I managed to convince the others to visit that weekend-I didn't explain why, just told them it was important and they agreed to meet me.
"They shouldn't see me like this," Josh sighed when I told him the day before, "they're gonna freak out... and they didn't forgive me for what I did to them before, this is just... not a good idea..."
"It'll be fine. They deserve to know, Josh. Don't you think Mike feels bad for leaving you?"
"Probably not."
"Of course he does! He was a mess when we went home. We all were."
He scratched his head, "well... you have to break it to them... I don't want them to freak out and try and kill me or something."
"They won't try and kill you... I wouldn't let them."
"Fine. But if they smash my head in then I'm holding you entirely responsible."
I went to meet the others the next day at the cable cars and walked back to the cabin with them. They were baffled by my lack of explanation on why I had invited them all up here but didn't press me to answer. Mike and I walked side by side while Ashley and Cris held hands as they walked behind us.
"It's amazing how much better this place looks now they've fixed it all up," Ashley commented.
"To be honest I'm surprised that you guys agreed to come back here after what happened," I replied.
"It sounded serious... I told the guys that you wouldn't have asked us to come back if you didn't have a good reason."
"Yeah," Chris shrugged, "and it's not like there's any Wendigos left up here after we torched the place."
I stayed quiet.
"Right?"
Luckily Mike changed the subject, "so are you two official now?"
"Oh yeah," Chris grinned, "she couldn't keep her hands off of me. It's the rugged good looks that did it."
"Oh ha ha," Ashley hit his arm and we all laughed.
As we got up to the cabin they saw that the lights were on the the snow around the porch had been cleared, and Mike frowned, "have you... been here long?"
"Uh... yeah I've actually been up here for a few weeks now."
"A few weeks? Why?"
"Why would you stay up here alone after what happened?" Ashley shook her head.
"Look... there's something I need to tell you..."
"You're freaking me out," she looked worried and stopped a few feet from the cabin door, her arm wrapped tightly around Chris' to stop him from going any further.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to scare you... and it is scary but... once you see for yourselves..." I struggled to find a way to tell them that the friend they presumed was dead was actually very much alive, and was also a creature that probably haunted their worst nightmares after leaving this place the last time.
"Come on," Mike sighed, "what's going on?"
"I... I don't even know where to begin..."
Just as I was trying to find the words, the cabin door swung open and Josh stood glowering at us all. He was hunched over and making a low snarling noise, his jagged teeth bared even more than usual in a forced scowl. Mike took a few steps back and Ashley hid behind Chris, none of them able to tear their wide eyes away from the monster in the doorway.
"What the fuck!" Chris shouted, turning to grab Ashley in an attempt to protect her, "what the fuck!"
For a horrible moment I thought that Josh had turned into something terrible, that in the time I'd been gone he had transformed back into the creature I'd found in the mines, but when his eyes met mine I saw a flicker of amusement and my shoulders dropped.
"Are you quite done?" I snapped at him and he suddenly fell about laughing. The others looked completely stunned as they watched Josh grip his stomach and double over with glee.
"You should have seen your faces!" He howled, "I wish I'd filmed it! You should've left your phone, Sam, that would have been amazing!"
"What the fuck is going on!" Chris attempted to comfort Ashley who was peering round at Josh with wary eyes.
"I didn't know how to tell you," I muttered and Josh made a face at me.
"Ah shit, you didn't tell them? I thought you said you were going to tell them," he put his hands in his pockets, "that's awkward..."
"What the fuck is going on here?" Mike growled, "is this some kind of joke? Fake your death again? Was this all part of your fucking plan?"
"How could it be a joke?" I frowned and Josh held his hands up in submission.
"Its not a joke, I swear, I didn't do any of this-"
"Is that make up?"
"Its not make up," I stepped in front of Mike before he could advance on Josh, "go inside," I gestured behind me and Josh complied, backing away to the safety of the cabin.
"Sam... what's happening?" Ashley asked quietly. She looked terrified, "Josh... Josh died-"
"I'm trying to explain... everyone just calm down, okay? You know they never found Josh's body, they told us that, but Mike told me a few weeks ago that he never actually saw Josh die... he saw him get dragged away but..." I sighed, "after everything I guess I wanted closure so I came back here to see if I could find his body myself-"
"What if we hadn't killed all the Wendigos? You could have been killed!" Mike interrupted.
"But I wasn't. And when I went back down there I found him. He was... in a bad way. He didn't know who I was and he didn't talk... he didn't remember anything, so I brought him up here and cleaned him up... and he started to remember."
"He could have killed you..." Chris murmered.
"But he didn't."
"Why didn't you tell us you were coming up here?" Ashley asked sadly.
"Because I thought you'd tell me not to go... and I didn't want you to worry. I knew you guys wouldn't want me coming up here on my own after everything... and I wanted to tell you when I first found Josh but I thought you'd all think I was crazy."
They stood quietly for a moment and Chris exhaled loudly, "fuck... this is... messed up."
"Now are you guys gonna come in? Or are you going to go home? I won't force you to stay."
They all looked at each other for a few seconds before Chris rubbed his face, "alright, alright... let's go see him..."
I nodded, "he's still Josh... the old Josh... don't be scared."
They took another few seconds before hesitantly following me inside.
