Spiral

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. I wouldn't have noticed either had Edwin not commented. She's always quiet and it's easy to lose her against the background, so the fact that she spoke at all drew my attention more than anything she said.

She noticed my raised eyebrow. "I think it's a good sign. Life's returning to the area after two-plus years of pandemic downturn."

I stoke the fire with a wayward branch then toss it in. No escape for you, either. "At least it's returning somewhere."

Not to the countryside, that's for sure. They dragged us out all morning to 'shut some deer', much against my protests, but we spotted jack-all. It's been raining the past few months thanks to La Niña and trees look green, but there's been barely a bird in sight. Certainly not game.

"Yee Zuss," says Dick, "why do you always have to be so grimdark?" He holds up a fat sausage, shakes it like a maraca, then stabs it with his poke over the fire as he looks at me. His cocky half-smile is pure contempt masquerading as charm.

Dick's always been such a...Richard. What does Patty see in this jerk?

I came here to hide for a weekend from the crushing anxiety of daily life — from feeling tired, bored, and inadequate at a job I must hold on to at all costs. What for? Food and shelter, and a place in this pantomime we call society. It's going well.

Patty forces a smile and pats him on the shoulder. Don't be so yourself, she seems to say. He ignores her.

"I'm just saying." I mean, have you read the news? This country is dismantling itself and all people care about is who has more tiktogram followers.

Oh, what? You didn't come here to hear about politics? There's the door, then. Shut it sealed, may it become your ostrich tomb. But you can't wish the rot away; ignoring it only helps it spread!

"It did seem quiet in the woods", says Edwin. Dick sits upright, ready to share a piece of his mind, but Carol and Javier's arrival interrupts him. Patty looks behind them, searching, and Javier notices.

"Hasn't Tim got back yet?"

"I thought he was with you two," says Patty. Carol shrugs and they sit down next to me by the fire. The sausages start to smell great.

"I'll try his mobile," I offer. Dick waves me off.

"He's fine, trust me," he says. "He's probably still out there glued to his fancy little camera like a complete dweeb. He'll be up 'till late trying to get pics of the stars." To Dick, anyone that likes or does anything beyond sports or hunting is a 'dweeb'. He winks at me and plonks the sausage between two buttered slices of bread.

I sip my tea and turn to Javier. "So." He badgered me to come; it's on him to salvage the evening. "Did you guys find the river?"

"Yeah," says Javier, scanning the darkness beyond the campfire. He's obviously still looking for Tim. "Yeah. It isn't far, 'bout two kays that way, just past the abandoned cabin. 'S nice, lots of evergreens 'n stuff."

"Water's freezing, tho," says Carol.

Of course it is. What did you expect, a hot tub? She's one of those people who always have to find fault with everything. I suppose I'm one, too. I smile at her.

Patty stands up. "Anyone up for more sausage?" A couple of them raise their hands. I'm happy with my tea. She disappears into the farmhouse.

Javier is telling me about something that happened at work the other day but I'm not listening. Didn't I tell him I needed to get away from that?

I nod and fake interest but turn my head the other way, to the dark; a bright flash grabs my attention. It's a pair of large, shining eyes. There's a whoop.

"Did you...?" Carol looks at me, then out to the spot I was looking at.

"It's an owl."

"Must be out looking for mice," says Javier. Dick scoffs.

"Well he ain't gonna find one by the campfire, is he."

"Dunno. Maybe the smell of sausage attracts them," says Javier sounding ticked. They're always bickering those two, which was another reason I didn't want to come, but I guess that's how they like it.

"They're actually good hunters," says Edwin and now it's Dick's turn for red ears. Before he can mouth off Patty returns with the sausages and scooches him to the side to reach into the grill.

I scan the darkness for the owl, but all I see are dancing shadows. I have no interest in the two couples' chatter and tune them out. Smoke prickles my nose. I like the smell. There's something soothing about the smell of fire on a cold night. All we're missing are crickets. It's too quiet for my taste here.

It's around 10 pm when fat, ice-cold raindrops drive us into the house. As I duck inside, I catch another flash of yellow eyes.

* * *

Wild weather continued through the night and I was up most of it. I'm tired and cold so I take up our hosts on yesterday's offer to enjoy a long soak in the bathtub. I'm about to nod off and slide under when there's a knock on the door.

"I'm in the tub, but come in if it's urgent. I'll close my eyes if you close yours."

"Oh, hey! Have you seen Javier?" Carol's voice through the door sounds on edge.

"Not since last night, sorry."

Footsteps retreat hurriedly. So much for relaxation.

By the time I get dressed the farmhouse smells like bacon and, yes, sausages. Dick's cooking. How many sausages did this guy bring?

Patty's at the table with a spectacular bed-head sipping black coffee out of an oversized Garfield mug. She lifts the pot towards me and I nod. The kitchen mug tree has only novelty cups, so I choose one with a cartoon panda from a kids' movie.

"You guys seen Javier? Carol was looking for him."

"I already told her," says Dick, "he's gone out looking for Tim."

"But you don't know that," says Patty, with the air of someone who's tired of fighting the same battle, "you just assume things. You said you didn't speak with him."

"Hold on, wait." I take a seat next to Patty. "Tim didn't come back?"

"Don't think so," says Patty.

"Weather was crap," says Dick. He sets down the pan in the middle of the table with a loud bang. Everything he does is loud. "He's obviously holed up for the night at that abandoned cabin, and Javier's gone get 'im. They'll be back by the time coffee's cold."

Patty slumps back into her chair in silence. Carol walks in as I'm fixing myself a buttered thick toast and bacon sandwich. I'm not touching those sausages. Carol looks at us, unreadable.

"Did you ring him?" I venture.

"Reception's shit in the country," says Patty. She looks at Carol. "No offence."

I take out my phone and hold it up like an offering to the 5G gods in the sky. They gift me no bars. "Let me go outside, maybe it'll pick up the signal."

Carol follows me and whips out her own device. We reenact a scene from Ghostbusters for a while, waving the things up and down in front of us until at last I'm rewarded with a lone dot. I dial Javier's number and put the phone on speaker, but it goes to voice mail. Same with Tim's.

"Look, I'm sure Dick's right," I say. Makes my mouth feel dirty, yuck. "Javier and Tim will be back..." I glance at my phone — is it that late already? "...by lunchtime. But if it makes you feel better I can go take a look."

"No, it's okay," says Carol. "They're probably looking at Tim's photos. I just wish Javier would have told me before taking off. And both car keys are with them."

* * *

"There, in the mud," says Dick. "Boot tracks."

It gets late early in the country, as the joke goes, and more so with these clouds. We waited until it stopped raining, but lunch came and went without news from Javier or Tim.

I suggested we should call the police in case there's been an accident, but Dick made a big deal about not upsetting Carol unnecessarily, so we came out to look for them ourselves. With our guns. 'In case we spot a deer', said Dick.

"They look like Javi's," says Carol, hopeful. But then again we're all wearing the same kind of trekking boots. In any case, the tracks are soggy and slightly blurred from all the rain, but they do lead into the woods towards the cabin.

"See, told ya," says Dick. He pats her cheerfully on her lower back. Patty's mouth and eyes narrow, but she says nothing.

"It's very quiet," says Carol a few meters later. The only sounds have been us breaking twigs and crunching leaves as we go. Javier was off in his estimation, the river and the abandoned cabin are not two kilometres from the farmhouse, more like six. Plus, in the filtered light of the evening, we walk slowly to avoid slipping.

"That's because people have killed most native animals, or destroyed their habitats," says Edwin. "Trees are still here, but soon you won't see new ones grow."

"Can you not?" Dick hates any mention of social responsibility. Or, you know, responsibility. He glowers at me and I shrug.

"Save the shooting for the deer, not the messenger," I say. I feel so clever I don't even hear Dick's comeback. Edwin distracts me, she points at a dim yellow spot ahead in the distance. A candle. The cabin.

A pair of yellow eyes shine in the dark canopy. "There's the cabin. There's a light on," I say.

"Where? I can't see it." Carol trots up ahead, and Patty follows.

"Hey, are you seeing that?" says Edwin. There's another pair of eyes reflecting off our flash lamps.

"Yeah, I see them." I point at yet another pair on the opposite side of the trail. They encircle us beyond the reach of the beam. Another pair joins them. "They never left, they're still here."

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Dick asks me. He looks around, scared. Carol screams, and then Patty screams. Two long and bulky shapes hang from the trees by the cabin. They swing without wind.

Reminds me of a disturbing paragraph in Samanta Schweblin's book where a bunch of chickens are hung by their feet, still alive, shaking in silence, exhausted by their own agony.

We're fucking horrible. We fear malignant entities, but the one true evil is our own mundane indifference towards suffering. The others don't see them because they don't care what was done to these creatures, or to Edwin. Only I care.

More of Their shining eyes surround us. They come in many sizes but all glower accusations.

I grip my gun harder. My hands tremble.

I can't stand their judgement.

I gotta do something.

I've got to make things right.

Edwin agrees. She releases the safety in my shotgun.

*