Mia jolts awake, a cry in despair tearing itself from her throat. She sits upright in bed, breathing heavily, cold sweat dampening the back fabric of her tank top. Almost immediately, the aches and pains return to her, hitting her like a freight train. It isn't mind-numbing agony like it had been before, but it still hurts. Of course, the physical pain doesn't hurt - will never hurt - as much as the mental pain does.
She knows those nightmares of her possessed by some sort of demon, using her to mutilate her friends isn't a fantasy - it happened. Mia knows they're all dead, burned to the ground, the cabin along with them. That goddam cabin. She hopes those demons rot in hell, never to show their ugly faces on this earth again. She hopes that book, and all of those demonic writings on the wearing, yellowed papers remain as ashes.
All dead...all dead...
They're all dead. All dead because of that damn book. It used her to kill them, why couldn't she stop it? Why couldn't she fight it? How and why is she still living? She should be dead and be with them. She should be in Heaven. If there even is a Heaven, or God.
One thing's for sure: there is a Hell.
She tries using her right hand to adjust her position on the bed, only to be met with a sharp pain at the wrist. Gasping, her left hand flies to her pained arm, gripping it tightly. Gazing down at her arm, she screams upon realizing that her hand is gone, a bloody bandage wrapped around the area where her limb should be. A vague memory then flashes in her mind of her arm stuck under a vehicle, accompanied with the memory of just how agonizing it was to pull out her arm, leaving her hand behind. Tendons stretching and breaking, crushed bones pulling apart. The memory sends shivers down her spine, but that's not the worst thing she remembers.
That fucking book...oh David...
Drawing her legs to her stomach and hugging them, she buries her head in her knees and silently sobs.
Just then, a knock comes at the door. Mia doesn't even take the time to notice where she is: in a bedroom, under the sheets of a mattress that isn't hers. She doesn't even hear the knock, nor does she react to it. A few seconds pass by, as well as silence, before the door handle turns. Mia suddenly ceases her crying, lifting her weary and turning it towards the door. It opens a crack, and although it's only ajar she can see somebody's head through it. Glad that the door didn't open on its own, Mia releases the tension in her body, dropping her legs and stretching the sore muscles out. She waits for the stranger to enter the room, not caring who he or she is. As long as he or she is a human - and not possessed.
Finally, the person pushes it fully open, allowing the knob to bang against the door. Stepping inside, Mia discovers, is the man that had picked her up from the side of the road. She gulps upon spotting the specks of crimson on his teal-colored shirt, no doubt from her.
It's silent for what seems like an eternity, and since Mia is struggling for the words, it's the stranger who speaks first.
"So," he says in a deep voice, "looks like you're awake now."
Mia stares at the strange man, surprised by how calm he seems. Like he...understands her situation. Furrowing her eyebrows, the brunette avoids his gaze, cracking her neck. "Yeah. I am."
He cracks he neck, walks over to the lone chair in the corner of the room and sits down. "So what where you saying about a cabin?"
Cabin? Had Mia told him something through her haze of extreme pain? She was delerious, out of it, she couldn't even think straight then. Then again, she was losing a lot of blood, probably had already. The memories of the cabin were still starting to return to her, and she's just able to restrain herself from breaking down at any moment.
"The cabin in the woods," she mutters, barely over a whisper. Her throat burns, most likely from screaming and from the demon taking control of her.
Of course, there's also the vines that forced their way into-...
Mia swallows, her fingers trembling, her lip quivering. "You're gonna think I'm crazy if I tell you."
"Trust me, I'm not." He puts on a smirk that's both sad and cocky at the same time. "I guess you could say I know a little about fucked up cabins."
Mia frowns, biting her chapped lips. Forcing herself to lift her chin and gaze at the man, she asks, "Who are you?"
"My name's Ash. And that's all you need to know, kiddo. Then again, I could ask you the same question."
"Mia. My name's Mia," she answers, her fingers fumbling with the material of the sheets. Uneasiness slowly creeps into her mind as he says that, his tone throwing her off. If she had just been abducted by some weird guy who wanted to pull some kind of Misery crap on her, then she won't hesitate to beat the shit out of him right now. Plus what he had said earlier about his experience in cabins sounded...off.
Adjusting her position on the bed, Mia locks eyes with Ash, lowering her chin slightly. "Look...thanks for saving me and all, but you better fucking tell me more about yourself than just your name. I don't think you understand what the fuck I went through back there. Now I'm being picked up by some guy I don't even know?" A hint of gold glistens around the brown of her irises. "So right now, either you convince me to trust you, or I'll beat your sorry ass."
Ash smiles. "Oh, I like you. Fine, I'm guessing what you saw in the cabin were demons, which I'm pretty damn good at killing. I'm also the 'chosen one' and 'the king'." He smiled. "I must sound like a pretty groovy dude."
At his words, her features soften, the shade of yellow disappearing from her eyes. He's killed demons before? He knows HOW to kill them? Keeping her gaze trained on Ash, Mia leans back, relaxing her tensed muscles. "Okay, first of all," she starts, "you've had pretty much the same experience in that cabin, haven't you? Second of all, 'groovy'?"
"Hell yeah, groovy's fucking groovy! And yeah, I have. Hell, I even got sent back in time but that's a story for a different time!" He laughs at his own pun.
"Different time-...?" Mia shakes her head, not even bothering to ask. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she asks, "You got taken over by those things?"
Looking him over further, she realizes that in place of his right hand is a metal gauntlet. Her eyes dart to her bandaged stump, them back to the prosthetic limb. A chill runs down her spine as she remembers how she lost her own hand, and she wonders if she should even bring up how he lost his.
"Yea, I have. Not fun. And since you asked, I'm guessing you have, too?" he asks.
"Yeah...but it was worse." Her fingers tighten around the blankets, curling in into a fist. "When one of our friends, Eric, read from that fucking book, I had run away, feeling uneasy about the cabin on a whole. I was driving away, when I accidentally drove into a lake. After I walked out...I couldn't explain it...it felt like something was following me. I couldn't see anything, but I knew something was there. I ran from it through the forest for god knows how long, until the trees came to life and trapped me with their vines. Vines with thorns. They wrapped around my legs, my arms, and then...all I remember is seeing an evil version of myself, before a thick vine poured out of her mouth and ran up my legs until-..."
She chokes on a sob, pulling her legs together as she feels a faint stinging pain down there. Wiping away the stray tears that gather, she forces herself to continue. He has to know the whole story.
"That thing-..." Her voice breaks, and she concentrates on her breathing, closing her eyes and gulping. "...it possessed me. They locked me in the cellar before it could use me kill anyone. I think it ended up affecting the others as well, using my body. All I really remember is biting Natalie's hand and throwing up in her mouth...then her cutting her arm off because it was infected. My brother was forced to kill his girlfriend. All because I wasn't strong enough...then he had to bury me alive to get the demon out of me...then he lit the entire cabin on fire with himself so he could get rid of it. Then it rained blood, and that demon was still alive, but with its own body. I killed it with a chainsaw, but not without getting my hand stuck under a car."
She gestures to her stump, smiling grimly, tears glistening in her eyes.
"And that's that."
"Hey, kid, it ain't your fault," his voice sounds almost pitiful. "It's those damn heathens that did all that, not you."
"Of course it was my fault," she spits, rage in her tone, her teeth clenching in anger. "I was the one who ran out and got taken over in the first place. Afterwards I didn't even have the strength to overcome it. Why did I ever think going to that cabin would help..."
"God, I forgot how damn hard its was to argue with women," he groans, rubbing his temple and looking straight in her eyes. "Look, kiddo, if I hear you say it's your fault one more time, I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'd wish you were back there. And for why you went, I don't fuckin' know. I went for spring break tryin' get lucky. Why don't you 'Boogle' why you went, or whatever you kids call it!"
"'Google,' you idiot." Mia's temper is growing the more she tries to argue with this man. She can't argue that he certainly isn't bad on the eyes, but his cocky and arrogant personality should surely get on anyone's nerves quickly. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, in an attempt to calm herself, she says, "Look, Ash, I went to that cabin for...personal reasons. I don't feel like telling you my whole life story, so I'll just leave it at that for now."
Once again, she tears her gaze from Ash, focusing on her only hand. "'Least you understand. If I told this story to anyone else, they'd call me crazy.
"Been there done that," he says with a bitter smile. "But if you do tell anyone, then I suggest asking to be transferred to the asylum in Rosewood. It's pretty low staff, and good food!"
"Great," she mutters, running her hand through her hair. "Wonderful to know."
"It is, isn't it?" Ash grins, then shakes his head. "Anyway, even though you're not the worst person to be around...what do you wanna do now?"
She's about to respond, when a yawn builds up in her throat and forces its way out of her mouth. It's then that she realizes how exhausted she is, the numb feeling of everything that's happened to her causing her to drift off more easily. In addition, she's lost an extremely large amount of blood.
Mia rubs her eyes with her injured arm, pulling the covers closer to her with her hand.
At least this helped me to quit...
"Sleep," Mia whispers, yawning again. "I'm so tired. Probably from yelling..." A smirk spreads across her lips. "Guess it's best to get rest anyways."
He shrugs. "Yeah, true."
Did he sound...disappointed?
About what, talkin' to that brat? he asks himself. He shakes his head and gets up. "Yeah, kiddo, get some sleep."
With that, he trudges out the doorway.
Mia watches him leave, a frown forming, replacing the grin. She's alone. Again. She can't be alone again. Before he's out of the room completely, she calls out, "Wait."
"Gahh..." He spins around, looking like a mother who had been running back and forth for something to make her child sleep and was being called back again. "What now?"
"Don't go," she pleads, her eyes wide, full of fear.
Damn, she thinks, I'm acting like a child.
Yet at the same time, she doesn't care. The biggest fear she has now is being left alone. Alone where she can she can see the demons everywhere. Where the fear arises of becoming a demon again, alone, by herself. Dying alone. No one to protect her. She's so tired of fighting...
"Stay here." Mia rolls on her side, pulling the flimsy sheets over her shivering, thin frame. She hugs the pillow to her head, leaning on it. "Please. I don't want to be alone..."
Ash's eyes soften a bit. He can't help but feel bad for the poor thing. Kind of like a lost puppy. But hot. He sighs and walks towards the bed. "Scooch over, then."
Mia nods, too sleepy to argue. Unconsciously, as he positions himself in bed, the brunette pulls herself close next to him, resting her head on his chest as if it were a pillow. Her eyelids grow heavy, and she barely mutters a "good night" before falling into a deep sleep.