Northbrook P2

              Marry stood in the doorway for a moment with Eli behind her, the young girl poking her head around her mother to examine the inside of the decrepit building. The interior was slightly cleaner, the moisture had not gotten to it yet and several clean pieces of furniture and counters gave her hope for a few heartbeats. A long green couch that would seat three sat to her right, across from a fireplace that made a dark mouth in the center of the living room. A chill ran throw her before she ripped her gaze away and examined several padded chairs that were strewn about in the corners, as if a group had rested here last. She took several steps forward to pear through the doorway to her left, Elis’ soft footsteps sounding quietly behind her. The kitchen resided there, a small dark room with an electric stove and an old white refrigerator planted around enough countertops to prepare a meal for a small family. The sink looked older than her, made of cast, plugged into pipes that had no doubt been laid into the land when the cabin had been constructed.

              A crash sounded in the back of the house causing Marry to nearly jump out of her pale white skin, Eli yelped as she watched Brian taking heavy swift steps in the direction of the commotion.  A moment after her husband had disappeared into the blackness of the hallway that she assumed led back into the living quarters, and hopefully a bathroom, a loud laugh wrang out, bouncing off the empty walls into the yard outside. She could hear the two men conversing loudly and laughing while she took steps in their direction, passing by several closed doors over the bare hard wood that made up the flooring of the building.

“What was that” She said frantically, not realizing how much the noise had scared her.

“Your son spooked and swung at an old mount” Brian said with one meaty hand wrapped around the antler of a deer head that had come off the wall, “Nearly put that stick through the window, must have been the last one in this place without a crack in it before he arrived”.

              Brian hauled the mount up with ease, the stiff fur brushing at his arms as he wrapped his other hand around it to place it back on the wall. When the deceased animals preserved head and shoulders were fixed back to the wall he turned and chuckled once again, shooing his family back into the main room.

“Let’s unpack the truck before we have to stumble in through the dark” he stated as he planted heavy boots across creaking floorboards and made his way out the front door.

              Jamie threw his broken stick off to the side as he made his way back outside behind  his father, his cheeks still a hair red with embarrassment but his mood no worse for wear. The thought of spending a weekend out in the woods with his father had him anxious with excitement for weeks, a few days to get away from the constant rumble of vehicles and construction, away from the city that was never truly dark. He already took it in now, listening to the birds whistle and hum through the tall trees around them, the sound of a river somewhere behind them, and the peaceful quiet that allowed him to hear all these things.

              He grasped several plastic bags full of groceries as his father hauled a large cooler full of drinks and produce out of the back of the vehicle. A second trip would be made to acquire backpacks and a small amount of fishing equipment they had brought along on the chance the river was high enough. The river was fed by rain and some small lake miles away to snake its way through the hills around them and dump into the Mississippi, it was only a few inches high most of the year, but the rainy season had gorged it this year by the sound of it.

“Alright boy, let’s go check that river out while we have some light left” Brian told his son as he turned and began striding around to the back of the cabin.

“Should we bring the poles!” Jamie said excitedly.

“No, we won’t have time for that tonight, I’m sure your mother is already frying up some sandwiches” Brian said with a thin smile.