Time is Running Out

Chapter 3

The next morning, Kara bolted awake and ran to the front door. The dog tags were still there. She took a deep breath and cursed herself for being so paranoid. She headed to the kitchen for her morning coffee, and picked up the phone to call her mom.

"Morning KarBear! How'd you sleep?"

"Morning mum. It was alright, I'm definitely not used to the bed."

"Well that's cause it's been years since you slept in it," her mom laughed. "You should come up more often, I'd love to have some company."

"Sure mum," she smiled weakly. "I'll come up more." She grabbed a spoon from the drawer to add sugar to her coffee.

"Good. So tell me. Any sign of your father?"

"No, no warnings mum. Not even - well, actually," Kara's mind floated back to the dog tags the night before. "Mum, when you're up here, do Dad's dog tags normally end up in different places?"

"Not really, aside from those little warnings here and there of course. Why? Did something happen?"

"I just saw them on the barstool last night while I was writing. I thought they were on the hook. They must have gotten caught on my sweater when I came in."

"Maybe. Or maybe he's just trying to show you he supports what you're doing?"

Kara laughed. "Maybe mum. Maybe." Suddenly she heard a clink on the floor. "What the-" She whirled around to find the dog tags on the floor under the hook.

"What happened?" Her mom's concerned voice filled the phone. Kara rolled her eyes as she went and picked them back up.

"The tags fell off the hook. Scared the crap out of me. Not funny Dad." She scolded the tags as she set them back on the hook, making sure they were secure.

"See? I told you." Her mom laughed, and Kara laughed too. "Just be careful up there honey, okay? And make sure you lock those doors all the way, you know how they can stick."

"I will momma."

"Alright honey. I've got to get to work. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye momma."

She finished making her coffee and sat down to her laptop. Rereading what she had written of the night before, Kara pondered her options. She knew she needed to be writing a story. But all she could think about were these damn dog tags. Maybe the cabin wasn't her best idea after all. She grabbed her mug and went outside, opting for a quick walk outside to clear her mind. Making her way around the cabin, she tripped on a stick, which she quickly identified as the one from last night. She laughed to herself, feeling pathetic for getting so worked up over a stick. She made her way to the shed and pried open the doors, finding the tools her dad had used to keep up with the trees in the back. Two boxes sat in the corner, one she knew held all their Christmas decorations, and the other the Halloween decorations. The Rosewood family took their holidays very seriously. They would spend an entire weekend filling the area with plastic fixtures and signs representing whatever holiday was next. Hours spent decorating the Christmas tree, or making their own haunted field with the trees in the back. If there was a competition on the most realistic looking North Pole, the Rosewoods would win every year. Kara smiled as she glanced through the boxes, remembering those weekends with her family. She really should come help her mom decorate this year. She missed it more than she cared to admit. She walked back to the cabin and cursed herself when she saw the partially open door. She forgot to lock it.

"My bad on that one. Sorry mum!" She quickly ran inside and locked the door, testing it to make sure it was stuck, grateful her mom didn't know. She could picture the look of disappointment and the incoming "I told you so". She glanced at her laptop on the counter as she walked in, noted her lack of motivation, and decided to watch a movie instead. She pulled up Scream, in hopes that a murder movie would help put her in the right frame of mind for her book. She hadn't seen the movie before, but found it predictable. Bored and unimpressed with the ending, she shut off the TV and stood up, stretching. Her head snapped to the door as she heard the doorbell ring. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart dropped into her stomach. She was at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Never had they had neighbors of any kind. Cars rarely drove past. There wasn't any sign of life for miles around. So who is at the door? She inched slowly towards the door and peeked out the side window, but couldn't see anyone. Hesitantly, she slowly opened the door, but found no one standing on the doorstep. She glanced around, expecting to find someone at least walking away, but there was no one to be found. She looked down as she went to close the door and saw something on the wood. The dog tags. Kara froze, staring at the metal. Slowly, she turned and glanced at the empty hook, and then back at the ground. She bent down and picked up the tags with shaking hands, stepped inside and closed the door, locking, double checking, and triple checking that it was locked. Leaning back against the closed door, she clutched the tags to her chest and let her eyes wander around the room. Her eyes stopped when she noticed a black figure across the room. She tightly shut her eyes and when she slowly opened them again, it was gone. She frantically whipped her head around the room, and then bolted to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She crept to the other side of the room, poised to stab anything that moved. After doing a full sweep and finding nothing, she set the knife on the counter.

"I'm freaking losing it. What the hell." She placed the tags back on the hook, and went to her laptop to get back to work. She began recounting the events of the day. At this point, it seemed that what was happening at the cabin might be worth documenting. She figured maybe she could use it to make some sort of supernatural book or something. Anything was better than nothing, and she knew Sadie would be expecting results the next time she called. When she was satisfied she copied it down correctly, she shut off the screen and called it a night.