by Amy Cross
Chapter Six
“See?” Christian said as they stopped on a trail path on the lake's northern shore. “What did I tell you? Norway at its finest.”
Staring out at the lake as sunlight shimmered on the blue water, Anna couldn't help but agree with him. Mountains rose up in the distance, their peaks dusted with snow, but down by the lake the air was warm and still, and after a moment she spotted a bird soaring high above them, riding the thermals.
“That's a white-tailed eagle,” Christian explained. “You can tell from the shape of the wings, and also from the shortish tail. You should see one of those things really go to work on a salmon, they've vicious as hell. Daniel recorded one a few years ago, it was pretty gross to see how fast it managed to gut its prey, but... Well, it was impressive, too. When you really get to see nature in all its glory, you can't help feeling like you're in awe. Sometimes I think we humans are too far removed from all that stuff.”
“Huh,” Anna replied, watching as the bird flew away toward the lake's southern shore. Hearing footsteps nearby, she turned to see that Jennifer and Daniel had caught up, although Jennifer still had the same pouting expression she'd been wearing since they arrived and she clearly wasn't enjoying the hike too much. Although she didn't want to read too much into the situation, Anna had noticed since they set out that Christian had been focusing on her at the expense of Jennifer, and she was worried she'd begun to inadvertently make the other girl jealous.
“Anyone getting hungry yet?” Christian asked. “We could stop and eat.”
“Let's go a little further,” Daniel muttered, sounding stressed by something as he made his way along the trail. He had his video camera in one hand and had been filming parts of the journey on and off, but he'd also been very adamant that they should stick to one particular trail rather than deviating.
Christian turned to him. “But -”
“Let's just go a little further.”
Sighing, Christian smiled at Anna and then set off after the others. “I guess the boss has spoken,” he continued. “If my belly starts rumbling, though, you can't blame me.” He leaned closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “If you like, you and I can stop and they can go on ahead. I don't see why everyone has to go at the same pace, anyway. This is supposed to be fun, not some kind of military march. I had enough of that in -”
“Shit!” Jennifer said suddenly, stopping up ahead.
As soon as she and Christian caught the others, Anna saw that there was a large, disturbed patch of soil just a few feet away, to one side of the path. Earth had been tossed aside near the base of a tree, leaving a ragged pit that was several feet wide in each direction and seemed to extend almost ten feet down. One particularly long and thick tree root had been exposed, running all the way down to the bottom of the pit.
Glancing at the others, Anna couldn't help noticing the concerned expressions on their faces. After a moment, Christian turned to Daniel and they seemed to share some kind of unspoken worry.
“So it's just a hole, right?” Anna asked finally, hoping to lighten the mood. “What kind of animal could have done something like this?”
“Oh, it's probably...” Christian paused, his eyes still fixed on the hole. “I guess it must have been a wolf.”
“Seems pretty deep for a wolf,” Anna pointed out. “Not that I actually know anything about wolves, though.”
“We should get going,” Jennifer said, swallowing hard. She glanced around, as if she half expected to see something in the forest. “Come on, let's get back to the cabin.”
“Are those scratches?” Daniel asked, crouching at the edge of the pit and aiming his camera at the thick tree root.
“No,” Jennifer said firmly, “of course they aren't. Please, can we get going? My legs are tired!”
Stepping closer, Anna looked down and saw that Daniel was right. All the way along the tree root, there seemed to be a series of thick, scratched lines, while the top of the root had been partially torn away from the trunk.
“It's almost like something dragged itself up out of the ground,” she suggested cautiously, unable to ignore the concerned expressions on the others' faces. She was aware that Daniel had his camera aimed at her now, as if he was trying to capture her reaction. “Marit said there aren't any bears in this part of the country, but -”
“There are no bears,” Jennifer said, interrupting her. “Do you think we'd be dumb enough to wander around without guns if there were bears roaming anywhere nearby? We're not complete idiots!”
“Okay, calm down,” Christian told him. “Let's just... Let's just keep going with the hike, okay? I don't know about you guys, but I get a lot more tired if we keep stopping and starting like this.” He stared down into the hole, as if something about its appearance still disturbed him. Finally he muttered something in Norwegian before turning to Jennifer, only for her to snap back at him.
As the others started to walk again, Anna couldn't help noticing that they seemed unduly concerned by the patch of damaged ground. She glanced out toward the lake, and after a moment she was just about able to make out the cabin in the distance. Figuring that she had to put all her concerns out of her mind, she hurried and quickly caught up to Christian, but no-one seemed to be in much of a mood for talking anymore, and even Jennifer had finally quit complaining.
***
“It's barbecue time again!” Joe said with a smile as he hurried down the steps at the front of the cabin. “You guys hungry? You'd better be hungry!”
“Sure,” Christian muttered, pushing past him and heading inside.
“Can I grab a word?” Joe asked as he reached Anna. “I need to let you know about something, and it's kind of delicate.”
As the others headed inside to changed after the long hike, Anna let Joe lead her over to the barbecue. She was exhausted and her legs ached, and all she wanted was to take a hot shower and freshen up.
“This is kind of awkward,” he continued, “but while you guys were out, Marit and I had a long talk. I guess you could tell she was pretty freaked out earlier, she didn't really seem to settle down after whatever startled her at the window.”
“How's she doing now?” Anna asked.
“Well that's just it, she...” He paused for a moment, as if he was worried about her reaction to whatever he was going to say. “She's okay but, to tell you the truth, she took off.”
Anna frowned. “Okay, where did she go?”
“She took one of the bikes from the basement and said she was going home.”
“Home?” Anna replied, shocked. She waited for him to explain, for him to admit that he was joking. “That's impossible,” she added finally. “She can't cycle all the way back to Oslo! It's more than a hundred miles!”
“She's gonna go to the main road and then hitch the rest of the way,” he told her as he started to set the barbecue running. “Obviously I tried to talk her out of it, but she's got all these crazy thoughts running through her head and, well, I guess you know what she's like, right? She said she was worried about ruining the vacation for everyone, and she wanted to just go home and get her head together. I'm pretty sure she still thinks she saw something weird last night.”
“But...” Anna paused, unable to quite believe the news. “She just... She left me here?”
“With us bunch of assholes, huh?” he replied with a smile.
She stared at him. “No,” she stammered finally, “I mean, it's not that, I just...” Her voice trailed off and she couldn't help feeling genuinely hurt. The whole trip to Norway had been focused on catching up with Marit, and they'd had so much planned.
“I know it seems kinda rough,” Joe continued, “especially since she's the only one you really know here...” Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “I told her she was being mean, but to be honest she can get kinda self-centered at times. Anyway, I persuaded her to at least write a note to you. She wanted to just shoot right off, but I told her she owed it to you and
... Well, I kind of made her leave this, to be honest. It seemed only fair.”
Taking the piece of paper, Anna unfolded it and immediately saw Marit's distinctively messy handwriting.
“Sorry,” Joe told her, “but I swear, we'll make you feel totally welcome for the rest of the stay and I promise you'll have more fun than you could possibly imagine. We're a pretty friendly bunch once you get to know us. Even my cow of a sister.”
“Sure,” she replied, stepping away for a moment to read the note from Marit. She told herself that there had to have been a misunderstanding, that Marit wouldn't have invited her all the way to Norway only to bail on the second day but, after going through the note, she realized that was exactly what had happened. Shocked, she read through it again, and then a third time just to be sure:
Hey Anna,
I'm really sorry to leave so suddenly, but I need to get my head straight. I thought about waiting for you, but you said you wanted to get to know new people and I promise Joe and the others are really cool. It's not a bitch move, I promise, and you'll thank me one day. Right now, I just need to be alone for a while.
Please don't hate me. Talk soon, I'll see you on Monday when you get back to Oslo,
Marit xxxxx
At the bottom of the page, there was a small cartoon donkey, which had always been Marit's signature drawing. Anna turned the paper over, to see if there was anything more to the message, but all she found was a blank page. She turned back to read the note for a fourth time, but nothing had changed.
“So I guess this is kind of awkward, huh?” Joe said after a moment.
She turned to him, not quite sure what to say. Suddenly she felt a very long way from home.
“I was thinking,” he continued. “If you really want, I could drive you to the nearest train station this evening. It's about a two hour trip, but I totally understand if you want to head off. It must be a little odd, suddenly being stuck here with four people you barely know. And after all, we are horrible assholes.”
“I...” She paused for a moment, before folding the piece of paper. Her mind was racing, pulling her in two different directions, but deep down she felt she couldn't just run off back to Oslo after Marit like some lost little puppy. In fact, that prospect actually annoyed her a little. “No, I mean... I guess it's cool, I'm just worried about Marit. I don't have any signal on my phone, so can I use yours to give her a quick call?”
“Sorry, I don't have any signal either. No-one does out here.”
She frowned. “I thought I saw you talking to someone earlier.”
“On my phone?” He paused. “Oh, no, I was just listening to some old recordings. Playing them back, you know? I wasn't making a call. Just listening to stuff, talking to myself at the same time.”
“Right.” She watched as he continued to set up the barbecue. “How did she seem when she left?”
“Marit?” He shrugged. “Kind of messed up, but nothing I haven't seen before. She's always been prone to sudden outbursts, and I think then she gets embarrassed and she likes to run and hide. Haven't you ever seen her get like that before?”
“Not really,” Anna replied. “To be honest, after her family moved back to Norway when we were both kids, I only kept in touch with her online.”
“So you missed the flowering of her wonderful personality, huh?” He smiled as he lit the barbecue. “I love Marit, she's one of my best friends in the whole world, but she can also be hard work. Don't worry, right now she'll be cycling toward the main road, and she'll be totally safe hitching a way home. On Monday, we'll all head back to Oslo and give her a poke, and she'll probably be totally apologetic and then she'll find a million ways to make it up to you.”
“Sure,” Anna muttered, unable to shake a sense of unease in the pit of her stomach.
“Or do you want me to just take you to the station?” he asked. “No offense, no trouble, I'll gladly do it.”
She opened her mouth to accept the offer, but at the last moment she managed to stop herself. She'd always been the kind of person to curl up and hide from social events, especially when she didn't feel comfortable, but she'd promised herself that she'd learn to be more open during her trip to Norway and she figured that Marit's sudden absence simply made the test a little tougher. The old Anna would have shrunk away and asked to go home, but she wasn't the old Anna now. Or rather she was, but she intended to change. Instincts be damned.
“I'd love to stay,” she told him, trying to sound as if she meant it. “If you don't mind, anyway.”
“It's great having you here,” he said with a kind, genuine smile that made her feel as if she'd made the right choice. “Why don't you go get into the queue for the bathroom before Jennifer decides to take forever? When you all come down, it's time for a feast!”
***
An hour and a half later, having let everyone else go first, Anna finally stood in the shower, letting the day's muck, grime and sweat wash down over her body in a mass of soapy bubbles. Leaning her head back, she felt as if she was finally becoming a more outgoing person.
She barely noticed the crack in the corner of the shower cubicle, and she certainly had no idea of the camera hidden within, watching her body as she started scrubbing herself clean.
Chapter Seven
Pulling her hair back, Anna fixed it with a band and then took a moment to check herself in the bathroom mirror. She still felt distinctly out of place, but she figured the sensation would pass as the evening wore on and she kept reminding herself that she only had two more nights to go before they all headed back to Oslo on Monday morning.
“You can do this,” she said out loud, taking a deep breath as she waited for her nerves to pass. “You will do this. You are not a wallflower. Not anymore, anyway.”
She checked her phone again, just to make certain that it still had no signal, and then she headed out of the bathroom and along to the room she'd been sharing with Marit and Jennifer. Finding no-one in there, she sat on her bed and took a moment to sort through her bag, trying to locate one of the bracelets she'd brought from home. As she did so, she began to hear a faint scratching sound nearby, although she paid no attention until finally it became loud enough for her to turn and look across the room.
The sound was coming from the corner, and it seemed too loud and consistent to be a mouse. Then again, she reminded herself that she'd never really heard a mouse behind a wall before.
Giving up on the bracelet, she headed over to investigate the source of the sound, but there was nothing to see. All she found in the corner was a set of thick, black metal bolts that had been used to hold the thick, horizontal wooden planks onto the wall. She ran a hand along one of the planks for a moment, feeling its rough surface, and the scratching sound continued for a few more seconds before stopping as suddenly as it had started. She waited in case it came back, but after a few seconds she realized the only sound was now coming from outside, where hushed but agitated voices seemed to be arguing with one another.
Heading over to the window, she saw the others down in the clearing, standing near the barbecue and apparently engaged in a tense discussion. She waited for a moment, before Jennifer happened to glance up at her and they made eye contact. Jennifer immediately broke into a smile and gave her a wave, but Anna paused for a moment before waving back. Somehow, she couldn't help worrying that they'd been arguing about her, and that she was still an outsider after all.
“Don't over-think this,” she told herself. “Just dive in.”
***
“No seriously,” Jennifer said with a sigh, leaning toward Daniel and trying to push his camera away, “can you stop with that? I don't want a goddamn camera shoved in my face all the time. What are you, some kind of pervert? Do you sit up late at night, jacking off over video of us all?”
“It's for my project,” he replied, training the camera on Anna for a moment. “Hey Anna, you don't mind, do you? It's all in the name of art. There's no higher calling in life than the creation of
art.”
Jennifer mimicked sticking two fingers down her throat.
“It's fine,” Anna said, forcing a smile as she stared at the camera's dark lens, which reflected just a hint of the nearby campfire. She wasn't entirely comfortable with being filmed so often, but she just wanted to fit in, especially now Marit was gone.
Night had fallen, and with dinner out of the way they were all sitting on the ground, drinking beer and getting ready to toast marshmallows. Anna had begun to feel a little more accepted by the others, although she still caught them glancing at one another sometimes, as if there was something going on that they were keeping between themselves. She didn't give the matter too much thought, however, since she was worried she'd over-analyze the situation and make herself feel even more uncomfortable. Grabbing her beer can, she took another swig, figuring that for once in her life she might as well try to keep up with everyone else. She'd never been a heavy drinker, and she was starting to wonder if that was her problem. The night felt ripe for a few experiments.
“Thinking about Marit?” Jennifer asked suddenly.
She turned to her.
“She'll be almost home by now,” Jennifer continued. “Don't worry, she's the kind of girl who... Well, let's just say she always lands on her feet.”
“I just feel like she left really suddenly,” Anna replied. “Couldn't she have waited to say goodbye?”
“Absolutely, but that's not how our precious Marit does things.” She leaned over and banged his beer can against hers. “Cheers. To our precious Marit, who always puts herself first and leaves her friends swinging in the breeze. If it's any consolation, I'm sure she'll feel guilty about it soon. I mean, you came to Norway just to visit her, right?”
Anna nodded.
“And she abandoned you,” Jennifer continued. “If that's not being a bitch, I don't know what is.” She paused, before offering a faint smile and then reaching over to put a reassuring hand on Anna's shoulder. “I'm glad you stuck around, though. It'll be good for us to get to know you better.”