The first thing to hit Joshua Washington is the bright lights. They're frayed around the edges and the orbs are fuzzy, but they're so bright that it makes him wince. It takes him a few blinks to realize that it's an unfamiliar built-in ceiling light causing his eyes so much grief. The next thing to hit his senses is the dull pain beginning to creep up on him. His shoulder feels like he's been thrown into a brick wall and his stomach feels oddly gutted.
It takes his brain a minute to remember to check his surroundings, but as he turns his head, the room he's in seems very blurry. He blinks three times, trying to make the images clear, but they only sharpen slightly. He can tell he's lying in a bed with a green blanket in a plain room with white walls and some obscure painting he can't make out on the wall. From the sterile smell, he gathers that he's in a hospital.
What the hell happened? How did I get here?
He remembers being at the lodge, pulling the prank. He thought it had been funny, but his friends… they were so mad, they were so angry with him. The memory bangs hollowly against his chest, but he forces himself to think of what happened afterwards. They locked him in the shed, they thought he killed Jess, but he didn't. He never even touched Jess or Mike. Then… there was that thing. That really awful pale skinned creature with the loud shrieks; it dragged him away.
Come on, Josh, think harder. What happened to you?
It dragged him down through the mines, he remembers that. And then he saw Beth and Hannah. They were yelling at him, screaming at him. He winces at the recollection, trying not to let it take over his mind. There was something else, something good. His friends came for him! Sam and Mike pulled him out of the delusions. They needed the key to the cable car station. They tried to get him out, but then… but then there was Hannah, only she was one of those things. It had the tattoo, it had to be her. She grabbed him and dragged him away.
After that the memories are vague, only feelings. He remembers hunger, distinctly starving. And fear. And pain. Not much else, though, none of the finer details. The only clear feelings he remembers are the pang of hunger in his stomach and the fear in his bones.
"Oh, you're awake." Josh's eyes dart towards the voice, too lost in his thoughts to have heard the doctor come in. He can tell that she's brunette and wears glasses, along with a lab coat. He can also make out that she's wearing a shade of red, maybe pink, lipstick, and her eyes are either blue or green. But other than that, her features are blurry. "Do you remember what happened?"
"No," he replies, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounds.
"There was a maniac on Blackwood Mountain trying to kill you and your friends." Josh begins to sweat, wondering if she's talking about him. "Your friends made it out okay by blowing up the lodge, but they said the killer got you. They came back for you, though. You were starving, dehydrated, and shot. We think your consumption of human flesh led to your feral mental state and why you attacked the police, as well as the blurriness in your eyes. Don't worry, we were able to fix you up just fine. You'll only need some skin grafts and glasses."
Human flesh? He ate someone? His stomach churns at the thought.
"Your friends Sam and Chris are here. I'm sure they can explain what happened to you. Should I send them in?" the doctor questions. Sam and Chris? Josh nods at the doctor, who leaves the room. They came back for him again. They saved him from the life of a monster, from the life his sister was forced to live. They came back for him, even though they had been so angry.
The doctor returns a few moments later with two blonde figures. Though his vision is blurred, he can easily tell which figure is who. Sam's figure is much slimmer and shorter, and he could tell the soft lines of her rounded face from anywhere. Oh how he used to study those lines when Hannah had invited her over for dinner. That and, of course, her black and red ensemble gave her away. Sam always wore those colors.
Though Sam is the first one to draw his eyes, he could never mistake Chris's solid figure either. The guy's been wearing the same type of square shaped glasses since the third grade. That and he always favors the color blue, as opposed to the warmth of Sam's red preferences. The slightly spiked blond hair and stocky figure give his identity away as well.
"Hey pornstar," Sam says playfully, though he hears the tenseness in her voice. He manages a small smile, ignoring the stab of pain in his cheek, and he sees a little bit of relief wash over her.
"How are you feeling, bud?" Chris questions, a nervousness beneath his tone as well. What's got them so on edge?
"I'm doing okay," Josh replies, still surprised to find his voice is hoarse, almost like he's been screaming for days. "Nothing too serious if I'm awake and talking, right?" Both his friends manage a small sort of grin and he begins to get a heavy feeling in his chest. "I swear I didn't know anything about the things on the mountain. I never… I never… the prank was just-"
"Josh, it's okay," Sam says, putting her hand on his good shoulder. "We don't need to talk about that right now. We're just glad that you made it out safe and sound. Let's just work on getting you better, okay?" Josh nods and she takes his hand, the gesture sending a warm feeling throughout his oddly cold bones. Come to think of it, it's actually freezing in here.
"So what happened after we made it out of the mines?" Josh questions. "I don't exactly remember hurting my shoulder, stomach, or face. Did one of those things do this to me?"
Sam's eyes flick upwards to give Chris a concerned glance. After a moment, she bites her lip and asks, "What's the last thing you remember, Josh?"
"You and Mike were leading me out of the mines," he says, thinking back. "One of those, uh, those things grabbed me. It had Hannah's tattoo." He pauses for a second, sincerely hoping that this isn't his mind playing tricks on him again. "That was real, right? I mean, those really pale ugly monsters, they were real?"
"They were real," Chris says sadly. "Very real."
Josh breathes a small sigh of relief. His mind is intact and working for the moment, he didn't imagine those things. Part him wishes that he had, though. Hannah… one of those monsters had her tattoo. Is that what happened to her when she disappeared? Did his sister slowly morph into some kind of creature the more time that passed without anyone finding her? The thought shakes him deeply, his heart dropping into his stomach.
"So what, um," Josh begins, trying not to dwell, "what happened? The doctors said that I ate human flesh and that definitely does not sound appetizing."
Sam cracks a small smile, but then her expression turns serious. "Do you remember anything after being grabbed?" she questions quietly.
"No. All that I remember is you and Mike showing up and breaking me out of that, that, uh, delusion," he forces himself to say the word. "You left to go tell the others that everything was okay and Mike led me through this pool or something. I remember the monster with Hannah's tattoo grabbed me and then I blacked out. That's it." Chris squeezes his shoulder and Sam closes her eyes, biting her lip for a moment. "Why are you guys so serious? Did I- did I do something?"
"No, no, you didn't do anything," Sam assures him solemnly. "After you were grabbed, there was no way Mike could go back. Those things were everywhere around the mines. You've," she takes a deep breath, "you were down in those mines for a week. We tried coming back for you earlier, before all of this might've happened. We tried but they wouldn't let us, they thought the fire might've made the basement cave in. I'm so sorry, Josh."
He hates seeing her so distressed, the regret framed in all of her soft features. "I don't even remember the week," he tells her. "I guess I must've gotten tossed around a little, considering all this, but I'm alive."
"Josh, um, the wendigos didn't do this to you," Chris says quietly. "The way that you become one of those things is to eat human flesh. You must've had to eat the stranger's body to survive down there. When we found you, you were half turned."
"Half turned," Josh says slowly, Chris's words not sounding real to his ears. "Half turned into one of those things?"
Chris nods. "When we found you, you weren't you. You lunged at us and the detective shot you." Lunged at them? Why would he do that? Shouldn't he have been glad to see them? "The shotgun stopped you and we were able to get you back to the hospital. They cleaned out your intestines of flesh and you started going back to normal."
"How bad off was I?" Josh questions, hoping the answer's not too bad and Sam gives his hand another squeeze.
"Well, your skin was pretty tough, but the doctors say that it's back to normal now that the stuff is out of your system. They say it messed with your vision, though, and that you'll probably need glasses, but I'm sure you can pull them off. You and Chris will be twins," Sam informs him lightly.
"That is not a compliment," Josh says jokingly.
"There is one other thing," she starts again. "The left side of your face, well, starting turning more than the rest. Your teeth sort of morphed into fangs, but the surgeon filed them down back to normal. You lip extended and there's kind of a hole in your face that they've sewed up, but don't worry, the doctors say that some skin grafts will get you looking good as new. But, to tell you the truth, it looks kind of like the Joker's scar and I think you might have to fend the ladies off with it. If not we can go find you a bandana and then people will think you're very mysterious," Sam says with a sly grin.
Josh squeezes her hand back, managing a small grin of his own. "So is, uh, is everyone okay? Mike thought that I- that I killed Jess."
"Everyone's fine, even Jess," Chris assures him. "One of those things dragged her down into the mines. She's a little roughed up, but she's going to be good as new in a few weeks."
"And Ashley? Oh God, Chris, I'm so sorry." Guilt falls over his chest like a ton of bricks. What was wrong with him? Why would he hit Ashley like that? She did stab him, but hitting her? He shudders at the memory. "I don't know what came over me, why I hit her. I'm so-"
"We know that wasn't like you. We're going to get you some help, bud," Chris tells him with a half-smile, but a sort of dread builds up in Josh's stomach. He had been getting help and it hadn't been working. None of it had been working. The pills made him hazy and dull when they were supposed to make him happy.
"Josh," Sam says quietly, attracting his attention away from his thoughts. "I saw your file in the workshop and I don't think, well, I don't think your doctor knew what he was doing. We didn't tell anyone about the prank, but we're going to get you a second opinion, alright? You were hallucinating down in the mines before and that's not usually treated with the antidepressants in your file."
This oddly fills Josh with a little bit of hope. Maybe his actions weren't really his own. Maybe his diagnosis was wrong all along and maybe they can fix this. Maybe they can make him better so that he never wants to hurt his friends like this ever again.
"You guys were so angry. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. If I had known about those things on the mountain," Josh stops. "You guys must hate me."
"No," Sam and Chris say almost in unison.
"You know we could never hate you Joshua Washington," Sam adds. "I just wish that you would've told us. We could've helped you. You didn't have to go through it alone." She wraps both her hands around his. "We're right here. Promise me you'll saying something next time, otherwise I'll just have to never leave you alone again."
"I promise," Josh says, although the idea doesn't sound too bad.