Branches swept over the car as Nick drove down an old, narrow gravel road. Cora thought it’d been about two hours. It was hard to guess the distance because he’d driven in circles and had to slow down for the twisting roads (especially for the gravel ones). He pulled the car into a small, worn out garage (or maybe it was a shed), and turned the ignition off. She was glad the headlights stayed on for a minute.
Her stomach growled in the silence. She almost wished she’d eaten dinner, but the growling was partly from nerves too.
“There’s a path leading up to the cabin. I’ll grab the flashlight.” He also grabbed her bag and came around to her door and opened it. “You can get some rest inside.”
Sleep? At a time like this?
When she hesitated, he squatted down in front of her and held the flashlight to the side so it wouldn’t shine directly on her face. “We can talk inside. I don’t want to risk Alexander listening to us.”
“He would follow us all the way out here?”
Nick stood and pulled her up; he wrapped a small blanket around her shoulders. “That man doesn’t stop for anything. Here, you’ll want to change your shoes to walk up there.”
She didn’t want to go to this cabin at all, but she didn’t want to be out alone in the darkness either. She pulled her tennis shoes from the bag and switched into them.
The path was there, but barely there. They had to walk through the ferns and briars up a hill, in the dark, with Nick’s flashlight lighting the way ahead of them. She couldn’t see anything outside of the circle of light, so she couldn’t say if there really was a cabin up the hill. It seemed more likely that they were hiking into the deep, dark forest. Although, there had been a shed to park in, so there had to be a house to go with it. Her teeth started chattering from nerves.
“Are you cold? Are your legs okay?” he asked, turning and shining the light down on her.
“I have much bigger problems to worry about than scratching my legs up.”
He paused and swung the light around, almost as if he felt the same eerie sensation as she did. She tried to see into the blackness and considered racing off into the trees. Nick took a hold of her blanket and gently pulled her along. He was guiding her. It wasn’t menacing at all. She began to soften toward him. No. She had to hold onto her anger and keep the distance between them.
The trees opened and he shined the light up towards a small wooden building. Really, it was a tiny shack trying to hold its own against the forest.
“I’m sorry about this dump,” Nick said, looking the place over.
The wood structure looked like a building from an oil painting: lots of character, but not good for much. Instead of a porch or steps, just a plain wood door marked the entrance. Nick put his arm around her and led her inside. He shut the door and walked to something – a table maybe. His shadow blocked the light.
“I can’t see anything,” she said, panicking. Why did he bring her here?
She heard something, and then a light came on. He had a propane camping lamp that hissed as it burned. “Let’s look around and make sure everything’s okay.”
What could he possibly mean by okay? This was not okay.
The dark interior contained a stove, a table, two wooden kitchen chairs, and a worn brown couch. There was a tiny bathroom in the corner. A wall extended from the bathroom to create a semi-private space for two twin beds. It was just a one room cabin. Cans of food sat stacked next to the stove. No pictures hung on the walls, no carpets padded the uneven wood floor.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said and glanced at him.
“Oh, here, take the lamp.”
She grabbed it, and her workout bag, and left him standing there as she went into the bathroom, which was the only room in the cabin with a door. It had running water, at least, but it didn’t have a window. That killed that idea. She changed into cotton shorts and a tank top and stuffed her other clothes back into the bag.
When she opened the bathroom door, she saw Nick trying to light the cooking stove with a match. She set the lamp on the table and walked around the wall over to the beds. There was a tiny window, but it had boards nailed across it from the inside. If they were nailed form the outside, she might have been able to push or kick them off. They also looked newer and sturdier than the rest of the cabin.
She could hear Nick making noise by the stove, and she peeked toward the door. She soon realized he was close enough to easily grab her if she ran.
Who would have built a cabin so far out in the country? It was hard to picture a couple or family living here and being happy. Maybe it was an old hunting cabin. That made more sense. Now the Holloways used it to hold people hostage.
She sat on the bed. The plan was to think up a plan. Instead she let the tears come, and it felt good to let go. She had every right to be upset, mad and scared.
She fell across the bed, covered her nose so she wouldn’t smell it, and let the tears run down the sides of her face. How could her dad have gotten into so much trouble? Why hadn’t he just quit that job?
“Cora?” He stopped by the end of the bed. She hadn’t heard him walk over. “I have some dinner on the table. Nothing fancy, but you have to be hungry by now.”
Cora didn’t want him to see her wrecked emotional state, so she just nodded. She had her arm over her face and it was dark, so he wouldn’t see. She couldn’t find her voice.
“Cora?”
He sat down next to her and touched her leg. That made her jump. Still, he didn’t move his hand.
“You should eat something.” He took her hand and tried to pull her up. She fought at first, but couldn’t find a reason for it so she gave in. He pulled her up so quickly that she bumped into his chest. His arm came up around her back.
It’d feel so good to lean into him and cry some more. He wiped her wet cheek and began soothingly rubbing her back. There was a desperate feel to his caresses that revealed his guilt.
She needed someone to reassure her, but not him, not now. “Don’t.” She pushed off the bed and walked to the table. He had set just one metal camping plate and a full glass of water.
“Sit down,” he said, pulling the chair out.
It would feel very strange to sit down and eat with him, but she felt uneasy about the single plate too. She glanced toward the stove and then up at him.
“Your candle lit dinner,” he said, trying to smile. When he stepped back to the stove, she finally spotted the other plate full of food. She was staring. Did he know what she was thinking? He took a bite of his food and raised his fork in her direction. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
That wasn’t what she was worried about…
She smelled rice and her mouth watered. Saying a prayer, she took a bite.
The plate contained a cooked, boxed dinner and some canned vegetables. She could barely taste it because she was so hungry. She was a little surprised by his polite gesture, letting her use the table by herself. It was now clear that he was nice enough not to poison her as well.
He rinsed their plates and boiled them in a large pot, due to the lack of any dish soap. She walked around the wall and laid down on one of the beds. She was surprised by how tired she felt.
Nick came in and sighed as he sat on the other bed. He set the lamp down on the ground and its glow spread up into the room. It sounded a bit like a campfire when she closed her eyes. She could still feel him looking at her.
“Your father isn’t completely alone,” he said. “I’m not the only one in the family that disagrees with what they’re doing. My cousin is trying to keep tabs on Jerry.”
“If you think this is wrong, and you want to help, why won’t you and this cousin grab Jerry and me and run? We could get away and go to the police.”
“We can’t get you and Jerry at the same time. Keith might do something awful if…”
“If what?” She wasn’t going to let it go.
“Alright. If one of you gets away, Keith might hu
rt the other one. It won’t keep him at up night to have Alexander kill someone.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?” she asked without opening her eyes. She wanted distance, and maybe to hurt him, and that’s why she asked. A part of her also wondered if he’d admit to hurting anyone before.
“What?” He asked slowly, sounding hurt and insulted. “I really scare you?”
She opened her eyes.
“Cora…I’ve never purposely hurt anyone in my life. I’ve never done anything like this before.” He sat on the edge of his bed, leaning over and resting his elbows on his knees. The pleading look in his eyes made her want to believe him.
“Then why start now?”
“To fix all this. I didn’t plan on having anything to do with my family, but I couldn’t stay out of it.”
“You could have called the police,” she accused. “Or told me what was going on when you stopped me at the restaurant.”
“I wanted to go straight to the police with all this, but I can’t be certain Keith doesn’t have some of them on his payroll. Or, Alexander might have been watching me. I couldn’t figure out a way to get help without putting Jerry or you in more danger. This bought us time.”
But was it enough time?
She closed her eyes and willed her body and mind to relax, remembering a day long ago spent on the beach with both her parents. Like always, the memory brought tears to her eyes. She soon remembered that Nick was watching her; she rolled the other way and wiped her eyes. She pretended to be asleep for so long she actually started to drift off.