by this of all things. He then let his arm fly forward, sending the rock sailing out to and into the thick of the tree line. The rock could be heard hitting the ground, or the bushes, or even one of the trees; it was hard to discern where exactly it hit. A handful of seconds passed, as both Mike and Jess watched with baited breaths. Nothing seemed to happen at all, so maybe there was-
Something burst out from the tree line straight towards them!
"Goddammit!" Mike found himself stumbling back in surprise yet again. He almost didn't even register what it was that was bursting out in front of him this time. But, just like before, the initial surprise wore off, and he was left to shake off his panic. The deer that had jumped in front of them had long since bounded off, leaving the two of them to reel from the shock.
"Mike!" Jess exclaimed, "That thing almost killed us!"
"You alright?!" Mike placed a hand on her shoulder after shaking off the bits of snow from his pants.
"Yeah... yeah I'm good," Jess nodded her head. The boy turned this flashlight beam towards where the deer had been seen last. First he missed his chance to show off a deer to Jess earlier, and now a deer just came out and spooked them like that? What if that was the same deer even? Man, nature was not being friendly tonight, that's for sure.
"Alright, well... let's keep going, and careful," he said, leading the way.
"Right, okay," Jess hastily agreed and followed after him.
As they walked further, the tree lines on each end of the trail itself were starting to appear a little thicker. It was becoming a little harder to see through them, or for the moonlight to shine through them and light up the way. Still, there was just enough light in addition to Mike's flashlight that they could tell where they were going. The trail would be curving sharply to the right, as also shown by a wooden fence that was lining the edges.
Upon turning the corner, a new light source could be seen; a similar light from up above as the lights they had passed by earlier. This light was shining upon a structure as well; wooden, snow-covered, and nearly concealed by the trees themselves.
"Charming," Mike commented as he gazed upon this ramshackle shack.
"It's everything you described, Michael," Jess spoke in a strangely loving tone, which confused him at first.
"What?"
"The cabin!" Jess indicated to the wooden structure now directly before them, "I love it!"
"Yeah," Mike said, playfully agreeing with what she was saying. Upon crossing a small wooden bridge over a small running stream, the two teens stood before the structure. This thing had clearly seen better days; it was even missing a door! Yet at the same time, the light source was shining from a bulb seen on the side of the building. This could only suggest that this had to have been used for something at one point. Combined with the massive tower of metal seen in back of the wooden building, maybe this was like a ranger building or something at one point.
"Oh, hang on Mike. My hands are a little dry..." Jess suddenly spoke up. She then made her way to the edge of the stream and crouched down beside it.
"Ok..." Mike off-handedly replied. The two of them could afford to take a break for a minute or two. That deer scaring them probably has gotten her shook up as well as himself. He took a few steps towards the shack, curious as to what exactly he'd find inside.
Upon stepping through the threshold, the sharp bite of the wind was reduced drastically. Yet that didn't make this place any more appealing. All the walls were decrepit, rotten, falling apart. It's a wonder how this place was still even standing after how long it had been now.
He walked over to one of the nearby wooden countertops to behold the items laying upon it. From the things he could see, this might've been some workshop table. There was a metal pail, a cast iron pan, and... a mask?
Mike reached down to lift up the thin mask in his hand. The item felt strangely light and not heavy in the slightest. It was a really weird mask, with one of the eye lenses appearing cracked and broken, and a mouthpiece looking thing over where the mouth was supposed to be. He thought back to the mine that he and Jess had trekked through earlier; what if this mask was used when going down there? That was definitely one freaky job to have.
Aside from the items on this workbench, Mike didn't see anything of note in this run-down shack. And maybe now was a good time to move on. But before the go, maybe he could show this item to Jess first.
He walked out of the shack, back into the blistering cold wind, and towards Jessica. The girl had just pulled herself to her feet around when he had approached her.
"Hey," he announced himself to her before presenting the item in his hand, "Check out this mask."
"Ew, why?" Jess replied, the openly displayed grimace on her face mirrored the disgust in her tone.
"It's so weird, right?"
"It creeps me out!" Her disgust did not diminish in the slightest the more Mike held it before her. He in turn raised an eyebrow in amusement at her reaction. Who said she didn't get to be freaked out like he had been this evening?
"I think you like it...!" Mike held the mask up and in front of his face as if he had it on. He was careful though to keep it a few centimeters away from his face, since who knows where this thing had been this whole time. His view of Jess turned distorted through the lenses, with left side portraying her through broken glass shards. Her dismissive face continued to watch him and his antics, which only fueled his amusement, "Wanna make out?"
"Mike, STOP!" Jess turned her head away with a final dismissive wave of her hand.
"Alright, your loss!" Mike said. Guess that was enough 'torturing' her. He lowered the mask from his face and proceeded to toss it away haphazardly back into the shack, "That mask was cool...!" Looking to his side, Jess was already crunching through the snow and proceeding back onto the trail, leaving the boy to quickly run up and rejoin her.
Despite the cold weather around them and the snow that was starting to be felt through his shoes, at the same time Mike couldn't deny that his legs were starting to burn a little. Even he had to admit that it was quite a walk from Josh's lodge to this guest cabin. He and Jess would definitely be getting their privacy alright, despite that he'd have preferred if the walk be a little shorter. Still, maybe all this exercise in walking and cold would make for good endurance and stamina for... certain things.
But he recalled in the past when Josh had shown him the cabin and its route to get there. It was definitely not much further now. The two of them just had to walk a little bit further through this thick forest, make a couple more turns-
"Whoa!"
"EEEP!"
The two kids let out various yelps as something burst out in front of them yet again. While Mike was surprised like many times before, he was beginning to become a little desensitized to the feeling. Especially upon seeing that what had appeared in front of them was another deer. It was probably even the same one that had been scaring them, or trying to, all this evening!
"You okay?!" Mike looked back to Jess.
"Yeah, I'm good..." Jess replied, shaking her arms a little bit. This was getting a bit ridiculous; how many times was this deer gonna scare them tonight?
Upon walking a little further up the path, it began to curve a little to the right yet again. To their right flank was a mass of snow-covered rocks, while to their left side the thinning of trees indicated a clearer view of the mountain range out in the distance. However, neither of those things were what drew Mike's attention at the moment.
A noise, distant like before, could be heard yet again. The familiar sound of screeching, from whatever animal or creature was making it, in addition to... something else?
"What is that?" he heard Jess speak up. So she was hearing that noise as well? All sounds suddenly came to a stop following a snapping sound, as well as something making a deep cry, almost like a cow mooing.
"Not sure I wanna know..." Mike said as he continued to walk and lead the way. He shook his own head; the cabin wasn't much further now. All they had to do was manage this last stretch of...
Mike barely even needed to shine the light up towards what literally lay before them. The moonlight itself provided adequate illumination to the deer that lay stretched out over the path. Its neck was supported atop a snow-covered log and was graced by a series of scratches. The lacerations were running deep enough that the animal's fur and even patches of the white snow beneath it were stained dark red with blood.
As the two approached closer, Jess could be heard gasping a little at the sight, and Mike himself couldn't resist furrowing his brow at the sight. For a brief moment he feared that the creature was dead; maybe killed by whatever was making those screeching sounds and nearby. Thankfully, small puffs of air could be seen exiting the deer's mouth, indicating it was still alive, if barely.
"Damn..." Mike said. The deer's ear twitched a couple times and its eye slowly traced their movements as they walked around it. The noises it made were weak and trembling, its pain evident.
"It's horrible!" Jess said, leaning down and slightly closer to it. Mike traced the light along its lacerations and grimaced at the sight. Whatever did this had messed it up good. It's a wonder how it was still alive.
"Jeez... I don't think he's gonna make it..." he said. Maybe... he could calm it down a bit? It worked when his first dog was getting old; making its last few days peaceful and all that.
"My God, the poor thing!" Jess said as Mike slowly approached it.
"Hey bud..." he carefully stretched his hand out towards its head. The deer's head twitched slightly to look at it, but made no attempt to move away. Not that it was able to anyway. Finally his hand made contact with the fur of the deer's head, slightly above where the neck lacerations began, and he gently patted it, "It's okay... it's okay..." He could feel its breath become a little more erratic at his touch and its heart beating a little faster, but remained still nonetheless.
"Oh Mike, it's in so much pain!" Jess said behind him.
"It's okay buddy... It'll all be over soon..." Mike continued to comfort the deer. To his credit the deer was starting calm down a bit. Its head was slumping a bit and its heart wasn't beating as fast anymore. Maybe they could call someone, like an animal control place or something, tell them that there was a deer in need of medical attention. Mike began to turn his head to pose the idea to Jess, when everything became a blur.
In one quick motion, the body of the deer was swept away and pulled into the forest! The sudden motion caused Mike to fall back onto his rear in the snow, but was already moving to pull himself back up.
"Gah! RUN!" Mike yelled. Jess could be seen before him, already running while screaming. Mike's body was once again alight with adrenaline, propelling his body forward up the trail and right behind Jess.
"Oh my GOD! What the hell was that?!" she called out.
"I don't know!" In between Mike's frantic running he didn't get a good look at what grabbed that deer neither. But none of that mattered now; he and Jess had to get out of here now! There wasn't much further to go now at least, just a couple more twists in the trail and the-
"Oh there's a bridge! Over here!" Jess called out in front of him. In half of a second she had already jumped over the broken bridge of the running creek and was looking back to him, "Over here, Mike! Get over here!" Following her example Mike quickly leaped over the creek and landed with his feet crunching in the snow, the two of them resuming their frantic run.
"It's a bear, it's a bear! Gotta be a bear!" the boy called out in the middle of his run. What else could it be? Something that could drag something off that fast? He couldn't even hear the footsteps of whatever that thing was; only his and Jess' quickly dashing through the snow. All the more reason they had to keep running!
The cabin was in view by now, it's single glowing exterior light a shining beacon to the two fear-struck teens. Unfortunately, there was still the last curve around in the path before they would finally reach it. However, the two of them could simply reduce the time and climb up this snow covered rock wall to reach the cabin sooner?
"Come on, stay on the path! We're almost there!" Mike declared after a brief second of consideration. He led the way along the last curve of the path before reaching a wooden fence and gate first. He reached out and pulled it towards him, leaving it opened further to allow Jess to follow in behind him. This was it, there was no time to delay nor slow down for anything! Time to get inside where they'd be safe!
Mike reached the cabin's front porch first, his steps clopping against the wood and sending echoing vibrations throughout the ground. As he ran for the door he reached into his pocket to retrieve the key Josh had given him. Up until he heard a thud behind him. His head shot around and his eyes widened at what he saw: Jess had tripped and fallen on the porch! Come on, now of all times?!
Thinking quickly he rushed forward to her side, desperate to help the girl to her feet. He didn't even bother to look out to look for what was chasing them. His girlfriend had to come first after all!
"Come on, we gotta go!" he said, gripping her by the arm and pulling up.
"I am!" Jess protested, but pulled herself to her feet with his aid. Now that Jess was back on her feet and would be able to move on her own, Mike made a dash back for the door. In his haste with the key in his hand, he almost let it slip from his fingers before securing it once more. By the time he reached the door and the lock, time seemed to slow down as he desperately tried to fit the key into the lock.
"Mike! Get the key! Get it open!" Jess exclaimed behind him. This was it, now or never! The knob clicked open and Mike desperately gripped it in his hand. He practically shoved the door open, leaving it wide enough for Jess to pass through. Once they were indoors completely, he nearly slammed the door shut behind them.
And just like that, the rush of excitement was passing. However Mike's heart and his breathing were still running like a million times a second, much like the two of them had been doing a second ago. But they were inside the cabin now, and he locked the door behind him for good measure.
"Oh my God!" Jess exclaimed in relief, "That was close!" Pulling his hands and himself away from the door, Mike nearly slumped away from the door, yet managed to hold himself upright before her.
"Nah..." he began to say, until his lost breathing caught up with him. He bent forward and held his hands on his knees to regain control of his breath.
"What?!" Jess said. Mike then pulled himself upright again, looking straight at her.
"I had it under control, whole time..." he assured her.
"Oh- bullshit!" Jess playfully shoved his shoulder with a smile. Seemed like the panic was starting to wear off of her at least by now too.
"No really! Hundred percent!" Mike insisted in between his breaths, "Hundred percent- hundred and ten!" There was half truth, half lies to that; Mike was feeling just as freaked out as he had been feeling. But, no need for Jess to know that. And besides, the two of them were safe in this cabin for now, so all was good.
"Whew, holy crap, I feel like I just ran a marathon!" Jess said, rubbing her forehead.
"I think we kinda did!" Mike agreed with her.
"Was it a bear?" the girl asked as she walked back towards the nearby cabin window.
"Yeah, gotta be," Mike said. In between his own running he was certain he could hear growling behind them, "Things are crazy fast..."
"Well I didn't see it..." Jess said as she scanned through the exposed glass panels at all that could be seen through the window outside.
"Hey, thing's not gonna come barging in, I promise," Mike held up a hand of assurance.
"How can you be sure?" Jess turned back to him, her head tilted and her face bearing some mild concern on her features.
"Cause, for one thing, I'm pretty sure bears don't know how to open cabin doors," Mike indicated to the door they themselves had just came through.
"Well, I've seen them open car doors!" she suddenly spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, which only confused Mike.
"What?" he said, "Where?" Jess opened her mouth to reply, but just as quickly closed it, as if to consider her words. Her facial expression was just as quickly replaced by a more bashful look.
"... On the internet," she confessed.
"Really?" Mike said, "Okay well, this isn't the internet Jess, alright? This is real life." He gave a point back to the locked door, "And I promise you that no bear, or anything else, is gonna open that cabin door."
"I guess you're right..." Jess relented with a shrug. She did spare one last glance out the window before walking further into the cabin, "Okay, I'm almost feeling relaxed again. Almost." She then made her way to to the cabin door where a light switch was, only to find that flipping it a few times produced no light, "Huh, typical." As she walked away from the lights and further into the cabin's central room, the disappointment could be read clearly on her face even with the minimal amount of light they were provided with.
"Brrr... this is not the cozy chalet I was promised, Mike," she said, taking a seat on the couch in the center of the room. Speaking of the cabin, Mike himself finally took a moment to survey the cabin the two were standing in. The place was dark inside, and a little bit cold, but definitely not as cold nor dark as compared to outdoors.
"Yeah, it is a bit drafty in here, isn't it?" he agreed, rubbing his free hand against his opposing arm.
"Well, there is a fireplace," Jess said, directing his attention to right in front of them against the wall.
"Well, not like we'd need a fire to, you know, 'heat things up'...?" Mike tried to joke sexily to set the mood.
"Michael, I am a lady, and a lady needs a proper romantic setting," Jessica said.
"Okay...?" His inquiry caused her to glance over her shoulder at him in mild disbelief.
"A lady would like to cuddle up, with her man," she indicated to him first before indicating to the fireplace before them, "by a nice cozy fire, bathed in atmospheric mood lighting." Ah, so that's what she was getting at. Really though, what was wrong with them just going for it now? Sounded like a lot of work in Mike's mind.
"Right- It'll get plenty toasty, once we're rubbing up against each other...!" Mike tried to play up his sexy talk again. He also tried leaning himself over the couch head closer to her for added effect as he spoke.
"Mike?" Jess looked over her shoulder directly into his eyes with her own.
"Yeah...?" Mike said.
"Fire. And mood lighting." Her command was final and absolute, leaving no further room for debate. And Mike at the very least knew better than to try pressing this issue with her, especially if he actually wanted some 'rubbing up against her' like he himself proposed.
"Yes... My lady," he said as he pushed himself straight up and away from the couch. This was gonna be a pain, but oh well. Best to get this all set up now, if nothing else to make her happy. Heck the both of them were gonna be more than happy by the time this night was through, if he had anything to do with it!
'Fire and mood lighting...?' Mike thought to himself, 'Well, the lights weren't working earlier. Maybe gotta flip some bigger switch somewhere...'
Mike walked around the side of the couch and into the adjoining room next to it. The kitchen area of the cabin was cluttered with pots, pans, and plates around a sink. Good thing straightening out this stuff wasn't they're job tonight.
He traced his flashlight to the side again, until he caught sight of what he was looking for: the fuse box!
"Nice! That should 'lighten up the mood' a little...!" he said, making his way over to the metal box. He opened the small door and took hold of the red-colored flip-switch in his fingers, "Heh, and Michael said, 'let there be li-'" His effort was interrupted when upon flipping the switch, a small blue spark burst from the fuse box instead of lights turning on in the cabin.
"Whoa!" he gasped in surprise. At the same time he could hear Jess let out a yelp of her own in the nearby room, "Hey! What, are you okay?!" He spun around to shine his flashlight towards the room she was in.
"What are you doing?!" she called out to him. Mike slowly walked over to see Jess again from around the corner of the outstretched wall that separated the room.
"Just- it's the lights; I was trying to set the mood lighting, you know?" he announced to her with a shrug.
"I know it's the lights, dummy, you broke them!" she replied. Mike looked up at the cabin's ceiling to view the individual lightbulbs that hung from above.
"Probably faulty wiring, or something..." he said.
"You've got faulty wiring..." he heard Jess say under her breath.
"Alright, cabin lights are a no-go," he said to himself, "Where else can I..." Looking back down towards the fireplace, Mike illuminated the general area with his flashlight. It was there that he beheld something he hadn't seen before besides the fireplace. There at the base was a small lantern, one of those battery operated ones!
Mike made his way around the couch and knelt down on one knee before the fireplace. He took hold of the light switch in his fingers and twisted it. Unlike the breaker before, his efforts were rewarded with the lantern actually turning on, completely bathing the room in 'atmospheric mood lighting' as Jess wanted!
"There! This should take care of the mood lighting, eh?" he said aloud.
"Finally! Some decent light in this place...!" he heard Jess say behind him. Looking to the other side of the fireplace he could see a small pile of wooden logs laying in a wooden basket just waiting to be used. Might as well get them in position in the fireplace up until he could find something to light them up with. He thus opened the small fire door and placed two healthy sized logs inside.
"Alright, logs are ready to go, just gotta find a match..." He stepped up completely from the fireplace area. Maybe there was a match or a lighter or something laying around here. He pulled himself to his feet to scan the area directly next to it. What he found was no match unfortunately, but an unlit candlestick and a small book resting atop a wooden cabinet with a single drawer. He pulled open the wooden drawer to find there was no match or anything inside there neither.
His eyes were then curiously drawn to the single book that lay in front of him, as if silently requesting him he read it. He picked it up in his hand so he could at least get a better view of the title better: 'Native American Myths and Legends'.
"You're lighting a fire Mike, not writing a novel!" Jess' voice calling out to him nearly scared him yet again, "How much longer is it gonna take you?!"
"Right right! Sorry..." Mike hastily put the book back down, intent to resume his search for a match. His gaze fell upon the open window that led to the outside. A quick scan of his own told him there were no bears out there. Just the constant blue glow of the evening moon shining its light through into the cabin. If only it stretched in a little further, it could've made for nice mood lighting in itself.
That is, until he turned his gaze past the window upon what lay upon wall, did he find something even nicer.
"Whoa! Jess!" Mike barely contained his excitement as he reached to grab the gun off of the wall, "Look at this!"
"Is it a fire?" Jess mockingly asked.
"No! Way better!" Mike held the gun in his hands, appreciating its weight. He always loved guns when he was a kid, and growing up thought they were even cooler! But now, to actually have one in his hands...
He hefted the gun to his side, striking a pose before Jess.
"Eh?" he cheekily said, giving her one of his charming smiles as he did so, "How you like me now?" Over on the couch, the girl had definitely seen what he had found, but was instead giving him a look of dismissal.
"Oh my god," she said, "Why do guns make men go completely bonkers?" Mike struck up another pose by fake cocking the gun and hefting it up to his opposite side. He held that pose, hoping that would stir up a bigger reaction from her. Unfortunately, she simply gave a shrug of her hands, and Mike's excitement fell along with it. With a sigh, he reached his arms out to place the gun back on the wall stand where he found it.
"She'll never understand what we have together..." he playfully mused to himself. Upon turning around, Jess' voice could be heard again.
"Oh shit... oh fuck! Mike!" Jess was seen patting her pockets and the sides of her pants all over before standing up from the couch.
"What?"
"Oh, crap!"
"What?" Mike repeated. Jess was frantically looking all around and down at the couch by this point, as if she were looking for something.
"Where is it?!"
"What?! What's wrong?" Mike pressed.
"Gone! It is gone, ok-"
"Jess, slow down," Mike finally cut in, "What is gone?"
"My freaking phone, Sherlock!" Oh, that's what she was getting all panicky about? Well that wasn't good anyway.
"Can't find it?"
"Crap, no..." Jess dropped down lower to the ground to peer under the couch. It didn't appear that she found it underneath there however, "I must've dropped it outside..."
"Oh... shit," Mike said, casting a glance towards the cabin door. If it was outside then there was no telling where it was, or where it could've ended up.
"I can't lose my phone, my parents will kill me," Jess said from down below on the floor. Mike lowered his own stance to look down below the couch from the back end. With his flashlight however he couldn't see any signs of Jess' phone neither.
"You could always get a new one...?" he suggested.
"That's like my fourth one this year!" Jess replied as she pulled herself back up to her feet.
"Okay okay, well... I'll help you look for it," Mike reassured her. As it couldn't be seen under the couch, Mike traced the flashlight along the floor surrounding it. After all, there weren't a lot of places it could've ended up in here. And Jess had went straight to the couch after she came in. Unfortunately, the phone couldn't be seen anywhere on the ground away from the couch neither. Not on the wooden floor, not on the cloth rug in the center of the room, nowhere.
"It's gotta be outside," Jess spoke up again, as if admitting defeat.
"Yeah, well, I don't think we wanna go out there right now, with the bear," Mike said, reminding them both about being chased through the woods earlier, "Or... whatever that was..." Jess returned to her spot on the couch, disappointment written clearly on her face.
"Fine," she said in a tone that matched her mood. Mike on the other hand thought back to what Jess had mentioned earlier. He actually had met Jess' mom, Mrs. Meaghan Riley, in the past when he and Jess had gotten together, and she seemed really nice. She wouldn't really do anything bad to Jess if she had lost her phone, would she? And besides, they'd find it again before the night was through, he was certain. As long as it wasn't outside though.
While behind the couch, Mike dragged the flashlight beam along the nearby table, and caught sight of something. In the midst of searching for Jess' phone, he'd forgotten what he was searching for himself. And lo and, there was a small metallic flip-lighter right there on the table. Perfect, this would get a fire going no problem!
Upon reaching down and picking up the lighter in his fingers, he glanced back over his shoulder to Jess. Or rather, the back of Jess' head. He doubted he needed to see her face to see that she was still down about losing her phone, so... Yeah, a little joke to cheer her up!
"Lookie lookie," he said, "Who's gonna fire up some nookie?" The sound he heard from her almost sounded like a cough at first, but he know she found that funny!
"You've been dying to use that line since we got here, haven't you?" Even the way she asked that question, Mike could tell she was smiling! He barely controlled his own grin as he made his way around the couch back to the fireplace.
He knelt down to one knee and opened the flip-lighter. A couple flips of his thumb against the metal wheel, and a small flame was produced. Nice, now this next part would be very delicate. He held the flame carefully against the lowermost log and waited for the flame to take hold. After a few moments of waiting, the log slowly but surely began to glow brighter and hotter as flames began to overtake it completely.
"Hey Jess, remember all those times you called me a 'caveman'?" he jokingly asked her, "Well, this caveman just made you a fire!" He closed the fireplace door and rose back to his feet, while also pocketing the flip lighter.
"Very nice, bravo," Jess said with a small clap of her hands. Mike then turned around to gaze upon his girlfriend's form, now beautifully illuminated by the fire's glow. He had to admit, she was right when she said to make a fire for the two of them. It did feel that much more toasty and cozy now, and damn did she look good in this glow. It was starting to make him feel all fuzzy inside too! But, for the sake of it he contained his excitement and spoke evenly.
"Alright, my lady," he said, "What comes next?" Jess' mouth opened to say something, until she stopped. Under the light of the fire, Mike could see clearly that she must've been thinking of something. She couldn't possibly still be hung up about losing her phone, could she?
"I think..." she started, "Well I... I wish we had some booze." Booze? While that did sound good in Mike's mind, at this point in time it was sounding like a bit of an inconvenience.
"Uh... well," he said, struggling to think of what to respond to that with, "If I'd known that ahead of time-"
"I don't know..." Jess continued, "I'm kinda just... just not feeling it, you know?" Not feeling it? Well that was certainly a bit of a buzzkill. And here Mike was, doing all this work, and now ready to get things going!
"Maybe..." he said, slowly taking a seat next to Jess, "We just need to... jump into it, you know? Like, jumping into a swimming pool!"
"What?" Jess said, her eyes furrowing with confusion this time.
"Maybe we should start with a little, you know, making out, and see where it goes from there!" Mike smiled inwardly as he finished his rehearsed line. If that didn't get him a home run, then nothing would!
The look of confusion faded almost instantly, which put a bit of a damper on Mike's hopeful feeling.
"Seriously?" she said, "Did you think that same line was gonna work again?"
Aw, crap.
So Jess did remember, especially when Mike had used this same line last year on Hannah. Of all the things that he was hoping to be forgotten, he had hoped that this would've been one of them. As a result, Mike was left with his pride slightly wounded.
"I mean," he said before shrugging, "Worked before..."
"Dick brain," Jess said, giving his shoulder a playful push, "You gonna use that same line on next year's girl who finds 'my' initials in a tree?"
"Oh, ouch...!" Mike mockingly exclaimed. Just to add insult to injury, she had to bring that back up! And, 'next year's girl'? Well, that certainly wasn't gonna happen because, Jess is the only one for Mike now! He shook his head a little and looked back into his girlfriend's eyes. Surprisingly, her eyes weren't filled with quizzical amusement as they looked back into his. They felt a little 'softer' this time, gazing upon him gently. And Mike found himself smiling a little in turn, as he knew his charm was working. In spite of him being a 'dick brain' as Jess called it, she still loved him for it.
As he slowly began to lean his head closer towards hers, Jess' eyes suddenly furrowed a little before she spoke again.
"Mike... the shutters." And just like that, Mike felt his spirit sinking again at yet another delay. He glanced over her shoulder towards the aforementioned shutters on the far wall, still brightening the room with their natural glow of the moonlight.
"What about them?" he asked skeptically.
"Um, close them, please?" Jess said in a tone as if punctuating the obvious. This was further shown by her beginning to fidget her hands in front of her body, as if she herself was nervous. What did she have to be nervous about though?
"Wha- There's no one out there!" Mike reminded her.
"I-I feel like someone's watching us," Jess said with a shake of her head, "I don't like it!"
"Jess, really, it's fine-" Mike tried to reassure her. Unfortunately, his tone seemed to be lost on her completely, as her worried frown only seemed to intensify.
"I really don't like it," she emphasized. Seriously, windows of all things was gonna keep this from happening now?
"Oh-kay then, shutters it is," Mike said, trying to keep his resigned sigh as contained as he could. He slowly stood up from the couch and made his way back over to the window. As he stood in front of it, yet another glance through it told him that there was still nothing out there at all. Nothing besides the wooden porch and the thick line of trees in the distance. Nevertheless, Mike took hold of the the right shutter and closed it, then did the same for the other side. The effect was almost immediate and noticeable: moonlight was drastically reduced in intensity, with only the fireplace providing any sort of light in the entire room.
"Viola, shutters are shutted," he said as he turned back around to make his way back over to Jess, "Now, where were we...?" The sole light of the fireplace also seemed to make Jess herself glow all the more in the dark of the room. Mike could really see much more of his girlfriend all the more clearly. However, it was in this way that he could suddenly see her facial features twisting into greater worry.
"I'm sorry, I... ugh," she stammered, "I'm sorry, I think... I'm a little freaked out and it's hard for me to like, keep this up, and-" Mike's earlier suave cockiness melted away the more Jess spoke, instead replaced with equal concern.
"What, what's wrong?" he quickly took a seat back down next to Jess. Was she sorry for something? Was she still hung up about losing her phone?
"Look Mike, you've known me for a long time; I act all super confident, and like a total sexy babe and everything, but underneath? I gotta be honest," Jess explained, growing more and more unsteady in her words the more she spoke, "I'm... really kinda insecure..."
And just like that, Mike's prideful cockiness washed away, forgotten completely in this moment. His girlfriend wasn't feeling, what, confident in herself? Even looking at her right now, with that worried, even sad expression on her face, there was something going on here a little bit deeper than just 'I'm not feeling it'.
In fact, looking at her face more and more, Mike actually found himself being taken back, like way back. Back to around a year or so ago, after this whole 'Hannah and Beth' thing had happened. Having already broken things off with Em by that point was when Jess started to enter his life. Well, more closely into his life than before. And just like right now, she sported that look, that almost exact same look then as she had right now. That look of vulnerability, of wanting, of a need for... for something.
Of course Mike at the time was all too happy to accept her into his life, and even as a result Jess seemed to be a little bit happier. At the time he thought nothing of the transition of her personal demeanor, but now... Now it was almost starting to make a little more sense.
"Jess..." he started, but quickly paused. What exactly could he say to something like this? All these complicated feelings were something that he himself barely understood. But his girlfriend was clearly not feeling good about this and needed to hear something from him, but what could he...
In the midst of thinking about how she felt back then, he was also reminded of something else. He actually had never known back then that she was insecure about stuff. Neither before they got together, nor even after they officially became a couple! It was almost like... like she hid it so well! Like, she was really good at it! It was a long shot, a REALLY long shot, but maybe this could work...
"You gotta be kidding," he started.
"What?" Jess asked.
"You have nothing to be insecure about," he spoke, deliberately keeping his tone lower from before. It was time to actually sound like he gave a crap about this, rather than just saying it.
"Oh-" Jess said with a nervous laugh, "You have no idea..." For a brief moment Mike felt like what he was saying wasn't getting through, as if it would be pointless. But, he needed to keep his momentum going.
"No no, sure I do!" he insisted, "I mean, you're just like me, and everyone else. We're all insecure!" He thought back once again to how Jess was back during when they were officially dating; how much happier she was, and in turn made him. She was so much fun, full of energy, hilarious, and the sweetest girl he'd ever met! No matter what he felt about right now, he was absolutely sincere about those feelings in the past. Those were what he could say were absolutely true, and what he loved Jess about.
"But, you know how to handle yourself," he continued, "You might call it a front, but... it's real."
"Hm..." Jess' head tilted a little at his words. This was soon followed by the faintest of smiles, tugging at the corner of her lips, "Yeah... I guess I do." It was working! She was feeling a little better from the looks of it! Better to keep it going though.
"Yeah- and that's super fucking hot!" Mike added for extra measure.
"Really?"
"Yeah! Hell yeah!" By now Jess was smiling a little bit bigger; about the same smile she had when they first arrived on the mountain. When they met up with each other at the cable car station. When they shared that kiss...
Mike couldn't tell if he was smiling just as much as Jess was, whether from his apparent success with words or if Jess' smile was as infectious, he just did not care in that moment. By now, Jess' smile was positively beaming again. Combined with the gentle glow of the fire, only further accented her features and made her more pleasing to look at in his eyes.
"Come here..." she said, urging him to inch himself closer to her on the couch while she did the same. He reached down to take her left hand in his right, while his left hand gently caressed her shoulder. Her other hand slowly drifted along his side until it reached the edges of his own jacket, gently tugging at it enough to send the clear message, "Maybe I know how to handle you, too!"
"Well, I am definitely ready to be handled...!" he agreed, playful cockiness returning in full. His mind was practically alight with fireworks by now; all his hard work was about to finally pay off! Just a few more steps to go, and homerun, baby!
Following Jess' hand on his jacket, he brought his own hand up to grip its edges. His other hand reluctantly released Jess' hand to take hold of the padded jacket's zipper and pull it down completely. Slowly, almost agonizingly slow, the zipper finally reached the bottom and was free to be pulled apart from his upper body. He then tossed the jacket haphazardly to the ground, already immediately forgotten about as he turned his attention to the next clothing article to remove.
"Hold on, big boy," Jess stopped his motions suddenly. He looked at her in confusion at first, before smiling again as he realized her intent, "Let me get this for you..." She reached her hands up to just as painfully slowly unbutton each individual button of his long-sleeve plaid shirt. Seriously, why did this thing have to have this many buttons on it?! With each button she unbuttoned, she flashed him a smirk. The downside being that she purposely took her time in getting each one undone, not at all because they were difficult to undo.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the buttons on the front of his shirt were completely released. Unlike before however, Jess herself took initiative and pulled the shirt apart to behold his chest. Well, his undershirt was still on underneath it, but that would come off in time as well. Mike shrugged his arms out of the sleeves as Jess pulled the shirt off of him, then casually tossed it to the ground along with his jacket.
"Well now, Mike," Jess spoke up, "Since I was so kind to get your top off, maybe you could be so kind as to 'help' me with mine...?"
"Hm, your wish is my command, my dear...!" Mike all too eagerly replied. For the most part her jacket was similar to his own, with a single zipper running up the central front of it. Smiling cheekily, he decided to tease her by dragging the zipper just as slow as she had done to him. The more he pulled it down, the more he felt the need to restrain himself in the process. Damn it was just so hard to though, with Jess' body looking as smoking hot as this!
The zipper was cleared and the jacket was completely free to be removed. Mike helped Jess shrug her shoulders clear of the jacket entirely. That piece of clothing was added to the ever growing pile on the floor on the rug.
Now without her jacket on, Mike was finally free to get a clearer view of Jess' body underneath all that bulky winter clothing. She really did have a slim, slender body that most other girls would rightly be jealous of! And the way the fire's glow reflected off the white of her own tank top, she was practically glowing, almost like a candle herself! Mike mentally shook himself from his dumbfounded stare and regained his senses.
"See something you like, my lady?" Mike held his arms out to show off his upper body to Jess. In doing so he was vaguely aware of the small shiver that began to run up his spine and the outer edges of his arms. He quickly dismissed these feelings a little more than cold exposure and having taken most of his winter clothes off.
"Oh-ho, do I like it all!" Jess said with coy smirk, "However, I think I'd like something else, just a little more...?"
"Is that so...?" Mike said, climbing up onto the couch so that he practically hovered over her own body, "Well then, I would be more than happy to oblige the-"
CRASH!
Mike and Jess both let out gasps in surprise. Both nearly jumped to alert as something could be heard. The sound of something being smashed. It sounded distant, yet at the same time, in relative proximity to where they were...
Mike himself stood up from the couch, looking out around the corner to the other room. There was no other place that noise could've come from.
"Mike...?" he heard Jess whisper behind him, "What is that!?"
"I don't know...!" he whispered just as softly. A quick glance behind him showed that Jess had brought her legs up close to her chest and was huddling them as tightly to her as she could.
"Okay well go find out now, please!" she practically scream-whispered with a wave of her hand. Mike was now vaguely aware his own heart was racing in his chest as he stepped away from the couch. He reached down to pick up the flashlight he had set by the corner of the couch and turned it back on. He shined the light towards the stretch of the hallway that led to the other rooms, which bore much less light compared to the living room.
Still feeling a little freaked out himself, Mike cautiously made his way through the hallway. Looking directly in front of him showed him something fairly obvious. Small flakes of ice were flowing from... from the room directly to the left at the end of the hall? A shiver ran through his body yet again, and not just from how nervous he was feeling. A draft from the outside had opened up thanks to something. Something breaking in maybe?
Even the nearby small picture of someone on the wooden stool seemed to be posed in a way that was looking in that general direction. As Mike made his way closer, the cold nipping at his skin ever harder, his light showed him that the person in the picture was in fact Hannah! After all this time, he'd almost forgotten when she had looked like. She had tennis racket in hand and was dressed in a white t-shirt and visor, easily showing off that weird butterfly tattoo she had gotten at some point. It's like she herself was staring to the left, with that open-mouthed expression of surprise on her face.
Looking in that direction himself, it was not at all hard to see why. The room itself was a bedroom, with a large bed on the left side and a window with closed shutters on the right. Directly forward was what looked like a bathroom with its own window, except this one was totally broken! It was completely shattered with snow and wind flowing in, as if something had smashed in from outside! The cold chill on Mike's arms only grew the closer he walked into the room. What if it was like some creature, like a raccoon that broke its way in? Just what the two of them needed; on top of this broken window letting all the cold in, now they'd have to worry about some animal running around while they were-
Mike's train of thought halted almost as quickly as he himself did. Shining his flashlight upon the ground, at the threshold of the bathroom's door, he saw something that stuck out from the shards of broken glass on the small rug. He reached down and picked up the small pink object in his fingers. As he did, he could feel a small sense of relief in his own being, as he'd no doubt predict Jess would have upon hearing of this.
He turned around to call out to her, only to find that she had gotten up and had followed behind him. She now stood just outside the bedroom door in the hallway, looking in at him.
"It's your phone!" he announced. He turned his head back to the shattered window.
"What?" he heard Jess say behind him, "How is it my phone?!" That was a good question Mike had to admit.
"I don't know, it just... came through the window..." His eyes scanned all outside at all he could see. Could it have been thrown in somehow? Maybe he could thank whatever it was that did this for saving him and Jess the trouble!
Mike could hear Jess' footsteps approaching his position. With a smirk on his face he turned and prepared to hand the phone back to her. What he was not expecting to see was the annoyed, almost pissed off look she bore on her face as she practically snatched it out of his hand.
"Oh for FUCK'S sake," she practically exclaimed, "Goddammit!"
"What?!" Mike asked, thoroughly confused by this sudden change in her demeanor.
"That bitch, Emily!" she wagged her finger in front of her and him, "She probably followed us out here to fuck with us! And just when we were getting down to business!" Her mouth opened as if to continue ranting, until with a huff she spun around in place and practically stormed out the room.
"Jess-?" Mike called after her. He had to admit, with all they had been through this evening with something chasing them, he had almost forgotten about Emily. He knew she could be stubborn, almost as much as he could, but to really follow the two of them out here? That would take guts, he had to admit.
As he prepared to follow after her and leave the room, Mike's gaze drifted to the right side of the bathroom door. There he saw a small wooden dresser propped up against the wall, with a book laying on top of it. But what really drew his attention was what exactly this book's title was.
"No... fucking... way!" Mike's grin practically exploded as he hastily picked up the Kama Sutra in his hand. THE Kama Sutra, the book with all those crazy sex positions learned throughout the ages?! He quickly skimmed through a couple of the pages, as the book itself very quickly proved to be anything but subtle. Page after page was filled with varying positions, each one Mike viewed only fueled the steadily growing blush on his face, "Oh HELL yeah! These guys were inventive!" With one more page turn, and one more 'important life lesson' added to his sex conquest knowledge, Mike finally closed the book.
It was at this time that yet another distant noise could be heard. The sound of a door slamming open?
"Hey! Yeah, BITCH!" Mike's eyes widened Jess' shout could be heard from even a couple rooms away. What the hell was she doing?! "That means you! I know you're out there! What the fuck are you trying to do?! You wanna ruin our fun that bad?" Mike felt himself frozen in place, almost disbelieving what he was hearing a few rooms over! After a few moments that felt like an eternity, he shook himself from his dumbfounded state. As bold yet hot as what Jess was doing, it was probably gonna let more wind and snow in if she was going out there and leaving the door open.
He did however spare one more glance down at the book he held in his hands. The actual treasure trove of sexy times that this thing would promise the two of them...
"Heh, this would make for 'sizzling erotica...'!" he said to himself. With that he held the book in his hand with his flashlight held in the other. As he walked out of the room Jess' ranting continued to be heard from down the hall.
"Well guess what? You can't!" she called out, "You can't ruin our good time! Because Michael and I are gonna FUCK! That's right, we are going to have sex! And it's gonna be hot! So enjoy it, because I know we're going to!"
Jess' tirade sounded like it wrapped up around the same time he himself had emerged from the hallway. What he saw right now nearly made his eyes bulge out of his sockets. There, standing a little in the open doorway of a wooden cabin, facing a fierce windy storm outside, was Jessica Riley, screaming at her 'romantic rival' about how he and her were about to 'fuck'. Cold as it may have been on this night, Mike could swear he had never been more 'at attention' than he was in this very moment! His girlfriend was absolutely something else, and he loved her for that!
Jess herself was moving herself back indoors and closing the door behind her. Her little shouting contest must have taken a lot out of her because she was still huffing the entire time as the door closed.
"Give me a break...!" she said. And just like that, the excitement had run its course. If Emily was actually out there 'fucking with them', then Mike would definitely make sure to apologize to her the next time he'd get a chance. As for Jess on the other hand... He had a smoking hot girlfriend to shack up with! As well as some hot sex positions to try out, courtesy of your local Kama S-
The entire world suddenly exploded in a burst of sound. Glass shattering filled the air, but that was quickly drowned out by the sound of Jessica screaming. She was being pulled, all the way up so her feet weren't even touching the ground, as if trying to squeeze her through the broken panels! Jess' blood-curdling screams filled the air even as she locked eyes with Mike, all the way up to when she was pulled completely through the window, her screams echoing into the dark, cold of the night...
Ashley tentatively rose from her chair, her nerves were beginning to calm down a little bit. Everything that had happened just now was so crazy, but she wasn't feeling so freaked out by it all happening by this point. Before stepping away from the table she reached over and took one of the lit candlesticks in her hand to light the way in front of her.
"And you really think she was... communicating with us?" Chris said behind her as he rose from his seat as well. His question caused her to stop in place from exiting the room. That was a good point; a spirit itself talking to her was crazy in itself, but that it was basically telling her to do something felt even more insane.
"I don't know..." she admitted, "I don't know if I wish she were, or I wish she weren't." Chris motioned a hand towards the stairs that would lead out of the room and down a level.
"I guess we should find out..." He made his way down the stairs in front of her. Ash followed close behind, her candle providing a small amount of light around her.
"Josh looked really freaked out at the seance," Ashley said as she stepped down the steps. She continued to see familiar image of the boy's panicking face in her mind, even as she focused on the real world in front of her.
"Yeah, I mean he looked like he was barely keeping it together, but..." Chris agreed.
"Do you think we shouldn't have mentioned his sisters?" Ash asked.
"That is why we all came back up here," Chris reminded her.
"Yeah, but not to, like... have a seance," Ash clarified, "Maybe we went too far..." The two were silent from that point on, allowing them to be with their own thoughts.
By now they had reached the bottom of the winding stairs and were back on the ground floor. The library itself was just before them. Before she had officially come up to the lodge this evening, Ashley had promised herself to visit this part of Josh's place at least once. An avid book-reader, she was floored by how many books there were to find in his library. She was certain she'd spend many hours at a time reading through any one book she'd find here.
As it was however, after the whole seance thing and Josh storming off like he did, her mood for book-reading had soured a little bit. It was probably best to sort all that out first before getting to what she wanted. Which of course meant finding this 'proof' the spirit had told them to look for here.
Ash held the candle out a little to shine light out towards the walls. The only thing that greeted her was the illuminated images of books on bookshelves, and really big pictures of strange Indian men. Aside from them and the occasional decorative plant found in various places, nothing seemed terribly out of the ordinary. Definitely not something that something like a spirit would call attention to at least. Maybe there was something in the adjacent room; Josh's dad's office if Ash were to guess.
She and Chris entered the office space preparing to look around, when a loud, almost deafening sound filled the small space. Both Chris and Ash jumped in surprise as to what had just happened.
"GAH! Chris-!" she herself exclaimed. Just like that, it was all over, and she was left to see what exactly had just happened. Right next to the two of them, on a bookshelf opposite the mahogany desk, a couple of books seemed to have fallen off of the shelf and hit the ground. Of all the things to give her a scare, "Holy crap!"
"You okay?" Chris said.
"I think so..." Ash replied. She tentatively looked up to where the books had just been, and the void they left. Or rather, something else, "Look. There's something behind the books!" She held the candle up to light up the small darkness within the shelf, "What is that?"
"Is that a button?" Chris asked. The small black button lay in the middle of a silver metal panel, which contrasted from the wood of the surrounding wall.
"Why would there be a button?"
"That's a good question," Chris shrugged.
"Should I push it?" Ash asked.
"That's what buttons are for, I guess..." Chris motioned towards the button. The girl slowly approached the button and pressed a single finger to it. It depressed once with a click, and for a second nothing happened. It was then however the two could hear the sound of small rumbles within the wall of the shelf. This was followed by the wall and its shelf suddenly shifting back by an inch or two!
"Oh, panel opens...!" Chris remarked as the panel wall suddenly began to slide behind one of the shelves beside it, "Head explodes!" The two were the beheld to a completely new room before them! Some sort of secret passage or hiding spot?
"Are we like, in a movie right now?!" Ashley said. This was starting to look like it was straight out of one of those old movies, with the hidden rooms and everything!
"If we are, I hope it's a rom-com!" Chris off-handedly remarked.
"Leave it to the Washingtons to have secret passages in their house!" Ash added.
"Well... maybe they didn't know, this place is super old..." Chris said.
"So..." Ash held the candle's light up in a vain attempt to see into the dark of this new room, before looking back at Chris, "Should we take a look?"
"After you!"
"Oh, no nonono," Ash reacted on instinct. She hated really dark places, and there was no way she'd go in there by herself! Instead she held the candle up to Chris, "You go!"
"Oh gee, thanks," Chris replied sarcastically, yet took the candle from her hand regardless. With that he took steps of his own into the dark space.
Slowly but surely, the dark was dispelled by the light of the candle. This clearly showed the room itself was small enough that light didn't need to travel far to light most of it up. As such Chris was afforded a fairly easy view of what lay within. Turning to his right and looking up, he could see a set of cobwebs in the upper corner with what looked to be a spider upon it as well. All in all, maybe this was like some storage closet, that they chose to have as like a 'secret passage'.
However, his attention was drawn to what he found on his left. Another shelf of books stood up against the wall, with a single desk sitting directly in front of it. Nothing lay upon the top of this desk except for a single picture of two familiar girls.
Chris reached down to lift the picture of closer. Hannah and Beth were both posing in the picture, with the former's butterfly tattoo showcased on her right shoulder.
"Huh..." he muttered even as he flipped the card over. Instantly what greeted him was the outright scary image of words, scrawled in harsh writing. Their color was stark red, almost blood red, and all capitalized, "Whoa, this is..."
"What? What did you find...?" he was certain her could hear Ash ask from behind him. But what he remained focused on was what was written out possibly in blood right before him.
'I'm gonna take them and bleed them like pigs and rip their soft white skin off!' the note read, 'Fucking 16 years. 16 years I waited for pretty little Hannah and Beth!'
"Holy cow..." Chris breathed. Slowly he turned in place until Ash came into his view, standing in the passage's doorway, "Now Ash, I don't wanna freak you out, but... L-look at this!"
"What? Chris what is that?" Ashley pointed to the paper he held in his hand.
"I... I think this is what we were meant to find," Chris admitted.
"The clue?!"
"Yeah, it's a letter!" Chris gestured to the note.
"Let me see it!" Chris reached out to hand the note to Ashley, who took it hastily.
"It's... a threat," Chris said, recalling the blood-red words practically scratched into the small piece of paper. Before him Ash's eyes widened in further horror as she read the note herself.
"Chris, this is serious!" she said, "We need to find Josh right now!" She motioned for him to follow and Chris just as quickly exited the passage space. He wasn't about to show it in front of Ash, but he was starting to feel a little freaked out himself here too. While he was still uncertain what to believe with that Spirit Board, what he did know for certain was that something wasn't right here, in the form of this threatening letter. Possibly someone wrote this, who knew about the two girls, and for sixteen years? This was all starting to feel a little-
"What the..." His train of thought was broken when he and Ash entered the main library again and looked forward. Another source of light could be seen aside from the candle he held in his hand. A source of light... shining through the floor, "Do you see that there?"
"Chris...? What is that?" Ash asked silently. The boy silently yet quickly made his way over to the light source; rays of light shining through a floor grating. He lifted the grating up with his free hand and was rewarded with the light shining a little brighter, if only blocked further by wooden boards of the floor itself.
"Whoa..." he softly said before glancing towards Ash, "You seeing this?"
"Light...? From below?"
"But, the power's not even on," Chris noted, "What could that be from?"
"I dunno... weird," Ash said with a shake of her head. Chris gently lowered the grate back down to its original position. As he turned to look back up at Ash, he noticed something else. Past her against the wall, the door leading to the entry hall and the rest of the house was open. He frowned a little, as he didn't recall it being open before. Nonetheless after a shrug of his shoulders, he made his way through the open door, with Ash following close behind him. The light from the candle in hand easily dispelled the dark of the hall in front of them.
"Do you think someone was really after Hannah and Beth?" he heard Ash ask behind him.
"If so, that would be really messed up," he said. Who would want to hurt those two anyway? They were some of the sweetest, nicest girls that Chris knew. There's no way that people like them could possibly make enemies with... well, anyone.
The stretch of the hallway was briefly broken with another smaller room before the next door. In this room lay more paintings of strange Indian people, as well as more cloth-covered furniture. In addition was a small end table standing against the wall, but something else about it drew Chris' attention.
Contrasting against the dark of the table lay something stark white. A piece of paper with something scribbled on the front in dark ink. Curiously, Chris reached over to inspect the paper closely.
'Saw that crazy guy again. Thursday 9:17 PM- hanging around the generator shed. I'm gonna start keeping a record.'
"Crazy guy?" Chris said. He flipped the note over to inspect the other side, and was greeted with much different writing. It was a written and printed email, with the extravagantly designed W in Washington found in the heading, "Looks like this was written by Josh's mom." Chris felt Ash step up beside him to inspect the letter herself.
"Yeah... looks like she's making an effort to make things right with some... Native Tribe, or something?" she said. From the looks of this letter, her assessment was not that far off.
"Yep, but bad karma goes back a long way..." Chris remarked as he put the note back down on the table. As he and Ash made their way to the room's adjacent door, something did enter his mind. The fact that what might've been Josh's mom had written down that little note about a 'crazy guy' on the back of her own written email? And which Thursday was this exactly? Does Josh know about it at all? The more he thought about it, the more questions started to pile up in his mind. And sadly none of them made any more sense the more he tried to think about it.
Leading the way, Chris proceeded through the next open door which took the two into the main entry room of the lodge. The next room would be the joining living room, directly in front of them. There were few other places Josh could've gone to at this rate. He did agree with Ash, he had to be made aware of this letter. If this guy had something to do with the girls' fate last year, what's to say he might not finish the job? He had to have known they weren't alone in this lodge after all. With the eight of them here...
"So, um..." Chris suddenly spoke up. As he entered the living room he slowly came to a stop and turned to face Ash, "I've just been thinking about something. And, it might have to do with something I saw earlier with Sam."
"What?" Ash asked.
"Well, back when we were down at the cable car station," Chris explained, "We saw this wanted poster, like full on western style, you know? Except, the face part of it was ripped off, and we couldn't see who exactly it was that was 'wanted'. Only that they'd been so for like the last... fifteen, sixteen years or something."
"So...?" Ash asked again, nervously.
"And... Sam really did think there was someone following her around..." Chris further clarified.
"So... so what you're saying there's some... criminal, on the mountain with us?" Ash said. The tone in her voice did not at all suggest she was at ease with knowing this information. Unfortunately, Chris had more she had to hear, and none of it would be anymore pleasant.
"Not only that, but..." he continued, "When I was searching for the Spirit Board, I heard a message on Josh's answering machine. And... It was from this sergeant, saying there was this guy that had gotten out of prison... and there was nothing he could do-"
"W-what do you mean?!" Ash said.
"He was saying it like... like a warning," he said, recalling the slight concern in the tone of the man's voice he remembered hearing, "I mean, just a really crazy, random thought here, but... what if that's who was down in the basement?"
"WHAT?!" Ash's eyes practically bugged out from her head.
"J-Just a though, Ash, like I said-!" Chris held a hand out to assure her, "It'd make sense though, wouldn't it? There being some light coming up from below when no others on? And we also got that crazy psycho letter that somebody obviously made," he gave a quick point to the letter Ash still held in her hand, "Come on, Ash, even you gotta admit; there's something really weird going on here, isn't there?"
"Chris, if this is you're way of trying to make me feel better, you're fired."
Her response caused Chris to shake his head with a sigh. What else could he have said though? Or, was there some better way this info could've been relayed to her? As he opened his mouth to reassure her again, a noise drew their attention.
Nearby the dual doors leading to the next room suddenly shook in place. This was quickly followed up by the sounds of someone making noise, like grunting.
"You hear that?" Chris said, "Coming from the kitchen-!"
"That was Josh!" Ash was already running to the kitchen doors. She slowly opened one of the doors, and the sound of Josh's screams could be heard louder and clearer. Ashley slowly poked her head through the door, "JOSH-!"
All of a sudden, she was violently pulled into the room by something. The door just as quickly shut right behind her, Ash's cries of struggles being heard muffled as well.
"Whoa! ASHLEY!?" Chris was already running to the door and gripping the doorknob. Unfortunately the knob was refusing to turn for some reason! How had it locked just now?! Chris could feel his heart beating harder and rapidly in his chest the more he in turn struggled.
"Ash, what's going on?!" he tried to call out, only to be met with the sound of her continued grunts on the other side. Something, or someone else was over there, with her and Josh?! "Lemme in, come on...!"
He continued to twist the doorknob as hard as he could in all directions, but still to no avail. After a few more moments of struggling on his part, he suddenly became vaguely aware that nothing more could be heard on the other side of the door anymore. Rather than be reassured, Chris' panic only began to increase, in addition to his frustration at being unable to open a single door! There was only one other way this door would be opening at this rate, and Chris would have to remind himself to apologize to Josh for this as well later.
"I'm..." He shoved his body weight into the door as hard as he could once.
"Gonna..." Another shove, but the door held firm still. Chris mustered up as much strength as he had, as well as what he didn't even know he had, and threw his whole weight into the door. He let out a yelp of surprise as he ended up sprawled on the floor of the kitchen, the door having finally given way to his forceful entry.
With the wind temporarily knocked out of him, Chris tried to pull himself to his feet and off of his stomach. The only thing he could see directly in front of him was the cold, unforgiving floor, with no signs of Josh nor Ash to be seen.
"Ash...?" Having pulled himself to his feet, his eyesight refocused on what was directly in front of him, Chris caught sight of the familiar form of Ash. She was just laying down on the ground, clutched in the fetal position with her back facing him, "ASH!"
The next few moments went by in a blur for Chris. The last thing he remembered seeing was a very unfamiliar figure suddenly popping out of nowhere, its fist flying at his face. Try as he might, he failed to do anything before everything around him went black.
-And there we have it, the next chapter with some 'creative alterations' as I saw fitting, while at the same time keeping in with the same familiar narrative. If many of you are one the edges of your seats right now, then the only thing I can say is to buckle in, because it's about to get a whole lot crazier! Be back soon and keep on reading!-
