The Cabin Near the Lake

Since I was young, my family and I would take a yearly trip up into the deepest parts of the Catskills. My parents owned a Cabin about a half hour north of Cairo, NY. We would typically go towards the end of the year to serve as our reminder to relax and the sights alone justified our purpose for a November getaway. The cabin sat on the edge of a large lake front and was directly in view of a beautiful mountain range with snow covered tops. The water was always peaceful and still yet full of fish and made for a great excuse to spend some quality time with my father fishing.

To give you some perspective of the cabin, on the property we had owned a shed that served as a garage for our truck and also a woodworking shop that my father designed over the years. The shed had its own temperature controlled loft and basement which also has a walk in freezer to store meat and other perishables while we stayed there. The cabin itself was rather large and was custom built by my parents in the year before I was born. It also had a spacious basement that was finished, A main living area with a fireplace, kitchen, a wrap around porch, and a second floor that hosted my parents, sisters, and my room.

My sister Jenny and I would look forward to the chance to get away from the redundancy of modern life and escape into a world of nature for a few days. Now in our late 20's, we also view it as a time to reconnect with our parents since both of us no longer live at home. We both always felt it was good to get the chance to see them outside of the craziness of the norm. However Jenny felt there was something that our parents were hiding from us. Jenny was a very observant and skeptical person by nature and would not be afraid to ask questions.

I, on the other hand, was more of the "go with the flow" type of person and never really paid any mind to the smaller details all the time. Although one thing did stand out to both my sister and I, which was that every year when we would make the trip, our mother would begin to seem off and not all there. Our mother being a rather relaxed person, would become more anxious and concerned each year we travel up. She would normally begin to relax once we get to the cabin so I never really read into this all that much but my sister was always suspicious.

After unpacking, one of the first things we would do is get stocked up for the coming week. Tops super market followed by a visit to the local fishing and hunting store and the week begins. My father and I both enjoyed fishing and hunting and luckily for us, our location added to the opportunity to partake for sport. My mother on the other hand wasn't a fan and my sister would only partake if we needed the extra hand as she hated guns. My father never fully understood her thoughts but he is a bit old school with the way he thinks.

On the way back the the cabin, my father had decided to grab a quick bite from a highway side hotdog spot we loved. "You game for some food kid? We haven't ate all day and I'm sure your hungry as well." My dad asked. "Yea of course! Wasn't mom going to make dinner in a bit?" My dad chuckled and replied "It's only 2 o'clock kid, we have a decent amount of time before dinner is ready. Just don't eat the whole menu ok?" I chuckled as well and we stopped for a bite.

The hotdog stand was a small and isolated spot nestled on a highway overlooking an amazing mountain valley and was a rather popular location for the locals. The parking was limited and it had a few benches to sit at on a nice day which we definitely took advantage of. After grabbing food, my father pointed out to one of the benches at the far end of the lot "Let's grab a seat back there." and began to walk towards the bench at a quick pace, almost as if he wanted to beat other people to the seats. "I'm looking forward to this pop, every year I say it but as we get older this trip starts to mean much more to me you know?"

My father takes a bite then looks at me with this small smirk "I know son, trust me when I say I'm still really happy you and your sister decide to come with us up here." My father turns to the view of the mountain valley "One day, I would hope you decide to come here with children of your own. Once your mother and I pass, the property goes to you and your sister and it would be my dream to see this place get passed down." I look down at my hot dog and say "You guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon so don't worry, our family still has many years to enjoy this place."

As I look back up, I noticed my father staring at some of the people on line at the hotdog stand. The look on his face was a little concerning as he began to look very stern, almost as if he was trying to read their every move. I look over at the stand and see a couple, 4 people around my age, and and old man. I turn back to my dad "Pop you alright? Why are you staring at those people?" My dad didn't respond at first and proceeded to stare at the people for about another 10 seconds. Feeling awkward, I took another bite of my food. "I'm fine son." My father replied, slowly looking back down at his food then looking back at the line of people.

At that moment, my father slowly turned to me "You ready to head out?" I shook my head and stuffed the last bite of my hotdog in my gullet. As we walk back to the truck, my father turned to me and said "I'm sorry for what happened back there. I thought I saw someone familiar and I was a little concerned." I felt a little confused. "You know people up this way? I wouldn't of thought people knew us like that up here." "Son, I've been coming up here since I was a kid, I know a decent amount of people up this way. Don't worry it's nothing serious, I was just distracted."

Not putting much thought back into it, I shift my focus to the road and turn up the radio. While driving up the road to the cabin, a question popped in my head. "Dad, I have been very curious about something and meant to ask you, why does mom get so anxious and somewhat upset when we make the drive up here each year?" My dad looked a little confused and replied "You noticed that as well huh? Honestly I really don't know. I just thought it was due to the long drive but I never really asked before." The way he replied seemed off and I couldn't put my finger on it.

My dad pulls the truck up to the cabin and we both get out. "Mark, do me a favor and start bringing the stuff in the back to the kitchen. I'll grab the fishing and hunting stuff and bring it to the shed." My father breaks into a small jog to the back of the truck, opens the tailgate and grabs the gear quickly jogging to the shed as I walk the groceries into the kitchen. Dropping the bags, my mother comes over to help however I noticed she looked pale and somewhat worked up. "You ok ma?"

"I'm ok I promise, just feeling a little exhausted from the drive up I guess." She replies as she continues to unload the bags. After dinner, my father walks back out to the shed. My mom decided to head to bed early since she wasn't feeling all that great while I was sitting in my room, I look out my window to the shed and think "I need to find out what he is doing." I begin to make my way downstairs. My sister watching TV while I make my way to the front door. "Jenny listen I need you to be my look out. I'm heading into the shed to see what dad is doing, I think Mom is hiding something."

Jenny turns to me and says "Wait no let me come! I need to see this for myself!" I quickly jumped at her "No Jenny wait! Please do this for me. If something is going on I'll come back and we can figure something out from there. For now please stay here." My sister shakes her head "Fine, just don't let dad catch you." I softly walk out the front door and close it behind me, making sure my footsteps are light against the gravel walkway to the shed. Dad's truck parked in front of the shed gave me some cover.

I poke my head out from the side of the truck trying to see if the shed doors are open. Noise coming from the shed as if he was sawing and hacking away at something. At that moment, A loud scream could be heard coming from the woods behind the cabin. It sounded almost as if it were more than one person yelling but was to far out in the brush to gauge correctly. The sawing noises stop and my father erupts from the front shed doors. Running and out of breath with his rifle in hand. A look of frenzy and pleasure on his face.

"What the hell is going on here?" I ask myself as my hands begin to shake. I can hear him run around the backside of the house heading directly into the woods. I can see my sisters head pop out from a window in the house, luckily dad didn't see her. I began to make my way into the shed, trying to keep in mind the limited amount of time I may have left before he returns. As I walk into the shed, I can see what appears to be wooden boxes laying on the floor next to the large table saw in the middle of the shop. I walk closer to the saw and notice a puddle of blood under the saw with droplets leading away from the table and down stairs to the freezer.

"Could this be an animal he was preparing?" I followed the trail of blood downstairs but noticed the freezer had recently been left open. Looking in, you can see that the trail lead to the back wall of the freezer then ends. Looking back up stairs I tried to listen for footsteps before walking into the freezer. Walking to the back wall I look up and down the wall for any sign of a handle or opening. Feeling around, I noticed there was a small lever behind one of the shelves of frozen meat. I reach for the lever and hear a popping sound, followed by a loud squeak.

The wall popped open enough to cause a crack to form, revealing a secret room. Blood splatters littering the walls and floors of this room. The room layout had tile floors and 2 showers on either side of the room. In the center was a hallway with 2 huge doors on either side. Inch thick iron doors equipped with a sliding lock handle, a key hole and a small window to peer in. I begin to think to myself "This can't be real, not at all." I begin to walk slowly across the floor, making sure I don't step in the mess. As I get closer to the hallway, I hear muffled crying. As I turn to the door on my left I look into the window.

On the other side of the room I saw a women hog tied and blindfolded on the floor, duct tape wrapped around her mouth. The room itself held 2 large cages against the back wall and meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. Drains on the floor with shower handles hanging from the wall. I reach for the handle, sliding the locking bar over and pulling the door open. The women started to freak out as I approached. "Shhh don't worry, I'm here to help you. I want to get you out of here!" I whisper softly trying to calm her down. I reach for the blind fold and tape, ripping each off of her.

She looked familiar for some reason but I wasn't sure where I had seen her before. As she looks at me, she blurts out "Get off of me! Who are you and where am I?" I quickly respond "Wait I'm here to help, you seem to have been kidnapped and your currently at my family cabin." The women responded "I seem to be kidnapped? No I have definitely been kidnapped!" I reply "Can you tell me how you got here? Can you remember anything?" I begin to untie her.

"I was with my boyfriend driving back to our hotel, when some truck ran us off the road. I was knocked unconscious and woke up next to my boyfriend in the woods. Next thing I knew we were getting shot at from somewhere and being chased by someone. I had fallen into a ditch. Then I woke up here." I start to help her up on her feet when suddenly the heavy iron door closes. "Shit! Who's there! Dad is that you?" I yell out. "Did you say dad? Is the psycho that put me here your father?" As I turned to answer her, the wall to the right of the door began to shift, revealing a hidden monitor.

The monitor cuts on with static for a brief moment then an image of my father pops on screen. "Hello son." my father calmly expresses with a look of disappointment. "This is insane dad, why are you doing this? what is all this?" I begin to step back as noises can be heard through the walls. "Son you are currently sitting in one of my prison chambers. I use these chambers to hold prey that I have caught out in the woods. Next to you is a women we had seen this afternoon while we were out to lunch. I turn to her and say "I swear I had no clue of any of this."

Dad continues "You have stumbled upon my yearly game of cat and mouse and unfortunately you have been caught in one of my traps. This was not how I wanted to introduce you to my hobby." I stare at the screen confused and disgusted. "You wanted to introduce me to all this? Pop this is absolutely insane, what makes you think I would want any part of this? She is not prey, I am not prey we are people!" "Son you fail to understand. This cabin and the property has been handed down for generations. Your sitting in your inheritance and yet you fail to see its glorious purpose."

Still confused I blurt out "Glorious purpose? What purpose would you have hunting, kidnapping, and killing innocent people?" Pops begins to chuckle. "These people are far from innocent son, the women sitting in the room with you has done terrible things. Her and her so called boyfriend are known thieves, most notably known from stealing from older people through scams and bribery. They are low lives looking to make a quick buck off of the weak. They hide up here in the area to get away and lay low."

I look over to the woman and ask "Is that true?" The woman looking frantic "No! no no no not at all! he is lying!" "Oh am I?" Pops holds up a flash drive. "On this flash drive are the archives of all of her conversations with multiple victims of hers. If you want I can play it for you? Or would you prefer the entire file of records I am holding on her and her known accomplices?" I look at the woman then look back at the monitor "Regardless, this does not call for hunting her. This should be turned over to the police. You shouldn't be killing people!"

"Son, the police are a joke and will never teach people like her a lesson. You must see this, you know this is true." I shake my head "No this is terrible, and I need to find a way out of here. Jenny will come for me!" Pops answers sarcastically "Your sister and mother have been dealt with, no one will be coming to help." I yell out beginning to cry "What did you do to them!" Pop replies "Don't worry you'll all be reunited soon enough." The monitor cuts out and a strange gas pours through holes in the floor. "You can't do this!" I shout right before losing consciousness.

As I begin to wake, I notice that I am in the woods near the lake. My feet tied with rope and a small knife set beside me. I saw a note on the floor next to the knife. The note read "I'm sorry son, but this is how things need to be." To my left is my sister and to my right is my mother. At that moment I realized, I am the one being hunted now.