Doses of Horror

Snowy Escape (Part 2)

***Final Part***

10:00pm
December 31st

It became dark quickly earlier in the day, as it does up north during the colder months. The group had hit the slopes all day again today. For their final round, they unanimously decided to go off the main lightened slopes and head into the forest to test their skills going through the trees before going back to the cabin to celebrate New Year's.

"Guys, this probably isn't a great idea. It's pretty much dark outside already, what if we get lost?" Maria stated while sitting in the snow with Reece tightening the bindings on her board.

"Yeah, she might be right," Reece paused what he was doing and looked to the rest of the group.

Steven rolled his eyes, "Don't ruin this because of a scary story, we're doing it."

"We'll be fine, it's just a straight shot downhill. The stories about disappearances is the locals' way to keep tourists from coming here," Xavier finished up putting on his gloves and started to help Amanda with hers.

Brian smirks like he's the smartest man in the world and turns on the flashlight attached to his helmet, "See this thing? We're going to be a-okay!"

"Okay..." Maria complies nervously.

"I won't let anything happen to you," Reece smiles at her as he taps her boot signifying that she's ready to go.

"Is everybody ready?!" Amanda asks everyone excitedly.

"Hell yeah, brother!" Brian claps his hands together with his gloves causing a muffled clap sound.

Brian was the first to head down the mountain on his skis, leading the way through the dark with his flashlight. Xavier, Steven and Amanda were next pushing off their poles to follow. Reece and Maria were the only ones on snowboards, and since she's new to the whole thing, they went last together.

The snow surrounding them had muffled any sounds that might be going on around them, leaving them in complete silence. Maria was struggling to keep up and Reece was right there beside her to help her. At one point, Maria fell and Reece stopped to help her up and they lost the rest of the group.

"Ugh, I'm sorry, I'm so bad at this," Maria took his hands and stood up.

"No, it's okay! We're just having fun, right?" Reece smiled.

"Yeah, we are," Maria smiled back.

Reece smiled, and he began to lean in. Maria closed her eyes and his lips touched hers.

11:45pm
The Forest

In the middle of having their moment, they heard a very silent, female scream in the distance. The both of them stopped and looked in the direction of the scream, downhill. They looked back at each other and Maria's face was covered in fear.

"Wha- what was that?" Maria started to shake.

"I don't know, but it kinda sounded like Amanda, we should go check it out," Reece grabbed her hands and they slowly went down together.

As they were making their way down, sounds of snow falling, branches breaking and the quietness was eerie. Each sound made Maria look in every direction cautiously. It was pitch black at this point and seeing where they were seemed impossible. The further down they got, Reece paused and his eyes widened.