All too soon, we get to the entrance of the forest where we have to go by foot, carrying our bags in hand. Luckily, they weren't so heavy. A forty minutes drive in awkward conversations and silence really took its toll on me. Thank God for the cookies and chocolate I stocked up my backpack with. Betty also baked some delicious cream cookies that made mine taste like crunchy paper.
"Hey!," Dylan shouts and grabs my arm stopping me from going any further. "Watch your step Crystal, you almost stepped into a trap"
I look at the ground and see a black metal-like object covered with grass and dried leaf. I don't even want to think about what would've happened if Dylan wasn't on time. Whispering a thank you to him, we start walking and I look up ahead at the forest, it's looking very different from before.
The trees look taller and bigger, their barks are black covered in mud and grass. The path we were following seemed to have vanished into the tall grasses and shrubs. The leaves on the trees seem very weird and strange. I start to get an eerie feeling about this place getting really impatient to get to the cabin.
"How long till we reach the cabin?" I ask no one in particular
"Judging by our speed, we should be there in the next ten minutes" Jake says from behind
"I remember how Selena kept whining and complaining till we finally got there" Betty says and laughs but soon stops when she realises she was the only one laughing.
"Who's Selena?" I ask but few seconds pass before anyone says anything
"She was-",
"My aunt," Dylan cuts Jake off before he could say anything, "we came here together few years back." I knew something was off but I decided to stay silent. It's been a really long morning and I'm exhausted.
Little chit chats come up between Betty, Jake and I but Dylan stays silent only with a few 'be carefuls' and 'watch your steps' addressed to me and in ten minutes, just like Jake predicted, the most beautiful cabin I've ever seen in my life comes into view in the middle of a clearing.
"Here we are," Jake says "The Connor's cabin. It's been built for the past hundred years, from generation to generation, we come here yearly for a family vacation. No one is allowed to demolish it, you can only renovate to your taste when you're in power"
"In power?" I ask without taking my eyes off the large, spacious cabin with beautiful brown wood I've seen only in TV shows.
"You see, this cabin was my great grandfather's before he passed on and it automatically became my grandfather's then my father's and now mine. Only the first sons, or only sons like my lovely Dylan here"
"I don't want your piece of crap" Dylan says with resent thick in his voice.
"Oh," Jake says with a creepy smirk on his face and his eyes looking straight into Dylan's, "but you must". They both glare at each other and the tension in the air becomes so thick you could slice it with a knife.
"Boys," Betty says, "let's not get too hasty. I think it's too early for this. Let's all just go inside and try to have a nice time, okay?"
"Yeah," I chip in, "let's all go inside and rest for a little while"
Betty takes hold of Jake's hand and they both go in, Dylan and I following suit. The closer we get to the cabin, the more beautiful it becomes. The inside is even more beautiful and homely. It has a warm cozy feeling and smells brand new. The living room has two coffee brown medium sized sofas with a black wooden table in the middle.
There's a hearth on one side of the room but no fire is set. The kitchen is large and even more beautiful, with a small dining table in the middle. Everything looks so simple and luxurious at the same time.
"Let's go." Dylan says and leads me up the wooden stairs where I can see three doors. We pass the first, second and enter the third. It's a big en suite furnished with a queen sized bed and a moderately sized wardrobe. There's a dresser with a mirror on it beside the bed and a small cushion in one corner of the room
"This is really beautiful Dylan. Wow", I say in amazement as I drop the bags on the floor beside the wardrobe.
He doesn't say anything in return but vanishes into the bathroom. All these secrecy, mystery and tension is really annoying and scary. Being in the middle of some family drama you don't know about. Walking on eggshells around your once loving and happy hushand. I'm tired of living in oblivion, I want answers and I'm going to get them today.
Sitting on the bed waiting for my husband to come out of the bathroom like a predator waiting for it's prey, I look out the window into the woods. It's so green, deep and beautiful. I've always loved nature but I have never really been this close to a forest before.
I read somewhere that you can never really see the end of a forest no matter how deep you look so I try to look deep into it when I notice something off, different. It's not green and it's definitely not a plant. If it's an animal, I don't know but I see a pair of sparkly white eyes looking right at me.
My heart starts beating a little faster than normal out of fear but I can't seem to tear my eyes off it. I keep looking into the white eyes in the woods, feeling myself get lost in it, fear engulfing me as I start to lose control of my body. I feel like it's calling on to me, trying to tell me something.
Suddenly, I hear a loud noise and scream a little out of fear, finally able to look away from those eyes. Trembling on the bed, I cover my ears with my hands closing my eyes tightly shut trying to recover from what just happened.
"Shh shh", I hear Dylan say calmly as he touches me, I flinch a little out of reflex before I open my eyes and see it's just him. Quickly, I rush into his arms, holding him tight.
"It's okay, I'm here, it's okay" he says, his voice calming me down.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?", He asks with so much worry and concern in his voice
"I saw so-something i-in the woods", I stutter, "it was like a pair of eyes, looking directly at me, paralyzing me, almost possessing me" my voice breaks at the end. Why am I being so emotional.It's fine babe, it was probably just a bear or something", he tries to comfort me, "I'm sure it was just an animal. There's nothing to worry about, okay?" I nod in agreement as I put myself back together. It was just an animal and I was scared for nothing. It's nothing. I try to reassure myself and smile at Dylan.
"Now go take your bath. You stink" he scrunches up his nose and fakes a disgusted look. Laughing, I hit his shoulder sticking out my tongue to him and head to the bathroom to take a nice long shower.
The bathroom is equally beautiful, with a bathtub, a shower, water heater, wash basin with a beautiful mirror on the wall above it. There's also a three drawer cabinet beside it. Simple but homely. Quickly, I strip out of this smelly cloth, the gun dropping to the ground in the process. "Oh my God", I gasp. I totally forgot about it. Hurriedly, I hide it in the last drawer. Scanning my environment for any one watching, maybe a camera or something. Thankfully, nothing.
'Ridiculous, who'd put a camera in a family cabin', I think to myself before finally going into the shower but not finding any soap. Arghh! I groan.
"Dylan?", I call out to him from the bathroom, "could you hand me my bathing soap? It's in the red bag"
"Okay," few seconds later he brings it into the bathroom for me.
"Thanks babe" I say and he winks, leaving me to my business. When I'm done, I realise I forgot to get towels.
"Crap", I say to myself.
"What's wrong babe?", Dylan asks from the bedroom. He heard me?
"I forgot the towels"
"Oh, there's some new towels folded in the drawer. You can use those"
I check the first drawer and truly, there are clean white towels in it.
"Thanks sweetie", I say and take one out, cleaning myself and trying to dry my hair a little, looking at my reflection in the mirror. My usually bright blue eyes now look dull and there are dark circles forming around my eyes. Shopping for this trip and the entire journey itself really stressed me out badly. I remember how I looked after my wedding day, Dylan making fun of me saying I looked
like an inmate. Chuckling, I begin combing my long blonde hair.
"What's funny Crystal?" Dylan asks from the bedroom. What? He heard me again? The walls in this cabin must be so thin.
"Nothing, I was just thinking back to when we just got married"
"And how I made gest of how stressed you looked?" What? How did he know that? Was I thinking out loud? Frowning, I open the bathroom door slightly, looking into the bedroom, finding no one there.
"Dylan?", I call out, going into the room, looking around but no sign of him. Fear gradually creeping it's way into me.
"Crystal?", I jump, startled as I turn around swiftly to the direction of the voice contending with the sound of my heart beating rapidly in my chest. It's Dylan coming in with a glass of water, looking at me confused. Huh? How did he go get water so fast?
"What's wrong with you?", He asks looking puzzled.
"How, I mean when, when did you leave this room?", I ask with fear and confusion filling my voice.
"Just after I gave you the soap. I also asked Betty for some aspirin, I'm sure you need them. Why?" He drops the glass on the dresser with a tablet of aspirin by the side.
"You weren't in the room while I was taking my bath?"
"No Crystal, I wasn't. Did anything happen?"
"No, nothing," I lie. "I was just asking."
"Are you sure?" He asks unconvinced but I nod my head anyways.
"I'm fine. Thanks for the medicine. I'll use it right away and take a nap."
"Okay then," he gives me a peck on my cheek. "I have to go do something downstairs now. I'll be right back"
"Alright babe", I say faking a smile. I suddenly become weary of my environment as he leaves. Fear envelopes me like ants on a cube of sugar, making my heart race faster than it did when Dylan proposed to me. Shaking my head, trying to rid myself of the fear, I quickly put on a polo and sweat pants afterwards taking the aspirin.
"I think I'm going crazy", I think out loud, lying on the bed with intentions to sleep off this paranoia. Minutes, if not hours pass and I can't even close my eyes for two seconds without a scary thought popping into my head.
Was I really hallucinating? Or was it just an imagination? 'No', I shake my head in disagreement. I can't imagine Dylan's voice telling me where the towels are and they were really there. How he heard me chuckling so lowly or how he got exactly what I was thinking about is weird enough, not finding him in the room is strange and he denying ever being in the room is just insane. Just then, I remember what I saw in the woods.
Those sparkly white eyes that made me feel... vulnerable? Is that even the word?
"No no no", I say to myself, holding my head and shutting my eyes close, "it's all just in my head. Everything's fine", I try to reassure myself, "I'm just tired. I'd rest and it'll all be over. It's all in my -"
"Crystal?," Dylan cuts me off and I jump in my skin out of reflex, "are you talking to yourself?", Dylan asks as he comes in looking at me like I've grown a second head.
"No-no", I say, "I mean yes. Yes I was but it's nothing. I was just bored"
Looking at me skeptically, he comes and sits on the edge of the bed looking at me, assessing my face. "Are you sure? You've been acting a little weird since we got here."
"I have?", I ask feigning confusion but I bet he can see right through me. He could always read me like an open book. "I promise it's nothing, I'm just a little bit tired and hungry"
"Oh," his eyes suddenly widen like he forgot something, "I almost forgot. Betty asked us to come down for dinner but I'll take my bath first".
"Okay then," I say smiling, "I'll wait for you"
"Sure. Where are the towels by the way? I don't think you packed any."
My eyes widen and my heart starts beating fast again. He doesn't know where the towels are? He wasn't the one who told me where to get them? This is so creepy, fuck. Who was freaking talking to me, sounding exactly like Dylan. Or is he pulling a prank on me?
"Earth to Crystal", he snaps his fingers in my face, bringing me out of my daze.
"S-sorry.", I say, not being able to control the stuttering, "th-they are in the ba-bathroom, in the drawer"
"Er," he looks at me questioningly, "are you sure you're okay?" He looks genuinely confused and Dylan isn't one to pull pranks. He'd laugh in the middle of everything. He can't keep up an act for so long.
"Yeah, sure. I'm waiting for you"
"Okay then. I won't take long". With that, he goes into the bathroom and I don't know if I should be more scared or not.