The Cabin

Chapter 22

Melanie sat in the centre of the couch, her body stiff and her hands tightly gripping the edge of the cushions. She only vaguely remembered running to the living room. The entire evening's events were a blur. She knew something terrifying had happened in the basement, but she had no recollection of what she'd experienced. Her mind was in a fog, clouded by a mixture of the sleeping pill she'd taken and her brain attempting to erase the trauma she'd been through.

She barely blinked as she stared blankly into the space in front of her, her eyes bloodshot. Her awareness of her surroundings fluctuated, her mind dissociating as a coping mechanism. A creak in a floorboard on the upper level pulled her back and she whipped around to see what had caused the sound. Her heart began racing and she held her breath, trying to decide if she was in any danger. A triangle of light appeared on the wall before shrinking to a thin line and disappearing as the bathroom door was pulled closed. She could hear the muffled sound of Kevin clearing his throat.

She shakily got to her feet, her attention drawn to a one inch cut in the crook of her left elbow that stung as she moved. She frowned, squinting to get a better look at it. Hearing the toilet flush upstairs, she quickly made her way to the kitchen so she was out of view should Kevin look downstairs.

The clock on the microwave read 5:56. Everyone would be getting up soon to get ready for Simon and Sam's arrival. They would be heading into town for rehearsals by 6:30. They had an early morning call to make up for lost time over the past few days. Melanie filled the kettle and turned it on, knowing she would need the caffeine in order to make it through the morning.

She could hear a number of alarms going off in various bedrooms, followed by irritated groans and the creaking of bed springs. Wanting to be prepared before Simon and Sam arrived, Melanie made her way toward the basement. She stood at the top of the stairs, feeling some apprehension about going to her room, but she wasn't sure why. The fear she'd felt earlier quickly dissipating, she slowly padded down the stairs and cautiously pushed her bedroom door open.

The light was on and her bed was made. Nothing in the room gave any indication that anything had happened overnight. She pulled her closet open and chose her outfit for the day, then carried it to the bathroom to wash up and change. She pulled her pyjama top over her head and tossed it into the laundry basket next to the toilet, then stared at her reflection in the mirror. The key had been threaded onto a chain and placed around her neck, sitting just below her clavicle. The brass caught the light, catching Melanie's eye. She cocked her head to the side, looking closely at the key in the mirror.

Knocking on the bathroom door brought her back to herself and she quickly covered herself with her arm.

"You almost ready?" Emma called from the other side of the door. "Simon's going to have an aneurism if we're not on the road in the next few minutes."

"Yeah," Melanie responded, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat, letting Emma know she'd meet her upstairs in a moment. She quickly dressed and looked at her watch, not understanding where the time had gone. She was almost certain she'd only been a minute or two in the loo, but the time was 6:28. She quickly brushed her teeth, pulled her hair back into a topknot, and raced upstairs. She bundled up into her outerwear, silently cursing at herself for not grabbing some tea for the road. She'd have to get her caffeine fix at the venue.

---

The school library was quiet and lit by the sun coming in through the windows. Geri sat alone at a table in the back corner of the room with a laptop and the photocopied papers she'd gotten from the museum. She painstakingly typed the words on the paper into Google Translate, reading the English words it produced. The translations weren't completely accurate, but were good enough that she could understand most of what the articles were trying to get across.