Hey Hey Hey everybody! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter, much appreciated, and here's the new one! I read each and every review just so you guys know and I take it all into consideration.
Oh, and to IeatBooksForTea, I am reading Totem Poles as well :D I love it, it's really good. I suggest to anyone who wants to get into MattxJessica to go give it a read. It's still updating, of course, but the writer is amazing and has a vocabulary and just writing skills that far surpass mine.
Here's a link actually: Okay, for some dumb reason it's not letting me link the page, so just go google it. Please
Doth not the internet have such convenience?
Oh, and I don't know if you guys have heard of something called the Until Dawn Awards, but it's actually a thing. This guy made a fanfic dedicated to find different fanfictions and give them awards based on their story. I was nominated (surprisingly) for Best Non-Canon Story, which is awesome! Thanks to Artemis Hunter for nominating me!
Here's the link to his page: Okay, for some dumb reason it's not letting me link the page, so just go google it. Please!
There's more information there, but I'm pretty sure voting starts during December. Hopefully y'all will send me a pity vote or two. And if you want me to win, be sure to send the word out to your friends. And your friends friends. And your friends friends grandma's friends.
Lol... anyways, to the story!
Chris grimaced as the weight he was carrying on his shoulders was becoming increasingly more difficult to muster. Mike was always a big guy, but there was never a situation in life where Chris could have possibly foreseen himself carrying the boy. Especially when they were under attack by some crazed killer.
Yeah. Life was good.
Josh had been rambling the whole time ever since they had gotten the news from Matt and Jessica. It made Chris a little bit uneasy; having an unstable Josh and an unconscious Mike wasn't really a great help in the middle of a crisis.
"Hey Josh?" Chris managed to squeak out as they trudged through the snow, the small crystals of ice falling down slowly from the heavens. The night had lulled to a peaceful standstill; no more random raging storms and no more, well, no more nothing. It was just falling snow.
Josh didn't respond. He was twiddling his thumbs, speaking under his breath as his body switched into auto-pilot. He was thinking, and yet he wasn't. He was trapped in a vortex within his mind that pulled him violently to different sides, trying to bring him to one of them. But no. They weren't getting him any time soon. He could outsmart them. Outlast them. He knew them.
"Josh!" Chris said more firmly this time, snapping the boy back into reality. Josh shook his head, making a noise of confusion until he looked around himself, noticing that Chris was carrying Mike.
"Ah, sorry Chris." Josh mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Zoned out for a few moments there. Are you okay carrying Mike?" Josh wondered.
Chris grinned, happy that Josh had come back to the real world, until he realized the baggage he was still carrying around.
"I'll be fine I think. Mike should be coming too soon enough...Right?" Chris asked, the unsure tone clear in his voice. Josh shrugged, placing his hands up in defense.
"Sorry, I'm not a doctor unfortunately." Chris sighed while Josh laughed halfheartedly, and the rest of the walk to the cable car station was mindless chatter and checkups on Mike. The two boys hadn't come to terms with accepting the fact that there could be a murder on the lose on the mountains.
The duo, and Mike, arrived at the cable car station soon enough. Chris leaned Mike against a wall, relieved to take a breath as he wiped a hand against his sweaty brow. Josh patted him on the back before approaching
"The hell..." Chris heard Josh mutter. Curiously Chris walked up behind Josh, leaning over his shoulder to see what the boy was looking at.
In his hands was an axe, an axe that should not have been at the cable car station. Josh was sure of that much as he held the weapon in his hand, wondering if it had been planted there or not.
"Well, this will be good to hold on to." Josh concluded, earning a nod of agreement from Chris. With the axe in his left hand, Josh moved to open the door with his right, finding that it was locked. "Oh joy."
"What, is it locked?" Chris wondered. Josh stepped out of the way, letting his friend try for himself. So, of course, Chris complied and gave the door his own whirl. But when he found himself stuck in a rut, he groaned.
"We seem to have a lot of problems with locked doors." Chris grumbled. Josh laughed, shaking his head as he shifted the axe around in his hands, putting both of them on the grip.
"Take a step back, Christopher. Things are going to get wild." Josh laughed, pulling the axe back before taking a swing at the door. Chris leaped back in surprise, yelping as he fell to the floor, landing near Mike's unconscious body.
Josh laughed as he continued to tear away at the door until it finally burst open. With a sigh of relief, Josh wiped his forehead and smiled in contentment, turning to flash Chris a cheeky smile.
"And that, ladies and gents, is how you break down a door." Chris shook his head before he grabbed Mike by his arms, pulling his body into the cable car station, following behind Josh who had already entered.
But when the duo entered the cable car station, they noticed that everything had been swept away. The station was had objects and items laying about, knocked over from their original position.
"Jesus..." Chris mumbled as he set Mike on the floor. He rubbed his hands together quickly, his fingers rather chilly from the winter air.
"What the hell happened here?" Josh asked as he looked around the station. As he was analyzing the area, he glanced through a window to another room to notice red writing on the walls reading: "Die?"
Josh had mumbled it carelessly, but Chris had picked it up, and immediately turned his head over to see where Josh was looking. Once he saw the writing, he yelped in fear, stumbling backwards in shock.
"What...What the hell? Who would write that?" Chris yelped. All Chris could think was the possibility was that there was blood painted on the wall. Whose blood was that? Where did it come from? How had it gotten there? "Holy shit..."
Josh's eyes hadn't left the blood. The voices started to talk to him again. He had tried to tell them off for a bit, but they were really smart. Like, really smart. They always knew exactly what to say to him so that he would be right back in their pockets, like some a pencil or an eraser.
But that was okay with Josh. He had tried going on his own, but it just wasn't really a fun time. But they knew exactly what to do! And it amazed Josh! He should have never left them. But they're back, so it's okay.
Hannah. One of the voices chirped in. Josh shook his head.
"N-No way. That's definitely not Hannah's..." Josh couldn't force himself to say it. His voice caught in his throat as the voices continued to spawn ideas.
Josh's head started hurting as he grunted, moving his hands to his temples. Another groan escaped his lips. It was really starting to hurt. Like, really badly.
"Josh?" Chris watched worriedly from the sidelines as Josh stared at the red color on the wall. Chris was pretty sure that it wasn't blood, after thinking about it for a few moments. But Josh hadn't even looked away from it yet. "Hey, Josh?" Chris slightly raised the voice, but there was no response from the boy.
Instead, he was rambling under his breath. Chris couldn't hear what he said, and he assumed that it probably wasn't even intelligible. The boy swallowed nervously.
"Josh!" Chris practically yelled, but it was enough to snap Joshua back into reality. With a flinch Josh turned to Chris with wide eyes. "Calm down Josh, it's just me. Just me." Chris cooed, holding his hands up defensively.
Josh didn't respond for a few seconds, but eventually he nodded slowly, before a 'normal' look appeared on his face.
"Whoops, sorry Chrissy Poo, zoned out for a few minutes." Josh chuckled halfheartedly, but Chris managed a smile in response. "Now, seems like we have quite a problem. Who could have done this?" Josh wondered as he looked around the area, slightly angry that somebody had messed up the cable car station so badly.
Chris shrugged, the haunting feeling coming back as quickly as it had left.
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's the person who attacked Mike." Chris suggested with a shaky breath. He looked out to the cable car to see it in the middle of the pulley. "Aw crap!" He cried.
"What?" Josh asked, turning to look at Chris. The boy motioned to the cable car, and Josh in turn followed, noticing that, in fact, there was no possible way to access the cable car. "Dammit. He must have known..." Josh mumbled, shaking his head.
"Do you have any ideas?" Chris asked, scratching his head. Josh practically owned the mountain, so he assumed that Josh knew how things worked around there.
Josh nodded, turning to face the room with the red writing on the walls. When the voices tried to come back, he shook his head fiercely. They were fun, but they weren't really helping the situation at the moment.
"Yeah." Josh replied as he moved into the room he, by this point, despised. But it was the only escape from the killer on the mountain.
So with a deep breath he opened the door and entered the room. Chris followed behind with a gulp, leaving Mike in the other room. He really hadn't forgotten him, per say...
Okay, he had forgotten him.
He noticed a poster hanging on the wall, and in curiosity, moved to take a look. It depicted a map that had something that intrigued him.
"Fire tower?" Chris mumbled to himself. "This might be a good thing." If there was no way to access the cable car, which seemed unlikely by that point since Josh knew what he was doing, they could head there. Most likely there would be a radio they could call for help with.
"Fuck." Chris heard Josh curse loudly. He held in a sigh, realizing that Josh's tone signaled that something had gone wrong. "The keys are nowhere to be found. Whoever is targeting us must have taken them. Dammit!" Josh cursed again, slamming his hand against the wall. This was bad. Really bad.
"Wait Josh. I have an idea." Chris said, pointing to the fire tower on the map. "Look, there's a fire tower. We could find a radio and get in touch with somebody who could help us." Chris explained.
Josh moved to get closer, not noticing the faint red coloring on Chris' face from the closeness.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Chris' thoughts raced wildly as he tried to force down the heat in his face. This was not good. Not good at all! If coming to terms with the fact that you were flaming homosexual was bad enough, having a crush on Josh of all people must have been the Devil's work.
Josh remained oblivious to the whole situation, feeling Chris' quickening breaths on the side of his neck. It sent a warm shiver down his spine, he noticed.
Eventually he located the fire tower on the map and nodded.
"I agree. That's probably our best option to get the hell out of here?" Josh agreed, moving away from Chris to get a better look at the boy. When he noticed his cheeks were practically tomato in color, he knew something was off. "Jesus Chris, you look like you just crawled around in a furnace for five days. You feeling okay?" Josh asked, slightly worried. It would be extremely difficult to deal with a sick Chris and a knocked out Mike, as if the latter wasn't bad enough already.
Chris shook his head fiercely, making noises of protest. "Nope, I'm perfectly fine! Yep, so fine. Fine just like a fine...Fine." Chris chuckled awkwardly after that, Josh raising an eyebrow at his friend.
"Well, you're really fucking weird." Josh laughed as he exited the room, Chris grumbling behind him. "Now that that's done with, let's get Mike and zip right up to the fire tower." Chris hummed in agreement as he picked up Mike. Unfortunately the boy hadn't come to yet, but hopefully he would be awaking soon enough.
Unless.
"He's not dead, you think?" Chris wondered as he poked at the side of Mike's head curiously. Josh shook his head.
"Nope, he's breathing. He'll be with us a little longer." Josh replied as he left the cable car station, Chris in tow as they headed towards the fire tower. "Now let's head to a fire tower to escape a killer, why don't we?"
"Ah!" Chris cried as he covered his eyes. The security lights had came out of nowhere, and had done a great job of causing his eyes to smart. He groaned in pain, accidentally dropping Mike onto the ground with a thud. ""Aw, shit!" Chris swore as he reached down to pick up Mike, his eyes adjusting to the bright lights.
Josh laughed and shook his head. He had merely flinched at the lights.
"I thought glasses would help in this type of situation." Chris mumbled as he lugged Mike through the snow. His feet were starting to get cold from the long walk, and his fingers felt close to numb. The only thing keeping his hands warm was the body heat emanating off of Mike's practically lifeless body.
"How are we going to carry Mike all the way up?" Josh wondered out loud, looking up at the series of ladders. Chris felt his stomach churn at the seemingly endless amounts of ladders.
"Joy." Chris replied. How were they going to carry Mike all the way? Nevertheless, it was going to be one hell of a challenge.
The two boys stood at the bottom of the fire tower, pondering how they were going to get Mike up. They couldn't just leave him at the bottom. That would be so stupid. What if the killer came? Mike would be gone within an instant.
But carrying him all the way up would be extremely dangerous, let alone challenging.
"Wait!" Chris suddenly realized that he had still had the backpack he had gone to retrieve with Josh. He took it off of his back and opened up, beginning to sift through it for the item he was searching for.
"What is it?" Josh asked, kneeling down to get a look inside of his friends bag. He hadn't heard Chris' voice hitch.
Too close! Too damn close! Was all the boy could think as he forced himself to continue to search in the bag until he came across some rope.
"Here, I have some rope. Mike told me to bring it up, for some reason unbeknownst to me, but good thing he did! We can tie him to us and then lug him up all the way." Chris explained as he pulled out the long supply of rope. Josh sighed in relief as Chris handed the rope and he began unraveling it immediately.
"Thank God. Good work Chris." Josh said, his voice filled with relief as he began wrapping the rope around Mike. He fastened it tightly, double knotting it for safety purposes, before he rinsed and repeated the same steps on himself.
Soon enough the two boys were slowly climbing up the ladder as Mike hung midair a few feet down, kept upwards by the rope. Grunts and sounds of distress could be heard from both of the boys as the weight of Mike was getting increasingly more tough to carry with the passing moment.
"Oh my God this was such a bad idea." Josh said ironically, taking a deep breath as he forced himself to climb up another step. Chris was right behind him, finding himself in the same vigorous pain.
"Well there wasn't exactly anything else to do!" Chris reminded the boy, just praying that he wouldn't slip. If he fell, he'd be taking down Mike and Josh with him.
Josh sighed. "Sorry. Climbing ladders and lugging around a 'dead' body wasn't exactly my plan for this vacation." Josh laughed. It had a sad undertone, Chris noticed, but he didn't question the boy about it.
He was a little busy, ya know, carrying his unconscious friend up a fire tower to escape a murderous killer who had actually tried to kill the friend who is currently knocked out along.
...Yeah. It had been a long day for Chris.
Eventually the duo had scaled the fire tower and found themselves at the top. They entered a small room, immediately collapsing in side, catching their breaths from the long plight upwards. Mike drooped to the floor almost humorlessly, but nobody had the breath to laugh.
"Jesus," Josh panted as he lay against the floor, his eyes staring at the ceiling. "That was intense." Chris made a strangled noise in response. Josh decided not to comment.
Josh stood up first, deciding to give Chris a few extra moments to catch his breath. He looked around the small area, noticing a box on the wall. Curiously he walked over, realizing it was a container holding a flare gun.
"Good, after I connect to the park ranger I can use this for extra...Wait." If Josh shot the flare, that would mean that the killer would certainly see it. Maybe it was a better idea if he just held onto it for the time being.
Josh turned around to see Chris still sprawled across the floor. He shook his head, chuckling at his friends antics.
"Chris, get your ass in gear." Josh said, laughing louder when Chris groaned painfully in response. Used to his usual physical decline, he decided to take the initiative as he walked over to the radio.
After he fiddled around with it for a few moments, he attempted to connect with anybody. But when he was met with nothing but static, a eerie feeling crept up his back, making the hairs stand up on his neck.
Come on, come on, come on... Josh thought as he tried for a second time, just praying that it would eventually work. The voices tried to pipe in, but he forced them away. His psychiatrist told him that the voices were bad...Right? They were bad, they were bad, they were bad...
Josh shook his head. It was hard to keep focus under this type of situation. With a shaky exhale he tried to use the radio a second time. Then a third time. Then a fourth.
Then it worked.
"Hello...Hello?" The voice was frizzy and muffled, but in Josh's ears it was loud and clear. A rush of hope flew through him, chasing away the eeriness from before as he leaned in closer to the radio.
"Help! Help!" Josh yelled into the radio, the connection a little unstable as he heard the park ranger zip in and zip out, different bits of conversation appearing at the wrong time.
"Hello...Wrong...Sir?" Though Josh couldn't catch all of it, he caught the important parts.
"I'm Josh Washington. I'm staying at Blackwood Pines in a lodge with my friends." Josh spoke calmly, a drastic difference to how he usually acted in this type of situation. Maybe the stronger medicine was working. The voices weren't so persistent, anyways. "T-There's somebody else up here with us, and he t-tried to attack one of my friends." Josh felt his calmness slip away at the reality of the situation. He was in danger. His friends were in danger.
He wouldn't let what happened last year happen again.
"Listen Josh, I need you to stay calm. Gather up all of your friends...lodge...stay in th-... until dawn." Josh's eyes widened at the last part, and he, in frustration, slammed his hands on the desk.
"Dawn? Dawn?! Listen, sir, this is really bad! Like, really bad!" Josh yelled into the radio, all rational thought leaving his mind.
Suddenly the fire tower began to shake, and Josh stumbled backwards, looking around in surprise.
He felt himself slam into somebody, and looked around to see Chris standing behind him, his hands stopping him from toppling onto the floor.
"What's happening?" Josh yelled as he felt the fire tower began to tip over, items on the desks falling onto the floor, grouping together on the left side of the room.
"I think someone cut the support lines!" Chris explained, as the slight tipping of the tower suddenly increased drastically until the fire tower was falling down completely.
The screams of the two boys echoed into the winter night, never to be heard by anybody as the fire tower fell into the mines. What awaited these two was something they could have never anticipated.
Matt looked worriedly around the Washington lodge, praying that he would stumble upon Emily sooner or later. It must have been the thirtieth time he had scourged the bathroom, trying to find anything that could possibly give him a clue to where his friend could be.
When he came up with nothing, a guilty feeling filled up in his chest. If he had just went and got her instead of searching through that stupid secret passage none of the situation he was in would be happening. Or, at least, he would have Emily with him throughout it.
"Dammit." He cursed as he exited the bathroom, before he began frantically searching around the lodge for Jessica. He needed to look out for her too, since Emily had disappeared so easily. "Jess!" He called out, his voice bouncing off of the walls of the lodge, the worried tone clear in his voice.
"Yep?" Jessica replied from downstairs. She was currently sifting through the kitchen, hoping to find something of importance. It really didn't matter that she wasn't Emily's biggest fan. She certainly didn't want her dead.
"Sorry, just wanted to know where you were." Matt spoke in a calmer tone as he joined Jessica in the kitchen. "I guess you haven't found anything." Matt said glumly, sighing when Jessica shook her head in response.
"Don't worry Matt, Emily's smart. She knows how to get herself out of a tough situation." Jessica smiled warmly. The blond wasn't really sure if she had the right to say that. Of course she was right. Emily was a genius. But her lover, or extremely close friend, was already safe so she didn't need to worry. Matt didn't have that comfort.
Though, she didn't know if she could consider Josh and Chris 'safe'.
Matt smiled halfheartedly in response. It was forced. But he didn't want to dwaddle about the bad situation. They just needed to move forwards and find Emily. Thinking was not the same as doing.
"You think we should check the basement?" Matt suggested, the unease clear in his voice. The idea was smart, but a anxious feeling formed in the pit of Jessica's stomach.
"...Yeah. Let's go." So after a few uneasy first steps, the duo began their tread towards the basement, hoping to find any trace of Emily that could somehow lead them to her.
Jessica walked a small distance behind Matt, looking at all the junk and boxes that were gathered in the area. There wasn't too much of it, so it was rather easy to move about. Plus, if worst came to worst, Jessica would be able to dart out of there in an instant.
"Emily?" Matt called out, flashlight in hand as he looked around the barren basement. Hope was flowing through his body, keeping him moving. He would be content if he could find Emily. If she died because of him, the pain would be unbearable.
The walked through a hallway, this time Jessica in the lead because Matt had decided to loop back and recheck. As she neared a corner, she saw somebody.
Their body was almost... transparent. Jessica could see right through them, yet she could see them at the same time. Their features were muddled together, making the person very hard to describe.
But she did notice long hair.
"AH!" Jessica screamed as she stumbled backwards, the body disappearing in an instant. Matt immediately darted over, his heart racing fearfully at the loud cry.
"Jessica?!" He looked to see the girl standing in front of the door to the hallway. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were wide, the horrified gleam clear in her eyes. "What happened? What did you see?" Matt asked, his heart rate quickening as he felt himself mentally prepare for anything that could be coming down that hallway.
"Ghost! I saw a ghost, Matt! A-A real ghost!" Jessica cried, almost in a hysterical way.
Crap, is she hallucinating or something? Matt wondered as he placed his hands on her shoulders, moving so that he was looking her in the eyes.
"Listen Jess, there's a lot going on, and I just need you to calm down. You probably saw nothing." Jessica grunted in response and ripped out of his grip, shaking her head vigorously.
"I'm serious Matt! Don't give me that look! Don't give me that look like I'm crazy!" Jessica yelled, her voice escalating in loudness. Matt held his hands up defensively.
"I'm not, Jess!" He took a deep breath, settling his nerves slightly as his mind raced with ways to get out of this scenario. "Jess, come on, let's just take a deep breath okay."
"But!"
"I'm not saying you didn't see anything," Matt interjected, annoying Jessica slightly. "But I think we both need to take a deep breath. There's a lot going on right now, so it would be normal to see some weird things. I'll lead the way, so if we run into that ghost again, I can take it head on!" Matt grinned playfully, hoping that he hadn't pissed of Jessica any further.
Jessica shook her head, but giggled lightly. Her heart-rate was going down as she inhaled and exhaled, taking Matt's advice. She was just high on energy, was all. It was a long night, and was sure to be a longer one, so she just needed to stay calm.
The adrenaline rush slowly died down, but the creeping feeling of somebody around the basement was still there. It wasn't as intense as before though.
"Okay, okay. Sorry for the scare." Jessica scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. She was such an idiot. Ghosts didn't even exist! Duh!
...So then how did the spirit board move?
"It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright." Matt's warm smile sent a shiver down Jessica's spine, but it wasn't the haunting, creeping ones she received from the horrors of the last couple of hours. It was sweet, and warm instead of chilling.
Thankfully the boy didn't stick around to check out her blush. He was already moving onward through the hallway, causing Jessica to scramble to catch up with him.
The pair walked throughout the basement for another good while, still finding no trace of Emily. It was starting to get Matt down, but he was determined not to lose hope. At least he knew that Emily had to be somewhere on the mountain.
...Or maybe she would be better off not being on the mountain.
"Wow Matt, look at this!" Jessica's voice snapped Matt back to reality as he looked to his left to see the blond hunched over an old dollhouse.
Matt walked over, leaning over to get his own look. It was your average dollhouse. A white house with a brown roof made completely out of plastic, with four square cookie cutter windows and one door directly in the middle. It was perfectly made. Factory made.
"Amazing! It's a dollhouse!" Matt snickered sarcastically, earning a scowl from Jessica.
"No you dumb oaf! Look through the windows." Jessica explained as she peered through one of the windows. She couldn't see much, but there were different dolls placed specifically around the room.
"Huh. I still don't see your point." Matt said as he glanced through the window. After a few moments he moved away, not finding anything of interest as he resided to search around the basement to find anything of importance.
Jessica sighed as she moved away from the dollhouse, noticing the ghost lingering about in the middle of the room.
"There it is Matt!" Jessica cried as the ghost started suddenly moving. She quickly chased after it, leaving an exasperated Matt calling after her.
The ghost disappeared and Jessica found herself standing before a key that was hanging on the wall. Matt appeared behind her, shaking his head.
"Jess, what are you doing? There are no ghosts!" Matt said sternly, his nerves getting the better of him. He just needed to calm down. Just calm down. Calm down.
"It led me here..." Jessica mumbled as she reached for the key. Once it was in her hands, she zoomed past Matt towards the dollhouse in a craze like fashion.
Has she lost it? Matt thought as he, once again, found himself dashing after Jessica. She was standing before the dollhouse, key in hand as she inserted it into the top part of the house. The front part of the dollhouse opened up, springing outwards to the left.
"I knew it." Jessica said as she looked at the doll scene before her. The little plastic dolls were placed in different positions. Their eyes were dark black in color, and had black lines coming out of them.
At a closer inspection, Jessica realized that they were all recreations of everyone now. She was able to spot everyone, Matt, Mike, Emily, Ashley, Chris, and even herself, but there was someone else as well who she couldn't recognize.
And then it all clicked.
"What the hell is this?" Matt muttered, taking a little bit longer to connect the dots. It looked like some stupid attempt to scare the both of them. He had more pressing matters, anyways, like on how Jessica was seeing 'ghosts'. "Jess..."
"Hannah..." Jessica mumbled, her hand subconsciously reaching towards the doll. "That's Hannah. This is what happened last year. Somebody went and recreated the whole scene, perfectly." Jessica insisted, her hand still creeping towards the doll.
A shiver was sent spiraling down Matt's spine at the revelation. Someone had to take the time the make dolls of them, and them somehow gain information on what their specific set up was during the Hannah prank. How could have they possibly known? Why did they want to know?
"This is fucking horrifying..." Matt trailed off, not thinking that Jessica had picked up on what he had said. But she had, and a now terrified look adorned her face. It must have been even more scary due to the fact that she was believing that she had seen a ghost.
So, with a surge of faux confidence, Matt grabbed onto Jessica's shoulders. It was more forceful then the first time when she had her first run in with the ghost, but it wasn't so tight that it was confining or painful.
"Jessica, let's just calm down, okay? It doesn't matter what this guy's intentions are or that he's trying to creep us out or anything. All we need to do is get through this, okay? And I promise we will." Matt smiled warmly at the end, and Jessica felt herself melt under his touch. Her fears weren't put to rest, but she was definitely calmer then she was before.
"Thanks Matt. I needed that." Jessica admitted, chuckling afterwards in embarrassment. "Thank God you're here with me, or else I would be screwed. But seriously, thanks." Jessica said genuinely, a natural aura about her that made Matt feel rather calm as well.
Matt didn't realize he was staring. He merely associated with glancing or looking or whatever. He was just doing simple check up, really. Checking her features for any bruises or anything since the incident with Mike. She really was a pretty girl. Matt was happy for Mike, their personalities meshed pretty well. Though sometimes Jessica could be a tad overbearing, she always gave you the life of the party. The best part of Jessica she could give. And then sometimes, if you looked closely enough, you would realize that Jessica is just happy to be appreciated. That's all she ever wanted.
"Uh...Matt?" Matt immediately let go, his cheeks flushing slightly. He mentally scolded himself; he must have looked like some over attached friend or something.
"Oh, sorry. Just zoned out for a moment there." Matt chuckled awkwardly as he turned away from the girl, pretending to busy himself with searching around the basement.
"...Is he-?" The noise of the roof of the dollhouse flipping open cut her off. She yelped at the sudden noise, stumbling slightly before she caught herself. She whipped around to look at the dollhouse. "Matt, look at this!"
In Jessica's hands was none other then Hannah's diary. It had been hidden away in the top of the roof along with a few other items that Jessica deemed unimportant.
"What? Hannah's diary?" Matt said as he leaned over Jessica's shoulder to get a look at the diary. Jessica, in turn, flipped it open to one of the pages.
"What? Josh does therapy?" Jessica wondered aloud as she read one of the pages of the diary. Matt raised an eyebrow at the reveal, completely unaware of the fact that Josh had some sort of reason to even go to therapy. From first glance, he seemed like a completely normal, humorous, loving guy.
The dark side of the bright side.
Jessica flipped to the next page, not really sure why she was snooping through Hannah's diary now of all times. The next few read something about some party and how she desperately wanted Mike to go.
"This was before the incident...Last year." Jessica concluded, guilt churning in her stomach. She started to feel slightly nauseated, and the diary nearly slipped out of her hands before she grabbed hold onto reality and pushed back the icky feeling that was building up inside of her.
The two slowly slipped away from the dollhouse in silence. They walked throughout the basement, neither of them saying anything as they walked down another staircase to a lower level. Matt wasn't really even sure what was happening any more. He was too tired.
"Is it my fault Matt?" Jessica's suddenly asked, breaking through the silence that had formed during the small duration of guilt. The question didn't necessarily surprise Matt, but it made him feel bad for Jessica.
"..." Matt pondered the thought for a few moments. Was it Jessica's fault? Partially, maybe, but certainly not all of it. "It's everyone's fault. We all had the opportunity to step in and stop it from happening, and yet we didn't. I regret it every day." Matt admitted, and it was almost painful. The repressed memories sprung out of seemingly nowhere, but Matt was always aware of them. And he was sure that Jessica was too.
Jessica didn't respond. She wanted to, but she couldn't find her voice. It was caught in her throat, and she feared that if she spoke again the nauseated feeling would return.
"You know what I don't get about people, Jessica?" Matt began, knowing that Jessica wasn't responding anytime soon. So when she didn't, he just decided to continue. "Why do we let ourselves feel guilty? I mean, feeling guilty about the situation isn't going to change the situation." It was almost like there was a bitter tone in Matt's voice. Like he was angry at whoever was haunting them for the mistakes they made. It wasn't like he unaware of the mistakes he made, and he felt horrible for them. Guilt was just somebody who found making others feel unworthy of forgiveness joyful. Guilt thrived in it.
"...Guilt is so we don't make the same mistakes again." Jessica said simply. She didn't on the matter any further, that was all she had to say.
"You're pretty smart." Matt admitted as he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "You don't give yourself enough credit." Jessica shrugged.
"Well, just take a look at my grades. You might feel different afterwards." Matt laughed at this one, nodding in agreement. His own grades weren't that great either.
Jessica laughed along with him. It made her forget what was really going on. Made her forget about the creep who was sneaking around Blackwood Pines, intent on finishing what he had started.
She gulped, hoping Mike was okay.
The duo stopped before a heavy door, Jessica wondering why there was a heavy door in the basement of an old lodge. But with so many other odd things going on, she didn't really have the right to question it.
"...Blood?" Matt muttered as he knelt down to see a small pool of something red gathered on the floor in front of the heavy door. Fear coursed through his veins. "You think...?"
A shaky breath left Jessica's lips as she gulped.
"I really, really hope not." Was all she could say as Matt slowly stood back up, forcing himself to look away from the blood. Trying to move his mind away from whatever was on the floor, he placed his hand on the door handle and opened it.
"EMILY!" Matt yelled as he darted over to the familiar face. There she was, safe and sound, adorned in a towel. She was tied up in a chair, but she was safe. Matt had done it. He finally did something useful. "Thank God..."
"Matt, watch out!" Jessica cried. But it was too late, the psycho had already clocked him right in the head, knocking him out instantly. "No!"
Suddenly the psycho turned towards her, and she whimpered fearfully, having nothing to defend herself with. Jessica was frozen in fear, not sure of how to act in this type of situation because she had never been in such a horrifying situation.
"Matt..." Her voice was mangled, and the call for help came out more as a strangled cry. The killer crept closer towards her, and she mentally prepared herself to fight back.
It only took one swing to knock her out.