Chapter 1: Arrival

The bus ride to Blackwood Mountain has been a very quiet one as Joel had his eyes fixed on the majestic winter view, like he was staring beyond the view like up at space. He finally snapped out of his trance and adjusted himself in his seat struggling to pull out his phone with his earbuds already plugged in. He caught a glimpse of his reflection on the black screen and smiled.

"Cheese." He said silently moving his grey beanie from side to side until it looked satisfactory to him.

Joel turned on his phone and searched up the local radio station to see what was on. Static tuning in and out thanks to the crazy reception this place gets, but Joel can hear a man's voice clearly. "Today is the one year anniversary of the dreadful tragedy that took place on Mount Washington." Static came into play for only a second. "...Sheriff Annie Cline who was in charge of the investigation."

A woman's voice came on the radio. "Thanks for having me, Marty."

"...listeners an update on Hannah and Beth Washington, the twins who are still missing.."

Sheriff Cline's voice took over after another quick static breakthrough. "One year ago tonight, Hannah and Beth Washington left the safety of their parent's lodge into a snowstorm."

Joel cringed at those two names. Beth and Hannah were good friends, and their deaths had a great impact on not only him, but everyone. What was supposed to be a harmless prank turned into something catastrophic. Jessica, the brains of this prank, felt very guilty over the whole thing, Mike, a willing player was just in denial saying that they were both fine, and Sam almost went full on alpha both him and Jess, when she found out about their deaths and Josh, the brother of the twins, just shut down and he couldn't talk for a week. Everyone else was just silent sharing the guilt that they all caused. Joel obviously had no part in this, but feels as if he was responsible of what happen to their deaths, and was as torn as Sam was. Joel shook his head attempting to brush that horrid thought from his mind.

Marty's voice came out of static. "..foul play?"

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

Joel smiled at that last statement. "Hats off to you pal." Sounding pleased that this guy is keeping this place untouched from construction.

As long as he doesn't kill people.

"You know there is the old sanitarium up on the mountain?" The Host added. "There any chance he could be hiding there?"

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

Joel brought his head down and closed his eyes internally cringing.

"Something about that mountain seems to breed tragic events.." Marty reflected on that comment.

Joel's brows furrowed. "Don't make it sound like a fucking mystery story, asshole!" He whispered harshly. He took in a breath calming himself.

Unfortunately, it is a mystery. The only thing that is confirmed is their deaths.

Marty concluded his interview with Sheriff Cline by thanking her for being on and sharing what she had to offer. The static again took over for a brief second, before the host's voice came up again offering his condolences to the Washington family at their devastating loss. Joel cut the feed and opened up a video sent from Josh to him, and all of his friends.

The video showed Josh in the living room of his family's lodge, which was fairly dark, and the only source of lighting came from the moonlight shinning through the windows. Joel noticed that Josh looked all happy and excited, and he feels happy that his friend is doing better, but he felt something was a bit off.

"Hello friends, and fans!" He started off brining his hands in the air and quickly brought them down shaking his head. "Nah.. let's do that again.." He zoomed the camera in on his face really close before opening a short distance starting again. "Alright. Well hello friends, and fans! It's beyond awesome to have you guys back here this year. 'Kay umm... first off, I gotta say I'm say I am super excited to welcome back all my pals to the annual Blackwood winter getaway!" He raised his arms in the air again and cheered. "But um.. lemme just let you guys know, well, let's take a moment to 'address the elephant in the room' for a second."

Joel braced himself for what he had to say. "I know you all are probably worried about me, and I know it's going to be tough on all of us to be back here after what happened last year. But I just want to let you... it means.." He hesitated a few seconds before continuing. "It means so much to me that we're doing this. And I know it would mean so much to Hannah and Beth that we are all still together as friends, and thinking of them. I really want to spend quality time which each and every one of you, and share some moments we'll never forget."

Joel smirked. "As long as you don't mean spending quality time in THAT way, I'm in, bro."

"Let's hang out and have a great time for the sake of my sisters, and... well you know." He revealed his smile again. "Okay so.. let's party like we're fucking porn stars, yeah? And make this one trip, we'll never forget, alright? Yes!" The video ended with Josh whooping like crazy.

Joel rolled his eyes grinning at the thought of his 'porn star party'. "Soon as that starts, I'm gonna go on a LONG walk. Oh, and I'm taking all your Oreos too."

Looking back out at the view, Joel closed his eyes again paying his respects to his good friends.

We miss you guys.

Joel

Sam's Best friend.

Witty, friendly, secluded.

Joel's POV

I gotten off the bus stepping into the snow breathing in the cold fresh air and blowing the air out revealing my breath. "Ahh, the great outdoors!"

I was kinda expecting the others to be at the entrance too. Maybe I was early? Or was I late?

Guess I'll find out when I'm up there.

I pulled my backpack up and trudged through the snowy path to the entrance of the lodge with the sign towering above it, Blackwood Pines. I hopped over the gate and I caught my leg in it causing me to fall on my face in the snow. I was still for a few minutes until I mumbled all grouchy then I raised my head shaking it rapidly feeling a freezing sensation that felt refreshing in a way. I thought about getting up, but instead I slipped my backpack off to my side and flipped on my back looking up at the night sky. I totally forgot how beautiful it can be at night here. The sky was shinning blue and green auroras that seem to have some magical effect sinking into me.

"Wow! I've been transported into Skyrim!" I closed my eyes smiling at this moment of peace ignoring the cold slowly creeping into my skin. After for what felt like an eternity, I reluctantly got to my feet snatching my backpack off the snow and carry onward till I can see the large iron gate spelling out Blackwood Pines at the top.

I gave the gate a little push, but that didn't do anything. Weird. Last time I used this gate, all it took was a little nudge. I grabbed ahold of the bars and pushed forward straining my breath, and I did it again but this baby isn't budging. I brought my head down groaning in annoyance that this gate was going to need a battering ram to pry it open, something I seem to lack right now! It didn't take long that there was a piece of paper in the snow with typing on in. Satisfying my curiosity, snatched it out of the snow. This was Chris's paper and it look a typed message, but I flipped the note over to reveal a more important message that answered the question to my problem.

The gate's busted, climb over!

-Chris

I rolled my eyes and released the paper back onto the snow. "Why do I get the feeling you broke it, man?" I strolled to the side of the gate to the stone wall taking in a deep breath. "Okay. Okay"

My hand reached forward grabbing one of the stones positioning myself to climb over the wall. Seeing another stone to grab ahold of, I leaped up gripping it tightly and I made my way up a few more meters before making it to the top, and then hopped down and landed on my feet. A white bunny hopped out from the trees and slowly began to approach me. I smiled at the cute little animal as I crouched down to get more to his level. "Hey little guy." I reached into my pocked and pulled out a breadstick bag pizza flavored. "Want something to eat." I opened up the bag and pulled a stick out and slowly extended my hand out to the bunny, who was slowly approaching me. I was doing my best trying to stay still as a rock hoping I won't spook the little guy, and it seemed to pay off when he nibbled a small tip off with his chubby cheeks rapidly mushing up and down.

I smiled at the bunny. "You're cool little dude." The bunny zipped past me when I got back up to it's height. Hope I didn't scare him. "Sorry! Didn't mean it!"

There was some more rustling coming from the trees followed by a twig snapping. My head twisted in the direction where it was coming from trying to see what was moving through the woods. I shrugged and carried onwards. "Probably another little dude." I mumbled.

I began to hear the squeaking of the snow behind me in a speedy pace, and just as I turned around, I was jumped back at the surprised jumpscare that Sam pulled off shouting to scare the pants off of me. She laughed at my reaction. "That's the first time I scared you in forever!"

It was so good to see Sam again, and she was looking like a bit of a boss. She wore a black leather jacket, with a plaid skirt that kinda reminds me of those Scottish kilts, a rose colored scarf wrapped around her neck and one of those cool fur caps that she pulls off really well.

I grunted at her. "That was SO not cool!"

She giggled. "It was a little cool." She came forward and embraced each other tightly. "How you been, Joel?"

"Been good. It's good to see you again, pal." I replied sincerely. When I came up to the Great White North, Sam and I became best friends, and she was a bit of a badass, a tomboy, adventurous, nice, and doesn't give a crap. Reminds me of an old friend.

We both pulled away. "Seattle still rocking?"

"Like it's 1999." I answered all somewhat smooth. I don't know why I went with that.

She laughed at my answer. "You have got to take me down there later on."

"One day my friend." I said as we both carried on our way to the cable car station that will take us up to the lodge. "How long were you hiding?"

She gave me an innocent smile. "Long enough to see you feed the little fella and scare him off."

"So you in return you scared me?" I inquired smirking at her.

"Rule number one: Don't mess with nature, or it'll come back and get you." She informed me.

"Is there a rule number two?"

"Yeah. Don't scare bunnies, or I'll get you."

"How could you tell if he was scared, he probably.." I paused and rolled my eyes letting it go. "Never mind."

She giggled again. "Just trying to help."

"Thanks mom."

We stopped at the end of the trail with some stairs off to the left leading to the station, but something caught our interest, and it was pretty cool. A Totem Pole that took the shape of a thunderbird towered over us, and there was a Plaque with an intriguing description.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND BUTTERFLY PROPHECIES

Tribes who once lived in this mountains believed that butterflies

carried dreams and prophecies of possible futures

The color of the butterfly indicated the nature of these prophecies

DEATH: Black Butterflies prophesied the Dreamer's death

DANGER: Red Butterflies warned of dangerous events

LOSS: Brown Butterflies foretold of tragedy affecting friends

GUIDANCE: Yellow Butterflies offered visions to help and guide

FORTUNE: White Butterflies brought dreams of luck and good fortune

"Woaho." Sam sounded amazed. "Pretty cool."

I noticed something standing out in the snow. "Hey check it out." I crouched down glancing at a wooden carving. "Looks like a totem. Looks pretty cool." I grabbed it off the snow and it kind looked like some animal with no head, but the top looked all smooth and well crafted. "Looks like he's headless."

"Turn it over." Sam suggested. "Probably one of those totems with a face on it's back."

I smirked. "Sounds like something out of Halloween movie." I twirled it around to the back side revealing a black sideways time glass shape hole at the bottom of it. Next thing I felt was like I was falling into the black hole into complete darkness, but I felt more... loose, like I didn't feel like I didn't have a body on me. The darkness instantly vanished revealing a bird landing on a table with someone hiding behind a tree with something in his hands. He looks familiar, but I couldn't get a good view of his face, but I think I know who that was.

Is that... Mike?

Before he could make a move, everything became black again for only a second, when I felt myself being flown back into my physical being. Everything was all blurry and my head was ringing as I clawed my hands deep in the snow taking in heavy uneven breathes. I can feel two hands gripping both my arm and shoulder. I can faintly hear someone calling for my name, but I sounded so distant, but I began to hear the voice more clearly the more I heard the voice.

"Joel!" Sam's voice was panic-stricken. "Hey, you okay?!" She was right in my face with her hazel worried eyes glaring at me.

I didn't answer for I still felt somewhat out of it to respond. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head violently letting out a few more pants. "Wha... what happened?"

Sam helped me to my feet and held onto my arms helping me keep my balance. "You just fell.. I swear to god it looked like you were in pain there for a second."

"Well lucky for me, looks can be deceiving in that case." My witty charm was kicking in.

Sam scowled. "I'm serious, Joel! I mean.. You scared me there for a second! That wasn't funny!"

I felt guilty I frightened Sam like that. "I know.. I'm sorry. Everything felt very... clouded when I picked up the totem."

Sam still looked concerned. "You sure you're okay?"

"Little dizzy, but much better now." I replied.

She hesitantly released her grip on me. "Okay." She said quietly. "C'mon, ride's waiting for us."

"Provided Chris hasn't stolen it from us." I jokingly speculated.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh don't worry, I'm pretty sure karma will bite him in the ass if he leaves us hanging."

Both of us made it to the station and both stopped to admire the view in front of us. Those mountains looked amazing from here, and for a second I felt like I was in another world that felt peaceful and untouched. A cool breeze coursed through my body feeling very peaceful.

"Wow... I really forgot how beautiful this place is." Sam was in complete awe. "Like.. it feels.. mystical. I don't know how to describe it."

"No I agree. I feel that way, too." I may not be the most spiritual person in the world, but this place, it's soothing.

After what felt like an eternity of observing this beauty, we trudged up to the station where Chris was waiting for us. I know I'm not going crazy, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around what happened to me with that totem. That was so bizarre, I wasn't scared, but it was pretty shocking. Everything seemed to happen in bullet time but I remember what happened. That totem gave me a vision showing a little brown bird landing on a table and Mike was behind a tree looking like he was looking for someone. Based on that fun grin on his face, he must've been having a snowball fight. Question is with who? This doesn't make any sense! I would tell Sam about this, but theres a pretty good chance she'll think I'm crazy, so I'll keep my mouth shut for now.

We came across a bench with a backpack on it. I can tell right away that this was Chris's. One backpack, but there was no Chris around.

"Wonder where he's at?" I took a couple of glances trying to spot my old friend, but no sign of him.

Sam leaned in forward on the backpack. "You're not in the bag are you?" She called out making me snicker a bit.

A muffled buzz caught our attention. It was coming from the backpack with Chris's phone peeking out from an opened pocket. Looks like someone was calling him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have hear?" Sam muttered looking at me. "Shall we a peak?"

"Hmmm..." I put on the best thinking expression I can pull off. "It's tempting. Very tempting... But probably his mom being all mushy and teary that she misses her baby boy."

She laughed. "No thank you!" Sam's hand reached out and zipped up the pocket respecting his privacy.

"You know, my mom isn't as annoying as you think." A defensive voice came up from behind us. We both turned to see it was none other than Chris himself. He still has his reading glasses, his blonde hair was sticking up a little big thanks to some gel he must have put on, and he it looks like he had two jackets on, one green and the second was all blue. He gave Sam a friendly smile, but he looked like he was blown away when he turned to me. "Holy shi- Joel?!" His gamp smile expanded as we hooked each others hands and gave each other a bro hug with Chris laughing with joy. "How ya doing?"

I gave him a small smile. "I'm doing good, Good to see you again, Chris."

Sam and Chris gave each other a friendly hug. When they pulled away, Chris had an eager look on his face. "Come on! Wanna show you guys something. Come on!"

"Can't you just tell us what you want us to see? I really want to get up to the lodge!" Sam covered her mouth with her hands drawing breath on them and rubbed her palms together in an attempt to warm them.

"Not my fault that you don't have gloves on." Chris was waving his hand to come towards his big surprise. "Come on. I promise you both, this will blow your mind!" He made a funny emphasis on the blow part.

Chris guided us to what looks like a shooting range with some sandbags hanging from branches and a couple of empty bottles on top of barrels and tables. There were a few weapons on the table that were neatly stacked.

Chris twirled around and brought his hands out. "Ta Dah! Pretty rad right?"

I simply shrugged and smirked as my answer while Sam faked her excitement. "Yeaaaaah..."

"Wha- Come on!" Chris pointed his arm at his handywork of setting this place up. "Look at these beauties."

"Uh... 'Beauties' is not the word that comes to mind." Sam walked towards the table carefully picking up one of the pistols. She pointed the pistol at one of the targets and pretended to shoot at all of the targets in a speedy way making that "Pshh, pshh, pshh!" Noise.

"You missed." Chris joked picking up one of the rifles and pointed it at one of the bags.

"You're just jealous, cause I've got speed and accuracy." Sam boasted setting the pistol down on the table and took a seat on the bench where I was sitting on. Our eyes shifting to both Chris and the practice area waiting for him to fire.

A quick loud snap went off followed by one of the bags spitting out sand. Another snap was heard followed by the sound of glass breaking. Chris is a pretty good shot.

"What the hell is this stuff doing all the way up here anyways?" I asked adjusting my body to face forward at the site.

"You haven't met Josh's dad have you?" Chris said. "He's like Grizzly Adams or something." He offered the rifle to us if we wanted a go.

Sam shook her head. "She's all yours Grizzly."

"Go ahead, dude." I politely declined.

Chris shrugged. "Suit yourselves." He fired a few more shots that were very precise.

I gave him an impressed whistle.

"Wooow!" Sam sounded impress. "Nice shootin' Tex." I snickered at her attempt at the Southern Drawl.

"Uh huh." Chris was waving his body from side to side doing a little dance. "I'm a badass."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Gonna go out on a limb here saying it was a wild case of beginners luck."

"Nah, I don't think so, girl." Chris aimed the rifle and fired shattering another glass bottle.

Sam smiled but still did not look impressed. "Well, anybody and their could shoot a bottle big, that close."

I can see a squirrel coming out of some small branches on the ground and climbed up one of the barrels. I became concerned for the squirrel, mostly because I had this weird feeling that Chris was going to shoot the poor little guy. As a shot rang out, I jumped a little silently gasping, but was quickly relieved that the squirrel was still untouched and dashed up the tree at the sound of the gunshot. I blow some air out relieved.

"Wow! Nice shot!" Sam praised.

Chris gave her a cocky smirked. "Just got your ass saaacked, bandito!"

I got up and walked towards the cable car. "Okay, you two kids have fun. I gotta ride to catch!"

"Oh no you don't!" Sam jogged up next to me and looked back at Chris who still wanna get a few more shots in. "Hey, sharp-shooter, we're gonna leave without you!"

"But I was just getting the hang of thiiiis!" He pouted.

"Come on, Grizzly!" I called out. "They'll be another time!"

Chris set the rifle down and caught up to us. As the three of us walked to our ride, I felt grateful that I'm here again up in the mountains with my friends. But at the same time, I also felt that something was going to go wrong. Probably just my nerves kicking, but something seemed a bit off. I'll worry about that later. I am going to get nice and comfy on that cable car.

Well chapter one is out of the way. I hope you guys enjoyed it. There have been some dialogue changes obviously, but nothing to serious.

More will be on the way. :)