Stella

Montana Wilderness

2:05 AM

God. Fucking. Dammit. Stella felt a light tingle forming in her lips; whether it was from the cold or nervousness, she couldn't tell. She did her best to keep her eyes forward as she ran through the forest, following the footsteps left by Brooke. Every time she would duck underneath a low-hanging branch or jump over a fallen log, she expected Brooke to be right around the corner. Yet every second that passed would prove her wrong.

Stella continued to suck in lungfuls of ice-cold air as she came upon a staircase in her path. She peered down it, seeing it led to a traveled path. In the middle of that path was another set of footprints, though it was slowly disappearing with the falling snow. She wasted no time in rushing down the staircase, making sure to not trip in the process.

Her eyes flicked onto the set of footprints before her and huffed as she resumed her pursuit. You can turn back at any time, Brooke! Stella's pace slowed to a light jog as she gazed up at the sky. The snowfall seemed to let up a little, allowing the moon to cast its light on the path before her. She used this opportunity to scan the trees around her, half-expecting to see Brooke in the corner of her vision. Yet she never showed, and the footsteps continued.

Stella returned her gaze to the path, and she forced herself to an abrupt stop, kicking up a bit of snow in the process. The path split before her. To her left, the footprints continued, but the moonlight was much dimmer. Her gut compelled her down that path, eyesight be damned. Then her head flicked to the path on the right. A branch broke, sending a loud crack through the silent wood.

Nope. With her mind in agreement with her gut, Stella turned and darted down the left path. Through the darkness, she could still vaguely make out the footprints. They were the same size as the ones she had been following. Must be her. As she followed the trail, she nervously attempted to cling to her jacket's zipper. She heard the metal lightly clink but could barely feel it; she had lost feeling in her fingertips.

Fuck… I gotta find Brooke fast. She cupped her hands to her mouth and breathed warm air into them, momentarily restoring her sense of touch. She continued to march through the wood, her eyes darting around to check for obstacles obscured by the dark. As she walked, she noticed a break in the path that was much more illuminated. She did her best to ignore it as she approached, but her stomach rose to her throat as she flicked her eyes to it.

There were dozens of shadows on that path. Some of them moved to-and-fro, perhaps due to a gust of wind. This is normal. Trees and branches shake and shiver. Stella knew and internalized this. But a tree doesn't walk away into the night.

Stella found herself stopped in her tracks, her eyes desperately scanning the surrounding area to see what might have moved. But aside from the clear-cut path she had been following, everything around her seemed to look the same. Same trees, same snow, same everything; the only thing that was not constant was the lighting. Fighting the intense urge to run, Stella began fumbling for her phone, trying her best to calm down.

There's no one or nothing in these woods, Stella. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocking its screen. Even if there is, they probably already know I'm here. Why be sneaky? She turned on her phone's flashlight, immediately illuminating her path. The footprints were still there, but they were noticeably covered up by snow. Stella lifted her head and exhaled deeply as she continued her march through the woods, occasionally shifting her light from the path to the surrounding trees as she walked.

"Brooke! Can you hear me?" Stella shouted, walking parallel to the footprints and shining her light at anything that remotely caught her eye. She maintained deep, rhythmic breaths to try to dissipate the adrenaline coursing through her, begging her to either run onward or run away. "Brooke, if you can hear me, foll-" Stella stopped herself as she heard the crunching of snow to her left, causing her to flick her head before she could even think to move her flashlight. By the time her eyes locked onto what made the noise, it had already leapt out of the treeline into her path.

Stella took such a great step backwards so quickly that she almost lost her balance. She still felt a gust of air as part of the animal whipped by her face. She let out a curse as she watched the thing flee into the treeline. A fucking deer? It was an elk. Stella clenched her fist, digging her fingernails into her palm as she started walking much faster. Just breathe. You're alright. Brooke's alright. Everything's fine.

"Brooke, where the hell are you?" Stella muttered as the moonlight started to shine a bit more, making her feel mildly better. Continuing along the path, something lying next to a nearby tree caught her attention. She shined her light on the object partially buried in snow, and she knew exactly what it was by the time she had knelt down next to it. Some… some kind of totem? She gently brushed some snow off of its intricate design before picking it up.

"Well, who left you here?" She asked softly as she got a better look at its design. It was painted mostly white with black accents, and it seemed to depict a person sitting down, holding their knees up to their chest. It lacked a head, instead having a cylindrical protrusion supposed to be inserted in another totem. Stella turned it over, feeling its weight in her hand, to inspect the other side. There, she saw a butterfly-shaped hole outlined in black.

Is that empty? She assumed it was just a hole, maybe a slot for a similarly shaped object. But it seemed… endless. Like she could stick her entire hand inside. She tried to look away, but she felt uneasy. No, dizzy. Nauseous. Stella started to hyperventilate as her vision began to fade. However, even when she could no longer see, when all she saw was endless night, she could still feel the bitter cold around her and the wooden totem in her hand.

Then her vision cleared, the darkness burned away by… heat? Fire? Stella couldn't quite figure it out. The closest thing she could liken it to was burning the film of a polaroid camera. As the darkness receded, Stella could make out a large rock jutting up out of the ground. The sound of the howling wind was slowly overtaken by echoing screams—screams she recognized. Right when the screams were loudest, she saw something fall into her view.

It was her.

Stella could only watch as this other Stella hit the rock. The smack against the rock combined with the sudden silencing of her screams and audible crack of her spine created a sound that made her nearly gag. She almost didn't register her own lifeless body sliding off the rock and falling into darkness, or the fact she was no longer wearing her jacket. Then, without warning, her vision began to be burned away in the same bubbly manner as earlier, this time returning to darkness.

It took a good few seconds of blinking to get her sight back. Once more, she was staring at the totem in her hand. Its butterfly hole was no longer an endless dark. Now, it was just a hole; she could very clearly make out the wood on the inside. What… the actual fuck? Stella tried her hardest to rationalize what she saw as she gently laid the totem back on the ground.

"Okay…" Stella shivered, noticing how much worse the snow had started to fall. She breathed warm air into her hands again and set back on the trail, hot on Brooke's tracks. Am I on something? Am I sick? Stella thought as she followed the footprints, blurting out Brooke's name every now and then. It's gotta be nothing… right? She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the light in the corner of her eye.

Stella turned and saw a bright yellow light flash far off in the trees, a light she could not mistake as fire. The fire was followed by the most gut-wrenching screech she had ever heard; like tires screeching, if tires had vocal cords. She simply started walking faster as both her breath and thoughts started racing. She made it only a few more steps before she saw the fire once again, this time in front of her. She could see very clearly it was flames, and this time it was followed by a loud grunting that obviously came from a man. Stella was shaken, but determined.

Awesome. Cool. Every time I think I've figured out exactly what I've gotten myself into, it turns out to be even more insane than I thought.

"Brooke?" Stella called out again, brushing some low-hanging branches out of her face. Ahead of her, she could see someone knelt down in the snow. "Brooke!" She called out again, power walking towards the person.

"Hello?" The figure said, turning their head to look at Stella. It was Brooke. Stella failed to hide a smile as she ran towards her friend, kneeling down and pulling her into an embrace. She almost felt bad for being so happy to find her, since it really meant she can finally turn back for the lodge with a clear conscience.

"Oh thank God! Here, take this." Stella said breathlessly, pulling away from Brooke so she could take her jacket off. She felt a shiver up her spine as she quickly threw the jacket around the other girl, who graciously accepted it. It was only as Brooke zipped it up when Stella remembered the vision. Don't worry about it. You're overthinking.

"I'm such an idiot." Brooke sniffled, having already exhausted her tear ducts. Stella helped her to her feet, holding her shoulders and trying to offer a reassuring smile. "Running into a… goddamn snowstorm. The fuck is wrong with me?"

"Hey, it- it's not that bad. Let's just get back to the lodge, okay?" Their eyes met, and Brooke gave a weak smile. Stella wasted no time in wrapping an arm around her and turning them both in the direction they came from. The snowfall had let up a bit. Maybe it won't be that hard finding our way back.

With her free hand, Stella pulled her phone back out, only to see there was no reception. Dammit, she thought as she slipped it back in her pocket. The pair had only walked a few yards when a branch snapped in the treeline ahead of them, and Stella looked up instinctively. She immediately brought herself and her friend to a stop, inhaling sharply as she tried to make sense of what she was looking at.

Had it not been for the moonlight, she would've thought it was part of one of the trees. But instead of long, spindly twigs on a low-hanging branch, she saw fingers on a ghastly hand. Her eyes followed the hand up its forearm, and through the snow and leaves she could make out a lanky figure perched upon a branch. She then noticed another hand wrapped around the base of the tree to keep the creature's balance. It was only when she locked vision with this unholy being that the hairs on her neck stood. Where there should be eyes in what should be a face, there were soulless black maws in a mesh of ashen skin.

Stella blinked a few times, hoping her eyes were just tricking her. Then she tilted her head to the side a bit, briefly flicking her eyes to Brooke's face. She too was looking at it; she was seeing what Stella was seeing. Stella looked back at the creature in the tree, her heart sinking now that she knows it's real. Her heart picked up in pace as she realized the creature moved both its hands to be gripping the branch it's on, all in the split second she had looked away.

What do I do? She felt like running. She felt like just standing there and seeing what happened. She felt like screaming. She felt like crying. What the actual fuck am I supposed to do? She could feel Brooke shifting, clearly wanting to run as well. She could hear her breathing much faster. But she simply froze, watching the creature now slowly lower itself from the branch, not letting go until its feet were firmly planted on the ground. Not once did it look away from the two girls.

Stella felt a pit—no, a sinkhole—growing in her stomach. This chalky beast had hardly moved, let alone in an aggressive manner, and she knew fully well it had no intention of letting them go. It was going to kill them, or try. She gripped Brooke tightly as she pivoted her feet to start running. If they ran toward the creature, it would kill them for sure. If they ran away from the creature, it might kill them. But the cold will.

Stella slowly turned her body towards Brooke, her eyes still locked on the creature in the trees. Despite the thing's obvious slouched back and crooked neck, she could tell it was easily seven feet tall. As she turned, the creature crouched down, going onto all-fours while keeping its gaze on the duo.

"Run." Stella blurted out, almost fumbling the simple word on her shaky breath. Finally turning away from the wicked beast, she began shoving Brooke along until she picked up into a full sprint. She too began running as fast as her legs would allow, making sure she could still see her friend in her peripheral.

The two continued running as they came upon a short wooden bridge. Stella watched Brooke run ahead of her onto the bridge as she briefly turned to look behind her. She drew in a sharp breath as she saw the creature was not only following them, but it was making slow and precise movements. It was toying with the girls, giving them enough distance to make them think they can run but never losing sight of them.

"Hoh, fuck- God!" Stella spewed out fearful words as she turned back around and tried to catch up to Brooke, who was a few yards ahead of her. As she was crossing the bridge, her foot caught a board jutting out of its place, sending her falling forward. She brought both her arms forward, the force of falling onto the wood being sent into her forearms. She let out a 'fuck' as she attempted to regain her footing. Then she felt something grab her arm and pull her forward.

"Come on!" Brooke pleaded as she hoisted Stella to her feet. She did her best to follow her friend down the path, but exhaustion and the pain from falling had begun to set into her legs. At this point, it was pure adrenaline keeping Stella from sending her face into the snow in front of her. It almost kept her from registering what was in front of them. Oh fuck.

Stella reached out and grabbed Brooke and came to an abrupt stop, and the other girl gasped as she too realized what was in front of them. A clifftop; the only thing separating the two from a hundred-foot drop. Stella whipped around and saw the snow had begun to fall much harder. She couldn't even see the treeline they had just come out of a few seconds ago. What she did see was a hand slowly emerge from the blizzard and plant itself in the snow a few feet in front of her.

Stella reached behind her, fumbling around until she grabbed Brooke's hand, holding it as tight as her numb hand would allow. She stiffened her legs and tried to resist the tugs on her grip. Don't bring me to that cliff, Brooke. She watched a second hand emerge and plant itself parallel to the first. She felt the tug on her hand get stronger. She took a small step back. I can't feel my fingers.

"Stay away!" She shouted into the endless white before her, as if she could reason with it. She could only let the tears flow down her cheek as the creature's face revealed itself. Its skin seemed simultaneously loose and tight, like it's been stitched on. Its lips were gone, exposing an array of sharp canines. Its eyes were not the endless black she saw before. She could see they were sunken into their sockets, the pupils covered over in a deep gray.

Stella took another step back, tightening her grip on Brooke's hand. She felt her teeth begin to chatter; whether it was fear or the cold, she couldn't tell. The creature continued to burn its gaze into hers, inching its face closer. Its mangled teeth began to chatter against each other. In the corner of her eye, she could see one of the creature's hands was now inches away from her face. It began to inch toward her neck, its claws aching to dig themselves into her skin.

"Hey!" Stella heard a voice call out from the blizzard. The creature jerked its head around to look at the source, its hand recoiled from the girl. The speed at which it moved startled the girl, making her step back further than she wanted. "Come 'ere, you sonuva bitch!" She watched a figure emerge into view; a man in goggles with a large tank on his back. He pointed his weapon at the creature, which had now turned to face the man.

It was only when a cry from Brooke hit Stella's ears that she turned to look at her friend. She watched as her friend started to lose her balance, standing too close to the cliff's edge. By the time Stella reached out with her other hand to grab Brooke, her foot had slipped off the ledge and Brooke began to fall. She tried to move in the opposite direction, but once the momentum hit Stella's grip it was too late.

She felt herself get yanked down, her upper body dragged against the snow as she tried in vain to grab onto something. A rock, a gap in the earth, anything she could latch onto. She let out a scream as she slipped off the ledge as well. For a split second, she was in freefall, the ground beneath her beckoning her forth.

Then her hand, still outstretched, finally caught something: a thick root jutting out from the rock, belonging to a tree that's long since disappeared. She latched onto it, and her fearful scream turned into a pained cry as the momentum sent itself through her arms. She turned her head and looked below her. There Brooke was dangling, only held by Stella's vise grip. She then looked up at her other hand, digging her fingernails into the aged wood. Flames danced where they once stood, the creature filling the night air with its screams.

"I… I can't." Stella muttered as she attempted to pull Brooke up. She lacked the strength for it; she was barely holding on to begin with. She tried to swing her legs toward the cliff face, but she could gain no leverage.

"I'm slipping!" Brooke cried out, and Stella looked to see her friend's hand slowly slipping out of her grip. She felt Brooke tug on her hand even more, trying to pull herself up to grab with her free hand. It only made her slip more.

"Brooke wait-" Stella could only get out so much as Brooke's hand finally slipped away. She called out her friend's name as she watched her fall into the blizzard below, her screams echoing across through the night. Stella felt her heart plummet in her chest; she felt like saying something, anything, but all she could manage was incomprehensible mumbling.

"Oh thank God!" Stella flicked her head back up, and she could see the stranger poking his head over the ledge at her. "Quick, grab my hand!" He got down on his stomach and reached down to her, his hand just barely out of reach.

She wasted no time in getting her free hand latched onto the root, and she felt a wave of calm across her body. Her body, as tired and aching as it was, knew this was her last shot. She felt her strength return to her arms as she started pulling herself up. With a low grunt, she got herself just within arm's reach. All she needed to do was reach up and take his hand.

She let go with one hand and reached up. When their hands were within inches of each other, the root cracked. The sudden downward motion only allowed their fingers to brush together. She started to panic.

"Shit." She said as she desperately reached up, but she was just out of reach. She felt the root start to crack again, her weight being too much for the aged wood. Before she could process it, the root snapped, and once again she felt gravity take her in its unforgiving grasp. "Oh God!" She shouted as she slammed her hand against the cliff face in a desperate attempt to grab something, only scraping the skin off her palm in the process.

Stella could only look up at the stranger, whose arm was still outstretched to her. She thought she heard him shout something, she wasn't sure. All she could focus on was the bitter cold air that had enveloped her and the shriek she was emitting from her lips. Her mind started to go blank. She didn't think of her family, or her friends, or whatever future she might have had. She didn't think about the afterlife or lack thereof, or if and to whom she'll have to answer for her misdeeds.

All she could think as she plummeted to the earth was the vision she saw. Perhaps if she sat down and thought about it, she could determine she wasn't at fault for her predicament. That it was simply a foretelling and there was nothing she could've done to change it. But she wasn't sitting down having a calm discussion. I did this to myself. I… I'm a fuck-up. A dumbass. A failure.

Within seconds of letting out her terrified screech, she finally felt it. Her body slammed against a rock, and for the briefest moment she felt the worst pain she had ever felt. As if her entire nervous system had caught fire. Then, before she could process it, it was gone. Along with everything else. She simply stopped feeling. Her scream turned into a light croak as her body slipped off the rock and began tumbling into a dark crevasse.

The last thing she could process before succumbing to nothingness, was her last breath rattling itself from her lips.

Okay, I have three things I wanna talk about before I let y'all go.

First, yes. I did a bit of rebranding. I figured if I was gonna keep writing I should at least renovate my profile a little. So, goodbye username I made when I was in middle school! Also, I finally redownloaded Tumblr. So that's cool, I guess.

Second, it genuinely pisses me off how I put off writing this chapter for so long. Because I genuinely had a blast writing this. The real challenge was just getting myself in the headspace to write, but once I was in I was in.

Third, I'm probably gonna switch up my "schedule". At first I was gonna alternate between writing for this story and writing for my Game of Thrones story, but as you can see it hasn't gone very well. So I think I'm just gonna write for whichever story I feel like writing at that time. That way I don't feel like I have to write a particular thing.

Uhh I think that's all I gotta say. Many apologies for the inactivity. I finally landed myself a job and it's been taking up a lot of my time. But hey, it can only go up from here right?

I'll catch y'all later. Peace.

- VW