REDHEAD , until dawn

wake up

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱
𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏

The faint sounds of her name being called was the thing that woke Lola from her light sleep. She woke immediately confused as her body shook against the bed, feeling as Chris' warm hands tapped against her skin in order to wake her from her sleep. "What—what? Chris!" Lola exclaimed as she stared at him, feeling more awake than before as the sound of her name being shouted was full of terror.

Her eyes stared across his body: his fingers trembling and his hair disheveled. "What happened, Chris?" Lola asked, moving his blonde hair to perfect it from out of his eyesight as she sat up on the bed — missing her comfortable sleep. "It's Ashley. She—she's gone. . ." Chris announced before Lola twisted her head to the side. What? She asked herself before squinting her eyes in confusion.

   "What do you mean gone?" Lola questioned as she jumped from the bed and placed her shoes back onto her feet. Her hands rushed to place an extra piece of clothing to warm herself up if they had to go outside, it was of course Josh's clothing. "Did you look around the house? What even happened?" Lola was confused by everything but just wanted to find Ashley safe wherever she was.

   "Obviously," Chris replied.

   "She's gotta be outside," Lola stated.

The two of them ran out of Josh's room and down the stairs, towards the outside. When she stepped outside before her body was sent into immediate chills. Her hand held out into the cold as it shone against the powder-colored setting in front of her, if it wasn't such a scary and dangerous situation she was in; Lola would've admired the winter atmosphere more.

And then she stumbled. "No fucking way. . ." Her words were a hush when the torch highlighted the crimson liquid that stained the white snow. "Is that blood?" Chris asked when he stepped back, flashing her torch on the red-colored ground. Lola nodded her head with a huff as she noticed the blood followed up the trail along the path, "I think we should follow it." Stupid decision.

Chris agreed before they started to walk towards a random shed. The shed was unwelcoming and dark to look at, and it also looked abandoned — like it hadn't been touched in forever. When the two friends walked inside, the shallow sounds of Ashley's cries filled their ear-shots. Whilst they walked around their eyes scanned the disturbing and unusual things attached to the walls and ceilings. "This is mental," Lola told Chris, not believing her eyes at the items.

"Chris, Lola?" Ashley's voice was laced with a hazy worry as she choked on her sobs which allowed the two to follow her voice. "What the fuck?!" Lola shouted as she saw Ashley tied against a wall, alongside Josh. Her hand reached her red lips as she stared at her best friend being tied against a wall; unconscious.

Her fists banged against the window in front of them in an attempt to wake Josh as Ashley talked to Chris about how terrified she was. Lola felt her heart drop into a deep, sunken pit in her stomach that turned inside out with sickness. "Hello, and thank you for joining me. Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test. Now for this experiment, we'll need the cooperation of our two subjects Ashley and Joshua," Lola jumped at the deep voice that boomed from the hidden speakers.

Lola felt her chest raise up and down as she tried to keep her strength for Ashley to keep calm. Yet, the ominous voice frightened them to death. Something bad was bound to happen as she wanted them to be as calm as they could be. "But we're going to need two more brave participants to help decide which subject will live, and which will die," Her eyes rolled absentmindedly as she chewed on her lip, feeling it began to rip beneath her teeth whilst Josh and Ashley fear-filled yells filled the room.

"Please, please, everyone calm down. It's all very simple. Christopher, Lola, you will find a lever placed directly in front of you. All you have to do is choose who you save!" All of this was psychotic but it all started to seem so real as the saw in between the two of them began to spin; fast.

"I can't let Josh die. . ." Lola announced as she watched Josh crumble into tears and trepidation. It was selfish of her, only thinking of one person that had been with her since childhood — she couldn't let him die, she had to do something to at least save him. "But what about Ashley? We can't let her die either," Chris announced, Lola, remembering his lovey feelings towards him. "Shit!" She shouted.

"God, Josh, I'm sorry!" Stated Chris as he moved the lever to the right — saving Ashley. The saw began to move and Lola instantly broke down into sobs, frantically pulling the lever to the left to save Josh. "What the actual fuck, Chris!" Lola shouted as she watched the saw click into the direction of Josh, her hands covering her ears as she fell down onto the ground to not see her best friend die.

When Josh's screaming was done as his body was being sliced in half, Chris tapped the girl's shoulder to allow herself to stand up again. But she didn't want to, she didn't want to see the remaining body of her best friend tied against the wall. "No, Chris. . ." She felt weak. Almost as if she couldn't do anything again, she needed Josh and Josh needed her. Who did she have now?

When the door opened, Ashley ran up to Lola and held her hand over her eyes as she began to lead Chris and Lola out of the room. Lola was thankful for that, how she protected her from the horrendous sight of Josh. When the trio stumbled out of the shed, they noticed as Emily and Matt stood there. "Blood, who's blood is that Ash?" Emily asked as she held her arms out to comfort Lola who only continued to cry into her hands.

"Are you okay?" Matt questioned. "Chris, what happened?" Emily asked.

"Josh—" She couldn't uphold herself as her mind filled with moments before.

But Emily allowed her to be quiet as she sobbed into her arms, "There's a fucking maniac! He was there with a saw!" Chris yelled before continuing with, "It was either him or Ash and I didn't know what to do. Cut right through him and spilling out fucking everywhere," Chris explained, with gruesome images, the whole story.

"What? Oh my God, Chris what?" Asked Emily as she began to freak out, still keeping Lola still in her arms, not wanting to scare the ginger even more than she was."I killed him!" Chris repeated to himself before Lola rubbed her eyes on her hands, beginning to feel herself at least grow a little stronger to stand on her own.

   "This is inside, we need to get some help!" Emily responded with the obvious before feeling as Lola began to loosen herself from her grip. She held her hand into Lola's back, just in case she decided to faint — or something. "Get everyone else together but if there's a maniac running around I think we need to get some help, too, right? Not just wait around." Explained Emily, pretty smart and everyone overlooked that part of her.

   "But what about—"

   "Why are we still talking about this, let's go!" Emily exclaimed as she pulled on Matt's hand, the trio walked back into the lodge and into the warmth whilst Emily and Matt stayed out to get some help. She felt her heard tear into two after she fully calculated what had just happened; Josh was gone. And there was nothing she could do to change that, the guilt of Hannah and Beth and now Josh filled up onto her back but she had to carry that weight and hide her feelings. Stay strong for Ashley and Chris, was all she could think as she hid her pained cries.