9. Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
MARGERY
M argery took a breath of air as she stepped out of her car. Finally, she had arrived at the cabin. Nerves had run through her for the entire drive.
What if this was a mistake? What if it made things worse? Those were only some of the negative questions she asked herself in the car.
But what if this was the turning point? What if this was exactly what she needed to stop being paranoid? Those were the last questions she asked herself before she arrived.
Margery needed to stay positive for this to work. She needed to believe that this would be the turning point. That this could be exactly what she needed not to go crazy. She wouldn’t know until she tried and got through the next several days.
She grabbed her bag and walked to the cabin. Adalisa said the key would be under the flowerpot where her aunt kept it. Margery thought it was pretty unsafe to keep the key there, especially when her aunt wasn’t close to the cabin all the time.
What if somebody saw, and once the people left, they started using the cabin?
She shook her head and unlocked the front door. She didn’t need to be thinking about it because it wasn’t her problem. Adalisa’s aunt knew what she was doing, and if it worked for her, then it worked for her.
Margery wasn’t going to judge the woman for doing it. Honestly, if she lived out in the country and knew her neighbors, she would probably do the same. She didn’t like having to carry around her keys all the time. It was another thing to keep track of, another thing she could easily lose.
Knock. Knock.
She quickly turned around, her eyes wide, as she stared at the door. Who was knocking on the door? Margery wasn’t expecting anyone. Nobody but Adalisa and her aunt knew she was there.
“Margery?” an older lady’s voice called out.
She quietly walked to the door and opened it. ’Adalisa’s aunt was there, holding a basket and smiling at her.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you. Adalisa talks about you whenever we’re on the phone,” the lady said. “I’m Aunt Marie.”
“Hi,” Margery replied awkwardly.
Margery was never good with new people. Maybe it was because when Ethan was alive, he was the one to talk to new people until she got more comfortable. He helped her in that way, but now he couldn’t. Even eighteen years later, she still struggled with it because she didn’t do it enough. She tried to keep meeting new people to a minimum.
Even when she went on dates, the first couple of minutes were always a little weird, but once she got to know them, the conversation would flow more easily. Maybe that’s why some of them didn’t want to go on a second date. She didn’t know, and she couldn’t care less because she couldn’t see herself with any of them.
“Adalisa told me you were shy, so don’t worry. I’m not going to be long. I just wanted to give you some baked goods. I don’t have many people who want to stay at this place anymore, and I just wanted to welcome you. If you need anything, my phone number is on the fridge. There are some other numbers in case you can’t reach me,” Aunt Marie handed over the basket.
“Thank you so much,” Margery replied gratefully.
“I do want to let you know that if you have an emergency, the nearest neighbor is about a mile away. Their number is one of the ones on the fridge. I’ll leave you for now. You have a wonderful stay here.”
Margery watched as Aunt Marie walked off and got into her car. The car she ’hadn’t heard come up the driveway. Maybe that was a good thing that she wasn’t on high alert. Perhaps being in this cabin was already helping her.
Whatever it was, Margery was relieved. It seemed like Adalisa was right. She did need this. Nobody knew where she was but two people, two people who weren’t going to tell anybody.
She had to make Adalisa promise not to tell anybody. Even though she hadn’t given out her address to the guy, she had given out her phone number before. Margery didn’t want anyone to know she was there.
Maybe she should invest in buying a cabin like this to go to anytime she started to feel overwhelmed, stressed, or going a little crazy like this time. If that was the trick, she was willing to invest the money she was saving for something else.
Creak .
Margery quickly turned around; her eyes wide as she heard the noise. Was somebody in the house? She shook her head and took a deep breath in. She was just being paranoid. Nobody was in the house but her.
Nobody was close to the cabin but her. The nearest person was a mile away.
She took a deep breath and put the gifts from Aunt Marie in the fridge. She was going to eat some in the morning, but right now, she was exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep.
Grabbing her bag, she started to walk toward one of the rooms. There was a second floor where all the bedrooms were. Well, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
That’s what Adalisa told her anyway. She hadn’t been here in years so she said it might have changed. But just from the outside, Margery couldn’t imagine the cabin having more than two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
Margery placed her bag at the foot of the bed and walked toward the windows. They were open, and she wanted to be able to sleep as long as possible tomorrow. But as she got closer, she realized it wasn’t just windows. It was a balcony.
How had she missed that? She mustn’t have been paying attention to her surroundings .
As she got closer, she slowed her steps. Was somebody out there? And her breathing started to pick up as she walked closer and closer. How had somebody gotten up there? Had they climbed up the wall, or were they already in the house?
Margery let out a little scream when she saw the person move.
“S-show yourself!” she yelled, but the person didn’t move.
She took a step closer and let out a chuckle.
A branch.
It wasn’t a person; it was a branch. The tree was close to the cabin and a branch was stuck on the balcony. How had she thought it was a person? Was she that paranoid?
Yeah, she was.
Sighing, she closed the curtains and started to get ready for bed.