Mike stared idly out the window, simply watching the storm with no real interest. Two blondes, Chris and Jess, slept facedown on the counter, passed out on their stools. Behind the three young adults, Matt placed a note on the counter while Sam clasped her hands in anticipation and the twins, Beth and Hannah, watched.
"Oh my God! I can't believe you actually did this!" She whispered as Matt shushed her excitedly. Hannah stepped up to Matt to voice her objection,"Don't you guys think this is a little bit cruel?"
"Oh come on, she deserves it." Matt replied.
"It's not her fault that she has a huge crush on Beth." Hannah retorted, in defense of her friend.
"Ashley's been making the moves on her," Matt pointed at Sam and grinned."I'm just making sure that Sam doesn't lose her girlfriend." He began to walk to the guest room, Sam and Beth trailing behind him.
"Just because she's the ultimate queen of drama club doesn't mean she belongs to everyone," Sam was saying, "Beth is my girl."
"Hey, Sam. I'm not some kind of a territorial trophy." Beth replied to Sam's comment. The blonde scoffed, "Whatever you say, Darling!"
Behind the trio, Josh and Emily chatted with each other as they followed them out of the room. Hannah frowned and walked upstairs, not wanting to have anything to do with the event. She couldn't believe that Beth and Josh actually agreed to participating; Ashley could be pretty sensitive sometimes, especially when it has to do with Beth. Although Hannah wasn't super close to her, she really didn't want Ashley getting hurt, because the redhead was a big feeler. When a person feels something, Ashley feels double that emotion. And Hannah just did not wish for that to happen.
"Ashley!" The brunette called out in concern, "Ash?" She kept looking for her friend.
In the guest room, Emily let out a small laugh from behind the partition while Josh stepped into the closet with a phone supported by a selfie stick. Beth stood in the middle of the room as Sam and Matt kept giggling and scooted themselves under the bed, not caring if they looked like two-year-olds.
"Shh!" Sam shushed this time, "She's coming!"
"Beth?" Ashley walked through the dark hallways, a candle in hand, towards the guest room. She opened the door and closed it again after stepping inside. "Beth? It's Ashley."
Beth greeted her with a smile,"Hey Ash."
Mike blinked in surprise when he saw a dark figure a few feet away from the window move away from the edge of his vision. He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, but when the stranger shuffled past, he realized it was a person and not just some shadow of snow or a tree. He became puzzled thinking about the identity of that person and his or her purpose.
"Hey...Did you see that?" He questioned Chris and Jess, not knowing they were unconscious. "Josh said it would just be us up here this weekend." He turned around when he was met with silence. "Chris? Jess?"
He walked to the two snoring teenagers and picked up the bottle beside Chris. Inspecting it told him the whole story: Chris and Jess were passed out drunk.
"Jeez Chris..." Mike snorted, patting his blonde friend and setting the bottle down. "Once again, you and Jess have outdone us all." He grinned amusingly as Chris simply grunted tiredly when the brunette shook his shoulders.
Suddenly, he saw a piece of paper facedown further away on the counter. Curious, Mike approached it. He hadn't seen that before he turned around and got lost in his thoughts while staring out the window. Well, he did recall hearing the voices of his friends in the background, but he didn't pay any attention to make out what they were saying. Maybe this note had to do with their conversation.
He twirled the note closer to himself before picking it up and reading the words on the other side:
Ashley
You're a pretty big sleeper hit in that shirt...
But I bet you're even hotter without it.
Come to the guest room at 2:00 a.m. ;)
Beth
XXX
"Whoa." Mike was taken aback. He was definitely not expecting that. It was so unlike Beth to write anything like that, even if she was attracted to girls. Unless... The teen bit his lip. "Oh, okay then." Ashley wasn't really naive, but if the youngest Washington was involved, maybe it was possible for Ashley to become really gullible. "What the hell did Ash get herself into now?"
"I got your note." Ashley looked extremely nervous finally talking to her longtime crush alone and...privately. Beth nodded, "Glad you could make it." The younger girl gulped,"So...do you think I actually look hot in this shirt?"
"Of course! My note said it all!"
The redhead gave the other girl a sweet smile as Beth's turned into a shit-eating grin. "So...how about we start with a little, you know, making out? And see where it goes from there?"
Ashley took off her dark grey puffer jacket, setting it aside next to the candle on a nearby wardrobe. She turned a light shade of pink as she stared down at the buttons of her long-sleeved teal shirt.
"Ohhh hell yeah." Beth's grin got wider as Ashley began fumbling with the buttons. She started to take her shirt off completely, leaving her only clad in her bra and her favorite silver necklace, when Matt, unable to contain himself, whispered fiercely to Sam,"Oh my God! She's taking her shirt off!"
"What...?"Ashley looked up at the sudden outburst, her eyes becoming wide with horror and her face burning as she realized what was happening. "Oh my God!" She covered her cleavage with her shirt again as everybody popped out of their hiding spots, including Josh, with the phone recording the whole scene.
"Josh!?" She stuttered, pulling her clothing over her shoulders. The red-haired girl looked around at everyone, her face showing hurt and embarrassment. "What are you doing here!?"
"Uh, I'm sorry, Ashley, this all got outta hand, but..." Beth tried to reason with a humiliated Ashley when Hannah walked in and surveyed the event before her.
"Ashley! Oh crap..." The newcomer muttered, knowing the damage had already been done. She turned her full attention to her friend.
"Beth!" Ashley's eyes filled with tears threatening to spill as the older twin spoke to her, "Ashley, hey, girl... Don't... it's all just a..."
The victimized girl opened the door and ran out of the room before Hannah finished speaking. "...stupid prank."
"Uh... damn!" Beth groaned.
Hannah turned to everybody else in the room and gave them a glare of disapproval. "You guys can be jerks sometimes. You know that?" She then raced after Ashley, calling out her name as she ran.
Mike set the note down and looked out the window again when he saw a person run past. He gave a small shocked gasp and took a step back. Okay, he definitely saw someone that time. But that person looked like one of his friends... probably Ashley, judging from the teal shirt. But what was she doing without her jacket on? And why was she outside? He looked back at the note and a few pieces of the puzzle clicked together in his mind.
"Chris!" Mike ran to the blonde and tried to shake him awake. "Chris! Jess..." Chris' head only lolled to the side and the brunette gave up.
"Fuck." He groaned. Trying to wake them up when they were drunk was pointless.
"Guys! I think Ash's outside!" Mike ran out of the room and saw Hannah, Beth, Matt, Sam, Josh, and Emily gathering outside the front door. His curiosity and anxiety increased as he grabbed his red coat and ran towards the others. "What the hell..." he muttered under his breath.
"ASHLEY!" Hannah called out as the others followed her. Mike joined them, pushing aside Beth and Josh. "What's going on? Where's Ashley going?"
"Ugh, it's fine." Matt waved his hand dismissively, "She just can't take a joke."
"It was just a prank, Ash!" Sam yelled into the woods.
Mike felt slightly angry at the two statements. "What did you do!?" he demanded.
"We were just messing around, Mike. It wasn't anything major-" Beth started to explain before the male brunette cut her off. "Seriously, guys? You know how sensitive she can be!" Beth opened her mouth to argue, but Mike simply yelled "YOU JERKS!" at everybody before running into the thick forest, calling out Ashley's name.
"So...should we go after her?" Beth asked awkwardly.
Hannah looked at her twin sister, still upset in the role Beth played. "You know, I think you're the last person she wants to see right now, Beth." She replied sarcastically.
The cold air of the mountain cut deeply into Mike's skin as he ran farther into the trees, looking for any sign of the redhead. He and Ashley weren't really close or talked to each other much, but he cared about all of his friends. Besides, he always felt sorry for Ashley whenever she was hurt.
"Oh shit!" he muttered as he pushed a tree branch out of his face and focused on the trail in front of him. He jumped over a log and came to a ledge with some stairs leading down to another path. Mike decided to ignore them and jumped down the ledge. He wanted to find Ashley as quick as possible.
The brunette landed on both feet and continued running, panting for breath and occasionally looking to the side. Eventually, he came to two paths leading in the opposite directions. A few crows flew off, scared by a large snapping noise on the right path, while deep footprints lined the snow on the left path. He chose to follow the footprints and started to pick up speed again, only to be stopped by three deer with their necks bent low to eat the vegetation. One of them noticed him and looked upwards. Mike ran forwards again, only for the animals to run off the path.
"Huh?" He stood still again, staring after the deer. The abrupt sound of a snapping branch startled him, causing the teenager to turn around violently.
"Jesus! Fuck, shit!" Mike yelled out loud to himself before observing the area and muttering to himself "Dammit Ashley... Where are you?" He jogged further down the path, hoping to catch any sign of the redhead, before dropping down another ledge.
It was getting very dark now, and Mike knew he couldn't see without a light, so he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. He swiped his fingers across the screen and instantly, the phone cast a bright beam onto the snowy path in front of him.
"Ashley?" He walked forward, disturbing more crows as he directed the light around. He shivered, pulling his coat around himself to shield his body from the howling wind. White puffs drifted in the air among the snowflakes, falling to cover the teenager's footsteps. The wavering frost-covered branches gave him an intense feeling of unease, as if something were out there, ready to ambush him at any moment. Come on Ash, please don't run out this far. I don't want to stay out here. He thought to himself.
Walking past a fallen log, Mike encountered a deer rushing across the path, taking him by surprise and causing him to stumble slightly. He quickly maintained his standing posture and began to walk faster, his growing sense of dread increasing rapidly with every step left behind and every clear drop of frozen water landing on the earth.
He definitely didn't like this situation, and he did not want Ashley or himself to stay in it. Each breeze seemed to scream at him that something dangerous would happen if he continued, that there was something out there that would harm both of them the first chance it got. Mike quickly swallowed and tried to stop his voice from quavering in fear as he called out.
"Hello?"
"Hellooo!?"
The brunette swung his light around the path, searching for any sign of the redhead, when he saw something at the edge of his vision, at the base of a tree surrounded by bushes. He blinked, then turned and walked towards a dark rectangular shape on the ground, a sudden contrast to the pure white blanket of snow and ice. The teenager kneeled over and studied the object.
Some kind of totem? He thought to himself. It appeared to be made of the same wood of the forest, but black patterns decorated the surface.
Mike hesitantly reached out his hand, but curiosity overwhelmed doubt and he let his fingers close over the totem, lifting it up and turning it over. He saw a simple design of a butterfly cut into the wood, outlined in black and revealing a deep darkness inside the totem. Before he could think about the symbol, however, time seemed to stop and the cold seemed to grip his body, freezing him to the bone. His eyes swiftly descended to nothingness as his mind was penetrated with a unexpected vision.
Mike landed with his back on the rock, the impact sending out a sickening crack and scarlet drops flying from his mouth before he slipped off the stone surface and continued falling. Ashley dropped beside him and followed his path down the cliff.
The two eventually came to a halt, faces scratched and bruised, eyes unblinking, not seeing anything but darkness.
Dead.
Mike nearly dropped the totem as the seconds moved by once more and his body regained control. His breath fogged in front of him as he stared at the black butterfly design, horrified at the vision. He gulped nervously and set the totem facedown again, getting back on his feet unsteadily.
The fear and uncertainty building up inside of him was telling him to turn back and return to the safety of the lodge, but Mike was still to shocked to listen. What was that? His mind kept repeating to himself. I just saw a vision of me and Ash dying. Am I fucked up or something? It looked so real...
Mike continued walking down the path, still looking around for Ashley to distract himself from what the totem had showed him, but it was unsuccessful. His eyes did not analyze the shadows as hard as before.
Was that the future? His blood froze at the thought. Are we going to die out here? The more he kept thinking about the possibility, the more tempting it became to walk away. But he shoved the urges to the back of his head and blocked them with thoughts of the victimized girl. No, I won't let that happen! Maybe it's determinant. Maybe it might not come true... He made a mental note to himself not to go anywhere near a cliff.
The symphony of the storm's howling gales and screaming winds was interrupted by a loud hissing. "Huh?" The brunette looked up and saw a faint orange glow amid the trees on the side of the path. Strange... Is someone else out here?
"ASHLEY!" He called out the redhead's name, still treading down the path. He nearly jumped when flames came spurting out of the trees, cutting a burst of heat through the frigid air. His heartbeat immediately picked up speed. "What the hell was that?" The fire couldn't be natural. Someone was definitely out here with them.
But who? And what is the fire for?
Mike's ears suddenly picked up quiet sobbing over the screeching wind, and peering through more branches revealed a crouched figure.
"Ashley?" He brushed the leaves aside and saw the girl clearly. "Ashley!?" She looked over, teeth chattering and tears frozen on her face. "Hello?"She whispered.
The male teenager rushed over, unzipping his jacket. "Ash! Oh my God you must be freezing." Ashley shamefully hid her face with her hair as Mike draped the coat over her shoulders. "Here, take my coat." he murmured.
The redhead put her arms into the sleeves while standing up shakily, still crying, "I'm such an idiot! I'm so dumb to think Beth actually wanted to see me like that..."
"Hey, Ashley? It's alright..." The brunette tried to comfort her, fears forgotten and not noticing a presence close by.
Two bright blue shapes moved among the red ocean of vision.
Hmmm... Hungry.
It's been so long since it's last meal.
Very hungry... Humans... Fresh food...
It knows they are completely defenseless, and stranded in the cold.
Such easy prey... Easy to kill... To eat...
It knows there is no need for hiding.
Food... Flesh... Fresh food...
Attack and eat... Satisfy hunger... Fresh meat...
KILL. EAT FLESH.
It knows it must attack now.
A inhuman scream tore through the air, the sound bouncing off the trees trunks and making the two teenagers turn around quickly. Ashley stopped crying, her eyes becoming wide with fear.
"Mike?" she whispered nervously. "Uhh.. Ashley?" he tried to look at the source of the screech hidden the the trees. They both took steps back as snapping branches and indescribable noises echoed from the forest. The duo knew this wasn't anything good and after a few seconds, they began running.
Their pace turned into sprints as they tried desperately to distance themselves from whatever it was. Eventually, they came across a bridge. Sobbing and panting at the same time, Ashley tripped on the floorboards and fell to the ground.
"Ash!" Mike rushed back, helped her to her feet, and continued running in the opposite direction, failing to notice his phone fall from his pocket and through the silts of the bridge. They were too busy trying to escape.
"Oh Jesus Christ!" Ashley whimpered as they both came to a stop, facing a cliff. They turned back, casting quick, scared, glances down the mountain and at the DANGER sign. Mike saw the vision of death from a great height flash through his mind, increasing his panic. Nonononono...This can't be happening...We shouldn't die like this...
"No!" Mike yelled in hopelessness, Ashley holding his hand so tightly her knuckles turned white and her face petrified beyond words.
The prey is cornered. Trapped.
ATTACK. KILL. TAKE CHANCE NOW.
Finally, it will have a meal. Its goal for the rest of its life.
"NO! Shit, no! Get Back!" Mike's head was flooding with panic and dread. We can't be about to die right now... We're all back at the lodge, safe from the storm and this thing...We're here to have a good time, and eventually we will get apologies from the people who pranked Ashley...We're fine, we're all fine...Please, let us be fine...
But he knew it was false. The vision from the totem was searing his brain to the point where it was almost painful. They were getting closer to the edge, and the creature was getting closer, and it's cold, and dark, and they're lost...Oh fuck nuggets.
"OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod...Mike, please, this can't be happening!" Ashley wailed, gripping his hand even tighter.
"Fuck!" He gritted his teeth and they took another step back when they saw a dark shape emerge from the curtain of white. His heart was stabbed by a cold talon when he hear a cracking sound behind them. The duo looked back to see the sign break in half behind them and felt their feet slid through the snow.
"NO! ARGH!"Mike and Ashley both screamed as the winter air began to pull them down towards the abyss below. The male teenager frantically grabbed for something- anything- when he felt his hand curl over a lone branch sticking from the ledge. Instantly, the sense of weightlessness was shattered by the feeling of hanging by thread.
Mike tightened his hold over the branch and the redhead, dangling uselessly below him and sobbing from the sight of the darkness beneath them, ready to take their lives. Don't let go, don't break, don't do anything... he repeated in his head, hoping they could dodge the chance of falling.
"MICHAEL! OH GOD WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Ashley screamed hysterically, the cold gales blowing so hard the two teenagers were helplessly swinging along with the wind.
"Just hold on Ashley!" Mike yelled back to the girl "Hold on!" Amber fire burst from the edge of the cliff above them, cutting through the cold air and sending a blast of heat on the duo. Ashley's sobs grew louder and Mike's breath was caught in his throat. That's the fire... There must be a person here.
Suddenly, a dark figure loomed above them, causing the male teenager to look up and almost choke in surprise. Oh God, there is someone here... His brown eyes widened as the mysterious person extended a gloved hand down to Mike, indicating for him to grab onto. Holy shit, we're going to be saved... We'll be okay... But his heart plummeted immediately as he realized he couldn't be pulled up without him letting go of something. He looked from the redhead to the hand, trying to make a decision.
He couldn't let go of the branch, obviously. They'd both just fall and die anyways. And he couldn't drop Ashley either. The mere though of risking her life to save himself made his mind fill with disgust and self-hatred for thinking about it. There was no fucking way he would drop Ashley! She had been humiliated in front of her friends, and she was in one of her worst nightmares in her wild imagination. Dropping her would just be... well, unforgivable.
Then what should he do? He had no free hands to pull them both up, and he doubted the stranger would be able to reach any farther. Then a snapping sound, loud enough over the howling storm, snapped him from his frantic train of thoughts.
"NO! Fuck, no!" he cursed as the branch broke in half and Ashley yelped when the they dropped lower away from the hand. Mike tried desperately to curl his fingers over the remains of the anchor to the edge of the cliff, but they only slipped from the frosted surface.
The teenagers' screams sliced though the cold and echoed to the deepest areas of the space below as they fell.
We're going to die. Mike could only repeat the phase in his head. We're going to fucking die right now. The totem vision flashed through his mind once again. We can't stop it. We're going to-
The impact of his back on the rock dismembered his spine and sent a burning pain through his body. His terrified scream was cut of by crimson rivers of blood gushing from his mouth as the slid down the rock along with Ashley and continued tumbling down rocks and ice.
Bloody scrapes and bruises marked his face and exposed arms, but his mind was too agonized to feel them. Only when they bounced off one last rock and stopped on the hard, cold ground did Mike's head begin to clear. But this time, it was darkness gnawing on his sense of self instead of clearing out. Of Death burning away his memories, his personality, his whole life, and casting them away into oblivion.
The last thing his saw was Ashley's unmoving face, riddled with blood and gashes, her blank green eyes seeing nothing.
Oh God...
Ashley... I'm sorry...
I'm so fucking... Sorry everyone...
I'm... Sorry...
And nothing else came.
Finally done! Thank you guys so much for the kind reviews you left me already! I hope this keeps your interest up.
First things first, there's a reason I killed Ashley and Mike. It's not that I don't like them, but I wanted to do a role reversal where some people other than the twins were killed in the prologue. I have only seen one other fanfiction with that concept, but I think it was deleted. (It was a good one too, dang it.) I really liked Mike and Ash, but I didn't want the twins to die again! So yeah, sorry about that.
Second, expect some OOC-ness, especially with Sam and Matt. If you know what roles everyone has during this chapter, you will catch that (SPOILERS) Sam is going to play Emily and Matt will play Jess. Yep, so Sam going to act like a bitch at times, and I will definitely going to have to work on the fight scene between them. I really wanted to see Sam down in the mines, and Matt ended up in Jessica's role when I was finished swapping, so I will try to keep them in character as much as I can.
Next, I will try to post chapters as much as I can. Some may be longer and can take a really long time, others (Like the therapy sessions) will be posted fairly quickly. All I ask is that you please be patient and you don't give up on me. There are times where I have to force myself to write, or when life decides to keep me from writing, and other times where I don't write the best I can. (I hope nearing the end of this fanfiction, I can revise all of my mistakes and sharpen my chapters, but that's still a long way to go.) But I will finish this fanfiction as quickly as I can, both for the sake of you readers and for the sake of starting more stories.
Thank you guys again, I hope you enjoyed the prologue and please review, it's very helpful. And check my profile for updates on this story and others.
NOTE: I do not own any of the characters or the plot of Until Dawn. The cover image also belongs to Supermassive Games. All mistakes are mine, and any offense in this chapter is unintentional, so I apologize if I do offend you in any way.