send me a ✿ and i’ll generate a number.|| 66. ‘’I thought I’d never see you again” hug
One by one, they’d moved from the waiting room to interrogation, and eventually it was just Ashley and the cop at the front desk, who’d attempt small talk every so often, though Ash never said a word in response.
She had a black eye, her cheek was caked in blood, a bruise was forming on her shoulder where Em had shoved her into the door, a million cuts and scrapes littered her body, she was certain she had a concussion, and exhaustion had long since set in.
But she barely felt any of it.
Replaying the events of the night over and over in her head, there was really only one thing she was worried about.
Her friends. How they were. How their interrogations were going. If Jess had finished and been sent to the hospital yet, if Mike was finally getting medical attention for his fingers, if Chris was holding up okay.
She was angry with him. Dear God, she was angry. He’d put her through hell. But seeing his “body”, believing he was dead, that had hurt far worse than his betrayal. Fucked up prank or not, he was one of her best friends.
And he hadn’t been standing with the others in front of the lodge as it burned, he hadn’t been picked up with them. Mike had told their rescuers where Josh had been seen last, and they promised to find him.
But with each passing minute (and each passing “I’m sure the detective will call you in shortly” from the man at the desk), Ashley was losing more and more hope. After all, Josh had last been seen in the same mines his sister had been trapped in. And since they’d never found Hannah…
She sighed, looking down at her fingernails and scraping dirt off them. A weak distraction.
A door opened, and Ashley glanced up towards the desk, expecting a detective there to bring her in for questioning, but it had been the front door of the station.
She turned her head, to see one of the people responsible for her rescue, with a sullen looking boy in overalls in tow.
Ash didn’t think. She didn’t need to. She stood from the uncomfortable plastic chair and pushed past their rescuer to throw her arms around Josh, squeezing him tight.
He smelled like sweat and dirt and blood but she was sure she did, too. It didn’t matter. In that moment, nothing did. Not the prank, not the Wendigos, not anything. He was alive. They all were.
After a moment of hesitation, Ashley felt his arms wrap around her and she sighed, tears welling in her eyes.
She nestled into his chest, his heartbeat reminding her that this was what’s important, tears dampening his clothes.
“Thank God you’re okay. I was so worried,” she murmured, still holding onto him for dear life.
They stayed like that for a while, two damaged souls, two exhausted kids, unsure of what to say to each other after everything.
A throat clearing caught Ashley’s attention, and she loosened her grip to look at the source: the detective, here to get her for questioning. After one last hard squeeze, she reluctantly let go of Josh, as though he might vanish again if she left him.
