Hey guys,
Welcome to another chapter of Trapped Until Dawn. You know, as of the time of this chapter being uploaded, it would've been a whole year since I started this story. ONE YEAR! I can't believe it's been that long!
This time last year I was uploading the first chapter hoping that I would get at least one person reading it, and look at it now. 12 chapters (technically 13 if you count the author's note). 40+ words. 13 followers. 7 favourites. 4 reviews. 3,781 views. That's incredible! Thank you guys so much for even clicking/tapping on my story, it means the world to me.
Btw, thanks to starelight again for your second review. I really appreciate your reviews, especially when they are telling me that the chapters are good. It makes me really happy.
Now things are starting to get really interesting, aren't they? What's going to happen to Ryan in the mines? How's Will going to react to the Psycho's confession? Well, we're about to find out that second question, aren't we? Anyway, lets begin.
Will's pov, Old hotel, 3:12
..."But you have to be such a spoilsport!" he exclaimed as he took off the mask completely to reveal none other then Josh himself, clearly annoyed that his surprise was ruined by me.
"Josh?" Chris questioned.
"See? What did I tell you? Josh is the psycho!" I exclaimed pointing at Josh accusingly.
"Wow, you were right Will. I'm sorry for not believing you." Mike said.
"Don't worry about it. I wouldn't have believed me either. Now, I have two questions for you, you fucker-" I said.
"Whoa, Language Will." Josh interrupted smirking.
"-Why? Why go to these lengths just to do a prank? Why make your friends feel like they're being terrorized and like they were going to die on top of this mountain?" I continued, ignoring Josh's comment.
"That's just it. You got to feel these emotions, terror, humiliation, panic. You all got to feel all of the emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago. Only guess what? They didn't get to laugh it off. No! Nope! No no no! They're gone!" Josh explained.
"I don't know if you've noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing!" Mike retorted.
"Oh come, come-come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on. It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? and race they did. I mean, every one of you, just pitter-pat, pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle!"
"I mean, no detail to small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to all of your Pavlovian panic! And the gore? I mean, gore. There was gore galore! Fake bodies... I mean, god, that shit was expensive!
"And no retakes! Nope, nope, nope, only double takes! You should've seen your faces. Hook line and sinker. For every little stinker! And it would've ended spectacularly, if Will hadn't of gotten in the way!" Josh ranted.
"Well, you shouldn't have left so many clues lying around. That was kinda idiotic." I said simply.
"He's a squirrley little runt, that's what he is! He has no clue. he's out of his fucking tree." Mike said.
"Well, he's definitely off his meds." Chris stated
"Aw come on, you guys. Revenge is the best medicine!" Josh said.
"You're done!" Mike said angrily.
"Mike, he's sick-" Chris said.
"What? Come on, you guys are all going to thank me when you guys become internet sensations!" Josh exclaimed.
"Wait what...?" Chris questions.
"And there goes my second question. I WAS going to ask what the cameras were for, but you just answered my question for me." I said.
"Oh you better believe that this little puppy is going viral ladies and germs. I mean we got unrequited love. We got... we got blood! I don't think there's enough hard drives in China to count all the views we're gonna get, you guys." Josh explains.
"What are you talking about you ass hat? Jessica is FUCKING DEAD!" Mike shouted, even angrier then before.
(Josh) "What?" (Will) "WHAT!?" Josh said but I said it even louder.
"Did you hear me?! Jessica is dead and YOU ARE GONNA FUCKING PAY YOU DICK!" Mike shouted, walking aggressively towards Josh and smacking him upside the head with the underside of the gun's handle that had been on the table.
"MIKE! WHAT THE HELL!" I shouted as Josh fell to the floor with a thud, completely knocked out cold while everyone else stood in shock.
"What? He deserved that!" Mike shouted angrily as he made his way towards the way Josh had come from in his maniac costume, into a workshop to look for something.
"But what did he do exactly? I don't get it!" I said as he came back with what looked like a small length of rope and a box that looked like it had real bullets in it.
"He fucking murdered my girlfriend, that's what he did! Here, load this up for me, will you?" Mike replied, handing me the gun he had hit Josh with while he went back over to Josh to tie his hands together.
"Uhh, sure. I'm not even going to ask." I said hesitantly, starting to unload the blanks from the gun and loading the real bullets. "But how, and why would he do that? It doesn't make any sense!"
"Chris, could you help me lift this bastard up so we can decide what to do with him." Mike said to Chris as he finished tying Josh up.
"Uh yeah, sure." Chris said kinda hesitantly, moving over toward Mike and Josh and helping him lift him up.
"Well, I'm waiting for your answer." I said as we all started to head the way Sam and Mike had come to "rescue" us.
"Fine, I'll tell you what happened." Mike said as we walked back down the corridors that Chris, Ash and I had walk down previously.
"We had finally gotten to the guest cabin, after some really strange things happening to us which I'm not going to go into detail about, and we were just about to "get down to it" until we had heard a loud crash come from the next room. Turns out that her phone had been thrown through a window, she had lost it on our way out the the cabin."
"Anyway, she thought that it was one of you guys and decided to go out of the door and started shouting to the wind angrily. She came back in and we were about to get back to it when suddenly a hand smashed through the window of the door and pulled her out through it... I grabbed the gun that was by the door and ran after her, taking all of the shortest routes possible... no matter how dangerous they may have been." Mike continued, starting to struggle to explain now, as we made our way through the old hotel, Josh still unconscious
"He dragged her HALFWAY across the FUCKING MOUNTAIN for god sake, to an old mining facility and yanked her inside... I managed to get inside and down to where he had left her. She was laying on an elevator that miners used to bring back up minerals, she had cuts, bruises and blood all over her body."
"She actually woke up and called for help pretty much in my arms... I reach out for her but the cave around me started to shake and the elevator dropped with her still on it... I looked up to see that fucker looking down on me. I couldn't let that bastard get away with murder so I took a shot at him and I started to climb the side of the elevator." Mike continued as we came to the start of the basement itself.
"I got up to the top and it turns out I missed so I tried to shoot him again but the gun jammed so I just followed him. I followed him out of the cave and into the snow seeing him head up to the sanatorium, so I followed him up there. And that's really all you need to know." Mike finished as we lugged Josh up the basement stairs.
As we did that, I tried to process what Mike had just said. Was Jessica really dead? She was alive when Mike got there, at least that's what he said anyway. That seemed significant in some way but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And something didn't quite add up with Mike's story, and I felt like it had something to do with Josh and the guy Mike saw.
Wow, If Ryan knew I was doing this much deducing, First of all, he's be asking "Who are you and what have you done with Will?". Second, he would be really proud of me.
What I hadn't notice was, while I was thinking, We had made it back into the lounge and Mike and Chris were struggling to carry Josh towards the door that led to the shed.
"We'll stay here, just in case Matt, Emily and Ryan come back. I don't think we want to be involve" Sam said as she and Ash sat on the couch, Ash looking overwhelmed and perplexed
"Yeah, sure thing." I said as I made my way with Mike and Chris.
"Need some help there?" I asked as I opened the door for them.
"Thanks Will." Chris said. I noticed that Mike stayed silent as we started down the stairs.
"Look, Mike. I'm sorry what happened to Jessica but something doesn't seem to add up here, but I'm not sure what yet." I said.
"What the hell wouldn't add up, Jessica was dragged out of the lodge, I chased after her, we ended up at the mining facility, she was on an elevator that dropped down to the bottom of the mineshaft, I ran after the guy, he went up to the sanatorium and I followed him. This happened all between 12am and 1am." Mike stated angrily.
Suddenly, I remembered something from earlier:
"What the fuck" Chris said when he opened the door, a crow flew from a spot on the floor, the guy must have gone out the door and left it open, and I looked through the door to see another blood splatter on the wall but a lot bigger then the last one. I managed to look at the clock, the time was 12:43am, before we walk through the door.
"She wasn't up there?" Ash asked as Chris came down the stairs after looking around for Sam. It seems like she just disappeared into thin air and it didn't help that it seemed like it took forever to get back to the lodge. I looked up at the clock and it said it was just gone 2am.
(Author's note: You guys won't remember these parts because they were added a little while to these parts. If you go back and read chapters 6 and 9, you'll see it.)
I was just about to bring it up but I heard a groaning coming from beside Mike, Chris had stepped back, looks like Josh was waking up.
"Ugh, wha- What? What happened? Where am I? What going on?! Get off me!" Josh asked, becoming more aware of his surroundings.
"Move!" Mike shouted forcefully, pushing him forward.
"Why have I been tied up? What the FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Josh shouted.
"We're dealing with you." Mike said simply.
"Guys! Guys come on... seriously, this is crazy, you know?"
"Shut up."
"Chris... Bro..."
"I'm not your bro." Chris stated.
"Will... you found me out... you can take a joke... right?" Josh asked me
I decided to stay silent for the moment, wait and see what'll happen.
"Where are we going? Where are you taking me?" Josh asked.
"Locking you up bro." Mike answered, pushing Josh to the ground.
"What?!"
"So you can't do anything stupid before we call the police in the morning."
"Come ON! I didn't do anything-"
"Are you serious, bro?" Chris said.
"You're a goddamned murderer is what you are." Mike added.
"I didn't do it, Micheal please! Just listen to me, man! I did not hurt Jessica-" Josh persuaded, Mike getting in his face.
"You know what man? You need to shut up." Chris said.
"Chris, hey, come on, Cochise, we're partners..."
"Stop! Don't say that!"
"Oh, fine. Be a dick!" Josh finished as Mike pushed him towards the shed.
"You only see what you wanna see! You're blind!" Josh said as Mike pushed him past the front door, the same door that me and Chris had entered earlier that night, and toward the big garage door.
"Stop talking." Mike said.
"You are - argh-" Josh tried to say but was stopped by Mike pushing him down on the snowy ground and kneeling on his back.
(Chris) "Dude." (Will) "Come on." Me and Chris said at the same time.
"It's not my fault you suckers can't take a joke." Josh said, squirming under Mike's weight.
"Oh, oh wait, did I hurt you? Did you just feel a little... little bit of pain? Right now I am SO... SO... SORRY." Mike said mockingly as he applied more pressure on Josh's back, making him howl.
"Stop it..."
"Jesus, dude..." Chris said.
"Stop... Micheal... I'm sorry... man... I can't tell you how sorry I am that something happened to Jessica but I swear, I swear I have no idea what happened to her..." Josh pleaded as he was pulled up onto his knees.
"Josh? Be honest with me. Do you really expect us to trust you for a single goddamned second, after all the shit you put us through?"
"I trust him." I said.
"What?" Mike said.
"I said I trust him."
"What are you talking about? You still trust him after everything he's done to us tonight. He's a murderer! He dragged her halfway across the mountain and pretty much dropped her down an mineshaft elevator. She wouldn't have survived that." Mike said, looking crestfallen.
Just then, I remembered something else I saw:
The vision started and all I could see was a beam of light coming down from a dark shaft, all of a sudden, a body fell down the shaft and hit a grate like floor, similar to the last totems. I looked at the body and the first thing I looked at was the jaw line, this person, who looked like Jess, didn't have a jaw, the jaw was completely gone, all that was left was the tongue and a lot of blood. I gasped in shock as Ryan came back into view.
As the scene came into view, the first thing I noticed was that I was looking at a very dark cave, so dark in fact that I could hardly see the scene in front of me. As I looked at the scene, I could see what looked like some sort of grate with a figure on top of it. I notice the figure was only wearing a bra and some underwear and was really bloody and cut. As the figure sat up, I recognized the person to be Jessica, who at the moment was on her way to the guest cabin with Mike. This made me kinda worried as the library faded back in.
"I beg to differ" I said.
"What do you mean?" Mike asked.
"I don't think she's dead. I... I have a gut feeling that she isn't dead, and my gut feeling has never been wrong." I said. Again, if I told them I saw a vision that told me otherwise, then they would think I'm crazy.
"No, there's no way! She dropped like 50ft underground! And this fucker was there doing the deed!" Mike shouted.
"Well, you know you shouldn't just assume things. Now that's the thing. Remember I said there was something that didn't seem to add up? Well, once you said what time this happened, it came to me. You said that all of that happened between 12am and 1am, didn't you?"
"Yeah, so? What of it?"
"Well, at that time, Josh was setting everything up for his death!" I deduced.
"WHAT?! No, that can't be right! I SAW HIM... WITH MY OWN EYES!" Mike shouted again.
"Yeah, that's right. I was setting everything up." Josh added.
"Shut up, Josh!" Mike said.
"Anyway, you saw the guy the whole time you were heading to, and in, the sanatorium?" I said, starting to get irritated with Mike putting down Josh.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"So, How do you think Josh can be in TWO PLACES AT ONCE?!"
"That wouldn't make sense. Unless..."
"Unless there's another person on the mountain." I concluded.
"I guess that would make sense." Chris added.
"Even so, we can't let Josh get away with what he's done tonight." Mike said.
"Oh come on, I didn't DO ANYTHING!" Josh shouted, still on his knees.
"Yeah, sure you didn't do anything. Except you terrorized your friends!" Chris stated.
"You still want to tie him up?" I asked concerned.
"Obviously! What, you think we shouldn't?" Mike asked seeming surprised.
What should I say here? I could say we should tie him up but I don't want to be on Josh's bad side. But, I could say we shouldn't tie him up but I don't want to annoy Mike.
"No, we shouldn't. I can see where you two are going here but don't you believe in second chances? I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and it genuinely seemed like he didn't intend to hurt anyone too badly. I think we should let him back in the lodge." I said reassuringly, putting my hand on Josh's shoulder. (Butterfly effect)
"What?!" Mike shouted.
"Oh thank you Will. I really appreciate it. At least someone can see sense." Josh said, a little antagonistically towards Mike and Chris, and smiled. (Butterfly effect update)
"Are you crazy?! Who knows what else he's could do." Mike said, batting my hand off his shoulder.
"Mike, come on dude-" I tried to reason with him.
"No, fuck you Will! I'm not going to listen to you! We're tying him up! End of story!" Mike finished, not having any of it. (Butterfly effect update)
"Can't we all just get along? OW! DAMMIT!" Josh said, sounding kind of like the Joker as Mike pulled him up from on his knees. He'd been in that position the whole time we were talking.
"I'm not dicking around." Mike growled in Josh's ear.
"It's not right... nope... this was not how it's supposed to go down... You two are just a bunch of bullies... You can't hang out a guy just to dry like this, guys- Not like... Not like you got the guts to really do anything about it anyways!" Josh retorted, his personality taking a complete u-turn from scared to gutsy as he was pushed toward the inside of the shed and back onto his knees again.
"Oh stuff it. You're the biggest coward there is-" Chris said.
"Uh huh? I DID something - I MADE you believe in the world I created and I showed you parts of yourself you were too afraid to visit -"
"You manipulated us, you tricked us, you hurt your friends and you did it all while you hid in the shadows. You're a coward, Josh, that's all you are." Chris finish as Mike picked him back up and put him on the stool that was by a pillar.
"Okay, I'm staying out of this now. Call me if you need me." I said as I stood by the door while Mike and Chris tied Josh up.
"Okay... Tie me up now... Okay..." Josh said.
"Stay still man-" Mike said.
"Right right right right... still... Can't tie 'em up if they just wiggle around" Josh said, starting to wiggle around in his chair to stop them from tying him up. I giggle at this.
"Josh, dude-" Chris said getting a little annoyed.
"Leave me a little wiggle room, huh?" Josh said, sounding like a little kid.
"What does it take to shut you up?" Mike said.
"Ow! Not so tight, okay? Not so tight, okay!"
(Josh) "I can't wiggle around. Plastic ties. That's where it's at. Yeah." (Mike) "What... in god's name is he talking about?" (Josh) "Plastic ties. Plastic ties. Way more effective in hostage type scenarios." (Chris) "This is hard to watch..." (Mike) "He ever say this kind of shit before?" (Josh) "Guaranteed for at least three hostages, or your money back!" (Chris) "No, I never seen him like this..." Josh said to himself while Chris and Mike had their own conversation.
"Everybody is stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid... Chris and Ash, Chris is an ass, Ashley's a dumb dumb..." Josh said, still keeping up his act while I crossed my arms by the door.
"I'm sorry what did you say?" Chris asked.
"Well I said you're a dummy, dummy." Josh said childishly.
"What is wrong with you?"
""Ohh... Ashley... I never imagined in my wildest dream you liked me...!"" Josh said, looking like he recalled something.
"Stop." Chris said while Josh made kissing noises.
"You know what that sound is? That's the sound of never kissing Ashley, you pussy."
"Stop!" Chris said as he grabbed a piece of wood from the side and held it threateningly
"Yeah, you know? You might as well let Ashley sleep with Mike, I mean, at least he's got some notches under his belt, you know? He'll treat her right! You're fucking pathetic, Christopher!" Josh shouted, losing his childish persona for a second.
"I'm gonna beat his head off-" Chris said, about to whack him with the wood.
"Don't listen to him. Not worth it" Mike said.
"Yeah, he's not in his right mind right now. He's trying to get into your head, and it's clearly working." I added.
"Oh, but Will, you seemed to want to kill me so quick earlier on." Josh said to me as he, and I, remembered what happened earlier on in this very shed:
"Oh for god sake, if you can't choose then I'll flip the switch" I said frustratingly pushing Chris out of the way to intervene and pushed the lever to the right, towards Josh's picture.(Josh): "NO CHRIS! WILL!" (Chris): "Oh... Oh no... No no no no no no no... Why did you do that, Will!" Chris asked me while Josh screamed and squirmed around. (Ashley) "OH GOD JOSH!" (Will): "Well, you were taking so long to decide. I didn't know what would happen if you didn't pick. What if Ash had gotten sawn in half if you didn't pick?" I said as Ash screamed and the saw got closer to Josh.
"Hey, I didn't know what would happen if we didn't pick and you know it! I didn't want anyone to die, but we had to make a choice! So I intervened!" I retorted, pointing at him aggressively.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Didn't sound like it at the time... You two should be more worried about Will then me. He's the person who could really kill someone!" Josh said looking over to Mike and Chris. (Butterfly effect update)
"Okay, you know what? I don't have to listen to this. I'm just going to walk away. I'm see you guys back at the lodge." I said, a little irritated, as I walked out of the shed in the direction of the lodge.
"You know what I'm talking about Will! You can't run from it! hahaha!" Josh shouted after me.
"Shut up!" I heard Mike said as I rounded the corner past the front door and back to the lodge.
I walked towards where the blood trail was when I heard, "Hey Will, are you alright!", from behind me. It was Chris, jogging towards me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just annoying that he has to act this way, and after I defended him as well. Anyway, like I said, Josh isn't in his right mind right now. I'm the better man for walking away. Why did you come after me anyway? I thought you'd want to stay down there with Josh." I said.
"Mike told me to go after you. He said he'd be alright with Josh on his own." Chris answered.
"Well, Mike has a loaded gun. I hope nothing bad happens." I said as we walked back to the lodge.
Turns out I would regret that statement later on, but not in the way you'd think.
Butterfly Effects:
Will chose not to shoot the squirrel; Nature remained in balance.
Will pushed Chris out of the way to pull the lever; Chris blamed Will for Josh's death; But he trusted Will anyway; Josh felt betrayed and taunted Will.
Ryan kept the axe; Ryan was put in danger; But made it out safely.
Ryan walked calmly through the herd; Ryan, Matt and Emily escaped the threat unscathed.
Ryan kept the flare gun.
Ryan decided to check the trapdoor; He fell through the open door; He failed to grab the doorframe; He ended up outside.
Will tried to save Chris from the psycho; Chris trusted Will and put the gun down.
Ryan chose to go into the mines.
Will defended Josh; Josh appreciated Will's concern; Mike criticized Will's choice.
Now that felt like a good chapter to me. But that's for you guys to decide.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who's ever followed, favourited or even just had a quick look over the past year. I can't thank you guys enough. Just thank you.
Bye guys.