by Amy Cross
Anna frowned. “Secret Hitlers?”
“People who have the potential to commit acts of great evil,” Jennifer continued, holding the knife up, “but who would only actually do so if circumstances conspired to put them in a certain position.” She grabbed a pan from the stove and started scooping scrambled eggs onto a plate. “Someone out here finally snapped, and he went out to find a victim, and Karen Lund just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She paused for a moment. “Poor bitch. I honestly can't imagine a worse way to die.”
“Me neither,” Anna replied. “How long do you think it -”
Suddenly she heard another bump from downstairs. She glanced at the floorboards for a moment, and when she turned to Jennifer she saw a hint of concern in the other girl's eyes.
“That must be Karen,” Jennifer said calmly.
Anna froze for a moment. “I'm sorry?”
“Banging in the basement,” Jennifer continued. “It must be Karen, trying to escape.” She paused, before a smile broke across her face. “I'm joking, of course. But seriously, all it takes is for one messed-up loner to act out his fantasies and score a little luck, and a girl like Karen Lund vanishes forever. I mean, how would you even find the body in all this wilderness?”
“But you don't believe the video was filmed in this cabin, do you?” Anna asked.
Jennifer paused, before glancing at the window to make sure no-one was close enough to overhear them. “Do you want to see something seriously freaky?” she asked finally, turning back to Anna.
“Like what?” Anna replied cautiously.
“Meet me up in our room after we've eaten,” Jennifer replied, unable to stifle a grin as she began to carry plates of food outside, “and I'll show you. Just between us, though. Let's leave the boys out of it. And you have to promise to keep it a secret.”
***
“Shut the door,” Jennifer whispered as soon as Anna entered the room, while Christian and Daniel were downstairs cleaning up after breakfast. “We don't have long.”
“What are you doing?” Anna asked, seeing that Jennifer was already using some kind of metal tool to loosen a black bolt in the corner of the room.
“What does it look like I'm doing? Close the goddamn door.”
Anna pushed the door shut before going over to join her. “It looks like you're taking part of the wall down.”
“Bingo,” Jennifer replied, sliding the first bolt out from the horizontal wooden plank and immediately starting work on another. “The guys would kill us if they knew what we were doing up here. Joe especially, he's way uptight about this place.”
“I thought you were too,” Anna replied, before catching herself. She'd noticed a definite change in Jennifer, and she felt Marit's departure couldn't be the only cause. “I mean, not that you're uptight, I just -”
“Relax,” Jennifer said with a smile, pulling out the second bolt and moving along the wall to work on another. “I can be uptight, I know that. It's, like, been bred into me and it's not really something I can fight. To be honest, I was in a foul mood when we came up here on Friday, mainly because I can't stand Marit. Sorry, I just assumed that you'd be like her since you were friends, but now I see that you're different.”
“Different how?” Anna asked.
Jennifer started on the fourth bolt. “You're cooler. You're more... interesting, more fun to hang out with.”
“Huh,” Anna replied, “no-one's ever -”
Suddenly the wooden panel began to fall away. Jennifer held it up, but only just.
“Give me a hand,” she gasped. “Grab the other end.”
Making her way to the corner, Anna took hold of the panel and helped Jennifer to lift it down. As they set it on the floor, Jennifer grinned with anticipation.
“Some of these panels were put on in the fifties or even the forties,” she explained. “They're pretty old, except they were changed out a few years ago. They were turned the other way around.”
“Why?” Anna asked.
Jennifer turned the panel over, revealing scores of scratches covering the surface on the the other side, some seemingly random but others arranged in clear shapes. At one end, there even appeared to be an attempt to carve words into the wood.
“What happened here?” Anna whispered, reaching out and running a fingertip against one of the scratched sections.
“All four walls in this room were like this,” Jennifer explained, keeping her voice down so they couldn't be overheard. “Because of the way the cabin is bolted together, my cheapskate mother decided to just turn the walls around rather than getting new sections. It's not just the walls, either. There was stuff scratched into the floorboards as well. Most of it's gibberish, but in some spots there seem to be attempts to write letters, maybe even words. I haven't managed to work any of it out, mainly because it's like totally impossible to get any time here alone, but I know it's worth a proper look.”
“Who did it?” Anna asked.
Jennifer paused for a moment. “The police were here a few years ago. Someone claimed that maybe Karen Lund was murdered in the cabin, and then it turned out that all this stuff had been carved into the walls in this room, and only this room. The cops scoured the place, but eventually they decided it was a hoax. As far as they were concerned, there was no video at all. Mamma was convinced that Joe or I had done all of this in an attempt to get a little attention, like we're a pair of total juveniles. She got really mad at us, but she could never decide which of us was responsible so, like I said, she just had the walls turned around. Out of sight, out of mind. Seriously, you have no idea how dumb that woman can be sometimes.”
“I heard scratching sounds in the night,” Anna told her.
“That could have been mice.”
“Do you really think so?”
Jennifer paused, but the answer was already in her eyes. “No,” she admitted finally. “I think I heard it too.”
“Maybe it is a hoax,” Anna continued. “I mean, if the police were satisfied, that has to be mean something. There's no way they'd have missed the truth if -”
“There's another thing you need to see,” Jennifer said suddenly. She set the wooden panel down and glanced at the door, listening for a moment as if she was worried someone might be outside, and then she took a folded piece of paper from her pocket. “Are you, like... Do you get upset easily?”
“At what?”
“I can't promise for certain that this is genuine,” she continued, unfolding the paper cautiously but keeping the printed side tilted away from Anna. “Don't ask how I got it, either, because I won't ever tell you. I haven't shown anyone else, not even my brother, but... I was told, and I truly believe, that this is a still from the Karen Lund movie. Like, from the actual video in which she was murdered.”
Anna opened her mouth to reply, but as she stared at back of the printout, she realized she didn't really want Jennifer to turn it around.
“Very few people have ever seen the video,” Jennifer explained, her hands trembling slightly. “Hell, I've only seen this one still frame, and it haunts my dreams but...” She paused, before slowly turning the paper around to reveal a grainy color image showing a chunk of something red and pink strapped to a chair, with thick black metal clamps holding it in place.
Staring at the image, it took Anna a moment to realize that the chunk of meat was a girl, and that her arms and legs had been removed while her head was tilted back and slightly blurred, as if the shot had been taken while she was moving. The figure's body was covered in blood and a severed leg had been left next to the wall in the background, while several large incisions on the girl's abdomen had sliced her open, revealing the glistening red meat beneath. After a moment, Anna turned away, feeling as if she was about to throw up.
“Did you see it?” Jennifer asked.
Anna retched briefly, but managed to hold it in.
“Did you see the wall?” Jennifer continued, with more urgency in her voice.
“I...” Taking a deep breath, Anna forced herself to look back at the image.
Jennifer put a hand over the part of the image showing the girl, leaving just part of the wall to be seen.
“It's the same wall,” she explained cautiously, before pointing down at the section that they'd removed a moment earlier. “The scratches, the markings, everything... They match perfectly. The odds of someone seeing the video and then coming here to recreate it so accurately are...” She paused, with tears in her eyes. “I haven't talked to Joe about this, I haven't mentioned it to anyone else, but I think... I think Karen Lund was tortured and killed in this room, and I think the video is real and it's out there. I wish I didn't believe that, but I do.”
Staring at the page, Anna tried to think of a reason to doubt her. “Have you been back to the police?” she asked finally.
“They're adamant that it's a hoax.”
“But...” Sitting back, Anna felt as if her stomach was twisting around. “Why are we here? Why would you let us all come up here to this cabin, if you thought something like this happened?”
“The others were coming anyway,” Jennifer replied, “and I figured maybe I could dig up some evidence while I was here, something I could take back to the police so they'd have to believe me. I haven't found anything, though.” She set the piece of paper on the floor, face down. “I've started to think the only option is...”
Anna waited for her to continue. “The only option is what?”
Jennifer swallowed hard. “The cabin is insured. Mamma has owned it ever since Pappa died, so as long as it seemed like an accident, the family wouldn't be out if something happened to the place.” She paused again. “After we all leave, I think I'm going to come back in a week or two and just torch the whole damn thing. Get rid of it completely, try to pretend it was never here. I know a fire won't bring Karen Lund back or change what happened to her, but at least something will have been done. It's like, this place is evil, and I don't want to think of it still standing.” Wiping tears from her eyes, she looked down at the floorboards nearby. “That's where the chair must have been,” she continued, pointing to a spot next to Anna. “Think about what must have happened in this room. It's a miracle the walls aren't still shaking from her screams.”
“But you don't know it's real,” Anna pointed out. “It really might have been a hoax, the police can't be that stupid, surely they'd have -”
Suddenly they both heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“Don't come in!” Jennifer called out, grabbing the section of wood and turning it around before placing it against the wall. “Quick,” she whispered to Anna, “we have to put this back. I don't want anyone else to see it!”
“Knock knock!” Christian called out from the other side of the door. “Are you ladies decent?”
“We're changing!” Jennifer said firmly. “Don't you dare come in!”
“Changing together, huh?” Christian replied. “Damn, I didn't know you two were getting on that well.”
“Go screw yourself,” Jennifer continued, gesturing for Anna to grab the bolts. “We'll be down in a minute.”
“Are you coming to the lake?” Christian asked. “We figured we should get some serious swimming in, since it's our last full day up here.”
“Fine,” Jennifer muttered, starting to fit the first bolt back in place. “Whatever, we'll be down in a few minutes.”
“Are you sure you don't want some help with your -”
“Go to hell!” Jennifer shouted. “We'll be down when we're damn well ready! You can go to the lake by yourselves, we'll catch up soon.”
Christian could be heard sighing outside, but a moment later his footsteps bounded back down the stairs.
“You have to do something about this,” Anna whispered, as Jennifer continued to fix the first bolt, putting the wall back to normal. “You can't live with these thoughts, they're clearly driving you insane!”
“I don't have to live with them,” Jennifer replied. “I just have to come back in a week or two, bring a can of petrol and some matches, and the place is gone forever. Problem solved, right?” With the first bolt fixed, she stepped back. “That'll hold for now, I can do the rest later. She turned to Anna with tears in her eyes. “No-one else has to know. I'll take care of it all, and soon this cabin will be wiped from the face of the planet. That's the only thing we can do now to respect Karen's memory.”
Chapter Nine
“I did call him!” Joe hissed, his voice filled with irritation. “He's fine with the timescale, he just wants to make sure we stick to it!”
“Why would he doubt us?” Christian asked. “Daniel's never -”
“He's just not used to dealing with our way of working,” Joe replied, interrupting him. “Come on, it'll be fine, he just wanted to scare me and make sure we do everything in time. That's how he works, he's a bit of a control freak. He probably has clients bugging him, so he just pays the stress forward.”
Having stopped at the top of the stairs, Anna remained completely still. She couldn't see Joe or Christian, but she figured they were down in the kitchen. She'd been in the bedroom, packing some things to take down for an afternoon at the lake, but now she held back for a moment, hoping to hear a little more of the conversation. She also wanted to grab Joe alone, so they could talk about the previous night.
“Maybe you should let me speak to Cole,” Christian continued. “It might go better.”
“As if!”
“I'm serious!”
“Like he'd ever trust you,” Joe muttered. “Come on, I'm the contact, it's always been that way. If we change stuff now, even the tiniest detail, Cole will go mental. He'll run a mile.”
Anna paused, waiting for them to continue, before realizing that the entire cabin seemed to have fallen silent. Worried about what to do next, she finally took a few careful steps back to the bedroom door, paused for a moment, and then hurried forward, bounding down the stairs and making as much noise as possible so that no-one would suspect her of having been sneaking around.
“Hey,” she said as she reached the kitchen, “Joe, can I -”
She almost bumped straight into him as he hurried out of the room.
“Hey there,” he said with a smile, slipping past her. “Ready for the lake?”
“Wait!” Grabbing his arm, she pulled him back. “Can we talk?”
He sighed.
Checking over her shoulder, she saw that Christian had already headed outside.
“Is this about last night?” Joe asked.
She turned to him. “I really didn't mean for any of that to happen.”
“Neither did I.” He paused. “Come on, it was just a bit of fun. It was nothing.”
She stared at him, a little shocked by his attitude. “Nothing?” she stammered finally.
“Don't make it weird,” he continued. “It was just a hook-up. It was fun, but it wasn't anything deep and meaningful. I'm not saying I wouldn't be up for it again, but...” He paused, before stepping closer and putting a hand on her waist. “You know, we could find a spot out in the forest and -”
“No.” She pulled away, unable to ignore her instincts this time. “I don't want that.”
“So you agree? It was just a one-off?”
“I, uh...” Pausing, she realized she didn't know quite how to answer. “I just need to freshen up,” she added, turning and hurrying to the downstairs bathroom. After locking herself inside, she headed over to the sink and paused again, taking slow, deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. She only remembered flashes of her encounter with Joe the previous night, just enough to recall that she'd gone ahead only because of Marit's advice. Her instincts had told her to turn him down, but she'd managed to override those concerns and...
It had hurt.
She remembered that much. She'd pretended to enjoy it, but for the most part it had simply been uncomfortable. Still, she'd read that the first time was always like that, so she figured that at least it was out of the way
.
“Ignore your instincts,” she heard Marit telling her, in the back of her mind.
At that particular moment, her instinct was to curl up under the sink and hope the rest of the world left her alone. Taking another deep breath, however, she realized that she had to go back out there and act like nothing was wrong. After double-checking in the mirror to make sure there was no hint of tears in her eyes, she unlocked the door and headed back through to the kitchen, determined to act normal.
“So let's head off to the lake,” she said, forcing a smile as she grabbed her bag from the chair. “Do you think we need to take a -”
Stopping suddenly, she looked around and realized that there was no sign of anyone. She made her way over to the counter, convinced that there had to be a mistake, but after a moment she saw that she was definitely alone. Figuring that the others must be waiting outside, she made her way out onto the porch, but the entire clearing was completely bare apart from the two cars parked over by the far edge. She paused for a moment, waiting to hear voices, but all she heard was silence.
“Hello?” she called out cautiously. “Hey guys, where are you?”
She waited, but no reply came.
Making her way down the steps, she headed over to the center of the clearing and looked around, but there was no-one to be seen. When he turned to look toward the trees, she half expected to see that they'd headed off already, leaving her to catch up, but there was no sign of anyone heading toward the lake and, besides, she felt there was no way they'd leave without her. After all, they'd specifically told her to meet them downstairs when she was ready, so why would they then abandon her?
“Jennifer?” she called out, making her way around the side of the cabin. “Daniel? Joe?”
