by C. K. Walker
"You weren't holding me back, Lloyd. All I wanted was to keep Vintage Truth going - you knew that and you left anyway. I told you I wanted to invest that money back-"
"Ben!" Ash's voice called out ahead of us. "Can you come up here?"
“One second,” Ben said, and then disappeared to the front of our group. I raised an eyebrow at Lloyd.
He shook his head and looked away from me, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
"You know," I laughed, "the fresh mountain air-"
"Fuck the fresh mountain air." Lloyd muttered.
The smile dropped from my face. We stood in an uncomfortable silence listening to Moss tell Melanie about a terrible date he'd had until Ben returned.
"What did Ash want with you?" I asked.
"He...nothing."
"Oh, come the fuck on, Ben, what did he want?" Lloyd asked.
"He said someone was following us."
I stopped and turned around. "What? Really? I haven’t seen anyone."
"That's what he said and he wanted me to watch the back of the group."
"And did you see him? The guy following us?"
"I didn't see shit, Ingrid."
"That's fucking weird."
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure Ash saw anything at all."
Lloyd stared out into the woods around us and ran a hand through his mess of hair. "Do you think he's still adjusting to being back?"
"Yeah, I do," Ben admitted. "He was in an active war zone for four months. I think he might need more than a couple weeks to get used to being home."
*
Over the next two days a thick blanket of tension descended over the cabin. Ash spent most of his time walking around the house, staring out the windows and going on solo hikes. Lloyd stayed in our room every day until the sun went down writing his book and Mel ferried back and forth between the two trying to get them to loosen up and socialize.
As for Moss, Ben and I, we spent our days getting drunk and trying to break up the tension. When that failed, I started looking around the cabin for books to read since clearly it was going to be a long week.
After a thorough search, I'd learned the only literature in the house was a Pictionary Dictionary and what looked like a handwritten diary.
"What the hell do you think this is?" I asked nobody in particular.
"It's like a journal where past cabin guests write about their experiences." Ben said from the couch nearby.
"Huh. Well, I do need something to read."
"I wouldn't bother," Ben shook his head. "There's never anything interesting in those things.”
I shrugged and threw the book on the kitchen counter, then went to grab another beer.
On the fourth day of our trip, I decided to get up early and make breakfast. I was upset that everyone seemed so down when this was supposed to be a fun trip to welcome Ashley home. It was time to make eggs and mimosas and change the waning tide.
When I walked into the kitchen at daybreak, I was surprised to see Ash standing over the sink staring out the window intently.
"Morning, Ash. What in the hell are you doing up so early?"
He didn't answer me. I went to stand beside him and tried to follow his gaze.
"What are we looking at?"
"There's three of them." He said without moving.
"Three of what?"
"I don't know."
"Okay..." I backed away from the window. "Are you okay, man?"
Ash suddenly pointed out into the forest. "There! There's one right there! Did you see it?"
I peered cautiously over his shoulder. I searched the wood but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"What am I looking for? The bear?"
"There was no bear."
"What was it, then?"
Ash didn't say anything for a moment. "It's hard to describe."
"Alright. Can you draw me a picture?" I laughed. Ash finally looked away from the window.
"Yeah, I can."
He grabbed the cabin journal off the counter where I’d thrown it the day before and tore out a blank page. Grabbing the nearest pen, Ash made a handful of strokes and handed the paper to me.
I looked at in confusion. "This is a stick figure."
Ash nodded and went back to looking out the window. "Sometimes they seem to disappear, but they always reappear a few seconds later, close than where they were before."
"Okay... Ashley, this, ah, stick man thing, it has a perfectly round head like this?" I pointed to his drawing. Ash nodded.
"And little stick arms and legs? And a little stick body?"
Ash suddenly spun toward me and grabbed my shoulders. "Ingrid, I don't want Melanie sleeping in the room upstairs anymore. I can hear them at night. They walk around on the roof and tap on the sliding door to the balcony. She needs to sleep downstairs with you. These things are not safe.”
“O-Okay...”
Ash let go of me and walked out of the kitchen, taking the stairs two at a time up to his room. I didn't end up making breakfast, choosing to fix myself a mimosa instead. I continued to stare out the window for a while, though all I saw were squirrels and deer.
Moss and Ben were the next to wake up and stumble into the kitchen. They walked right by me with a bleary-eyed nod and Ben grabbed three beers out of the fridge, handing one to me. We drank in silence for a minute while I tried to decide the best way to tell them about Ash. Just as I was contemplating telling them at all, Mel bounded into the room and took stock of the three of us as we all froze mid-gulp. She tsk-tsked.
"Look at all these beer bottles littered around the cabin. Are you guys planning to clean up your empties?"
Moss, Ben and I exchanged a glance. Ben was the first to lower his beer.
"Oh, don't mind these fallen soldiers," he said, bring a trash can to the edge of the counter and sweeping a group of empty bottles into it. "Thank you for your service, boys."
Moss and I lowered our drinks and saluted the bottles as they clanged to the bottom of the trash can.
"Oh, you three are ridiculous. And probably alcoholics." Mel laughed and shook a righteous finger at us.
"No probably about it."
"Cheers to that."
"Well, it's easier to do Lloyd's mom when I'm drunk."
Lloyd walked into the kitchen just then and threw Moss such a rage-filled look that I involuntarily took a step away from him.
"M- Morning babe..." I tried.
Lloyd grabbed the nearby empty orange juice bottle from the counter and threw it into the trash. Saying nothing to anyone, he stalked back to his room just as Ash came down the stairs. He was pulling on his jacket and adjusting the beanie on the top of his head.
"Hey, where you goin', man?" Ben asked.
"To the nearest cabin I can find."
"Wait, babe!" Mel ran over to him as Ash turned away from us and threw open the front door. "Why? Do you want me to go with you?"
"To find more ammunition. I didn't bring enough."
"Enough for what...." Moss asked slowly.
"For them. They're getting closer to the house. They've started coming out in the day now, too."
"What?"
"Who is, babe?"
Ben and I exchanged a glance over a confused Moss and Mel.
"Ashley." Ben said soberly. "If someone is stalking us, let's just leave right now. Why bother with ammunition?"
Ash laughed as if it were the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. "We can't leave. They've already disabled all the vehicles."
"They what?"
"Of course they did." Ash said, incredulously.
"We'll call for a tow then."
"Yeah, on what? When is the last time any of you saw your phones?"
I glanced around the room. Not since yesterday.
"Look, just stay in the house," Ash ordered. "I'll be gone five hours at the most. No one leaves, no matter what you see outside. They'll probably be more brazen once I'm gone. Got it?"
"As
hley..." Mel whispered, uneasily.
"Just...sigh...just stay here, Mel, please. I can't protect any of you if you go outside." Ash walked over and hugged Mel tightly, kissing the top of her head.
"Ash, let me go with you." Ben said.
"Yeah, please take someone with you." I agreed.
Ash let go of Mel and walked out the door without saying another word to anyone.
*
We spent the rest of the morning trying to find our phones, connect our laptops to wifi and start our cars. When all of that failed, we tried to drink our worries away while Mel sat on the loveseat and stared out the window arranging her gentle features to an impassive, stony expression. And when the rain set in around 1, and the thunder began to shake the house, we stopped drinking and started pacing.
Lloyd - still deeply focused on his book - wouldn't unlock the door or speak to anyone until the rain started. At that point Ben and I sat everyone down and told them we knew of Ash's current state of mind. The five of us stood in my bedroom leaning against the wall and rubbing our faces in stress and exhaustion.
"Why the fuck did you guys let him leave?" Lloyd asked over and over again.
"I don't know!" Melanie cried. "I didn't want him to; I tried to go with him!"
“I’m talking to these three drunk idiots over here."
Ben opened his mouth to object but I beat him to it.
"We're on fucking vacation, Lloyd, that's why we're drinking and hanging out while you're sitting behind a closed door working on some fucking book I've never heard of."
"All you guys have done is get drunk for the last three fucking days."
"Well, at least we’ve been doing something!”
"Alright, alright." Lloyd relented. "Let's just figure out what we're going to do."
"I'm going upstairs to lay down." Melanie said, flatly. "Wake me up when Ashley gets back."
"Mel-" started Ben.
"Please." She held up a hand, "I can't. I just need to lay down for a while.
As soon as Mel walked out the door, Moss turned to us with a whisper.
"Guys, it's now been 5 and a half hours since Ash left. He said 5 hours at most. I think we should go look for him."
"No!" Ben said quickly. "We can't leave the house. That’s the last thing Ash said before he left."
"Ash isn't thinking clearly," I interjected. "He may be hurt or lost or both. We need to go find him."
"Does he have his phone?" Lloyd asked.
"No one has their phones." Ben's voice was impassive.
As Lloyd listened to Moss and Ben make their arguments for going after Ash or listening to his warning, I stared out the window at the trees Ash had been watching earlier. Movement had caught my eye beyond the tree line and I was desperately trying to find what was out there. But, in the darkened, stormy sky, the task was almost impossible. I listened absentmindedly as I searched.
Lloyd: "What made him think there were any cabins nearby?"
Moss: "I figured he saw one on the way in."
Lloyd: "And what made him think those cabins had spare ammo?"
Moss: "I think that was a gamble on his part."
Lloyd: "So then he must have seen something that really freaked him out."
Ben: "He did."
Lloyd: "Then, what, he disabled all the cars himself? And stashed the phones somewhere?"
Ben: "This is really not good, guys."
Moss: "Look he's our friend and he needs help. Whatever he's doing, you know he doesn't realize he's doing it."
There! There it was. In the trees. Something was high in the trees, hanging on one branch from their arms and standing on the one below it facing the cabin. There was no way it was an animal; even in the dark and the distance I could tell it was human. Just as I was about to point it out to Lloyd, lightning flashed and my night vision disappeared. I would have looked for the figure again but something else had caught my eye in the half second of light. Something that was in front of the house that shouldn't be there.
Without saying a word, I walked out of the room and down the hall to the living room. Though the sky was dark and the light was minimal, there was no denying what was waiting out there in the darkness.
The boys had followed me out of the room with questions but when they saw what I was looking at the cabin went silent. "What the fuck..."
Moss gave a nervous laugh. "He's fucking with us. That's Ash fucking with us. It has to be."
"I don't think so," Ben whispered.
Through the sheets of rain and the encroaching fog on the mountain there had appeared a fresh mound of dirt the size of a person and a jagged rock from the wood to serve as a tombstone.
I tore my eyes from the macabre scene in front of me and Lloyd suddenly grabbed Moss and pinned him up against the wall. I hadn't heard what was said, but Lloyd was suddenly very pissed off.
"Is that another fucking joke about my mother, Moss?!"
"No! No man, I was just saying-"
"I've had enough of your goddamn shit. If you ever-"
"Lloyd," I screamed at him, "Let go of him. Since when do you give a wet fuck about Moss's jokes? Don’t you think we have bigger problems?”
"Stay the fuck out of this, Ingrid."
I looked to Ben for help but he was still staring at the grave outside.
A creak of old wood behind us broke the spell and we all turned to see Mel coming down the stairs.
"Why are you guys yelling?"
I took a step toward her like I was trying to corner a frightened animal. "Mel..."
"Has Ashley- what the fuck is that?"
Lloyd let go of Moss and took a step toward Melanie's other side. "Mel."
Mel stumbled on a stair but caught herself. "Is that a fucking grave?"
"Mel, relax, it's just Ash fucking with us,” said Moss.
"Shut up, Moss, Ash didn't do this." Ben snapped.
"Is that a fucking grave?" Mel yelled and bolted for the sliding glass door to the deck.
"Mel, wait!"
She slid the door open and was about to run out into the rain when Ben caught her around the waist. "You can't go out there!" He yelled.
Mel suddenly collapsed in a pile of tears and screaming.
"It's him! It's Ashley, he's dead! Oh my God, Ashley no, fuck, who did that. Who put him in there? Ashley…”
Ben deposited Mel on the loveseat and Lloyd closed the door. Mel buried herself in the cushions and sobbed.
"If it is Ash in that grave,” Lloyd whispered to us. "Then who buried him?"
"Ask Ben." I shot Ben a questioning look. It was clear he knew more about the situation than even I did.
He returned my look with one of warning.
"I know you saw something, too, Ben."
"Well, what did you see, Ingrid?" Moss asked.
"I- I saw someone in a tree. I think. They were hanging from one of the branches at the top."
"Yeah,” Ben sighed. “I’ve seen them, too.”
"Them?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
"Or 'it', rather. It's not a person."
"Well, then what is it?"
"It's...hard to describe."
"Wait!" I ran into the kitchen and grabbed Ash's drawing off the counter.
"Did it look like this?" I held the paper out to Ben.
"Yes. Sort of. I mean I think so, I didn't see it that well."
Moss laughed. "That's a stick figure. Big round head, lines for body and limbs... That's a kid's drawing."
"No," I said, "It's Ashes depiction of what is out there, this is what he thought he was seeing. Look, if it's Ash or somebody else - and fuck, I pray that it's Ash - I agree with Ben that it’s not safe. Maybe they’re just trying to scare us but either way, we can't leave this cabin."
"Somebody go help Ashley..." Mel moaned from behind us.
Lloyd shook his head and gave her a gentle look. "There's nothing we can do right now, Mel." His voice shook.
The rain let up as the sun set that night, though we ha
d already been under darkness for hours from the storm. We'd agreed that Moss and Mel would sleep on the 2nd floor - the main floor - with everyone else. We also decided to rotate sentry shifts all night so that someone was always awake waiting for Ash and watching for the figure in the woods. All except Mel, who was an inconsolable mess. She was the first to pass out.
I conversed quietly with Lloyd until Moss and Ben went to Ben's room down the hall to sleep.
"I don't want to sleep, Lloyd. I can't." I whispered in the darkness.
"You need to try. Your shift isn't until 4am."
"I don't want to sleep in the back bedroom alone."
"Then you shouldn't. Go get the quilts and pillows and sleep out here next to Mel." He yawned.
"It's freezing out here."
"I know, Ing, I'll go down to the basement and throw some more wood in the furnace. I would have done it earlier but...that room freaks me out."
"I haven't been down there yet but everything about this cabin freaks me out. Are you gonna be able to stay awake until Moss's shift?"
"Yeah, I'm going to write." Lloyd pointed to his laptop on the couch.
I gathered up 2 quilts and a pillow from our room and left the rest of the bedding for Lloyd. Even though I didn't feel at all tired I fell into a dreamless asleep almost immediately. I woke up just as the first rays of sunlight were drawing the darkness from the room. I shot up when I realized I must have missed my shift.
Mel was still sleeping next to me, shaking in the cold of the morning. It was clear Lloyd had never put more wood in the furnace. There was no one else in the room.
"Lloyd?" I yelled down the hall. He didn't answer.
"Lloyd!" I yelled louder and got to my feet, dropping my quilts over Melanie.
A door opened and a red-eyed Ben stumbled out. "What's wrong?"
"I slept through my shift. Did you?"
"Yeah...I think Moss took them all. Is he not out there?"
"No. Is he not in there?"
"No."
We both turned our heads at the same time to look down the hall at Lloyd's door. The implication was sobering. Ben turned back and gave me a nod that acted more as an agreement between us. He walked down the corridor to check on Lloyd and I drew a deep ragged breath before I turned around to do my part.
And it was there, the thing I hadn’t wanted to see. A second grave had appeared next to the first; with another giant rock to serve as tombstone.