Weekend rental

We drove up the snowy, winding road towards the cozy A-frame cabin. Will had planned the getaway for him and his wife Sara to break the news to her that he had been fired again.

Sara was chatting on about how nice it would be to spend some real time together especially in this first year of marriage. His family always seem at the door back at their home.

Will was agreeing with mumbles and a head nod as he parked near the front door of the cabin.

“You got the keys and everything?” asked Sara.

“The keys are supposed to be hanging up on the front porch,” answered Will.

The two trotted up the three steps. Both searched around for keys but spotted none. Will and Sara then peered in the screened windows.

Upon the walls were draped fine pelts of foxes, mountain goats and wolves. Deer, with whole heads and antlers, shared places with a stuffed bear and mounted wolverine. A table made from redwood bark stood in the center of the kitchen. Three rifles were slung over a rack in a handy position near the fireplace. A huge bear trap and a pack saddle sat upon a top shelf of the bookcase. A kettle on a crane was placed in the unlit fireplace but one stacked well with wood ready to be ignited.

A coffee pot, two place settings with only a fork beside the plates were sitting upon the table.

“You sure this is the right cabin,” asked Sara.

“Of course, the hosts obviously set it as a rustic adventure cabin,” said Will.

Will opened the screen door and turned the knob of the door. The door swung open. A soft pine tree and fresh fire smelled rolled into the couple’s nostrils.

“See it is open,” said Will as he stepped inside. He then spotted a set of keys on a small side table beside the door. He held them up as proof this was the correct cabin.

****

32 hours later the police handcuffed Will Demets. He was arrested and charged with the death of his wife 22-year-old Sara Avalon Demets. The sheriff deputy had found him walking down a snowy road making incoherent statements about having assaulted his wife.

Sheriff Cobb had gotten over seventy-five volunteers with dogs to search every road and trail hike for Sara or her body but had no luck. The cabin Will Demets claimed to have stayed in was a burned-out shell of building now with no one reporting the fire. The 2009 grey BMW they arrived in could not be found anywhere yet.

No body. No weapons. Just an incoherent man in handcuffs sitting in jail with human blood on his face and hands. Sheriff Cobb had ordered the blood to be tested for DNA and if it was Sara Demets blood formal charges would be filed against Demet. He already had Angela, the dispatcher tracking down the next of kin.

Will was thrown into a psychiatric jail cell with the full padded walls, no bed sheets or covers. He slept intermittently and awoke to his own screams.

Sheriff Cobb got Will pulled into an interrogation room and knew he would find out what happened in that cabin and those woods.

“Are you aware of where you are?” asked Cobb.

“No, have you seen Sara?” asked Will.

“When was the last time you saw Sara?” asked Cobb.

“Right before the creatures came from the woods and I told her to run,” said Will.

“What kind of animals came from the woods?” asked Cobb.

“I don’t think they were animals. They were something else,” said Will.

“How about you tell me from the moment you arrived up until the moment it went black,” said Cobb.

****