When Josh's eyes drifted open again, he felt oddly at peace. The weight of Sam's head on his chest was a comfort he couldn't find words to describe. He smiled faintly, trailing a hand through her messy ponytail. She looked so small and vulnerable like this. Was that how he'd seemed to her over the past year?

He kept stroking his hand through her hair as she slept like a log – no, not a log, a rock. This was the most peaceful he'd felt in a long time, and he certainly didn't have anything better to do.

There was a light knock on the closed door, and Josh was torn between answering whoever was there and staying quiet. He didn't want to ignore whoever was trying to visit, but if he answered, his voice was bound to wake Sam.

The door handle turned slowly, and the door opened a crack. One blue eye peeked in. Josh beckoned the person inside, squinting to try and figure out who it was because, while he hadn't exactly checked, he was pretty sure Chris didn't have eyelashes like those. Who else in their group had blue eyes?

Jess entered the room quietly, closing the door behind her before she turned to face Josh.

Normally, it would have been shocking and awful to see the stitches running down the left side of her face and across the bridge of her nose, but after seeing those wounds when they were fresh, stitches were honestly a relief – even if they still made him want to throw up. There was no way those wounds were going to heal without leaving some kind of scars.

He swallowed as if that could physically shove the guilt back. Sam may have been more his type, but there was no denying Jess had been one of the most gorgeous girls in their high school. She'd always wanted to be a model. Even if it was unintentional, he'd murdered that dream.

Jess clasped her hands in front of her. "Hey."

Geez. Maybe it was just because Sam was sleeping, but Jess had never seemed so quiet or subdued before. She was usually… bubbly. Always had been. Ever with the perky attitude and spring in her step.

"Hey," Josh returned, unsure what else he should or could say. He and Jess had never been particularly close before she'd come up with the prank that had gotten his sisters killed, but right now he kind of figured they were on even ground in that regard.

"How are you doing?"

Josh tried to shrug and instantly regretted it when his shoulder twinged. Ow. Speaking of scars, there was no way those claw marks were healing all the way. "About as well as can be expected. You?"

Jess fidgeted. "About the same, I guess." Her eyes locked onto Sam, and a spark of her usual personally lit in them. "What's going on here?"

Really? Their first conversation since they were almost eaten together, and this was she wanted to talk about? Well, maybe talking about something more normal would help them both.

He was about to shrug again, but caught himself in time. "I… have no idea."

She giggled quietly. "I lost a bet with Emily about you two."

Wait, what? Chris and Ashley were always the targets of teasing and bets, not him and Sam. …Or so he'd thought? "You did? When was that?"

"You remember that time we all went to see a movie and you spilled your soda on Hannah by accident and ruined her shirt? And Sam got revenge for her by dumping that entire bucket of popcorn over your head?"

Josh bit his lip to smother a laugh so he wouldn't wake Sam. "How could I forget?" That had been hilarious, despite him being the victim. He remembered nothing about the actual movie since he'd missed over half of it while squirming in his seat as he tried to pick all the popcorn out of his shirt. And he'd paid for that popcorn too. Rude. He'd also driven Beth and Matt batty for the full two hours of the film since he'd been sitting between them. Good times.

Jess nodded. "Yeah, I made a bet with Emily during the movie."

Right. Back when Emily and Mike were still dating and Emily and Jess hadn't yet exchanged their BFF card in for the Mortal Enemies one.

"Just because Sam dumped my bucket of popcorn on my head?"

"Well, you didn't seem to mind too much." She grinned. "Besides – the best friend and the sibling? That's one of the oldest ones in the book!"

"Pffft," Josh scoffed. "Am I forgetting the time Chris had a thing for Hannah?" It still hurt to say her name, but maybe… just maybe he could pretend it was okay for Jess' sake. He owed her that much.

"No, he had a crush on Beth."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? "Excuse me?" She was messing with him, right? She had to be.

Jess' eyebrows shot up. "You never knew? Sam said he told her once. It was super short-lived. Right before he met Ashley."

Seriously? Ooohh, wait… He bet he knew what triggered that: Beth punching that guy who had made fun of Chris' glasses. That had happened about a week before Chris met Ashley, and from then on, he'd only had eyes for her. Still, really? Even if it had only been for a week, he'd never suspected a thing.

"My life has been a lie," Josh said flatly.

Jessica giggled.

Josh held his smile for a moment before letting it fall. "You're leaving, aren't you? That's why you're here?" No point in beating around the bush any longer.

Her own smile faded over the next few moments. "Yeah. I… wasn't exactly around for most of what happened, so the police are letting me go first."

Wait, the police were keeping everyone else here? No wonder they were all still hovering here.

Jess stared at her feet. "I wanted to stay… for Mike, but my parents want to get me home. Back to… normal things." She barked out a humorless laugh that was very un-Jess. "I don't even know how to start going back to normal."

Josh 'hmm'ed in agreement. Normal. The idea seemed foreign.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing before I left."

When had he ever heard Jess this sincere? Never. She'd never even apologized for her part in the prank. She'd just kind of… avoided him. Understandable. He wanted to avoid the people he'd hurt too – that didn't mean he had no remorse.

"And… I wanted to thank you." She finally looked up to meet his eyes again. "I know… you probably had something pretty unpleasant planned for me and Mike with that prank, but it didn't happen, and you saved our lives. So… thank you. And… I'm sorry." Her voice cracked suddenly, and she blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill over. "The prank – the original one – it was all my idea, and I… I'm so sorry!" She tore out the hospital door, sobbing.

Josh was too stunned to call after her.

"Well, that was different for her."

Josh nearly jumped out of his skin. "Sam!" Josh laid his free hand on his chest, awkwardly close to where Sam was pressed against him. "Do not do that to my poor heart!"

Sam chuckled, the lighting in the room casting a warm glow across her skin and tousled hair. Maybe it was just another testament to how screwed up his mind was, but she looked just as beautiful as ever, even with scratches littering her face.

Wait a second… "How long have you been awake?"

"Since popcorn." She yawned. "That was a fun night."

"Says the girl who didn't spend the whole night picking popcorn out of her underwear."

Sam laughed – damn, he loved that sound – smacking him in the chest with her fist. "It was not in your underwear, you drama queen! Actually, if I remember correctly, most of it was in your hair."

"Pretty sure it was in my clothes."

"I have proof."

"Oh, do you now?

Sam shifted around, laying the back of her head against his chest as she fished her phone out of her pocket. Josh brushed the stray strands from her messy ponytail out of his face and peered at the screen. She quickly scrolled through the photos from last year since there weren't very many, but after she got back to before Hannah and Beth went missing, there were so, so many more.

"Ah-ha!" Sam cheered, tapping one of photos to enlarge it.

Josh spluttered out a laugh. Okay, seeing himself trying to glare intimidatingly at Sam with a quarter of a bucket of popcorn stuck in his hair was pretty amusing. But… what was even better was how Hannah stood behind him, a hand clapped over her mouth and laughter in her eyes. And Beth? She wasn't even trying to be subtle – she was doubled over in laughter. "Who took this?" Obviously, Sam hadn't because she was off to the side, looking proud of herself as she held the empty popcorn bucket.

"Chris."

Ah, of course. Mr. Technology.

Josh reached out with two fingers and zoomed in on Hannah and Beth's portion of the photo. This was how he wanted to remember them – not as those awful monstrosities his mind conjured up. Or the real monstrosity Hannah became.

"Do you have a lot of pictures in here of them?"

Sam nodded, her hair fluffing into his face again. He blew it out the way with a puff of air, resisting the urge to run his hand through those blonde tresses like he wanted to. "Show me?"

Her fingers hovered over the screen. "You really want to?"

"Yeah."

Sam didn't do selfies at the drop of a hat like other people around their age, so the pictures she did have were taken on special or fun occasions, or taken by someone else and sent to her. There were so many memories to smile at: Sam and Hannah on some hike, Hannah caught mid-duck with her hands up in defense as Beth lobbed a bundled-up sock a her, all three of them at some water park – if he was honest, his attention was not on his sisters in that picture. Oh, and – one of his personal favorites – one with Chris and Ashley in the background while Beth held up a napkin that had 'just kiss already' scrawled on it. Her exasperated face made it even better.

Josh and Sam were both wheezing with laughter when someone knocked on the door again. Josh couldn't catch his breath enough to answer, but Sam called, "Come in!"

Mike crept in, glancing over his shoulder like he was trying not to get caught… which he probably was considering he still wasn't supposed to be out of his room. He raised an eyebrow at them. "Well, you two seem jovial."

"Mike." Josh beckoned him over. "You gotta see some of these!"

Mike dragged a chair over so he could huddle around the small screen too. It wasn't long before he was clutching his injured chest as he laughed with them.

And that was how Chris found the three them a few minutes later. And that was how Dr. Hill found the four of them a few minutes after that.

Josh took his eyes away from the screen for a bit, turning his gaze instead to the people who –even after everything – were still willing to call him a friend. Mike's black eye was still a deep purple, Chris was teetering on his uninjured leg, and Sam's fingers were scraped-up as she scrolled through the pictures.

They were all damaged in one way or another, but they were healing. Maybe it would take more time for the others – where could he even start with rebuilding his relationship with Ashley? – and things would never be the way they were, but… just maybe they weren't broken beyond repair.

Josh made a mental note to message Jessica as soon as he got ahold of a phone. And Matt. And buy something nice for Emily to subdue the beast's anger. And… pay for Ashley's college. And her and Chris' wedding. And their house. And a puppy. And he was going to spoil their children rotten. If she didn't a have a restraining order filed by the time he was out of the hospital, that was.

Where was this train of thought originally going? Oh yeah.

Mike… well, considering he'd dragged Mike out of a cave and then saved him from a Wendigo, Josh figured they were even.

As for Sam? There was honestly nothing he could ever do to repay her.


Next up:

In which Josh will get the chance to try and smooth things over with Emily. Haha.