Prompt: Elton enlists the roommates, aka Colby, Aaron, Corey, Jake (and special guest star Brennen) to go hiking in L.A on a hot day. What began as an innocent vlogging expedition turns into an almost deadly incident.
It was a hot Thursday afternoon when Elton came barging into the living room of the traphouse with his camera insisting they all go for a hike for some footage. Jake, Aaron and Corey were playing Rocket League on the big screen when Elton came rushing in. A huge heat wave was hitting L.A full blast which makes everyone groan in response, the weather too much to enjoy a stroll up the side of a mountain.
But Elton insists, and doesn't let up until the three roommates agree to the expedition. Jake offers to go enlist Sam and Colby as the others get changed for the weather outside. He goes to Sam's room first (who's editing their newest Sam and Colby video) and asks Sam if he and Colby would be up for a hike with the gang.
Sam sighs and leans back in his chair, taking a moment to contemplate. "Yeah, dude, sure. If everyone else is going... but Colby's out vlogging with Brennen, he should be back soon though if you wanted to ask him too."
Jake nods and Sam follows him to the living room, where they see Elton trying to convince both Colby and Brennen to go with, who must have just got back from hanging out a few moments prior. Brennen has his camera and is dressed for the weather whereas Colby's in his black jeans, grey shirt and beanie, you know, his usual emo self.
"Shit, dude. I wasn't planning on going for a hike but... fuck it, I'm in," Brennen announces with a toothy smile, raising his camera. "Besides, I do need some more footage for my vlogs."
Colby turns to Elton skeptically and crosses his arms, biting his lip. "Yeah, sure. It'd do me some get to get out of the house more often, I guess."
Elton enthusiastically hypes everyone up about how fun it'll be as he, Brennen, Corey, Jake and Aaron all head out to his car to go. Sam and Colby, both not dressed properly for a hike, go upstairs to change after agreeing to follow the others in Colby's car.
After getting a text from Elton of the location to meet them, he and Sam get changed and head out to Colby's car, seeing Elton and the others already long gone.
He and Sam drive to the agreed upon mountain nearby to trek up to, listening to music on their way over as they joke about what may happen on the hike. After arriving, they park in the parking lot when they see the others all standing at the base of the mountain, cameras out as they await Sam and Colby's arrival.
"There they are, the patented xplr bros themselves," Brennen announces, pointing the camera at them as Sam and Colby approach. They both start sauntering over as soon as the cameras on them and soon enough, all six of them are off.
Elton and Corey vlog in the front, Jake and Aaron tagging along behind with Brennen doing his own thing behind them whilst Sam and Colby trail along at the end. They're all vlogging whilst trying to be entertaining; coming up with jokes, just having dumbass conversations. I mean, what would you expect from them?
A few minutes later, Colby stops as they're in the middle of making their way up the side of the mountain and looks down. There's about an eight foot drop beneath them with a spaced out forest surrounding it and they're all being cautious around the edge of the cliffside. Always fascinated with ledges, Colby inches himself over to the cliffside and slowly and carefully sits down on the edge, swinging his legs. He looks down at the scenery of Los Angeles below him and smiles, somewhat forgetting about everyone with him.
"Colby, bro!" Brennen suddenly says, doubling back when he sees Colby on the edge. "Dude, stay right there. This is gonna be a dope thumbnail!"
Hearing Brennen calling out to Colby, it catches everyone's attention and soon, they're all filming Colby from behind Brennen, getting that good footage for each of their vlogs.
"Imma make this my thumbnail too," Aaron says as he kneels down to get a good angle.
"We all can't have the same fucking thumbnail," Brennen says jokingly. "I call dibs."
"You call dibs?" Sam asks incredulously, filming Brennen. "You can't call dibs on a thumbnail, dude! That's not fair and so not how it works."
Brennen lets out a cocky exhale. "It is now bitches! I called dibs on the thumbnail so you can all eat my ass!"
The others start groaning at Brennen's comment and start lashing back with their own playful arguments. Soon, they're all talking into an indecipherable cloud of speech, arguing about who gets to make the thumbnail of their video Colby sitting on the edge of the cliffside.
Colby chuckles at their antics and shakes his head, zoning out the arguing behind him. It's all in good fun, they're not actually mad at each other. They're mainly doing it for the footage, as Corey's shouting a bit all for the fun of the vlog.
Rolling his eyes at the long overdone continual of the argument, Colby decides to get up and hopefully intervene enough to disband it so they can continue on their hike. The joke is getting a little old and he wants to preserve it as much as he can.
Leaning back on his arms, Colby sits up and plants his feet beneath him as he stands up. However, he stands right on the edge of the cliff which makes it start to split beneath his feet. Before Colby can react, a chunk of the rock gives out underneath him and he looses his balance. His body hits the ground and he starts to slip off the edge of the cliff, unable to grapple at anything. He cries out in shock and alarm and manages to flip himself over and grab the edge of the cliff, now fully dangling over the side of the mountain.
His cries get everyone's attention and soon, the five friends swarm Colby, shouting things trying to help him as they kneel all around him, shocked and horrified at the sight.
"Yo, Colby, dude-" Sam begins, sliding to his knees as he tries grabbing onto Colby's arm.
"Colby!" Aaron, Jake and Elton all shout, as Elton drops his camera and comes up beside Sam, trying to grab onto Colby. He's the only one really calm in the situation, and he's just focusing on grabbing onto his dangling friend.
"Bro-" Brennen tries to push his way through Elton and Sam but ends up stopping after he realizes there's nothing he can do that they can't. So, he backs off yet still peers over at Colby, nervous beyond hell.
Colby lets out a strangled yelp as his grip falters, and his eyes start watering. He's breathing heavily and quickly, already hyperventilating as he digs his painted fingernails into the rocks as much as he can. It's already slanted and he doesn't have that good of a grip to begin with so it's not working and he's slipping fast.
"Guys, guys-" Colby yelps, his body sagging as his grip loosens. "GUYS!"
Sam and Elton try hoisting Colby up but they're unable to grasp at him firmly enough to support all of him. They're all forced to watch, in horror, as Colby's grip slips and he slides off the edge of the cliff and plummets to the base of the mountain.
Sam catapults himself backwards as soon as he realizes Colby fell, covering his mouth as he starts to shake. Elton leans over the edge and watches, with wide eyes, Colby body as it falls. Corey, Aaron and Jake all come up behind Elton, screaming Colby's name as they peer over the edge behind him. Brennen yells "COLBY!" And he runs forward to where Sam used to be, looking down with wide eyes at the scene that meets him. They can't make out Colby's body through the trees and they're all about to cry, in too much shock to process what just happened.
"Oh my God..." Sam shouts, clawing to stand up. He manages to get to his feet and immediately starts sprinting down the mountain, letting out choked sobs as he runs as fast as his body will allow him, Colby the only thing on his mind. Corey and the others start shouting Sam's name as they watch him sprint down the mountain, taking a minute to comprehend everything before following suit.
Minutes feel like hours to Sam as he sprints to the base of the mountain, whirling his head around for Colby. Lucky for Colby, there are tons of trees surrounding the base of the mountain, which gives Sam hope that they aided in at least somewhat breaking his fall. It takes him a minute or so before Sam makes out the sight of a body, limp on the ground a few feet in front of him underneath a tree that's still swaying from the impact.
Sam lets out some sort of choked version of Colby's name as he sprints up to the crumpled form, realizing with a heavy heart that Colby's unconscious and heavily injured. He's on his stomach and his limbs are splayed out around him, his beanie half off his head, eyes closed and face bruised. His arms and legs are heavily scratched and bruised, twigs and leaves all around him from hitting the tree so hard. It doesn't look good.
At all.
Later...
There was a rhythmic beeping in the air Colby so desperately wanted to stop, or at least be able ignore and go back to sleep with it acting as white noise. But based on the fact that his body was sore and numb, there was a light shining onto him in the room and he felt weird and different, he knew he needed to be awake.
He shifted his arm and felt something on it. He could feel... things poking and prodding at him, which made him feel vulnerable and unsafe. Where was he and why was there so much poking into him?
Taking whatever energy he had left, Colby peeled open his eyes and had to blink a few times to get used to the sight around him. A bright light was shining at him and he was in an all white room. Tilting his head to the side, Colby's eyes widened minutely when he saw the machines all around him, machines from a hospital. Then, everything clicked. The things prodding him, it's an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask in his mouth. He feels vulnerable because of the hospital gown he's in, laying on the bed with the covers drawn up to his chest.
Groaning quietly, Colby tries to sit up but falls back down when he quickly becomes lightheaded. He feels so sore and weird, like he's in some sort of fever dream where he's not fully there. Like some of his body parts are shut down and he can't control them.
Finally Colby manages to shift in the bed, and he manages to sit himself up, even if only slightly. Looking up, he sees a hunched over body sitting in a chair at the wall directly in front of him. Colby immediately recognizes the blond hair and smiles lightly, taking a deep breath.
He coughs once or twice which causes Sam to stir and shift in his spot. He raises his head with a disgruntled expression as he squeezes his eyes shut and stretches his neck from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. Colby barely notices as he brings his arms up to his face, pulling the oxygen tube from his mouth, coughing once more as he pulls it off his head and starts breathing normally. Something must have happened to his lung(s) for him to have had an oxygen mask on.
The second cough is what jerks Sam up, who opens his eyes and blinks away the drowsiness as he's met with the sight of Colby, awake in front of him. Without missing a beat, Sam leaps up from the chair and rushes over to Colby's side.
Colby lulls his head to the side and smiles at Sam. "Sam," he says, somewhat loopy and nonchalantly, despite the fact that he knew where he was, just not what happened. He just couldn't quite remember yet. "Why am I here?"
"Colby, thank God you're awake," Sam says, voice wavering. He tries to hide it by clearing his throat, however Colby still heard the slight tremble. "You scared the shit out of us, dude. Seriously!" he pauses. "You were sitting on the edge of the mountain, you know we went on that hiking trail with the others? You slipped and fell. Luckily a tree broke your fall but you still got banged up pretty heavily."
"Oh," Colby says, wrinkling his nose as it all starts coming back to him. He remembers sitting there, then dangling off the edge of the mountain by his hands, then falling but that's when it all went black. He squeezes his eyes shut at the pounding of his head from thinking too hard. "Did you at least get it on camera?" He jokes, a slight smile tugging at the edge of his lips.
Sam barks out a laugh at Colby's remark and wipes a tear from his eye, nodding his head. "Well, considering you were hiking with five vloggers, yeah, most of us did."
Colby giggles. "Awesome."
Sam rolls his eyes. "How's that awesome? You almost died, Colbs."
Colby clears his throat. "Well, yeah, dude but that's pretty freaking epic. We have live footage of me falling off a cliff, right? That's..." He sighs. "I mean, yeah, I know it was dangerous and I almost died but getting that shit on tape is dope. At least some good came out of it."
Sam shrugs. "I guess so. Damn, you really do see the good in everything huh, Mr. Wisdomous dumbass?"
Colby mocks offence. "Why am I the dumbass?"
"'Cause you slipped getting up from the side of a mountain and almost died!"
Colby purses his lips. "Touché."
Sam turns to the door and scratches his neck. "Oh hey, the, uh, the others I think are still waiting in the waiting room, why don't I go get 'em and tell them you're awake?"
Colby nods with a smile and Sam gives him once last smile in return before he leaves the room and goes to retrieve the others.
Only like a minute later, the door is thrown open and a literal stampede of not only Corey, Elton, Aaron, Jake and Brennen storms in, but Kat, Devyn, Amanda, Tara, Kevin and Mike all barge in as well. Colby's eyes widen when he sees everybody coming in but smiles and laughs as they all surround his bed and ask him if he's okay.