Cabin Fever (On Hold)

Fire

"Lacey, we're here."

"Wha-Where?"

"Open your eyes you goofball. We're at the cabin that you were just dying to take me with. Uh.. no pun intended."

Opening my eyes I find a small cabin in front of the vehicle I'm in. "Becks. Your crazy, you know that." She laughed as we unbuckled and hopped out of the truck. "Mars- I mean Mr. Jones... Where's Diablo?"

"She's out already. She jumped out my window as soon as we parked."

"That sounds about right. Thanks for the ride Mr.Jones." Becky and I grabbed our bags and walked to the cabin's door.

Dalton walked out and nearly ran us over. He walked over to Mr. Jones's truck and started talking to him. I shrugged when Becky gave me a questionable look.

"Lacey, Becky. Help me clean a bit. It's really dusty in here."

"Coming." As soon as we walked in and set out bags down, Mom thrusted cleaning supplies in our arms. I looked around and groaned. No one has been here in awhile. "Can we call the owner so I can yell at them? Please mom?"

Placing her hands on her hips she gave me a look that only mothers could. "You will do no such thing. If you so much as think about doing so you'll be grounded."

"I was kidding. What do you want us to clean exactly?"

"Everything. Top to bottom." We both groaned and went to work.

About two hours later, we were sitting on the beige loveseat with our cleaning supplies put away. Becky leaned towards me and whispered, "Does she make you do this every time you're here?"

Shaking my head I whispered back, "No. This is actually the first time in years that we've been here."

"So someone else could've been here."

"I guess so.... But there shouldn't have. We use to pay a little extra to keep the cabin to ourselves."

"Then who's shirt did I find in the bathroom?"

"What did it look like?"

She stood up and beckoned me to follow her. She led me to the washer which had only a few things in it. Two being our shirts that got bloodied. One being Dalton's pants, which were covered in dried mud. And a black and white flannel t-shirt.

"Where did you say you found it?" My voice shook as I asked this, I really wish it didn't.

"In the master bathroom. Is everything alright?"

"What was in the bathroom?" Mom walked over to us looking worried. Becky pointed towards the strange shirt. Lily looked in and gasped. Turning towards me I knew my suspicion was right.

"You know who the shirt belong's to. Don't you." Becky looked between us, completely confused.

Just then Dalton walks into the cabin, letting the door slam behind him. Claws clicked across the wooden floors and Diablo appeared, panting happily.

-You won't believe what I found! A squirrel! I chased him, I'm pretty sure his mate didn't appreciate it. You know what she did? She threw acorns at me! Why do you look sad?

Dalton called for mom, who left quickly to see what he wanted.

"Come on Becky let's go collect some wood for a fire tonight." I walked towards the patio and heard her footsteps behind me, acompioned by Diablo's claws clicking across the wood.

We gathered as much as we could scrounge up from the forest floor. I ended up tripping over a root, I was too occupied with my thoughts that I hadn't noticed it until I fell. "Damn root."

"Lacey, are you coming? Lily said we can start a fire now. In the fire pit of course." I was just able to hear her laugh at her own words. Rolling my eyes, I stood up and gathered the fallen wood.

I walked back out onto the edge of the patio. Setting the stack of small branches into the wood box. "There. I always hated gathering wood here."

Becky looked up from trying to light a fire. "Why? I always thought it was fun. Well, kinda. Okay, it's not fun. But why do you hate it?"

I started pointing out my scratched up knees and elbows. She just laughed, "That's what you get for going into a forest to gather wearing shorts!"

I glared at her and and stalked into the cabin. If I'm correct it should be in the second drawer... Walking into the small kitchen, I sighed through the second drawer to the left of the fridge. Pulling out kindling, I smiled triumphantly. Then walked back to the patio.

On the way I heard mom and Dalton talking in hushed voices. I only caught a little of their conversation before I was out of range. It just made my way a hell of a lot more confusing. What did the 17th have to do with anything?

On the patio Becky was still trying to start a fire. Diablo was laying out under the bench.

"I give up! This stupid thing ain't working!" She dropped the matches near the pit and stormed over to the bench and plopped down. Diablo had jerked her head up after Becky sat above her.

I laughed and picked up the matches. Striking one against the box, I carefully started the kindling on fire. Once the fire stuck I threw the kindling onto some paper within the bundle of sticks that Becky had out there.

Turning to Becky, I crossed my arms across my chest. "That's what you get when you use kindling."

She stuck her toungue out and went inside. She came out a few minutes later with a bag of marshmallows, grahm crackers, and a hershery bar. "This is what we get when I think. Yummy treats. You on the other hand would probably be gathering bugs by tripping over roots."

I just rolled my eyes and placed a bigger piece of wood on the fire. After a few s'mores mom and Dalton came out. They sat down on lawn chairs and watched the fire. It became awkward after a few minutes. "Sooo.. Do you remember when we'd all tell ghost stories?"

Dalton chuckled softly and looked up at me. "Yeah. Dad told a good one and you wouldn't leave Mom's side for weeks. Too bad we can't relive any of that."

Mom looked at Dalton in horror. "Don't ever say that! Don't say you want to relive something from years ago! It will never happen!" She stood up abruptly and stormed inside, slamming the sliding door in the process.

I looked between Becky and Dalton, wondering what just happened. They both had the same expression in their faces. Probably the same one I had. Diablo had come out from under the bench and sat in front of me with her head in my lap. She started to whine and look up at me with her big brown eyes.

We were all startled when the door slammed closed again. Mom walked over to the fire and threw something in. She started screaming something about someone lying before running back inside with tears streaming down her face.

Dalton stood up and placed a hand in reasurrance before following mom inside. Becky gasped and pointed at the fire. Lily had thrown a shirt in. And not any shirt, the white and black flannel shirt that she had found.

But at that moment, the shirt was the last thing in my mind. Diablo had tensed under my hand. I looked past the fire to find what she was staring at. I nearly bolted then and there, but I didn't want to frighten Becky.

So I sat there as we were being watched.

*******
Hey, I'm really sorry for the late update. It was hard to find the right path for this chapter, I had so many ideas that I had to stop for a bit. That turned out to be longer than I expected. But the chapter is up, I'll try to update more regularly. Thanks for hanging in there.
*hands out the best cookies ever to everyone reading*