Is This Safe?

Chapter 18

Something felt strange the moment I woke up.

Stirring in my sleep, my heavy eyelids opened groggily as the sun's rays already peered through the cracks of the old cabin.
Blinking, blinking, something felt different. Peeling whatever was on me, the checkered quilt, I hurled it off of me with a grunt. That thing was heavy and it had my sweat on it too, but once it uncovered me, a draft of cool air hit me hard like a brick wall. Maybe I shouldn't have removed the quilt. Wait...

I look over at my sleeping friends, who were still breathing heavy and fast asleep. Maggie's mouth lay hanging open, Chelsea's hair lay straggled all over her face, and Ann lay still as if she was a dead man, but just as I was, we were all covered with the quilt. Had someone gotten cold in the middle of the night and covered us up? My nostrils burning with dryness, I look around the dense cabin to only feel a sudden uneasiness. The cabin looked more foggy then usual, kind of more dry and warm. More lit then it was yesterday and, the more it was lit, the more lonely and dreary the cabin became. More empty.
But it wasn't empty anymore, there was us.

And whoever left the door wide open for all to enter and all to see.

Had one of us accidentally left the door open last night? I'm sure we had closed it tightly early this morning. Had someone gone to the bathroom and didn't latch it when they came back inside? I'm sure they would have, but I'm sure neither one of us would have gone alone. Did someone come inside? Did someone steal our things? Were we in danger? Was it safe to still be in here?

"Guys--"
I shake Ann and Chelsea awake who were sleeping beside me, their eyes trying to open after a long, deep sleep.

The longer I wait, the longer I felt as if something bad was going to happen. Or maybe I was just over thinking things just as I always do, but why couldn't I shake this unknown feeling?

"Guys, wake up."
I whispered urgently again when they all begin to finally open up their eyes. The annoyance of their faces quickly vanishes once they see the fear in mine, but neither one of us speaks a word before I do.
"Look, we need to go. Now."

"Why?"
I heard Ann whisper to me after she slid the quilt off her.
"Did you put this on us?"

I quickly shook my head looking back at Chelsea and Maggie who seemed ignorant about who put the quilt on us while we were all asleep.
"No, did you?"
Everyone else shook their head no in response. It was official then.

We weren't alone in this cabin.

"Jenn?"
Chelsea glanced at the door that was inching its way towards us more as if it was being pushed from the outside. Was it the wind?
"Why is the door open? Did you leave it open?"

"Look, I know you're just as confused as I am, but we really need to go--"

Before I could even could even finish my hurried statement, the door slammed open, its hinges almost breaking just as the hallow sound echoes in the room. A tall figure stood facing us as they removed their left arm from pushing the wooden door all the way to the wall. Their face was protected by the sun that was beaming in our eyes, making their face too dark for us to see. Stomping, shuffling, scuffling, their hiking boots stepped onto the wooden boards of the floor, the boards creaking with their weight being pushed onto the ground. The figure stopping, they leaned against the wall before speaking to us in a small yet mocking tone.

"And where do you think you're going?"

It was a woman. An older woman, to be more specific. At least between the ages of sixty and seventy, but now that she was against the wall, we could see her clearly.

"Who are you?"
I asked, hurrying my words together in nervousness. Whoever this was, she had just caught us in the act of breaking in. Or maybe she was breaking in and we had done the work already for her.
"What do you want?"