Chapter 4- Search Parties
Kurt frowned. "What do you mean, you can't find Beth? She was with Hannah, right?"
Hannah stepped forward at the mention of her name and shook her head. "She went to our bathroom down the hall and nobody's seen her since."
"And she's not answering her phone," Matt piped up, concerned.
Emily let out a yawn.
Josh sighed. "Can you not?"
"Well, I'm sorry for not signing up to the missing person's investigation squad because nobody's seen Beth for ten minutes."
"You could just have a little more consideration, Em," Chris replied.
Emily turned on him, but Kurt knew that look in her eye. He had to put a stop to this.
"Okay, everyone shut up," Kurt said firmly. Everyone stopped and listened. Kurt rarely ever raised his voice and he never yelled. He always maintained that yelling would ruin his singing voice and that simply could not happen. "Here's what we're going to do. We search every room in the cabin for Beth. We text her and call her at regular intervals to see if she picks up. We don't panic. She couldn't have gotten far and she's smart enough to know not to leave the cabin in this weather."
Ashley raised her hand.
Kurt chuckled. "Yes, Ashley?"
"What if...I'm not panicking...but what if that guy took her?"
Kurt's conversation with Mike had somewhat distracted him from the figure that he had seen in the kitchen not too long ago. How could he have been so stupid?
"Okay, that's a genuine concern. But she would've screamed. Check any open entrances or exits. If she's nowhere to be found, then I don't know what to do."
"We go and look for her," Jess nodded bravely.
Emily stared. "In this snowstorm? You want to take that chance?"
Jess folded her arms tightly. "If you went missing, don't you think you'd want someone to go and look for you."
Kurt winced, as he knew Emily's reply before she had even said it.
"If I was stupid enough to let myself get captured and taken in a blizzard, I'd deserve it."
Hannah clenched her jaw and huffed. "You're sick."
"No, I'm smart and resourceful, there's a difference. Kurt agrees with me."
Kurt sighed.
"Kurt?" Josh questioned quietly.
Kurt shook his head. "I don't completely agree, but I understand Emily's thinking. Beth wouldn't want someone else risking their lives to go and find her if she is even missing at all. If she turns up in ten minutes completely fine and someone's out there lost in the snowstorm, that's another person we've got to go and find. It becomes a cycle. The best thing to do, and I hate saying this, right now is to do nothing. We'll look around and then we wait. It's the right thing to do."
Sam and Josh nodded slowly. Hannah let her arms relax. Chris and Ashley looked at each other pensively. Jess leaned against the wall.
"So we're agreed?"
The group nodded.
"Mike's in the shower, so we should split up into pairs."
Sam did a quick head count. "There's nine of us."
Kurt checked her math and nodded. "I'll go by myself to the basement. Matt and Chris, you guys take upstairs. Sam and Jess, have a look around downstairs. Hannah, Josh, Emily, Ashley, you guys stay on phone duty."
Emily frowned. "It doesn't take four people to dial a number."
Josh nodded. "I'll go with Kurt to the basement. I know the way around. Send word if you see something."
Everyone nodded.
As the groups dispersed, the phone duty group took seats around the fire.
"I feel so useless sitting here while my sister is god knows where," Hannah lamented, thumbs tapping across her phone.
Emily crossed her legs, relaxed. "Relax, Han, she'll be fine. How many winters have you guys spent up here?"
Hannah looked pensive. "None with a crazy psycho roaming the property."
Emily chuckled. "Point taken."
Ashley pulled her phone away from her ear and grunted. "It's ringing, but no answer."
"We should call every couple of minutes in case her battery dies from all the calling," Hannah suggested wisely.
The other girls nodded as they placed their phones on their laps and sat somewhat awkwardly. The individual relationships between the three girls weren't the strongest in the group. Ashley and Hannah were cordial with everybody, but Emily tended to cause conflict, so they weren't as compatible with her as with the rest of them.
Ashley took a deep breath. "Can I ask you girls something?"
They nodded. For once, Emily didn't look bored.
"How do you know if you're ready to..."
Emily gaped. "Are you gonna fuck someone?"
Ashley's eyes bulged. "No! No, no. Well, maybe soon I don't know. But I don't know if I'm ready to tell someone how I feel."
Hannah smiled. "Well, don't wait too long, otherwise you'll watch him making out with someone else."
"Smooth, Han," Emily rolled her eyes. "Put it this way, Ash. Do you have feelings that are so strong you think you might not survive them?"
She paused, then nodded.
"Every time you see them, do you have fantasies about taking them by the shoulders and confessing everything to them?"
Another nod.
"Then you're ready. No matter what the consequences are, it's not good holding in so many feelings like that. And you're hot, they're bound to respond well."
Ashley blinked in surprise. She didn't know Emily was capable of such emotional openness.
"Surprising, right? I'm not a monster, you know. I'm just not as open about my emotions as the rest of you."
The girls picked up their phones and texted and called Beth once more in relative silence.
Matt and Chris peeked behind doors along a hallway and sighed when there was no sign of Beth.
"Where do you think she is?"
Matt looked up. "I don't know, man. She's gotta be somewhere though, right?"
Chris grinned. "Well, everyone's somewhere, Matty."
Matt punched his arm. "You know what I mean."
"We'll find her."
"Crazy night already, huh?"
Chris smiled. "You mean Kurt and Mike? Or taking a trip into the blizzard to find the girls?"
Matt shrugged. "Both, I guess. Although Kurt's been into Mike ever since he got here, it's not too much of a surprise that they hooked up."
"I never knew Mikey was into him," Chris admitted.
"I didn't know for sure, but something about how Mike was around him, it just made sense."
"I guess this is the first time our school has had a gay class president," Chris chuckled.
Matt shook his head. "Mike isn't gay, Chris. Actually, I think Kurt's the only guy he's ever even looked at that way. I don't think even he knows what's going on."
Something about that struck Chris particularly deeply. That was a concept he had been thinking about for a while. He had done his research about the modern era, he knew the terms and the definitions, but he wasn't sure how to apply them to himself.
If he was being honest, Chris Hartley was very much into women. He had been since he could even remember being into people. Back then, he hadn't known any other alternatives. But Chris was also into guys, or so he thought. At least one guy, anyway. His best friend, Josh Washington. They had been inseparable since they first became friends, back before their little group was formed. Josh was his person since his family relationships weren't really intact, his friends meant everything to him and Josh even more so. Chris knew that he had been crushing on Ashley lately, but his feelings for Josh were ever-present, something that he couldn't control, something that he had never seen coming. He and Josh had shared the same bed on many occasions and never had Chris suspected something might have been lingering inside of him all this time. Only looking at Josh tonight, his arm around Ashley, stirred up some feelings he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with right now.
He knew he needed to speak to Kurt, or maybe even Mike now. Mike would probably understand his situation better than Kurt, but Kurt gave better, more honest advice. Maybe he would sit down with the both of them at some time and talk it out.
Maybe he could get between them in their room, while they made out and just watch, or maybe even join in and...focus, Hartley!
"You okay, man?" Matt frowned, waving his hand in front of Chris' blank face.
Chris snapped back to reality and out of his stupor. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just spaced. Thinking about where Beth could have gone."
Matt nodded passively, unsure as to the veracity of that particular statement.
Matt knew that he was the quietest, most passive member of their group, maybe with the exception of Hannah, but that didn't mean that he didn't see things. In fact, it meant that he saw more than people thought he did. When you spend time listening and observing, you pick on things.
He knew that there was something on Chris' mind, but he also knew better than to ask Chris outright. In his experience, if Chris wanted to talk then he would in his own time.
"We've checked every hall upstairs, right?" Matt bit his lip.
"I think so. We'll have to double back anyway to get downstairs. Let's hope someone else had more luck than us."
Sam and Jess flicked on their phone flashlights as they searched the downstairs area of the cabin. It wasn't so big, or so they thought. It turned out that every door led to three more doors, rooms the girls didn't even know existed. The exterior of the cabin didn't give any sort of indication that there would be this much space inside it.
"I'm worried about her," Jess breathed as they turned a corner, no luck being had.
Sam nodded. "She'll be okay though. Beth is pretty resourceful."
Jess shook her head. "You guys didn't see how freaked out Kurt was about the intruder. I didn't whoever it was, but I know Kurt, and for him to be so scared of something, it's not messing around."
"Whatever happens, we have to keep our heads. Okay?"
Jess, knowing full well that she would go along with whatever Sam suggested, agreed.
"I'm not going to pretend like I'm not scared, but I know that we have to be brave for Beth's sake."
"I don't know how you do it," Jess replied coolly. Jess offered her trembling beam of light as an example. "I just can't control how scared I feel."
Sam smiled, taking her hand. "Listen to me." Jess' heart started to hammer in her chest at the softness of Sam's skin. "You're so much braver than you think you are. Bravery isn't about not being scared. It's about being scared and doing what's right anyway. You're here, doing something that scares you. That's brave. So don't think for a second that you're not being brave and strong by doing this. Okay?"
Jess nodded. "Thank you. I just...I just hope we find her."
"We will."
As Sam turned to double back, she stopped in her tracks. "Do you hear that?"
As Jess listened more closely, she did in fact hear what Sam was referring to.
It was a scream. Coming from down in the basement.
"Kurt and Josh!" Sam snapped, grabbing Jess' hand and heading for the basement.
Kurt backed up against the wall. "Get the fuck away from me," he spat.
The figure advanced, a knife by their side.
"I'm trained in Krav Maga," Kurt explained. "This won't end well for you." He was hoping the tremble in his voice didn't completely give him away. He wasn't lying, but this person had a knife. He wasn't sure of his reflexes where that was concerned.
The figure shrugged and stepped ever close.
Kurt held up his palms, ready to try and fight his way out.
"Okay, okay, don't hurt me!"
Kurt dropped his palms and gaped. "Josh?"
Josh ripped off the mask he was wearing and grinned. "Scared?"
"You idiot," Kurt snapped. "I could've seriously hurt you."
Josh smirked. "Worth it to see that look on your face. Did you trip over something?"
Kurt nodded behind Josh. "I stepped on that stupid baseball helmet."
Josh picked it up. "This was my first helmet from when I was a kid. I wasn't really into baseball, but I pretended to like it. My dad was finally making an effort, you know?"
"So much for that," Josh added, tossing the helmet into the shadows.
Kurt huffed. "Now that we aren't distracted, we can continue searching."
Josh shook his head. "We're back where we started. We obviously can't search behind the locked doors and we've been everywhere that we can."
Kurt nodded. "Well, then, we should head back upstairs."
Josh reached out and held Kurt's arm. "Not so quick. I wanted to talk to you for a second."
Kurt smiled. "Let me guess. About Mike?"
"I forget how well you know me."
"Like the back of my hand," Kurt reminded him, as they slapped the back of their hands together, something they had come up with years ago.
"I know you've dreamed about this since you guys first met, but did you at least talk about it? Is Mike in this as much as you are?"
Kurt smiled. "Careful, Josh. I might confuse your questions for you caring about me."
Josh was completely serious. "I do care about you. That's why I'm asking. I don't want this to end badly. I like Mike. I wouldn't want to have to kill him."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure you'd win that one, bud."
Josh flexed with a grin. "I could take him."
"If you say so. Besides, if Mike hurts me, I'm more than capable of taking him down myself."
"Oh, like you would."
Kurt puffed his chest. "I have enough self-respect to deal damage to whomever tries to hurt me."
"But let's just say...in case any rogue baseball helmets get in the way...you couldn't. I got your back, Kurt. Always."
Kurt squeezed Josh's hands. "You ever wonder what it would be like if Patty Underwood had never been in the picture?"
Josh raised an eyebrow. "You mean Fatty Underpants?"
Kurt gaped, blushing. "I feel terrible about that nickname. I was ten, I didn't know better."
"Yes, we know how mature you are now Kurt. But I do, actually. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's wondered what it would be like to be with you. I think we're too close for that."
"You're right. Ever since you flashed me last year, I haven't been able to recover."
Josh smiled toothily. "You loved every second of it."
Kurt said nothing.
"Speaking of wondering what things would be like, I'm considering doing something really bold."
"You're finally going to stop dressing in flannel! I'm so happy this day has come."
"No, I...never mind."
Kurt stopped smiling. "Hey, no, I'm sorry. I was just playing. You can talk to me about it."
Josh shook his head. "Nah, I can't. Maybe later. If I haven't already done it."
"Is this going to be one of the things where you ask for advice and then don't take any and do the thing anyway, knowing I'd probably tell you not to."
"No, I think you'd encourage this. It might work in my favour."
"I guess I'll take your word for it?" Kurt surmised.
Their phones buzzed in unison.
Em: Found Beth. Come quick.
Kurt and Josh exchanged a look before dashing up the stairs to the ground floor.
They emerged in the living room where everyone, including a freshly-showered Mike, was gathered, standing in a semi-circle around Beth.
Hannah stepped forward. "Beth?"
Beth was trembling. "I need everyone to take a seat in the living room."
Sam frowned. "What's going on?"
"Just do it!" Beth shrieked. "Please," she added softly.
Everyone took seats around the living room, Beth standing up around the eight seated teenagers.
"We're going to play a game. Okay?"
Kurt and Mike shared a confused look.
"A game?" Jess spoke softly. "What game?"
Beth shrugged. "It's more of a...discussion. But I need your completely co-operation. Guys, just trust me on this. I need you guys to play with me."
Kurt had a bad feeling about what was happening as he saw a shadow pass across the front door. The look he exchanged with Matt told him that the other boy had seen it too.
Matt shook his head, blinking, and returned his attention to Beth.
"The oldest game in the book," Beth smiled weakly.
Everyone unconsciously leaned forward in their seats.
Beth exhaled deeply. "Truth. Or Dare."