six_word_stories | (no subject)

Yeah.

Me too.

I'm sorry. I really really am. We should have gone after your sisters- maybe then none of this would have happened.

[She'll leave her worries about what if Chris chose her to get sawed instead. That can wait. Even if Josh really sucks right now.]

It wouldn't have saved Beth, but it might have prevented everything else.

[Josh might have even been banking on picking a fight. He's a bit on the backfoot at being apologized to. This isn't how the script goes.

He's the bad guy, right? He chose to do that when he set them all up. Even if he never wanted to really hurt them. Even if there's no way Chris could have hurt Ashley no matter what he chose. it's still emotional and psychological trauma. It's still not okay.]

I'm sorry I freaked out and punched you.

[She doesn't look like it's left a mark, even if he's sporting a large scar on his shoulder from those shears of hers.]

[he is, but aren't they, too? They set Hannah up for a stupid joke and Beth got hurt in the process. They've all suffered.

Ashley shifts from one foot to the other.] I'm... not really sorry about your shoulder? I am, but I'm not sorry I defended myself. [Way to go Ash, way to make sense.]

I guess we all majorly fucked up. Big time.

Hey man, guys don't gotta worry about bikini bods.

[Besides, physical pain was one of the things that brought him back to reality. Even if for only a moment. How much worse would it have been if he'd stayed drowning in the character he'd made for himself with his senses blinded to the reality of the situation?]

Better me than one of you.

[He never ever meant for any of them to actually get hurt. Physically, at least. He still doesn't see the problem with the scares and emotional duress he put them through. Then again, Josh has a pretty fucked up mental state. It's hard for him to determine what's 'too much'.]

I...gotta ask. I've got different answers depending on who I meet. Did...did you all make it? Did you know I did too?

At least it's a cool story. If you leave out the specifics...

[She'd always been the imaginative one, but she could just see Josh bragging to some girl about how a friend of his once stabbed him because he tried to play a joke on her and she reacted poorly. Leaving out the part about thinking he'd been sawed in half and the whole psycho killer thing and it was a good story.

Maybe she'd tell it, after all of the therapy she's going to need.

They shouldn't have left him outside. Just tied him up with them so they could keep an eye on him. They'd been scared, and they'd had every right to be. But it wasn't Josh's fault that the wendigos attacked them]

Different answers? What do you mean?

I talked to Chris once. H...he said he was the only one who made it. But I talked to him again later, and he changed his story. Said that Emily was dead, but everyone else was fine.

[Josh shakes his head, clearly troubled by the conflicting stories he's received.]

But then I saw Emily, and...listen, no one's story has matched up in any way except for one. They all thought I was dead.

[That's really a lot to drop on a person all at once. Other versions, different stories- none of them lined up with her version of events.]

...Then you're not gonna wanna hear what I have to say. Oh, Josh- [Is it okay if she hugs him? She wants to hug him- she'd thought he was dead twice now, and scaring the shit out of her aside? He was a friend and they owed it to Beth and Hannah to look out for him.

Ashley hesitates to move, because on the other hand, he scared the shit out of her.]

Matt didn't make it. And I know I heard Jess in the mines. But- you didn't make it, either.

[If only they'd believed him, or let him into the house and locked him up somewhere away from them until dawn. If only, if only, if only.]

Doesn't that freak you out? You know what that means, right? None of us...like you aren't even the Ashley I know, probably.

[Josh drags his hands through his hair, messing up it's slicked back look and letting a few errant waves and curls to break free. He looks like he's going to be sick.]

Matt? But...wh...Matt's like the most fit out of all of us. How'd he get caught? And I--

[Josh knows better. Knows just how close he came to giving in himself. He might have lived, but he shure as shit wouldn't have been human anymore.]

The kinder fate, believe me.

Edited 2017-10-03 01:51 (UTC)

[She shivers at the implications.] I really don't want to think about it right now, but I'm starting to think anything is possible... [But as far as she knew, this was her Josh.]

I don't know- I don't want to know. [Ashley grimaces, nearly having to force down bile.]

No- don't say that. Your parents don't deserve that!

You don't know what they're like, Ahsley. What would have happened if I...

[Josh has to cut himself off. Even the memory of being down in that goddamn hole with the Stranger's body dumped in there as his only company makes him dry heave. How close he came to making the same decision Hannah had.]

Trust me, there's worse fates than death.

[Ashley hesitates, her lower lip jutting out slightly in a pout as she considers.] I'm starting to think you're right.

[In a seldom heard quiet voice,] Me either.

[This is new. Emily unsure, Emily not in control. It's worrying, honestly.]

What's your biggest?

[Aaand up go the defenses again.]

Do you really need me to spell it out for you?

But you were okay. The bite didn't do anything!

[That's what they're talking about, right?]

I know it's like, impossible for you not to be monumentally selfish, but I wasn't thinking about that, you fucking moron.

[HONESTLY wtf.

She's a lot less violently angry when she continues-]

I meant about the prank.

[Ashley purses her lips and frowns. But she's a bit meek when she speaks:]

I thought that was a given.

It was a stupid idea in the first place.

Just because something's a given doesn't mean you stop thinking about what if.

[She rolls her eyes, but mostly to hide the fact that she's actively thinking back to that night. She didn't stop the prank because she was too insecure to let Hannah be Hannah or just go talk to her. Or yell at her, more like. Of all the times for Emily to hide behind her friends, that was the worst one to go with.]

Although, since you brought it up, you know exactly what would've happened if Mike pulled the trigger.

[B i t c h.]

What even made you ask this fucking question.

I do think about it. I think about it a lot.

[Another wince. Maybe Emily should just slap her again and get it over with.] He didn't. I'm sorry. I saw it and- what if those things were like zombies? My nerves were shot-

these aren't good excuses and everything I say is just going to make you hate me more. I'm not... brave like you are.

I just wanted to know. We didn't all sit down and share our experiences. I mean... Chris almost shot me. And almost had me sawed in half... [The gun was filled with blanks but that saw!]

I guess it doesn't matter. You're going to hate me no matter what I say. I probably deserve it.