Author's Note - If you couldn't tell; I suck at writing fluffy/overtly-sexual couples... So if you are hoping for any explicitness between Bunmper and Amy you are going to be disappointed.
Also, I don't think I've second-guessed myself as many times as I have for this chapter... So, before I change something else, I am uploading it and I will decide if I like it tomorrow. It is very late, so good night - or good morning in this case.
"Lily?" Jesse repeated in disbelief. Her silhouette seemed normal now in the light. No distortion, no intimidation past the narrowed eyes, even the previous weapon turned out to be an "Ouijia board?"
He hadn't seen that board down there in years. The last time he had even mentioned it was when he was 6 years old trying to prove that he was a grown-up. His parents had humoured him for a night, letting him ask the questions he wished. The planchette had answered each of them, scaring himself so badly that he had remained in their bedroom for the remaining three weeks of their vacation, not that he'd admit that he was scared. He had mentioned that he was going to protect them from the lunatic ghost.
Even now, he could remember the countless times before that, when he attempted to make it work on his own. He wished to have made a friend from beyond to be able to pull pranks with.
Paled, Emily didn't seem to hold the same nostalgia as he. "Like speak to the devil board?" She asked. "Of course, you would find that amongst the countless boxes." Her body moved backwards into Benji.
"I heard its heartbeat down there." The girl hugged it closer to her body.
"You're wanting to do a seance?" At her nod, Chloe backed her way towards the staircase. "I'm out then. My heart is still in my throat, Imma needs a bath just to get it back to normal."
"At least the hot water is back online." The redhead saluted his remark before she started her ascension, taking the steps two at a time. Jesse turned back towards his friends. "So, who wants to conjure up a spirit?" No one included seemed too happy at that notion - other than Lily, whose eyes grew darker while her lips turned lighter. His minuscule excitement turned to apprehension at the sight. Suddenly, it didn't seem like such a good idea. Turning towards the other two, he realised he was not alone in that sentiment.
Even with the notion that they were on a mountain, the idea that a trek from one dwelling to another was a long one never crossed Bumper's mind. They'd been walking for half an hour, Amy walking/carrying him for the previous fifteen minutes before he was let down on his own legs. Between his jokes and her innuendos, the cold bite from the wind held little consequences for them both. He could see the mist erupt from her mouth but all he could focus on was how soft her lips were. How her eyes rivalled the iciest patches of snow and the ivory of her skin could easily lose itself in the piles of snow around them.
But when those eyes locked back onto his own; he knew he was in trouble. "You know Bronko? I was the best rodeo rider in Tasmania." Just then, he knew he needed to make it to the guest house - if only to stop him from finding splinters where they don't belong.
His heart raced with excitement as his feet followed its rhythm. The twigs unsettling his stride only granted him permission to snuggle up against his girl. He didn't care when they interlocked their fingers together, nor when his stumble left him from being rescued from a face full of bark by Amy. He didn't dare to look back into the pits she called eyes because he knew he would never want to climb his way back out of them.
Instead, he opted for the trail sights. The frozen knee-high barrier was recently installed and yet the dark paint was already flowing away in the wind. Something he was all too interested in. His mind felt soothed as the small flecks freed themselves to be carried freely about in the wind, fluttering peacefully away from the rest.
The idea that the boundless nature was protected and documented by human means soothed his qualms minutely. His mind wandered back a year, wondering if such an instalment could have prevented such a heartache. Or would they have collided with the fence and been stuck in pain on the path instead? It wasn't like the simple rustic logs could have stopped everything around them. As they neared a dimly lit patch of the track he could only vaguely make out their outline.
A shiver stopped his movements. "Was that always there?"
"What?"
"The log."
"That ain't a log, that's a tree." Looking lost, he turns towards her, only to stop short. He saw what she was talking about. Not the edges but the splintered trunk fell in the centre of their way. The base was cleanly parted from the trunk. No roots hazard hanging in the way, even with the minefield of twigs exploded around the trunk.
Nearing the obstacle, Bumper's height was soon dwarfed. He realised standing closer that even if he was able to lay flat against the trunk, he would never be able to reach the top even on his tiptoes.
"Last one over gives head!" Amy exclaimed, her enthusiasm contagious.
The girl had given herself a head start, only telling the boy her intentions when she was three branches higher. Her leg, while comfortable, sat higher than her waist even as she hoisted herself with her leg. From his spot in her dust, Bumper could not find himself disappointed with the view. The grunts of exertion were slightly off-putting but seeing the dedication was a sight to behold. No amount of nicks or wedgie intensity gets in her way.
After reaching halfway, the creaking began. From her left to her right, the branches swayed under her administration. The twig of branches snapped in her grasp as she tried to secure herself in the spot.
"You okay?" He hoped his voice carried. He never had to raise it beyond a jovial taunt on the day to day basis.
"Ya! You gotta get up here!" She shrugged off the previous moment to continue her course.
Shaking his head at her, Bumper moved towards the tree. His hands shook as he grasp the branches beside him. Huffing, he let his arms drag him skyward. His legs quivered from misuse. His fingers tore at the uneven surface, the knots burying into his soft skin. His steel rings formed callouses in the palm of his hands.
The world flickered behind the string of twigs and branches. A cacophony of brown, green and blue lined his sight. The beauty of the setting sun was not lost upon him even as a stray beam of red burned his eyes at the wrong twitch he produced.
But, no matter the beauty around him, the sharp sting of his bleeding fingers would always bring him back to the task at hand.
Climbing.
He could feel his body deflate at the reminder. It wasn't that he hated the concept but the practicality. The unneeded rough surfaces that do nothing but harm the person foolish enough to go from A-B without contemplating C was stupid to him. But considering the view he was receiving for being behind Amy, he would get used to it. After all 'Happy girlfriend, happy life'.
They didn't take long. Not when one's motivation was a manservant for the day. And Bumper couldn't find himself for one moment that he lost. Not even when he toppled over the top of the fallen timber into awaiting arms.
"You're mine pretty boy."
No. He did not mind for one moment.
Lily wasn't sure what she was thinking inviting the others to her seance. Yes, they were invited by Jesse, who had dropped considerably on her favourites list because of it. But, between the constant exchange of goo-goo eyes from Emily to Benji and the childish excitement from the boy himself, she found herself yearning to have Chloe's grounded optimism just to have some structure to the ordeal.
They had the perfect set-up on their side; a near-abandoned lodge, barely constructed next to a sanitorium due to the wealthy family's coercion. The construction of which was fought against by a minority's ancestors to defend their forefathers. All of which led to charge the mountain with an energy she could use upon the board. The only problem was her spectators. If they didn't believe it was possible then it wouldn't happen as easily.
Her mind spun as she guided her friends to a spot with significant energy. A beacon of light through the complicated mass around them. She had to get them to believe. She couldn't move things around independently, but the distortion was well within her expertise. She would get them to believe, after all, she had once been a sceptic herself.
She knew she wasn't the brightest bulb in the box and walking through an unrelenting start to a blizzard cemented that fact in her eyes. Cynthia-Rose could handle the light drizzle she had received when she first started her trek down, or for that matter up, the mountain but as the blood in her fingers receded further into her arms, she was starting to second guess her act of kindness. To make matters worse, the soft sounds of the winds were drowned out by the soft ramblings of her companion.
Aubrey had never been the person to draw the dark-skinned girl's eye. Yes, the woman commanded the attention of all that was near but if she wasn't domineering them, they wouldn't have ever noticed her, to begin with. When she wasn't shouting the woman had a subtle elegance to her frame that shone through when she wasn't conscious of the fact. Her father's lessons drilled into her subconscious so tightly that her spine remained ramrod straight even after twelve brandy.
"What's so important about this bag anyway?" CR tried to pay more attention to the trees around her, her fingers drifting branch to branch as they walked past them all, than the girl who stumbled at the sudden question.
The blonde's eyebrows scrunched together. "My itinerary? I thought I mentioned that back at the lodge."
She couldn't hold back her scoff. "That's what you told Jess, I ain't buying that." The girl crossed her arms over her chest, raising one eyebrow. "Spill it."
Sighing dramatically, Aubrey looked her in the eye. "My lingerie." As the other girl broke into shocked laughter, she could only shake her head affectionately as she let loose a few chuckles of her own. "It's so stupid."
CR clapped her on her shoulder as she accepted the answer. "We best not keep the boy waiting then."
Jesse walked his way around the area. The once familiar walls had darkened considerably over the year. The stonework from the fire was charred with the glimpse from that night. Bookshelves he would keep filled for Stacie's entertainment now sat layered in dust, untouched by her delicate fingers. As he ran his fingers across the layer, the small grooves from the last reads became more prominent in his mind. His fingers continued past the shelves as he walked, never breaking his stride until they clashed into the marred notches of the doorframe. The scratches never made it past his shoulders, the last one labelled with a subtle B.M.
His fingertips softly fell into the groove. "Do you think it'd work on them?" Benji asked, only a stride away from him. He had wished for a moment with Jesse ever since the previous year and had yearned for a moment to talk about more than just small talk. Something which could get them moving in a direction rather than stuck in the worst moment of their life.
Benji wasn't sure if this was going to heal their relationship more than what the fire had done but considering the boy hadn't done more than look at him he was willing to think that they had a good chance at redeeming a bond he had nurtured for years. The school hadn't been the same without him but he could understand wishing for a year without the tedious drama that college dained to consider world-shattering. He had seen his fair share when he had started to date Emily - a younger girl. Even if it was just one year younger.
"I hope not." He said bluntly, cutting Benji from his hopeful thought.
"Why?" He knew Jesse would've bit his head off but, as his eyes bore into him, he seemed to notice the sincerity in his actions.
"It means they're dead if it does." Benji sighed morosely. He had been through this before. Had held Emily as she cried into his chest, scared that they had lost their friends. He knew how the girl had held onto the hope that they could traverse the mountain tops as if they had been born part mountain goats, only for that to dwindle the longer they waited. Even now he could still see it in her eyes if she turned too quickly in certain areas; the small hope that the blur she had seen would be someone she wished to reunite with again.
But Benji knew better. He had followed the police reports as they came out to the public. Knew that they had found a broken sign that could have just as likely been from them as the storm they were running within. The lost hope from the police had left Mr Mitchell one of the last remaining searchers. But even after 2 months he gave up searching for a body. "Jess, it's been a year, man."
"They knew their way around." And they both wished that it was enough for it to be true.
"Yeah, of course."
"I- I just..."
"I know."
Unaware of the awkwardness lingering in the air, Emily bounced her way into the room, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. "Come on, Lily's setting up the table through in the study." And, despite themselves, looking at the megawatt smile the girl could produce had them replicating the gesture.
They let Emily guide them away and towards Lily. They moved in silence, even as Jesse knew where they were approaching. He wasn't going to ask why the seance would be held within his kitchen but, considering Lily had already set up the board - even surrounding it with pillar candles he didn't know they had.
"How do we start this?" Benji asked Lily. Her eyes lit up as she offered up the seats beside them.
"Who wants to be the spiritual master?" Jesse countered, not willing to dispute the rights with their resident Spiritual Maestro.
No one rebutted Lily's enthusiastic plopping descent into the head chair of the table. The candle flickered beside her as her hands lay on the board. The soft vibrations from her jutting knees wiggled the plaque minutely even as the others scraped their chairs away from the main table to sit down. Her hands itched to connect towards the spirit realm.
"Okay then, how do we do this?" Emily asked as she sat down opposite the girl. The others huddled around the circular table, uncaring that they wouldn't be the spirit guides. It wasn't until everyone was firmly plastered in their own chairs that they noticed how the board was set up.
From Emily's position, she could take in the board better than she could previously. The board had aged, and the previously pristine coating upon the top layer had warped and formed calloused wrinkles upon the design. The letter, on the other hand, faired considerably better than the rest of the board. The prints had risen higher than the rest of the plane, and years of renewals had lent themselves to an imperfect but practical design. The faded grey blended itself into the tanned apparel of the textured portal. It took a moment for it to truly sink in; the letters were the right way around for her.
She was the spiritual master.
"Um, does anyone want to switch seats?" She squeaked. Her eyes firmly landed on Lily's, only to be met with a scheming glint and silence.
"Sorry Em, the honour is all yours."
"How do we do this?" She repeated. She had seen similar scenes in the TV shows Benji had dragged her into watching but they all required both a magician and a sliding piece in the centre, which, upon closer inspection, was missing. "Isn't there a something to move, you know a thingie?" The word was scrambled at the tip of her tongue. She could feel the roundness of the syllables and yet the formation of the word remained a mystery to her mind.
"A planchette?" Benji offered in her hasty gesticulation for a viable word. Snapping her fingers she let her excitement consume her.
"Yes! A planchette. Aren't we missing one?" She looked towards the others in the hope of some response, only receiving a sigh from Jesse as he partially raises his chair to reach towards the desk towards the window side wall.
His hands soon returned clutching the soft curved edges of his father's shot glass. The elegant structure mimicked loosely the stack towards the table he had received it from. "My father's bar cart." Nobody questioned why it was necessary to have one within his office, to startled by his sudden placement of the glass on the table. "Will this work?" He questioned Lily. The girl gleefully rolled it over in her hands before nodding her accent towards the improvised key.
Finding no other option to delay the inevitable, Emily let herself join the others in clasping the glass. The chill of the material raised new goosebumps throughout her arms. She could feel a shiver work its way up her arms and down her neck. The urge to jerk her shoulders in an attempt to shake it loose was consuming her but the light tapping of a finger on her hand stopped the movement. She could feel Benji's effort to ease her mind even through the fog of ideals she hadn't wished to conjure.
With one deep breath. she let her confidence flow outwardly. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Emily called out into the room. The participants waited on bated breath only to be met with the breeze's soft whistle against the lodge's thin panes. "Any spirits lurking?" She offered in her attempt to become blase about the situation. Benji, though, noticed the tension amongst her brow. How she held her lips in a pursed position as she searched the room for a sign. He watched as she tried to garner a spirit's attention.
"Umm... If you can hear my voice, give us a sign..."
"Like a peace sign?" Jesse quipped. A sharp sensation in his left hand shut his line of questioning up immediately. He didn't deign to look into the girl's eyes.
"Hold the planchette." Lily demanded. Not wishing for more of her ire, Jesse zipped his lips up and moved his hands where they were required.
Like a switch had been flicked, a startling clarity had seared its way through Emily's eyes. Her gaze held everything yet concentrated on nothing. "Who's there?" Her voice was uncharacteristically fractured. While it held enough depth to echo through the room, its volume lacked enough sustenance to be identifiable as her own. "Anyone?"
Jesse was left to watch as both his friend and his own hands moved beyond his control. Like a possessed entity, the four of them moved in sync, their hands flittering letter to letter upon the planchette. His mind took notes when they would buffer on certain letters. S. I. S. T. E. R. While he was never the fastest reader on the block, that honour belonging to the boy to his left, he would never avoid admitting his mind being unable to connect dots like a child's drawing.
"Sister?" Benji questioned. "Who's sister?"
"It can't be." He shook his head. He wouldn't let it be true. Looking towards the others, he could tell he was the only one with that sentiment. Benji was more focused on the unfocused Emily than he was on the board. Lily seemed enraptured in the scenario that he never thought to question her about it.
Small tears cornered themselves in Emily's eyes. "Beca is that you?" A sudden desire shocked its way throughout Jesse's body. While he watched as something war its way through Emily's eyes there was no movement from her body, except for their hands, which moved together. He could tell from the corner of his eyes what the answer was.
Benji couldn't win a poker game against a mule with a blindfold on.
His stomach dropped just as quickly as the tears sprung from Emily's eyes. While his stomach went downwards, his heart lodged itself firmly within his throat. He yearned to be able to move without the telltale pulse in both his chest and his throat. His eyes chanced a glance downwards towards the board. The planchette had moved exactly where he thought it would be. His fingers trembled as his throat audibly popped a gasp out. Yes.
One word. One word and his world tilted upon its axis. His ears muted Benji's apologies into a muffled cacophony that held no more relevance than the playlist he had listened to on the way up the mountain. She was dead. They were dead. He had waited for them to make their appearance, a dramatic entrance worthy of the name Mitchell for so long.
His thoughts continued as the other's made their voices known.
"We're so sorry, Beca! We didn't mean to-" Before her words could continue the glass moved violently once again.
K-I-L-L.
"Killed? Who?"
M-E.
"No! We didn't kill you! We didn't- Don't want you dead Beca! You have to believe us!"
P-R-O-O-F
"Proof? We were there Beca! We know what happened that night."
L-I-B-R-A-R-Y
"The library. We never went into the library."
R-U-N.
"What?"
N-O-W.
Looking up, Benji saw Emily. Truly for the first time since the seance had started. He saw the caked-on trails pouring down her cheeks. The glassy eyes stared at nothing but the board in front of them, and saw as she waited for another movement. Something to kick her body into moving carelessly around the table. Her body tremored in the absence of stimuli. Her hands sloppily created their own variation of Morse code in the meantime.
He went to lay his hands upon her own. His hopes to ease steady her body with his own were thwarted quickly as his last digit left their planchette for the night. Instantly the table shuddered. The shot glass was lost the moment he had moved his fingers away completely. He knew from the solidity under his own flesh that he had reached his hand out and grasped onto Emily's, even if he didn't focus his attention on her. He had seen the board jut out from its relaxed state upon the table and moved towards the other.
"Did you guys do this? After everything!" Jesse panicked. He could handle the flickering lights and the typical distortion of Lily's voice but to see the truly freaked faces of his friends was something he didn't think he'd see that night.
Emily shook her head franticly, her eyes never leaving the overturned board. "No!" Benji answered for them both. "We- We wouldn't do something like that." His voice trailed off as he processed the conversation. "Jess. You have to believe us, we didn't do this."
"Then explain that!" His arm shot out towards the table. "That sure as hell was not me!" He caught his hand as it started to tremble ahead of him. His fingers trembled as he thought over what happened. "That wasn't me."
Benji kept his eyes on the boy. He could see the confidence fade from his eyes as he processed the situation. His friend's lips moved in silent repetition. "Hey, it's oka-"
"It's not okay! She's dead! We killed her!" His words tried to continue out only to falter on the next syllable. His eye's remained wide open while he sat back down at the table. His hands twitched towards the lost planchette's place. "Go."
Benji almost wished that the last word was shouted. Projected more than the heart-broken inflexions that had been produced. He could feel the coldness and despair deep within his own bones as if Jesse had projected them into him for a moment of solace within his own body.
"Jess.." He tried again.
Looking up, they could see the red-rimmed and defeated glimpses within Jesse's eyes. "Go." And with that reiteration, something seemed to barricade within him. Nothing but steel was being revealed underneath his hazel eyes. The previous warmth melted away within moments.
Without looking away, Benji secured his hold upon Emily's hands and worked his way out of the room, uncaring whether Lily was following them or not. If nothing else; the library held more promise than staring at a grown man hold himself scarcely together with nothing but duct tape and faulty promises from a faulty children's game.
He wished they were close. They could only follow the same path for so long. Amy had long since run out of words to speak. Her lewd comments drove their bodies to speed down the tracks as if they were on fire. If she spoke much more then Bumper would soon find splinters where no man would wish to imagine. Even if the matching story would be worth each and every one of them.
It was times like these that he craved something more than the jokes they shared between them. A conversation about one topic they could go in depth concerning he was sure would accelerate the path they were on. The woods, while atmospheric, left a lot to be desired in the word department. He was used to these lulls in the conversations, stuck waiting for an opportunity to make a lewd comment to make Amy smile but with the way that she was just now, he knew he didn't have a chance at being the quickest draw-in that area.
Each time he had tried to utter something more substantial Amy had thought he had been hitting on her (which was something he had never needed to get creative with). So after enough failed attempts, Bumper was left silent. Walking only in his thoughts. Waiting for the moment that Amy starts a conversation rather than an exchange.
After a while, long after the sun had set behind the very mountain they were trekking upon, she did. "It's not what I remember it to be, Loverboy."
His thoughts took a moment to dissipate enough for the words to reconnect in his brain. "Wait, what?" He uttered anyway. Although he knew what words she had spoken, without his head peering upwards, their intentions had not been clear.
"The cabin. I love it. It's homely." If it hadn't been for her face, the deadpan inflictions of her voice would have convinced him she was genuine.
Looking up the path, Bumper could take in the dilapidated shack in all its glory. The previously shuttered windows were now frozen agape as various wall panels sank loosely amongst their nails. If the wooden panes weren't warped the moss distorted the appearance to not matter upon that fact. Even Benji thought that one half-hearted kick would knock it into a pile of stilts and over-glamourised firewood. He didn't care how colourful that flame might have been it wouldn't be worth the lung-full of spores he'd get from simply looking at the structure.
Amy moved before he could comment on her apparent joke. Her eyes scoured the shack from top to bottom as she entered. Her face twisted with boredom until she spotted something. Sneaking up on her right he could see a shimmering pile caught under a thin layer of frost underneath one of the boards they called a floor. Kneeling down, he worked his fingers into the gaps between the floorboards. He could feel the tingling sensation of his frost-bitten fingers rejecting the notion but continued on until all of his digits were locked firmly in their places.
His wrists jutted before he could second guess the vandalism. The wooden panel splintering in its exhumation. A soft hand stopped the sudden movement from whacking him square in the face. He could feel his eyes widen momentarily after the fact, as his brain processed that he had placed too much force behind his actions. He didn't want to think about the laughter that flew from Amy's mouth as she coddled him about his... miscalculation.
"Careful there Tiger, you might bruise that candy face." Bumper wanted to laugh with her. To cherish the lighthearted atmosphere that clung to her in every waking moment. But, as he peered at the hole he created, he could not muster more than curiosity.
His hand blindly moved into the chasm. A soft draft blew the discarded snow around in the crawl space, the gritty texture tickling his fingertips. Like a forbidden whisper, the wind picked up inviting more visibility upon his target. Before his hand had emerged from the hole a sense of familiarity settled around him.
"Is that Beca's phone?" Bumper could count on one hand how many times he had heard Amy appear unsettled. For the first time, he was now counting on both hands.
He couldn't remember the last time he had seen it. The screen had been shattered on the lower half, the thin sheen of metal emerging underneath the glass told him it was standing on its last legs. His fingertips grazed over the screen, taking in each ridge that formed. A thin pile of glass dust remained on his thumb, the mixture with the snow creating a ticklish sandpaper feel (not enough to harm but enough to be noticeable). Despite himself, he chuckled mutely as he played with the concoction.
Tossing the phone over in his hand he tried the power button. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. Either too broken to function or spending a year trapped under floorboards had finally been the last nail for the device, Bumper didn't know. "I thought they swept the mountain?"
"They did." Amy plucked the device out of his hands with little fight. She took a closer inspection than the frost-biting temperatures should have allowed her to do. "It's probably one of the search men's phones." With that, she tossed the phone back towards him.
Looking back, he could tell that it was unlikely that one of her should-be rescuers would follow the same bands as Beca. Especially to the point of having the same limited edition band merch stuck onto the case. But he couldn't be certain. The phone had been found further than the search parties expected them to have made it and the sticker had been weathered being eligibility.
"Yeah, probably." In an instant, he pushed his concerns into the pit of his stomach to feel a semblance of the bravery he wished he possessed. His body shifted into his loose, carefree self as he placed his greatest boyish smile he could. "Shame about the battery though. I would have killed for some pizza just now."
"Ugh, there better be some snack at the cabin now." He could practically feel her stomach rumble from his spot on the floor.
"Come on. Let's get you some dinner."
"You just want the dessert." He didn't argue her point. His jaunty run picks up the pace as she lands a motivating slap on his butt. "Oh no you don't!"
Their laughter drowned out the soft shrill of the night. The phone lay forgotten amongst the exchanges of food and promises.
Emily didn't think about that night from an outsider's perspective too often. She had thought over her part consistently since the second they had returned to the lodge the morning after. Thinking about what to say or do to ensure that Beca would know that she hadn't meant to torment her. She was wasted, hardly remembering anything before taking a step out into the snowy world to hear Aubrey shouting sarcastically and being called out by Stacie in her ire.
It was Stacie's last expression that she remembered the greatest. The look told them that what she uttered was the PG-13 version of what she wished to have spoken. The censorship did not spread throughout her body as her eyes pierced into their soul almost setting them alight with her fury.
It was the same fury she felt renewed within her at the mere thought of the night. It was the same feeling she brought forth when Amy tried to pretend as if they had never known Beca or Stacie. When the girl would act like they were innocent bystanders stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. And yet, despite all that ire, her voice was always lodged in her throat. Any interest in vocalising her thoughts to the Aussie was jumbled in their own exposition that left the girl laughing at her childish gibberish.
The seance was a chance for her to find the answers she hadn't realised she sought. She wanted to know if they were okay; if they were hiding; what had happened. But the second her hands had hit that table she felt the coldness that the blizzard outside could not compare to. Her fingers tingled more from the shot glass than the snowball fight ever had. She could still feel the ice move viscously through her veins to the point of her body tremoring consistently since the seance had ended.
She hadn't been able to move from the room without Benji's help. The poor boy guided her along to the benches in the corridor, helping her to sit down as she shivered and mumbled her apologies into the cold void of an atmosphere in the small hopes that Beca would hear her and accept it as the truth.
The two of them remained on the bench, snuggling further into each other until they had calmed down enough to speak. Benji himself took the opportunity to stare at the door they had walked from, not that Emily could blame him. The look that Jesse had given the board was something indescribable. The ruins of a confident and carefree persona crumbled away further into the sea of despair.
"Do you really think she was contacting us?" Emily looked at him properly for the first time since the seance. Her head peeked minutely from under his chin to notice the red lining his eyes.
"I don't think it was Jesse doing that to us."
He knew she was right, no matter how many pranks the boy had pulled in the past, something about the way he acted was too honest to be a ploy against him. "What about Lily?"
The girl in question hadn't followed them out of the room. The soft hum coming from behind the locked door reminded them both of their friends a year ago. Emily had never spoken to her about how thankful she was that Lily had been there to coordinate some of the searches for them. They didn't need them to fumble their way around the mountain hungover so having a reliable source to clean them up enough to add some semblance of functionality to the group had been welcome. Even if it brought with it the sober accounts of their actions.
"What would she get out of it? We both know if she was going to do something it would be a lot more direct than this." Benji couldn't argue with her. He had woken far too many times to be normal to the girl holding a knife somewhere in his room. It hadn't mattered that he lived in a different dorm building than her, she always found a way inside.
"Should we check the library? It- She said there was proof." He stumbled over his pronouns. The idea that the spirit was truly both real and Beca was a difficult pill to swallow at that time. Looking at his girlfriend he could tell she was in the same boat. The soft trail of moonlight filtering through the window did little to ebb her pale complexion.
Emily's pupils hid within her eyelashes. "I don't know. I don't know if I want it to be true." And yet she knew what the proof would reveal. She knew that whether they liked it or not if they walked out of the library they would be stalked out with evidence of their manslaughter. "We should find out, I guess."
They were never the two to be left alone together. While they would get together for special occasions, it would remain a group outing. The two being ships passing in the night, neither going nor staying. So, when isolated together upon a path down a mountain, the conversation leaves itself at a standstill sooner rather than later. Neither sure which topics were open for discussion past the average 'How do you dos?'
The most conversation they could muster concerned their surroundings. Cynthia-Rose kept her gaze on the path in front of them, enjoying the evidence of human interference in the vast wilderness. A soft imprint of boot treads faced them at each turn they made. Her mind would wander towards the tale of Hansel and Gretel, solemnly wondering which way the witch's house resided.
Aubrey on the other hand had chosen to glance around them, each twitch within the branches had her head jerking towards the sound, only stopping when her flashlight found nothing ominous. She felt her torch was better suited at a rave from all her movements. Noises high and low dragged it towards them until the owls hooted their annoyance at her actions.
The sneaking glances become more prominent between the crisp crunch of the already-trodden path. The silent wishing from Cynthia was more alluring than the repetitive cooing from the trees. Her body ached with restraint as she withheld the questions upon her tongue. Until finally-
"What actually happened between you two?" The question jolted them short of their next step. The wildlife seemingly vanished within the same breath.
"With who?"
"Jesse. You go from warmly embracing each other to squabbling at his inadequacies. You haven't been the same since Be-"
"Do not say her name." Aubrey took a breath. "We didn't force them to leave the lodge."
"I didn't say that you did." CR looked closer at Aubrey's expression. Her blue eyes were glazed over and though she couldn't tell if it were from ire or sadness, she knew it would not be a good reason behind it. "What happened that night?"
"I tested them."
"How? Stacie was in the kitchen with me." She wasn't completely certain how long the brunette was there but it couldn't have been so little for a test.
"Not her. Beca. Jesse. Myself, I guess. I wrote a letter, to Beca, like I was Jesse. I spoke of how he had always reserved his feelings for her over the years but that they were tearing him apart. That every time he looked at her, his heart would sound like a snare drum in their own little symphony." She took a breath, not looking at the judging expression she knew would be waiting for her.
Cynthia-Rose could stop herself from peering further into the blonde in front of her. She could tell she was expecting more of a reaction than she was showing. That the girl had thought more of that night than she showed to the others. The words were too quoted to have been paraphrased. "Then what happened?"
"I gave her a time and place. The rest of us gathered in the spare bedroom waiting for her, everyone but Jesse hid."
"She confessed to him?" That didn't sound like her. They had known each other for years and at no point had Beca ever condoned cheating. Even when CR had been in a relationship, it had been Beca that had chased her girlfriend out of the school with some strongly whispered words when the rumours had reached them.
From the look on the blond's face, she almost wished that she hadn't asked the obvious. "No. She turned him down."
"So why'd she run?"
"Because I confronted her. Camera out at the ready. I teased her about being like her dad."
"Aubrey.."
The woman carried on as if no words were spoken. "She ran when the rest revealed themselves. We went after her. Chloe getting Stacie's attention but Beca had already run out of the lodge. Stacie followed."
"How was that a test?"
"Because they cared for each other. If I wasn't in the picture they would have been together. I was jealous of their bond, I guess."
"You killed two of our friends due to jealousy!"
"I- I didn't kill them." Aubrey's voice hollowed, her response was robotic.
"They aren't here no more."
"I didn't mean to."
They came to an impasse. Their path halted while they looked at the other in fear. Neither broke as they read the others' eyes. Cynthia's boarded-up betrayal rivalled Aubrey's wide-eyed ignorance. Her mind battles her intentions against the outcome.
The clarity of the Blonde's emotions startled the dark-skinned girl. "Why'd you tease her?"
"Wha-"
"You said she turned him down. She passed your test, so why'd you tease her?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know."
"I- I... I don't-"
"You chased her into a blizzard and all you have to say is 'I didn't mean to'." CR snapped.
"She turned him down! She thought she was too good for him! His heart was poured out on that page and she said no!"
"But you wrote that note."
Aubrey couldn't speak, her tears clogging her throat shut tightly. All syllables are flooded into obscurity.
"You felt rejected." CR realised. Hearing nothing in rebuttal, she storms further down the path, her own mind whirring. "Unbelievable." The blonde tiptoed her way in her dust, face morose and her shoulders slumped as she thought over the past year.
It wasn't commonly known but the Swanson Lodge had an extensive library. It was never one to rival the one gifted to Belle but it was large enough to allow the friend group to hide from wandering adults with plenty of space between them.
So, naturally, it quickly became the make-out space for all new and short-lived couples that were invited up for the annual mountain trip. From Luisa - the exchange student - to Donald - Lily's groupie - it became infamous around the group who wished for some 'quiet'. For Benji and Emily, they had spent more time being locked in the room by the others to read between the lines with their intentions. The two were too busy blubbering and blushing to be able to cement the regulated 7 minutes in heaven that their friends had wished for.
It also left the room as the worst place to try and hide things within. The two of them had spent so long hiding together in the room they had practically memorised the shelves from their awkward shuffling and rambled sentences which left so much secondhand embarrassment that they had to divert their attention elsewhere. Not that it mattered now but as Emily lingered around the room, memory after memory of Benji's adorable explanations of the oldest books, she couldn't help but shiver at the chill. A constant reminder that lingered around her.
When another shiver flickered throughout her muscles, her entire body spasmed with the sensation. Her hands flicked in and out of their search. She buried herself further into Benji's borrowed jacket, the heat long since dissipated but the trace of his signature aftershave drove a sense of home into her skin. A feeling that only partially abetted the previous chills. Letting her feel stronger against the uncontrollable chills plaguing her.
They both split to separate parts of the library, Benji taking charge of the desk. His actions were frantic but thorough as he raids each sliding drawer or unused door, while she continued to peruse the books for something out of place. Her brain barely processed the book titles, she knew that the old-fashioned bindings of the literature were an expensive cover-up for the more modern 'novels' that Jesse's mother took comfort in reading when Mr Swanson wasn't around. Despite knowing this, the titles all blurred together, each word losing meaning as they get repeated for another Author's work.
She wasn't sure how long it took for her eyes to stop functioning properly. Her gaze attempted to focus on something more than the written words, her head tilting only slightly to the side to not garner Benji's attention. She wildly blinked, her entire face scrunching up in her efforts.
"You don't look so good there." The desk informed her. She smiled unconvincingly towards it.
"I'm alright."
"Huh?" Emily scrunched her face again as she took in his genuinely confused expression.
"I'm okay."
"Okay? Yeah, that's good." Benji looked at her closer. "Are you sure?" His eyes flickered between hers, seemingly confused as to which one she was looking out of.
She encased his head with her hands, holding him still. "Yeah, just a headache." She smiled warmly as he placed a soft kiss towards her forehead.
"Why don't you go sit down, I can make you some tea?" She wanted to nod, to agree to continue this tomorrow with fresh eyes, but just as she opened her mouth to speak another beat her to the punch.
"Aw, how sweet." The voice was both deadpan and sarcastic. Emily whipped around towards the source only to be met with air. The room remained as it always had been. The books lay perfectly upon their shelves, the lamps remain clicked on while the door is forced shut seemingly on its own.
The noise was enough to make Benji look where she had tried to inspect. "What was that?" His arms curled around her own. He tried to shuffle his body around hers, interested in inspecting what the cause for the sudden door slam might have been. Emily, on the other hand, remained frozen in her spot. Her head twitched softly while her eyes continued to stare helplessly at the same spot. She forced herself to watch as her boyfriend took hesitant steps towards the door. His hand reached carefully around the doorknob, his face flinching minutely at the bitter cold of the metal in his clammy hand. With a profound energy, he move his hand downwards, taking the knob with him. His shoulders pulled back, attempting to lever the door to open only to be met with no lee-way.
Gaining more momentum, Benji continued his assault on the door. Try as he might, no matter the configuration he place his body into, the door would not open. The handle would jiggle just as much as the door remained in its frame. "It's locked." He stated. His wide-eyes looked back towards her. Just as soon as he could see the terror within her eyes her head whipped towards the other side of the room.
Seeing nothing, Emily tried to ease the haunting echo of laughter out of her head. Her fingers rubbed loose circles at pressure points on her head. "Behind you." The voice returned. Turning around she met a shadow. Where Benji should be was darkened considerably, not that he noticed.
"Wha-" Before the words could be birthed, the shadow loomed larger, taking over the room in its entirety. The lamps shone expanses of red throughout the room, tainting it was bloody intentions from their light shades. The mosaic pattern not imprinting itself on the walls. Instead, as each fragment expands upon the wall, Emily could see the imperfections. How the framework darkened in straight lines, something her shadow figure had not adhered to prior. "Do you see that?"
The bookcase closer to her sat ajar. The lights highlight the depth of the shelf, an entire row of books no deeper than the girl's pinkie finger. Peering closer, she couldn't help but smile, the book covers were rippled. A series of fake covers littered the shelf, stacked neatly and perfectly into the indent that they resided within. All the 'titles' were aged and unremarkable novels.
Her fingers wandered along the seam line until she bounced off a snag. Her fingertips felt the imperfection in the woodwork. A rift between the books, more than the indentation of book covers. Her nails dug softly into the gap. Her nails scraped against the fabric as she fought to find a sustainable perch. Applying pressure, the row of fake covers gave way revealing a small hole in the bookcase. The backboard having been previously fitted with a handle. The only aspect of the handle to remain was the main stem, any leverage previously needed becoming obsolete as she pulled upon the metal nub.
"Woah!" She breathed. "You've got to see this." Taking one step into the darkness, Emily reached towards a string, dangling invitingly at her eye level. She could feel it when Benji emerged around the new obstruction to stand behind her. With a tug, a blinding light decimates the previous darkness.
Under the new appearance, the gap had opened further into a bare alcove. Within the oversized closet sat a singular desk, tucked carefully around the corner. There lay no shelves, no images, no boxes. Only a desk littered with loose images and notebooks. Which, upon closer inspection, was littered with sketchy handwriting that they didn't recognise.
"What is this?" Benji stroked the front page of the closest book. He took in the wrinkles upon the bent pages.
"A journal?" Shrugging, he opened the book. Flipping carelessly, scanning only a couple of words as he flashes past the pages, he halts midway through the book. "Oh..." He flips another page.
"Ben?"
"I don't want to freak you out but... look at this..." Hesitating for only a moment, she takes a step beside him. Her fingers holding the pages open even wider.
Looking solidly at the pages infront of her, Emily immediately understands the 'oh' that was uttered. Above the page sat a wrinkled picture of the group during a previous escapade... with Beca's face scratched out. The rest of the group smiling innocently as her image remains marred and vandalised. While the sight left her stomach down a few flights, it was the capitalised words scratched underneath that sent it all the way to the basement.
NEVER TO RETURN
"Do you think this is what Beca was trying to tell us to find?"
"It- It-" Was all she could utter.
"We need to find Jesse. See what he says about it all." She could only nod as another wave of chills dripped their way down her back.
They emerged in time to be introduced with a shrill scream. Neither moved as they attempted to process what they heard. The sound seemingly shook the foundations of the house. Their eyes screamed before their voices caught up.
"Chloe!" They howled in sync. "We're coming! Hold on!"
After the phone incident, Bumper hadn't expected anything else to happen during their walk. They had neared the cabin and had only just made it into the last ten minutes of their journey when the rustling started. At first, the boy had associated with a few lucky rabbits in the nearby bushes, but where they went, the rustling followed soon after. Amy seemed lost in her own small world, uncaring of the new intruder on their getaway adventure.
Just as he was giving up hope to find the culprit, it showed itself.
Bumper followed the rabbit as it hopped along the path. Its nose twitched carelessly against the falling snowflakes. Its whiskers flicked off the cold as it hopped along the ground in search of unfrozen shrubs. "I was almost right." He shrugged, his face lighting up at the sight nonetheless.
Hearing more rustling, Bumper turned expectedly to greet Mr Rabbits' family, his hand twitching towards his jacket pocket for something to feed his new friends. His fingers fumbled with the velcro as he blindly grabbed at the flaps. Finally relenting, he looked towards his apparel, internally face-palming as he saw himself palming at the wrong pocket.
His fingers dug deep, the velcro scratching his red digits as his fingers wiggled further into his pocket. After a minute of attempting, and frostbite on his tongue, his hand returned filled with only half a hand's worth of trail mix. Despite the less-than-stellar looting party, he still released a proud chuckle before returning his attention to Mr Rabbit.
His new friend still twitching in the same direction but no longer hopping. His friend remained on the spot by his feet. Bumper moved the seed around until he held a piece of grain in between two of his fingers. The boy knelt down slowly, unwilling to frighten them more than they already were.
He waited a moment. He knew bunnies were generally frightful creatures without a history with humans so he remained perched with his knees bent not making eye contact in case something spooks them. But, after a moment or two, Bumper finally looks at his friend.
The soft fur vibrated under the quick beat of its little heart. The soft grey blending almost perfectly with the darkening hue of the snow. Its ears flopped to the side despite the sounds happening around him, and the uncaring nature towards the melting patches of snow forming around it.
Removing his phone, Bumper flipped on the flashlight, wishing to see it better. The rays of light almost hit him in the eyes, to begin with. Blinking away the dots in his vision his eyes fell towards the floor. Mr Rabbit remains in his spot. Its eyes unseeing as its chest stopped vibrating. Looking him over, he realised why. A solitary claw pierced cleanly through its chest. A soft flow of blood dropped softly into the snow around it.
Bumper was left to follow the claw. Watching as the claw connected into a leathery skin that disappeared into the frozen shrubs beside him. The light continued as he righted himself on the course he saught. His jaw clenched against gulping uncontrollably as he tried to temper his breathing.
But all the effort went out the window the instant his light landed on the leaves of the bush. His eyes noticed thin, needle-like appendages moving softly in the wind. He would have thought they were twigs had it not been for the clouded eyes, reflected in the light.