It was quiet in the kitchen. Josh and Chris were beyond passed out in the counter while Beth just silently looked out the window. I mildly wondered where Hannah was but just assumed she had gone to bed, she never really stayed up this late. I glanced at the clock and frowned at the time, it was only 1:45am, way too early for the grand party to be over. Mike, Emily, Jess, Ashley, Sam and Matt were probably still dancing around in one of the many rooms. I stood up and went to stand beside Beth, maybe I could take a look at what she was so intensely staring at.
We stood side by side in total silence until I looked away, distracted by Josh's sudden snoring. I heard Beth gasp a little and turned my attention back to the window. A few leaves rustled but everything looked pretty normal.
"Abby did you see that? Dad said it'd be just us this weekend." she asked, fear evident in her face.
"It's probably just a friendly moose, don't worry about it. The more you look into the darkness, the more weird stuff you see." which is why I find it terrifying, I say to myself. She nodded her head slowly and looked away from the window to the two sleeping boys. I heard her muttering to herself about how Hannah was probably fast asleep when I noticed something. Not far from Josh in the counter, there was a neatly folded paper with something scribbled on it. Beth must have noticed it too because she went to go read it before I could even react.
"What is it Beth? Something juicy?" I smirked, drunk people do the dumbest things sometimes.
After a few seconds she looked up at me and silently shaked her head as I read the note:
Hannah,
You look so damn hot in that shirt...
But I bet you're even better out of it.
Come to the guest room at 2:00am ;)
Mike
XXX
Ifelt my heartbeat quicken and my cheeks turn slightly red. Hannah and I have both liked Mike since highschool started and always talked about him in the privacy of her bedroom. I was always good at hiding it, but Hannah wasn't the type of person who would hide her feelings, she's like an open book.
"Oh my god." was all I could say as I looked up at Beth.
"What has our naive Hannah gotten herself into now?" Beth mumbled as she walked over to Josh to try to wake him up.
I glanced at the clock and my frown deepened. It was 2:05am already. I turned to Beth and saw that she was quickly getting her coat and running towards the door. I quickly followed and heard the rest of the guys screaming for Hannah at the door. Sam looked incredibly pissed and the rest guilty. I heard Emily shout very nonchalantly, "It was just a prank Han." while Jess muttered under her breath, "can't take a joke." and immediately hated both of them.
"What did you do? You jerks!" Beth pushed through them and ran into the forest with me not far behind. I felt a strong hand try to stop me but I just swatted it away, too angry to even throw a glance at them.
I soon lost track of Beth and the adrenaline that had pushed me forward had faded and instead an immense fear was taking over. It was dark, extremely dark, and the blizzard that had started was just making it worse. I had no flashlight and the trees were just getting more and more dense, slowly enveloping me in complete darkness. It was getting difficult to breathe, shadows seemed to move in the dark, awful screams echoed my surroundings, not human, something worse. There was flashes of red here and there with each scream and I felt tears start to flow down my face. I was scared, terrified to the point of not being able to move a muscle. I leaned against a tree I suppose and screamed out.
"Hannah?! Beth?!" I waited, but got no response. I tried again with the same results and then I heard movement. My relief only lasted a fleeting second as giant thin claws appeared from the shadows and a low growling was heard. I shut my eyes closed as a bright flash of red appeared before me followed by the scream of the creature. I heard it run away with my savior following close behind and I collapsed to the floor.
I sat there against the tree with my legs hugged close to me crying for a long while. I didn't hear anyone come up to me and jumped in terror when I felt two cold hands grab my shoulders.
"Abby, it's just me, Mike. You're okay, it's okay." His voice was soothing and cautious, treating me as if I was some small wild animal.
I looked at him and at my surroundings. The dark didn't seem so threatening anymore and my breathing was more calm. Mike looked worried sick and had scrapes on his face and hands. I slowly reached out and touched his cheek, making sure he was real, before I threw my arms around him and cried. He held me close and whispered soothing words before carrying me back to the lodge. As he walked there I calmed down and instantly felt bad, he was hurt yet I was making him carry me!
"You can let me down, I can walk." I said, loosening my hold on his neck. He just tightened his grip on me.
"I don't mind, it's the least I can do. It's my fault you were out there so long." He looked defeated but still managed to give me a weak smile.
"How long was I out there?"
"Around two and a half hours. They all went out looking for you guys as soon as Josh and Chris woke up."
"What about you?"
"I followed you as soon as I remembered how much you hate the dark."
I looked down at the floor after that, and he walked in silence. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but I knew I needed to stay up, Mike hadn't said anything about Beth and Hannah and it worried me. Once we got to the lodge and he finally let me down, Sam hugged me extremely tight and urged me to go take a hot shower. Once I did as she said, knowing there was no way I could've avoided her, she served me some hot chocolate and sat with me by the fireplace.
Hours passed and Hannah and Beth were nowhere to be seen. Mike had left to go look for them along with the other boys, but came back empty handed. He sat next to me in the couch and told me they'd alerted the police, that it was all he could do. Mike must've seen the expression of despair on my face because he held me close and promised that they were going to find them and bring them home safe.
I let myself feel comforted in that false hope.
