.₊꒰ 🪓 ꒱:⩩┆( 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣 )⊹.*

𝑇𝑊𝑂. ☠︎︎    𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑺𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑬𝑵 𝑳𝑬𝑭𝑻 𝑼𝑵𝑩𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑰𝑵 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑵𝑶𝑾, 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑲𝑬𝑬𝑷𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑨𝑵𝒀 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑪 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑹𝑼𝑵𝑪𝑯 𝑩𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑨𝑻𝑯 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑻. No birds flew from the trees, and no squirrels made a cute appearance and ran by her boots. It was her, and only her. It was unsettling. In the early days, the group had a rule that they would always have someone with them when they went walking past the lodge. They agreed that it was dangerous alone. That anything could happen at any given time.

      There were so many aspects that went against that rule. Now, when Marlowe was walking alone in the dark. And that fateful night. She wondered if Hannah and Beth ever crossed paths in the snowstorm... and whether the groups rule was nothing but a bunch of lies. Perhaps she shouldn't think about it at all, or else her tears would begin to freeze as the temperature in the night began to slowly fall.

      The rise and fall of her chest slowed as she calmed down her breathing, and her arms wrapped around her torso to comfort her. Technically, it wasn't too late to turn back now. She hadn't seen Josh yet, and therefore she wouldn't feel as guilty if she left right here. She was sure she would be able to sneak past Jess, get back on the cable car, pass Chris, and wait for the next bus to town.

      Would that be cruel? Marlowe thought. She shook her head at the thought and continued on the snow-covered path.

      She told Josh she was coming. If she didn't show up... God... she could already feel the disappointment that his heart would feel. This night was for Hannah. This night was for Beth. And this night was for him. It was important for her to be there for Josh. After all, he seemed so excited. She couldn't back out now.

      A few minutes passed as she trekked through the woods, consumed by her own thoughts. A rustle in the trees was faintly heard but mostly covered by the blasting of music through her headphones.

      Then... that music was stripped from her ears in a flash as the walkman headphones were peeled from behind. Marlowe only froze for a moment, and her fists acted before anything else had. She swung her body, and swung her fist, colliding with the hard surface of a mans stubbled chin. Her scream echoed through the forest, she was sure every animal in the area would have scrambled at the sound.

      Marlowe's eyes widened, and her palms covered her nose and mouth as she looked at the man in front of her. "Michael Munroe! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

      With one hand clutched on the headphones, and the other clutching the left side of his face, Mike groaned when his hand observed the affected area. "Goddamn, Lo. You've got a killer punch."

      She hit him again, but this time in the shoulder. There was zero remorse associated with this punch compared to the last one. "I could have killed you!"

      "Oh, sweetheart," Mike leaned forward so he was at eye level with her before gently tapping Marlowe's nose with his free hand, "you couldn't hurt a bunny."

      She crossed her arms, her facial features still riddled with anger as she looked at his face, "good thing you're not a bunny, Mike. Bunnies are cute. And you? Not so much..."

      He laughed, leaning away from her face with his arms spread out, "still as mean as ever, I see. Now, what have you been listening to, my butterfly?" Mike adjusted the walkman headphones and placed them over his ears, nodding his head before his face contorted. "Still listening to this old crap?"

      Marlowe reached over the empty space left between them and tugged the headphones from his ears, gently placing them around her neck. "It's not old crap. It's my music, Michael. And I enjoy it. Nobody likes listening to whatever the fuck you listen to."

      "Hey! Multiple people like listening to my music!"

      "Jessica doesn't count," Marlowe's eyes rolled, "she's like... in love with you. Of course she is going to force herself to listen to that atrocious music."

      Mike sighed, rubbing his red jaw, "fine, fine. You win."

      Marlowe sighed and turned her back from him. She really just wanted that fire. She was sure that the scare took years off of her life. She did not need another one.

      "Hey! Lo, wait up!" Mike gripped her wrist and gently yanked her to face him. "Don't you wanna help me scare a few more people coming up the mountain?"

      "Not really, no."

      "Oh, come on!" He nudged her elbow. "It'll be fun!"

Marlowe's heart froze. It was just like that night one year ago. "I... I can't. I'm sorry, Mike. Just be safe, 'kay?"

      She hadn't given him enough time to respond, and by the time he had, the headphones were on and she was already taking off, leaving him in the center of the path.

      Why was that damn lodge years away?

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑰𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝑺. 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑻𝑶𝑵𝑺 𝑳𝑶𝑫𝑮𝑬. 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑶𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑨 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑺 𝑵𝑶𝑾 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 𝑪𝑨𝑴𝑬 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑼𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑪 𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑶𝑭 𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝑬𝑵𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 𝑨 𝒀𝑬𝑨𝑹 𝑨𝑮𝑶. She hated it. She hated looking at the lodge. Marlowe's lips down turned in disapproval of the wooden lodge, which was practically a mansion. No lights were on inside, and nobody else was around. She glanced down at her watch, certain that she wasn't early.

Her hand wrapped around her side as she felt the up-and-coming stitch, and her other hand struggled to move her headphones so that they sat around her neck. With a final glance at the lodge, she almost gagged at the thought of the horrendous creepy crawlies that probably marked this place as their home. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if she encountered a spider bigger than her.

Marlowe eventually got tired of standing by the bottom of the stairs all alone. She walked carefully up the ice-coated stairs and attempted to twist the knob of the front door. When it wasn't successful the first time, she tried again. This time, she was less gentle. Twisting, pulling, and hitting, the girl still hadn't managed to open the door. She slowly started to get more and more agitated each time she yanked on the door knob.

"God fucking damn it," Marlowe muttered as she placed her hands against the freezing cold glass. So much for that fire she wanted.

"I already tried. There's no use."

Marlowe's scream filled the silent winds of Blackwood Pines, and whilst she attempted to spin her body to get a look at who the person behind her was, her foot slipped from under her on the ice. Her body plummeted into the solid figure behind her, causing them to fall down the ice-covered stairs together before they fell amongst the snow.

      She managed to move her body off of whoever was beneath her, and she finally saw the individual. "Josh?" Her fist hit his chest whilst he laughed, "this is the second time tonight I've been scared shitless. I swear, you guys are out to get me."

      Although the girl hated being scared, there was something about the sound of Josh's laugh that brought her some comfort. Considering they were at the place where his sisters disappeared, he seemed to be in an awfully cheery mood. Marlowe didn't hesitate to help the boy to his feet, pulling him from the snow so that they could both dust off the specks of ice and snow from their clothes and hair.

      "Damn, Marlowe," Josh finished up brushing the snow off, "if that's all it takes to scare you... imagine a whole weekend here."

      Their hug was awkward, to say the least. Josh's hands gently lingered by her shoulders, but she gratefully accepted his embrace.

      "God, it's been so long..." Marlowe smiled into his shoulder, moving her arms from around his waist so she could move out of the hung. Although he had just been laughing a few moments ago, his brown eyes still held so much sadness. "How are you holding up?"

      The more she looked at his face, the more the guilt started to set in. She was practically drowning in it. It had been so long, she thought she was over it. But now that she was here, seeing everyone again with the exclusion of the twins... but the uncertainty of what happened to the Washington Sisters stayed in her mind on repeat. Murdered? Frozen to death? Or just another unfortunate disappearance amongst the dangers of mother nature?

      Josh let out an exhausted sigh. He was unsure of what to say. "Uh, I mean I could be better. But I'm just glad that everyone's gonna be up at the lodge and we're gonna have a great time, y'know? Forget about the bad things that happened here and create new memories for all of us."

      "Yeah, I completely understand," Marlowe nodded, "It's going to be great to see everyone again. Except for one person... I don't know how long I can listen to her."

      Shaking his head with a stupid grin on his face, Josh laughed slightly once more, "Ashley, right? I'm sure she's not as bad as you remember her to be."

      A singular eyebrow on her face rose, "uh huh... right," and Marlowe gestured to her headphones around her neck, "luckily I have these bad boys so I do not have to listen to her annoying ranting about every tiny little fucking thing."

      "As much as I would love to listen to everything you have to say against her... the others are here."

While Josh moved to greet the others, Marlowe simply stood by the bottom of the stairs, using her foot to even out the snow that she and Josh had fallen into. She did, however, take note of Matt's presence. It was hard to miss the angry aura that radiated off of him as he moved to stand beside her. And on top of that, Emily wasn't anywhere in sight. While Marlowe wasn't the smartest person in the area, she could put two and two together.

"Hey..." she gave a soft smile and nudged him, and his angry exterior briefly faltered as he cracked a smile. "What'd she do this time?"

A sigh. A very deep sigh left his lips. Matt looked up at the sky, allowing the small white particles to fall against his dark skin and letter jacket. "I'll explain later, maybe. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Yeah, yeah, no worries..." Marlowe smiled, "lemme know whenever you want."

Ashley walked by and smiled at her, a small wave accompanying her greetings. "Lo, it's nice to see you again."

Marlowe's eyes widened as the redhead pulled her in for a hug. Then, her eyes twitched in a slight annoyance. Lo... that nickname sounded like poison from her.

"Marlowe! I barely recognised you," Sam walked over and waited for Ashley to move out of the hug so that she could squeeze one in. "What happened to your fringe?"

The blonde girls' fingers brushed through the micro bangs, and Marlowe swatted them away. "Look... I cut them a little too short."

Sam laughed, "don't worry. I'm just messin' with ya. You look great!"

Man... Sam had not changed one bit. Then again, everyone mostly felt the same to Marlowe.

"Yo, Lo!" Josh waved his hand to signal her attention, "Wanna help us get the door open from the inside?"

"Sure! I'll be there in a second!" She shouted over the harshness of the snow crunching beneath everyone's boots. Josh and Chris waited as she placed her headphones in the safety of her backpack before jogging her way through the snow to get over to them. However, it seemed as though she interrupted the wrong conversation. A conversation about Chris' beloved Ashley.

"I just want to rip that parka right off of her... make some snow angels... Right?" Josh rambled on about Ashley.

"Ugh, yuck," Marlowe expressed her distaste of the conversation whilst noticing Chris' anger. "Leave the poor guy's girlfriend alone. Let's just open this damn door! My ass is freezing."

Chris nodded, his glasses moving down the bridge of his nose, "yeah, man. Cut it out."

Josh quickly held his hands up in defense and turned around, continuing to follow the snow-covered path while Marlowe and Chris stood beside one another to watch as the boy walked ahead of them.

Once Josh had walked further, Chris looked down at Marlowe and smiled, "I know we're not nearly as close as you are with Emily, Jess, and Mike, but thank you for that."

Marlowe shrugged and fist-bumped his shoulder, "just looking out for America's funniest man. Now, giddy up, Chrissy Boy. There are a bunch of people who are relying on us so they don't turn into popsicles!"

"Okay, okay! I'm coming!"

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ "i have so much motivation for this story" also me: doesn't update for 10 whole days. anyways, here's a short chapter. i'm sorry it's short, but i'm just sticking to the chapter lengths from the old book, it just makes it a little easier. in the other book, the chapter was like 600 words bruh. the chapters will eventually get longer once the action actually starts.