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What if the prank wasn't pulled on Hannah...

Until Dawn OC | Josh Washington x Plus-sized!OC Word Count: 5568 | Canon Divergence/What If Scenario

Summary: what if the prank wasn't pulled on Hannah, but on Chris' little sister instead? His sister who has a massive crush on Josh...

A/N: I suck at summaries, just btw. This is also my first time writing for Until Dawn in a very long time, so I hope I did good on this and I hope you enjoy. Leave me with your thoughts, please. Comments are rather encouraging.

No matter how much it snowed, Missy always found the cold nipping at her nose. She was always wrapped up in hats and jackets, but it never seemed to do her any good. So no one, especially herself, was surprised when she decidedly plopped down beside the fireplace. However, it did little to ward off the cold, her plump cheeks still rosy though it had been a few hours since her arrival.

She had brought a book up to the lodge, and though she hadn’t planned on reading it too much, she’d just finished it and regretted not bringing a second one. That was the last time she let her brother talk her out of anything, she vowed to herself. She stood up from the floor and stretched, taking a look around her as she was quick to realize she was alone in the sitting room. Just how long had she been sitting there?

She pushed her dark curls out of her face, flicking them behind so they fell over her back. She moved on to smoothing out her clothes, pulling at her tee shirt in an attempt to make it look flattering against her chubby belly. Though her clothes were comfortable, she sometimes felt a little self conscious about the way her jeans hugged her thighs or how her shirt might be too tight. She sometimes couldn’t help but compare herself to the other girls she hung out with. She wasn’t sporty or model ready like they were.

“Guys?” she called out, voice soft as ever. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there and knew even less about how long she had been left alone. She supposed no one had wanted to bother her while she read, but she would have rather they stopped her and invited her to whatever activity they’d all run off to do without her. “Beth?”

She walked through the lodge in an attempt to find any of her friends, though they all seemed to have disappeared. They could be anywhere in the place, and it was so large she would have a better chance staying right where she was at. It was undoubtedly much more creepy when no one else was around, but Missy pushed that thought away as she wandered into the kitchen, where a little note sat with her name obviously scrawled on it.

‘Missy, your lips are still looking a little cold. Maybe I can help warm them up. Meet me in the cinema room ;) - Josh’

She would have blushed furiously if her cheeks weren’t already apple red. She put the note down as a little smile came onto her face. She couldn’t help but have a huge crush on her best friend’s older brother. Beth had always teased her for it and told her to “just go for it,” but Missy had always fumbled out some excuse as to why she couldn’t do that. She’d never made a move on a guy before and she didn’t know the first thing about flirting, so she’d always felt she fell a little short on the romance end of things. But her heart fluttered at the idea of Josh wanting to warm up her lips.

Making her way to the cinema room, Missy tried to calm her rapidly rising heartbeat. For the entire time she’d known Josh, which was a really long time since he was best friends with her brother, he had never really flirted with her. So she didn’t really know how to respond to it, but her feet got her to the door a lot faster than she had expected. She waved away all her nerves and took a deep breath, pushing open the door.

She smiled as she saw Josh in one of the front row chairs, watching some indie film she couldn’t name. “Hey, Josh.”

He turned and looked at her, giving her that smile that could just make her melt.

She hurried over and took the seat beside him, sitting on her feet and trying to show off her curves. They were alone, bathed in the light of the flashy film, though their attention was barely on it. She watched it, but was leant close to Josh, attempting to act casual. “So what’s this?”

He grinned. “This is a little something I discovered last summer. It’s about this group who tries to prove the existence of monsters, but one of the guys ends up falling in love with this monster chick, and he has to choose between exposing the monsters to human society, who will kill them, or his lover who is this super badass and dangerous siren. It has everything a good movie should have - the action, the drama, the climactic end, and of course a dynamic romance”

“That’s cool,” she said as she watched a little more of the film before looking at him. She couldn’t help but steal a glance at his lips as he watched the screen, before she decided to tease him a little. “I didn’t take you for the romance movie sorta guy.”

“Excuse me,” he scoffed with a laugh. He looked at her, mocking a glare. “It’s a monster movie.”

She laughed, shrugging with a little smile. “Same difference.”

He kept his eyes on her as she bit her lip, trying to contain her smile. She started leaning into him and he reared back, eyes widening. “Whoa! What are you doing?”

She pulled back, smile dropping almost instantly. “I’m sorry, I thought- your note was-”

“Note? What note?” he asked, looking at her a little flushed and really confused.

Her head tilted, a panicked look flashing over her features before hurt took over.

“Oh, my god. She actually went for it,” someone whispered a little too loudly. Both Missy and Josh looked behind them, seeing a few heads peeking over a row of seats behind them.

“Em?” Missy asked, voice cracking. She felt like someone had just hollowed her chest and she couldn’t breath. She stood up, gaping at Emily and Jessica as they poked their heads up, laughing. Matt and Ashley came out of their hiding places beside them, Matt holding up his phone recording her. Realization dawned on Missy as overwhelming embarrassment overcame her face. “Oh my god!”

The door behind her opened and she looked over, seeing Sam coming over to her. “Missy, hey, don’t get upset.”

Missy shook her head, the tears already in her eyes. She pushed past Sam and ran out of the room, unable to hold back her cries.

“It’s just a stupid prank,” Sam let out lamely as she watched her leave. She turned to the group of pranksters hotly, barely taking note of Josh’s dumbstruck expression as he stood among them. “You guys are jerks! You know that?”

“What just happened?” Josh asked, still trying to process everything. Sam looked at him with sympathy as they all knew Josh was more thoughtful than to pull a cruel prank like the ones their friends had put together. He hurried to the door to follow Missy out, not entirely sure on what to say. “Miss, wait!”

Missy didn’t care where she went, letting her feet carry her out of the lodge and into the storm as she cried. The others followed, calling out to her, but she didn’t stop or turn around. She didn’t acknowledge them, instead letting their voices get smaller until she couldn’t hear them anymore.

Beth and Hannah came out a moment later, watching her figure disappear into the dark woods. “What’s going on? Where is Missy going?”

“It’s fine, she just can’t take a joke,” Jess said, waving it off.

Josh scoffed. “Well, it wasn’t a funny one, Jess.”

“It was just a prank, Missy!” Emily shouted.

Beth looked at them angrily. “What did you do?”

“We were just messing around, Beth,” Matt said, shrugging a bit, though he looked unconvinced of his own words.

“You guys are jerks!” she yelled before running after her best friend.

“I should go after them,” Josh said as he saw his sister go into the woods.

Sam sighed. “No offense, Josh, but I think you’re the last person Missy wants to see right now.”

He frowned, not taking his eyes off the spot where the girls disappeared. He turned and started ushering the crowd back inside, not the least bit pleased with most of them. Hannah was asking a lot of questions, looking around for her coat to follow after her sister, but Josh would be damned if he was going to let her go out into that storm too.

As they funneled into the kitchen, Chris and Mike were passed out drunk on the counter, and Josh found the note. He read it over before crumpling it up. “Wow, so convincing,” he said in a huff, throwing it toward the trash can, but he missed and it bounced off the side and onto the floor. “I hope you guys are proud of yourselves.”

“Oh, come on,” Emily groaned. “It isn’t like no one saw this coming. It was about time she made her move.

Jess nodded in agreement “We were just giving her a little incentive.”

“Yeah, great incentive. Tricking her into thinking I wanted to make out with her, that’s a great pep talk,” he said, getting angrier by the minute. He had grown up with Missy, and while as kids he had thought of her as nothing more than Chris’ little sister, he’d be lying to himself if he tried to deny how hot she’d become, in brains and body. “Thanks for the heads up, by the way!”

“Josh,” Sam tried to calm him, but she knew there was nothing she could say that could make this better.

Chris and Mike both groaned as the conversation got louder. Chris pulled his head up first, blinking at the light and pushing his glasses up. “What’s with all the yelling?”

“If you hadn’t of freaked out on her, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” Ash added quickly, holding her arm. She looked guilt ridden already, unwilling to look at anyone.

“Oh, so this is all my fault?” Josh scoffed and shook his head. He turned to leave the room and go wait for his sister and Missy to come back. Hannah was right behind him “Unbelievable.”

It was another hour before the door opened and everyone looked over expectant. Chris was still sobering up, though he was totally pissed when he learned about the prank that had been pulled on his sister. The anger didn’t help and he cradled his pounding head while Sam sat with him. Josh hadn’t been able to sit down, feeling bad for his unknowing part in the prank, only hoping that Missy wasn’t mad at him. The room was otherwise divided, with those who had pulled the prank sitting on one side of the room and those who hadn’t on the other.

Beth walked in alone, looking at everybody, more than a little upset. Her nose and cheeks were flushed from the cold and she was lightly shivering. She looked at Josh shaking her head. “I couldn’t find her.”

Chris looked up as he heard this, his face twisting up in anger and worry. “What do you mean you couldn’t find her?”

Beth was led closer to the fire by her brother and joined by her sister, who hugged her tightly. “I mean I couldn’t find her. It’s like a maze out there. I followed her trail for as long as I could, but the storm-” She reached into her jacket. “All I found was this.”

She produced Missy’s purple knit beanie, the one she never took off because she swore it was the best thing ever. It kept her ears warm and she never left the house without it in the winter. It was a little damp from the snow, but otherwise it looked normal.

Chris stood up and took it from Beth, staring at it as he wondered how this was the only thing of his sister they had now.

Beth continued. “The snow just kept falling and I lost her trail, then I found her hat and I thought I was finally onto something and then-”

She stopped suddenly, looking down and licking her chapped lips.

“And what?” Josh asked. Everyone watched, practically on the edge of their seats, waiting for the answer to the question they were all asking.

She shook her head, her usually calm demeanor faltering. “I think I heard her scream.”

The room fell silent as that one statement sent a shockwave through them all. There was countless wildlife on the mountain, some more ferocious and dangerous than others. It was also the middle of the night and they were on top of a freaking mountain for crying out loud! Anything could’ve happened to cause a seventeen year old girl to scream.

“I’m not waiting anymore, I’m calling the police,” Josh said. He pulled away from his sisters as Hannah continued to console Beth, both girls having always thought of Missy as a third sister. He walked into the next room over, hoping to get through to anybody at this ungodly hour.

No one said a word while he was gone. Chris sat with the purple beanie and didn’t look at anyone, his anger not entirely gone. He didn’t know if he wanted to say something to any of them or not, but he didn’t have anything nice to say, so he bit his tongue. Sam tried comforting him, but he pulled away from her, shaking his head.

When Josh came back into the room, he didn’t look any happier. “The storm’s pretty bad, so no one’s gonna be able to get up here until dawn at the very least.”

“Well, then we should go look for her again,” Mike said, far more sober after hearing about all the harrowing events of the night. He stood up, ready to go despite being a little wobbly on his feet.

Josh shook his head. “They said no one leaves the lodge, that they don't want to look for anymore,” his next words caught in his throat before he could speak them, “anymore missing persons when they get here.”

It wasn’t long after sunrise did uniformed officers show up on the mountain. They came with a lot of reasonable questions and a K-9 unit. Josh explained everything when they got in, Beth showed them a picture of Missy, and Chris was a little reluctant to hand over his sister’s hat, but things started off well enough. It had only been a few hours since the incident, so the teens were hopeful that the police would be able to find her in the daytime.

However, it was an agonizing couple of hours while they were all interviewed. Jessica maintained that the prank wasn’t so much a prank, but a plan to finally get her two friends into a relationship; Emily proclaimed that is was indeed a prank but was harmless in nature; Ashley and Matt admitted that they thought it would be funny but didn’t think Missy was going run out like she had; Mike and Chris told the truth, which was that they were drunk and asleep during the whole incident; Sam and Hannah tried to stop it; Beth had no idea what was going on and finally shared that she thought she had saw someone outside before she knew the prank was a thing; and Josh explained how he had no idea he was a part of the plan at all.

He sat with an officer, unable to stop thinking about the look of sheer pain on Missy’s face when he rejected her advances, and then her tears. “I just wasn’t ready. I mean, I didn’t think she was gonna do anything. We watch movies together all the time… I shouldn’t have freaked out.”

“Son, you couldn’t have had any idea she was going to run out of here,” the officer, an older man with graying hair and clear blue eyes, said. He looked on with soft eyes, which Josh wouldn’t meet. “You can’t blame yourself for this, ‘specially if you had no idea what your friends were up to.”

“I should’ve just kissed her,” Josh said, putting his head in his hands. He felt riddled with guilt despite knowing, deep down, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

The officer opened his mouth to say something, but there was a commotion from the other room. They both stood up and walked into the living room, where most everyone was waiting. No one was saying anything. “What’s going on?” Josh asked.

The Chief walked in, looking at everyone but his expression was unreadable. He had been put in charge of the case as soon as it was understood that they were going up to the Washington lodge. No one wanted to think about the repercussions or backlash that may come with an incident involving the Washington family.

“Did you find her?” Beth asked hopefully.

“We did,” he said with a nod. Relief came over the room and Chris stood up immediately at the news, but was stopped from going anywhere when the Chief held up his hand. “Hold on. There’s some things I need to tell ya before any of you can go see her.”

“Where’d you find her?” “Is she okay?” “Where is she now?”

“Calm down,” he grunted and stepped further into the room. He turned to Chris. “Your sister was found in the cabin on the estate, near freezing and in a panic. She had a gun that she found in there and we had to talk her down before we could bring her back here. When she realized we weren’t going to hurt her, she broke down and we haven’t gotten another word out of her since she yelled at my guys to leave her alone.”

“Is she okay, though?” Josh asked. He kept looking to the doorway that led to the lodge’s entrance and he just wanted to go running to Missy.

“It looks like she took a hit to the head, probably from a fall. We’ve got someone checking her out right now, but she’s pretty shook up,” the Chief told them. He looked behind him as he heard someone call for him.

A female officer came to the door, holding Missy around the shoulders. The teen was wrapped in a thick blanket and her face was red. She had a bandage on the side of her head and she was sniffling, eyes darting across the room as she held herself. Her body shook violently in shivers. “She wouldn’t stop asking for her brother and I-”

“Missy, thank god!” Beth found her will to move forward before anyone else and she hugged her friend as fast as she could. Missy broke down crying almost immediately and hugged her back. “I was scared I’d never see you again.”

Chris hurried over, the others close behind him. He hugged his sister next, keeping her close to him as she slowly calmed down. Jess and Ashley began profusely apologizing, while Emily stayed to the back of the group with her arms crossed, and the guys all made sure she was alright. The officers backed up and let the young adults reunite.

Missy looked up at her brother, eyes still a little panicked. He held her face, wiping away the rest of her tears, eyes drawn to the covered cut on her temple. “What happened?”

She shook her head. Her voice was rough, her throat sore from crying, “I don’t know. I can’t remember anything after leaving the lodge.”

He nodded, then started leading her to one of the couches near the fire, but she jumped from his arms when she saw Josh. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face in his chest. He stood startled for a moment, but not for too long. He encircled his arms around her and sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his chin on her head. He thought she would have come back with a new hatred for him.

“You’re really warm…” she mumbled, not letting go of him.

The female officer turned to some of the girls, catching Sam and Beth’s attention. “A warm bath should help get her body temperature up, if any of you would be willing to go run one for her.”

“Of course,” Beth said, looking at Sam to silently ask her to join her. The two started to make their way upstairs, giving a last glance over their shoulders at Missy before looking at each other. “She’s gonna be okay, right?”

Sam gave the question a little thought as they got away from the commotion and chatter that consumed the downstairs area. “I’m sure she’ll be alright.”

“What do you think happened to her last night?” Beth asked as they passed through the upstairs and she unlocked the door to the bathroom. “I mean, the guest cabin is a little far off.”

“I don’t know,” Sam sighed. When they got into the bathroom, she went straight to the tub to start the water. She sat down on its edge and watched Beth open a linen cabinet. “And she hit her head? Something about it doesn’t add up.”

Beth nodded, letting out a low hum as she didn’t know what else to say. She grabbed a towel and rag and put them to the side of the tub neatly for Missy. She cared about her best friend immensely and only wanted the best for her. She grabbed a bottle of bubble bath and poured some of it into the water as it steamed.

“Maybe she’ll remember,” Sam said, breaking the silence between them.

“Maybe,” Beth mumbled, closing the bottle after she’d put more than enough of the soupy liquid into the bath. “But you heard what he said. She was ready to protect herself from something, or someone, should she have needed to. Maybe it’d be better if she doesn’t remember…”

Sam sat thoughtfully for a moment. “You said you thought you saw someone last night?”

“Yeah, outside the kitchen window,” Beth told her, shaking her head in an attempt to ward off her tiredness. “At this point, I’m not sure if I saw a person or an animal or what, but if it was someone, why would they be up here? Why would they hurt Missy?”

“There’s no telling,” Sam sighed. She turned off the water when it was full enough. Standing, she reached out to Beth and cupped her shoulder, squeezing it assuringly. “Let’s not worry about it now, though. Let’s just get Missy up here and cleaned up. She looks like she could use a nap before we head down the mountain.”

Beth nodded in agreement and walked with Sam out of the bathroom. She couldn’t help but think back to what she had seen, knowing that she had seen something. She was just so exhausted now that she didn’t know if she could certainly say it had been a person.

Missy could hardly see where she was going. Through the snow falling and the tears in her eyes, the dark woods that took up most of the mountain top were a bitch to traverse. The howling winds moved the tree limbs and made it hard to hear anything around her, but Missy still didn’t care. The only thing on her mind was getting away from her so-called friends.

She finally stopped in a small clearing, falling to her knees as her legs couldn’t hold her up anymore. She cried, the events replaying in her mind like a broken record. The laughter, the creality, worst of all the look of minor horror on Josh’s face when she had attempted to kiss him. Her heart shattered as she let out broken sobs.

“Missy!” a faint voice came from the trees. She looked up, trying to figure out which direction it had come from. It was Beth, but Missy couldn’t call back through her cries.

There was a whirling, oddly close to her. The branches rustled, there was some other movement between some nearby trees, then a twig snapped. There was a strange, guttural growl, and Missy knew that was not Beth.

With her chest gripped in fear, Missy pulled herself up and started running. She heard something behind her. There were more growls, some thumps and other cracking noises, like the thing behind her had enough force to break the trees with just its body alone.

“Missy!” Beth’s voice was farther away.

She looked back, but saw nothing and no one. She ran into a tree branch that caught her curly dark hair and caused her beanie to fall off her head. She just kept running, hearing the creature getting closer.

She came to a cliff’s edge, crying as she saw the dead end. She tripped over a rock hidden in the snow, unable to put out her hands in time to catch herself. Something struck her head when she hit the ground, and she groaned, but pushed herself onto her back. Without the intent, she saw her stalker, a tall and large monster with pale, taut skin and sharp teeth. She was fast to decide the worst feature of the creature were its foggy, almost dead-looking eyes that stared at her intently.

She screamed as it got closer, and she scrambled back feebly. She began sobbing, begging the monster and whimpering small “pleases” over and over again, but they seemed to fall on deaf ears.

She fell back, losing the strength in her arms as she became dizzy. Her vision began to close in as flames erupted from behind the beast. She heard yelling, but it wasn’t a voice she recognized, and she couldn’t make out the words. They sounded muffled and far away. The cold of the snow began to eat away at her fingers as the warm blood trickled down the side of her face. Her head fell back as she finally lost consciousness, the last thing she saw being the blackened sky and the falling dots of snow.

Missy screamed as she awoke, sitting up in bed as she began to kick the sheets and blankets away from her. She grabbed her head, clenching her hair into her fists as she begged for her life, the eyes of the monster flashing behind her eyelids. She felt arms wrap around her and she started pulling her hair, using her elbows to try and shove away whomever was trying to grab her.

“Missy! Missy, it's me!” her brother shouted over her sobs. She heaved in a breath, finally opening her eyes at his voice. She looked up at him, her tense body easing but she began to shake violently. Chris pulled one of her hands out of her hair and replaced it with his own, pulling her head to his chest. “It’s just me, Missy. I’m right here.”

She looked around them, realizing she wasn’t on the cliff’s edge. She was still in the Washington lodge. She was in Beth’s bed, the fireplace was lit to keep the room warm for her, and her brother had a chair pulled up to the bedside. Her backpack was sitting by the door, packed and ready to go.

Josh rushed into the room alarmed, stopping short of the door and holding its frame. Once he saw there was no danger, he came into the room carefully. “What’s wrong? Missy, are you okay?”

She shook her head, leaning into Chris and wrapping her arms around him. “Just a nightmare,” she mumbled, just loud enough for them both to hear.

Chris looked up at Josh. “I think it would do her good to get outta here soon.”

Josh nodded in agreement. “Emily, Mike, and Jess just left. Give it another thirty minutes and we can head out.”

Though he usually left with his sisters, Josh hadn’t wanted to just send the Hartley siblings on their way, and this was mostly because of Missy. He felt better if they all went down together, giving her all the support she could need. He also needed to lock up the place to ensure no strangers got in while they were away, so they were going to be the last group of all their friends to leave.

Chris nodded, feeling Missy completely relax in his arms. “So what’d your dad say when you called him and told him everything was okay?”

“Not much,” Josh said as he sat on the edge of the bed, but turned his body to face the two. He looked at Missy, who was watching him with soft, calm eyes. “He and my mom are just glad you’re okay.”

She nodded, but said nothing.

Josh looked up at Chris, who tried to subtly shrug. This move made Missy pull away from him and shuffle to the center of the bed.

“I’m okay,” she told them, voice still stressed. She grabbed the bottle of water on the nightstand and took a sip from it. She pulled her legs into a criss-cross sitting position. “I just wanna go home.”

“We’ll get you home ASAP,” Chris assured her. Though it was after noon, he still hadn’t gotten much sleep. For the last few hours, he’d just been watching over Missy while she tossed and turned in bed. He fell asleep for a while, sat up in the chair, but the closing of the lodge door had startled him awake and that had been the end of it.

Josh was in a similar boat, running on little sleep. He’d had to see the police off, then called his parents, then made the call to Chris and Missy’s mom and their behalf, then took a short nap. He didn’t really care, telling himself that this was all necessary. He had to do these things in order to take control of the situation, get life back on track, find some normalcy. If not for himself, then for Missy and his sisters.

Everyone else had taken the morning easy, as much as they could at least, and gotten whatever sleep they could. However, as soon as they all got up it was unanimously decided they’d be leaving the mountain a little earlier than they had planned. Their long weekend had been cut short.

As Josh watched Missy fiddle with her fingers, he realized they were a little far from normalcy after the events of the night. He reached over, putting a hand on her knee. She looked up and tried to smile, but it was one of those Mona Lisa smiles - barely a smile at all. She put her hand on his.

Chris looked between them, then stood up. “I’m just gonna, uh, go make sure my bag is packed.”

When he was out of the room, Josh scooted closer to Missy, but she had dropped her head and started playing with her fingers again. She locked them together as the silence fell over them. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

“I’m sorry, Miss,” he finally said. He rubbed the back of his neck, biting his lip. “I had no idea Em and Jess had made up that note and… I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know,” she said softly, nodding her head. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. “It was stupid.”

He got the idea she wasn’t talking about the prank. “It wasn’t stupid.”

“It was,” she insisted. She wanted to look away from him. “I get it. I’m Beth’s friend, Chris’ sister. I’m just-”

He leaned over, cutting her off with his lips. Her eyes widened, but she closed them as she leaned into it. They sat there for a moment longer before he pulled away from her, waiting for her to look at him. When she opened her eyes, she searched his face for some kind of answer, her brows furrowed.

“You’re not just a friend or someone’s sister,” he told her. He licked his lips, tasting her strawberry chapstick. “You’re Missy.”

She looked down at her hands again, a little smile pulling at her lips.

That was the smile he liked to see, feeling lucky to see it at all after the terrifying night she’d endured. He would wait for the big smile he loved - the one she got when she got a cherry slushie or when she laughed - whenever she was ready to give it to him again. Everytime he looked at her, she wasn’t just that girl that hung out with his sisters or the sister that bugged him when he was hanging out with Chris. She was so much more than she gave herself credit for.

He reached out and lifted her head up with a gentle finger under her chin. He kissed her again, putting a little more into it. She leaned into him, putting her hands out onto his shoulders to brace herself. It was simple yet sweet, and Missy understood what he meant.

When they pulled their lips apart, she got closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. His arms circled around her waist and pulled her all the more closer to him. It was what she needed at that moment, though she wasn’t entirely sure what it was. All she knew was that she felt safe and that Josh was warm.

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