Chapter Text
CHRIS
It started innocently, with Josh's proposal. A simple plan: spend the anniversary of his sisters' deaths at the ski lodge, almost like in the old days, without the echo of the past, the tragic beginning of February, two thousand fourteen, echoing in his head.
No one expected that two thousand fifteen would be so reluctant to show mercy. The verdict was passed. A group of teenagers were sentenced to death, but they did not think about accepting it. All they wanted was to survive, to avoid the iron chains of the grim reaper.
Chris heard the sound of the saw again, Josh's scream, Ashley's cry, the sound of a gunshot, and before his eyes appeared the sight of dead, gutted pigs hanging on a hook, as well as a terrifying mannequin dressed in Sam's clothes, sitting in a chair. Subjected to psychological torture, he saw no chance of safely escaping the clutches of the psychopath who was supposed to be spreading terror on Blackwood Mountain. Meanwhile, what? There was no murderer, no ghosts running through the darkened corridors of the icy basement. Josh's sick prank, an act of revenge for the deaths of Hannah and Beth, had gotten out of hand.
There was no doubt: Josh was sick.
He wondered if his friend was still alive, since the monster had taken him to the mines.
He would never believe in something like the Wendigo. He approached paranormal phenomena, some absurd conspiracy theories with a pinch of salt and distance... Until then. Bloody, sooty, bruised and with a sore leg. He knew he would never forget those cannibalistic, lean, powerful creatures fueled by fear, sin, and moving at incredible speeds, hungry for human flesh.... The contents of his stomach rose in his throat at the memory of the monster tearing the Stranger apart, starting with slitting his throat and ripping off his head.
He would not forget...
He would not forget...
HE CANNOT FORGET...
After Sam blew up the Washington's lodge and killed the Wendigo, the rescuers took the survivors to safety.
He held Ashley in his arms throughout the flight, letting her sob on his chest, stroking her red hair and whispering quiet promises he intended to keep. He ignored the world around him, the burden of guilt, the muffled voices of the rescuers and the roar of the engine. After reaching the police station, Ash was torn from his arms and taken to room number one for questioning. The boy managed to assure her that they would meet again. He came across a fairly friendly policewoman, he told her everything. He wasn't going to lie, he didn't care if they believed him.
Josh remained the key element. They were supposed to find him. Chris felt resentment towards his best friend, a bit of disgust, but at the same time he didn't want him to get hurt. He wanted to turn back time, to prevent what he claimed he had contributed to. He was supposed to be a friend, a brother to Josh, but he failed. All over. If he had talked to him more often, maybe he wouldn't have become a prisoner of his sick mind.
After taking care of the formalities, the survivors were taken to the hospital.
From what he could gather, Jessica had suffered serious injuries to her face, chest, buttocks, and knees. Her entire body was covered in bites and bloody claw marks. She had become a shadow of her former self, looking nothing like the feisty cheerleader she once was. She had been through real torture, which was why she didn't want anyone around her, not even Mike. He didn't look too good either. The doctors were concerned about the missing fingers on his left hand, wounds around his torso and neck. Infection had set in.
Fortunately, the others weren't too bad.
Matt, apart from bruises and abrasions, escaped almost unscathed. Sam ended up with burns on her legs and hand, and Emily with stitches on her calf and temple. The black bruise on Ashley's eye didn't look too good, but a cold compress reduced the swelling, and she was consulted with an ophthalmologist. She also complained about her wrists, the calluses from the thick rope stung her terribly.
They were given medication and told to wait. The five least injured were placed in one room, not wanting to expose them to more stress. Only Mike and Jess were transferred to another ward of the Canadian hospital.
In the evening, Matt, Sam, Ashley, Chris and Emily received fresh, hospital clothes. They threw the dirty ones into a plastic bag, and the nurse promised that they would be washed.
The police informed the families of the survivors about the incident on Blackwood Mountain. Since the five friends were able to leave the hospital the next day, Jess's father bought them a flight back to Los Angeles, for which Chris couldn't have been more grateful. The plane was supposed to take off from Vancouver Airport at around 10 AM. He didn't want to stay in Canada any longer, but he, his friends and his beloved had to endure another night. At least nothing worse could happen to them. Sam, Ashley and Emily went to the bathroom to take a shower together. They explained that one would help the other wash their backs or sore, sensitive areas, souvenirs from Blackwood Mountain.
One thing hadn't changed: He had never understood women...
As far as they were concerned, Matt and Chris didn't take baths together, especially after what had happened at a picnic in Detroit six months earlier. Well, that was an unusual story and he didn't want to share it. What happens in Detroit stays in Detroit.
Chris sat down on the bed and must have dozed off, because a violent tug on his arm brought him back to reality. His glasses slipped off his face, but he managed to catch them before they hit the floor.
"What do you want?" he asked, seeing Emily crying above him, wiping the drool running down his chin with his sleeve.
"Move your ass, it's Ashley!" the panicked black-haired girl thundered, pointing to the bathroom door.
Despite the pain, Chris jumped to his feet, cursed at the discomfort, and followed his friend.
"Oh! Oh fuck..."
The sight he saw was like a bucket of cold water to him. Ashley, dressed only in a hospital gown, was sitting on the cold tiles, holding a plastic cup of water in her hand. She took a few sips, and the Asian nurse crouching across from her whispered something, to which Ash nodded meekly. She probably got something to calm her down, but it hadn't started working yet. Chris looked at the woman, asking her to leave them alone for a moment. She looked at him carefully, glanced at the redhead, and after making sure she was okay one last time, asked them to come back to the room after they had talked a bit. She walked over to Sam, who was sitting numbly in the corner, took her by the arm, and led her out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
Ashley put down her mug, and Chris closed the distance between them. He brushed the hair that covered the girl's round face and pulled her closer. He rested his cheek on the top of her head and awkwardly stroked her back.
"Ash, what happened?" He let her cry. "Talk to me, damn it..."
"Wendigo... It's Wendigo..." she whispered. "Hannah..."
He frowned, thinking she was imagining things. He reluctantly broke the hug.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ANYTHING?! IT'S HANNAH!" she screamed, choking on her tears. "Sammy... Sam revealed that she and Mike found an empty grave and some fucking notes! Beth and Hannah fell straight into the mine! Beth died from the fall, and Han..." Chris knew what he was getting at, a shiver ran down his spine. "Han buried her... She was down there for... Weeks?! She was starving... She couldn't take it! Remember what the man with the blaster said? Remember? What causes a Wendigo to turn into a Wendigo?! Cannibalism! Han ate Beth and then became that thing! Oh God, oh God..."
Chris clutched his head, sobbing bitterly. He knew Josh's sisters were dead, he had accepted that a year ago, but receiving this information made him feel like despair was tearing him apart from the inside. Old wounds had been torn open, and nightmares and memories had thrown a hellish dance party in his mind. Attacked from two sides, by hungry hellfire and waves pressing against him from all sides, tossing him like a ship in a storm. He didn't realize he had hit the floor with his open hand until his skin burned. His memories went back to the events of two thousand fourteen, when Jess, Emily, Mike, Matt, and Ashley had humiliated Hannah, as a result of which she had run into the woods, Beth had chased after her, and they had never been seen again. He had gotten drunk like a pig then, and he couldn't stop it, because he and Josh had passed out... Hannah and Beth had had to...
"Do you think...that the police will find Josh before it's too late?" Ashley grabbed Chris's hand, lacing their fingers together.
"I wish I knew," he snorted.
The boy clenched his teeth, trying to stop the choking in his throat:
"Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, there's no hope for him. He'll never return to normal after what happened. No one can... Last night burned away all traces of us, the flames engulfing not only the Wendigo, but a part of our lives that we'll never get back." He shook his head. "I screwed up completely. I didn't see the warning signs... I should have... Maybe then... Maybe then none of this would have happened? I failed him."
"How can you say that? You're not responsible for what happened. You did nothing wrong. Listen to me for a moment."
She took off his glasses and wiped them on the material of her hospital gown.
"I love you. You're amazing and..."
At that moment, the same nurse from earlier peeked into the bathroom. Ashley and Chris reluctantly got up from the floor and went to the ward, knowing that they would return to this conversation at the next opportunity.
ASHLEY
"Ouch! You're going to rip my hair out!" she cried.
"I'm doing you a favor, damn it!" Emily yanked the comb harder. "They look like hay!"
Samantha took a sip of weak coffee and walked over to the window. She stared out as if she saw something interesting there. In reality, she was lost in her own dark thoughts. Chris tried to talk to her, but eventually gave up. Meanwhile, Matt sat down against the wall, away from his friends and Emily. Ashley stood up, walked over to his friend, and crouched down in front of him.
"Matt..."
"I really tried to do something. I swear, I tried... I couldn't." He buried his face in his knees, sighing deeply.
"You saved Jess. You did what you could..."
"Bravo, Matt! Wonderful performance! I almost got emotional! Oscar-worthy acting!" Emily couldn't help herself.
"Em!"
"What?! Are we supposed to hail him as a hero now because he saved that miserable whore's life? Trust me, if she died, she would have done the world a huge favor. He had one thing to do, and he had to fuck that up."
Ashley opened her mouth to silence her friend, but Matt jumped up from the floor, slowly approaching Emily. The others watched the scene unfolding before them with concern. The girl's anger had not subsided, she still blamed the boy for leaving her on the tower when it collapsed. Although he explained: he tried to reach for her, but he didn't want to overload the structure with his weight.
"Um, I just..." Matt tried to explain himself again, but it worked like a rag to a bull on the girl.
"Oh, you have the nerve to talk to me after all this! You should be glad I agreed to sleep in the same room as you! Just being in the same room with you disgusts me!"
"If you leave here, you won't have to look at him," Chris snapped, adjusting his glasses.
"Shut up!" Emily snapped, her next words directed at her ex-boyfriend "Don't even leave me with "Em, I just..."! I've lost all respect for you and any illusion that you're a real man, ready to protect a woman from danger! You abandoned me, but you saved that bitch! I'm so pissed off that I can't get any more!"
"Calm down a bit and listen to him, will you?" Sam tried a rational approach.
"Exactly." Ashley supported her. "Not everything is as obvious as it seems."
"What?!" Em chirped "You don't understand, Ashley! I don't care about his explanations!" she waved her hands. "Absolutely none! The facts are that he left me! And he had the nerve to question my fidelity! In a fucking life-and-death situation! Son of a bitch, a goddamn piece of shit!"
Ashley approached her friends with slow steps, she tried to calm them down, but it was too much for Matt. The angry boy pushed her away, which she didn't expect at all. She staggered and almost lost her balance. Chris put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, glaring at the black man.
Chris clenched his fist.
"You son of a b..."
"It's okay, it's not worth it." Ashley snuggled up to her lover. "I'm fine."
She shifted her worried gaze to the others.
Matt never behaved like this. Even when provoked. The terrifying night upstairs had sown a storm and a storm of misunderstandings between the group of friends. It was slowly taking its toll, leading to a grim turmoil.
To her horror, Matthew grabbed the brunette who was still insulting him and shook her violently.
"What the fuck is your problem!? Why are you such a mean bitch?! Ugh!? From now on, you have to treat me like a human being! Do you understand?! Are you deaf?! Do you understand?!
"Shut up, idiots!" Chris shouted, probably losing his patience. He pushed Matt away from Em. "We've been through hell, okay!? Don't we have enough problems? Isn't it enough for you that Josh threw a stunt and then we saw something that shouldn't have existed?! Do you need another dose of adrenaline!? Is this supposed to keep you entertained?! Spill your dirty laundry in private!" I have bigger problems than your poisonous love story! Do you know what worries me?! What the hell is going on with Josh?!"
The door flew open and a cleaning lady burst into the room, belligerently waving a mop.
"Uh... Good morning?" Chris greeted her.
"What the fuck, 'good morning'?! I can hear you all down the hall! Will you calm down or should I call security?! " she thundered. "What's going on here? Tell me or I'll clean you up right away, and believe it or not, I'm good at cleaning up blood."
"A little misunderstanding, we had to clear up a few things." Ash replied. "Sorry, we don't want any trouble."
"But I think trouble wants us," Sam muttered.
The employee smiled nastily, much like Geralt of Rivia.
"Mhm... Well, if you were planning on killing each other here, feel free, there's plenty of room in the morgue." She touched the doorknob "I remind you: you're not alone here. You have my first-last warning, then I'm calling security..." she said as she left "Good morning, I need something too..."
The atmosphere in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The only thing they heard were muffled sounds from behind the closed door. Conversations, footsteps, a hum that was quite pleasant to the human ear, a child's cry, a wail and the squeak of the wheels of a cart with cleaning products.
────🦋────
Thoughts as they dance incessantly in your head. You can't jump off the speeding rollercoaster, eagerly awaiting the end of the emotional ride, and you realize with horror that the tracks end at a precipice. That's how Ashley felt as she stared at the hospital ceiling, unable to sleep a wink. Pale moonlight streamed in through the open blinds. At least she wasn't lying in total darkness, from which God knows what could have jumped. She shook her head, mentally scolding herself for speculating like that, but could she blame her? She looked at Samantha, next to whom Emily was sleeping. Matt moved his bed to the window, away from everyone, including Em.
She stood up, her feet colliding with the icy floor, her teeth chattering from the cold and fear she approached Chris's bed. She patted his shoulder.
He opened his eyes.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
"I can't sleep... Can you hug me?" she asked shyly.
"Um... Yeah... I mean, sure." He patted the spot next to him. "Come here"
Ashley accepted the invitation, slid under the blanket, careful of the boy's leg, and laid her head on his chest. It dawned on her how useless she had been all this time. She panicked easily. She couldn't keep a cool head, unlike Mike or Sam. She only survived thanks to Chris's care, while at the same time becoming a ball and chain to his leg. Her stupidity and uncertainty had often led to various, unpleasant situations.
"I don't know how to thank you..."
"Stop it, you have nothing to thank me for."
"I do. You saved me in a million ways, you nerd. You were willing to sacrifice your own life to save mine." she shuddered.
"Shhh... I promised I wouldn't let you die. Besides, you saved my life too. You stayed and opened the door when you didn't have to risk it at all. If you hadn't intervened, it could have led to... I wouldn't be lying here with you today, to put it mildly. Don't forget who found their way through the sewers when we were looking for Mike. You were the only one with enough sense to put the lid on in case the Wendigo came after us."
"Damn..."
"Ashley, come on..."
"Why are you always right?"
"Stop it. Not always" he denied.
"Well, when you're right, you're right..." she laughed awkwardly. At the same moment, she remembered a certain situation in the sewers. "How could you tell us to go without you?"
"I slowed you down, Miss Forgetful." He pointed to his sprained leg.
She snorted.
"Did you really think we'd leave you? Haven't you watched horror movies?" she smacked him on the arm. "We're sticking with the group."
"I watched intently, unlike you. You were always hidden under blankets, looking like a burrito."
Good old Chris didn't disappear completely. He looked at her with a goofy smile. Something that was supposed to be a laugh escaped her lips, but sounded more like an old tractor starting up. Embarrassed, she pressed her face against the boy's torso, quickly changing the subject:
"I hate hospitals, it's a pretty weird place..."
"There's something to it," he admitted, stroking her hair. "In the room on the left lies a dying man, on the right, would-be victims of the Wendigo, and in the reception room, there's a poor guy with a light bulb up his ass, hoping for enlightenment."
"Idiot. Admit it: you're bleeding from the inside, but you're trying to ease the situation."
"At least it's working." He stated, shrugging. "Time to end the "Laughable" program and move on to a serious discussion. Do you feel better?"
"You couldn't ask me a better question, could you? Terrible... I was afraid you wouldn't want to know me after what happened upstairs. Life writes different scenarios... If we hadn't made an idiot of Han, she wouldn't have run away and..."
Ashley's voice betrayed remorse. She was suffocating in guilt, without the slightest spark of hope of receiving salvation.
The knowledge that she, Matt, Jess, Emily, and Mike had been responsible for something so cruel filled her with disgust. What was she trying to prove by agreeing to participate in such a disgusting act? Should she have stayed in the living room with Sam or warned the elder Washington about the humiliation. One terrible decision, tragic consequences. Unfortunately, she couldn't turn back time. It kept moving forward, taking no prisoners. She glanced at Chris. He had explained many times that even though she had made a stupid decision, she wasn't to blame for the twins' deaths. But after what had happened the night before, with Josh and the Wendigo, did he still think the same? She wouldn't be surprised if his feelings for her had faded when he learned of Han's fate.
He groaned, irritated.
"I'd get the idiot of the year award if I turned my back on you." He tapped her forehead with his finger. "Tap here. Here. I'm not giving up."
"Chris, but Josh..." she whispered, ignoring his words. "You were buddies and..."
"Please. If I want to talk about it, I'll let you know." He hugged her tighter.
She relented.
"If you insist..."
"Shush... I could just lie here with you forever."
"I like the idea. We need more of this, right? Just you and me."
"I don't mind," he rested his cheek on the top of her head. "It'll be a long, hard slog, but we'll get through this together. We'll get through this, I'm not assuming the worst-case scenario." In a few years, I'll be married to a famous writer, and you'll be married to a popular app designer," he grinned. "Can you imagine that?" You and me, finally alone. A villa with a pool. Slowly, step by step, we lay the foundations...
"Slow down, nerd. You're looking too far into the future."
"Life's too short to worry about this. Did you forget what I said? I want to spend every moment with you, I don't throw words to the wind and I want to make up for lost time." He put her hand on his chest. "Let me, Ash. Say "yes."
Ashley rarely saw him so sentimental. But is that a bad thing? Not at all.
She nodded with a wide smile, blushing furiously.
"A hundred "yes." Where should we start?"
"Your presence is everything to me, let's stick together. And you know what? When things calm down a bit, I'll take you out for ice cream, and don't try to argue with me! Banana flavor with double whipped cream and raisins, right?"
She snorted.
"You remembered!"
"Yeah... I still don't understand how you can eat something so disgusting and not throw up."
"Says the one who eats rice and ketchup. Respect my preferences, or I'll throw you out of bed."
"You're the one who came to me. One more word and you're out of here, violet."
"Violet? Sounds interesting, but what does my dad say? Don't forget he keeps a BB gun in the garage."
"Pray he doesn't kick me out, or I'll go Spartan crazy."
She giggled.
"What the hell does 'Spartan crazy' mean?"
"Honestly, I don't know," he laughed. "I just thought of it."
"Maybe we can avoid unnecessary violence. Beat my dad at chess, and I'll give you the grand prize."
"No way. Your old man is like fucking Kasparov, Ash. I'd rather play CS with him, but okay. I'll try for you."
"Try to shut up," Em muttered.
"And you try to stop thinking only about yourself," Chris sighed.
The lovers exchanged amused glances.
"Kick me if I start snoring, Ash."
"I'll survive, just don't grind your teeth, I hate it..."
Ashley wrapped her arms around Chris and stepped closer, carefully throwing her leg over his hip. She blushed at the feel of his hard, throbbing member against her skin. She rolled her eyes. "Guys!"
The sound of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.