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❝the disappearance of the
washington twins.❞

FLORENCE STONE AND BETH WASHINGTON SHUFFLED AROUND THE INFAMOUS WASHINGTON LODGE. Cleaning up after a long night of . . . fun. The lodge sat right at the center of Mount Washington, surrounded by the Blackwood Pines. Outside, snow fell unto the already glistening white ground while moonlight shone down from above. It was a beautiful winter night, perfect for a lodge party.

The aftermath of the lodge parties was always the same: empty bottles and cups of various alcoholic beverages strewn about, miscellaneous snacks and wrappers left on countertops and scattered along the floor, music still humming from the expensive speakers the Washington family bought specifically for the lodge, the occasional Polaroid photo — usually taken by Florence, a lover of photographs — lying around to commemorate the night's events. Additionally, Florence and Beth always took the task of cleaning up after their friends when the party was over. That's just who they were.

The lodge parties were something deeply cherished within their large friend group. They were an annual event — had been for years now.

Near the end of every winter, Josh Washington and his twin sisters — Beth and Hannah — would bring the group up to their family's mountain for a weekend getaway. They'd ride the infamous cable car, which had seen many a drunken teenager in its time, up to the lodge with duffel bags in hand. For an entire weekend, the group would close themselves off from the rest of the world and go as wild as they wanted. They'd go skiing, mess around in the snow for hours, play made-up drinking games that occasionally ended in minor injuries, sing and dance around to whatever would blast from Josh's expensive speakers, cook frozen pizzas and eat premade cookies, drink whatever alcohol they'd stashed in their bags, take countless photos, and just have fun.

Reality shifted from the stressors of life and morphed into a safe space for them to just be teenagers and enjoy each other's company when they were at the lodge. It was there that they could slip away from the stress of whatever was going on in their personal lives — there was always something with a group such as theirs — and just let go. The lodge gave them space to breath, to be wild teenagers without consequences for a while.

That is, until their fun came to a harshly abrupt end on the forsaken night of February 2, 2014.

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Whilst Beth and Florence cleaned up the mess their friends left behind from dinner, everyone else was upstairs hatching the prank on Hannah that sparked the beginning of their endless nightmare.

Josh and Chris were passed out on the kitchen island, their heads resting on their arms with drool running down their faces. They had a little too much to drink during dinner and ended up falling asleep the moment everyone else left the table; it was typical of the two of them near the end of their trip. They'd get blackout drunk, pass out, and usually become the victims of some humorous pranks played by their clever-when-they-wanted-to-be friends.

"Did you get any acceptance letters yet?" Florence asked Beth, dropping the dirty dishes into the sink to be washed later as she spoke. She pulled a dishrag out of one of the kitchen drawers and got it wet in preparation for cleaning off the table.

Beth sighed, pushing in everyone's chairs. She replied, "I've been stressing about it all weekend. I haven't gotten any responses yet."

As Florence wiped off the table, she offered Beth a comforting smile and said, "I'm sure you got accepted into a bunch of places. The Beth I know doesn't get turned down easily."

Beth sent Florence a grateful smile, appreciating her encouraging affirmation.

Beth then snickered once her gaze fell unto her drunken brother who snored obnoxiously from the island. She joked, "I bet your boyfriend over here doesn't even remember where he applied."

Florence's jaw fell in mock surprise, knowing all-too-well that her boyfriend had let go when it came to the end of his high school career. He had graduated a year prior, along with the rest of their friends. After applying for a few collages, he let go and decided that he didn't want to worry about whether or not he got any responses. All he wanted to do was enjoy his newfound, post-graduation freedom for a year before going to college — just like everyone else.

"I hate to say it, but you're probably right." Florence chuckled, tossing the rag onto the counter before joining Beth at the island.

However, once Florence reached Beth, the latter's curious gaze had risen to the window where she saw someone moving through the tree line in front of the cabin. Whoever — or whatever — it was moved out of view too quickly for her to be able to distinguish who — or what — it was, but it sparked her curiosity nonetheless.

"Hey, did you see that?" Beth asked as she pointed to the window where the unfamiliar, strange silhouette lurked in the shadows. Her eyes were squinted in confusion as she spoke.

Florence strained her eyes, but only caught a glimpse of a shadow moving away from the house. With the shake of her head, she replied, "Must be a groundskeeper."

Beth's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she said, "Dad said it'd just be us this weekend."

Florence shrugged, unconcerned. "He probably just forgot to tell you someone would be coming by. They aren't bothering us, anyway."

Beth shrugged it off and walked over to Josh, inspecting the empty bottle of liquor he'd downed a few hours before. "Geez, Josh. Once again, brother, you've outdone us all."

Florence playfully lifted Chris' arm off the island, letting it go midair. It flopped down onto the granite, the deadweight thudding loudly.

"I think they're tied." Florence snickered before going to throw away all of the stray beer cans and red solo cups that lingered on the island. She made a mental reminder to scold her friends for always leaving such a mess for her and Beth to clean.

After tossing everything into the garbage can, Florence's gaze found Beth holding a piece of paper that had been left out on the counter.

"What's that?" Florence asked curiously.

"Get over here." Beth snapped, her tone having lost all of it's playfulness from a moment ago.

Beth sounded upset, worrying Florence.

Florence quickly rushed over to read the note. Her emerald irises skimmed over the wrinkled paper, anger bubbling in her chest as her eyes flitted over the chicken-scratch handwriting.

"Hannah,

You look so damn hot in that shirt. . .

but I bet you're even hotter out of it.

Come to the guest room at 2:00 am.

Mike
XXX"

"Idiot. . ." Florence mumbled, pinching her nose in aggravation.

For the longest time, Hannah had a crush on Mike.

For the duration of her infatuation, he had constantly baited her and flirted with her mindlessly — ultimately leading her on. He toyed with her feelings and made her think that he liked her back, when in reality, all he got out of it was a joke to reprimand her with when she was rejected. His cruel antics were nothing short of what he thought was a good prank that the rest of her friends had obviously excluded her and Beth from; not without good reason.

Beth being Hannah's twin sister and Florence being their shared best friend, they would have shut the prank down and ended their fun.

Unfortunately, Beth and Florence came to that conclusion far too late.

"Oh, my God." Beth scoffed, placing the note down. "What did my naive sister get herself into now?"

Before the girls could do anything, though, they spotted Hannah running outside of the lodge with tears rapidly streaming down her face.

"Oh, my God." Florence gaped, running to the front door alongside Beth who quickly pulled on her coat in an attempt to catch her sister before she could get too far into the snow-covered woods.

Once they swung the door open and were met with nothing but a blast of frigid air and snowflakes that nipped at their exposed faces, they realized they were too late.

The rest of their friends, all calling out for Hannah, came tumbling down the staircase and met up with the girls outside.

Beth and Florence sent each of them angry glares.

"What's going on? Where is my sister going?" Beth snapped.

Jessica groaned. "It's fine. She just can't take a joke."

"It was just a prank, Han!" Emily called out as if it would make Hannah come running back.

"What did you do?!" Florence asked, her eyebrows furrowed in anger. She had grown tired of Mike baiting Hannah and continuing to get her hopes up only to crush her feelings, but he had taken it too far this time.

"We were just messing around, guys." Mike tried to reason feebly. "It wasn't serious."

"You jerks!" Beth yelled, running out into the woods after Hannah. The thick fog that the snowstorm generated immediately enveloped her figure and made it impossible to see her. She'd disappeared like she was never out there to begin with.

Florence turned to her friends, a disgusted expression painted on her face. "You guys are assholes. What is wrong with you?"

"It was just a prank, Flo! Chill out." Matt suggested, although Florence simply scoffed and dismissed him.

"So, should we go after her?" Mike asked with uncertainty, rubbing the back of his neck. He'd never meant for the prank to go this far but now the humor of the situation was gone and had since faded into stress and worry. His decision to play along with the prank Jessica and Emily originally hatched and presented to the group was very quickly becoming a painful sense of regret.

Sam scoffed in disbelief as she snapped, "You know, I kinda think you're the last person she wants to see right now, Mike."

Everyone waited in a bitter bout of silence for Beth and Hannah to return from the fog of the harsh snowfall, but as the minutes drew on and they didn't hear nor see anything, they began to grow immensely worried. There was nothing but frigid air that stung their cheeks and painful silence that rung their ears.

None of them had any idea that what started as a simple prank would set off a butterfly effect that haunted them for the rest of their lives.

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