Until Dawn One Shots

Mike and Ashley - Drive

Okay, so, I originally planned to release like three Christmas oneshots, but my laptop decided to basically shit it'self two weeks before and I didn't get it back til like two days ago. But while it was gone, this idea kept swirling around in my head and I think I've said something before about how there was this thing that Ashley and Mike were childhood friends and have known each other forever, and that's why he was so surprised when Josh said something about the two of them hooking up. Anyway, this is loosely based on that I guess. I've also decided to change my word limit from 3000-4000 to 3000-5000, cause it's just too bloody hard to make what I consider a decent one shot with that little amount of words. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

- Grace, out 😘💙

They all knew there was gonna be backlash from what happened on the mountain. The first time they came back, after the twins went missing, people were there everywhere they went, following, watching, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for one of them to let something slip, maybe, or for someone to break. But the second time, after Josh, and the prank, and the Wendigos, was way way worse.

They'd come off the mountain talking about mythical creatures, monsters, chasing them all over the mountain. They'd blown up most of the buildings on the mountain, the Sanatorium, the lodge, trying to run from the Wendigos and Josh was dead, or missing, as the police termed it until they could find his body, just like the twins the year before. They were suspicious, and in the police officer's eyes, the 'kids' were spouting nonsense about folklore and strangers to cover something up. But they had no proof, and they couldn't very well arrest seven 18-year-olds for no reason, especially when their case was already out and in the media. So, they were forced to let them go, and the relieved and traumatised group started to work on getting their lives back to normal, or at least, a new normal.

But as much as the group tried to ignore the whispers, they couldn't help but overhear some of them. Everyone had an opinion on what the media had started to call 'The Blackwood Seven'. People thought they were crazy. People thought they had murdered Josh, just like they had murdered Hannah and Beth the year before. People thought they had deliberately set the mountain on fire, blowing up the mines, the Sanatorium, the lodge. People thought they belonged in a mental asylum, or even worse, prison. Ashley had had to wash aggressive spray painted slurs and insults of her car and house too many times to count, and she barely went out anymore, too afraid she was gonna get ambushed by news reporters and journalists, microphones and cameras getting shoved in her face. None of the group really left their houses anymore, unless it was to meet up with someone else from the group, or their lawyers. Even then, they were guaranteed to end up the next day's front-page news, blurry, grainy, photos of them talking or hanging out taken through windows from far away, or of them in their backyards from over fences and gates.

It was total and utter chaos. They'd all been forced to get rid of their social medias and change their numbers, after they'd somehow been leaked and they'd been swarmed with messages and calls asking for interviews, confessions or accusing them of being cold hearted killers and psychos. Ashley had even received messages telling her to go kill herself, and she had to physically hold Chris back from grabbing her phone and sending angry messages back.

"It'll only stir them up more," she'd told him, and Ashley tried to remember that now as she watched reporters with their cameramen gather outside the café that she was now hiding in. Evie, the café manager and a long-time family friend of Ash's family looked at her sympathetically from where she stood at the counter. Ash had bravely dashed down to her local coffee place to get herself an herbal tea and was now deeply regretting it as more cars pulled up, excited journalists yelling at their crew and pointing at the cafe. All she'd heard was a click of a camera and she immediately stood and made her way to the bathroom, ignoring the hostile looks the rest of the café was giving her. Half an hour later, she now peeked her head around the bathroom door carefully to check if she would be able to leave, and one of the reporters noticed her, pointing and yelling her full name loudly, causing all the others to look at her too as a flurry of flashes went off, almost blinding her. She cursed under her breath and ducked back behind the bathroom door, only to be joined by Evie seconds later, who pulled her into a warm hug.