The Cabin: Alternative

Chapter 1: Bri

It was quiet in Bri's home.

Unnervingly quiet. No ambient noises to be heard anywhere. No wind rustling or birds tweeting through her open window, no faint footsteps of her parents downstairs as they went about their after-work routine, she couldn't even hear her own clock ticking on her wall.

She shook her head and poked at her ear. She kicked the metal trash can under her desk against the wall.

Clang.

Okay, she wasn't going deaf just yet. She picked up her phone from where it was charging next to her notebook. 25%; she'd plugged it in when it was dying at a full 4%. Her brother would have a heart attack at the thought of letting it get below 60.

Her brother that still hadn't messaged her back, no response to her questioning if he needed a ride home. He usually got one from a friend in the drama club, but sometimes asked her to request Austin drive him home. Those days Austin would go all the way to the high school to pick up Colin, and consequently Seek as well since he was there, and they'd both join their family for dinner.

Seek would also help her with her homework, something she desperately needed right now. Bri sighed and locked her phone, twirling her pencil around and scratching at her wooden desk. Concentration wasn't her strong suit when she had to sit still.

Especially when it was so abnormally silent.

She switched on the old radio sitting on the corner of her desk atop a wood shelf dedicated to it. It was indeed old, barely picked up FM signals outside her city, but it was cool looking and worked so it was good for her. She fiddled with the knobs, overlooking the static and sharp but soft shrills when the frequencies contrasted.

At least, that's what Austin said that was. Bri chose to believe him.

"-dispatchers have rang in."

She abruptly stopped her fiddling and grinned. It must have tuned into a news station at the right time. Crime reports would take her mind off Physics and give herself something else to think about while waiting.

"Citizens out on the roads should be cautious and bypass the main highway leading by the high school. An accident has been reported and the highway is in the process of being closed off."

The giddy quickly wore off, worry swiftly sliding in and taking its place. She glanced at the clock. 4:36PM. Thursday after school clubs ended six minutes ago.

"Unfortunately, it seems one of the students has been reported at the heart of the accident."

"Oh no! Do they know what happened?"

Bri's arms locked up and her fingers twitching around the tuning knob. Why did that voice sound like...Seek?

"Apparently a tragic, but accidental, car wreck. The poor boy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to witnesses, he was leaving his drama club when it happened."

"Such a dutiful student then, it seems."

Seek's voice rang in her head, jolting around like a feverish tennis ball. She wanted to jump up, yell for her parents, grab her phone and call someone. Anyone. Austin to go find him, Seek to ask why the heck he was speaking on the radio instead of checking on her brother, the police to ask what was even going on. But she couldn't move.

Her blood ran cold and the feeling in her legs shriveled out. She couldn't feel her fingers, only the pricks of wood jabbing into her palms signaled her gripping the edge of her desk but she made no conscious effort to do so. They haven't said a name, she reminded herself. It could be anyone from school.