"We're freezing our buns off here!" The door muffles Ashley's voice, her head dipping from side to side as if to see Chris and I better. I roll my eyes at her complaints, waiting as Chris approaches the frozen lock with the deodorant primed.

Chris lines up the spray can, holding the lighter in front of the nozzle and flicking it on. The frozen lock melts enough for Chris to reach out and yank it open, shaking his hand to try flick off the burning sensation.

"You probably should have used your sleeve to touch a boiling hot handle," I comment sarcastically, watching with crossed arms as he squares his shoulders in an attempt to look tough in front of Ashley.

"Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week," Chris says, humbly bowing in front of Sam and Ash. Before I can react to him, a noise and a blurry silhouette snatch my attention, causing me to lift my feet as a rodent runs through the house and out the door. Chris screams in a rather girly way, immediately reaching to grab my shoulders and hide behind me as if the furry creature is a murderer.

Sam almost doubles over in laughter, a smile overcoming my face as Chris drops my shoulders and steps away from me in slight embarrassment.

"Crap, that thing freaked me out," Chris sighs.

"What was it? Are you okay?" Ash asks through cracks of laughter.

"It was like a bear, or a tiger or something," Chris dramatises his fear, looking around his feet for a sign of anything else lurking in the shadows.

"Aw, it was just a cute little baby wolverine," Sam mocks in a baby voice, leaning her palms on her knees as Josh jogs up the steps behind her.

"Don't worry, Buddy. You're gonna be a big boy soon," Josh joins in on the teasing. Chris huffs, the three people outside step around us as they join us inside the lodge. Matt catches up soon after. We follow Josh into the main room as he looks around with outstretched arms, "Home sweet home,"

"Sweet is not the word I'd use," Matt replies pessimistically as he lowers two bags onto the floor, one of them presumably Emily's.

Matt and Emily dating came as a big shock to a lot of us. They always seemed like the pair that interacted the least or you'd never expect to be into each other.

"This place... barely looks different," I trail off, inspecting the place for the first time. since entering. It feels different in an indescribable way, like the warped shadow of something familiar.

"Nobody's been up here," Josh clarifies, moving towards the fireplace.

"Not even with all the police coming in and out?" Ashley further probes. She says it so casually, and its insensitivity makes me straighten my back up. Acting normal about it all is one thing, but throwing it off like nothing especially when your hand lead to the twins disappearing, is sick.

"Not a lot of action up here lately," Chris offers by way of distraction. Chris is always good at that, calming tense air and sensing it within seconds.

"What's up, party people?" A loud voice booms over the room, everyone's attention diverting to the open doorway as Mike walks through with his hands in the air. Zac and Jessica trail behind him, Jess's body language seemingly more relaxed next to him as she smiles at something he says.

"Hey!" Jess drawls out the word in a sing-song tone, holding her palm up as Zac offers a two-finger wave from his forehead.

"Hey," Josh responds from his position crouched at the fireplace. He turns his head as Mike approaches them, Zac falling next to my side, "Make yourselves at home, bro,"

"Will do," Mike waves his hand out. I roll my eyes, already annoyed by his cocky attitude. I'm annoyed by almost all of them and how guilt-free they look. Why do I feel their remorse for them?

"Yeah, come on in," Matt suddenly stands up, his lip upturned as he glares at Mike. "Have a load off, take whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyways, right?"

"Oh, shit," Zac snorts quietly, holding his long hair in front of his face as if to hide his grin.

"Whoa, easy there cowboy," Mike smiles uncomfortably, his amused expression quickly dropping as Matt stands closer to him.

"Yeah, this is gonna be good," I nod, taking a seat in the armchair to my right, Zac preaching himself on the armrest of the same chair.

"What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?" Matt questions, eyeing Mike suspiciously. Even a blind person could see the rage steaming off of him, "I saw you and Em, through the telescope,"

"Before?" Mike clarifies, any hint of amusement from before falling dead around his feet. "We just ran into each other. It's been a while so we hugged and I said hello. Is that against the law?"

"Right," Matt nods, shaking his head. "Yeah, sorry. It's been kind of a long day. I overreacted,"

"Disappointing to say the least," I whisper to Zac as Mike happily accepts Matt's apology and sweeps the situation away.

"It was over in, like, three sentences," Zac sighs, relaxing his shoulders as we both keep our eyes stuck on the two males. Matt turns away, moving to the side of the room opposite us and sitting down.

As Mike turns, he makes eye contact with me for what feels like forever. He seems to lower his eyes as if trying to hide himself from me. It's strange, Mike seems like the kind of person to never hide away or make himself small for someone else.

He rips his eyes away, clearing his throat and sitting beside Jess on the couch. She almost immediately leans into his side, a lovesick smile on her face. Mike doesn't make any effort to move or reciprocate the energy, instead, just sitting there like a mannequin. I turn to Zac, pretending to stick my fingers down my throat to vomit.

From the new angle, I watch in amusement as Em walks through the door, her eyes landing on her ex-boyfriend and ex-bestfriend with disgust.

"Oh, my god. That is so gross," She laughs sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest and stopping in the middle of the room, "Are you trying to swallow his face whole?"

"Em-"

"Seriously, can she be any more obvious?" Emily cuts off Matt's words. "No one wants in on your territory, Honey. You haven't even claimed the land yet, have you?"

"Excuse me, did you say something?" Jess snaps back, standing up to be level with her.

"Catfight, I freaking called it," Zach chimes in, nudging my shoulder as he watches the two girls with a look of awe. "Finally, a real fight,"

"Oh, did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?" Em laughs. My jaw almost hits the floor, a laugh escaping my throat at an unusually loud volume.

"Something funny, Gloomy?" Emily turns to me, emphasizing the stupid nickname.

"Just you two," I grin, leaning back in my chair, "Fighting over a man neither of you are dating, especially in front of your current boyfriend, Em. I mean, maybe Jess's 'sluttiness' is covering her right ear and.... yours is covering her left,"

"Maybe you should just mind your own business," Jess snarls at me.

"Wow, why the fuck are you two tag-teaming me? What's really funny is how you all show up here of all places on your high horses and then immediately start fighting," I laugh, leaning forward and holding my arm out towards them both.

"That's uncalled for, Ruby," Matt scolds me. I turn to him with a slightly open mouth and furrowed eyebrows.

"You shut the fuck up. You came out of that room that night with a fucking selfie stick," I point an accusatory finger towards him, scooting closer to the edge of my seat as Zac's laughs echo in my ear.

"Hey, watch it," Emily snaps at me, defending her boyfriend.

"Whatever. I don't give a crap what you two bitches think," Jess turns on her heels, slowly walking back towards where Mike sits on the couch.

"At least I can think. 4.0 bitch, honour roll. Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job," Emily grins, holding her fists in front of her chest as she sends daggers the blonde's way.

"Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle," Jess smirks, holding her arms out to gesture towards her body. I roll my eyes, leaning back in my chair.

"Oh, please," Emily scoffs, voicing my thoughts out loud.

"You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of bread with your skanky ass," Jess doubles down.

Emily laughs loudly, staring down Jess, "Are you serious? Do you think that's insulting?"

Jess turns her back to Em, pointing towards her as she stares at Mike, "That bitch is on crack or something,"

"This is out of hand! There's no reason to fight like this," Matt attempts to diffuse the situation.

"Yeah, Em! Why are you picking fights over your ex-boyfriend? Huh?" Jess continues.

"Stop it!" Josh finally joins in, yelling as he looks between everyone in defeat. My heart clenches, immediately feeling bad for him. He's lost more than any of us can imagine and all he wants is a peaceful getaway with his friends. "This is not why we came up here. This is not helping. It's not what I wanted. If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right?"

Everyone is quiet now. Jess, Emily and I avoid each other's gazes while everyone else looks around the room in awkwardness.

"Mike, why don't you go check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about," Josh suggests, pointing towards the male in question.

Mike nods, holding his palms onto his jeans and preparing to stand up, "Yeah, yeah alright," He pauses, looking to Jess, "You wanna come with?"

"Any place without that whore," Jess sends one last glare Emily's way, turning on her heels and beginning to walk out of the lodge.

My eyes follow Jess and Mike as they make their way towards the exit, shoulder to shoulder. Jess smiles up at him like a helpless puppy, Mike's clueless eyes diverted away from her. Keeping my eyes on them, I lift my elbow and nudge Zac.

"Wanna make things interesting?" I ask, finally ripping my eyes away once their backs disappear around a corner. I look up at Zac, a sly grin already on his face.

"Do you need me to answer that verbally, or?"

"Wow, verbally? Big word for you, Zac. Can you spell it?" I mock. He lifts his hand, flicking my ear before dropping his hand back to his lap. I push to a stand, nodding for him to follow, "C'mon,"

"Ay, ay," He nods, following closely behind as we jog up the grand staircase, taking a left at the separation to go towards the office in the lodge. "What exactly are we doing?"

I push the door open, allowing myself into the room and moving to the wall of keys situated to the left. Zac observes the rack with me, a noise escaping him as he slowly realises my plan. "First things first, gotta make sure they go to the cabin furthest from the lodge,"

"Ah, good old-fashioned karma?" He clarifies as I reach forward, plucking the set of familiar keys from the rack. I hold them up in between us like a trophy, his cannabis-fueled giggles bursting the silence in the room.

I clutch the set of keys in my hand, exiting the room with Zac on my heels. We barely make it to the staircase before Josh steps in front of us, his eyes flicking between us and the path we just came from.

"What are dumb and dumber up to now?" He grins, looking down to see the light reflecting off the object in my palm. He gently takes them from me, recognising them almost immediately. "Seems like you two are up to no good,"

"Not at all. Zac just wants to hang out with Jess and, y'know, cockblock a little," I state.

"Mmm, Jessica," Zac humms. I jam my elbow in his ribs, feeling sick at his lovesick tone.

"By all means, have fun. That's what we're here for, right?" Josh nods, a smile still planted on his face. "Don't scare them too badly,"

"They'll get over it," I shrug. Something in Josh's eyes flicks, like he wants to tell us something and feels like we'll understand, but decides against it. I worry about him a lot. Something is different in him since the girls vanished, something darker.

"I'll deliver your message," He nods, holding the keys up to his forehead as he walks back down the steps, "Godspeed, pilgrim!"

"He needs to stop saying that," Zac sighs, shaking his head at the phrase we've heard one too many times.

"It's tattooed on his tongue," I agree, walking back down the steps, "C'mon, gotta catch them before they leave,"

We basically run through the lodge, catching Josh as he walks back from handing the keys to Jess and Mike. He reaches his hand up, Zac slapping him with a high five. I pause at the door leading to the lodge's exit, turning to Zac and telling him to wait on the balcony for me. He nods, ducking the second we walk through the door and hiding behind the balcony edge.

"Mike! Wait up!" I yell, jogging down the steps until my black boots hit the snow beneath, crunching in my ears as the almost-couple turn around and wait. Jess can't look more unimpressed as I completely ignore her and focus my eyes on Mike, nodding to the right to signal him over. Jess lowers the camera she was holding, sending daggers Mike's way as he separates from her and walks over to where I'm standing.

"Everything okay?" He asks quietly as he approaches me, his gaze uncomfortable under my watchful eye as if he knows I'm judging him.

"I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for being so harsh to you after what happened. And I..." I swallow, finding it difficult to speak any further, especially since most of it is bullshit. I glance over his shoulder, noticing Jessica watching me like a hawk. I breathe in, stepping closer to Mike and draping a hand over his shoulder, "I appreciate you coming to see me after it happened,"

He blinks at the mention of that night, his eyes almost fading as if he's reliving his actions. His hand moves to rub his neck in comfort, his feet shifting his weight as he clears his throat. "Yeah... yeah, no problem,"

I press my back against the wall, my head turned to get a slight glimpse of the door as Zac nods to me, turning to the frame and pulling the wooden door open to reveal Mike on the other side.

"Hey, man. It's been a while, good to see you," Mike greets, slapping his hand together with my brothers. "Is, uh, is Ruby home?"

"Oh, nah man. She's apple picking," Zac denies, his words drawn out and lazy.

I silently slap my palm to my forehead, cursing the world for handing me a dumb brother.

"Apple picking? What--Her car's in the driveway," Mike stammers over his words, clearly thrown off by Zac's excuse.

"You don't need a car to go pick some apple-"

"Mike," I smile, stepping out from around the doorframe and into his view, stopping Zac before he can kill any more of his brain cells.

"Anway," I continue, dropping my hand from his shoulder and smiling up at him, "I'll let you get back to cabin hunting. Have fun,"

I don't wait for his answer, turning and slowly walking back up to the lodge. As I climb the staircase, I glance in the reflection of the window in time to see the pair turn to each other and away from me. Taking my chance, I drop to the ground beside Zac and press my back against the bricks.

"What was all that about?" Jess's unimpressed voice filters through the sound of snow and wind. I smile, noting the anger in her voice.

"What?" Mike replies, sounding defensive.

"Oh, please. She was all like, Michael come here, Michael let me touch your shoulders, Michael-"

"What's with the jealousy, Jess?" He asks softly, snow crunching as I assume he moves closer to her, "I just want us to have a nice night together. Let's just get to the cabin, okay?"

There's silence for a few seconds before I hear her hum in agreement, their boots crunching as they walk away, dead silence carrying them.

"When did Mike come to visit?" Zac whispers to himself. I turn to him as a lightbulb goes off above his head, turning to me with wide eyes "Is that when he-"

"Shhh," I hush aggressively, clamping my palm over his mouth to shove the words back into his throat "We agreed never to mention that again, Zac, remember?"

He nods, my palm slowly slipping off his skin. I jerk my head towards the retreating pair, slowly pushing myself to a stand as I watch them fade away.

"Let's just focus on a little prank of our own," I instruct, waiting for Zac to stand before we go back down the stairs and into the snowy terrain. "They'll probably be too busy flirting to get there quickly. Besides, I know a shortcut,"

"Oh yeah? Josh show you that?" He teases, lifting a snow-covered branch from our path as we walk through trees.

"He did, actually, you seedy prick," I confirm, pushing more branches out of the way as I walk ahead, "You were also there with us and we were thirteen,"

"Well, that's no fun," He sighs.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you do anything interesting when you were hanging off Jess' ass earlier at the cable station or were you just lingering like a bad smell?" I question back, glancing over my shoulder briefly.

"For your information, I would love to be hanging off her ass. If I was, you'd know about it because I would have died and grown wings," He responds like a child, even sticking his tongue out.

My foot loses its grip on the snow, my body feels like it's falling in slow motion as I slowly plummet to the ground. Before I do, Zac's hand jolts out and grabs my arm, pulling me back up straight to steady myself.

I huff, placing a hand over my racing heart and tucking my hair behind my ear with the other, "Jesus Christ, that scared me,"

"It was just a small tumble," Zac shrugs, waiting for me to continue walking before following, "You can thank my fast reflexes later,"

"I would rather have a face full of dirty snow, thanks," I press my lips into a sarcastic smile, stepping out into a clearing where the entrance to the mines becomes visible. He follows me closely through the entrance, waiting as I drop to my ass on the platform and lower myself down onto the lower level. He follows, practically throwing himself down and landing without any trouble.

Continuing on, we push through the creepy old mines, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up from slight fear. Zac pulls his phone out, flicking the flashlight on and aiming it in front of our feet.

"This place has always given me the chills," I comment, holding my arms closer to my body to try and soothe my goosebumps through my black long sleeve.

"That might also be because you are not dressed for winter, like, at all," He snickers, aiming his phone light at me and my outfit. I look down at my black pants, long sleeve shirt and off-white puffer vest, lifting my hand to push his phone light back to the path.

"I dress for the occasion, not the season," I inform him, walking ahead once more. I head towards another staircase in the mines, one leading to an upper level and the exit.

An animalistic screech stops me in my tracks, my neck almost snapping as I turn to Zac to see him just as frightened. He swallows, both of us frozen as we look around for any sign of danger.

"Hurry up," I demand, turning and running up the stairs without looking back. I know Zac's following me because I can hear him calling my name before he practically sprints past me, exiting the mines and waiting for me to catch up to him.

My short breaths ring in my ears as I stop beside him, the snow brushing against my cheek as we catch our breath from the adrenaline-fueled rush.

"I told you those mines are creepy," I snap.

"You think everything's creepy, you pussy," He coughs, standing up straight and pushing his hair behind his ears.

"Whatever. The cabin isn't much further. Let's get the fuck out of here," I remind, turning to get as far away from the mines as possible.

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AUTHORS NOTE

can we get a round of applause for eternityei aka the queen of until dawn please?? she made the gorgeous banner at the start (and the gif banner at the end of each chapter) as well as animating the character stats at the beginning too. seriously, she's amazing. go read her mike fic if you haven't its fantastic.

anyways, there's a little secret between zac ruby and mike, perhaps a little drama. i guess we'll find out.

with the remake coming out, hopefully I'll get a lot of inspo and chapters will be more frequent.

until next time.

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