"Did you find anyone else? Anyone-" Chris asked the police. He was done answering accusatory questions about how the stranger died. He wanted answers himself.
The policewoman shook her head. "We swept the mountain, but the only survivors we found were those of you at the lodge," she replied. "Mike did mention a… room… in the mines."
"A room?" Chris asked, urging the policewoman to go on as she flipped back to her previous notes.
"He said that the bodies of the unknown stranger, Jessica, and Matt were there, along with Ashley's head."
"Uh- oh," Chris stammered out, unable to formulate a response to that. He leaned on the wall behind him, afraid he'd collapse otherwise. "And Josh?" He was the last one unaccounted for.
"Taken by one of the, uh, Wendigos, according to Mike," the woman replied. "I'm really sorry, Chris. If you need someone to talk to-"
"I- I just need a moment," he replied. The woman gave him a pitying look, before leaving him in the room alone.
Chris pulled Ashley's hat out of his coat's inside pocket, running his fingers over the material. "I'm sorry, Ash. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he whispered as tears began to fall.
Chris had no idea how long he sat there, letting out the emotion that he didn't have time for while fearing for his life. But eventually, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Chris, we should get going home," Sam's voice told him.
"Going back to California," Chris muttered. It didn't really feel like home without Ashley close by to hang out with whenever the opportunity arose.
The flight back was mostly held in silence. Sam and Chris slept, Mike busied himself with writing, and Emily played on her phone. However, right before the plane started its decent, Chris jolted awake. In his nightmare, he watched the Wendigo kill Ashley, and he was still powerless to do anything. Then it turned on him.
"Yeah, that's why I didn't even try," Emily commented flatly, taking an earbud out of one ear so she could hear Chris.
Chris barely even realized she had been talking as he stared at Ashley's hat laying on his lap. The proof that it wasn't all just a nightmare.
"If it makes you feel any better, I doubt Ash's parents will want that hat back with the blood on it and all, so you'll be able to keep it," Emily commented.
Chris shot Emily a blank look, not having the energy for a proper glare. "Not. Helping."
Luckily Chris managed enough sleep on the plane that he didn't look dead tired for his next daunting task. He took a deep breath to try and swallow his emotions before walking up to the all too familiar doorway. He rang the doorbell.
"Chris? I thought you were on the trip to Canada with Ashley? She's not back yet," Ashley's mom greeted him at the door.
"I, uh, that's what I came to talk to you about," Chris replied. He was having doubts. Maybe they should've heard this from the police instead. "May I come in?"
"Uh, sure," Ashley's mom replied, no less confused as she let Chris in.
"What's going on?" Ashley's dad asked, muting the TV and glancing up from his spot on the sofa as Chris walked by to sit in one of the chairs.
Chris motioned for Ashley's mom to sit, waiting until she did so before speaking. "I do not come with good news," he said, trying to use the script he repeated in his head several times. He closed his eyes for a moment, willing back tears, not speaking until they were open again. "The mountain that the Washingtons' lodge is on, we found out, is home to some very deadly creatures. Not everyone in our group made it off the mountain alive. Ashley didn't make it." His voice cracked at the end as he tried not to sob.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Ashley's mom asked, her voice raising with worry. "Chris?"
"I tried to find the best way to say this, but there isn't any," Chris said, his voice catching in his throat. "Ashley was killed by a vicious creature. I-I couldn't save her. By the time I got to her, this was all that was left." He put Ashley's hat on the coffee table in front of her parents.
Chris couldn't look them in the face as they processed what he had just told them.
"Ash's-" her dad started at nearly a whisper, unable to finish.
"My baby," her mom sobbed, reaching forward to take the hat.
Chris tensed a little. That was supposed to be his memento of Ashley. Her parents better not take the one thing he had of hers away from him.
"We're, uh, going to want to take a moment to process this," Ashley's dad commented, trying to keep his emotions hidden, though Chris still sensed some waver to his voice.
Chris nodded, standing up. "I understand. Would you be at all offended if I hold onto the hat? I, uh, really care about Ashley. REALLY cared about her. And I want something to remember her by."
Ashley's mom had a look of sudden realization. "I actually know something else Ash probably would want you to have," she stated. She walked off to Ashley's room, soon returning with a heart locket necklace. "Here." She grabbed Chris's hand, holding it palm-up to put the locket in, followed by the hat. "I never really understood why she kept that necklace around if she didn't wear it, until I saw inside." She stepped back, her hands falling from Chris's. "You'll be welcome back, after-"
"I get it," Chris interrupted. "You know how to contact me, I'll help with whatever you want me to." He gave a small wave as he backed towards the door, turning to exit the house.
When he closed the front door behind him, Chris's body decided that was all the energy he had. He sat down on Ashley's parent's front step with a big sigh, deciding to take the moment to look at the locket.
Her mom was right - Chris never saw Ashley wear a heart locket quite like the one he now held. He briefly considered keeping the contents a mystery, but curiosity quickly got the better of him. He carefully pulled open the locket, only to come face-to-face with a picture of himself. On the left, there was a scrap of paper on which was written "someday".
A fresh wave of tears washed over Chris, which he attempted to wipe away with his sleeve. He knew, logically, he'd get over Ashley's death eventually. But right now, he still couldn't imagine life without her.
"Definitely someday, Ash," he muttered, closing the locket and tucking it into his pocket for safekeeping.