CHAOS THEORY.
BLACKWOOD MOUNTAIN.

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September 2014

Willow tapped her pencil against the front of her laptop, pursing her lips as she flipped through the book propped up against the screen.

Sighing, Willow pulled the book off the laptop and closed it as she put it aside. Yeah, there was no new information about the history of Blackwood Mountain in it that she hadn't already found. Her professor wanted them to use old texts and only google things if they couldn't find anything else on the topic.

"Guess it's time to google." Willow mumbled, sitting up straight and pulling the laptop to the edge of the table in the campus library.

Typing blackwood mountain history into the search bar, Willow knew she was likely not to find much outside of articles detailing the Washington's purchase of the home, but she was hoping for something. Scrolling down the first page, and unbothered to go to the second page, Willow rolled her eyes and refined the search.

Granted, she expected the first page to be full of stuff about the Washington's and the twins disappearance, but Willow could hope something else was note worthy about the damn mountain considering how much she had to beg her professor to let her do her paper on the damn place because of it's importance to her.

At least she had gone to talk to the woman in her office hours rather than telling the entire history class that she, in fact, was friends with the daughters of the Hollywood mogul that had gone missing earlier that year.

Adding prior to 1997 to her search, Willow stared blankly at the screen as it reloaded.

Willow scrolled and scanned, almost ready to just give up work for the day and pick it back up again tomorrow since she still had two more weeks to get all of her sources underway, until the last link on the first page caught her eye.

An old newspaper article, that the company probably uploaded online to keep up to date with the rise of technology, was dated from the 50's. Curious, she clicked it.

THE ALBERTA POST
9th January, 1952
REPORTER ASSAULTED ON BLACKWOOD MOUNTAIN

BLACKWOOD PINES, AB ─ A reporter from Alberta Bugle was assaulted and hospitalized yesterday by security personnel at the Blackwood Sanatorium. Chuck Bernstein, a senior news reporter, was seeking an interview with the miners dramatically rescued on Tuesday.

Willow furrowed her brows. Miners?

The men had been trapped underground for over three weeks after a structural collapse at the North West Mine in December and are now being treated at Blackwood Sanatorium for malnutrition and trauma.

Jefferson Bragg, sole proprietor of both the North West Mining Company and the Blackwood Sanatorium, told the Bugle yesterday that the incident was "unfortunate". And that "a full internal enquiry had been launched." He also claimed that Bernstein had been "trespassing on Sanatorium grounds without permission."

It is believed that the assault arose from an argument about Bernstein's camera which was confiscated immediately prior to the attack.

Willow froze. Memories of the search parties the following weeks after that night in February flashed in her mind. They never once went anywhere near mines nor even heard about mines in the mountain.

The sanatorium, yeah, the police sent men to check the grounds there, but mines?

Willow didn't remember any mines and she had joined every search party she was allowed to.

● ● ●

February 2015

Biting her lip, Willow looked up at the sign over her head. Blackwood Pines.

Part of her just couldn't believe that she was back. Another part was anxious to actually be on the mountain again. And a different part of her was glad to be invited back. It made things a whole lot easier on her end, it was just a matter of planning.

"Good luck." Harley mumbled from beside her, putting a hand on Willow's shoulder. "Don't forget to check in with me through the satellite phone every now and then, please. I am so not doing the whole damn project on my own this semester."

Willow snorted. "Oh please, I already did my half. Stop being lazy and just finish yours. It won't take long. But relax, I'm not going to get lost. I'll be fine."

"And those tend to be famous last words." Harley pointed out.

Willow narrowed her eyes, glaring up at the boy. "Harley, sweetheart, stop watching so many damn horror movies."

"No." Harley smiled, tucking his hands into his jean pockets. "But I am going to get back in the car now and leave you to fend for yourself with your high school friends."

He pulled Willow into a hug, squeezing her tight. Willow let him, knowing he truly was just worried about her well-being.

"I promise to check in with you every three hours if I can, depending on how things go I might miss a check-in or two." Willow said, her voice muffled by his jacket before he pulled back from the hug. "And I expect you back here at the exact time I told you to pick me back up."

"Yes ma'am." Harley smiled his crooked smile at her that made most girls swoon. If only they realized they weren't his type.

Willow glanced back up the dark path again, sighing as Harley walked to his car door. She glanced at him, smiling softly as he climbed into the car, giving her a small wave. Willow gave one back as he started the car up, driving off slowly. Once Willow knew he was out of sight and that there was no way to opt out of her plan now, she squared her shoulders and gripped the straps of the hiking pack she was wearing.

Walking to where she knew the main gate was, Willow kept glancing around the woods. It had always seemed creepier at night and she was starting to resent Josh for telling them all to show up at night, but then again, most of them had shit to do during the day anyway.

Seeing the closed gate, Willow notices a note attached to the middle. Grabbing it, she read it and groaned.

Of course it has to be busted.

Willow glanced at the gate as she took a few steps back. She wouldn't be able to climb that, not with how little support it had for her to step on. Her head swung side to side, trying to figure out the easiest and quickest way to climb over.

The rock wall to the left looked better to climb than the right side did.

Willow sighed, happy that she was wearing clothes meant for this kind of shit. Between her khaki cargo pants, which weren't the best option but she'd rather wear them with how warm they kept her than anything else, the wool leggings she was wearing underneath to keep herself insulated in the cold, her hiking boots, and the thick long sleeve shirt she was wearing under her windbreaker, Willow knew it would be a while before the cold started getting to her.

Climbing up the wall, Willow sat on the top as she swung her legs over to hang over the other side.

This is going to hurt, Willow told herself. Hopefully the boots take most of the impact.

Willow pushed herself off, bending her knees as she landed on her feet. The slight sting appeared, but faded not long after she started walking forward again.

The trail up to the cable car station wasn't a long one, but an object caught her eye. Leaning down, Willow felt like she knew what it was, but couldn't think of the name of the object as she picked it up and turned it over.

GUIDANCE TOTEM
found by Willow on the trail to the Cable Car

Willow was running in the mines from something, slowing down as she was given the option to either continue running ahead or hide. Willow hesitated before hiding behind some wood, closing her eyes tightly as whatever had been chasing her arrived in the area, snarling.

Keeping her eyes shut, Willow stayed as still as possible. She didn't want to catch it's attention, not even to look at whatever it was.

It let out a screech before Willow heard the sounds of it scurrying away once more.

Willow hummed, putting the object back down.

Wonder what that's here for, Willow thought to herself.

Continuing to the cable car station, Willow kicked her boots in the snow. She was hoping someone else was going to be at the station so she didn't have to walk the entire way up to the Lodge alone. Maybe Matt and Emily were already here and not that far ahead of her.

Willow reached the cable car station, letting out a sigh of relief. At least she could sit for a bit on the car once it arrived, which it looked like it hadn't yet.

The sound of voices caught her attention.

Walking around the side of the station to where the voices were coming from, she noticed a posted on the side.

Victor Milgram.

Willow furrowed her brows. Did she come across a Victor Milgram at all during her research? She couldn't remember. Ignoring it, she rounded the corner, leaning against said corner as she watched Chris shoot something.

"Nice shot." Willow called out, causing the two to jump before turning and looking at her.

"Don't fucking do that, Willow." Chris glared at her for a moment.

She shrugged, "Couldn't help it. You guys made it too easy to scare you just then."

A familiar metal-on-metal sound filled the air as Chris lined up the rifle to shoot again. Willow shrugged as Sam looked at her like is he really going to continue shooting?

"Hey, sharp-shooter," Sam looked at him as she started walking toward Willow, "our ride is coming."

Chris lowers the rifle, turning to Sam, "Wait, I'm just getting the hang of this."

"Come on, hotshot, let's go." Willow gestured for him to follow her and Sam back around the building so that they could get in the cable car.

Willow and Sam shared a smile as they walked ahead of Chris and back around the building to the door. Willow found the silence of being with people calming, until Chris opened his mouth and ruined it.

"Man, it is definitely weird coming back up here after a whole year."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "I swear, the moment I got here it all just came flooding back."

They looked at Willow, who kept her face blank. "Time flies guys, you never realize how long ago things are until it's already a year or more since it happened."

Stepping onto the porch of the station, Willow ignored the look the two blondes shared as they walked slowly toward the door.

"Must be really hard on Josh.." Sam trailed off, worried.

Willow nodded in agreement. The poor guy already struggled with a lot and being asleep while his sisters went missing had to mess him up even more. But, the two blondes had always been closer to the oldest Washington child than she was.

"I don't know how he keeps it together." Chris mentioned. "I mean, I'd be a wreck.."

"Well we're all just gonna have to keep an eye on him. He must be going through so much and he seems like the kind of guy who's not going to just ask for help, you know?"

"Yeah." Chris said softly.

Sam tried the door of the station, only for it not to budge.

"Hey, that's weird. The door's locked."

Chris nodded, "Yeah. Josh wanted us to keep it locked, keep people out."

Willow raised a brow, looking at Chris. "What people?"

"I dunno, he said they found people sleeping in the station one time." Chris shrugged it off, pulling out a key.

Sam mumbled something about it being creepy, but Willow could only think about how maybe the person, or people, were just homeless and wanted a place warm to sleep for once. Besides, the damn mountain is freezing, even in the day, during the winter months. She wasn't going to blame someone for breaking in just to get some nice sleep.

Chris unlocked the door, holding it open for the two girls.

"After you."

Sam smiled up at him, teasing, "A real gentleman."

Willow followed Sam into the station, Chris closing the door behind him. Willow glanced around as Sam checked on the car. A poster for the sanatorium lined one of the walls, old and faded, but still readable. She rolled her eyes.

"I thought the car was closer." Sam groaned.

Willow shrugged. She didn't mind waiting. Maybe she was trying to stall, but hey, that was fine. She moved to stand by Sam.

"At least we're inside instead of waiting in the cold."

"I'm starting to get the appeal of killing time at the shooting range." Sam looked at Willow. "How long is this gonna take?"

Willow grimaced, glancing up the cable lines. "I mean, it is a big mountain, babes."

This had to be the most impatient Willow had ever seen Sam.

"Yeah," Sam breathed out, "It's so beautiful in the day, but at night it just feels menacing, like a sleeping giant."

"You gonna publish?" Chris asked.

Sam gave a him a look, "What?"

"Your pretty poem, The Sleeping Giant of Blackwood Forest."

Sam shook her head, "Oh shut up."

Willow crossed her arms, ignoring the pack digging into her multiple layers. She picked at the gloves on her hands. They weren't much for warmth, but Willow would rather wear comfortable gloves than ones that irritated her.

Chris stepped back up into the control room for a moment, looking around.

"What a crazy place to set up house." Chris said to himself, but Sam and Willow still heard him. "No matter how rich you are."

"They're not so rich, they only bought a mountain." Sam said.

Chris rejoined them as the cable car finally approached them in the station.

"Finally," Sam cheered, looking at Chris as she climbed in after Willow, "You coming?"

"Well," Chris dragged, "I was gonna stay here and catch some Zs, but okay."

Willow sat opposite of the two, crossing one leg over the other as the car started up. She tuned out the conversation the two seemed to be having, looking out the windows of the car, which were heavily distorted due to the grim covering them.

It wasn't a surprise. She was sure the Washington's didn't really come up here anymore since Hannah and Beth disappeared from here. It would just be a reminder of their daughters. And Josh didn't care enough to clean everything, especially by himself just for a weekend getaway with friends.

Chris asked, "Hey, Will, do you?"

"Do I what?" Willow turned to look at them.

"Do you know how Josh and I met?"

Willow furrowed her brows. "No?"

"We're in the same boat then." Sam laughed, looking at Willow.

Chris grabbed both of their attentions, "Okay, third grade. Josh sat in the back of the room, I sat in the front. We didn't even know each other existed. But, the kid sitting next to Josh started strap snapping the training bra on the girl in front of him, so the teacher made him move to the front, where I was sitting."

"Okay, so?" Sam asked, looking as confused as Willow felt.

"So, I got moved to the back."

Willow deadpanned, "And?"

Chris gave her a look, "And next to Josh! That's how we met. And became friends to this day."

"A match made in heaven," Sam said sarcastically.

"If it weren't for the fact that Jeanie Simmonds hit puberty like, three years early and on that day decided to wear a low-cute shirt that showed off her training bra, I mean who knows? You could be riding in this cable car just as you two right now or talking to some other person entirely."

He clapped, "Boom, butterfly effect."