#Until Dawn Mount Washington

[justinewt]

Dreadful Play - UNTIL DAWN REWRITE Chapter Three

[UNTIL DAWN-MASTERLIST]  

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Summary: The week-end was definitely not going as planned when Synthya was forced out of her hot bath, having to wander around the lodge, believing her friends were pulling some sort of prank on her but her annoyance grew into utter fear when a psychopath started chasing her down in the basement and she only prayed for one thing, her survival. She had no desire to find out what he would do to her if he caught her.

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: Until Dawn spoilers (chapter 5 and 7 specifically), angst, trauma, injuries, blood, chase, maniac killer, loss, grief, ANGST

UNTIL DAWN taglist is open ! Comment or send an ask if you wanna be added to it :)

Mount Washington’s Lodge, 01:11 AM

SIX HOURS UNTIL DAWN

Synthya closed her eyes, relaxing in the bathtub, taking a deep breath. She finally had her long-awaited moment of calm and peace where she could just chill and log off from the real world, resting in this nice and warm bath. At first, she had been listening to some music, various genres, her headphones in her ears but she eventually took them off and let herself slid in the water, bubbles coming up to the surface when she breathed out, just listening to the silence. It was really relaxing and after some time to herself, she was convinced she would be ready to fully and truly enjoy this winter getaway, looking forward to spending more time together with Josh. After what had been probably like a minute underwater, she emerged, gasping softly for air as she wiped her eyes when suddenly, the door slammed shut and she turned around with a jump. All the candles installed around the bathtub had gone out and she thought of a simple draft that would have caused the door to slam so abruptly, but the windows were all closed in the room, and she didn't think she had left the door open. On the contrary, even though she didn't lock it, she remembered having closed it. She wrung out her hair.

“Hello? Josh...? Guys?” Synthya called but her question was met by religious sience. She sat there, chills aready appearing on her shoulders, just waiting for a response, looking around, confused and after a dozen of seconds, she stood up and got out of the bath, wrapping herself in a towel. Upon walking to the chair where she had folded her clothes, she found nothing and frowned. This was getting weird. She didn’t understand if this was another of Chris’ prank, maybe Josh was involved in that one, or if she had just put her clothes somewhere else and somehow forgot. She was really trying to think of the possible scenarios as she looked in the bathroom, see if it was just her mind playing tricks on her or if they were actually gone and in which case, someone had in fact taken them away, for an unknown reason. She sighed and gave up on finding her close anywhere nearby. She secured the towel wrapped around her body and ventured outside of the bathroom, taking her phone to use the flashlight as she walked to Hannah’s room, thinking of grabbing a bunch of clothes in last resort because maybe walking around, naked, with only a towel wasn’t the best but when the door to her late best friend’s room turned out to be closed, she swore under her breath, resigning himself to wandering around like this.

Upon taking a better look around, she realized there were ballons tied to the stair’s guard railings with arrows drawn on it with a black marker pen or something, indicating a direction. After she saw this, she grew more annoyed than scared as it started to really look like a stupid prank and she figured that if she played along, she would get to the end of it quicker, so she climbed down the stairs, following the ballons, calling out to Chris, Josh and Ashley as she wandered in the empty living room. As she came by the turn off TV, she heard a sudden and very brief high-pitched squeal and jumped on her feet but when she looked at the screen, there was nothing. It was just pitch black. She shot a last gance in the room and walked away, climbing down the last fight of stairs and the ballons led her to the room before the basement, lighting her way with her phone’s flashlight and she arrived in front of the cinema room, frowning in confusion. The double door was wide open.

“Guys? Are you there?” She asked again, as she walked in the room, feeling a little more uneasy. “Hey, come on, now. I want my clothes back. Can someone please answer to me? This is not cool!” She screamed when the door slid shut behind her and she stepped away when suddenly, a distorted voice came from the speakers set on the sides of the screen.

“Hello Synthya. Looking for me?” She frantically looked around, getting freaked out, not so sure it was a mere prank anymore. “I don’t think you’ll have much luck by looking, Synthya. You’re only going to see what I want you to see.”

“What the hell… Josh, Chris… Ashley, if this is you, it’s not funny anymore.” The only response she got was the weird voice laughing at her and carrying on.

“I have quite a lot to show you. Open your eyes.”

“Oh my god.” She stared at the screen showing her relaxing in the bathtub. She swallowed harshly, feeling a lump form in her stomach.

“She’s quite beautiful, isn’t she. A beautiful bathing bird… do you think she has any idea what lies ahead? Do you think these were the last happy moments of this creature’s life?”

“Why are you showing this to me...?” Her voice was shaking.

“Why are you watching?” The voice retorted and she glanced behing her at the projector. When she turned around, back to the screen, she had the horror to see Ashley and Josh, tied up on a wall, a moving circular saw mounted on tracks, cutting Josh in half, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Josh!” She cried out, putting her hand on the back of the chair in front of her. “OH MY GOD! Josh—" She was cut off by her crying and fell to her knees, sobbing as she looked away, unable to watch her boyfriend being murdered, his guts falling from his torso. She couldn't take anymore and when the weird psycopath spoke again, she slowly stood up, her cheeks wet from the tears.

“I’m going to give you ten seconds… Nine…”

“No, no, no no no...” She walked back to the door, trying to get her shit together but she couldn’t help but cry. She couldn’t believe Josh was dead.

“Eight. Seven.”

“Please no.” She yelled, her face distorted with tears, grief and utter fear. Suddenly, someone entered the room and she let out a scream, trying to get away from the psycho

“Synthya. Sy-yn?” He titled his head, cracking his neck, holding a gas bottle by his side.

“You killed, Josh! You fucking monster!” Synthya growled, frowning in anger and without thinking twice, she reached out to a vase by her side, and threw it hard at the mysterious man who protected himself with the gas canister and she took to her heels, running towards the adjacent room. It was a bedroom. Holding her towel in place, she closed the door behind her and lit the room with her phone to which she clung desperately. She knew that hiding here would be stupid and he would find her on the spot, so she went to jump over the bed and at the same moment the psycho opened the door and slowly walked in but as she was frightened and panicking, she didn’t lose any time and rushed out, running down the hallway and down the steps to the basement in a hurry. She saw many spots where she could hide but it wasn’t very clever as she was sure he would find her, so she kept running in the basement, breathing heavily. She ran into a door with no handle and whimpering, she looked around and pulled down a wine rack, rolling to the side before it fell on her and pinned her to the ground, to the psycho’s mercy to do whatever he had planned to do to her. She noticed a handle had fallen from above the rack, she crawled and grabbed it before standing up and hastily open the door and slam her behind her the moment he came right behind her. Her fingers found the door hatch and she locked the door. He slipped his arm through the opening, trying to get it open but she managed to close it, screaming.

Synthya caught her breath and turned around, walking away to the door at the other end of the room. She turned the handle, but the door remained closed, so she started to slam into the door with her shoulder, groaning. Her sole hope of saving herself from this madman was to manage to open this stupid door and after just one hard bump of her shoulder, the door gave in and she fell as on the other side, the floor was no more so she fell one level below and hit her head, wincing. She brought her hand to her forehead and there was barely any blood, so she sucked it up, grabbing her phone to light her way through the concrete rubble and stood up, chills running down her back. She kept on going, rubbing her arm, trembling slightly from the ambient cold. Reaching the end of the hallway, she found herself thinking between continuing to run down the hallway on her left or hide beneath an old elevator shaft on her right. She ultimitaly chose the second option and jumped down, turning the flashlight off and closing her eyes, swallowing harshly, sticking to the wall as much as possible so he wouldn’t notice her. When she heard footsteps approaching, she held her breath, keeping her eyes shut, biting her lips so hard she felt the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

“Here little kitty. Here pussy pussy.” He paused, turning around, looking for her but when he swore, she knew she had saved herself, at least for now. “Fuck!” She waited to hear the footsteps receding and she breathed out, cuping her face in her hands, silently crying, releasing all the pressure, her body shook, but not from cold, from all the tension and stress this had put her through. She had lost Josh, seen him get torn apart and was then chased and mocked by a fucking psychopath and she had no idea what he wanted to do to her, but given what he did to Josh, it wouldn’t have been anything pleasant.

Lodge’s basement, 3:05 AM

FOUR HOURS UNTIL DAWN

She crawled through a rather long and narrow air vent, scratching her elbows and knees against the surface, so much that they were covered in a very thin layer of blood. Synthya lit the room beyond the opening with her phone’s flashlight, checking the area she was setting foot in before sitting and pushing the vent with her feet and carefully getting out, looking around her fearfully, worried that the psycho would find her there too, and the fact that just at first glance, she noticed it looked like a sort of workshop didn’t help her calm down, but she couldn’t hear anyone so she let out a small sigh of relief and began to explore the premises. Anything she could learn on this crazy dude would be helpful. Glancing behind her, she noticed a cork board with a map but only the top corners were pinned on it. She frowned, approaching slowly and she lifted the bottom corner and found plans of Josh getting cut in half with little annotations to the sides of the drawings.

"What?" She mumbled. “This can’t be right…”

Little arrows were showing various areas of the drawings, noting head hole, pig blood and latex model. She was quite dumbfounded and stepped away, shaking her head. She didn’t understand. She had witnessed Josh’s gruesome death. Synthya took a deep breath and walked to a desk. She ignored the circular saw put on it and the numerous papers pinned on the wall and opened a drawer, grabbing a file stored inside. She put it on the desk and opened it, and inside, she found Josh’s medical records from his time at the hospital from exactly a year ago, everything was in there. The young woman couldn’t quite understand why this psycho would have all these confidential documents. She took a step away, shuffling her feet to a shelf where she found a phone just lying there. When she turned it on, she saw a photo of herself as the lockscreen’s wallpaper and realized it was Josh’s phone. It was a picture of her in a black dressing gown and only he had this picture. She unlocked it, of course it was Josh’s, it didn’t even have a password and she scrolled through a rather heated conversation he had had with his therapist, well, Josh was being quite heated and angry, telling Dr Hill off until he just stopped answering the shrink’s texts. The latter seemed worried and concerned for him, talking about a “plan” he had told him about and which he advised him against. Synthya stared at the phone, not really understanding what this was about. All she could think about was that Josh was dead, murdered in a horrific way and this asshole made a whole game of it. She couldn’t help but hear Josh’s screaming to death and she shook her head, putting down the phone.

She walked across the room in a heavy silence, now finding a sort of memorial cork board with pictures of Hannah and Beth and little notes here and there. One that stood out was NEVER FORGET, written in red ink. Synthya let out a heavy and trembling sigh and she walked away, following a corridor and climbed down a flight of stairs. She approached a door, her head right at the level of the opening and she got shivers down her spine, reflexively recoiling, silencing her breathing and widening her eyes in fear as she watched the psycho leaning over a table, his back to the door, looking at a bunch of CCTV footage of all around the lodge and the property. She gulped and walked, scared that he would see her. Maybe he was looking for her on all those cameras and it freaked her out that she was right behind the door, so close from him and he had no idea. Down the hallway, she found a voice recorder left alone on a table and pressed the play button, wondering what it was about. It sounded like the psycho rehearsing a speech until the voice changed, as if the voice changer had been turned off and her heart almost missed a beat when she heard Josh’s voice. She turned it off instantly.

“Holy shit… what… no… This is insane…” She shook her head, taking a shaky breath, running a weak hand through her black hair.

There was no way Josh was behind all this. She saw him die. She saw it. It was crazy and fucking impossible. Even though, deep down, she knew it made too much sense for it all to be just a coincidence, but she wouldn’t admit it to herself. She didn’t want it to be true. She couldn’t understand why he would do all this, and why he would put her through this, chasing her down in the basement. It wasn’t him. It was just impossible. As she walked to the stairs, she glanced at the door worriedly and climbed up the steps, hoping to finally find a way out of there, and maybe some clothes on the way because she wasn’t sure she could make it out in the cold with barely a towel on. She was freezing. The first door she encountered was locked so she walked to another one down the hallway. A double door looking somehow resembling that of the high school cafeteria. There was mess behind that double door; furnitures broken and knocked over, stuff spilled on the floor. She found a camera set to the side, a light on the floor and a dummy on a chair, with an awful clown mask on its head. In another context, it wouldn’t have been this creepy and strange to see a dummy dressed up in her clothes. All the clues and things she found would have led her to think it was Josh’s doing but she really had a hard time accept what was probably the truth. All she had hoped for this weekend was to spend time with Josh and everything had been ruined. She thought of just undressing the dummy and get her clothes back but when she saw her bag hanging from the doorknob, she only took her scarf back, because it was her mother’s and she refused to just leave it here. She suddenly felt a hand grab her ankle and she let out a yelp, stepping away, looking down at a vent on the bottom of the wall.

“Mike!” She kneeled down, holding the towel in place. “What are you doing down here? There’s a g—” She sighed in relief. “Thank god you found me.”

“It’s okay. You’re okay.” He whispered, his eyes going from the bruise on her head, her red eyes and bloody lips. She nodded, trying to hammer this into her head. For now, she was okay. Wandering around in a dark and scary place was better than being actively followed by a psychopath.

“I don’t understand… How did you get here? How did you find me?” She wondered.

“There’s some fucking maniac up here on the mountain—”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” She said softly, cutting him off.

“He lives in this like, web of tunnels… I was down there trying to ger out and I found this grate and saw you.” He explained.

“This guy you’re talking about… he attacked me. Chased me down in the basement and he… he showed me these videos too,” Her voice started breaking and she glanced behind her, terrified that he would somehow hear her and get her. “and one of them showed Josh being killed… just… ripped apart by this huge fucking sawblade…”

“Jesus Christ!”

“I think he is living down here, and whoever the hell he is, he’s obsessed with Hannah and Beth. But here’s the crazy thing: I found these plans, like, blueprints for a crazy machine just like the one Josh was in, but it’s fake… it was for a dummy. That—” She stared in the void and exclaimed. “Tha means Josh might not be dead!”

“Synthya, hey, slow down…”

“Also, I found his phone, like, on a shelf, just lying there… there was a whole conversation with his doctor, and… he was talking about a “plan” that was like, a “bad idea” and now he’s dead!”

“What the fuck is going on around here… There’s a door here, it won’t open.” He showed a door on his left, behing the one from which her bag was hanging. “Can you unlock it from your side?”

“Wait a sec’.” She stood up, grabbing her backpack and opened the door. She removed a wooden plank across the door Mike was talking about and opened it.

“Hey…”

“Jeez, you look like hell.” She observed, stepping in the room with him. She must have looked like hell too with the blood on her face and her eyes all red from crying.

“Nice to see you too.” He watched her walk to the back, behind a shelf, putting her backpack to the ground. “What are you doing?”

“Well actually, the towel didn’t turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs, you know? And I’m gonna turn into a fucking ice cube. Do you mind? Mike?” She gestured her hand for him to turn around just so she could change with some of the spare clothes she had packed.

“Oh. Uh, right, my bad.” He nodded, looking away. She changed into a plain T-shirt, a red-hooded jacket, a pair of black jogging pants and tied the drawstring at the waist and put on her dark sneakers. She also tied the scarf around her neck.

“Okay. Done. Let’s put things to bed.”

“Amen to that.” She picked up her phone, checking how much battery was left and she nodded to herself. Her phone wasn't going to die any time soon. They barely took a few steps when they heard muffled voices coming from a distance.

“What was that?”

“Is that crying?” They glanced at each other in confusion and walked to the door across from the one she had opened for Mike and put their shoulders against the door and gave a heavy knock. It gave in and opened to a room plunged in the dark, but they could perceive chains hanging from the ceiling and two people seated at a table near a light on the floor. Synthya was about to light up the room with her flashlight to see who it was but a spotlight on the ceiling came on and she recognized Chris and Ashley, tied to the chairs. Two sawblades were hanging right above their heads. Synthya saw them look to the side as Ashley cried and she saw the psycho walk towards them.

“Noo! No no no! Get away!” Chris had a gun in his free hand and tried to shoot him down, but nothing came out except some drops of blood, which was probably fake.

“Oh Chris… Oh Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris.” He shook his head, walking around the table.

“What the fuck?!” Chris looked at the gun. Mike and Synthya approached, having no idea what was going on. It all seemed so off.

“Oh, you’ve heard of blanks before. I mean, really?” When the psycho took off his mask and revealed who was actually underneath, Synthya froze, staring at Josh in disbelief. She was torn, wanting to scream and cry but not being able to produce any sound for some reason. She had to face it and admit to herself that he was indeed the one behind all this but in spite of everything, she still didn’t want to believe it.

“…Josh?” Chris spoke. Synthya snapped out of her thoughts and staring when Mike put his hand on her shoulder for a second and they walked closer to the table while Josh laughed, hysterically, walking in a circle around the table, and smiling as if there was something hilarious.

‘Oh, very good! Every one of you! You got my name! And after all you’ve been through! Good, good-good-good. I mean how does that feel?” Mike and Synthya went to Chris and Ashley, undoing their ties to free them. Whatever it was with Josh, something wasn’t right. Synthya knew he hadn’t been doing well, for a long time but she had never seen him like this, so erratic. “Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? I mean, panicked? All those emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago! Only guess what? They didn’t get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No no no! They’re gone!”

“I don’t know if you noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing.” Mike retorted bitterly.

“Oh come, come-come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on. It’s good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did, I mean, every one of you, just pitter-pat-pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle! I mean no detail too small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to- to all of your Pavlovian panic! And all that gore? I mean, gore, there was gore galore!! Fake bodies… I mean, God, that shit was expensive! And no retakes! Nope, nope, nope, only double takes! Oh, you should have seen your faces; Hook line and sinker. For every little stinker!” He cheered.

“Josh…” He cut her off, pointing her finger at her and laughing as he started talking.

“And you really had to run away! I mean, you hopped away like a rabbit and poof, you were gone! I wanted to put you away from all this, but nope! Nope!”

“You knew I would run; I mean… Of course, I would. Oh, God, I am sorry, I should have been more there for you... you're crying out for help, Josh... You wanted me to catch you, didn’t you?”

“Oh sure, I’m totally just crying out for help.” He retorted. “Help me! Oh, help me! Help help! Come on! And you’re so so so so sorry, right? Come on! It was just for fun! I mean you got a little of egg on your face, right? Nobody got hurt—”

“What are you talking about you ass hat?” Mike spoke. “Jessica is fucking dead!”

“What?”

“Did you hear me?! Jessica is dead… and you’re gonna fucking pay you dick!” He walked towards Josh, and Synthya yelled at Mike when he hit him hard on the head with the gun in his hand. She kneeled down by Josh’s side as he lied unconscious on the ground, and she let out a heavy sigh. This was definitely not the chill weekend she had hoped for.

[To be continued…]  

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Published (09/07/2022) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405​ @kika64

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[xetswan]

By Your Side- Prologue

(Joshua Washington X Reader)

(Until Dawn)

[Prologue] [One] [Two]

“Hey sissy.” Jessica jumps on the end of my bed with a huge grin. I raise a brow, closing my laptop.

“What is it, Jess?” I let out a large sigh causing her to pout out her lip.

“Oh come on, I just wanted to hang out with my older sister.” She nudges my calf, scooting closer to me on the bed.

“Right, you haven’t called me sissy in years.” I call her out, to which my little sister scoffs. Shaking her head in disagreement to my statement.

Right now we’ve been home alone, our parents out for some business trip or so they say. They do this every month or two, telling us a business trip came up that they have to go to when in reality we all know it’s just a mini vacation they want to take without feeling guilty. Something they shouldn’t have to feel guilty for.

“Uh, yes I have. Just the other day. Maybe I just want to say it again.” Jessica argues with me and I let out a small chuckle.

“Okay, I’ll keep you to it, sissy.” I mock her, she tries to hide it but she breaks out into a smile as well.

“Okay, fine. I overheard Hannah saying we’re going to the lodge! Did Josh say anything to you about it?” She hops up on her knees, bouncing on my bed a little bit. “It was mentioned but I don’t think I’m going.” I let out a nervous laugh, I watched as her eyes bulged out of the sockets along with her mouth hung wide open.

“You have to go! Mom and dad won’t let me go unless you do.” She grips on my knee shaking me aggressively.

It’s not that I don’t want to go.

It sounds fun as heck but lately Josh has been acting a little more flirtatious with me and I’m not up for an awkward weekend of the group making fun of us. Ever since Thanksgiving he started becoming more flirty with me. I went to his family’s dinner and I don’t know.

I like him, of course I do. Who wouldn’t in my position I just don’t want our friendship to get messed up in the heat of things.

“I.. I don’t know Jessie. I have a lot of homework to catch up on.” I lie, I’m all caught up. I only have three classes so I also have time to work.

“[Name], please. I’ll clean your car whenever you want me to! And your dishes! For a month!” She pleads with me. I bite the tip of my thumb thinking about it. A weekend with friends might get out minds off of things. Josh might not bother me as much as I think he will. I close my eyes.

“Okay,” I breathe out, “okay, I’ll go but please try to make sure the pranks against me are at a minimum. And don’t worry about cleaning my things.” I slouch down a tad bit only to be brought back up by my sister who squeals and hugs me. “I can’t wait for the invitation to make things official!” She lets me go and excitedly leaves my room.

I hear her call Ashley which surprised me. I didn’t expect her to really become friends with Ashley. It’s better than Emily though.

I check my phone that pings a few times, Josh and Chris’s names pop up and I roll my eyes at what they’re saying.

“Partying it up on Mount Washington!!!!!!!!! What you guys think?” Josh using way too many exclamation points.

“I’m in, you know it!” Chris sends with multiple emojis and I snort out a laugh.

“[Name], how about you?” Josh puts a little winky face to which I roll my eyes, a smirk still laid upon my lips though.

“Hm, I don’t know.” I respond back, Chris sends a gasping face emoji in response to my message.

“You’re the life of the party you have to be there:(“ Chris says.

“Is it worth my time though?” I tease them, obviously I already told Jessica I was going. I’m not backing out of my word but it is fun to mess with my boys.

“Oh wowww, can’t believe Miss chugger won’t come to a party… with provided alcohol.” Josh says, my jaw slacks open in shock.

“Hey, Miss chugger is in the past, dead even and she’s not coming back.” I remind him. In high school we of course were bit of partiers.

I was the worst of the worst when it comes to drinking. I’d out drink everyone, chugging disgusting beers, taking shots of pure vodka like it was nothing. Just thinking about those days makes me want to vomit.

“I miss her:(“ Chris comments,

Josh puts the laughing emoji, “me too:(“ I roll my eyes once again.

“Shut up, I’m coming I already told Jessie I would. Miss chugger on the other hand you guys can forget it.” I turn my phone off after I hit send, getting back on my laptop to watching YouTube videos like I was before Jessica rudely came into my room.

“C’mon, sissy, everyone else is already waiting for us!” Jessica dramatically tugs me onto the cable car.

“You’re really sticking with Sissy now?” I scrunch my face, throwing my backpack onto my back since I just had to get my hat out, somehow I forgot how cold it actually was going to be up here. I was currently wearing a little puffer jacket, a pink slightly cropped sweater underneath with low rise jeans.

“Of course, I told you I might want to say it again and I do!” She folds her arms. I shake my head. “Okay, sorry.” I jokingly say.

As the cable car goes up I glance around. Taking in the beauty of it all.

I used to come up here with the Washington’s for the summer sometimes, this also isn’t my first winter up here. I love the Washington’s, they’ve always welcomed me. It was nice to have a place where I didn’t always have to take Jessica with me since she’s my younger sister our parents always expected me to have her tag along.

I love her and all but it’s cool to have my own time too.

“Look, I see them!” She points over to the group who were actually waiting for us. I glance over and they’re waving to us, so we do it back.

Jessica was practically on the edge of her seat excited to get off. As it gets to where we need to be we rush off and get greeted with hugs from our friends. Even if we’ve seen them just days or a few weeks ago.

“It’s nice to see you actually came!” Josh jokes with me, pulling me into a tight hug.

“Yeah, it was a tough decision.” I mess with him. Chris gives me a small side hug.

“Ready for the weekend Chugger?” He takes my hat off to which I slap him on the arm.

“Chugger doesn’t exist anymore. Give me that!” I jump up to grab from the blond.

“I think I’ll wear it.” He places it on his head. “Doesn’t this look nice on me, Josh?” Chris turns to our other friends as we all start walking. “Oh man, I’d totally take you to the bone zone if you were a girl.” Josh says and I let out a sort of loud laugh.

“The bone zone? God you are so corny.” I hold my stomach.

“Okay, okay, calm down. It wasn’t that funny.” Josh pats my back. Chris tries to hold back his laughter as well.

“Are we almost there yet, my feet are killer from the work out I did earlier.” Matt speaks up from behind us, we stop and turn.

“Just a little bit always, princess.” Beth replies to him. “Ha-ha, I’m serious. I might’ve did a little too much.” He mainly comments the last part to himself. I then hear Mike and Emily flirting with each other making me want to gag but then I also notice how Hannah was staring at them, well staring at Mike.

We began walking again and I slowed down a little bit.

“Hey, Han.” I nudge her arm. She snaps out of her thoughts looking at me.

“Hey [Name].” She gives a small smile. “You like him?” I whisper, her face suddenly then drops.

“Who told you? Did Josh read my journal or something?” She starts to panic but I shush her, calming her down.

“No, no, I saw the way you were looking at them. Either you like him or it’s Emily which is kind of doubtful considering I didn’t think you swung that way. It’s not a bad thing if you did.” I rambled on a little bit, causing her to snicker shaking her head.

“It’s him, I didn’t think I was that obvious.” She shyly rubs her hands together, most likely trying to give herself warmth.

“It’s probably not, I just enjoy observing people sometimes.” I assure her.

“Oh, okay. Well I’ve actually done some observing myself and it seems like you’re avoiding my brother.” She calls me out, my mouth instantly closing having nothing to say in response to that spot on observance she had.

“What? I haven’t- I’m not avoiding him.” I disagree, glancing up to see Josh, Chris and Matt messing with each other as Mike cheers for god knows what they’re doing. “Right, so you not coming over on the weekends to hang out with Josh after Thanksgiving is you not avoiding him?” She questions me.

“Exactly it’s not.” I try to stay confident with my answer, attempting to keep a straight face but once I look at her we both burst into laughter.

“Fine, fine! I am.” I sigh out, kicking the snow as we walk up the trail. “But why? You guys never have a problem.” She frowns.

“It’s a long story.” I bite my bottom lip thinking about all that’s happened.

“We have some time before we get to the house.” She says, shrugging her shoulders. I glance up ahead again, seeing as everyone was pre-occupied with each other.

“Josh and I sort of got flirty with each other. Your brother was super headstrong with it. I kind of did it back. We kissed a few times on Thanksgiving night and since that night I was scared it would ruin our friendship so I cut back. I gave excuses to not come over.” I let out in a low voice so only she could hear. Hannah smiles at me sweetly.

“I know I’m a jerk for it but it’s just my anxiety taking over I guess.” I stare at the ground.

“You’re not a jerk. That also wasn’t a long story.” She comments, both of us laughing once again. “Just talk with Josh. You never know what could happen.” Hannah nudges me, I do it back to her. Both of us smiling. “Okay, I will.” I stand up straighter.

Once we get to the lodge, Josh opens the door dramatically.

“Finally, warmth!” Sam opens her arms, spinning around as she walks further inside. I watch Beth turn the lights on with a smirk watching Sam. “Very exciting.” I agree, tugging my jacket off, holding it in my arm.

“Party time!” Mike announces earning the rest of us to cheer. Josh, Chris, Ashley and I go get our rooms, well Josh is showing us to ours, I’m the last one too. He turns a familiar corner and I start to fold my arms.

“This is your room, Josh.” I point out. “Nice observation.” He smirks, taking my jacket and back from my hands he places them down with his on a chair that’s up against the wall. I shake my head, chuckling.

“Where’s my actual room that I usually sleep in?” I lean against the doorway.

“Oh c’mon, babe. Just this weekend.” He comes up to me, taking one of my hands. “Just this weekend, what?” I raise a brow, confused but also intrigued. He leads me into the room, sitting me down before going back to close the door.

“I mean we both know how we feel about each other. It’s pretty obvious.” He concludes, not exactly looking me in the eyes. “And how do we feel about each other, Joshua?” I stare up at him. His eyes finally meet mine, and it looks like he melted just from our eye contact.

“Y’know…” He mutters, coming closer. “I don’t.” I tease him, standing up to push him down on the bed so I’m in between his legs this time. His hands find my hips, aggressively he squeezes them, lowly groaning.

“[Name], please, you don’t understand what you do to me.” He pulls me closer to him, my chest practically in his face. I feel my face warm up, I wasn’t expecting this. My hand drags up his torso to his face, cradling it as I force him to look up at me.

“Let’s try this out.” I whisper. His eyes lighten up, I feel his grip tighten even more.

“What- what do you mean?” He adjusts himself on the bed, I still stare at his face. “Let’s try out the relationship thing,” I begin and a smile erupts on his face.

“But, if this doesn’t work out, we don’t let our friendship get awkward.” I practically am begging with my facial expression. “It will work out.” He pushes me back a little bit so he can stand up. He kisses me gently, first on the lips then trailing down to my jawline.

“We should get going back down before anyone gets suspicious.” I hum out, feeling his lips begin to touch my neck. I try to push on his chest but he’s gripping my sides so tightly like I’ll run away.

“Let them.” He takes a small break only to work on my neck again. “Josh.” I gasp. He snickers, finally stopping. His eyes trail all over my face then to my neck.

“You might want to cover that up.” He taps the spot he was attacking before grabbing his phone from the bed and walking out. My face scrunches up, confused at first but then I rush over to the mirror, I let out a loud gasp.

“Joshua!!” I hold my neck and I hear him let out a laugh. I sigh, going over to the chair with our stuff and dig in it, finding a stupid thin scarf I brought and neatly wrap it to hide the hickey he gave me.

I finally start heading downstairs, joining the rest of the group who were planning out what we’re doing for the weekend.

Later that night Josh and Chris decided to do a drinking game, I sat next to Josh as Chris sat across from us.

Beth and Sam were watching everything go down. “Come on Chugger, you gotta join us.” Chris practically whines, my eyes roll in response. “I told you she’s dead. Now knock it off.” I wave my hand in a swift movement.

“I liked Chugger, she was sexy.” Josh whispered the last part into my ear. I shove him away from me as my face warmed up.

“What was that? Care to share with the class?” Sam speaks up and I felt my eyes widen.

“Chugger, she was a sexy woman back in the day.” Josh announces and my body shrivels down in embarrassment. “She was a careless teenager.” I disagree. “Same thing.” Chris shrugs his shoulders, picking up a beer and beginning to take the first sip.

I watched as the two get shitfaced with Beth and Sam, us three talking about school work or just things going on in our lives.

Sam decides to join the others and I think Hannah went to go write or something, Beth and I are now taking pictures on our phones acting stupid.

Josh and Chris are passed out now.

“I’m glad you decided to come.” Beth smiles at me and I nod, putting my phone down.

“Me too, even if your brother is annoying. I’m still having fun.” I joke, of course forgetting why I have my scarf on I take it off due to me getting hot and my neck starting to sweat.

“He loves you.” Beth mumbles looking over at her drunken brother, laughing. “I don’t know about love but yeah.” I glance over at him, his face smushed on his arm with his mouth wide open.

“Oh my god.” The girl suddenly whispers and I snap my head over to her. “What? What is it?” I look down at myself to see if she accidentally dropped something on me.

“Is that a hickey?” She flicks the spot on my neck, I hiss, slapping her hand away.

“Is that from Josh?” She breaks out into a small laughing fit.

“What- no, it’s- maybe.” I couldn’t find a good excuse okay? Kill me. “That’s hilarious, Matt owes me fifty bucks.” She throws her head back.

“You bet on our love life?” I crossed my arms. “Everyone practically did. Even Chris.” She gets up to start cleaning after Josh and Chris.

I just sit there, in shock from what she just told me.

Beth leaves the room and I go back to sitting beside Josh, laying my head down on his shoulder. He moves around a little bit. “Hm?” He hums and I shush him.

“Sorry, just wanted to be by you.” I whisper. He grumbles a little bit but harshly leans up to put his arm around me, laying his head back down on his other arm. I smile to myself, laying down on my arm, cuddling up next to him. Our legs now sort of entangled together. I didn’t drink or anything but the tiredness of traveling finally hit me.

I don’t even know how much time has passed but that was until I heard the ending of a conversation.

“Just because he’s class Prez doesn’t mean he belongs to everyone… Mike is my man.” I hear Emily say as they leave the kitchen.

“Hey, Em. I’m not anybody’s man.”

“Whatever you say, Darling!” She sings. I lift my head up for a second but then shrug, going back to sleep, I hear someone walk in but I just ignore it.

Thinking I was going to get to fall asleep for longer I instead get Beth walking in to continue cleaning up, I still let Josh hold onto me but I sit my head up to watch her.

“Hey did you see that? Dad said it’d just be us this weekend.” She turns to us but sees the two boys still passed out.

“Josh?”

“He’s been passed out, love. I don’t think you’ll be waking him up anytime soon.” I give her a sad face.

“But what did you see?” I ask. “I thought I saw someone outside. I swear I did.” She frowns, glancing at the window again but she heads over to the counter.

She picks up a bottle that’s in front of us and empty by the way. It’s an older scotch, Jeremiah Cragg.

“Jeez, Josh… Once again brother you outdone us all. She pats the arm that he has around me and I tiredly laugh. I then watch her spin a paper around, picking it up to read it.

“Oh my god. What did our naive sister get herself into now?” Beth turns to us and I raise a brow. “What?” I ask. “Here.” She hands me the paper and I read it. I close my eyes letting out a long breath.

“I think they found out about Hannah’s feelings. This has to be a prank.” I gently pull Josh’s arm off of me and I stand up, placing the paper down and they we look outside to see Hannah crying, running past the window.

“Oh my god.” I gasp.

“Wake Josh I’ll go to the others, I hope that wasn’t Hannah.” She runs outside, I nod. Going over to the passed out drunk. I overhear the others yelling outside for Hannah and then hear Beth run after her sister.

“Josh, Joshua, hun.” I push his body. His snore becomes a little louder and I bite my bottom lip. “Babe, c’mon wake up, Beth and Hannah ran outside.” I say a little loud, shaking him more aggressively.

“What?” He becomes more awake.

“They what?” He lifts his head up.

“The others played a prank on Hannah, I’m guessing it was bad because she ran outside and Beth followed from what I heard.” I tell him, now he’s more alert and he drunkenly stood up. He stumbles a bit so I run over and get him a water.

“Here, drink and let’s go.” I tell him. Suddenly when we saw the group he sobers up.

“What the hell did you guys do!?” Josh angrily shouts, he was holding my hand for support.

“It was just a prank, Josh, we didn’t mean for it to upset her like that.” Emily steps forward and I glare at her. Then at Mike, then to Jessica.

“Especially you, Jessica.” I point a finger at her, her head goes down.

“I can’t believe you guys would do something so stupid like that.” I shake my head, disappointed.

“I tried to warn her, I was too late.” Sam tells me and I smile weakly. “Let’s just hope they come back soon.” I frown.

Soon never came though.

After thirty minutes Josh began to panic and I woke Chris up. Catching him up with everything as we decided to go look for the two sisters.

I called the police and mountain patrol but we never found them.

For months we did search parties, I stayed by Josh’s side, knowing it’s a tough time for him. I barely passed two semesters as I was always with him trying to help.

I didn’t mind it though. I wanted to make sure he was okay. I knew he wasn’t. His parents were rough on him, telling him it was his fault since he was drunk.

It wasn’t his fault. It was our stupid friends fault for playing that dirty prank on Hannah the way they did.

It’s about a year now and no one has even seen a sign of them…

It’s horrible.

#until dawn #until dawn imagines #until dawn x reader #mike munroe #jessica riley #emily davis #until dawn sam #chris hartley #christopher hartley #ashley brown #matt taylor #matthew taylor #josh washington x reader #josh washington #joshua washington #Joshua Washington x reader #beth washington #hannah washington

[runawrites-blog]

Until The Break of Dawn Ch. 8 (Josh Washington x Reader)

Summary: Some time has passed since the events on Mount Blackwood and to celebrate your new book's success you meet with your friends, ending in you all talking about what has happened and how they have been doing. (Female Reader) Warnings: Talk of Mental Health, Grief, and Trauma. But everyone is in therapy to deal with everything that happened. Specific warnings will be posted in the notes of each chapter. No Y/N, Petnames (Honey) Author's Note: You can find the previous chapter here. Thank you for reading. ^^ Crossposted on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49644949/chapters/125305903#workskin

“I see that you decided that happy endings are possible after all.”

You chuckled a little as Josh put your book down. He had insisted on reading your book once he had gotten his hands on a hardback copy of it, even though he had already proofread the final draft. And despite the fact that he’d been so busy lately that it had taken him almost four weeks to read through the book once more, he had been persistent about it. He was always so supportive of you, and you couldn’t help smiling at that fact.

“After everything we’ve been through and come out of alive, I think that Sam was right after all.” You concluded, looking at him. “If people have support and help, they can overcome everything.”

Josh smiled at that sentiment and took your hand. “I admit I had a hard time believing her at first, too. But now with a new therapist, new medication, and support from friends and family, I also think that she was onto something there.”

“Speaking of your medication--”

“Don’t start again.”

“No, I have to ask you once again about what the point of me organizing your meds is if you still won’t remember to take them?” You smirked at him, making Josh roll his eyes jokingly. “Not that I mind reminding you and rest assured that I have a good memory, but I organized them and even decorated the dispenser so beautifully and you still forget.”

Josh chuckled at the last part and leaned in to grin at you. “Putting my name on the dispenser in glittery rhine stones counts as decorating it beautifully?”

“I put every little rhinestone on there individually, so yes it does.” You laughed and leaned in closer to him. “I even used your favorite color.”

“Thank you, Honey.” Josh said earnestly and pressed a kiss to your cheek. “You know I’m just joking, right? I really appreciate the little things you do for me.”

“Of course, I know that you’re just joking.” You smiled back, taking his hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. “Trust me, I know that you appreciate me. And I really appreciate all you do for me, too.”

Josh smiled at that and leaned in to kiss you, pulling you closer and you wrapped your arms around his neck, closing your eyes as you sighed against his lips. His arms snaked around your waist and pulled you into his lap, making you gasp a little in surprise. When you parted, he was smiling at you, and you returned that smile.

“Now I wish our friends weren’t coming over, so we could get some more time alone.”

“I think we can postpone whatever you had in mind in favor of celebrating your success.” Josh chuckled at your words before pressing a kiss to your temple. “They’re coming over to celebrate your book getting onto the New York Times Bestseller List.”

You ducked your head away from him, bashfully averting your eyes, never one to like boasting about yourself. But Josh wasn’t having it and instead grabbed your chin between his thumb and forefinger, making you look at him.

“None of that, Honey. You worked so hard for this. You deserve the recognition.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

You leaned in to kiss him but before you could the doorbell rang, and you excused yourself to open it. When you did your friends were all there, Ashley, Chris, and Jess blowing party horns while Mike, Matt, and Emily held balloons. Sam embraced you, squeezing you tightly before pulling back and smiling at you.

“Congrats on making it on the Bestseller List!”

“Thank you.” You said with a bright smile, looking at all your other friends. “And thank you all for the lovely surprise.”

Mike laughed and nodded at Jess. “The party horns were Jessica’s idea.”

“And the balloons were Matt’s idea.” Emily piped up with a grin. “Can we come inside? I think it’s starting to rain.”

“Of course.”

With them there you all spend a lovely evening, eating dinner and eventually gathering under the roof of your porch to simply look out into the rain and talk. Jessica’s eyes drifted across the treeline close to your somewhat secluded little house before she looked at you with a little chuckle.

“After everything, you two still live close to the woods.”

“I mean, we know that we’re safe here.” Josh answered, placing a hand on the small of your back. “I do admit that it gets a little scary sometimes but mostly it’s just really peaceful.”

“We even sleep with the window open at times.”

“Seriously? I can hardly manage to sleep without locking the door to our bedroom.” Matt mumbled, looking over at Emily. “But it’s getting better. Since Em and I moved in together, I’ve been doing a lot better.”

“That’s really good to hear.” You said earnestly, offering him a small smile. “I guess, to me, it’s just peaceful to hear the wildlife out and about at night because I know that there’d actually be danger if it went quiet outside.”

“That’s true.” Sam piped up from beside you. “I have actually started going on walks in the woods again. I used to love it but after that night I couldn’t do it for a long time.”

“I’m glad you managed to do that.” Jess smiled a little before sighing. “Now I feel dumb for wanting to announce to you that I managed to sleep with the window cracked open last night. It seems a bit silly now.”

You quickly shook your head. “Not at all, Jess. Everyone heals at their own pace and even something small is a step forward. I’m glad you’re healing.”

“Thanks.” Jess smiled and leaned into Mike. “Now, let’s talk about something more cheerful. You made it onto the New York Times Bestseller List. That’s so amazing. You’re a real author now!”

Josh pulled you close to his side, grinning widely. “I am so proud of my girlfriend. I think we should toast to her.”

“Good idea.” Matt said and held up his glass. “To our famous author friend.”

“Thank you all but I’m not famous. I published one book.”

“And they asked you to write another one.” Josh smirked, raising his glass once before bringing it to his lips. “You’re amazing.”

“So are you.” You smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheeks. “You’ll be a famous director one day.”

“You could write his screenplays.” Chris grinned and looked at the two of you. “I mean, he wants to direct horror movies and you write horror-themed books.”

“A match made in heaven.” Ashley chuckled, looking at you with an interested look. “What is your next book about?”

“Wendigos.”

Josh snorted at that and waved you off. “I love you with all my heart, but I won’t read that. I’m so sorry.”

“Me, neither.” Jess said and cuddled up to Mike. “At least not without Mike there to protect me.”

“I’ll give it a read.” Chris chuckled and shrugged. “Let’s see if you captured their essence.”

Sam crossed her arms with a smirk. “I’ll read it, too. But I must ask, why is it about Wendigos?”

“I think I just need to get all my feelings about what happened to us out on paper and by putting them onto another character I can distance myself from it a bit.” You explained, swirling your drink in your glass. “Does that make sense?”

Emily shrugged at your words. “As much sense as anything else going on in our lives, really.”

“Will your new book have a happy ending?”

You nodded at Matt’s question. “I think so. I’ve come to believe in happy endings.”

“How come?”

“Because now I know that no matter what happens, with help and friends by your side, you can still have a happy ending. It may not be all that conventional, it may not be happy all the time and there may be pain, but hope is never completely lost.”

“What a nice thought.” Josh mumbled, leaning closer to you and kissing your cheek. “I think I’m starting to also believe in happy endings.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Chris smiled before he leaned in. “I heard you started seeing a new therapist, too. Is he better than Doctor Hill?”

“Yes.” Josh nodded as you embraced his arm, holding onto it and stroking it comfortingly. “Doctor Hill wasn’t bad, either. I was simply misdiagnosed, therefore on the wrong medications, and on top of that, I didn’t get along with Doctor Hill.”

Sam nodded along to his words. “Are you properly medicated now? I mean, do you feel like you are? Do you feel better?”

“I do. I feel much happier and more stable.” Josh said and when your grip on his arm tightened, he turned to you, noting your worried look. “Honey, trust me, I am doing much better. I may have bad days; I am still grieving, and things aren’t perfect but I’m doing better. Thank you for being with me throughout it all.”

“I would never leave your side.” You promised, smiling in relief as you saw Josh meeting your eyes and you wrapped your arms around his middle. “You were there for me during the worst times of my life, and I will be there for you when things get hard. I love you.”

“And I love you.”

#fanfiction #textpost #writing #until dawn x reader #until dawn imagine #josh until dawn #until dawn josh #until dawn #josh washington x reader #josh washington imagine #josh washington #no y/n

[lifesliced]

wishlist/plot ideas for josh ——

verses

any of my aus — (modern, lis, etc)

pre-until dawn content

post!game content (my main verse)

plots

josh's dad is a movie mogul/director, so i imagine he and his sisters were sometimes on sets. go from there.

study buddies — this can go for my modern verse or pre-game (college or high school)

beach days/summer threads. until dawn is all winter, let's change it up.

in turn to that, fall threads —— the cozy autumn aesthetic and halloween threads are a must.

of course, winter threads that aren't attached to blackwood mountain / mount washington.

vacation and/or study abroad threads! josh could easily be studying abroad for a semester or in another country for vacation —— the us, the uk, and especially japan as a lot of my mutuals have characters that are based there. i think josh, being a lover of horror, would definitely have an interest in japanese horror, as well as maybe being a bit of an anime fan, so the culture already would interest him. his dad probably does a bit of business there, too.

obviously blackwood mountain threads — maybe something pre!ud or like ... modern where they still own the mountain and everything, but there's not supernatural activity (as josh's family still owns blackwood mountain in my modern verse) —— they sneak up there alone or with some friends, etc? could have some ud cast or not, all depending!

so much more tba

#josh tbt #wishlist tbt

[chriscdcase95]

Fanfic Preview: “Screaming Until Dawn”

This is for a spinoff to one of my current stories, Unlife is Strange. I've been cooking this one for a while, and should post the first chapter in the summer. Fall at the latest.

— — — —

Summary: In October of 2011, Kirby Reed was stabbed by Charlie Walker. While she ultimately pulled through, there was a point in her near death experience that she experienced what she thinks is a dream, but isn't sure; the life of a girl named “Sam” — not to be mistaken for that quiet Carpenter girl that Kirby sees around school — having a slumber party with her friends Jess, Emily and the Washington Twins. After she awoke, Kirby decided this was just a dream that felt so real, so she tried to put it behind her.

In February of 2015, Sam Giddings and her friends survived Mount Washington, but left with scars, as well as a target on their backs. As Sam tries to numb things and is caught up with the Federal Bureau of Control, she has recurring dreams that she’s not sure are dreams. In these dreams, Sam is a college student named “Kirby”, the only survivor of her friend group in what is called the second Woodsboro massacre. Sam thinks that she should know Woodsboro, but when she looks into it, she finds only dead ends. And so, she brushes these dreams off as just that.

In October of 2016, Kirby Reed started her last year at Bayfield University. With an aim to join the FBI, Kirby has been following True Crimes stories; before soon receiving a call to Maryland. There, she is attacked by other figures in black robes and white masks; and yet, they were not Ghostfaces. As Kirby looks into who or what called her here — often seeing the name “Ithaqua” — she finds herself more and more looking through the eyes, and walking in the shoes of “Samantha Giddings”. 

In October of 2016, a year after she and her friends survived Mount Washington and signed up with the FBC, Sam Giddings has been taking a sabbatical, focusing on her college career. Sam attends Bayfield University, preparing to enjoy a much needed break with Emily and Jessica, while the rest of their circle are working on a case overseas. It isn’t long when Sam receives a call from “work”. Investigating paranormal activity in Maryland, Sam is attacked by a distressed girl, who mistakes her for someone named “Kirby”. As Sam looks into who or what called her here, she finds herself more and more looking through the eyes, and walking in the shoes of “Kirby Reed”. 

— — — —

So let's break a few things down.

1. Set between Scream 4 and 2022, originally this story was going to be about Kirby's first case as an FBI agent.

But then I did the math on Kirby’s age — she would be 22 at the time of the story; to join the FBI, you have to be 23 at the time of appointment. So instead, this occurs in her last year at University. Where we see Kirby is somewhere between where Sidney was in the second and third Scream.

Being the sole survivor of her friend group, Kirby is nearly propped as a heroic survivor up the same way Sidney was, but ultimately shied away from the spotlight.  

Unlike the more outgoing Sam Giddings, Kirby becomes more introverted as a coping mechanism; she's barely friends with her dorm mates; a lot of the people who try to befriend her do so for attention; and she developed insomnia from her near death experience, and has to medicate to sleep.

Her romantic life is almost non-existent; most dates she goes on fizzle out or just end up being one night stands. Which takes even more of a downturn when her medical professor made some “advances” towards her.

In her down time, Kirby has taken an interest in true crimes, cold cases and unsolved mysteries, and studies up on them while planning to join the FBI; especially for “Ghostface-like” murders. At the time of this story, she has a special interest in the Lakewood killing sprees; the case of Brandon James; and the arrest and trial of Kieran Wilcox.

However, when she gets a call to Maryland, Kirby quickly realizes that she has a stalker —  or stalkers(s) — who have a special interest in her. But what has her curious is why they are calling her “Sam Giddings” and who this woman is. And with a growing supernatural presence surrounding her, Kirby finds herself a little out of her league. 

Now would the supernatural be out of place for Scream ? Sure, but besides this whole “alternate universe/timeline” deal, I try to keep it mostly in the background or backstory. While this may be a Scream/Until Dawn crossover...It may feel more like “The Mothman Prophecies meets Borrasca”.

I also lean to the idea we can't assume a Ghostface is dead unless they're shot in the head.

2. So as I said above, this fic is also a spin-off to Unlife is Strange, and picks up after the “Flashback Arc” set in 2015. In that story, the Until Dawn cast are recurring/supporting characters who made a witness protection deal with the Federal Bureau of Control; which roped some into doing “scout work” for the FBC.

Sam and Emily both got involved in the Arcadia Bay case, soon investigating Rachel Amber’s presence in LA; and later uncovered vampire cult activity in Seattle. You can read their investigation here, here, and here.

Despite Sam and Emily being promoted to field agents after this case, Sam opted to take a sabbatical for college. At the time of the story, Sam hasn’t seen her friends in months. Mike, Matt, Chris and Ashley are overseas, looking into a cold case; something involving a different breed of vampires in Iraq.

Emily spent the summer in Japan for her own sabbatical; in truth, she got involved in investigating sightings of the “sea dragon” of Odo Island. Jessica doesn't officially join in with the FBC until 2019, and instead, attended Windsor College, before also taking a break.

Sam initially intends to take a “girls trip” with Emily and Jess, before all three are pulled into Maryland by this “call”. There, they find a girl in the woods, who mistakes Sam for someone named “Kirby”. 

3. Like I said, I don’t plan to go overboard with the supernatural stuff.

While the wendigo may have some presence, I don’t see them being the threat. Rather they’d lurk in the background, being more of a spiritual influence than a direct menace. And it’s here where I do some education from growing up with these stories.

There are variations of the wendigo, with specific beliefs often differ by region or tradition.  Some traditions say not to speak of them in general; some say only not to do so in Winter months; I've also been told it's directly addressing them that draws their attention.

Some portray them as pure evil, representing greed or selfishness, and even colonialism (which I lean too); or as tragic victims (like Hannah and Josh), with some writers using them as metaphors of addiction.

Some say that there is no cure; another says they can be cured by being force fed hot soup or grease from animal fat. Some say they can only be killed by fire, cutting out their hearts, or getting a living colonoscopy from a least weasel. 

What I’m getting at is, there’s a version that might not be widespread, but still something I was taught growing up. If you kill a wendigo without the right precautions, its spirit will awaken, fixate on you, and make its mission in life to punish you.

To avoid this, you must dismember its body, burning the pieces, and scattering the ashes about. And even then, there's a story about one creating the world's first mosquitos from its ashes. So yeah, “killing” a wendigo does is make things personal.

Here, this occurred after the “They All Live” ending.

When the survivors escaped Mount Washington, the spirit of the Makkapitew followed after.  Being an already powerful and vicious spirit — which possessed not one, but two victims who’d resent them — the Makkapitew wasn't content with just killing them. Instead it torments  them with what I call “Eobard Thawne Buffoonery”.

So even if it's not the threat in this story, I can see its spirit having some presence in Sam's life, and that of her friends.

As with the mentions of Ithaqua, let's talk a little more about this verses’ lore. 

4. Ithaqua is an entity originating from the Cthulhu Mythos, being the son of Hastur, and based on the wendigo and the yeti. Later writers depict Ithaqua as being obsessed with spawning a child that would help awaken the Great Old Ones.

I previously included Ithaqua as a Greater Scope Villain in Love’s Sacrifices (alongside daddy Hastur) and passing mentions in Unlife is Strange.

In Love's Sacrifices, Ithaqua was the “human” son of Hastur born to the Paleo Siberian people and was a mediator between his father and mankind. 10,000 years ago, his following spread across what would become Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America. His reign ended when Hastur was slain by an “Earthly Hero” and Ithaqua himself was bound to another world, unable to directly interact with this one.

In Unlife is Strange, Ithaqua is mentioned as having some ties to Mount Washington. While I don’t see Ithaqua being a direct threat, his followers are around in the present day. Albeit not as an apocalyptic threat and nowhere near as powerful as they were 10,000 years ago.

They exist with the guise of Christian based institutions, akin to prosperity gospel preachers and televangelists, obsessed with making money, and breeding prosperity. Modern followers don’t even believe in Ithaqua as an entity, but a concept/symbol to live under — ironically akin to how actual Satanists view the devil.

5. As for pairings and ships...I don't see this story being too heavy in the romance department.

However, write Kirby as bi, if only because she seemed somewhat actually interested in Charlie in Scream 4. Though bout the only character I actually ship Kirby with is Sam (Carpenter), but she ain't likely to be in this story.

But the way I see it, Kirby isn't looking for a relationship at this point in the story. A fling or two maybe, but nothing serious. 

As for Sam (Giddings); I write her as being a lesbian and having a “friends with benefits” relationship with Jessica and Emily, both of whom I write as Bi. Sam may actually have romantic feelings for them, but in her mind they aren't dating dating.

In Unlife is Strange, it's mentioned that Sam took up a mild promiscuity to cope with her trauma. Besides Jessica and Emily, Sam also had a near fling with Rachel Amber. It’s also mentioned that during the Arcadia Bay investigation, Sam couldn't “keep it professional” with some of the witnesses/survivors, becoming very friendly with Max, Kate, Victoria and Chloe.

During her time at Bayfield, Sam had a few casual hookups with a couple of girls from her dorm. All this to say, this story probably isn't going to be too big on shipping, other than Sam, Jess and Emily's “girls trip”.

But even that may take a back seat to the actual drama in this story. Though if Kirby looks through Sam's eyes and experiences her life, I can see her experiencing Sam's relationship with Jessica and Emily. I can also see them catching on to Kirby if/when they see something off with Sam.

But who knows ? It'll be a while before it's up.

— — — —

Anyways, here’s a hypothetical soundtrack to cap things off

“Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men.

2. “Poison” by Groove Coverage

3. “Dark Horse” by Amanda Marshall

4. “Broken” and “My Hands” by Leona Lewis

5. “Losing Your Memory” by Ryan Star.

6. “Hero” by Toni Braxton.

#crossover fanfic #until dawn fanfic #scream fanfic #kirby reed #sam giddings #emily davis #jessica riley #charlie walker #jill roberts #sam carpenter #josh washington #hannah washington #beth washington #life is strange fanfiction #max caulfield #chloe price #rachel amber #kate marsh #victoria chase #samily #jessam #jemily #sirby #amberprice #chasemarsh #fanfic soundtrack

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Matt Johnson

Summary

Christopher Hitchens was for many years considered one of the fiercest and most eloquent left-wing polemicists in the world. But on much of today’s left, he’s remembered as a defector, a warmonger, and a sellout-a supporter of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who traded his left-wing principles for neo-conservatism after the September 11 attacks. In How Hitchens Can Save the Left, Matt Johnson argues that this easy narrative gets Hitchens exactly wrong. Hitchens was a lifelong champion of free inquiry, humanism, and universal liberal values. He was an internationalist who believed all people should have the liberty to speak and write openly, to be free of authoritarian domination, and to escape the arbitrary constraints of tribe, faith, and nation. He was a figure of the Enlightenment and a man of the left until the very end, and his example has never been more important. Over the past several years, the liberal foundations of democratic societies have been showing signs of structural decay. On the right, nationalism and authoritarianism have been revived on both sides of the Atlantic. On the left, many activists and intellectuals have become obsessed with a reductive and censorious brand of identity politics, as well as the conviction that their own liberal democratic societies are institutionally racist, exploitative, and imperialistic. Across the democratic world, free speech, individual rights, and other basic liberal values are losing their power to inspire. Hitchens’s case for universal Enlightenment principles won’t just help genuine liberals mount a resistance to the emerging illiberal orthodoxies on the left and the right. It will also remind us how to think and speak fearlessly in defense of those principles.

--

Introduction

First Principles

In the introduction to his 1993 collection of essays For the Sake of Argument, Christopher Hitchens affirmed his commitment to the left: “Everyone has to descend or degenerate from some species of tradition,” he wrote, “and this is mine.” Hitchens’s political trajectory is often presented as a story of left-wing degeneration. His career was “something unique in natural history,” as former Labour MP George Galloway put it: “The first ever metamorphosis from a butterfly back into a slug.” After Hitchens abandoned socialism and all other formal political allegiances, his critics say he became a fulminating reactionary, a neocon warmonger, and a dreary cliché: the defector, the sellout, the predictable left-wing apostate.

The standard left-wing narrative about Hitchens is that he exchanged his socialism for some species of neoconservatism. After many years as a left-wing dissident in Washington, DC, he took the side of the U.S. government when it launched the most maligned war since Vietnam. Sure, he said a few sensible things about the excesses and contradictions of capitalism in his days as a Marxist, established himself as the most lacerating critic of U.S. foreign policy in the American media, and did more to put an asterisk next to Henry Kissinger’s reputation than just about any other writer. But this long radical resume is now just a footnote in what many on the left view as a chronicle of moral and political derangement—the once-great left-wing polemicist becoming an apologist for the American empire. On this view, if the left has anything to learn from Hitchens, it’s strictly cautionary.

From socialist to neocon. It was an irresistible headline because it’s a story that has been told over and over again—according to many authorities on the left, butterflies have been morphing back into slugs since the dawn of natural history. The novelist Julian Barnes called this phenomenon the “ritual shuffle to the right.” Richard Seymour, who wrote a book-length attack on Hitchens, says his subject belongs to a “recognisable type: a left-wing defector with a soft spot for empire.” Irving Kristol’s famous description of a neoconservative is a liberal who has been “mugged by reality,” which implies a reluctant and grudging transition from idealism to safe and boring pragmatism. By presenting Hitchens as a tedious archetype, hobbling away from radicalism and toward some inevitable reactionary terminus, his opponents didn’t have to contend with his arguments or confront the potentially destabilizing fact that some of his principles called their own into question.

Hitchens didn’t make it easy on the apostate hunters. To many, he was a “coarser version of Norman Podhoretz” when he talked about Iraq and a radical humanist truth-teller when he went on Fox News to lambaste the Christian right: “If you gave Falwell an enema,” he told Sean Hannity the day after Jerry Falwell’s death, “he could be buried in a matchbox.” Then he gave Islam the same treatment, and he was suddenly a drooling neocon again. He called for the removal of Saddam Hussein and the arrest of Kissinger at the same time. He endorsed the War on Terror but condemned waterboarding9 and signed his name to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) for warrantless wiretapping. He defied easy categorization: a socialist who spurned ideology, an internationalist who became a patriot, a man of the left who was reviled by the left.

The left isn’t a single amorphous entity—it’s a vast constellation of (often conflicting) ideas and principles. Hitchens’s style of left-wing radicalism is now out of fashion, but it has a long and venerable history: George Orwell’s unwavering opposition to totalitarianism and censorship, Bayard Rustin’s advocacy for universal civil rights without appealing to tribalism and identity politics, the post-communist anti-totalitarianism that emerged on the European left in the second half of the twentieth century. Hitchens described himself as a “First Amendment absolutist,” an echo of historic left-wing struggles for free expression—from Eugene V. Debs’s assertion of his right to dissent during World War I to the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. Hitchens argued that unfettered free speech and inquiry would always make civil society stronger. When he wrote the introduction to For the Sake of Argument in 1993, he had a specific left-wing tradition in mind: the left of Orwell and Victor Serge and C.L.R. James, which simultaneously opposed Stalinism, fascism, and imperialism in the twentieth century, and which stood for “individual and collective emancipation, self-determination and internationalism.”

Hitchens believed “politics is division by definition,” but his most fundamental political and moral conviction was universalism. He loathed nationalism and argued that the international system should be built around a “common standard for justice and ethics”—a standard that should apply to Kissinger just as it should apply to Slobodan Milošević and Saddam Hussein. He believed in the concept of global citizenship, which is why he firmly supported international institutions like the European Union. He didn’t just despise religion because he regarded it as a form of totalitarianism—he also recognized that it’s an infinitely replenishable wellspring of tribal hatred. He opposed identity politics because he didn’t think our social and civic lives should be reduced to rigid categories based on melanin, X chromosomes, and sexuality. He recognized that the Enlightenment values of individual rights, freedom of expression and conscience, humanism, pluralism, and democracy are universal—they provide the most stable, just, and rational foundation for any civil society, whether they’re observed in America or Europe or Iraq. And yes, he argued that these values are for export.

Hitchens believed in universal human rights. This is why, at a time when his comrades were still manning the barricades against the “imperial” West after the Cold War, he argued that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should intervene to stop a genocidal assault on Bosnia. It’s why he argued that American power could be used to defend human rights and promote democracy. As many on the Western left built their politics around incessant condemnations of their own societies as racist, exploitative, oligarchic, and imperialistic, Hitchens recognized the difference between self-criticism and self-flagellation.

One of the reasons Orwell accumulated many left-wing enemies was the fact that his criticisms of his own “side” were grounded in authentic left-wing principles. When he argued that many socialists had no connection to or understanding of the actual working class in Britain, the observation stung because it was true. Orwell’s arguments continue to sting today. In his 1945 essay “Notes on Nationalism,” Orwell criticized the left-wing intellectuals who enjoy “seeing their own country humiliated” and “follow the principle that any faction backed by Britain must be in the wrong.” Among some of these intellectuals, Orwell wrote: “One finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the United States. Moreover they do not as a rule condemn violence as such, but only violence used in defence of the western countries.”

Hitchens observed that many on today’s left are motivated by the same principle: “Nothing will make us fight against an evil if that fight forces us to go to the same corner as our own government.” This is a predictable manifestation of what the American political theorist Michael Walzer calls the “default position” of the left: a purportedly “anti-imperialist and anti-militarist” position inclined toward the view that “everything that goes wrong in the world is America’s fault.” As we’ll see throughout this book, the tendency to ignore and rationalize even the most egregious violence and authoritarianism abroad in favor of an obsessive emphasis on the crimes and blunders of Western governments has become a reflex on the left.

Much of the left has been captured by a strange mix of sectarian and authoritarian impulses: a myopic emphasis on identitarianism and group rights over the individual; an orientation toward subjectivity and tribalism over objectivity and universalism; and demands for political orthodoxy enforced by repressive tactics like the suppression of speech. These left-wing pathologies are particularly corrosive today because they give right-wing nationalists and populists on both sides of the Atlantic—whose rise over the past several years has been characterized by hostility to democratic norms and institutions, rampant xenophobia, and other forms of illiberalism—an opportunity to claim that those who oppose them are the true authoritarians.

Hitchens was prescient about the ascendance of right-wing populism in the West, from the emergence of demagogues who exploit cultural grievances and racial resentments to the bitter parochialism of “America First” nationalism. And he understood that the left could only defeat these noxious political forces by rediscovering its best traditions: support for free expression, pluralism, and universalism—the values of the Enlightenment.

The final two decades of Hitchens’s career are regarded as a gross aberration by many of his former political allies—a perception he did little to correct as he became increasingly averse to the direction of the left. He no longer cared what his left-wing contemporaries thought of him or what superficial labels they used to describe his politics. Hitchens closes Why Orwell Matters with the following observation: “What he [Orwell] illustrates, by his commitment to language as the partner of truth, is that ‘views’ do not really count; that it matters not what you think, but how you think; and that politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring, as do the few irreducible individuals who maintain allegiance to them.” This is a book about how Hitchens thought—and what today’s left can learn from him.

==

It's still worth saving.

#Christopher Hitchens #Matt Johnson #How Hitchens Can Save the Left #identity politics #populism #left wing identity politics #right wing populism #liberalism #universal liberalism #universalism #Enlightenment #Enlightenment values #universal human rights #tribalism #tribeless #politically homeless #political tribalism #religion is a mental illness

[newstfionline]

Monday, June 6, 2022

Stress at the office (Yahoo) As employees begin returning to prior work routines after a COVID disruption, the same job-related stresses are creeping back in too. A new survey from Future Forum found that work-related stress reached its highest level since the summer of 2020. “We know that workers are struggling,” Headspace CEO Russell Glass told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “50% of millennial workers are saying they’re contemplating leaving their job due to mental health issues. A third of the workplace is facing burnout right now.” One key source of stress may be inflexible policies now that worker expectations have shifted, according to Brian Elliott, Future Forum executive leader and “How the Future Works” co-author. “Top talent expects that flexibility is a key part of their work going forward,” Elliott told Yahoo Finance Live. “In fact, flexibility is second only to compensation and people’s consideration about where they want to be employed. And that’s changing a lot about how people think about not only where, but when people work.”

Heavy rain hits Florida, flooding strands Miami vehicles (AP) Parts of South Florida were experiencing road flooding from heavy rain and wind Saturday as a storm system that battered Mexico moved across the state. Officials in Miami warned drivers about road conditions as many cars were stuck on flooded streets. “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Traveling during these conditions is not recommended. It’s better to wait. Turn around, don’t drown,” the city of Miami tweeted. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said the storm tested the system of drainage pumps the city has recently installed as climate change has increasingly made flooding an issue in the low-lying area. In Cuba, the storm killed three people, damaged dozens of homes in Havana and cut off electricity in some areas, according to authorities. Heavy rainfall continued Saturday, but was diminishing as the weather system moved away from the island.

Wildfire rages near Athens, damaging homes (Reuters) A wildfire raged out of control on the outskirts of Athens on Saturday, damaging houses and cars, the Fire Department said. Fanned by strong winds, the blaze quickly spread across the slopes of Mount Hymettus which overlooks the Greek capital, sending thick clouds of smoke over the southern suburbs. As a precaution, civil protection authorities evacuated some parts of the Voula and Glyfada regions about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Athens centre. A spate of wildfires scorched about 300,000 acres of forest and bushland in different parts of Greece last summer, amid the country’s worst heatwave in 30 years.

As war drags on, weary Russians yearn for a return to normal life (Washington Post) For Russia’s urban middle class, the war on Ukraine has messed up plans, ruined longed-for vacations and stripped away joys like shopping for a favorite foreign clothing brand, turning the key in a new Japanese car, even biting into a Big Mac. As the war drags on, many yearn for life to go back to normal, before prices went crazy and foreign companies quit the country over Russia’s invasion. But these Russians are equally sure that President Vladimir Putin will keep on fighting until he wins, because that’s what he always does. After convincing the majority of the population that the war was necessary to “liberate” Ukrainians from “Nazis,” state television propagandists are now doggedly preparing Russians for a long war, ominously warning that it might end in nuclear war. In Ukraine, that means more civilian casualties, bombed houses and dozens of soldiers killed daily defending the country’s east. Russian hardships may be trivial by contrast, but the deadening gloom of a long war worries the Kremlin, according to analysts, because of the challenge of dragging the population along as sanctions bite, businesses retrench, prices continue to surge, and it dawns on people that life may never go back to the way it was.

In eastern Ukraine, keeping the lights on is a dangerous job (AP) As the fighting in eastern Ukraine inches forward, Russian attacks are knocking out power, water and gas to entire towns and cities—and the utility crews sent to repair the smashed transmission lines and pipes are finding themselves in the middle of the shelling. Crews sometimes arrive at a location only to be forced to retreat because of the fighting, officials say. Some villages are impossible to reach. “It is dangerous, because we can hear the shells whistling above us,” said Sergii Marokhin, a water systems engineer in the town of Bakhmut, which has come under increased shelling recently. Even on quiet days, there is still regular maintenance work to be done. “People still go to work during the war,” he said with a shrug. In some hard-hit places, people have been forced to rely on makeshift outdoor ovens and stoves built out of bricks and stones. “As of today, half of the city is without water. The other half of the city takes water from boreholes,” Oleksandr Marchenko, deputy head of the Bakhmut military administration. The city has a backup water supply, but downed power lines disrupted the pumping of the water. Engineers hoped to repair the damage if it was safe to do so. “Unfortunately, the city gets bombed every day,” Marchenko said. As if to prove his point, mortar shells whistled over his head, sending him diving onto a grassy riverbank for cover.

Pakistan problems and protests (Financial Times) Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and opposition leaders have called a series of protests after the government increased fuel prices to try to salvage an IMF loan and stave off a balance of payments crisis. The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has raised fuel prices by more than a third in two separate moves this month after requests by the IMF to remove subsidies, according to Pakistani officials. The move is designed to facilitate the disbursement of the next $1 billion tranche of a stalled $6 billion IMF loan program. Pakistan’s foreign reserves of about $9.7 billion have fallen below two months’ worth of imports, prompting concern that the country could follow South Asian neighbor Sri Lanka in defaulting on its foreign debts. But raising fuel prices could prove politically perilous for Sharif’s new government, which took power after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April. Pakistan is facing growing political unrest over a painful economic crunch and double-digit inflation, with widespread protests in recent weeks.

At least 38 dead in fire at Bangladesh container depot (AP) A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 38 people and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media reported Sunday, as firefighters struggled to get the blaze under control. The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located near country’s main Chittagong Seaport, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

Japan records its largest natural population decline as births fall (Washington Post) In 2021, Japan recorded its lowest number of births in more than a century, according to government data released Friday. The figure is sure to stoke anxieties over the ongoing implications of population decline—a longtime subject of hand-wringing in the country’s policy circles and political discourse. The country recorded 811,604 births and 1,439,809 deaths last year—meaning the population dropped by 628,205, the biggest natural decline since data became available, Reuters reported. The decline in births marks a 3.5 percent decrease from the previous year. The data is bad news for those in Japan who worry about the societal effects of the country’s aging and shrinking population. Nearly 30 percent of the population is over 65 years old. The decline in the working-age population has contributed to a labor shortage, which the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated, and raised concerns about a worse labor crunch to come.

Supreme Leader acknowledges Iran took Greek oil tankers (AP) Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged Saturday that Iran took two Greek oil tankers last month in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf. The confiscations were retaliation for Greece’s role in the U.S. seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker the same week in the Mediterranean Sea over violating Washington’s harsh sanctions on the Islamic Republic. “They steal Iranian oil off the Greek coast, then our brave men who don’t fear death respond and seized the enemy’s oil tanker,” Khamenei said during an 80-minute speech on the anniversary of the death of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. “But they use their media empire and extensive propaganda to accuse Iran of piracy.” “Who is the pirate? You stole our oil, we took it back from you. Taking back a stolen property is not called stealing,” he added. The seizures ratcheted up tensions between Iran and the West already simmering over Iran’s tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Israeli laser (NYT) After two decades of research and experimentation, Israeli defense officials now say they have a working prototype of a high-powered laser gun that can intercept rockets, mortar shells, drones and anti-tank missiles in flight. Officials said that the system performed successfully in a recent series of live fire tests in the southern Israeli desert, destroying a rocket, a mortar shell and a drone, and prompting a standing ovation from officials watching the action onscreen. The government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the weapon, which Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described this week as a “strategic game changer.” He has pledged “to surround Israel with a laser wall.”

Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have been called war crimes. Many relied on U.S. support. (Washington Post) As global attention focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, the Saudi-led coalition carried out more than 150 airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen, including homes, hospitals and communication towers, according to the Yemen Data Project. It was the latest uptick in bombing during a grinding, and often overlooked, civil war that has upended the lives of Yemeni civilians for the better part of a decade and spawned one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Hundreds of thousands have died from the fighting or its indirect consequences, such as hunger, the United Nations says. The devastating air campaign alone—carried out by a Saudi-led coalition—has killed nearly 15,000 people, according to conservative estimates by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), which monitors war zones around the world.      While Russia’s bombings of a maternity hospital and other civilian targets in Ukraine have drawn widespread public indignation as war crimes, thousands of similar strikes have taken place against Yemeni civilians. The indiscriminate bombings have become a hallmark of the Yemen war, drawing international scrutiny of the countries participating in the air campaign, and those arming them, including the United States. U.S. support for the Saudi war effort, which has been criticized by human rights groups and some in Congress, began during the Obama administration and has continued in fits and starts for seven years. New analysis by The Washington Post and Security Force Monitor at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute (SFM) provides the most complete picture yet of the depth and breadth of U.S. support for the Saudi-led air campaign, revealing that a substantial portion of the air raids were carried out by jets developed, maintained and sold by U.S. companies, and by pilots who were trained by the U.S. military.

Over 50 feared dead in Nigeria church attack, officials say (AP) Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday, leaving dozens feared dead, state lawmakers said. The attackers targeted the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as the worshippers gathered on Pentecost Sunday, legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said. Among the dead were many children, he said. A priest said at least 50 people had been killed, though others put the figure higher.

Vigilantes and violence have migrants in South Africa scared for their lives (Washington Post) The street vendors paced nervously, huddling in pairs, wondering whether it was safe to unpack the carvings, baskets and wire sculptures they sell daily to tourists at one of the small crafts markets dotting the coastline. A police notice the day before had warned of possible protests by a group known for attacks on immigrants. Anti-immigrant sentiment is a long-standing problem in South Africa, where the end of White minority rule failed to deliver meaningful changes for many Black South Africans. Attacks against migrants have sharply increased since May 2008, when an estimated 62 people were killed and scores injured in Johannesburg in one of the country’s worst xenophobic attacks. In early April, a gang in Johannesburg’s Diepsloot township stoned and burned to death Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean father of four, when he failed to produce documents showing he was legally in the country. The attackers blame migrant workers for rampant crime and for contributing to the country’s high unemployment rate by taking jobs away from South Africans. Government statistics for the first quarter of this year show the official unemployment rate at nearly 35 percent.

#headlines #news

[sydbread]

Something still unsolved for me about Until Dawn: We know the only real killer on the mountain was the wendigos, so who in the world set up that damn finger trap? Josh would have had no reason to go to the sanitarium in preparation for his prank, Flamethrower Man™ wouldn't have a) known the kids would come to the sanitarium b) wanted to harm them even if they did and c) tried to catch the wendigo in such a flimsy contraption that they could have escaped with complete ease AND probably wouldn't have understood in the first place, and unless there is a shit ton of lore regarding their intelligence that we're missing out on I don't believe the wendigos have the wherewithal required to set an advanced trap (complete with a note and bait) in order to get their prey. So who could it have possibly been? This is the real mystery of Mount Washington.

#until dawn #josh #josh washington #mount washington #wendigo #wendigos #am i looking to deeply into this? #yes i am #do i want answers regardless? #yes i do #FILL YOUR PLOT HOLES UNTIL DAWN #Still one of my favorite games of all time though #UD

[amnhnyc]

Settle into the month of November with the Museum’s Fisher and Porcupine diorama! This scene takes place on a November morning at Mount Washington, New Hampshire. As dawn breaks, a fisher has discovered its favorite prey, a porcupine, descending a tree. Fishers have quick reflexes and a low-slung body—all the makings of a porcupine killer. First, a fisher will circle the animal, nimbly dodging lashes of the heavily quilled tail. Then it will dart in to bite the porcupine’s unquilled face, attacking repeatedly until subdued. Fishers can even climb after a porcupine in a tree and attack from above. This porcupine’s safest bet is to climb higher and keep its tail down. Spot this diorama in the Hall of North American Mammals. Photo: D. Finnin/© AMNH (at American Museum of Natural History) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWAOqDSLOer/?utm_medium=tumblr

[justinewt]

Darkness - UNTIL DAWN REWRITE Chapter Two

[UNTIL DAWN-MASTERLIST]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: After meeting up at the cable car, Chris and Synthya made their way up the mountain and reached the lodge. Synthya wasn’t too hyped about the whole thing, having kind of a bad feeling but she was doing this for Josh. It seemed important to him to get everyone reunited on this day and she would give Josh the world, so she didn’t really think twice before agreeing to come back here... despite her apprehensions. 

Words: 5.6k

Warnings: Until Dawn spoilers (chapter 2 specifically), flirting, fluff, fears, angst, chase, lots of dialogues

Mount Washington’s Lodge, 10pm

NINE HOURS UNTIL DAWN

Synthya and Chris walked down the trail, the sole of their shoes sinking slightly into the snow, leaving their footprints in their path. She really couldn’t wait to get into the lodge and settle on a couch, maybe even take a hot bath to chill out a bit cause the uneasiness she felt while walking through this god forsaken forest was getting a little too much for her to handle, although she managed to keep up the appearances. She knew she didn’t actually need to pretend with Chris, but it was almost like she needed to make herself believe she was fine and as they approached the small gate cutting off the path leading up to the lodge, she noticed Matt, his arms crossed, seemingly upset for some reason and just standing to the side and Ashley was sitting on the porch stairs. Synthya let Chris open the gate and they were welcomed by Josh who walked up to them and at the sight of the latter, a sweet smile appeared on her face. He smiled at her and greeted her with an affectionate and soft kiss. Chris cooed and whistled to tease them. Josh simply laughed as he stepped back.

“Man, I feel this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it.”

“Oh yeah? Feels the same to me.” Josh said nonchalantly with a cocky smile. He just had this overall laid-back and cool vibe coming from him, as always. She couldn’t help but be worried about him all the time but seeing him so calm and composed made her wonder, but she knew better. His behavior in public did fool her when she had first met him. She’d never thought he wasn’t so well and that’s why now, she tried to have a constant eye on him, but some things slipped from her watchful eyes. One definitely couldn’t tell that a year ago he attempted suicide. Only her and Chris knew about that incident, though.

“Oh come on, you grew up here. It probably feels like it’s shrinking.”

“I guess that’s true.” He glanced down, nodding.

“When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I’m getting withdrawals already.” Chris complained lightly, lifting his phone up in the air. Synthya rolled her eyes, subconsciously adopting the same pose as Josh as she watched Chris acting all tech-savyy.

“You got a spare million lying around and I’ll fix you right up.” Josh retorted ironically, shrugging.

“Funny you should say that… Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket.” While Chris was being the comedian he is, Josh put his arm around Synthya’s shoulders and they walked the last feet separating them from the porch, approaching Asley and Matt.

“Hey guys… Get up here, okay?” He greeted the two with his free hand.

“Yeah… well, more or less. But it’s so good to see you!” Ashley said.

“Sup with him?” Josh wondered, looking at Matt and nobody knew the answer so there was a brief silence. Matt even eventually went a little further from the house and stood in the shadow of the trees, ruminating in silence. Josh let his arm slip down her back as he and the moment his hand left her back, she suddenly felt quite nervous and she looked into the dense forest, narrowing her eyes as if she was trying to see something. “Oh, hey, you all right, Syn’?”

“Uh, yeah… yeah, don’t worry. I’m fine. Just… just a bit nervous. That’s all…” She cleared her throat, staring into the dark and Josh rubbed her back and climbed up the porch stairs along with Chris.

She went the opposite direction and slowly came near the small gate and leaned on it, staring straight ahead at the forest path she had just walked up with Chris. Alone in front of it, it seemed so much scarier. She had this pending feeling of being watched and followed and this ever since she got off the bus almost a couple hours ago. Something didn’t feel right but she shook it off and took a deep breath. She stayed still for a second, her heart pounding in her ears and shallow breathing, she swallowed harshly and grabbed her phone and headphones from her bag and put music in her ears. The silence in which the forest was plunged did not help to calm her. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly, her hands now gripped onto the gate. But the nightmares came anyway, mocking her attempt at keeping her shit together. These same images kept haunting her mind. She ran in the forest, with Hannah and Beth, freezing and in panick at they reached a cliff. She suddenly felt a hand on her, and she opened her eyes, right at the moment she saw herself fell and she turned around, only to see Josh standing in front of her. She had never told him about what happened, not in details anyway. She only ever really told her therapist about it and the latter eventually diagnosed her with PTSD. She cleared her throat, taking off her headphones.

“Where did Chris go?” She asked, trying to compose herself.

“He went to look for a deodorant to open the door from inside.”

“A deodorant?”

“Yeah, I gave him a lighter, so he can go all flame-thrower and unfreeze the lock.” He gestured, mimicking a flame thrower with his hand, making the crackling soun with his mouth and her eyes flinched in a brief blink and she sketched an amused smile, nodding, to cover up her reaction, in case he had seen it. She never forgot about that man with the flame-thrower who at first chase her and his sister down before actually saving her from a deadly fall and letting her run away, for some reason. It was still something confusing to think about. And she never said the whole story to Josh because he had already hit rock bottom, she didn't want to upset him even more. “You all right, Syn?”

“Huh? Sure, I—” She was about to tell Josh how well she was when she suddenly heard a branch crach in the distance and she turned around, startled. When she saw a deer just running across the path she cleared her throat, passing her hand in her hair, letting the hood of her jacket fall down her head, making her shiver when cold air blew down her neck, despite the scarf she had tied around it. She felt Josh wrap his arms around her waist, leaning his head against hers and she put her hand onto his. “I’m fine, really. Just a little on edge…”

“I know, but you’ll see, we’re gonna have a great weekend.”

“Oh, really?” She smiled at the smirk on his face and turned her head towards him. The way he pressed his lips against hers, sharing a soft and sensual kiss, made her think he had probably some making out in mind for the two of them, in order to make this the great weekend he promised her. They only broke their embrace when they heard a loud wooo noise coming from inside the lodge and Ashley letting out a gasp, jumping. Synthya smiled, amused and Josh and her walked to the door. “Hey man, shouldn’t be getting the lock open?”

“On it!” After a minute, he lit the lighter and sprayed the deodorant on the flame, melting the ice inside the lock of the lodge's front door. He grabbed the handle and opened the door quickly letting go, waving his hand with a quiet grunt from the heat. He then bowed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all   week—” He suddenly screamed when a little furball came out of the blue and rushed out of the house. Ashley, Josh and Synthya stepped aside in surprise. “That thing freaked me out.”

“What was it? Are you okay?” Ashley asked, laughing.

“It was like a… bear or a tiger or something—”

“Aww, it was just a little baby Wolverine!” Synthya joked. Unlike Josh and Chris, she wasn’t much of a jokester, but this seemed like the ideal occasion to make a pop culture reference. Josh gave her an amused smile.

“Baby?”

“Don’t worry buddy, you’re gonna be a big boy soon.” Josh teased with a smirk. They then walked in, joined by Mat and went into the living room. All the sofas and armchairs around the fireplace were covered with a sheet. There was an eerie silence floating in the air until Josh spoke up, looking around. “Home sweet home.”

“Sweet is not the word I’d use.” Matt said while putting down Emily’s bags near the wall.

“Oh my god, it’s so good to be inside. Even if it’s still kinda freezing in here.” Ashley sighed in relief.

“I’ll get a fire going.” Josh walked up to the fireplace.

“This place barely looks any different.”

“Yeah, like it’s frozen in time.” Synthya added, glancing at Matt with a nod.

“Nobody’s been up here.” Josh told them, crouched in front of the hearth.

“Even with all the police coming in and out?” Ashley wondered.

“Not a lot of action here lately.” Chris concluded, glancing at Josh.

“Nope.” Josh added. Synthya nonchalantly shuffled her feet, walking around the living room and she went near the windows, parting the slats of the curtain with her fingers, looking out. It took her a second to realize that she was looking outside as if she was awaiting a monster with that same anxiety that made her stomach heavy and she took a step back, startled, almost letting out a loud gasp when Mike came in, casually yelling to greet the rest of them.

“What’s up party people!” Synthya swallowed harshly, trying to compose herself, ignoring the fact that Josh glanced at her. She used to be better at keeping her shit together but being back on that mountain was fairly triggering, but she would do anything for Josh so if it was important for him to bring everyone back up here, she wouldn’t say no to the invitation and the fact that he was there too made it a little easier.

“Heeey!” Jessica waved her hand at the five of them standing there in the lodge as they joined. Josh greeted them back, still busy near the fireplace and Synthya noticed Matt raising his head and staring at Mike, for whatever reason. She thought that maybe Mike had something to do with how upset he was a moment ago when they were stuck outside the house.

“Make yourself at home, bro.” Josh told Mike. Synthya kept an eye on them, silent and she pulled the sheet covering an armchair next to the large sofa and slumped in the chair, sitting sideways on it, facing Josh.

“Will do.” He gestured at his host and joined Jessica on the sofa.

“Yeah. Come on in.” Matt’s tone of voice was overly bitter, which only confirmed Synthya previous thought about the reason why Matt was so troubled, now he looked like he wanted to throw hands and have a beef with Mike right there right now. “Take a load off. Have whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyways, right?”

“Woah, easy there, cowboy.” Mike seemed genuinely confused, or at least he was acting well. Synthya was watching them, as if she was watching some reality show on TV -which she actually never did- but it felt like it.

“What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?” Matt inquired.

“What?”

“I saw you and Em. Through the telescope.”

“Before? We just ran into each other. It’d been a while, so we hugged, and I said hello. Is that against the law?” Matt looked away, clearing his throat, nodding, seemingly a little embarrassed to have gotten carried away. He ran ran his hand through his hair.

“Right… yeah... Duh. Sorry, it’s been kind of a long day. I overreacted.”

“Nah, man, don’t worry about it.” Mike said softly before joining Jessica on the couch and Matt went to sit down on the other end of the sofa. Synthya let out a quiet sigh and rested her head against the back of the armchair. She bent over to grab her phone in her bag on the floor. She let it fall right back inside upon seeing that it was dead already and returned to her previous position on the chair. That’s when Emily arrived. Synthya already knew there would be some drama between her and Jessica and no one had even said anything yet. She wasn’t really thrilled to see them again, after not talking to them at all for a whole year. Synthya had only kept in touch with Chris, Ashley and obviously, Josh.

“Oh. My god. This is so gross.” Emily chuckled, looking at them in a judgmental manner, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you trying to swallow his face whole? Seriously can she be any more obvious?” Matt stood up while Emily just kept going. This time, the fight would escalate, because Emilly was much more impetuous. “No one wants in on your territory, honey.”

“Excuse me, did you say something?” Jessica took a few steps, rising from the couch.

“Oh, did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?”

“Sounds like someone’s bitter she didn’t make the cut.” She said, looking at Mike still casually seated behind her. Synthya rolled her eyes and looked at the windows, watching the snow falling outside.

“Yeah. It’s all big cattle call with that dreambot. Congrats, you’re top cow.” Emily laughed.

“Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow.”

“Em, come on—” Matt tried to defuse things, but he got off by his very girlfriend.

“Shut up, Matt.”

“Stay out of it, you dumb oaf.” Jessica added and from what Synthya heard, because she got tired from looking at them, Emily didn’t like that one bit.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Oh, you’re the only one who can put him down? No one else can play with your toys?” Jessica rose her voice.

“You’re such a bich.” Emily complained.

“Whatever. I don’t give a crap what you think.” Synthya heard Jessica stepping back to the couch. She glanced at Josh, still working on getting the fire lit. He would probably put a stop to this fuss as this was surely not what he had in mind with this little winter get-away for the anniversary of his sisters’ disappearance.

“At least I can think. 4.0, bithc, honor roll. Such on that when you’re trying to sleep your way into a job.”

“Who needs grades when you’ve got all the natural advantages you can handle?”  Jessica retorted with pride. “You couldn’t buy a modly loaf of bread with your skanky ass.”

“Are you serious? Do you think that’s insulting?” Emily giggled at the attempt.

“Emily, stop! This is out of hand. There’s no reason to fight like this.” Matt spoke up, trying to play peacemaker once again.

“Yeah, Em! Why you pickin’ fight over your ex boyfriend, huh?” Before Emily could retaliate, Josh stood up and rose his voice. Synthya straightened up, bringing her legs down from the arm of the chair and looked at the latter.

“STOP IT! This is not why we came up here. This is not helping. It’s not what I wanted. If we can’t get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right? Mike, why don’t you check out the guest cabin. The one I told you about.”

“Yeah… Yeah, all right.” He got up, and invitated Jessica to come along with him, to take her away from Emily. “Want to go do that?”

“Any place without that whore…” Jessica sighed, one hand resting on her hip, she took Mike’s hand and followed him.

“It’s right up the trail.” Josh added.

“Phew…” He mimicked an explosion of his head with his hands and sighed in relief. “Glad that’s over.”

“Yeah.” Josh whispered back as he returned to the fireplace, which was still unlit after a few minutes already.

“So, Josh, uh… should we get this fire going?” Matt asked.

“Where’s my bag?” Emily inquired out of the blue. Matt turned to her, confused. “My bag! The… the little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo! Matt, are you listening?” While Emily talked about her stupid bag, Synthya stood up and walked over to the Grand piano. The top was closed, and it was covered with a sheet as well. She grabbed a corner of it and pulled it over before she pressed a key on the piano, and it made a sharp noise. She winced and brought her hand back to her.

“You can't play us a masterpiece today, Syn.” He joked. “The cold has surely ruined it.”

“That’s sad.” Synthya observed. She couldn’t even play the piano anyway, but she saw the beauty in these big instruments and loved them.

“Not as sad as my missing bag.” Emily whined. “Matt, I need my bag!”

“Oh my god, Em, maybe you just forgot it—”

“Do you seriously think I’d forget my bag?” She exclaimed, as if it was crazy of him to suppose that.

“Well, I—”

“Do you?” She cut him off again. She had been doing that ever since she joined them in the lodge.

“Guess not.” He said, shrugging.

“You must have left it down by the cable car station.” Matt grumbled. “C’mon, hun. We’ll be back soon.”

“And then we can get warm?” He asked softly.

“We can get very warm.” Emily cooed. Synthya smirked slightly, looking around the room. It made her think of the similar lusty offer Josh implied in the sensual kiss they shared outside. She played with her septum piercing, walking in circles as she didn’t know what to do know after the storm finally calmed down after Josh’s ultimate intervention. She shivered slightly and the image of a nice hot bath came to mind.

“I think I’m gonna take a bath. I dream of some hot water right now.” Josh stood up, turning to her and she looked at him after taking just one step towards the huge staircase, on which Chris and Ashley had been sitting in silence for the last few minutes of mayhem.

“Hey, wait for me upstairs, I’ll be there in a minute. Just gotta give some directions to Mike and Jessica, or they’re gonna get lost in these woods.” He told her in a low voice, almost whispering and he chuckled. She smiled before he gave her a soft kiss and left in the direction taken by the other couple.

“All right, I’m off. Get cosy.” She said at Chris and Ashley’s attention as she climbed up the stairs. Ashley giggled nervously. Synthya walked past the bathroom, and she noticed a door ajar at the end of a small corridor on the side of it. It was either Hannah or Beth’s bedroom if she remembered correctly.

The lodge was so enormous that it was fairly easy to forget where what was, or where you were even going in the first place. She even wondered if she had really seen all the rooms of that big house. She looked down the railing before entering the bedroom, climbing the few steps at the entrance fo the room. Everything had been left untouched, like the last time anyone ever came in. Synthya gound an old tattoo artist card on a desk and behind was a date “March 18th 2013” and the time of her appointment along with the tattoo design she wanted, the little butterfly she had gotten tattooed on her shoulder. Synthya frowned, letting out a heavy sigh as she walked to the other end of the room to a busy cork jumble on the wall beside the chimneywith various papers and photos pinned on it, she noticed a large rectangular blue box with her initials painted in gold on the top. She carefully opened it and a soft smile stretched her lips as she saw a ballerina spin around and realized it was a music box, and given the inscription she found inside, it was an old Christmas gift from Josh and the smile quickly disappeared. It made her heart sink in grief, and she closed the box quietly. On the cork jumble, she took a look at everything Hannah had put on it, trying not to get overwhelmed by how sad it made her feel; she was, along with Beth, her best friend after all and the trauma she got from watching them fall to their deaths was hard to deal with. She swallowed harshly and lifted a pinned party invite to one of Hannah's birthdays and beneath was concealed a polaroid picture of Mike in a suit.

“Oh, Hannah…” Synthya mumbled under her breath. She entered the dressing room on her right and noticed a torn magazine paper lying on the carpet. She crouched down and picked it up. On the back of it was results of some love test and Hannah got the result telling her it wasn't going to work, and to try something daring to get his attention. Mike's attention. She shook her head, put the paper back down and walked out of the room, giving a sad look around as she closed the door behind her and went near the guard railing and saw Josh climbing the stairs.

“Sent the porn stars on their way.” He said jokingly.

“All right, cause I’m dreaming of that hot bath so now’s your time to shine, big boy.” She teased and chuckled when he picked up, kissing her languidly as he carried her to his old room further down the hallway.

Mount Washington’s Lodge, 10:44 PM

Synthya leaned over the tub, her knee pressed against the edge as she turned the switches to open the water supply and take a nice hot bath in which she could bask for a while after this little hooking up session with Josh. The latter had then joined Ashley and Chris in the living room and continued to try to light a fire in the fireplace. She let the water run for a second and passed her hand through and frowned at the cold water sending a chill through her arm. She kept turning the switches around, trying to get the water to warm up but after a minute, she sighed. As she walked out of the bathroom, she heard a strange noise and looked around, freaked out and fastened her pace as she went to climb down the stairs to join the three others. She chose to ignore the noise she had just heard. It must have been her imagination. She needed to calm down, because nothing could hurt them. They were safe in the lodge and hopefully, the bath would help her chill out.

“How long do you think it’ll take him?” Chris’s voice echoed a little in the high-roofed room. He was probably talking about Josh still struggling to get the fire going.

“My money’s on blankets for everyone!” Ashley joked.

“You can do it, man. We believe in you.”

“Yeah! Totally! Woo-ooh!” She cheered. “Let’s go Jo-osh, let’s go!”

“All right, peanut gallery, you know what? I got an idea for you two.” Josh said, seemingly giving up on the idea of getting a fire started in the chimney.

“What?” Ashley inquired.

“Okay, well, I am pretty sure that somewhere in this crazy place we used to have… a spirit board.”

“Wow, you have a “spirit board”?” Chris asked.

“Yeah yeah. They’re fun right?”

“Wait, are you saying… we should have a séance?”

“Those things are a joke, man. They don’t do shit.” Chris declared. Synthya descended the last step of the stairs and walked towards them.

“No way, bro. We used to do it all the time. Me and… well…”

“Hey, josh.” He turned his head to her upon hearing her voice. “There’s no hot water.”

“Oh yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler. It’s in the basement.” He looked at Chris and Ashley. “You guys see if you can find the spirit board.”

“Chris let’s go find it! It’ll be like a scavenger hunt!”

“Ummm… okay… guess so.” Chris was apparently not as excited about the idea, but he followed Ashley anyway.

“Rad. You’re not gonna regret it.” Josh assured. “You up for a ride along?”

“Let’s go fire up that boiler.” Synthya followed him past the main staircase, and they climbed a couple of flights of stairs to reach the basement. He opened a drawer and got a flashlight out.

“Hey. You notice how I gave Chris and Ash a mission together?” He had a cheeky and mishievious grin on his face. “Yeah, I was thinking they could use some “alone time”.”

“That’s very clever.” She smiled and nodded. “They are sweet together. I wish they’d just freaking get on with it already.”

“I swear they just need like… something to bond over, y’know? Some sort of traumatic event to send them into each other’s arms. I mean at this rate they’ll be in the geriatric ward before Chris makes a move.” She laughed, agreeing with the statement. They needed a little help to get together finally after dragging this flirt situation on for years. Synthya looked around as she walked after him. He opened a door, and they entered a corridor where he stopped, waiting for her. “You know, Syn…”

“Yes, Josh?” They resumed walking.

“I just wanted to say…”

“What…?” He came to a halt and turned around to face her.

“It really means a lot to me that everyone came back this year and you know, that… you came, Synthya.”

“Oh, Josh… We’re here for you. I’m here for you. Always. Whatever you need. Whenever. We’re all gonna make it through this.” She paused, looking aways for a second. “I should have been there for you more. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.” He said softly and Synthya cupped his face in her hands, gently caressing his cheeks with her thumbs and they rested their foreheads against each other for a few seconds. She softly kissed his lips and drew him into a hug and eventually they kept walking down to the basement. “Hey, watch your step.” He warned as they climbed down a flight of stairs.

“I think I can handle a little old set of stairs.” Synthya chuckled.

“Uh-huh.” He smirked, pointing the flashlight in front of them to light their way into the basement. He opened a high metal cabinet and bent over, taking a look at the boiler. “Sorry to drag you down into the bowels.”

“Ugh, just get me some hot water and I’ll be super-fine.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t want you coming down here on your own, you know?”

“Well, it’s definitely creepy down here.”

“Yep. Not a place to be on your own.” He straightened up and walked to a board with switches and buttons to the side of the cabiner. Synthya looked around them. She really had no intention of coming down her again once the hot water would be turned on and she could chill in the hot bath she longed so dearly. As her eyes wandered, she noticed something inside the cabinet, leaning against the side and she took a few steps towards it and found a baseball bat put there. She picked it up and turned to Josh.

“What’s that doing here? Is that yours?”

“You bet it’s mine.” He smiled, taking it in his hand. “I used to play ball with my dad all the time. Of course, that was before he got too busy to hang out with me… oh well, save it for the couch, right?” She gave a compassionate look as he put the baseball bat down on the ground and got back to fixing up the boiler. “Okay, lemme see what I can do with this old hot water machine.” He turned a switch, but an empty click sound was all he got so he walked back to the cabinet and handed the flashlight to Synthya. “Here, can you… can you hold this?”

“Sure.” She took it and was about to bent over to light up the interior of the cabinet for Josh when a noise echoed around the basement and she instantly stiffened up, glancing around worriedly. “What was that?”

“What was what?” He asked, leaning on his knees before moving on. “Just shine it here so I can see what I’m doing.” After a moment, he straightened up. “Nice one. Ok, first things first: we gotta increase the water pressure before we get the boiler fired up.

“Uhm… sounds kinda complicated.”

“No, it’s actually pretty simple.” He said, now standing in front og the panel with the buttons and switches. She approached it as he returned to the cabinet. She turned the switch, waited a couple of seconds and pressed a button with a little flame symbol on it when the red light right above it lit up. She looked up at the huge boiler sitting behind as a loud noise sounded in the basement.

“Whoa!!”

“That’s more like it! All right! Five, girl.” She smiled and she high fived him as he held up his hand. Josh closed the boiler cabinet and came back next to her when another strange noise suddenly caught her attention and she turned around, startled.

“What the hell is that…?” She asked in a whisper, glancing at Josh and he shrugged.

“Could be a lot of things… and none of them nice.” He teased, tickling her arms to mimick spiders crawling around. She turned around instinctively. “I’m just… just “joshing” ya.”

“Ha-ha-ha.” She faked laughed and ended up chuckling, shaking her head.

“You were really freaked out.” He observed, a smirk on his face.

“I was not scared.” She protested, knowing damn well that she was totally scared.

“No, no, you just jumped because you wanted to squeeze in some aerobics?”

“Totally. You didn’t know your girlfriend was into fitness nowadays?” He shook his head with a chuckle. Then, there was another noise, followed by another and another, like something was hitting on the pipes. “Okay, so you hear that too, right?” He stepped past her, frowning. “Josh…?”

“…What?”

“The rhythm’s like, weirdly regular…” She noted.

“Not… no… nothing “regular” about it.”

“I’m gonna check it out.” Synthya declared, swallowing harshly. She was freaked out but somehow not as much as in the forest.

“What? Why?” Josh inquired.

“I’ll be fine.”

“It’s probably just like, not anything.”

“Why don’t you hold down the fort while I make sure?”

“Okay, whatever you say, madam.” She held tight onto the flashlight as she walked down a hallway towards where the noises were coming from, her free hand hanging down her body as she fidgeted her fingers anxiously. She might have been a brave person, but she was still pretty scared. She swallowed harshly, taking one step at a time. Suddenly, a masked man came from behind the corner of the wall and jumped, screaming as she ran out of the basement with Josh. In the panick, she pushed a mattress on the ground. The mysterious man tripped over and grunted. Her breath was quickening, and her face was distorted by fear. She felt like when she and the twins had been chased into the forest by this scary man. Synthya ran into the door, feverishly forcing on the handle, trying to get the door to open, letting fearful cries out along with some swearing in various languages. When she saw that the man had stopped down the flight of stairs leading to the door, she stared at him.

“…What?” She caught her breath, only feeling now that her cheeks were wet, and she had cried a little. She cleared her throat, wiping the tears, staring at the man who started laughing and booing like a ghost. “…what the hell?”

“Boom! You just got monked!” He lowered the hood, revealing his face and she made an annoyed face to find it was Chris. She had gone through such intense up and downs in the last minute that she just stood there, not really knowing how to react.

“Nice. Nice one. That was good.” Josh giggled behind her.

“Why w… why would you do that?” She inquired.

“There’s all this old movie crap down here. What, was I… was I not supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?”

“Are you… are you serious? I—” She had almost snapped and unpacked what had happened to her in that forest, a year ago but she let the words die in her throat as she sighed and turned to Josh, slapping him on the chest, pushing him lightly. “Were you in on this putz?”

“Nope. But I wish I was! That was too good.” He laughed. Of course, if he knew what she had went through and what this stupid prank had reminded her of, he wouldn’t be smiling and laughing like that but still, she didn’t say anything. It didn’t feel like the right time to trauma dump. She took a deep breath while the two boys high fived and she followed them, silent. Josh locked the door behind them and put the flashlight on the piece of furniture by the door to the cinema room before catching up with them as they climbed up the stairs to the living room. Ashely walked up to them, looking at Chris in disbelief.

“What… in god’s name… are you wearing?”

“I found my true calling.” He joked, pretending to give her a blessing. Synthya chuckled, shaking her head and climbed up the stairs to go to the bathroom. She could hear Ashley, Chris and Josh chatting downstairs, talking about the Ouija board but she had had enough for the night. She desperately needed that hot bath, to calm down and relax and maybe, enjoy a moment on her own, without anyone’s company.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter 

Published (08/24/2022) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405​ @kika64

#until dawn #Until Dawn PS4 #until dawn fanfiction #until dawn fanfic #until dawn fic #fanfic series #until dawn fanfic series #until dawn rewrite #until dawn josh washington #mount washington #Until Dawn Mount Washington #hannah and beth #hannah washington #beth washington #josh washington #josh washington x reader #oc #original character #until dawn oc #until dawn original character #until dawn chris #chris hartley #until dawn chris hartley #ashley brown #until dawn ashley brown #matt taylor #until dawn matt #until dawn emily #mike munroe #until dawn mike munroe

[bigfan-fanfic]

Spooky Season Special: Until Dawn (Male!Reader x Chris)

Prologue: Bystander

-One Year Ago-

Let's just say, you had been shocked when Beth Washington winked at you and slipped a sparkly envelope into your hand. Hannah had gotten overzealous with the glitter glue again, and it was a wild mess that had held your invitation to Blackwood Pines for the annual winter getaway party weekend hosted by the Washington siblings.

Mike and Emily had grinned when you told them, which was gratifying. To tell the truth, you had never felt like anything more than a satellite to the group. They all seemed so tight with each other, and all you really knew were Mike and Em. Mike because he'd been your best friend since you were toddlers, and Em since she was Mike's girlfriend and you both shared multiple advanced courses. Even despite him being athletic and your typical big man on campus, Mike had been at your side for years, even when your interests diverged. You even helped make posters for his class president campaign in your spare time, which he joked made you responsible for his victory.

But still, you never really considered yourself part of that group until Beth handed you the invitation. You had only really hung out with the group on occasion, but you knew what it was really about.

Damn Mike. He had told Beth about your crush on Chris. He or Emily had. And now they were going to play matchmaker. You weren't about to let that happen, but you figured this was your ticket to making more friends and hanging out with Mike more. ...And Chris.

And really, partying with the Washingtons was fun. Who gets to go up to a HUGE lodge in the mountains only accessible by cable car? Even the vaguely sinister sensation of being trapped couldn't undo your feeling that you were now part of an exclusive gang. You ended up on the cable car with Ashley and Sam, who immediately drew you into a conversation (Sam protested playfully when Ashley turned the conversation to a book she was reading about ghosts) and the fun began.

There was the requisite teasing of Sam as she went upstairs to take a luxurious bath in the Washingtons' simply enormous tub in the master bathroom ("Try not to use all the hot water this time, Sam!" from Beth and a "Hardy-har" from Sam as a retort.)

It started out simple enough. Hannah and Matt brought down some board games from a closet and you all began playing. At one point someone suggested Jenga and everyone held their breath as you watched the tower wobble...

Don't Move. .. . .. . .. . .. .... .. ..... ... .. .... .. .. .. .... .. . . . .

...and you finally breathed again when it was certain the tower wouldn't collapse. And then, of course, Josh and Chris arrived on Emily's turn, and she promptly knocked over the wooden blocks. She complained a little, but clearly was happy the group was all together.

Chris and Josh promptly forced open the liquor cabinet and led a toast to old friends, and lifted a glass to you and added "and to new friends!" Beth, ever-responsible, gave a disapproving look at her older brother and passed around cream sodas instead. But really, only you, Sam, and Beth chose to remain sober. Chris and Josh started a drinking game by singing the Pokerap from the Pokemon anime and drinking whenever they got the words wrong, and quickly started devolving into drunken messes. Mike and Emily started making out, and Sam was catching up with Ashley and Matt - Jessica was talking to Hannah.

Beth invited you up to her room to watch Pride and Prejudice on the new TV she had gotten in there, but really, it was just a pretext. You knew it the moment the movie started playing and Beth looked over at you. "So... Chris, huh?"

Secretive - "What about him?" Exasperated - "Ugh, Mike told you?"

Beth grinned apologetically. "Emily, actually. But don't worry, I won't blab. I think it's cute. And hey, I'm here for you."

You smiled a little. It might actually be good to have more friends you can talk to about this. When you told Mike you liked boys, and that you liked Chis, he had teased you about having a hunk of prime beef in front of you - himself - and you chose the nerd anyway. Beth, at least, seemed less likely to ridicule you.

"It doesn't matter, though." you had groaned. "He's got a crush on Ashley."

"So?" Beth asked. "Josh once had a crush on Britney Spears at the same time he discovered Leo DiCaprio. People can have multiple crushes. And I'm pretty sure Chris doesn't just like you because you can beat him at Street Fighter."

"Fine, you may have a point. But I'm not gonna make any moves tonight! Looks like Chris is on a one-way trip to Hangover City."

She smiled wryly. "Ugh. Guess I have to make hangover cures in the morning. If you and Sam are the only other sober ones, wanna help? We can make vegan pancakes just the three of us!"

You grinned. "That actually sounds really fun."

"Great!"

You watched the rest of the movie, and finally decided it was time to check on the others, realizing you hadn't heard much during your little party.

"Guys?" Beth called, a little confused when no one answered. The two of you wandered down, only to find Chris and Josh, slumped over the kitchen island, a few empty bottles of liquor between them. Beth gave a chuckle that became a sigh. You remember this part so much more clearly.

Beth looked out the window, and frowned. "There's someone out there! I thought Mom and Dad said it would be just us this weekend."

"Maybe it's the trees? They're pretty creepy at night." you suggested, not wanting the creepy idea of someone else being on the mountain to take root.

She looked away, unsure, then glanced at the bottles.

"Ugh... Once again, big brother, you've outdone us all." Beth said, her eyes roving over the bottle-covered table. She picked up a piece of paper and read it, wincing. "This is - what has my naïve sister gotten herself into now?"

You take the paper, only really having time to read the words "Hannah" and "Mike xoxo" before someone went running by, sobbing. Beth went charging after them...

Wake Chris Follow Beth

...but you quickly tried shoving Chris to wake him up. But even with you yelling in his ear, he was dead to the world. You ran out after Beth, only to run right into Matt's back.

"You know, Mike, I think you're the last person she wants to see right now." Sam was saying.

"What the hell is going on?" you asked, looking from face to face. Emily disgusted, Sam worried, Mike and Jessica looking uneasy... "Where's Beth? And Hannah?"

"Hannah overreacted to this prank we pulled," Ashley frowned. "And Beth ran after her."

"What do you think, Y/N? Should we go looking for them?" Mike wondered.

Concerned - "Beth said someone else was out there..." Responsible - "We should get help..."

"They say you really shouldn't split up in a snowstorm. Beth's smart. I'm sure she'll bring Hannah back. But just in case, let's call the ranger station?" you said. You remember the group all nodding, more at ease now that there was a plan. Emily went to call, while Mike and Matt tried to wake up Chris and Josh, and you tried to get what happened out of Jessica and Ashley, because Sam refused to talk to any of them.

A horrible prank... and two deaths. For a whole year, the idea that maybe, if you had made some other choice, you could have prevented it, consumed you. Maybe if you had chased after Hannah more quickly you could've stopped her, or maybe at least convinced Beth not to run and to call the ranger station instead... maybe at least one of the twins would still be alive.

Things only got worse after the trip. You thought it might bring you more friends, but the group fractured down the middle. Eventually Em and Mike broke up, making it really awkward to choose between them. Sam had distanced herself from the others, angry at them for the prank, and you hadn't heard from her for months. And Chris... you two had gotten a little closer, but really this tragedy had struck all of you and changed everything.

You hadn't known Josh that well, so it was surprising that he asked you to come back up to the lodge. And although it might be weird, definitely uncomfortable... you find yourself on a bus, headed right back up to Mount Washington.

With no idea of what the night will hold...

#until dawn #until dawn x reader #chris hartley x reader #chris hartley x male reader #until dawn fic

[runawrites-blog]

Until The Break of Dawn Ch. 4 (Josh Washington x Reader)

Summary: After waking up in the mines, you try to find your way back to the surface. On your way, you meet an injured Jessica but as you two try to find your way back, you also encounter a terrifying creature. (Female Reader) Warnings: Mild depictions of Jessica's injuries. Josh's faked Death. Wendigos. Specific warnings will be posted in the notes of each chapter. No Y/N, Petnames (Honey) Author's Note: You can find the previous chapter here. Also, I tried and failed to figure out just how much the characters, especially the search parties, knew about the mines, so I decided that they would have probably discovered parts of them but had no idea how deep they truly ran, probably due to the cave in cutting off routes into the deeper parts of the shafts. I'm very sorry for the long wait. Crossposted on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49644949/chapters/125304058

Cold water dripping onto your face brought you back into consciousness.

Slowly, you sat up and blinked against the darkness surrounding you, only illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the hole you had fallen through. You didn’t know where you were but you knew that you had to get out. Ignoring the pain that coursed through you after your fall, you started moving to look for an exit. The first plan you’d come up with was to get out on the same path you had gotten inside on but a quick look up the slope made it clear that this was not a good idea. It was completely frozen over and with nothing to grab onto there was no way you would be able to get out that way.

You would have to find another way out of this cave. As you looked around the dark stone walls you realized that this wasn’t a regular cave but a tunnel, constructed by people and supported by wooden beams. It was an old mine shaft. You had never known that there were mines that deep running through Mount Washington. During the search for the twins you’d all discovered surface-level shafts but you doubted anyone had expected them to actually run this deep. Perhaps that was where Beth and Hannah had ended up. You vowed to tell authorities about this new discovery but for now, you needed to get back to the lodge, find Josh, and get to safety.

“Alright, calm down. This is a mine shaft and that means miners went in and out of it every day.” You told yourself and slowly began to move down the tunnel in front of you. “There has to be a way out.”

Fortunately, you found an old lantern on your way through the tunnel, giving a quiet cheer at the prospect of having a source of light. You dug around your pockets for anything to light it with and rejoiced when you felt the outline of yours. Quickly, you lit the torch and kept moving.

“Thank you, Dad.” You whispered into the quiet, putting the lighter back into your pocket. “Even from beyond the grave, you help me.”

Half an hour later, you arrived at a dead end and saw a ladder leading up to a higher-set tunnel. Before you could get up the ladder you heard someone call out your name.

“Is that really you? Have you found a way out and will you take me with you?”

The voice undoubtedly belonged to Jess and you quickly ran into the direction it was coming from. But when you saw Jess you froze. She looked bruised and bloodied, tear tracks on her cheeks as she looked at you in disbelief. You immediately made your way over to her and when you reached her you quickly drew her into your arms at which Jess promptly started crying.

“Jess, are you alright? What are you doing down here?”

“I was dragged out the-- the guest cabin and-- and taken and I ended up down here. I just remember falling.” She sobbed out quietly. “How did you end up here?”

“I was at the maintenance shed with Josh and after checking out something that I had seen he-- he just disappeared. When I tried to find him I-- I fell into a hole or something and ended up here.” You explained quickly, trying to keep the panic out of your voice. “Have you found anything that could tell us where to go?”

“I don’t know but we need to get out of here!” She screeched in fear as she pulled back from your embrace to fix you with wild eyes. “There’s these horrible-- horrible things down here! We need to get back to the lodge and off the mountain!”

“Things?”

“Monsters.”

And as if to cement her claims a loud screeching echoed through the mine shaft making Jess freeze before grabbing for your arm. You quickly pulled Jess toward a large metal cart where the two of you hid. Just as you had turned off the lantern the thing that had made that sound came crawling into the mineshaft. Jess held her breath and you watched in horror as what looked like an emaciated corpse crawled along the mine shaft’s floor. You felt your blood run cold and pressed your eyes shut, burying your nose in the scarf around your neck, inhaling once in the hopes that Josh’s scent would calm you down a bit. And it did the trick, making it easier for you to keep quiet. The creature sniffed around, looking for you but thankfully, it moved on and went down the tunnel you had come from.

“You were right.” You eventually murmured after making sure the creature was gone. “We need to get off this mountain.”

“What do we do now?”

You thought for a few seconds, pondering on whether or not you should venture further into the tunnels but quickly decided that it was the only way to get back outside. “We need to keep moving. These are mine shafts which means miners had to get in and out on a regular basis. There has to be a way out. I say we get up that ladder over there.”

“These monsters will find us.” Jess argued, voice tight with fear. “I tried going up the ladder but up there is just so much more screeching and-- and probably more creatures, too!”

“But we have to keep moving, Jess. And besides, that monster just now didn’t see us, so if we hide and keep still we might just make it out.”

“Might just?” Jess quoted your words in uncertainty. “I don’t like the odds of that.”

“It’s our only hope. There has to be a way out.” You argued, trying to sound reassuring despite your fear. “The only way out is through.”

To your surprise that got a small chuckle out of Jess. “That sounds like something our guidance counselor back from Middle school would have said.”

“True.” You nodded before chuckling softly. “I hated that woman; she was so mean when I was there after my dad disappeared.”

Jess reached up to wipe her tears before nodding. “But unlike how I felt about our guidance counselor, I believe you.”

“Then let’s not waste any time.”

The two of you set out, climbing up the ladder after one another and then setting out into a new tunnel, only illuminated by your lantern. Your journey was thankfully uneventful with no creatures showing up despite the screeches and screams echoing throughout the mine shafts. Jess had eventually taken your hand, letting you lead her through the mine shafts and you held hers tightly, trying to keep yourself calm. About half an hour later found the two of you in front of a big abyss, only bridged by a creaky wooden structure. Jess swallowed, her hand still holding yours as she looked down into the abyss.

“This is the only way, right?”

“Right.” You nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “The only way out is through.”

“I think you mean across.” Jess joked quietly before nodding at you. “Let’s keep moving, please.”

The two of you carefully made it across the abyss, holding onto each other for support and trying not to slip, when one of the creatures came running from behind you. Jess froze and you stared at it in terror as it screeched, starting to search for the people it had just heard a few seconds prior.

“Jess, we need to run. It will see us but we might be able to outrun it. There’s a fork in the cave ahead. You go left and I’ll be right behind you.” You whispered, not moving a muscle as you kept an eye on the creature. “Just run. Don’t stop for me.”

“I can’t leave you behind.”

“If we get separated, just run and hide and get out of here. And when you get back to the lodge get everyone to help find Josh before these things find him.” You urged, tears gathering in your eyes. “I’ll find a way out. Just run."

Jess eventually gave a tiny nod. “On the count of three, alright?”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

Jess bolted for the other side of the abyss and you were right at her tail. The monster screeched at your movements and began to chase after you, only making you run faster. The wooden structures creaked and moved under your steps, making you trip and fall to your knees. Jess had made it across by the time you got back to your feet and you barely managed to escape the creature’s claws as you took off running once more.

You swore loudly as you ran after Jess who was now sprinting down the left tunnel. The creature was now scaling the walls and just as you were about to run after Jess, it jumped down right in front of you, effectively blocking off the left tunnel.

“Right it is!”

You ran down the right tunnel and eventually managed to lose the creature in the maze of mine shafts. Heaving for breath after outrunning the creature, you looked around and to your delight, you found another ladder close by. For a second you debated on whether or not to get up there but then decided that it was your only chance of getting back out of the mine shafts.

“Why am I even debating going up that ladder?” You mumble to yourself as you start climbing it. “What else can I fucking do at this point?”

When you got to the top of the ladder you found yourself in a large access tunnel that was illuminated by moonlight, meaning it led outside. You cheered quickly and set out toward the source of the light which led you onto a trail. Without a second thought, you booked it down the trail. You needed to find your friends so they could help you get Jess out of the mines and find Josh.

You ran for what felt like hours, fearful for your friends and scared that the creatures would follow you outside of the mines, and only stopped when you collided with someone. The collision sent you almost falling to the floor but the person caught your arm, keeping you upright.

It was Chris and Ashley was right behind him.

Relieved about seeing your friends again, you embraced him and Chris put a comforting hand on your back. Ashley saw your panicked state and quietly asked what had happened. Her question broke all the dams and you pulled back before starting to ramble about what was going on.

“Chris, we have to-- we gotta get help. There are these creatures in the mines! And Jess is still down there and-- and Josh and I got separated. He is somewhere in the-- in the woods. I couldn’t find him and I fell into the mines but I got separated from Jess, too.” You weren’t even aware that you had started crying until a sob broke from your throat. “I couldn’t save either of them!”

“Mines? Monsters?” Ashley asked softly, fear seeping into her voice. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s these old mine shafts running through the mountain but there’s these-- these monsters down there and somehow Jess ended up there!” You explained in a panic, sobbing once more as you realized how terrible your situation was. “We need to get her out and find Josh!”

“Josh.” Chris echoed his name in an almost devastated manner and you looked up at him with teary eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry about what? What happened?”

“Tell her, Chris.” Ashley whispered and gripped onto his arm. “Please.”

“Tell me what?” You asked but Chris remained quiet for a few seconds so you had to ask again, terrified of what he was about to tell you. “Tell me what, Chris?”

“Josh is dead.”

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in and when they did you felt like someone had just reached into your chest to rip your heart out straight through your ribs. A lump rose in your throat and tears gathered in your eyes as Chris’ words kept running through your head. Josh was dead. Your best friend, your boyfriend, the man who’d been there for you whenever you needed him and whom you trusted blindly was dead.

But for some reason, you had a hard time accepting his words. Josh had been lost in the woods and now he was apparently dead. Despite your common sense telling you that Chris would never lie about something like that, you couldn’t help but question his words. You just couldn’t believe that Josh was dead.

“No, Chris. He’s just lost. We have to go find him!”

Ashley quickly shook her head. “No, he is dead. There’s this-- this maniac running around and he took Josh and I to tie us up to-- to test Chris. It was like that movie you and Josh forced us all to watch that once Halloween and it was-- it was so horrible.”

“You’re telling me a Jigsaw wannabe is on this mountain, putting people into traps?” You asked, getting a little irritated now because their words sounded like a joke to you. “Is this a joke? If this is a joke, it’s not fucking funny and we don’t have time for it! We need to find Josh!”

“This isn’t a joke.”

“Then show me.” You demanded, turning to look at Ashley with teary eyes. “Show me. I have a hard time believing that this isn’t another cruel joke like-- like the spirit board session. We don’t have time for jokes.”

“We’re not joking. And trust me, you don’t want to see the inside of that shed.” Chris insisted, voice so serious that it made you realize he was telling the truth and tears rose in your eyes. “I would never joke about something like that. That maniac strapped Josh and Ashley to a wall and-- and there was a circular chainsaw that would have killed one of them and I had to choose who had to die.”

“And you chose Josh.”

“I am so sorry.”

The tears were now flowing down your face freely, warm against your cold cheeks and sobs bubbled up in your chest. Josh was dead. The man you loved and who you’d planned a future with, was dead and you hadn’t managed to save him. You hadn’t found him soon enough and now he was dead. Chris and Ashley shared a look before they embraced you from either side, helping you stay upright as your knees began to buckle and sobs wracked your body.

“I didn’t find him in time.”

“This isn’t your fault.” Ashley assured you, tears in her eyes. “There is a killer on the mountain and whatever you saw in those mines, apparently. It was that maniac’s fault, not yours. And-- and what happened to your father all those years ago wasn’t your fault, either.”

“Ashley is right. I know this is terribly reminiscent of what happened to your father but neither of these things were your fault.” Chris promised before taking a deep breath. “What did you see in the mines?”

“Some sort of creature that looked like-- like a walking corpse, all pale and emaciated. It was so fast and-- and loud and I was so scared.” You got out between your sobs. “We have to get Jess out of there.”

Ashley nodded quickly. “We just met Emily and Matt. They’re going to the radio tower to get help. We need to go to the lodge to find Sam.”

“We can find Jess together. Chances are Mike is already looking for her.” Chris reasoned before looking at you. “Will you be alright?”

You looked back at the shed behind them and took a shaky breath. “Is it gruesome? I feel horrible about simply leaving with-- without saying goodbye.”

“Trust me; you don’t want to see him.” Chris said softly. “It’s best to remember him like he was the last time you saw him.”

“We were joking around in the maintenance shed and-- and planning on what we’d do once we got back to the lodge.” You whispered softly. “We heard a noise and he went out in order to protect me.”

“Then remember him like that.” Ashley urged you. “Remember him as a loving, sweet, and funny guy who tried to protect you and loved you a lot.”

You just nodded at her words because you knew she was trying her best to comfort you even if she wasn’t helping a lot. “Where is everyone else?”

“Well, as I said Matt and Emily are on the way to the radio tower. I’m pretty sure Sam is still at the lodge and Mike is probably around here somewhere looking for Jess who is apparently still in the mines. Perhaps we can go get Sam to help us look for Jess.” Chris mused and looked back at the direction of the lodge. “We need to hurry.”

Ashley nodded and reached out to take your hand in an attempt to offer comfort to you. “We have to stay together.”

“Chris?”

“Yes?”

“Did Josh suffer?”

“I don’t know. I’m so sorry.”

#fanfiction #writing #textpost #until dawn x reader #until dawn imagine #josh washington x reader #josh washington imagine #josh until dawn #until dawn josh #josh washington #no y/n

[queenofbaws]

one coat, two coat + red coat, blue coat a post-canon until dawn fic by TheIcyQueen

The sole survivors of an incident that came to be known as “The Mount Washington Massacre” in 2015, a mysterious and tragic accident that resulted in the deaths of six of their friends and a strange recluse thought to be missing, Chris and Ashley haven’t been coping, well, great. In addition to the seemingly endless spiral of articles, thinkpieces, and God help them, podcasts about the bizarre events (and their involvement therein) making it difficult - if not impossible - to heal, there’s another issue. No one believes what they saw.

After a decade of trying and failing to find something, anything, resembling normalcy in their lives, they make a decision - they need to figure out what really happened that night. But while it’s true they know what to expect (and that they’re hardly the scaredy cats they used to be), there’s one question that reigns supreme: Is the true danger of Blackwood all in their minds, or is there something flesh and bone still biding its time in the pit of the mines?

There's only one way to find out.

Read the first two chapters on AO3 - Link in source!

#until dawn #until dawn fic #until dawn fanfiction #chris hartley #ashley brown #queenie writes supermassive #my fanfiction #tag for this one's gonna be #octc

[chriscdcase95]

Some Scream/Until Dawn crack no one asked for.

Kirby Reed and Samantha Giddings are each others multiversal counterpart/equivalent. Due to some No Way Home shenanigans, their places get swapped.

With Sam caught up in Scream 4's events -  having the most plot armor second the Mike, and Action Girl cred second only to Emily -  she catches the knife in Charlie's hands and leaves him trapped. When Jill tries her luck, it just escalates to a slug match. And with Sam's plot armor, when Jill is hospitalized, the injuries are not self inflicted.

On Kirby's side, she's genre savvy enough to pick up on Josh's revenge "prank" early on and pretty much dismantles before it gets rolling. When she finds out what they're really up against on Mount Washington, she goes out and catches a least weasel as a "Plan B".

I'd have Kirby as an FBI agent as per Scream VI, and just lead an investigation that eventually gets Blackwood Pines declared "No Man's Land"...but then I remembered Until Dawn is set in Alberta. The FBI wouldn't have any kind of pull.

#scream #until dawn #scream vi #hayden panettiere #samantha giddings #kirby reed #mike munroe #emily davis #josh washington #matt taylor #jessica riley #ashley brown #chris hartley #sidney prescott #gale weathers #dewey riley #charlie walker #jill roberts #crossover prompt #supermassive games

[huangyujing]

Farewell to 2021 Part 1

Ripped open by the U.S. Capitol rioters, 2021 began its agonizing first one-third without covid-19 vaccines. My gaze on a pandemic-ridden world as a photojournalist, for a period of time, was brushed with fear as a human being.

In suppressing the anxiety of betraying the role of a neutral observer, I gradually came to recognize the value of my own experience as a part of collective memory; one that was shared globally during this unusual era.

Whether it’s first person or third person point of view, I tried to frame the world with honesty, recreating a moment that was seen, or felt.

Below, my firsthand experiences in 2021 in chronological order:

- A surreal Washington, D.C. that resembled a dystopian film with fences all around Capitol Hill.

Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument at dawn from Mount Vernon Trail across the Potomac River, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. The National Mall, which included the two mentioned landmarks, were surrounded by barriers and fencing, a security measure to prevent extremist activities after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.

A Secret Service agent closes the gate with the National Guard behind him on 17th street near the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. The heavy security was a precaution against possible violent attack similar to Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Some fences and checkpoints remained throughout the city until July, 2021.

- A rally in which Asian Americans stood in solidarity across the United States to denounce anti-Asian hate crimes.

Lan Luu, 76, an immigrant from Vietnam who has resided in the United States for 22 years, steps down the stage as others reaching out their arms to assist her at Unity Against Hate rally at Freedom Plaza, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Washington. Sponsored by 86 Asian organizations nationwide, the event was held across the United States during Asian American Pacific Islander Month. The Speakers, including Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, Former Rep. Mike Honda, D-Ca., State Senator Clarence Lam, D-Md., and Bakhshish Singh Sandhu, the president of a local Sikh organization in D.C., Council of Khalistan, stood in solidarity, calling for an end to hate crimes against AAPI and all the other communities.

- A demonstration on Palestinians’ Nakba day that brought hundreds of diverse protesters to Washington, D.C.

“Free, free, Palestine,” chanted hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who marched from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Capitol in the afternoon on May 15, 2021. Hours before the protest, Israel bombed a Gaza media tower that housed Al Jazeera and the Associated Press offices, along with some residential apartments.

It was the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba Day. As the Zionists established the state of Israel in 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinian people were expelled as a result of Israel’s war of independence. Conflict between the two nations has been going on since.

Left: The woman in keffiyeh waves a Palestinian flag while marching toward the U.S. Capitol, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Washington. The head scarf, known as keffiyeh, as well as the flag, symbolize the Palestinian nationalism. Both are widely seen in the protest.

Right: A group of Muslim men pray next to a prop tank in front of the U.S. Capitol, Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Washington.

- The first celebration of Juneteenth as a U.S.A. national holiday.

On a largely bipartisan basis of 415-14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on Wednesday, June, 16, 2021. The bill was signed by President Biden on the following day, officially making Juneteenth a national holiday.

D.C. welcomed the newly recognized federal holiday with a series of activities; one of which being musical events. At Black Lives Matter Plaza on Juneteenth, a group of joyful revelers danced with Go-Go music performed by D.C. local bands. Later that afternoon, they would march down 16th Street to their destination at the intersection of 14th and U Street – a historic site critical to African American culture - where black Washingtonians gathered after learning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in April of 1968.

Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day, which originated in Texas in 1866. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation had a late arrival of two years in the geographically isolated Galveston, Texas.

As time goes by, the commemoration continues to speak to a changing society in which racial inequality persists. As cheerful as the atmosphere was at Black Lives Matter Plaza, slogans that reiterate the advocacy of racial justice still could be easily spotted on signs or shirts.

“Stop over policing our communities,” read the poster printed in bright colors with cartoonish font on the Go-Go music truck.

Left: Cole Nic, one of the vocalists of the N2L Band, gestures during the performance at Black Lives Matter Plaza on Juneteenth, Saturday, Jun. 19, 2021, in Washington. The performance was a part of The Million Moe March, which is led by the organization Long Live Go-Go. Using Go-Go music as a force, their mission is to protest against gentrification and police brutality.

Right: A group of revelers dance to Go-Go music at Black Lives Matter Plaza on Juneteenth, Jun. 19, 2021, in Washington. The red, black, and green flag draped around the shoulder of the person in the center, is the Pan-African flag that represents people of the African Diaspora to symbolize black freedom.

To be continued...

© 2021 Photography by Yu-jing Huang. All rights reserved.

#photojournalism #photography #taiwanese photographer #washington dc #the united states #juneteenth #palestine #anti asian hate #lincoln memorial #Black Lives Matter plaza

[rathernotmyname]

Fictober! 2020 Masterlist

Here we are!

Potentional content and trigger warnings for each fic are in the beginning of each post and its tags.

Have fun and enjoy reading! ♥♥♥

Day 1 - “Pointy” (Mr. Robot) Weed and Star Trek TOS make for the perfect evening entertainment.

Day 2 - “Sunday Morning” (Blackout) Simon Itani hates waffles. Simon Itani stands up at 7am every Sunday to bake waffles. That sounds like a contradiction, but it's perfectly justified, actually.

Day 3 - “Motionless” (Mr. Robot); Qwerty Lives Because I Said So AU The aftermath of S04E11, from an outsider's perspective. 

Day 4 - “Winner” (Night at the Museum) A new game is invented in the museum, and Nicky would really like to just do his homework for once. 

Day 5 - “Silence” (The Pacific); Bunny!Verse Part 1 One thing Snafu would have never anticipated when returning home was learning to detest silence. Luckily, a temporary cure for his loneliness hops into his life, unexpected but very welcome.

Day 6 - “Spicy” (The War at Home) Kenny cooks, and Dylan eats. All is good? Well, kind of. 

Day 7 - “Hope” (The Pacific); Bunny!Verse Part 2 Eugene receives mail, Snafu hopes for more than a punch to the face, and local bunnies Maelys and Bazil need to share more than usual.

Day 8 - “Tired” (Need for Speed) A long day of work at the garage promises a long night of fun for Finn and Joe.

Day 9 - “Wings” (Papillon) Louis muses about freedom while in prison. One thought stays until the end. 

Day 10 - “Unchanged” (Mr. Robot) Angela likes to think of herself as a self-improving person. 

Day 11 - “Immerse” (Charami) Rami needs to shave and Charlie needs a new Amazon password. 

Day 12 - “Agreeable” (Papillon); Childhood Friends AU Part 1 When a nine-year-old Henri Charrière meets a eight-year-old Louis Dega, a friendship is built while their shared fate remains unknown. 

Day 13 - “Reunion” (Papillon); Childhood Friends AU Part 2 Papillon meets Louis Dega in captivity. As they exchange hesitant loyalty, Papi thinks back on someone who would have needed it much sooner.

Day 14 - “Stream” (Papillon); Childhood Friends AU Part 3 After five years of solitary, Papillon and Louis reunite on Devil's Island. There will be no more reunions after. 

Day 15 - “Director” (Until Dawn) "It's all fun and games until somebody dies" and other things that Josh philosophizes about while working on his masterpiece on Mount Washington. 

Day 16 - “Rush E” (Mr. Robot) Mr. Robot introduces Darlene to the monstrosity of a song called "Rush E".

Day 17 - “Appreciation” (Mazlek); Cirque du Soleil!AU Joe and Rami share some quality time at dinner. (Joe wants some love - Rami wants a steak.) 

Day 18 - “Torch” (Busters Mal Heart) He imagines himself taking a flaming stick and running through the forest with it, spreading enlightenment wherever he goes.

Day 19 - “Escape” (Blackout) How Simon got to the hospital after being shot at the end of the first episode.

Day 20 - “Witness” (Mr. Robot); Qwerty Lives Because I Said So AU Darlene and Dom have a totally unnecessary fallout.

Day 21 - “Crtl+Y” (Mr. Robot); Qwerty Lives Because I Said So AU How Qwerty returned to the Aldersons. 

Day 22 - “Warm” (Mr. Robot) Elliot and Flipper go on a walk. 

Day 23 - “Sentimentality” (Charami) Rami takes Charlie out for an unconventional date. It's too hot to be horny, unfortunately. 

Day 24 - “Hyphen” (Until Dawn) Josh thinks about names. Sam has the questionable honor to listen and roll her eyes. 

Day 25 - “Implicit” (Mr. Robot) Dom and Darlene carve some pumpkins. (Elliot has the only brain cell, but he forgot it at home.)

Day 26 - “Sawdust” (The Pacific); Bunny!Verse Part 3 Snafu loses his hammer. Eugene loses his shit.

Day 27 - “Worth it” (Short Term 12) Nate is certain that he has the best job in the world.

Day 28 - “Silver Lining” (The Pacific) When it comes to candy, Snafu is like an overgrown kid. Jay can't relate. 

Day 29 - “Trust” (Mr. Robot) After everything is said and done, the Host wants to tell Darlene. Mr. Robot has something to say to that. 

Day 30 - “The Hoodie” (Mr. Robot) Months of rest and good food result in an ill-fitting Hoodie. Mastermind won't see reason - Mr. Robot has to intervene.

Day 31 - “Family” (Papillon) Papi and Louis escaped, they have chickens, a kitten and a garden, they are in love, everything couldn't be better.

Read it all on AO3!

#rami malek #mazlek #rami malek x charlie hunnam #mr. robot #elliot alderson #darlene alderson #dominique dipierro #papillon #papidega #louis dega #josh washington #sam giddings #blackout #finn/joe #need for speed #until dawn #busters mal heart #joe mazzello #too many tags... #charami #sledgefu #fictober