While the Forest Watches

Chapter One

We’ve both been extra busy at our jobs and with the added stress of learning to live together we wanted to take some much needed time away to reconnect with each other.

Really focus on our relationship without all the real life distractions.

In true Luke fashion, he thought a remote cabin in the woods, with no cell service or WI-FI, was the perfect place.

It’s not my ideal vacation, but I’m putting myself out there in the pursuit of deepening our connection.

I really hope this place isn’t too far off the beaten path.

I can get a tad claustrophobic when isolated for too long.

Hopefully there are at least a few neighbors, so we aren't completely alone. Perhaps I can even bribe them into letting us use their Wi-Fi a few times, so our families at least know we’re alive.

My parents love to check in and they get very nervous if they can’t get in contact with me.

They were already concerned when I told them I was going to stay in a cabin in the woods for an entire week.

They’re strictly city people and can be a little overbearing, but it’s simply my normal and just how it is when you’re an only child that has yet to give them grandkids.

They have nothing to do but worry about me and my being in the wilderness is definitely something to worry about.

I love watching the trees out the window as we drive by.

When I was a child and my parents would drive through these types of woods, I used to concentrate so hard on the blur of trees that I would become convinced I could see different shapes in the woods.

Shapes of people, animals or sometimes just shadows in the trees; it’s the perfect time of year for it.

The trees have lost almost all their leaves which gives the atmosphere a blank slate for my imagination to run wild.

I need to stop thinking about this though as I feel myself starting to get creeped out.

I’m sleeping in these woods over the next few days, and I don’t need to have my mind working any harder than it already does.

I already told myself I have to make this trip work.

It was Luke’s turn to choose where we went, and he’s so excited.

I don’t know how I didn’t see this location coming.

A run-down cabin in the woods is such an obvious choice for him.

This is what happens when you fall for the camping, hiking, rock climbing guy.

“Are we there yet?” I ask, sticking my tongue out. I know he hates when I ask, so I can never resist. He looks at me, pretending to be annoyed before he smiles, taking my hand and kissing it.

“If only I could get someone to pay attention to the map… then I would know.”

“Who uses maps anymore?” I laugh.

“People who were told explicitly that the GPS will stop working the further out we drive and we need to have a backup plan. If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that it has, in fact, started to get spotty. So, unless you want to sleep in the woods, would you at least attempt to figure out where we’re going?

” I stare at him with a playful amount of scorn before digging out the map I have carefully crumpled under my seat.

As I pull it apart, I realize quickly I have done myself a major disservice by not keeping it nicely folded.

I look back at our GPS to see roughly where it left off before it stopped working but before I can figure it out, Luke pulls over, seeming to sense my confusion and utter lack of a sense of direction.

He takes the map from me as I smile sheepishly and shrug.

“Who do I look like, Christopher Colombus?” I tease.

“God, I hope not. That man was nothing but issues. First off, his severe lack of boobs. We wouldn’t have lasted,” he teases back.

“Right… no boobs. The mass genocide of a people is less of a red flag then no boobs?” I ask, staring at him, taunting him to push further.

“I didn’t say that.” He dramatically opens the map and starts to study it.

I don’t know why he tried to give me that chore.

He’s the one who spent his entire childhood going on different adventures with his dad.

The kind where you go into an abandoned area with only a compass and a knapsack of beef jerky and just hope for the best.

“So, where are we? I'm hungry, thirsty and have to pee…I could go on,” I complain just enough to elicit one of his staple eye rolls.

“Hanna, we have a gas station bag full of candy and chips. Also, don’t think I didn’t notice that, once again, you only drank half of your coffee.

The one you had to have or you, and I quote, ‘will die and ruin the trip.’ As far as the peeing…

there’s a bush over there. Good luck.” I stare at him, mouth open and try not to laugh.

“The audacity you have, sir. I don’t want candy or chips. I need REAL food. And a bush? Really, Luke? Over my dead body,” I whine and smack his arm.

“Please, don’t hold back on the dramatics for my sake.

” He copies my open-mouthed stare but adds a hand over his mouth, gasping, before chuckling and looking back down at the map.

He forces a more serious tone, “Okay, pay attention. It looks like we’re pretty close, maybe only a few minutes away and it’s a good thing since the sun is starting to set and, personally, I don’t want to be searching for the key to the place once it’s dark.

” He does his best to fold the map neatly, working around the crumples, before handing it back to me with a smile, “Almost good as new.”

I mouth, “Whatever,” at him and cross my arms, fake annoyed. Show off.

_____

We pull onto what we hope is the driveway, although it seems to be just a long winding road.

There are dense trees on both sides of the car as far as the eye can see, and the further down the road we drive, the trees become increasingly packed together to the point that I can barely see through them.

This driveway takes us so far into the woods, I consider telling Luke that I think we made a wrong turn, but right as I’m about to open my mouth, the cabin comes into sight.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was not it.

It looks severely run down, dark and has overgrown plants and weeds growing up the sides.

By the looks of it, it hasn’t seen any life in a while, and I would be shocked if anyone has been staying here regularly.

I try to give the place the benefit of the doubt.

Luke said the property has good reviews, and I know how much it would mean to him for this to be the perfect getaway, but the place is creeping me out.

The yard is cast in so many shadows that it makes my eyes wander and mind wonder.

“It’s very… mysterious. Charming!” I say, looking at Luke with what I hope is a convincing smile and not the grimace I feel myself holding back. He shuts the car off and looks over at me with a guilty look on his face.

“I’m gonna be honest, it looks a little older than the pictures suggested. I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay here if it makes you feel uncomfortable. So, and no hard feelings, do you want to leave? We can go hunt down a motel.”

“No way! I’ve been in this car so long I can no longer feel my ass and then there is the food and bathroom problem.

I won’t let you or this car torture me anymore.

Plus, we don’t know what the inside looks like; I bet it’s nice.

They probably renovated the inside and just haven’t gotten around to the outside yet, and that’s why they use older pictures.

They want people to see its potential.” I pause for a moment, "That’s why I only let you see post Botox pictures of me,” I wink at him.

“How did the inside pictures look when you booked it?”

He doesn’t look at me when he says, “They didn’t have any inside pictures posted but the outside looked so nice that I just assumed the whole place would be the same, but this place doesn’t even look like a mower has touched it in months, much less anything else.

” He sighs and I can feel him waiting for my frustration and anxiety to rear their ugly heads.

He knows how thorough I am; I’m someone who weighs every detail when I’m making decisions and Luke tends to be more of a free spirit, a fly by the seat of his pants kinda guy.

That being said, I don’t usually let him be in charge of these sorts of things, but he asked me and seemed so sincere about it that I couldn’t say no.

“Luuuuke! No!” I say dramatically with a hint of actual annoyance.

"Well, I’m not staying in this car for another moment.

So put on your big boy pants and go search the cabin for dead bodies or serial killers or whatever unmentionables could be in there.

” I use both arms to start to slowly push him toward his car door.

He chuckles lightly before giving me an exaggerated salute.

“Yes ma’am, but if this place turns out to not have any electricity, we’re leaving.

I’m not stumbling into anything dead or alive in the dark.

” He pulls out his phone and finds the instructions on how to get into the place while climbing out of the car.

I watch him as he walks over to the cabin, climbs up the couple stairs that lead to the front door and bends down, peeling up the welcome mat where I assume the key is hidden.

It’s the least imaginative or secure spot to hide it, which does not make me feel any more confident.

He turns around to face me, striking a Superman pose before dramatically turning and disappearing into the dark doorway.

Instead of staring at the door until he comes back out, I pick up my phone and to my surprise the battery is almost dead.

It had been completely charged this morning and I hadn’t been using it that much throughout the day.

I guess it doesn’t really matter since, sure enough, there’s zero signal.

I wonder for a moment why I let him talk me into this as I put my phone back into my bag and zip it closed.

The most unusual feeling comes over me, making my nervous system feel instantly on edge.

Through the glare of the windshield, I think I see a glimpse of a figure staring into what looks like one of the windows of the cabin.

I gasp, lurching forward in my seat to get a better look, but with my next blink, whoever it was is gone.

I look around the property frantically before my eyes settle back onto the window but, still, no one is there.

Nothing is there. I open the car door, leaning the top half of my body out, hoping the clear air will help me see or hear if someone is out there.

I don’t see anything, but a bad feeling settles deeper into my stomach.

I sit back down, closing the door and locking it. As I sit, trying to process what just happened, I can’t for the life of me understand what I was thinking. I just opened the car door to... do what? Was I going to fistfight a stranger in the dark?

I need to take some breaths. Being surrounded by these trees in the dark is bringing me right back to childhood with my overactive imagination.

I try to quiet my mind; I don’t want to trigger my anxiety by falling into an old habit of conjuring up all kinds of monsters in the woods.

It obviously wasn’t real. I’m just hungry and, once I eat, I’m going to laugh about how quickly I still get spooked in the dark.

Suddenly, the lights in the cabin start slowly turning on one by one. Thank God for that. The light coming from inside begins to illuminate the property outside and I’m able to get a better look, but there’s still nothing to be seen.

The place almost looks alive with its two big upstairs windows.

They look like glowing eyes, staring at me from the darkness and the wide-open door looks like it’s ready to eat me alive.

I’m chilled by the thought as I look out the car window to make sure I'm truly alone. As I scan the woods, that gnawing feeling of not being alone returns, as if I’m being watched.

I force myself to get out of the car to go find Luke, knowing I’ll feel more at ease with him nearby.

Even though I want to run straight for the front door, I stop myself, deciding to be brave and grab our bags out of the trunk.

Damn my practicality. My dad always taught me to never make a trip empty-handed.

When I open the trunk, I’m reminded of how much of an over-packer I am and am immediately annoyed with myself.

Right in time, I feel Luke lay his hand on my shoulder.

“About time you get out here. I didn’t think you were actually going to go through every room in the house,” I tease but when I turn around to hand him his bag, I'm alone and find myself staring into the dark trees once again.

As I scan through them, I see nothing out of the ordinary.

My breath gets caught in my throat with the feeling of my rising panic.

I grab our bags and rush to the front door as fast as I can, the feeling of someone at my heels follows me the entire way, making me want to scream.

As I get to the door, Luke is stepping out with a big smile on his face.

“It’s all clear. No ghosts or ghouls, none that I saw anyway.

Although, maybe a few dust sprites. As far as I can tell, no one has stayed here for a long time,” he says with a hint of annoyance.

The feeling of wanting to tell him everything that just happened grips me and I can feel the words pushing to escape but the happy look on his face stops me.

We aren’t even ten minutes into this trip, I can’t ruin it already.

I need to pull myself together. Nothing really happened, and this isn’t even close to the first time my mind has played tricks on me.

So instead, I plaster a smile on my face, trying to calm my racing heart.

“What a relief,” I say as I roll my eyes. I drop his bag at his feet and trudge the rest of the way inside. The feeling of being watched following me every step of the way.