butterfly effect. until dawn x reader

13. resolution

We took a minute to catch our breaths but shortly continued walking through the mines. I was certain of one thing; I absolutely did not want to be down here again. My brain raced with thoughts about Matt and Emily, where was Matt? Did he make it out? 

"Nothing could have prepared me for how ugly that thing would be up close." Sam said breathlessly. 

"I noticed something weird about it."

I looked over at him quizzically. "What's weird?"

"Well, one of them had a scar on it's face. I've seen it before on the face of some guy in old pictures of miners. I think they got trapped down here and ate each other."

"God, that's awful. That means these things have got to be well over 80 years at least."

"I know. They cleaned the sanatorium out and killed so many people."

"How many?" I asked.

"Too many," Mike said, he was obviously disturbed by the history of the asylum. "I think we are close."

"How can you tell?" Sam asked. 

"Just an awful feeling all of a sudden."

After that, we stayed quiet, cautiously approaching the lair. The space was huge. There was a body of water beneath our feet, our only way to keep going. I looked around a little bit, hoping to find something useful to us or to tell us what the fuck was going on down here. Sam picked up a book that was laying on the floor. I stopped at a wooden cross that had collapsed. I picked it up to see 'Beth' carved into the wood. Underneath it was a watch. I instantly recognized it. It was Beth's watch. 

"She died down here, I said, devastated. It was then I noticed that the grave had obviously been dug up and I felt my stomach churn. "But who dug her up?" 

"Guys, you need to see this." Sam looked horrified, and she handed me the book which I discovered was actually a journal.

I read through the pages, growing more and more sickened. I reached the third page and began to read the words aloud. ""I'm sorry Beth... I have no choice. It's the only way I can survive anymore. If someone finds this, I'm sorry. I had to... I had no choice."

"What...what does that even mean?" Mike said, shocked.

"Oh my God." Sam was speechless.

I felt tears build up instantly. My throat felt tight. "Hannah dug her up. She ate her! She ate her own sister," I began to cry. I already caused so much pain and suffering, but knowing Beth and Hannah's fate only seemed to make me feel even worse. "God, this is all my fault!" 

Mike grabbed me by the shoulders. "Focus. We can't change what happened. We need to find Josh and get the hell out of here."

I looked at him, soft cries escaping my lips as we one by one readied ourselves on the small ledge overseeing the body of water and jumping in. It was freezing and I couldn't feel my fingers. The new discovery was heavy on my mind. But I couldn't hyper fixate on that now. Mike was right. We need to find Josh. We waded through the dark, cold water until we reached the other side of the lake. We jumped up on the ledge. There was a metal door in front of us. "Oh God, what now?"

"Come on, Mike, help me open this," Sam said. "We're close. I can feel it."

They turned the rusty handle twice before it opened, and as soon as it did the head of Jessica rolled out in a pool of water. I clasped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming, and I took a shocked step backward. Sam looked in the room in front of us and for once, I saw her falter. She looked stunned. I hesitantly looked in the room to see the body of our friends hanging from the ceiling on hooks. I fell to the ground, landing on my ass. 

Sam took a step back in shock. "I don't wanna go," she said, her voice trembling. "I don't know how much more I can take."

Mike stared at Jessica's head before turning around and throwing up. "We can't stay here."

I stood on shaky legs and grabbed Sam's hand. We all silently moved forward through the room containing the corpses of Emily, Ashley, Chris, Matt, and the man from the mines earlier. We huddled together, keeping our heads down as not to see the carnage again. 

"Do you guys hear that?" Mike said.

"What?" I asked, peering through wooden boards to see what Mike was talking about.

"Is that..."

"Josh." I said, with a breath of relief. Even after all of this, I was so glad to know he was okay. We moved the boards out of the way and approached Josh only to realize he was rambling to himself about something. We couldn't understand any of it, and that scared me. I remembered when Josh opened up to me about the voices in his head. 'Is that why he did all of this?'

"What's the matter with him, Mike?" Sam asked.

"He tripping or something, I don't know," Mike responded hesitantly. "Josh, hey buddy?" He slowly approached him, grabbing a hold of his arms. Josh was still unresponsive to Mike's touch. Suddenly, Mike slapped Josh across the face , effectively snapping Josh out of it. I flinched in response.

Josh looked at Mike with fear. "Please...d-don't hit me." 

"I'm sorry man, but were scaring us. I mean, you were really in deep, man."

"We didn't think we'd get you back." Sam said, concerned. 

I stepped forward. "Josh, do you have the keys to the cable car?" 

He still looked disoriented but he reached in his back pocket, pulling out the cable car key and handed it to Sam. "Yeah, uh, here."

"Thank you Josh," She let out a sigh of relief. She looked up at the wall besides us. "See the light coming in through there? That means there is a direct way out."

I looked at Josh. "There's no way he's making it up there, Sam."

Sam thought for a moment. "Okay, Mike if you boost me up there and see if there's anyone left. You guys bring Josh back the way we came and meet me at the lodge."

I stood by Josh while Mike gave Sam a boost up the wall. I examined his face. He looked almost like he was in a trance. He was swaying slightly as he stood, almost like he was struggling to stand. We both stood on each side of Josh, providing support him to move. We approached the room that had our friend's dead bodies and I knew it wasn't a good idea to bring Josh through here with his state but we had no choice. As we entered the room, I put my head against Josh's arm so I didn't have to look at them again and covered Josh's eyes as we walked through. We made it out of the room and mentally prepared ourselves to get back in the cold water. 

I stood in front of Josh, still holding onto his arm. "Okay, Josh. Now we need to get in the water and walk to the little piece of land over there. You see it?" I pointed to the other side of the lake. He nodded. "Okay good. The water is a little cold, but we just have to make it to other side."

Mike hopped in first, then Josh, then me. We started to make our way back, but Mike stopped in his tracks. "Whoa, what was th-" before he could finish his sentence, he was abruptly dragged under the water. 

I quickly swam away. "Josh follow me!" I hid behind a large rock. I looked beside me only to realize Josh wasn't there. Horrified, I turned back to look where Mike had been attacked. The wendigo was in the water, towering over Josh.

"No! NO! YOU'RE NOT REAL," He screamed at the monster. His eyes diverted from the monster's face to it's arm. It was then I saw the butterfly tattoo on it's shoulder. The same as Hannah's. "HANNAH!" It grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began to drag him through the water and in the direction of it's lair. 

I stepped forward quickly to go after him, but was stopped by a pair of hands covering my mouth and keeping me in place but wrapping his arms around me. "We have to go, (Y/N)." Mike whispered in my ear.  He pulled me away from the rock and back onto the ledge. I cried, begging him to let me go get him. Mike didn't respond but his face showed how devastated he was. 

After I had calmed down, we stood up and he convinced me to head back to the lodge to meet up with Sam. I agreed reluctantly.