Chapter Eight

Y/N's POV

I wake up before Matt does, as he took the majority of the blow for me. I carefully get off of him, sitting next to his head. 

"Matt," I whisper, tears coming to my eyes, "please wake up." I hear a weird screech. "Matt, please. We have to get out of here! Matt! Oh no. Oh my gosh..." I start to cry. "Matt, please!"

A tear falls from my cheek and onto Matt's eyelid, causing it to twitch before finally opening.

"Y/N?" he questions, groaning as he sits up. "Where are we?"

I look around nervously. "We fell into some kind of mine. I keep hearing things. We need to get out of here."

He nods but then stares off into the distance. 

"Matt?" I try.

I hear him sniffle.

"Matt?" I repeat, turning his head gently to make him look at me. 

He avoids my gaze, looking down at the ground as tears fall from his eyes. "That shouldn't have been our last conversation."

"With Emily?"

He just nods. 

"Well, yeah... but you don't know for sure it was the last conversation. I'm sure you two will survive this and make up."

He shakes his head. "No. We won't."

"Survive or make up?"

Matt gives me a small smile, rolling his eyes, and giving a slight chuckle. "Make up. I plan on surviving."

"What do you mean?"

"I just... I just wish I hadn't said those things. I wish I'd listened to you. I shouldn't have done it like that. I might not see her again and that was the last thing that happened. It wasn't the time. I just... I couldn't take it anymore."

"Take what?"

"Being treated like that. I don't know. I... I think that I just liked her because I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

He sighs. "Scared of... I don't know... getting my heart broken by taking the leap. There were too many uncertainties. And being with Emily... I mean, there weren't many surprises. It was... predictable, in a way." 

I chuckle awkwardly in confusion. "Uncertainties? Leap? I have no idea what you're talking about... You..."

"I like you, Y/N. Like, really like you. I have for a while. But... you're not like the other girls. You're... different. It's a good different, but it's still different. So, I don't know, I felt like maybe I couldn't handle it. Like you're too good for me. And I wasn't even sure if you liked me back, so when the opportunity to date Emily arose, I just jumped on it without thinking. I mean, as a jock, it's expected of you to have a girlfriend, right? So I guess I just took the easy way out."

My head is spinning from the revelation in what I just heard. 

"Matt..."

"Dammit. I knew this would happen. I'm sorry..."

"Hey, hey, hey. Hold on there. For one thing, I thought you were too good for me. And two, I've liked you for years too. And three, we really need to stop making up excuses and beating around the bush."

Matt laughs. "Yeah. And... you're serious?"

I nod. "I'm serious."

Matt grins the widest I've ever seen anyone smile. We scootch closer to each other as we continue to share the smile. When Matt leans in, for a second I think he is going to kiss me, but then there's another ungodly screech and we realize that we're still in danger.

Matt and I stand up, looking around frantically. 

"That was what I kept hearing," I tell him. 

"Yeah... I definitely heard that. That's not good."

"Where do we go?"

Matt points in front of us. "Well, given that there is no place to go behind us, I'd say our only option is forward."

Matt begins to walk, but we pause and look around again when we hear another noise, closer this time. 

While I'm still turned, I hear a rustling behind me, and then Matt's scream. I whip around to see Matt being dragged away by some kind of creature.

No, no, no, no, no.    

I momentarily freeze, unable to comprehend what I'm seeing. What is it?

Then my hesitation is over and I sprint after Matt. 

"DAMMIT! NO!" I scream, noticing that the creature seems to be dragging him towards a meat hook. "NO! STOP!"

At that moment, memories fly by inside my mind. 

"Home run!" Matt cries, doing a victory dance. 

I roll my eyes. "You're impossible."

Matt laughs. "You're just jealous! I'm winning!"

"Some good that does you. No one's here to cheer for you this time," I say, gesturing to the empty baseball field. "We're the only ones here. It's not one of your football games."

"True. But I still have the knowledge of knowing I beat you, Y/N."  

I sigh. "Alright. Alright. True. True. Now give me the bat."

Matt forks over the bat, picking up the glove I was using before throwing it down on the ground again. "Actually, I won't need it."

I stick my tongue out at him. "Uh-huh. Sureee."

He laughs before prepping for his pitch. 

I keep my eye on the ball as I give myself a pep talk. I will win this. 

And before I know it, the ball is flying past me. 

"YASS!" Matt cheers, throwing his hands in the air. "Did you see the spin on that!?"

"You're the worst."

Matt laughs, running up to me and throwing his hands around my shoulders in a lazy hug. "You know you love me."

I smirk. "That's true." 

Then that moment is over. The memories that had flown by fuel me as I remember the flare gun. I take it out of my pocket and aim it at the monster, shooting it right before it picks Matt up.

It screeches, scurrying off into the mines.

Matt stands up, shaking. He brushes himself off as he stares up at the hook he was almost put onto. "Oh... Damn..." He turns to me. "You just saved my life. Oh my gosh, thank you!" He pulls me into a big bear hug. "Thank you so much!"

"Of course! I just confessed to you. No way am I letting you leave after that conversation," I joke. 

Matt laughs. "Even in the face of danger, you're making jokes."

"Yup! You know me!" 

Matt smiles warmly before giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Yes. I do know you. And I'm glad I do."

I smile, blushing. But then, I'm saddened, and I look down at the ground. "I almost lost you. I hesitated. I was so scared..."

"Hey, hey, hey," Matt coaxes, tipping up my chin so that I'm looking into his eyes. "It's alright. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

"Matt... I'm really scared. The others..."

"We'll get back to them. We're going to survive, alright, Y/N? You have to trust me. We will get out of this. Do you believe me?"

I nod. "Yes. I do."

"Good. Now let's find a way out of here."

Chris's POV

I finish checking the upstairs and walk downstairs to where Ashley is waiting for me. 

"She wasn't up there?" she asks. 

"I don't know. I didn't see her. She must have come down here."

"I haven't seen her either!" Ashley cries, following behind me as I continue searching the lodge for Sam. Then, a candle suddenly lights, causing Ashley to jump. "Ahhh! Did that just happen!?"

"Dammit! What is going on here!"

I start down the stairs, following the balloons. "Sa-"

"Chris..." Ashley starts.

"What?"

"Chris, I just want to say... what happened back there in the shed... I know... I know how hard that was... Josh was your friend..."

"Ashley... stop," I plead, the grief starting to choke me once again. 

"No, I want to say... I mean thank you... thank you for saving my life..."

I walk inside the theater room, shining my flashlight around. "Of course, Ash. What was a gonna do!? I couldn't let anything happen to you... I just couldn't! ... Ash, you alright?"

"Yeah, I just... I know you and Josh were close, Chris..."

"Let's just find Sam, okay? That's what we're doing now."

"But I mean, oh my gosh!"

"Ashley!" I interrupt, starting to walk out of the theater room and into a hallway. "Just... stop, okay? I don't want to think about what just happened..."

"Chris..."

"We're finding Sam!"

As soon as we exit the theater room, the door slams shut behind us. 

Ashley backs away from the door. "What the heck!?"

Ashley tries a door, but when it opens something slams it shut. 

"This is so effed up!" I exclaim. 

We reach the end of the hallway and Ashley jumps as the door in front of us swings open on its own. 

What is going on!?

Ashley's POV

I see something. Something that looks like Hannah or Beth. Chris and I keep arguing about if there's a ghost in the lodge or not as we continue our terrifying trek through the basement. 

But after a picture jumps off the wall and I grab the key that was behind it, he finally sees it. 

"There! Look there!" I turn him around to face its direction. "Chris, you can't tell me you didn't see that!"

"Wow that's..." he trails off.

"See? You do see it!"

"That's... I dunno... I-I just... This is crazy!" He runs off in the direction the ghost went.

I follow behind him. "Chris, it's showing us the way!"

I reach a dollhouse, motioning Chris to come closer with me to check it out. "Look, look, look, look! Chris!" I peer through the windows, pointing. "You can see in the windows."

"See what? Tiny furniture?"

I shake my head. "No! It's a whole scene with dolls and everything!"

"Yeah?"

I move the top window, revealing a keyhole. I take the key that I gathered, fitting it into the slot. "And look, this little key? What'd I tell you? The ghost is helping us!" I turn the key in the slot, opening up the dollhouse.

"Woah, woah, woah," Chris breathes, recognizing the scene. "What is going on here!?"

"Oh no. It's like..."

"It's not 'like' anything. That's you guys. Hiding waiting for Hannah. Last year. And there's me, Josh, and Y/N. Passed out drunk."

"But... it's so accurate, I mean that's exactly where I was sitting... and that's where Matt was..."

"This was set up by someone. Who was there."

"Or someone or something that was watching us!"

"Maybe it's a warning. I think someone... I think someone put this here to mess with us."

"No, it has to be the ghost! It's trying to tell us the maniac killed Hannah and Beth!"

"I think it's this psychopath, and he's... he's just trying to mess with our heads!"

"Why would he set this all up, Chris," I ask. 

"He's trying to tell us he's going to come after us all too."

The doll that is supposed to be Hannah's eyes open. 

I scream as the top of the dollhouse pops open. I notice that there's a pink journal inside the top. I reach for it, taking it out and immediately recognizing it. "It's... it's Hannah's diary..." I flip it open, turning the pages and reading Hannah's words. I pause when I get to an especially sad page, reading it out loud to Chris. "... 'everyone being together here on the mountain is gonna be so awesome... cozy fires and hot tubs... and OMG Mike... I am so psyched to spend some time with him.' I can't read this! It's so sad, Chris." I close the diary and put it back in the top of the dollhouses.

Chris and I hear a noise. 

"What was that?" I ask. 

"It came from down there." Chris starts walking towards the noise's origin. 

I follow after him and after many scares, door slammings, clues, and passing through, as Chris put it, "a whole 'nother hotel," I reluctantly meet Chris at the bottom of the two flights of stairs he coaxed me into descending.

"Chris," I say, "I'm getting a really weird feeling from all of this..."

"What do you mean?"

"So we're saying that the same guy who made the newspapers we found also set up the camera between the boxes, right?"

He nods. "Yeah... I think so."

"It's just... it feels like he's constructing this whole story for us... then watching us run around, freaking out, seeing what we do, like it's... like it's some sort of experiment!"

Chris's expression turns thoughtful. "Yikes that... that's kinda... That actually makes a weird sort of sense."

"Right!?" I continue on, pausing when I find batteries and timers for the lights and TV.

Chris and I keep going, finding more and more clues and possessions of the psycho before reaching a big metallic door with blood leading up to it.

"Oh crap," Chris breathes. "Look at that."

"Blood!?" I exclaim.

"Might be Sam's." He shakes his head. "I sure hope that the others are faring better than we are. I'm worried about them."

I nod. "Yeah... me too... Let's just focus on getting everyone back together. Matt, Emily, and Y/N are counting on us."

Chris nods, turning to the door and trying to open it. "Let me see if I get this..." Chris pries the door open, grunting. "Ugh. Got it... but... damn this thing is heavy..."

"Be careful!" I plead. 

"You gotta come through, Ash... I can't hold it... Ugh... Come on..."

I see something out of the corner of my eye and point to it. "Oh, Chris!"

"What?"

"I think I just saw Sam over there!"

"Ash... Are you sure?"

"I don't know, but come on. I think we should check it out."

"Well, I'm pretty sure whoever's bleeding came through here, okay? So we really gotta get moving, like, now!"

"Okay, yeah... you're right," I say. "I'm coming." I slide through the door that Chris is holding open for me.

As soon as I pass through, Chris releases the door, stumbling back. 

"You alright?" I ask. 

He nods with a small smile. "Yeah. Thanks. I just thought that thing was gonna crush me. Anyway, come on..."

Chris and I keep moving, finally hearing Sam. 

"Please no!" she cries. 

"Sam?" I call. I keep walking, Chris close behind. I then open two big, dark green doors to find a dark figure in a chair in the corner. "Oh, Chris. Oh no..." I inch towards the figure.

Chris follows me, giving me the courage to walk faster. 

"Hello?" Chris asks. 

"Sam?" I question. 

I hand my flashlight over to Chris, turning the chair around to find Sam, her head rolling to one side. 

"Oh no! Oh no! Is she dead!? Oh my GOSH!" I cry. 

"She's... she's not dead," Chris assures me. 

"How do you know!?"

"She's still breathing."

I look closer at Sam's face. "What's wrong!?"

"She's been knocked out."

"Oh no, oh no, we've got to get her out of here!"

I hear Chris struggling behind me and get knocked to the ground. In the dim light, I fumble, trying to reach the scissors I gathered earlier. "Chris! Oh no!"

I finally find the scissors, standing up just in time to see the maniac standing right in front of me. "OH NO! GET BACK!!! Stay the hell away from me!" I stab the scissors into his shoulder while I have the chance. 

The psycho cries out in pain, turning away from me. "Oh, no, no, no." He turns to face me once again. "Live and learn!"

He advances towards me, but I'm confused. "What?"

He clocks me in the face, causing me to fall to the ground, fading out of consciousness as I hear him repeat, "Live... and learn."         

Chris's POV

I wake up with one hand cuffed to a chair. "Ugh. My head." When I fully open my eyes, I look around at my surroundings. There's a long table between Ashley and me, a gun placed on my side. Unlike me, Ashley's hands are both handcuffed to her chair. I turn and see a camera set up, capturing the scene. It all sinks in. "Oh no. Oh, crap. Ash? ASH!!" 

She wakes up, lifting her head up. 

That's when I notice her black eye. "Aw, jeez, Ash. What did he do to you?"

"I think he hit me," she responds. 

Anger flares within me. "Shoot. I'm gonna murder him!" I start using my free hand to aggressively pull on the restraint on my other. I get more frustrated as each attempt ends up fruitless. Eventually, I'm tugging so hard that I start cutting into my hand and wrist under the restraint.

"What is this?" Ashley asks, starting to cry.

I finally give up, the pain being too much. And I don't want Ashley to worry about me. 

"This is him," I say, defeated. "This is the guy who killed Josh."

"No, Chris!! No, no, no. Chris!"

I start yelling at the psycho, trying to tug on the restraints again.

"Look around!! We're gonna die, Chris! I don't think I'm ready to die!"

"No one is going to die," I coax.

More tears run down Ashley's face. "I wish I could tell you... it's just not fair!" Ashley cries out.

"What? Tell me what?"

Ashley shakes her head. "It's too late, Chris! What's the point!?"

"Stop it," I plead. "Just say..."

"We're always talking around it, and now, I mean, we've wasted everything!"

"Ashley... none of it was wasted."

"What do you mean?"

"Every second that I spent with you was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my time."

"What are you saying, Chris?"

I start to cry too. "I'm sorry, Y/N was right. I should have told you how I felt. I was going to tonight. I was..."

"Chris..."

"Ashley, I swear, when we get out of this-"

I hear a noise start above us and I look up to see saws spinning in our direction. "Oh no!"

Ashley screams. "No! Help, Chris!"

"Ashley, I'll get you out of this! I won't let you die!"

Ashley squirms in her chair. 

I yank on my restraint even harder. I need to get out of this. I need to get Ashley out of this. I promised... I promised so many things...

"Chris?"         

I look up to see my sister-like friend, Y/N, staring at me. 

I set my homework I was working on aside. Y/N does the same.

"Yeah?" I ask. 

Y/N gestures with her head in the direction Ashley went to use the restroom. "It's about Ashley."

I raise an eyebrow. "What about her?"

She sighs. "I... well... Sometimes I get worried about her. She's my best friend, so I know she tends to see things in black and white. It's either good or bad with her."

"Wait. What do you mean? And why are you telling me this?"

"Because. We're all friends, right? And I know you two are close... That's all I'll say right now. And... as for what I mean... I just... I don't want anything bad to happen to her, you know? Or any of us. And I know that she can be a bit... fragile sometimes." Y/N sighs again. "I'm just saying that if anything bad happens, she's going to need a lot of help. Help that I'm not sure I'd be able to give her. She'll need comfort. Comfort I can't give, you know?"

My cheeks flush at what she's insinuating. "No, I'm not sure... not sure what you mean."

Y/N looks into my eyes intensely, a pleading look inside them. "Chris, no matter what happens. No matter if she and I get into a fight, if she and another of our friends get into a fight, or something else entirely... I want you to promise me that you'll take care of her. Please."

I nod. "Of course. I promise. Of course, I promise. But why are you bringing this up now?"

Y/N looks down. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling... I don't know. Maybe I'm just nervous about our first retreat with the others. Sometimes we're not the best of friends and we've never done a trip with all of us before." She laughs somewhat nervously. "But the Washington kids seem really excited about it. So I'm sure it'll be great."

I nod and give her a reassuring smile before Ashley walks back into the room. 

I promised.

I hear the psycho greet, "Hello, there my special little subjects."

"I'm so scared, Chris," Ashley says, crying.

"Don't be scared," I tell her, sliding the gun closer to me and holding it. I just need to find this maniac...

"Oh you should be, Ash," the psycho assures her, "because here's the twist: Chris has made one fatal choice already today..."

"Oh, no... no..." Ashley cries. 

"...and now he must make another," he finishes.

I grit my teeth and look at Ashley, who is still crying and struggling against her restraints.

I want to tell her that everything will be alright. I really want to...

"Chris... you can take that gun in front of you and shoot Ashley, or you can shoot yourself. Whoever is left, can live. The choice is yours..."

I shoot at the saws, not wanting this maniac to win. 

The psycho laughs. "Don't be so silly, Chris."

With no other possible option, I put the gun up to my jaw, sucking in breath through my gritted teeth. 

"No, stop!" Ashley pleads. "You can do it, Chris. It should be me. You chose to save me last time. Let me choose this time. Let me choose to save you! Oh, Chris. This can't be happening..."

I think about what she said, immediately pushing out any thought of listening to her and shooting her. I can't do that. I love her. I wouldn't be able to go on. To live with that guilt.

I'd rather die. 

The saws inch closer. 

So I do what I must do. 

And pull the trigger against my head.