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❝curiosity.❞

FLORENCE, AFTER BEING consumed by the thick tensions in the lodge, decided that she wanted to lie down for a bit whilst everyone else did their own thing. Her head had begun to hurt and rather than sitting downstairs where she remained cold and uncomfortable, she wanted to be cuddled up in the bed taking a nap.

"Hey, Josh? I'm gonna lie down for a bit. My head is starting to hurt." Florence told Josh as she rubbed her temples. The throbbing in her head grew more powerful with every passing moment. Alongside being a victim of panic disorder, she also suffered from intense migraines. This headache could easily spiral into a migraine if she didn't get ahead of it. She needed aspirin, water, and a nap.

Josh jogged over to Florence, concern written all over his softened features. He brushed the hair from her eyes and with a gentle tone, he asked her, "You okay, baby?"

"I'm fine. Just a little headache is all." Florence reassured. A smile found her lips at his genuine worry for her wellbeing. He'd always cared so deeply for her. With love swelling in her chest, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

"Take some of the aspirin we have in my bathroom. My water bottle is in my bag upstairs." Josh instructed, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You go lie down, I'll have it warm down here when you wake up."

Florence offered him a gracious smile as she told him, "Thank you."

"Anything for you. I love you."

"I love you, too."

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Once Florence made her way upstairs, she opened the door to Josh's room with a content sigh. The pleasantly familiar scent of Josh's cologne filled her nose, instantly comforting her. Though her head still throbbed, her headache threatening to worsen if she didn't take precautions soon, she relished in the feeling of being in Josh's space.

She quickly got to work making herself comfortable. She took off her beanie, shoes, parka, and trench coat, leaving her with only her sweater, socks, and her jeans. Chills ran down her back from the lack of warmth in the room, causing goosebumps to trail up and down her arms. Upon noticing the temperature of the room, she suddenly remembered that Josh packed her one of his sweatshirts in his backpack just in case she got too cold. With that in mind, she quickly pulled off her sweater and tossed it onto the edge of the bed.

Walking over to Josh's backpack, she opened it up and saw a simple black sweatshirt sitting right on top. With a grin dancing across her face, she pulled it out and tugged it over her head. She instantly lifted the hem to her nose to breathe in the pine and minty scent that clung to the soft cotton. The sweatshirt was big on her, the sleeves running just past her hands.

Now that she was considerably more comfortable than before, she needed to work on soothing her headache. Before she went to lie down, she made a beeline for the bathroom that was connected to Josh's room. She searched through his medicine cabinet above his sink for a moment — with the assistance of the flashlight on her phone due the current lack of electricity in the lodge — before her eyes landed on a half-empty bottle of aspirin. Opening it, she dumped two pills into her palm. She closed the bottle and placed it back where she found it. She turned off her flashlight and stuffed her phone back into her pocket. Afterwards, she trailed back into the bedroom and snagged Josh's water bottle from his backpack. Hurriedly downing the pills with a few gulps of water, she now felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. Finally, she could settle down.

Now that the aspirin was on its way to soothing her headache and she was one step closer to feeling better, she decided that she'd take a quick look around the lodge before taking her nap. She figured she wouldn't have time to do so once everyone got settled and the generator was turned on. The lodge would be too busy then. Better to do her looking-around now.

First, Florence made her way towards Hannah's old bedroom. The door was ajar, meaning someone had looked through it recently as well. She figured it was Sam, considering she mentioned that she wanted to take a bath.

As she entered Hannah's bedroom, a somber smile found her lips. Everything looked exactly how it did last year — exactly how Hannah had left it. It looked as if she had every intention of returning. But, that was never going to happen. This room was destined to be unoccupied forever. Still, various posters and framed photos decorated the walls. The purple bedspread was neatly made, just how Hannah liked it. Although her room was littered with a few scattered personal items, it wasn't messy or disorganized; Hannah was neat and liked things to be clean.

Florence spotted a tattoo card sitting atop Hannah's dresser from the tattoo artist who did her infamous butterfly. On the card was the appointment time and the simple butterfly design she wanted her, Beth, and Florence to all get together. It was a symbol of hope and perseverance, things everyone could always use a little more of.

On Hannah and Beth's seventeenth birthday, she, Beth, and Florence went down to the tattoo shop in their hometown. Florence's birthday was two weeks before the twins', so they only had to wait for them to turn seventeen to return to the shop. The lady had previously given Hannah her business card on the twins' sixteenth birthday when they all tried to get it done, but were told they all had to be seventeen to get it. Thus, the girls all came back a year later and got their matching butterfly tattoos that sat on the inside of their wrists.

Florence set the card down, gently pulling the sleeve of Josh's hoodie back to touch the tattoo that she often looked at when she wanted to reminisce. A thin wall of tears threatened to spill over her eyes, but she blinked them away and pulled the hoodie sleeve back over her wrist.

After that, she continued to innocently reminisce on all the memories that Hannah's bedroom held: all of the sleepovers her and the twins had, all of the late nights they spent watching movies or just talking with each other, and all of the laughs they shared.

Florence bit back a second wave of tears brimming her eyes and swallowed the painful lump in her throat. Hannah and Beth wouldn't want her to cry over them, she knew that. They'd want her to be strong and hold out hope that — at least — she'd get closure.

This weekend was meant to bring peace and closure, not to kick up sadness or guilt anyone had.

Florence continued to look around Hannah's room after collecting herself, her gaze finding a picture frame that sat on her nightstand. She picked it up and smiled down at it as she realized it was a picture of her and the twins on the day they graduated high school. They all wore their caps and gowns, bright smiles on their faces and tears of joy in their eyes. In their hands, they proudly held their diplomas, signifying the end of their high school careers.

Florence remembered graduation vividly, especially the conversation her and the twins had just moments before they got ready to line up to go on stage. They had talked about how there would be no more stressing about upcoming exams or their grades, there would be no more exhaustion from staying up until the early hours of the morning studying or doing homework, and they would finally have the adult-esque freedoms they so deeply longed for. Although they still had college and adult life to worry about, they were beyond overjoyed that they had finally graduated together.

The picture that Josh had originally taken remained dear to the three of them, for they printed out three copies — one for each of them. Florence's picture was framed on her desk at home. Both Beth and Hannah had theirs sitting on their nightstands by their beds.

Soon, Florence decided that she had looked around enough and placed the picture back down exactly how she found it.

Exiting Hannah's room, she went back to Josh's bedroom and shut the door behind her so she could finally rest before what she hoped would be a night of bonding between her and her friends who she missed dearly.

Quickly pulling out her phone to check the time, she saw that it was only eleven. She still had time to rest for a bit before the group began their usual midnight games that lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Florence laid down and tucked herself into the warm comforter with a content sigh.

As she began to fall asleep, she wished that things would be fine this weekend.

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Florence awoke with a start at the sound of the bedroom door slamming. Gasping in shock, her eyes shot open. Groggily, she looked around to see Josh muttering to himself as he paced back and forth with his head in his hands. Stress was becoming him.

Florence grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked the time: eleven twenty-seven at night.

"J-Josh?" Florence asked, her voice thick from the remnants of sleep. "Are you okay?"

Josh was broken out of his daze by the sound of Florence's soft voice. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"No, no, it's okay." Florence sat up, pushing the comforter away from her legs. She could tell Josh was shaken up from his trembling hands. "What's wrong?"

Josh sighed, sitting in front of her on the bed. He placed a hand on her knee to comfort her. He didn't want her to worry about him, he wanted her to have a good time. "I'm okay. Just got a little freaked out, is all."

Florence gently cupped Josh's cheek, feeling him lean into her touch. Her soft, yet concerned, eyes met his. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Josh shook his head, fighting off tears. "No, it's nothing. It's just hard being back here."

Florence frowned, pulling Josh into a hug. "Are you sure? You know that you can tell me anything."

Josh's heart warmed at her genuineness, but the last thing he wanted was for her to stress over making sure he was okay the whole weekend. He wanted her to feel comfortable and at ease. "I promise I'm okay."

Florence pulled him to arms length, placing her hand back on his cheek. She looked into Josh's amber eyes, his soft gaze colliding with hers. She hesitantly muttered, "Okay."

Josh offered her a small, halfhearted smile. "You should lie back down, baby."

Florence shook her head with uncertainty. She was tired and her headache still hadn't completely worn off, but she didn't want to leave Josh vulnerable to his haunting thoughts if he was starting to feel unsettled. His memories of Hannah and Beth often ate away at him, and if she left him alone in the place where they still lingered, she knew that he could slip into an episode.

"I'm feeling better." Florence lied through her teeth. "I want to make sure you're alright."

Josh laughed lightly. He, too, began to lie through his teeth, "I appreciate your concern, baby, I do. But I'm fine now. Just a little stress."

Florence sighed. "You promise?"

"I promise, Flo." Josh leaned up and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up soon."

"Okay." Florence said as she lied back down.

Josh left the room, leaving Florence to doze off.

In her momentarily peaceful unconsciousness, she left her friends downstairs vulnerable to what she had been completely unaware of — something that kickstarted the horrors which would haunt everyone for the rest of their lives.

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After about thirty minutes of sleeping, Florence woke up as an involuntary response to a strange smell that wafted over her nose.

As she was groggily drawn out of her sleep, she noticed that the smell was burning the inside of her nostrils. The stinging sensation grew even more intense as the seconds fleeted by.

When she opened her eyes, a physically-built man dressed in grimy overalls with a clown mask hiding his face slammed a cloth that reeked of a harsh chemical — chloroform — over her mouth and nose. Her eyes widened as she held her breath, thrashing around as hard she could manage. She desperately used her fingernails in an attempt to claw at the man's hand.

She ferociously kicked her legs and thrashed her lower body upwards as much as she could to wriggle away before the psycho pinned her hips down with his knee. She was helpless due to the size difference between them; there was no saving herself and there was no getting out of this.

Her nostrils burned as her eyes watered.

Her chest felt as if it were about to implode from the effort it took to fight while simultaneously holding her breath.

Fighting became harder and harder with each second.

"I'm sorry." The psycho whispered, his voice mangled and distorted by a voice changer inside his mask. He pressed the cloth down onto her mouth with even more pressure. It pained him to hurt her like this, but this is what he had to do.

"Just breathe." The psycho cooed.

Florence's heart slammed against her ribcage like a trapped bird in a cage, desperate to be free.

She fought for as long as she could before she finally took a breath and inhaled the antagonizing chloroform.

Almost instantly, she started to succumb to the darkness that she knew followed inhaling chloroform. Her eyelids felt as heavy as a ton of bricks, and she was too weak to hold them open for long.

Once he was sure that she was going to fall unconscious, the psycho pulled the cloth away from her mouth. He immediately began wrapping rope around her wrists and ankles.

The last thing she saw was the psycho standing over her unmoving body, gently stroking her cheek before he shoved a gag in her mouth.

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When Florence woke up, she frantically looked around her and at her wrists and ankles, hoping that it was all a nightmare. Yet, much to her dismay, she knew she was wrong the moment she woke up and felt a gag in her mouth. She coughed, an uncomfortable dryness crackling inside her throat. Her eyes fluttered with drowsiness as she looked around. It was dark, but she was able to see most of her surroundings. She noticed that she was no longer on the bed, but instead on the floor. One of her wrists was tied to the heater in Josh's room that was bolted to the ground while the other remained free and limp.

Tears rose to her eyes and quickly fell unto her cheeks.

She began to realize the gravity of her situation as she jerked her wrist that was tied to the heater and felt almost no give at all. She cried out in hopes that the psycho hadn't gotten to her friends yet and they would hear her and come to help her. But, deep down, she knew that no one was coming. She had been out for an unknown amount of time and it was more than likely that the psycho had already attacked her friends and had them tied up just like her — or maybe worse.

Heavy pants rapidly brought her chest up and down, ice-cold panic settling into her veins.

A panic attack rushed through Florence's body like wildfire through a dry forest.

Despite being amidst an attack, she knew that there was no one there to help her through this.

This one, she'd have to get through on her own.

She'd have to get her airway clear by removing the gag in her mouth and pull the neckline of her hoodie away from her throat. She needed room to breathe. Then, she'd have to close her eyes and focus on the way her heartbeat felt inside her chest and the sensation of her breathing. She'd have to simultaneously count and breathe, inhaling and exhaling as calmly as possible in order to slow her heartbeat down.

After doing everything she needed to and repeating the last action at least ten times, she finally began to feel her body deflate. Her heart finally slowed down to a normal pace and her breathing settled.

Florence allowed herself to cry for a minute before collecting herself. Now was the time to pull it together and focus. She wasn't willing to leave her friends defenseless, not when she knew she could get herself out of this somehow.

Not wanting to alert the psycho of her consciousness, she remained as silent as possible in fear of being caught and knocked out again — or worse.

She began tugging at the knots that bound the rope to her wrist. The rough material painfully scratched her skin as she continuously yanked at it, but she bit back the pain and tried her damndest to untie the knots. Each pull resulted in a harsh rub against her reddening skin, but she refused to give up, even after she could see spots of blood decorticating her pristine skin.

With a quiet cry of frustration, she ceased her useless fumbling with the rope and began frantically searching the room for anything she could use to cut through the it. If she couldn't get herself out, she'd have to find another way.

She suddenly remembered that Josh's dad was extremely persistent about Josh keeping a knife on his person at all times because he would never know when he would need it. She recalled the one time that Josh had showed the hunting knife his father had given him that he kept stashed in his nightstand.

Silently thanking Josh, she slowly and cautiously stood up from the ground with her ankles tied.

The rope on her wrist rubbed harshly against her raw skin as she pushed herself as close to the nightstand as she could manage. She grunted in exertion as she moved. Once she began to feel her shoulder beginning to pop, she stopped moving and reached out towards the drawer on the nightstand. Pulling it open, her trembling fingers fumbled around the drawer until she felt cool metal sliding against her fingertips.

"Yes!" She quietly cheered, grabbing onto the knife and pulling it out of the drawer. Shuffling back to the ground, she sat on her knees and opened the knife just like Josh showed her over a year ago. Cutting away at the rope was painful due to her raw skin and nerve wracking due to the close proximity between the blade and her skin, but she managed to cut herself free.

"Okay, okay." She mumbled to herself as an encouragement.

Hastily cutting the bounds off of her ankles, she tore the gag off of her neck where it hung like a necklace, leaving it astray on the floor.

Huffing lowly, Florence set the knife aside so she could pull on her snow boots and double knot them. She shoved her arms into her parka and picked the knife back up. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped it as tightly as she could, readying herself to use it if need be.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and quickly looked at the time: twelve fifteen.

With one last slow exhale, Florence silently exited the bedroom and prepared herself to save her friends.

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