by Amy Cross
“Did you see the fox?” Daniel asked, turning and looking toward the trees. “Dammit, I told Marit to put the trash in the proper containers, not to just leave it out where it'd attract vermin. Is she completely stupid?”
“It's okay,” Anna replied, leaning down to pick up some of the garbage, “it won't take long to -”
“No,” Daniel said firmly, grabbing her hand and pulling her away. “She can clear it up in the morning. Everyone had a job when we cleared up for the night and the rest of us did ours. She has to fix this in the morning, it's the only way she'll learn. And if the fox has made a complete mess, that's her problem too.” She sighed. “For as long as people keep cleaning up after her, she's never going to grow up and take responsibility for her actions.” He paused for a moment, before letting go of Anna's arm. “Sorry, I've just had enough of her over the years. She acts like she doesn't have to do anything. Apart from scaring other people with dumb ghost stories, anyway.”
“No wonder there are mice in the walls,” Anna muttered.
“Mice?” He stepped past her, heading back to the porch. “I doubt it. I've never heard of a mouse problem out here.”
“But they could find ways in, couldn't they?” she asked, following him up the stairs and into the kitchen. “I heard one earlier.”
“I doubt it,” he replied, pushing the door shut and sliding the bolt across. “I don't know, maybe in some of the internal walls, I guess it's possible.” He paused again, as if there was something else he wanted to say, but finally he just shrugged. “Anyway, I should get back to working on my camera. I want to try to have it up and running so I can record the sunrise, which should start in...” He checked his watch, before heading back to the table. “In about an hour and a half.”
“So soon?”
“We're pretty far north, remember. Trust me, when the morning sun comes streaming through those bare windows upstairs at about 5am, the others are gonna wish they hadn't stayed up drinking so late. Hangovers can be a bitch in a place like this.” He smiled. “Poor Marit.” With that, he picked up his camera again and fiddled with the settings, before aiming it at Anna. “You don't mind being on video, do you?”
“Of course not,” she replied, smiling nervously, waiting for him to turn and record something else. As the seconds ticked past, however, she found that the little red light remained resolutely targeted at her, as if he wasn't going to stop until she walked away.
“You don't fancy performing a little striptease, do you?” he asked.
She stared at the lens for a moment. “Sorry? What did you just say?”
“You're pretty hot,” he continued, “but I feel like you don't notice that about yourself. How about you let me film you, so you can watch it back and see?”
“I...” She took a deep breath. “Thanks, but I really need to get to bed.”
“Are you -”
“Goodnight.” Turning, she hurried out into the dark hallway and then stopped at the foot of the stairs. Her heart as pounding, but when she looked over her shoulder she was relieved to find that Daniel wasn't following her. “What the hell is wrong with these people?” she whispered, shocked to have had to guys come onto her in one evening. Figuring that there had to just be a coincidence, she made her way back upstairs.
She didn't hear it, but in the kitchen Daniel was already replaying the footage.
“You don't fancy performing a little striptease, do you?” his voice asked from the camera's tinny speaker, followed by Anna's voice: “Sorry? What did you just say?” Then Daniel's voice again: “You're pretty hot.”
***
A couple of minutes later, having made her way back up to the room, Anna picked her way to the middle bed and slipped back under the sheets. Already the sky outside seemed to be lightening just a little, and when she turned to look over at Marit she was just about able to see her friend's face, fast asleep but mercifully not snoring any longer. Rolling onto her back, Anna stared at the ceiling for a moment, before glancing at Jennifer and seeing that her eyes were wide open.
“Hey,” Anna whispered.
No reply.
“Sorry,” Anna added.
“For what?” Jennifer asked.
“I didn't mean to wake you.”
“You didn't. I was just thinking about my father.”
Anna opened her mouth to reply, but she wasn't quite sure what to say. “I'm sorry,” she muttered finally.
“Have you ever lost someone?” Jennifer asked. “Someone you really loved, I mean. Someone whose death cracked your soul open?”
“Um...” Anna paused. “No. No, I haven't.”
Jennifer stared at her for a moment longer. “You're very lucky,” she said finally, before rolling onto her other side, facing the far wall. “Luckier than you appreciate.”
Anna lay completely still, trying to get back into the zone for sleep, even if only for a few hours. She closed her eyes and shifted to get comfortable, and finally she felt herself starting to settle again. Her thoughts drifted and she found herself thinking about the beautiful clear lake, with sunlight dancing across the surface. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to slip into the water and swim away from the dock, out toward the vastness of the lake, all alone beneath a cloudless blue sky. Everything around her was calm and peaceful.
As quiet as the world could ever become.
Suddenly a scream rang out from downstairs.
Sitting bolt upright in the darkened room, Anna looked around and saw that Marit's bed was suddenly empty.
Chapter Five
“You've got to calm down!” Daniel hissed, holding Marit by the arms as she tried to pull away. “It was nothing!”
“What's wrong?” Anna asked, hurrying into the kitchen with Jennifer just a few paces behind. She looked around for some hint of a disturbance, but there was nothing. Upstairs, the others could be heard stumbling out of bed.
“Nothing's wrong,” Daniel said firmly, turning to her. “Go back to -”
“I saw her!” Marit sobbed, trying again to pull away from him. “She was at the window and I saw her! Oh God, she was right there!”
“There was no-one at the window,” Daniel continued, clearly annoyed and adding something harsh-sounding in Norwegian.
Turning to look at the window on the far side of the room, Anna waited for some hint of a figure out there. Seeing nothing, she made her way over and peered out at the clearing, where the first glimpse of morning sun continued to brighten the sky, but there was still no sign of anyone. The forest, which a short while earlier had been a vast dark patch, was now lightening to reveal individual trees standing tall.
“Jennifer -” Daniel said behind her.
“I saw her!” Marit screamed. “I saw her, I swear to God! Why the hell would I lie about something like this?”
Anna turned to them. “Who did you see?”
As Marit broke down into a series of heavy sobs, Daniel put his arms around her, holding her tight. “It was just a trick of the light,” he said firmly, running a hand through her hair. “Obviously something reflected off something else, and it just freaked you out, and you were half asleep so your brain wasn't really processing stuff properly. You've been on edge ever since you got here and finally it became too much.”
Clearly unimpressed, Jennifer muttered something under her breath as she headed to the sink and poured herself a glass of water. Her body language was that of someone who resented being disturbed.
“What's going on?” Joe asked as he and Christian hurried through, both of them bleary-eyed and clearly hungover.
“Nothing,” Daniel said firmly.
“But -”
“Nothing's going on here!” Daniel continued. “Can everyone please just go back to bed?”
“I saw her at the window,” Marit whimpered, clinging to his arms. “I saw her.”
“You really didn't,” Daniel said, looking down at the top of Marit's head before turning to the others. “She just had a fright, that's
all. I'm sure everyone here knows what that's like.”
“I knew it was a mistake to let her come,” Jennifer muttered, sipping at her water by the sink. “I said she wouldn't be able to handle it out here, but no-one listened to me. I know a weak-minded imbecile when I see one.”
“You just got freaked out for a moment,” Joe said, heading over to Marit. He glanced briefly at Anna, as if he was worried about her reaction, before putting a hand on Marit's shoulder. “Come on, it's natural. Let me guess, you probably told a load of dumb ghost stories to Anna last night, and then they came back to bite you on the ass. You were trying to scare someone else and you ended up freaking yourself out.”
“I saw her!” Marit hissed angrily, turning to him with tears streaming down her face. “Don't tell me I imagined it, because I didn't! I'm not an idiot!”
Joe sighed, rolling his eyes.
“I saw her!” Pulling away from Daniel, Marit shoved Joe in the chest, pushing him back a couple of paces. “She was right there!” She turned and pointed at the window next to Anna. “I saw her goddamn face right outside there, okay? It wasn't leaves or a weird reflection or any of that crap, it was a face! I saw her eyes staring right at me!”
“It wasn't her face,” Joe replied, holding his hands up as if he expected to be pushed again. “You never even met Karen Lund, remember? Remember that, Marit? You only saw photos of her in the news, so how would you recognize her in real life? You're not making much sense here.”
Letting out a gasp of frustration, Marit stepped toward him, but she seemed to hold back at the last moment. Putting her hands over her face, she muttered something and turned away, and finally she started sobbing again. Joe hissed a few words of Norwegian, to which Marit replied angrily with a volley of her own, none of which Anna understood. Silence fell between them for a moment, before Daniel added something that included the name Karen a couple of times. Marit turned and glared at him with anger in her eyes.
“Hey,” Anna said finally, making her way over and putting her arms around Marit, “it's okay, you're just freaked out.” She waited, feeling her friend's body shaking with shock. “It happens to the best of us sometimes,” she continued. “I'm sure it felt totally real, but Daniel was down here with you, wasn't he? He'd have seen something too if there'd been anything to see.”
“Of course he would,” Joe said.
“There was nothing,” Daniel added. “Marit just came in, headed over to the other side of the room, nothing happened and then suddenly she started screaming.”
“Did you get it on video?” Anna asked, turning to him.
He shook his head.
“I saw her,” Marit whispered, her sobbing voice so low that only Anna could hear. “I saw her staring right at me. I'm not some kind of weak-minded idiot, I know what I saw!”
“Why don't we go and take a look?” Anna asked, feeling Marit's tears soaking through the shoulder of her t-shirt. Stepping back, she forced a smile, hoping to break through Marit's sense of shock. “Why don't we go and take a look out there right now? It's pretty much light, there's nothing to be scared of. We'll all go.”
Marit stared at her for a moment, her eyes filled with tears, before slowly shaking her head.
“Come on,” Anna continued, taking her hand, “it'll be -”
“She's out there!” Marit hissed, pulling away. “You don't understand!”
“You're being a dick,” Joe said, stepping up behind her. “You realize that, right?” He added something in Norwegian.
Turning, Anna made her way to the back door and slid the bolt across.
“What are you doing?” Marit called after her.
“Proving to you that it's okay,” Anna replied, pulling the door open and stepping out onto the porch. The morning air was already noticeably warmer than when she'd been outside with Daniel earlier.
“No!” Marit shouted, hurrying to the doorway and reaching for her but stopping a few inches short. “Get back inside!”
“There's nothing out here,” Anna replied, heading to the far end of the porch and looking around. There was no sign of anyone or anything, not even the fox, although there was still garbage strewn across the clearing. Turning, Emma saw Joe and Daniel following her out while Marit still clung to the door-frame.
“Your friend's right, you know,” Joe said, still with a hint of irritation in his voice as he looked around for a moment and then turned back to Marit. “You're being an idiot, there's no-one out here for miles and miles. Your mind's playing tricks on you.”
Cautiously, with tears still running down her face and her whole body shaking, Marit stepped out onto the porch, glancing around as if she still expected something to appear from any direction.
“She was right here,” she whispered finally, her voice trembling with fear. “She was right where I'm standing now, and she was looking in at me like...” She paused, before turning to Joe. “Her eyes were like...”
“Don't,” Joe said firmly.
“Her eyes -”
“Don't,” he said again. “Seriously, you're letting yourself get wound up over nothing.” He hissed something in Norwegian; whatever it was, it seemed to shut Marit up for a moment.
“This is beyond idiotic,” Jennifer announced, stopping in the doorway next to Christian. “Aren't we all old enough to keep our crap together when we get a little spooked? I mean, if you think about it rationally, the obvious explanation is that she just saw her own dumb reflection in the window and she was still asleep so she lost it. I mean, let's face it, I'm not the only one here who knows what she's like, she's always been... unusually reactive to her environment.”
“I'm not an idiot!” Marit said firmly, turning to her.
Jennifer smiled and rolled her eyes.
“I'm not!” Marit shouted, lunging at her, almost grabbing the other girl's throat before Joe stepped between them and pushed her back.
“You need to get a grip!” he hissed, stepping closer to her. “Seriously, it's one thing to spook yourself during the night but it's another to react like this and get everyone worked up!” He glanced at Anna, before taking hold of Marit's arm and forcing her to the other end of the decking, where he started whispering something in her ear. Unable to hear a word of what they were saying, Anna began to make her way over, only for Daniel and Christian to step in the way as if they were deliberately blocked her.
“Just let him talk to her,” Christian said with a forced smile. “Joe always knows how to calm Marit down. They've been friends for a long time.”
“She gets tense sometimes,” Daniel added, as part of what seemed to be a coordinated effort to ease the situation. “What do you call that kind of thing in English? Highly-strung?”
“Yeah,” Anna replied, “but...”
Her voice trailed off as she realized she could hear Joe and Marit arguing in hushed tones, although she still couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
“I guess we're all wide awake now,” Christian continued, forcing an upbeat tone, “so there's no point in anyone going back to bed. Why don't we sort out some breakfast and then get an early start on a trip to the lake?” Behind him, Joe and Marit were still arguing. “You know what's fun? Hiking. Does anyone want to hike the entire lake trail? It takes about six hours, but it's mostly pretty even ground and some of the views are spectacular.”
“Don't tell me to shut up!” Marit hissed behind them. “I'm not -”
“We can take lunch,” Christian added, putting a hand on Anna's shoulder as if he wanted to steer her back into the kitchen. “Maybe in England you don't go hiking so much, but in Norway it's one of our favorite things to do. You can really experience the Norwegian countryside, maybe see some of the animals. This time of year, there should even be a moose or two wandering through the forest.”
“Sure,” Anna replied, as she spotted Jennifer marching over to where Joe and Marit were still arguing, “but -”
Suddenly she heard the sound of a slap, and silence fell for a
moment before Jennifer marched back into the house. Peering past Christian's shoulder, Anna saw a shocked expression on Marit's face.
“We're going hiking!” Christian said enthusiastically. “Come on, it's time to fix some breakfast! We need fuel before we set off!”
With everyone acting as if the situation was fine, Anna couldn't help hanging back on the decking as the others headed inside. She could see that Marit was shocked, and after a moment she made her way over to her friend.
“Hey -”
“Everything's fine,” Marit replied, despite the red mark on her cheek from where Jennifer had slapped her a moment earlier. “I was just being irrational.”
“Okay, but -”
“Let's not make a big thing of it,” Marit added, glancing over at the forest for a moment before turning back to her. “I think Joe and I might hang back from the hike, we've got some stuff to do here, but you'll have a really good time, I promise.” She seemed almost in tears as she paused for a moment, and then she patted Anna's shoulder before slipping past and heading inside. “Come on, let's get some breakfast.”
“Sure,” Anna replied, holding back for a moment. Making her way to the doorway, she looked inside and saw the others starting to make food, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they'd quickly closed ranks around Marit, and that Marit – for whatever reason – was allowing it to happen. After a moment, she spotted Joe heading through to the hallway, talking to someone on a mobile phone. Pulling her own phone from her pocket, she saw that she still had no signal, but Joe seemed to be talking to someone out in the hallway.
Over by the fridge, Marit was clearly struggling to keep from bursting into tears.
“Here,” Jennifer said with a forced, fake smile, breaking Anna's train of thought by depositing some packs of smoked salmon in her hands, “make yourself useful.”
Spotting movement nearby, Anna turned and saw that Daniel was unlocking the door to the basement. He smiled at her as he headed through, but a moment later he pulled the door shut and she heard him locking it again from the inside.
