WHISPERS TRILOGY

THE CABIN

It was only a vacation house, nothing too special. Her father was taking them out for a small vacation far out of town. Sadly, it was in the middle of nowhere and next to a shady lake with a withered boat. She got off the car holding her favorite doll tightly, examining her new home for the week.

The house was old but newly refurbished. A two story wooden house with old creaky wood that made it moan with the wind. The windows were newly fixed and the blue color of the house made it look at least attractive in a way. Her brother, Dale, made a sound of astonishment on seeing the magnitude of the house.

He was nine with thick brown hair that was impossible to comb, small stubby fingers and a gap in his teeth he got when he shed his two front teeth. Dinah and Kyle got out of the vehicle as well. Kyle was seventeen, strong and bulky with hazel colored hair, a firm jawline and aqua blue eyes. He was a handsome young man with a good and caring heart, especially towards his family.

Dinah was fifteen and a little emotionally unstable since she was only beginning her teenage years. Her hair was long, past shoulder length, with a shade of russet brown and quite silky as well. Her eyes were azure colored. She had already shown early signs of puberty as her chest and hips were growing larger by the day.

Her mother, Anita, got out last carrying the baby, Lily. Anita was pure blonde with a bright blue in her eyes, beautiful no matter her age. Her father, Daniel, had thick brown hair and a stubby beard that made him look fierce, but he was gentle; except if you crossed him. "Sheila, how do you like the house?" asked her mother. She glanced at her mother then back at the house, "I don't HATE it."

That was a white lie obviously. She hated the house more than she hated asparagus, but she did not have much of a choice about anything. She only hoped that the week would end quickly so that they would drive back to civilization, back to actual technology, back to REAL life. "This house looks amazing!" yelled Dale. Dinah grunted, "Argh, come on Sheila, let's go pick a room."

That was one of the good things about the family; the two sisters loved each other more than they did the rest of the family. The bond between those two was unbreakable. She followed her older sister inside, mostly to avoid unpacking but also to pick a room. They picked a room with a view of the lake. "See that down there? It's a little cabin, a little distance from here next to the lake," noted Dinah. Sheila looked through the window and saw the little cabin.

It was withered and looked insignificant in the splendor of the outdoor environment. It WAS insignificant, but there was no harm in noticing it. Dale and Kyle helped unpack everything downstairs. Soon afterwards, the house was habitable. The Cruz family had finally settled in.

Sheila was second from last, seven years of age. She was pure blonde, like her mother, with long silky hair like her sister. Her eyes were pure blue, her lips small but with a rare beautiful smile. She was small for her age and quite shy. In her family, she was the quiet one, the organized one, the obedient one... the cautious one. But like her siblings, she had an uncanning thirst for adventure that she could not explain.

They went exploring the outdoors a while later, leaving their parents doing heaven knows what with poor Lily as the audience. The first stop was at the lake. It was black, overflowing with hyacinth and contaminated with waste and dead fish. "I guess we're cancelling our swimming plans," said Kyle, "let's check out that creepy old cabin."

He led them towards the wooden wreck of a house, slowly pushing open the door. It creaked so much it hurt their ears. The inside looked like a workshop, old rusty tools hanging on the walls and rotting sawdust covering the floor. A team of roaches ran from sight on hearing the door open. "Gross." That was typical Dinah. There was not much else to see in the cabin. "Well Kyle, if you're done wasting our time, I'll be going b—" A banging sound came from the far right of the cabin.

They all turned quickly. There, at the far end, lay a chest.

It was covered by a tarp, but the bottom of it was visible. They walked towards it, Kyle removing the tarp. Chains were all round it and a big lock fitted on the chest's hasp. Another big lock tied the chains in place. It lay on a platform of some sort... and it looked heavy. They all exchanged quick glances, reading each other's thoughts.

"No Kyle, do NOT open that chest," snarled Dinah. "Don't be such a wuss siz, there's no harm in opening a stupid chest. What do you say Dale?"

"Open it! Open it" Dale was out of control, nearing hysteria.

"We don't know what could be in there! People don't lock up something like that so that others can open it. Whoever put it there did NOT want it to be opened." Dinah had a point, but Kyle was stubborn. "What do YOU think Sheila?"

Sheila did not like it one bit. Her hearing was twice as good as everyone else's in her family. She did not just hear the banging sound, she knew where it came from, and it was NOT from inside the chest. "I don't know..." "OK, this is what we're gonna do. You two, Dale and Sheila, back up near the door and watch from there. Dinah, you can join them if you like. I'M going to open it."

When Kyle gave directions, they all followed; because like his father, he was not one to cross. This time was no exception. He used a tins man snip to cut the chains, and then used a pipe wrench to knock off the last lock. The others watched anxiously as he worked on opening; though not as willing as he was to discover the contents of the chest, the craving to know nailed them to the spot.

The lock finally fell off. "Here goes nothing." He caught the sides of the chest's lid and lifted it slowly. The others drew closer to quench their chocking curiosity, all eyes trying to peer inside the chest. It was pitch black at first sight, then something white became visible as Kyle opened the lid wider. A white ghostly figure suddenly jumped out of the box.

They all screamed Dinah jumping onto Kyle's back. "Guys! Guys! Relax, it's just a Jack in the Box joke," he assured them. True enough, the white figure was actually just a mock version of a ghost attached to a large spring; it was not a very good version, but it still did the trick in scaring them half to death. "Kids, are you alright?!" asked their father a little distance from them.

They replied that they were fine and made a decision to never speak of that situation outside their summer home, especially Dinah's situation. They exited the cabin one by one, leaving the mock-ghost bobbing on its spring from side to side. "That thing should be destroyed," said Sheila, surprising her siblings. "Why would you say that Shee?" asked Dinah. Sheila turned back and examined the old wooden cabin. None of the others had, but she had heard a maniacal cackle and an eerie scream coming from somewhere in that cabin, around that chest. Maybe it was all in her head, she was not sure, but it rang in her ears wildly, and it scared her. "I don't like it one bit."