Chapter Text
Where the fuck is she?
You had been digging for bottles for what seemed like hours at this point. Chris and Josh absolutely outdid themselves with the drinks this year, but, god damn, you were finding empty beer cans in the shower.
Which one of those freaks brought this in here? Probably Mike.
You crushed the can and put it in your ever growing bag of trash, which Hannah was supposed to be helping you with after getting her brother to sleep.
“Beth, I really need your help up here, I can’t carry all of this by myself!” You yelled out of the bathroom door. Damn, she already took out three bags of trash from just tonight, and there are only eleven of you in the lodge. How are the trash bins going to last three more days?
You can hear giggling and the sounds of doors opening and closing down stairs. She is absolutely ignoring you on purpose right now. You would think the girl you have been best friends with since fourth grade would like to be around you a little more, but not with Sam here. Right now you could absolutely disappear off of the face of the Earth and she would not care, but you had to admit, they are perfect together.
Giving up, you just brought the trash bag out to the hall, praying that it wouldn’t rip, you’ll get it in the morning. You decide to finally go back downstairs. Sometimes being the only sober one in the house sucked, but at least you will wake up tomorrow without a raging headache.
Bang!
You hear the sound of a door slam and wind whistling as you descend the stairs, along with the drunken voices of Jess, Emily, and Mike, all sounding frantic. You rush the rest of the way down the stairs and to the door that had been so abruptly opened. It looks like Beth had just gotten there too.
“What’s going on, where’s Hannah going?” Beth asked, already zipping her jacket in preparation to follow her. “She just can’t take a joke.” Jess said, waving her hand dismissively, “It was just a prank, Han!” Emily yelled out. “You’re all jerks.” Beth finished, running after her sister.
“What’d you all do?” You asked from the back of the group, Sam was the one to turn around and respond, “they pulled a cruel fucking prank on Hannah and filmed the whole thing.” “Should we go after her?” Mike asked. Sam whipped her head back, “I think you are the last person she wants to see.” She said, shoulder checking him on the way back in.
This is fucking crazy, and she ran out in just that thin shirt.
You decided then to try and follow them, at least attempt to bring Hannah a jacket when you get to her. You quickly slip on your boots and jacket, gripping her coat in your hand, you brush past Sam, “I’m going to try to just follow their tracks, but Han must be freezing, I’ll call you when I get to them.” You said, pushing through the door and into the bitter cold, you needed to get to Hannah soon.
The tracks in the snow had already been partially blown over. At this point, you were guessing where they were going, their prints just looking like light divots in this blizzard.
“Beth! Hannah!” You tried yelling while you ran, the snow was sticking to your eyelashes at this point, concealing bits of your view, your breath came out in large puffs of condensation.
There was a sound of crunching in the trees to your right, your eyes whipped over, “is that you guys?” You asked, pushing through the trees that were blocking your view.
Suddenly, a large stag jumped out of the woods, forcing you to jolt to the side to avoid its antlers, causing you to fall backwards into the snow. “Fuck.” You whisper-shouted to yourself. Your jeans were going to be totally soaked. You were going to stand up and finally try to call Sam, but you heard screaming come from further out.
It was guttural, almost wet sounding. The noise echoed throughout the trees, and it almost seemed like the snow was falling harder before.
There is no way that was Hannah or Beth. That sounded like some kind of animal, but what could even make that sound?
You don’t think you’ve been this scared before, but hearing the snow crunching come nearer, you decided you needed to go back to the lodge.
Pushing yourself upwards from the ground, you stumbled into a sprint back to the cabin, following the small light from the outside of the building, you couldn’t look backwards.
Finally, you slammed yourself through the front door, the wind whistling combined with the scream and the footsteps you heard caused you to panic. You frantically locked the door behind you and rushed to the group of friends who were somehow acting like everything was fine. Well, besides Sam, who was basically gnawing her nails off.
They looked at you finally, startled and soaked, Matt called your name to get you to focus, “hey, what happened?” He actually looked concerned, like he finally sobered up.
You couldn't catch your breath, all you could focus on was the scream. Was it them? Were they being chased by some kind of animal in the freezing weather? Your breath hitched and you were finally able to piece together some words.
“We need to call the police.”