Chapter 13
“Sure,” you say, “I’d love to come in for a minute.”
You climb out of the car and are horrified to discover that there are long scratches from the branches running all along the doors. Oh God, Blair is going to kill you. But you’ll worry about that later.
Jasper leads you to the cabin. But as you get closer, you notice that it’s far more run-down than you realized.
In fact, it almost looks abandoned. You wonder if it was a good idea to agree to come inside, but at this point, it’s too late to change your mind.
You are already committed to this choice.
The door rattles on its hinges as Jasper pulls it open, holding it for you like a gentleman.
Unfortunately, the inside isn’t any better than the outside.
The cabin contains only sparse furniture, including a waterlogged sofa, an overturned wooden chair, a bookcase that has one shelf filled with spiral notebooks and another filled with dusty old dolls.
There’s also a fireplace, which is unlit—the cabin is freezing.
In the corner is a small pile of firewood, with an ax balanced on top of it.
How are you supposed to sit and have some tea? There isn’t even a table! And the stove is covered in rust, as are all the pots.
“You said your friend lives here?” you ask dubiously.
“That’s right,” Jasper says vaguely.
You want to ask if his friend ever cleans, but that would be rude. Still, this cabin looks abandoned. You turn to Jasper, not sure if he’s thinking the same thing, but he’s ignoring you. His gaze is directed at the fireplace.
“You going to get the fire going?” you ask. It’s the one thing in this cabin that looks like it works.
“Sure,” he says as he walks toward the fireplace. “Good idea.”
Part of you wants to help Jasper get the fire going, but a bigger part of you wants to get the hell out of here.
“You know,” you say, “it really is getting late. I should probably get back to my car and head up the mountain.”
Jasper reaches down for the pile of firewood. You expect him to grab a couple of logs to toss onto the fire, but instead, he picks up the ax.
“Um,” you say. “What are you doing with that?”
You ask such stupid questions.
Jasper lets out what sounds like a war cry. He comes running at you with the ax raised above his head. You turn around and start to run in the opposite direction.
You make it out the door and all the way to the car before Jasper catches up with you. He lets out another cry and brings down the ax. He misses you by an inch, the blade coming down on the passenger’s side door, resulting in a huge indentation.
“Not the car!” you screech. Blair is going to be livid.
The good news is his next swing of the ax doesn’t do further damage to the car. The bad news is that the ax hits you square in the chest, slicing cleanly through skin and bone.
You crumple to the ground in a puddle of your own blood. As you lay dying, you think to yourself that if only you hadn’t gotten out of the car, everything would have been different.
THE END
Want to try for a different ending? Turn back to Chapter 1 (page 1)!