.₊꒰ 🪓 ꒱:⩩┆( 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣 )⊹.*

𝑃𝑅𝑂𝐿𝑂𝐺𝑈𝐸. ☠︎︎    𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑨 𝑭𝑬𝑾 𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑹𝑺 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑷𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑷𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑲 𝑶𝑵 𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑵𝑨𝑯 𝑾𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑻𝑶𝑵. Marlowe sat in the window sill of one of the many large windows in the lodge, her knees near her chest with a book in her hands. She remained on the same page that she started reading an hour ago, her attention often being taken away from the words to watch as the snow stuck to the leaves of the flora outside of the window. Instead of an expensive pair of headphones, an old walkman was situated on her ears. Occasionally she would move one ear cup to the side to overhear the conversation going on around her in the darkness of the Washington's lodge.

      She shivered slightly when her arm touched the glass of the window, a cold chill spreading from the affected area. The song in her ears switched as she looked at the sky. There wasn't much to see but it was still beautiful. Marlowe truly believed she would never get tired of the beauty of Blackwood Mountain. While the sky wasn't exactly clear, snowy clouds covering most of it, there was a break within those clouds where the girl could see the stars.

      Marlowe finally closed the book and let it rest in her lap, accepting that she would never get past the page she was on if she was distracted by the scenery. As she looked back up to view the snow covered flora, movement within the darkness of the bushes caught her eye. A figure, maybe? She wasn't sure. She looked for a little longer, leaning back and forth in an attempt to get a better view of the bushes, but she finally came to the conclusion that it was simply something that her brain had constructed for her to see.

      A single tap on her shoulder spooked her from the danger of her own thoughts, and she spun her head as she jumped from the contact. Marlowe was face to face with Mike as she watched his lips move. He was talking to her and she couldn't hear, but he had yet to realise. She smiled and stuck her finger in the air, silencing him as she switched off the music that blasted in her ears and removed the headphones. Hearing the sounds of the lodge sounded weird now that her ears were free from the loud music that would soon ruin her hearing permanently. The floorboards creaked with every step, and sometimes the lodge would make strange noises unprovoked. But, Marlowe supposed it was oddly comforting.

      "Sorry about that," Marlowe smiled as she wrapped the wire around the headphones, "you can continue with whatever you were saying."

      Mike placed his arm against the window sill and leaned in to talk to her, "it's almost time for Hannah to meet up with me for the prank. You in?"

      Her smile faltered after hearing Mike's words. Secretly she was wishing they had scrapped the plan, but now she knew that it was still going ahead. "I don't know, Mike... it feels cruel. Could you imagine being embarrassed in front of all your friends because you happened to have a crush on one of them? For a teenager, I'd say there's nothing worse."

      His eyes looked up for a moment, thinking over her words, but then he shrugged, "uh, if I was Hannah I'd probably laugh it off..." Mike laughed, short and breathy, before nudging Marlowe in the shoulder gently, "besides it's just a prank. What's the worst that could possibly happen? She'll be a little embarrassed, and then in a couple of days or weeks from now she'll move on from it. It's just a little harmless fun. Live a little."

      Live a little. What a funny statement. Marlowe sighed and nodded. She moved out of her cramped position in the window sill and stood beside Mike while looking at the others, giggling over the plan. Marlowe nudged Mike back for earlier, "I'm kind of hoping that she socks you in the face."

      A gasp and a hand over his heart followed as Mikes mouth fell open in sarcastic surprise, "Marlowe, how could you ever say such a thing. This handsome face is not going to get a single scratch on it, thank you very much." They laughed together for a second before he placed his hand against her back, slotting in the open area of her denim overalls, pushing her gently over to the group. "Marlowe is now on board, thanks to my amazing convincing skills."

      Marlowe rolled her eyes, setting her book on the kitchen counter. She wasn't exactly "on board" but then again... she was still participating in this awful prank. The night she had thought out included playing board games by an open fire and getting mad when she lost in monopoly... not whatever this was.

      "Oh my God! I can't believe you actually did this!" Emily whispered to Jess, both of them elicited an evil snicker. The sound echoed through the large emptiness of the lodge. Marlowe bit her lip while looking at them muster up their evil plan. They did always come up with some harsh ideas, but this one was the icing on the cake.

      Sam, the most disapproving of the bunch, shook her head. "Don't you guys think this is a bit cruel?" A few blonde strands fell from the confinements of her updo, tickling her olive skin.

      "Oh, come on. She deserves it." Jess argues, her eyes rolling as she plays with the small charm on her necklace. She laughed a little, and her body shook along with the small pony tails on either side of her head, "even Arlo thinks she deserves it, don't you?"

      Marlowe's glances were shared between Emily, Mike, Sam and Jess, and her fingers found one of the buttons on her overalls to fiddle with, and her other hand found comfort in toying with the short curls on her head. "Uh, not exactly... but also not exactly... not? Deserve is kind of a harsh word." She defended herself, she wasn't ready to commit to anything yet.

      "Stop being such a prude, babe!" Emily slung her arm around Marlowe's shoulders and blew her a kiss, "it's a harmless prank. Nobody is gonna get hurt. It's going to happen and then we will all move on. Except for when we screen it every time we all meet up at the lodge for some kind of tradition."

      Sam stepped in once again, her voice still sweet as she went to defend her best friend, "it's not her fault that she has a huge crush on Mike-"

      Jess bittersweetly cut her off, her voice as venomous as a sirens, "Hannah has been making moves on him," she pointed a finger over at Mike as she stepped backward, almost skipping, preparing her exit into the main foyer, "I'm just looking out for my girl Em."

      Together, Jess and Emily skipped out into the open hall where the lodge was dark and grey, perfectly fitting the winter of Blackwood Mountain. Marlowe watched as the two masterminds skipped side by side. Sometimes it felt as though that she was not Emily's best friend, but instead Jess was. Oddly enough, she was somewhat okay with that. Emily could be... a bit much for her sometimes. Jess was just someone else that Emily could pester.

      "Just because Mike is class Prez, doesn't mean he belongs to everyone, " Emily fired at Jess, "Mike is my man."

      And there it was. Emily suddenly getting very defensive. Marlowe prepared to turn her down a notch like she was used to, but Mike had beaten her to it. "Hey, Em..." he started, "I'm not anybody's man."

      Emily's voice had faded into the hallways of the lodge as she got farther and farther away, but Marlowe could make out the words, "whatever you say, darling" coming from the girl.

      Mike and Marlowe stood side by side, watching as everyone dispersed to their posts for the prank. She sighed, the reality of the prank being real finally setting in. Taken from her thoughts, Mike's hand ruffled through her curly hair, "race you there, Lo."

      He pushed her back so that he could get a head start, but Marlowe was very swift on her feet as the floorboards creaked with every step she took. She was much faster than Mike, and he knew that. As kids, not once had he won a running race against her, so now, he was going to take advantage of pushing her back so that he could win. In a matter of milliseconds, when Mike checked over his shoulder, Marlowe was hot on his heels. Literally. Her foot caught the heel of his shoe and in a blink of an eye he was face first into the wooden floorboards. She didn't stay to help him up but simply overtook him and crossed the imaginary finish line, sticking her hands up as she watched the poor guy get up off the floor and jog his way over to her.

      Mike's hands gripped his knees as he hunched over, "remind me to never do that again..." He was out of breath.

      "And Marlowe King wins again," she played air drums as she celebrated, "you are now 0 for 15, buddy. You're a real loser."

      For the second time of the night, his hand placed over his heart in fake hurt, "you wound me, you really do."

      After their little race, they finally joined the others in the room. They all began settling in their hiding spots. Matt slid in the confinements of one of the cupboards in the corner of the room, pulling the door behind him. Ashley hid close by him in the shadows. Mike positioned himself somewhere in the centre of the room whilst Emily and Jess slid beneath the bed. Marlowe could hear the footsteps of Hannah fast approaching. She forced herself to slot beside Emily under the bed.

Emily hushed everyone, "she's here."

Jess elicited a final giggle, and Marlowe felt guilty as she laughed a little with them. If she had known in that moment what this would all lead up to, she would have never wanted anything to do with it. The voices of the teenagers became silence, and everyone watched as Hannah Washington slipped through the door, a lit candle in her hands that helped her to guide her way through the darkness of the lodge to where she was now. She set it aside on a nearby table.

"Mike? It's Hannah. I got your note." The innocent girl smiled, her voice filled with nothing but joy. This was a dream come true for her. She was finally alone with the boy she liked. Or so she thought.

"Glad you could make it," Marlowe heard Mike say, "maybe we should start with a little, you know, making out, and see where it goes from there." He suggested and Marlowe watched Hannah nod in agreement. Her fingers fiddled with the buttons of her shirt, only getting to undo the first couple at the top before she was interrupted.

"Oh my God! She's taking her shirt off!" Jess whispered, but it wasn't neccessarily quiet. Emily looked at Marlowe and nudged her, signaling her to move out from under the bed to surprise Hannah. So she did. Marlowe was one of the first that Hannah saw, followed by Jess and Emily, and Matt peering out of the cupboard holding a phone attached to a selfie stick to record the scene. And last was Ashley, who moved the screen she was hiding behind so that she could be seen.

Betrayal. It's all that Marlowe could see on Hannah Washington's soft and beautiful face. Her face had fallen as she looked around at the elaborate set up. Hannah's gaze bore into Marlowe, she thought they were friends... but now, she guessed they weren't after all. While her tears welled up in her eyes and her lips turned down while she sobbed, Sam barged into the room after hearing the commotion.

Mike was quick to apologise for everything, and so was Marlowe. But it was too late. What was believed to be a harmless prank was the devil in disguise. Hannah ignored the apologies that were thrown her way and left the room in a hurry, holding her shirt together and pressing her glasses closer to her face to ensure they wouldn't fall off while she ran away from the scene.

"You guys are all jerks, you know that?" Sam spat and the group of teenagers, running after Hannah through the hollows of the lodge.

Marlowe quickly followed after, sprinting closely behind Sam while the others were close behind. Everyone shouted for Hannah to come back. The lodge's door was wide open, letting the cold in, and the snow had Hannah's footprints imbedded into it. "It was just a prank, Han!"

No response.

Beth Washington ran between the group of teenagers, looking out into the icy wilderness. She spat a few insults for what they had done to her twin sister and followed after the icy footprints. The snow storm had started to pick up as she disappeared among the shadows of the trees.

Guilty. Marlowe King felt guilty.

That was the last time that they would ever see Hannah and Beth Washington.

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ the way i turned the first 300 words in the original to almost 900 words in this rewrite is wild. i kept cringing while reading my writing from when i was twelve, so i am praying that it is a LOT better this time around. actually, i don't doubt that.