one | 01.

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.

Every time she thought about reconnecting, the memories of Beth and Hannah pushed her further away.

How could she look at any of them and not remember how wrong it all went?

Chris chuckled lightly, oblivious to her inner turmoil, or maybe choosing to ignore it. "Busy avoiding us, huh?"

The comment stung, though he said it with the same lightness he always had, like it was all just part of the banter they used to share. She wanted to shrug it off, to laugh, but the guilt settled heavier in her chest.

Sam shot Chris a look, a subtle warning in her eyes. She shifted in her seat, her arms crossing tighter over her body, her attention briefly flicking to Cameron, a quiet understanding in her gaze.

They hadn't really talked since... well, since everything. There had been awkward texts, an occasional check-in, but nothing that pierced the silence Cameron had created around herself.

The cable car continued its slow ascent, the mountains stretching out before them. The beauty of it, the way the snow glistened on the peaks, should have been comforting.

The isolation of this place had always been part of its charm, but now, it only made her feel more trapped.

The memory of Hannah running out into the storm, the way her figure had disappeared into the snow, flashed in her mind. A familiar coldness washed over her, one the warmth of the cable car couldn't touch.

Sam shifted, breaking the silence. "I hope this was the right thing to do." She said, her voice low, as though she wasn't sure if she should voice her doubts aloud.

Chris glanced at her, surprised. "What?"

Sam bit her lip, her blue eyes distant as she stared out at the mountains. "You know, getting everyone back together. On the anniversary." She hesitated, her gaze briefly flickering toward Cameron before returning to the view outside. "I mean, Josh seemed really pumped about it, didn't he?"

Cameron's stomach churned. She'd seen Josh's video invitation like everyone else, his grin wide, almost too wide. He had seemed excited—desperate, even—for this reunion.

It wasn't like Josh to be so eager, not after everything. His sisters were still missing. And the police, after months of searching, had come up with nothing. No new leads. No answers.

How could he be so upbeat when the scars of that night were still fresh?

"Yeah, no, he definitely did." Chris replied, his hands moving up to rest behind his head. "I haven't seen him so excited about something in forever."

Cameron listened, silent, her thoughts circling around Josh. The others couldn't see it—or maybe they didn't want to—but she could. She could tell something wasn't right.

Josh's smile in that video hadn't seemed real. The excitement felt forced, a cover for something. He hadn't moved on. None of them had, but for Josh, it was different. His sisters were still out there, somewhere.

And here they were, back at the place that had swallowed them whole.

"I hope everyone else feels the same way..." Sam added, her voice soft, almost dismissive, as she settled deeper into her seat.

Her eyes flickered over the interior of the cable car, avoiding Cameron's gaze, as if she could feel the weight of her stare.

Cameron's eyes lingered on Sam, then shifted back to the window. The mountains seemed endless, vast and empty, much like the space between her and her friends now.

She wanted to say something—wanted to voice the nagging unease that had settled in her chest since the invitation.

But instead, she swallowed it down, her hands gripping the edge of the seat as the cable car drifted higher, carrying them toward a reunion that already felt like a mistake.

___________

As the cable car door slid open, Cameron almost tripped over herself in her rush to step out, her breath escaping in shallow bursts of relief.

The ride had been suffocating—Chris's jokes, Sam's worried glances. She needed out. Needed space. But as she pushed against the station door, her relief was short-lived. The door refused to move.

Her brow furrowed, and she tried again, this time with more force, her palms sliding over the icy surface. Stuck. Great. Of course, it would be stuck.

She felt a tightness clawing at her chest, the cold air doing nothing to quell the simmering anxiety underneath her skin. She tried to breathe through it, focusing on the crispness of the mountain air, but the memories were already creeping back, uninvited.

Chris leaned over her shoulder, peering through the window with a smirk. "Looks like Jess is out there." His voice was casual, amused, but Cameron could only shy away from him and stare at the blurred reflection of herself in the window, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten.

Jessica was out there. She wasn't sure if she was ready to face her just yet, not with everything that had happened. Everything that Jess had blamed her for.

Chris banged on the window, jolting Cameron out of her thoughts. The sound was loud, jarring, making her pulse quicken. She watched as Jessica whipped around, startled, her eyes narrowing as soon as she recognized them.

"Uh, are you guys having a really weird stroke or something?" Jessica asked, her sarcasm biting, but the look she gave them—gave her—was what hit hardest.

There was judgment there, sharp and lingering, the same kind Cameron had felt a year ago.

    It was as if nothing had changed. Or maybe everything had changed, and that was worse. Cameron shifted awkwardly, her hands falling to her sides. She wasn't prepared for this.

Chris laughed, unfazed by Jessica's sharp tone. "We're stuck in this stupid thing. Can you please let us out?" He adjusted his glasses with a grin, always the one to smooth over tension with humor.

Jessica, rolling her eyes dramatically, hit the release button. The station door buzzed loudly, and Cameron shoved it open with more force than necessary, desperate to put some distance between her and the cable car.

But the moment she stepped out, her stomach flipped, and her gaze locked with Jessica's. There it was again—that judgment. It wrapped itself around Cameron like a snake.

"Hey, Cam." Jessica said through clenched teeth, the way she bit out her name making Cameron flinch inwardly.

Cameron tried to muster a smile, but it came out weak, almost an apology for sharing the space with her. "Hey."

It was a pitiful response, a whispered word that barely escaped her lips, but it was all she could manage. She waved, the motion awkward and forced, like she didn't quite know what to do with her hands.

She wanted to say more. Instead, Cameron kept walking, her boots crunching in the snow beneath her.

Behind her, Chris called out, his voice as loud and exaggerated as ever. "Oh. My. God. I thought we were goners." He said, dragging his feet in the snow as if the brief delay had been some epic ordeal. "Another ten minutes in there and I would've chewed off my own leg."

Sam chuckled softly, shaking her head, but Cameron barely noticed.

    Cameron had always been on the periphery of the group, never quite fitting in, never fully understanding the dynamics between them all.

But after the prank—after everything fell apart—she felt more like an outsider than ever. She hadn't just lost Beth and Hannah that night. She'd lost the fragile connection she had to the others, too.

As she continued to pace while the others teased each other, Chris's sudden movement startled her. He lunged forward, snatching something from Jessica's hand with a gleeful laugh.

"Hey!" Jessica's shout cut through the cold air, her voice sharp with irritation as she turned on him, her eyes flashing.

Cameron blinked, her attention snapping to the object in Chris's hand. An envelope. When had Jessica been holding that? She hadn't noticed before.

"Well, well, well... what do we have here? Secrets?" Chris teased, his grin wide, his voice light, but Cameron could see the way Jessica's eyes darkened, the way her lips pressed together in a thin line. "Seems that someone has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president Michael Munroe!"

    Jessica took a step toward Chris, her posture pin straight, her irritation bubbling. "Give it back, Chris. Mike and Em split. We're together."

    Chris blinked, glancing between the letter and Jessica, his expression quickly shifting to one of exaggerated surprise. "Woah, drama." He mumbled airily.

    With a quick huff, Jess snatched the letter from his hand, clearly done with the back-and-forth. "It's pretty clear cut, actually. Em's out, I'm in." Her words were sharp, punctuated by the look she shot at Chris, daring him to challenge her.

    Cameron's lips twisted into a dry, humorless smile before she could stop herself.

    The words slipped out, tinged with a bitterness that had been brewing beneath the surface. "Funny. Last time we were here, I swore you told Emily that you had her back."

    The air seemed to freeze. Jessica inhaled sharply, the color draining slightly from her face as she whipped around to face Cameron.

    Her lips pressed into a harsh, thin line, eyes flashing with anger. For a long moment, the two girls locked gazes—Jessica's seething, Cameron's cool and unflinching. Cameron hoped her hazel eyes conveyed all the bitterness she felt, all the unsaid things she'd been holding in for the past year.

    Jessica said nothing, but the intensity of her glare was enough to cut through the air.

    "Alright, alright, let's just get up to the lodge already. I'm getting tired of all this nature and junk." Chris made a weak attempt at humor, but even he seemed eager to move past the tension.

    Jessica blinked, her gaze still hard but shifting away from Cameron as she lifted her chin and faced Chris again. "You guys go ahead," she said curtly, crossing her arms. "I'm just gonna wait here for a bit."

    "Uh, okay, sure. Catch up with us later, then." He gave a quick nod before motioning for Sam and Cameron to follow him up the trail.

    As they began walking, Sam leaned toward Cameron, her voice low. "What was that about?" she asked, her blue eyes flicking from Cameron to Jessica, then back again, trying to piece together the confrontation.

    Cameron scrunched up her face in thought, trying to shake off the lingering frustration that gnawed at her. She sighed, shaking her head lightly. "Nothing to worry about." She muttered, though she knew it wasn't entirely true.

    It was something, something that had been festering for the past year—her frustration with Jessica, her anger at how everything had gone down, how none of them had taken responsibility for the prank that led to Beth and Hannah's disappearance.

    But she wasn't ready to open that door yet, not now, not here.

    Sam gave her a searching look, sensing that there was more beneath the surface, but didn't push further. Cameron appreciated that, the understanding Sam always had. It was one of the reasons she'd found herself closest to Sam back then.

    As they trudged through the snow, the conversation died off, and Cameron found herself lost in thought once again, her gaze drifting up to the lodge that loomed ahead.

    She could still see Beth and Hannah running through the storm, hear the panic in Beth's voice as she called out for Hannah.

    The sharp cold of that night felt as real now as it had then, and the guilt Cameron had buried deep inside her chest began to stir, restless and painful.

END OF CHAPTER I.