JESSICA; MINES; 21:37
FOURTEEN HOURS SINCE INCIDENT

Josh is not my favorite person amongst our group of friends, but he isn't my least favorite either.

When I came down in this part of the mines and saw him, I thought I was saved from... I don't know, really... but I felt the relief course through me as if someone doused me with a warm shower after tonight's rendezvous with near death. Apparently not, though.

Josh scared the fuck out of me.

I can only remember two moments when I was scared because of Josh. First was the moment he found out that the twins were gone, and the second was the moment he found out that most of us were in on the prank that led to the disappearance.

Josh was devastated when he found out that the twins were gone. He ran out of the lodge before we could even finish telling him anything else—before we could finish telling him that we already tried everything we could to find them. I could tell he was still hungover when he woke up but that didn't stop him from running out. That scared the shit out of me—his extreme love for his sisters and those he cares about.

But then we told him how it happened. We told him why Hannah ran out, and why we didn't run after her and let Beth do it alone. That time, he didn't run anymore. Oh no, he kept silent, got up, and left the room. A few moments later, we heard crashes in the room next to us.

It takes a lot to anger Joshua Washington, and hey, we achieved it at a very high price.

We knew the anger he was taking out on everything was directed at us. Every crash and every yell made me flinch back then, knowing that those were our fault. Despite that, we couldn't believe Josh's self-control with the situation. If it was me, I would have thrown the things at us instead at blank walls and floors. He was furious, and I didn't want Josh to hate us. I don't know what happens when a kind guy hates you. Josh really scared the bejesus out of me that time.

But earlier? This surpasses those two moments entirely.

When I showed myself up, he looked at me and backed up, screaming for dear life as if he saw a ghost. Well, knowing what I know now, it makes sense that he actually thought he saw a ghost.

I watched him all day. He kept muttering to himself—and sometimes even actually talking to people who aren't there. I thought the mountains really got into his head—that it broke him. I didn't know what else to do, so I kept out of his way.

He was scaring me because I could see him rocking himself at the other side of this part of the mines—just under the sunlight as if someone put a spotlight on him for extra effect. I thought he really lost his marbles. I didn't know what to do. So, I just watched him and stayed in my corner of this chamber or something. Even though Josh was being... was like that, I didn't want to leave him alone.

Or more accurately, I didn't want to be alone.

If I was going to be with a mind-deteriorated Josh, then so be it. He is still my friend, and I came up here because we were going to help him get through Hannah's and Beth's disappearances.

But then Josh started yelling into the darkness—something about getting away from him, and not doing "this" to him again. He really scared the fuck out of me when he just stood up and hit his own head on the face of the cliff. Then he saw me, and I don't know what happened but suddenly he's kneeling on the ground, head bent down and him clawing his own face.

What I didn't take into account was him attacking me when I put my hand on his shoulder a few minutes ago. I suppose touching a person going through some sort of episode is a big no-no. I guess I'm going to take note of that from now on. At least, when it comes to Josh. Hell, even I don't want to be touched by some person I didn't see either.

Thank God that's over. Right now, I'm allowing Josh's shoulder to touch mine—a form of physical contact and a source of warmth and comfort from the cold.

Josh, ever so kind, gave me his overalls. Thankfully, he had his own clothes under those overalls. "I needed to look big, so I wore three layers underneath," he told me cryptically.

He even cut parts of one of his shirts to wrap them around the worst of my wounds. I think I even heard him muttering something about having at least one good thing coming out of the ever cryptic "this". I'll make sure to dig into that later.

"I still can't believe you're alive—that you're real," Josh whispers for the millionth time, shaking his head as he looks forward at the distant.

"Did the mountains really get you this crazy? Of course, I'm real," I joke.

He looks away. Bad joke, then. My mouth closes up on their own, remembering his episode not too long ago. Nope, definitely a bad, bad joke.

"Josh, seriously," I start with a voice I didn't expect to be so gentle, "did you really think you killed me?"

Josh sighs, closing his eyes before turning to look at me. He opens his mouth to say something before he closes it up again.

I know what that means. I've seen enough boys to understand the pattern. He's considering his words carefully—wanting to give me the perfect reply to sound—Well, with the boys, it's always to sound impressive, but with Josh? How does he want to sound like with a question like that? A liar or a... what?

"Josh?" I insist, and I practically see him mentally flinch when I called his name. "Please don't tell me you think that you're capable of murder."

"Okay," he finally speaks up with a deep breath. "Look, I—" he pauses.

He's still considering his words, but I've put enough pressure for him to lessen his filter. It always works with anyone who tries to flirt with me—or talk to me, for that matter.

"I thought my—Look, I don't know, okay? I wasn't exactly..." He sighs.

"Exactly what?" I ask quietly.

"I don't know... Of sound mind and body?" he suggests.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Josh, but you are too much of a cinnamon roll to kill me... or anyone, really," I tell him with a small smile.

He gives me a small look. "A cinnamon roll?"

"Yeah, you know... a cinnamon roll."

"Me?" he asks indignantly.

"Yeah, someone so sweet and worthy of several cuddles that you have to wrap them in blankets and pillows to protect them from his cold dark Earth," I explain with a smile.

Silence.

"Yeah, I think I'd want to be a cinnamon roll right now."

I blink once. Twice. Thrice.

My smile falls. "That's not what I—Yeah, I suppose... Me, too," I whisper the last part, shivering at the cold.

At the shiver, Josh quickly moves to wrap an arm around me but slowly places them as to not jostle most of my wounds. He's always been thoughtful. I'm so glad I found a friend.

"What happened to you?" Josh asks me quietly. "Jess? Last night? What happened to you last night?"

I look away for a moment, not really sure how much to say to someone already so... broken up.

"Come on, Jess. You can tell me anything," he tells me, squeezing his hand on my arm, rubbing it to give me comfort. I never knew how much I needed human interaction until now.

"It was some kind of... monster."

Josh sucks in a breath. He knows about the monster!

"What do you know about them?" I insist. If he brought us up here to get us all killed... I... I...

"Ha—The m-monster dragged me here, actually. I think it's its lair or something."

Oh, well, shit, so he didn't know about them either. Good. I don't know what I'd do if that was his plan all along. Josh is so much better than that—better than most of us anyways.

Still, why the fuck is this stupid mountain full of bad luck?

"It dragged me here, too. In the mines, I mean..." I offer, not really knowing why. Oh hi, we were both dragged by some fucking monster. Let's have a party! God, I miss parties.

"From the cabin?" Josh adds, bringing me away from my dreams of partying. "Yeah, I heard."

Heard?! From who? The only one who was in the cabin was—

"Mike," I whisper. "Mike, he... He came for me."

"Yeah, he told us," he replies with an edge to his tone.

Mike. I love him. I love him so much. He did everything he could to find me. I've never seen someone so devoted for me—so loyal to me. I love him. I love Michael so much I feel like I couldn't breathe from the emotion.

As such, I could feel my eyes well up with tears. "Is... Is he okay?" I ask in a small voice.

"I don't know," Josh says.

"Why don't—"

"Look, I'm just gonna say the elephant in the room: I'm not a good source of information. But if everything that I saw actually happened last night..."

"What?"

"Then... Then Mike was going to help me get out of this place but—" he stops himself, looking at me.

"But?"

He's doing it again—considering his words.

"But he didn't," he finally says with a sigh.

Why would he think too much about that? Unless he... Oh, he got dragged here by the monster alone when Mike was supposed to help him out... He's... He's...

"H-he's dead, isn't he?" I whimper. "M-Mike's dead?"

"Jess, we don't know that."

"Josh, what did you see? You have to tell me."

"Look, the-the monster... It wasn't interested in Mike. I just... We were in the water. Then suddenly, he was dragged underwater, and a second later, it came up and dragged me here. There's a big, big chance that Mike's still alive. The time difference was too short, even for a monster that quick," he deduces thoughtfully.

That's Josh. Intelligent and analytical when it comes to terrifying moments. I mean, even I won't think too hard enough on why the fall from the elevator shaft didn't kill me.

"What else did Mike tell you? Did he tell you anything about me?" I ask before thinking back. "You told me that he told you about me being taken?" I ask him, my full attention towards him.

"Y-yeah," he replies with an edge to his tone, putting his head down and crossing his arms as he does so. "That's it, really," he lies.

What could have Mike told him?

"Josh," I persist.

"What?" he asks me tiredly.

"What did Mike tell you about me and the cabin?" I ask him with a scared tone.

"I told you, it was nothing. He just said that someone took you from the cabin, and that he tried to run after you," he replies defensively.

Something's wrong with what he said.

"You said 'someone' but we both know it was 'something', Josh. What aren't you telling me?"

Josh sighs and turns to look at me. He raises his hand and points at the bruises on his forehead.

"Mike hit me."

My eyes widen at that. I thought that the bruises were from the monster, or from someone else. I never would have expected them to come from Mike. Especially with the fact that Mike had promised everyone that he will protect them. I always joked about his "protecting people" thing. It's noble of him, to be honest. It's an attractive part of him, too.

So, him, hitting Josh in the head? Josh, the sweetest though fondly grossest guy in our group?

"Is that all he did?" I ask him.

He hesitates but he shakes his head as a "no." Before I ask him what Mike did, he tells me, "Let's not go with the specifics, okay? I'm not... I don't like them either."

"But why would he—?" I pause.

Josh turns to look at me with a grave look in his eyes. "Jess, can we not talk about this?"

"No. No, we are so talking about this. I don't like being kept in the dark about these things. You have to tell me what's going on."

"I... It was..."

"What?"

"I was going to prank you, guys, too."

I feel a shiver creep up my spine at that. When I said that I felt fear when it comes to the wrath of Joshua Washington, well, I'm feeling it now, again.

"P-prank us? What's this got to do with Mi—"

Josh sighs. "We have time. To understand this, we have to start at the very beginning."

I look at him for a moment before I nod for him to continue.

"I... I was angry at you, guys, about the prank that led to... that lead to all of this. So, I planned an elaborate prank to punish those that needed punishing. It was going to be a good short film. I was going to post it on YouTube and everything. It was perfect," he says wistfully before shaking his head.

Josh's love for film and directing is something we all know. Last year, he suggested we vlog our whole party, and we were gonna do it. We were known in the whole school, and that might've even boost our fame—make us well known vloggers. But it all went down to shit when I did that stupid prank.

"Anyway," Josh continues, bringing me back to his explanation, "it started when I faked a seance with a Ouija board with Chris and Ash. I made them believe that my sister was killed and that there's proof around the area. I made elaborate contraptions to scare Chris and Ashley around the lodge. Then I was gonna chase and catch Sam in the lodge to bait Chris and Ashley while they look around for clues."

I take a deep breath. The information was overwhelming me. But more importantly, I can't believe Josh did this. Josh.

"I didn't catch her, though. Still, I got Ash, and I made Chris choose between me and Ash."

"...What do you mean by—"

"There was a saw coming between me and Ash. He has to choose which one to live and die."

"Shit, Josh," I blurt out.

Josh closes his eyes at my outburst but something else forms in my head.

"Who... Who did Chris pick?"

He sighs. "Ashley, of course."

"Oh, Josh," I whisper.

"Yeah, well, I know it sucks. Let's carry on, shall we?"

He's hiding how much that hurt him. I already know that Chris and Josh are best friends. Hell, we all tease them as each other's lover. I can't believe Chris would choose Ashley over Josh, but then again, he's been pining over Ashley for God knows how long. Even Sam with—

Wait, hold on a minute. "You said you chased Sam and you made Chris choose between his two best people..."

"...Yeah... What is it?"

"Why them? Sam tried to stop us, and Chris was passed out drunk at the night of the... that night. Josh, you targeted the wrong people."

Josh looks away. "Yeah, I know."

"Josh, what the fuck?"

"Look, it's... I don't know, okay? I mean, I told you... The filming was perfect. After Chris chose, I caught them again and they thought they were gonna get sawed again unless Chris chooses to shoot either himself or Ashley. It was perfect. They even confessed their feelings with each other. And Sam... She gets to be the final girl. The one chased but the one who wins in the end. The one who gets to take the monsters away, you know?"

Ohhh... "So, you think this will help them? What is this, a thank-you prank?"

"No. I meant to make you all feel as humiliated as Hannah did and as panicked as Beth did a year ago. With Chris and Sam... I wanted them to have the happy ending. I don't know. Maybe, you're right. Fuck, I don't know."

"Jesus, Josh."

"It all went wrong when Mike came in and hit me on the head with the butt of a gun..." he ends with a whisper. I don't even want to comment about Mike having a gun.

"He thought your prank with me is so much worse than that, didn't he?" He stays quiet. "He thought you killed me. That's why he hit you, didn't he? And you started to believe it?" He nods morosely at that.

"I'm glad he was wrong," he replies quietly.

Now, his episode makes much more sense. "I KILLED YOU! YOU'RE DEAD! YOU'RE DEAD! I KILLED YOU! GET AWAY FROM MY HEAD! I KILLED YOU!" he yelled when he was clawing his own face out. God, that really scared the crap out of me.

But another thing came to mind:

"Mike thinks I'm dead," I say, tears coming out of my eyes despite my best efforts not to.

"They all probably think the two of us are dead," Josh replies plainly.

"So, we might not get rescued?" I deduce in horror.

"Fuck, you're right," Josh says before he stands up. "We gotta find a way out of the mines."

"But the... the monster..."

"Shit... er... Let's just... Do it in the morning, I guess? When there's sunlight. Better that way, yes?"

I nod in reply. A lump in my throat forms and before I know it: "Josh, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry about the prank. I'm sorry about Hannah and Beth... I'm so sorry!" I sob on his shoulder, grabbing the front of his shirt as I cling on to him for dear life. I want him to get the message.

I want him to know how truly deeply sorry I am.

I did a terrible thing. I extorted a friend's feelings without caring about what it might do to her, and now it led to their disappearances, or possible deaths, if I'm being honest.

It takes me a while to realize that someone is rubbing my shoulders and telling me to stop crying.

"Don't be sorry, Jess. I have something to confess to you, too," Josh starts nervously.

"W-what?" I ask, my voice still shaky from weeping.

"You never asked what prank I had planned for you and Mike."

I keep silent, not really knowing what else to say. He's right. I never asked. What could be worse than being traumatized with saws and pretending your best friend is dead?

"The cabin has cameras around."

I suck in a breath. "Party like we're fucking porn-stars," I quote him. "You were gonna film us, too, like how we filmed Hannah taking her shirt off."

Josh nods before looking away.

"I... I would've deserved it," I whisper.

I'm surprised Josh didn't get whiplash at how quick he turned to look at me.

"No," he told me, "everything we did. No one deserved that."

I nod solemnly before laughing. "God, Josh, we're fucked up, huh?"

"I guess we are."