UNTIL DAWN: Sam's story

II.

We arrived at the upper cable car station, but the exit door was stuck. Then we heard a voice coming from outside the door. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. New people. Time to meet and greet." I guess she wasn't expecting us.

"JESS! HEY!" Chris shouted while banging on the door.

"JESSICA! OVER HERE!" I called out as well.

"Uh... are you guys having a really weird stroke?" she spat sarcastically.

"We're stuck in this stupid thing," Chris explained.

"Can you please let us out? Pretty please?" I pleaded. Jessica then unlocked the door.

"OH. My. God. I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes in there and I would have chewed off my own leg," Chris complained, while walking out.

"Aw, sick Chris," I scolded.

"Look I got a lot of meat on my bones. This is all muscle down here."

"Yeah... Riiiiiight. Uh-huh," I teased him more.

"Bwip!" he suddenly made a sound, while snatching a letter from Jess's hand.

"Hey!"

"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" he giggled.

"Chris!" Jess exclaimed.

"My goodness," he gasped, raising a finger. "Seems that someone has a lit' crush on our good friend and dear class president Michael Munroe."

"Chris-" I tried to stop him, but he interrupted me.

"Aaand... what kind of sizzling erotica might our Jessica be capable of imagining. I wonder...?"

"Mike and Em split. We're together," Jess blurted out.

"Whoa. Drama," Chris retorted, not exactly impressed or surprised.

"Not really. Pretty clear cut actually. Em's out, I'm in," she concluded.

"Huh," was all I had to say.

Jessica moved to Chris and took the letter back. "Alright, alright. Let's just get to the lodge already. Getting tired of all this nature junk," Chris suggested, raising his hand apologetically.

"Ah, you guys go ahead, I'm just gonna wait here for a bit... see who else is coming," Jess began walking back to a bench.

"You mean Mike?" Chris teased.

"What? I mean, you know. Whoever," she clarified.

"Uh-uh. Sam?"

"Did you see this view? I mean, holy cow. Sometimes I forget to just stop and take it all in." I was standing at the edge of the mountain, looking at a valley in front of me. Although it was dark, around 9 PM, the moon and the stars provided enough light for me to see and it made nature even more beautiful.

***

It was 10 PM already, when we finally arrived at the lodge and saw Josh leaning against a tree, so Chris stopped to chat with him for a minute.

"Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it."

"Oh yeah? It feels the same to me."

"Oh, come on, you grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking."

"I guess that's true."

"When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already." Chris sighed, looking at is phone.

"You got a space million lying around and I'll fix you right up," Josh chuckled as he started walking to the cabin.

"Funny you should say that.... Ah I think I left it in my other jacked," Chris joked.

"Oops."

"Hey guys...," Josh greeted everyone. "Get up here okay?"

"Yeah... well, more or less. But it is so good to see you!" Ashley, who was sitting on the stairs answered. She was bundled up for the weather, wearing boots that came almost all the way up to her knees.

"'Sup with him?" his gaze shifted to Matt, who was standing with his arms folded, his body resting against one of the pillars bordering the stairs. He shot him a look before looking back into the distance. Since everyone was quiet, the guys started walking towards the entrance, while me and Ashley stayed behind.

"Hey, Ash! So, did something happen to Matt?"

"Hey. Yeah... I probably shouldn't talk about it, you know? It's kinda private."

"Oh sure."

"On second thought I'll tell you. I have to tell somebody."

"What is it?"

"Well, I was looking though the telescope out in the back, since I was here first, just admiring mountains, but then I saw Mike and Emily... hugging. And then when Matt showed up, he wanted to take a look as well and when he saw them, he got really angry. I mean, I get it, you know?"

"Yeah... I guess it's never nothing with Em."

"Right. And now he's sure there's something going on between them. He also told me, that when he and Emily arrived at the mountain and reached the end of a bridge on their way here, Mike jumped down at them and scared the hell out of them. But even after that, Matt was still welcoming and nice to him. And soon after Mike walked away in the direction they came from, Emily told Matt, that she needed to talk to you, before getting here. And, well... it was just an excuse to meet Mike."

"Now I get why Matt's so grumpy," I finished our talk, but stayed downstairs, since I overheard Chris and Josh talking and it seemed like a serious conversation.

"Yo yo yo! Are we gonna get things moving up here or what?" I heard Chris laugh.

"Yeah man!"

"Hey... you doin' alright?" Chris then wondered. "I mean I know it must be really tough without your sis-"

"Stop."

"I just meant that-"

"No, I know what you meant. You know, seriously. I'm over it, and I just want us to have a good time, you know? Like we always used to."

Chris just nodded.

When I got closer, Josh was already kneeling by the door, examining the handle and lock. "Dammit...," he swore softly under his breath. "This freaking thing...."

"It's iced?" Chris worried.

"What else."

"Maybe there's another way in," Chris then suggested.

"There are a million ways in. They're just all locked," he replied, turning to face us slowly.

"There's gotta be, like, a window 'round the corner we can get, like, 'get open' or something," Chris insisted.

"Wait a second, are you saying we should break in?" Josh understood.

"I don't think it's technically breaking in if you own the place, right?"

"Hey. Not if I don't report you."

"Umm, so...."

"Lead the way, Cochise," Josh instructed to Chris and the two boys headed down the stairs.

Before they continued, Chris stopped by Ashley, who was still sitting on the stairs. "Hey Ash...," he started off shyly.

"Hi Chris!" she waved at him smiling.

"So... how're you doing?"

"Mm... good! But... a little cold... I think I could use some time curled up by the fire...."

"Yeah... that does sound pretty nice." He finished, before him and Josh started walking around the house.