In the Dark

C H A P T E R | S I X

Night fell.

I yawned and rubbed at my eyes every few minutes. Heavy eyelids, body ached, and the longing to get off this mountain washed over me.

Everyone gathered in the living room, eating mac and cheese in silence. The noise of forks grinding against teeth grew louder. The tension between the group yanked the air out of my lungs.

Why wasn't anyone talking?

There's nothing to talk about, I thought. What do you want them to do? Sing songs around a campfire?

When everyone finished eating, the eyes and expressions of awkward glances came into play.

"What's happened to us?" The words came out harsh, and every look I got came at me like daggers. I knew my next words would be worse, especially since I felt the same as they did. But I had to say them anyway. "Look, I didn't want to be here anyway. Caden dragged me here. I'm sorry you were dragged here, too. But that's not my fault."

Caden, about to respond, narrowed his eyes at me. But I spoke first.

"And no, Caden. It's not your fault either." His gaze softened as he took a deep breath. "I know the answer to why we're all quiet. And I know that this isn't—"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" Piper spoke up. I turned my attention toward her. She sat on the floor, her plate of mac and cheese beside her. She only ate half of it. "Stop doin' that! We don't fuckin' care! Kirsty is fuckin' gone and our life is fuckin' over! We're gonna fuckin' die up here and no one will fuckin' know 'bout it! So stop fuckin' thinkin' that we're gonna be fuckin' saved and have a great fuckin' holiday!" She stood, leaving her plate on the floor, and stormed off upstairs.

Nothing I could say would change anything. But it didn't matter. Even though I didn't want to admit it, I agreed with her. I shouldn't be acting as if everything was going to be fine when it wasn't.

"At least you tried," said Tori, her voice weak and cracked. She got up from the floor—as she was sitting next to Piper—and took both plates in her hands. "Well, I hope this is an intermission on the drama. I gotta pee." Tori walked over to the kitchen, placed the plates in the sink, and left for the bathroom down the hall.

Okay?

"She's right, you know." Freyja crossed her arms. She sat next to me, keeping her plate on her lap.

"Who's right?" I said, now confused.

"Piper. I'm talkin' about her. You're acting like everything is—"

"I'm not, though. At least, I'm not trying to anyway. I hate this situation more than anyone else knows. I didn't even want to come here."

"I'm sorry, 'K?" Caden's voice rose as if in attack-mode. "I didn't know about this—"

"And I know—we know—that you didn't mean for any of this to happen." Was there a way I could reassure him? I didn't mean to sound like a douche. I knew he meant well but coming here was a mistake. At least, with the bad timing.

"I just wanted everything to go back to the way things used to be! We used to have so much fun here! Now? Now, it's like a ghost town . . . nothin' feels right, everythin' is going to shit, and we're stuck up here!"

"Caden," I whispered, "it's okay." Would it be weird to hug him? I wanted to, but something inside me refused to hug him. His red, puffy eyes watered while his nose became stuffy.

"This isn't your fault." Freyja gave him a small, sad smile.

"No one would've known, dude. And if we did, we wouldn't have come up here anyway." Nick stood, walking over to him. He leaned over, grasped Caden's shoulder, shook it, and then gave it a pat. Nick's mouth opened, then closed. He gave a small smile and walked out of the room.

"Whatever." Caden shook his head, pushed himself off the sofa, and left the living room, too.

"And then there was five . . ." Abigale joked, her eyebrows moving upward. The room fell silent due to her dry humor.

Paris stood and left for the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the shelf and getting some water from the faucet.

"Hey, Paris?" Sam said, looking at her with pure curiosity.

She held up a finger, chugging the water down her throat. When she was finished, she looked up at Sam, still sitting on the sofa.

"Can you look in the cupboards to see if we have any more food?"

She nodded, pursing her lips. Paris took her time to stroll around the corners of the kitchen, dancing around the island and reaching for the cabinets. At the end, she said, "We have some, but not enough to last us."

"How much do you think we have? You know, for future references," I said, standing with my empty plate in my hands.

"At least enough for two days, I'm guessing?"

That's exactly what I'm afraid to hear. They brought enough food for a few days at the maximum, so of course, we wouldn't have much left to get through New Year.

Tori made her way back to the living room and sat by the Christmas tree, staring at it with a solemn look.

While I continued thinking about other ideas we could do, a thought struck my mind. My father stalked up the basement with canned foods for "just in case" emergencies. I remembered my mother calling it insane, though my father believed that someday, we could've gotten stuck up here, so he wanted to feel prepared.

If only he hadn't cursed it.

"Okay," I said, "I think we have more food downstairs? You can check to see what we can use?"

"That makes me feel better," she said as she placed a hand on her chest. "I'll get tomorrow's dinner."

"Nah, I got it. It needs to be good, and not something as generic as beans." Sam stood and walked over to the hallway, waving her off.

"No, Sam." Paris went over to stop him, standing toe-to-toe with him. "I got this. Besides, I'm the one cookin' tomorrow, so I get to choose!" Her grin spread across her face.

Sam shook his head in defeat and said, "Okay. Fine. Go right ahead."

The rest of the gang who didn't leave—which included Sam, Freyja, Tori, and Abigale, as well as Paris—stayed in the quiet room. With exhaustion overwhelming my body, I made my way up the stairs, down the hall, and in front of my bedroom door. Before touching the knob, a few harsh thuds echoed throughout the house. Screams pierced my ears for a moment until the silence filled the air again.