Until Dawn| Saving Josh

Chapter 6| Saving You

I wake up to someone incessantly poking my shoulder. I groan and stretch my hands over my head. "Is something wrong?" I sit up and peak over the armrest. Josh isn't there. The blankets are pushed away and he isn't there. "Where's Josh? How did you let him go?"

"He's just answering nature's call," she grumbles. "You're not a nice morning person."

"Sorry," I say automatically and yawn. "Is he outside?"

"We thought the bathroom would be better than the outdoors, even if the window is busted."

We again.

The floorboards creak and I look over my shoulder. Josh's eyes are red and droopy, as if he didn't sleep at all. I light up the display on my watch. "Seven twenty," I read aloud with another yawn. "We should pack up and get moving."

I roll up my sleeping bag and buckle it to my backpack while Josh and Clarissa eat granola bars. Clarissa laughs at almost everything Josh says. Nerves maybe. Still, it's annoying.

We trek down to the cable car station and the car arrives around 7:45am. I stare out the window on our way down while Clarissa talks to Josh and Josh tries to include me in the conversation. The car screeches to a halt and we file out. "Clarissa, what time did you get here yesterday?" I ask, interrupting something about breaking her big toe while skiing.

"I wasn't really paying attention."

Shocking.

"But we left the office around 8:00."

"So we have to wait until 8:30?" I ask incredulously. "It's not like we can just walk down there."

"Why not?" Clarissa asks.

I study her for a moment before replying. "We are not walking down the mountain. It's not that long, we'll just wait," I say with a sigh.

"Ha, that's what she-" Josh starts, but I give him a look and he stops.

I shouldn't be so mean to Josh and Clarissa, but I'm sore from sleeping on rock and wooden floors and overall exhausted, I don't have the energy to filter my attitude.

"Hey, Claire, there's a small shooting range around back, the gun there should have a few more rounds, assuming Chris didn't get too trigger happy."

I smile, thinking about Chris, but the horrible realization of what happened to him crashes on me and it feels like I'm freezing to death. I take in a deep breath and let it out. I'm not going to worry about this right now. Time for grief is later, not now.

Josh and I sit on a bench by the station while Happy-Go-Lucky skips around back. Josh takes my hand; at first, I jerk away, but then I settle into his touch. "How are you?" he asks. "Really?"

I open my mouth to tell him I'm fine, but stop before I lie. "Not great, but I'll get there. A furnace and a soft bed would be a start."

"Thank you," he says after a beat. Our eyes meet. "Thank you for coming to look for me. I'm sure it wasn't fun since you said you don't like camping, but-"

"I didn't come here to have fun, Josh. I came to save your life." I can't believe he thought I was on a vacation.

"Well, sure, but, still-" he mutters.

Josh and I sit in a comfortable silence. Every so often, I sneak glances at him to make sure he's doing okay. I'm really on-edge about dealing with another one of his mental breakdowns- I don't know what to do, I feel so helpless.

Clarissa somehow manages to entertain herself for the forty minutes until the bus comes. When we hear the diesel engine and brakes squealing, we stand up and start down the path, and Clarissa jogs around the metal building and catches up with us. "They're here!" she enthuses.