AFTERMATH [until dawn]

Chapter Twelve

MIKE

It was difficult, explaining to Jessica everything that had happened the previous night.

When he had retreated to their room after instructing Chris and Ashley to call the hospital, he found his girlfriend still asleep. Silently, he tiptoed into the conjoined bathroom and gently shut the door. Once inside, Mike headed towards the sink and splashed some cold water on his face. His head was pounding, and he looked at himself in the mirror with tired eyes.

Woah, Mike thought, taken aback by his fucked-up appearance. I look like absolute shit...

His face was sickly pale, and Mike had these abnormal, horrible dark circles around his eyes. He looked like he was dead inside, and had no energy whatsoever.

I need sleep, Mike thought as he rubbed his temples. He took a towel off the rack and dried his face, then silently opened the door.

Mike stepped back into the bedroom, quietly switching off the bathroom light, and made his way towards the bed. He took off his shirt halfway and threw it onto the small couch. Unable to see in the dark, Mike reached out his arms and felt around, carefully avoiding obstacles. He shuffled along slowly until he reached the bed and—

"Shit!" Mike hissed as he stubbed his toe on the edge of the bed. Out of energy, he fell towards the bed and landed with a thump, causing Jessica to wake with a surprised gasp.

"What!" Jessica exclaimed, then went silent when she saw it was only Mike. "Oh, Jesus, Michael, you scared the crap out of me—"

"Sorry, sorry..." Mike winced as he sat on his side of the bed, rubbing his toe. Jessica sensed the strain in his voice and turned to face him.

"What's wrong?" She reached for her phone and checked the time. "What the fuck? It's so late, Mike, did you just come to bed?" When Mike didn't respond, she continued to ask. "Something's wrong. What happened? Mike?"

Mike sighed. He reached over and held Jessica close, knowing she was going to be scared. She's already terrified enough, he thought. It's going to break her when she realizes that she's lived at the foot of Blackwood Mountain all this time... It'll even get worse when she hears about her friends being attacked by Wendigos hours after the reunion. Oh well. He shuddered. But she has a right to know... And she needs to know.

Slowly and reluctantly, Mike began to tell Jessica about the night, explaining George's story in the process. He omitted the part about his headache—Mike didn't think much of it and planned on sleeping it off.

When he finished the story, Jessica pulled away from him and leaned against the headboard, visibly shaking. Shit, shit, shit. Mike thought, panicked. Fuck, what do I do?

"I knew," Jessica began, her voice sounding far away. She paused for a second, as if to let it sink in, before she continued again. "I knew that this Centre was at the foot of the mountain this whole time." She shuffled around a little. "You sounded so surprised... You never bothered searching up the address?"

I guess not, Mike thought. It never occurred to me. He glanced at his girlfriend, squinting in the darkness. He could only see the outline of her body. Jess...She knew all along... And yet she agreed to stay? That's so... Brave.

"Uh, yeah." Mike said, his voice ragged.

Jessica seemed to notice the weakness of his voice and turned around. She put an arm around Mike and kissed his cheek softly.

"I know you're worried about me and how I'll react to... Everything that you told me," Jessica said quietly, resting her head on Mike's shoulder. "But I haven't even processed it yet. I'm just going to...Think about it for a while longer, okay? You sound like you need sleep, though."

"No, no, I'm fine," Mike protested weakly. I can't just leave Jess to think about all this on her own, she needs me, or she's going to let it consume her and she'll get so much worse in the morning, I need to stay awake, I need to...

"Michael." Jessica said threateningly. "Go. To. Sleep. Okay? I'm not going to go crazy. You need to rest."

"Fine, fine," Mike gave in. He slowly sank into his bed, sighing in content when he finally relaxed. Mike thought he heard Jessica laugh beside him, but he wasn't sure—by then he was asleep.

When Mike finally woke up again, daylight was streaming in through the window. He squinted and held up a hand to cover his eyes.

"Ugh..." Mike turned over on the bed, reaching for Jessica by instinct. He felt around the bed and frowned when he realized she wasn't there.

"Jess?" Mike asked, concerned, and sat upright on the bed. He found the bedroom empty. The clock on the far side of the room showed it was 10:42. Huh, it's this late already? I never sleep in...

Mike swiveled around and started to get off the bed before a sudden wave of pain hit him like a truck. He fell backwards onto the bed with a groan, holding his head. The headache from last night hadn't stopped—in fact, it seemed to have worsened. Mike stumbled out of bed and headed outside, trying his best to ignore his pain and search for Jessica.

Mike fell out of the bedroom with a thump, not unlike a drunk. He heard a series of gasps from the living room and footsteps as someone ran towards him and helped him up.

"Woah, man," Mike heard Chris' soft voice asking. "You alright?"