Cameron Keen never expected her life to become entangled in the horrors of Blackwood Mountain.
Drawn back by a past she can't escape, she soon finds herself face to face with her old friend Josh Washington, a man haunted not just by grief, but...
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ONE YEAR LATER.
Cameron's steps slowed as she approached the cable car station, her gaze sweeping over the mountain landscape.
The biting cold was familiar, but everything else felt foreign.
A year ago, this place had been filled with laughter, the kind of carefree energy that comes from not knowing how things will fall apart. Now, the air was heavier, thick with memories she couldn't shake, no matter how far she'd tried to run from them.
Ahead, she saw Chris and Sam sitting in the cable car, their breath visible in the cold air as they waited for the doors to close. Cameron picked up her pace.
Chris was fiddling with his phone while Sam sat a little more still, her arms wrapped around herself as if the cold had gotten inside her, too.
Cameron's heart clenched at the sight of them—familiar faces in a place that now felt so different, so haunted.
She hadn't wanted to come back, but ignoring Josh's invitation had felt... wrong. Something in his voice, in his eyes during that video, had pulled at her. He needed them.
As she got closer, Chris glanced up and spotted her. His face brightened instantly, a broad grin spreading as he moved quickly to block the automatic door from closing.
"Well,if it isn't Cameron Keen!" He called out, his voice cutting through the chilly air with a warmth she wished she could cling to. "Just in time!"
She forced a smile.
Chris's grin didn't falter as she stepped inside the car, but there was something in his eyes—a flicker of uncertainty, maybe even guilt—that reminded her that things weren't the same as the last time they had seen each other.
"You're just as much to blame for their disappearances as us." Chris' face was poisonous as he passed by Cameron, watching her carefully as she was brought into the interrogation room by the officer in front of her.
Inside, the car was warmer, but not by much. She sat across from Chris and Sam, her back to the window as the door slid shut behind them.
The hum of the cable car filled the silence, its steady climb toward the lodge marking their slow return to a place she'd been trying to forget.
"Haven't seen you in some time." Chris said, leaning back in his seat, his usual playful tone intact, but his eyes searching her face for something more.
Cameron's smile tightened. "Yeah, it's been a while." She tried to sound casual, but the words tasted strange. She wasn't sure what to say because the truth was, she'd been avoiding them—avoiding everyone—since that night.
