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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CONFESSIONAL. [author recommends you play the song "j's lullaby" by delaney bailey]
Josh's voice wavered. "You're right, you're right. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all."
Cameron pushed off the doorframe, taking slow, deliberate steps toward him. The sound of her boots on the creaky floor was the only thing breaking the tense air between them. She stopped just a few feet away, her eyes locking with his.
Josh's breath quickened, his chest rising and falling more rapidly as he tested the restraints. His green eyes clung to her face with an intensity that made her stomach churn.
Under different circumstances, she might have blushed at the way he looked at her.
"What did I do to you, Josh?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, but the sharpness in her tone unmistakable. "Do you really hate me enough to... to traumatize me for life?"
Josh's eyes widened as he frantically shook his head. "No, no! I don't hate you! I could never hate you."
He leaned his head back against the wooden beam behind him, the sound of the impact soft but filled with frustration. "I didn't want to involve you at all. I knew Chris and Ashley would stick together like puppies, but I didn't know you'd be glued to them too. I had no choice after that."
Cameron crossed her arms, her voice colder now. "You're no better than Jess, or Emily, or Mike. I hope you realize that."
Josh's face darkened, his demeanor shifting into something more bitter as he strained against his restraints. "I needed to do this." He muttered, his voice growing more menacing. "So they would know what it felt like. To feel helpless. To feel scared."
She rubbed her face, sitting down cross-legged in front of him, close enough that she could see the exhaustion in his face, the small tremors in his hands.
"I thought you died, Josh." She insisted. "I thought I lost you... just like I lost Beth and Hannah."
Josh's head drooped slightly as he stared at the floor, his manic energy seemingly drained, replaced by something more fragile. "When I saw you with Sam and Chris when you first walked up to the lodge..." His voice was much softer now, more vulnerable. "I almost stopped the plan entirely."
Cameron's breath caught in her throat. What? She stared at him, her mind racing as she tried to process what he was saying.
Her stomach fluttered in spite of herself, and she hated that it did. Did he mean it? "What do you mean, Josh?" Her voice came out hoarse, betraying the hope she had been trying so hard to suppress.
