New, spooky shorts! True Boos! "The Secret Shack"

The story you're about to read is based on a real event. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Locations have been changed to protect the curious.

 

A Secret Shack

 

"Why are we walking so much?" complained Seth.

 

"Because it's a hiking trip," explained Erebus.

 

"You said it was a backpacking campout," countered Seth.

 

"Backpacking is hiking," enjoined Teddi.

 

"Using tricky language isn't fair," grumbled Seth. "And you said it'd be safer than the other time. How is this safer? We had the truck before."

 

"We'll have something else, this time," Erebus assured him, leading the way uphill on a well-worn footpath, through thick evergreens.

 

"An underground bunker with armed guards?" asked Seth, stopping beside Erebus at the top of the small hill.

 

"No. Lots of company," said Erebus.

 

Spread before them was a tiny cove covered with pale sand, and tanned bodies. Two or three dozen adults played volleyball, built sand sculptures, swam in the surf, or basked on the beach.

 

"We died on the way up that hill, and this is heaven," declared Seth.

 

"No, it's a private beach," clarified Erebus, pointing at a sign that read;

PRIVATE BEACH - ADULTS ONLY - CHECK IN HERE and just to the right of the sign was a comfortable looking booth where a man in board shorts with SECURITY printed on them waved them over.

 

"Daddy got me a beach!" Seth happily declared to Teddi.

 

"Don't...don't call me, daddy," said Erebus, sighing unhappily when Seth gave him a bearhug before bounding over to the security booth.

 

"Aww, it's so cute when he's happy," teased Teddi, patting Erebus' shoulder. "You're such a good daddy."

 

Erebus groaned. "I'm just trying to make up for the last trip."

 

"This should do it," observed Teddi, watching Seth take selfies with the amused, muscular guard.

 

Seth left Erebus and Teddi to set up their tents in the tidy little campground nestled in the forest on a bluff that overlooked the beach, which was accessed by descending a zigzagging wooden staircase. After they were satisfied with their campsite, Erebus and Teddi strolled down to the beach where they discovered a bohemian bar constructed from driftwood, as well as a couple musicians playing acoustic versions of beach-centric songs. Erebus and Teddi settled back on umbrella-shaded beach chairs with their colorful drinks, and watched Seth dashing around like a Golden Retriever, and they threw amused looks at each other.

 

As the sun set and the cove darkened, small bonfires were lighted, and the fun continued late into the night. Erebus and Teddi retired to their tents after midnight, and Seth crawled into his tent shortly before sunrise, which is why Teddi had to arrange a breakfast-in-bed tray for him. They chatted about what they wanted to do that day, and Seth immediately voted for the beach.

 

"I was hoping to take a little hike. The woods are so beautiful," put in Teddi.

 

"And the beach is so ... beachy," Seth pointed out.

 

"Why don't we do both?" Erebus offered a compromise. "We can hit the beach until lunch, come back to the campsite, and after we eat, we go for a walk? It'll be cooler in the woods."

 

"And these aren't proper hiking trails," Teddi told Seth. "They're just walking paths, nothing strenuous, and plenty of other people taking strolls."

 

"Well ... okay," capitulated Seth. "But after the stroll, back to the beach, right?"

 

"Back to the beach," agreed Teddi, grinning.

 

Later in the afternoon, while the three friends strolled along the well maintained path, Seth admitted this was a nice idea.

 

"Now, this is what I call hiking," proclaimed Seth. "I'm not even breaking a sweat."

 

"Where does the trail end?" asked Teddi.

 

"It doesn't," replied Erebus. "It just loops back around to where we started, so you can't get lost."

 

"Good thing," commented Seth. "I couldn't trailblaze my way out of a, Teddi?"

 

"Is that a simile, or a metaphor?" asked Erebus, chuckling.

 

"Neither, I was saying, Teddi," clarified Seth, bringing Erebus to a stop on the trail.

 

Erebus turned around to discover Seth had already stopped several feet back, and beyond him, he could see Teddi poking through the brush on the right side of the footpath. He walked back along the path, Seth following as he passed, until they reached Teddi.

 

She looked up at them, grinning. "I found a game trail!"

 

"What kind of game can you play out here?" asked Seth.

 

"I bet the two of you are related, somehow," drily observed Erebus.

 

"Animal trail," explained Teddi. "Deer, rabbits, all kinds of animals create these paths, usually to watering holes, or meadows." She pushed aside the bushes a little, pointing out the moderately worn, thin trail meandering into the woods.

 

"Cool," said Erebus. "Good eyes."

 

"And I have learned something for my scrapbook," added Seth, taking a picture of the game trail.

 

"Let's see where it goes!" suggested Teddi.

 

"Because getting lost and eaten by a wolverine sounds like so much fun," put in Seth.

 

"There aren't any wolverines around here," stated Teddi.

 

"Maybe a bear," offered Erebus.

 

"That's not helping," Teddi told Erebus. "C'mon, just a little ways?" she wheedled.

 

"We'll get lost," said Seth.

 

"It's broad daylight, and the trail is obvious," countered Teddi.

 

"To you, but what if you're the one who's eaten by the bear? How do we find our way out?" asked Seth, motioning at Erebus and himself.

 

"Okay, how about this; you and Erebus wait here while I take a quick peek?" suggested Teddi.

 

"Okay," agreed Seth.

 

"Not agreed," disagreed Erebus, giving Seth a faux punch to the shoulder. "She can't go wandering around out there, alone."

 

"Because she might run into a bear?" asked Seth.

 

"Because she might run into a man," defined Erebus.

 

"Ouch," said Seth, putting a hand over his heart.

 

"I think he means, not a nice man, like you two," inserted Teddi.

 

"Aww," crooned Seth, wrapping an arm around Teddi's shoulders.

 

"Seth can stay here, and I'll go with you," Erebus told Teddi.

 

"But then Seth will be alone, and what if he runs into a bad man?" worried Teddi.

 

"Ooo, do you think I might?" enthused Seth. Erebus and Teddi both gave him simultaneous faux shoulder punches to both shoulders. "Ow," complained Seth.

 

In the end, the two men followed Teddi on her game trail quest to find where the animals were going, and they'd only walked about 15 minutes before Teddi came to a sudden stop, turning to the two men with a "shush" finger to her lips before anybody said anything, then pointing into the woods.

A few yards from the game trail stood a small, nondescript shack. Covered thickly with fir needles and a few fallen branches, the roof nevertheless seemed intact. Wooden shutters covered all the visible windows, suggesting the glass was probably unbroken. Some sort of plant life was poking up between the wooden steps, and the overall appearance was that of abandonment.

 

"Think anybody's living there?" whispered Seth.

 

"Looks deserted," whispered Erebus.

 

"Yeah, for a long time, I think," whispered Teddi. "Hey, let's check it out!"

 

"Are you crazy?" both men whisper loudly, grabbing either of her arms as she takes a step toward the shack.

 

"So much ow at the masculine appropriation of my limbs," complained Teddi, and they released her.

 

"Sorry," they both apologized.

 

"But it's crazy to go over there," added Seth. "Maybe a homeless person is living there."

 

"If someone is living there, they're not homeless," Teddi pointed out. "I'll knock first, but I don't think anybody's been near it for a while. Look around, nothing's disturbed. This game trail is more walked on than anything close to the shack."

 

"What if it's booby-trapped?" asked Erebus.

 

"After this much time, an animal probably would have tripped anything external, and I'll be careful, going in," Teddi assured him. "You guys can stay here. This isn't going to take long."

 

"You're not going over there by yourself!" exclaimed Erebus.

 

"And I'm not staying out here by myself!" exclaimed Seth.

 

"Great! Then, we all agree we're going to check out the shack together." Teddi smiled and started cautiously for the shack while Erebus and Seth exchanged looks.

 

"Did she just trick us?" asked Seth.

 

"No, we just changed our minds," Erebus assured him. "Come on."

 

The the three friends approached the small shack like it was a grenade that might go off. When Teddi stepped on the first wooden step, and it gave out a long, loud creak, they all jumped back, waiting for -- something to happen. Nothing did. Teddi cautiously climbed the few steps, and with equal caution, crossed the porch to the front door. Standing to the side of the door, while the guys waited on ground level, she knocked on the door. The knock seemed to echo into the quiet depths of the surrounding forest.

 

"Get down," Teddi told them, as she crouched beside the door.

 

"Why?" asked Seth.

 

"In case the door has a shotgun booby-trap," she explained.

 

"Get down, up against the porch," Erebus instructed Seth, pointing. And the two men huddled low, against the porch.

 

"Here goes," warned Teddi, as she turned the handle of the door, which was more difficult than expected, due to corrosion, but the knob finally turned, the door swung inward -- and nothing happened. "Huh," remarked Teddi, rising and peeking inside. "Coast is clear," she told them. "The place is almost empty."

 

The trio slowly entered the dim, dusty interior of the shack. Surprisingly, except for a thick layer of undisturbed dust, and some cobwebs in corners, the space was tidy and well preserved. There was a small desk in one corner of the single room, but nothing in the few drawers.

 

"Well, as far as weird adventures you get us into, I'll take this one," proclaimed Seth. "Dust and cobwebs I can handle. Now, how about that beach?" he asked, clapping his hands together, and rubbing them like a stereotypical evil guy with nefarious plans.

 

"Beach blanket bingo it is," agreed Teddi, starting to follow them toward the door, when a small dark shape on the floor caught her eye. "Hang on." She went into the farthest corner from the door, crouching, and fiddling with something.

 

"What have you got?" asked Erebus, leaving Seth in the open doorway and joining Teddi.

 

"Padlock," she told him. "Looks like a trapdoor."

 

"Too bad it's locked," observed Seth. "Let's get to that beach."

 

"People always think about the locks, not the screws," said Erebus, producing a small pocket knife. He set work unscrewing the bolts holding the plate with the loop through which the padlock was threaded.

 

"Neither of you have seen Evil Dead, I'm guessing?" asked Seth. "Nothing good comes out of trapdoors in backwoods shacks."

 

"You're not at all curious to know what's down there?" asked Teddi.

 

"Not in the slightest. Either it was dangerous, because there's a lock on it. Or it was valuable, because there's a lock on it."

 

"This cabin's been empty for years," observed Teddi. "If there was something dangerous down there, it's dead. If there's something valuable down there, nobody's come back to get it, so I call finders keepers."

 

"What if it's a zombie?" queried Seth, his worry growing with each screw Erebus freed. "Or a demon?"

 

"If it's a demon, shouldn't there be crosses holding this shut?" argued Teddi, smiling.

 

"Could be a holy padlock," countered Seth. "Maybe it was dipped in holy water, or blessed by a priest."

 

"Let's hope it's a zombie," put in Erebus, setting aside the last screw. "Everybody ready to run?"

 

"Ready!" replied Teddi, with an eager grin.

 

"Like I have a choice," complained Seth.

 

Erebus slowly lifted the heavy trapdoor, its rusted hinges complaining at being used after however long it had been since it was locked. The dark rectangle showed nothing until Erebus used his mobile phone to illuminate the area. Dust filtered down the short shaft, revealing a wooden ladder in the shaft.

 

"I'll go first." Erebus volunteered before Teddi could climb in. Teddi made a disappointed sound, but allowed the tall man to climb down first. His head was barely a foot below the surface when he reached the bottom. "There's a door down here. Just a deadbolt on it. Hang on." There was a squeaking sound, then a sharp clack. "Got it open. Going inside."

 

"Me too!" Teddi started into the the hole.

 

"Hang on," Erebus stopped her. "Let me make sure there's room in here, and that this hole isn't going to collapse on us, okay?"

 

"Fine," grumbled Teddi, standing on the ladder, waiting. She looked over at Seth, still standing in the doorway. "Aren't you coming?"

 

"Oh, hell no," he retorted.

 

"What the hell?" came a query from Erebus, his voice sounding strange.

 

"What's wrong?" asked Teddi. "You okay?"

 

"I'm fine. It's just, this room. It's ... weird. Seems solid enough, though."

 

"I'm coming down," announced Teddi, descending the ladder and stepping through the door into -- a living room! "It's a living room!" she exclaimed, looking around at the mobile phone lighted room.

 

The space was as large as the shack above it, also heavily laden with dust, clearly untouched for years. If the space had been above ground, or in a modern daylight basement, it would have appeared perfectly ordinary, with its wallpaper, carpeting, sofa and easy chair, and even a radio and television on a stand. But here, under this shack in the forest, it was creepy.

 

"Wait, go back a little," directed Teddi, as Erebus was shining the flashlight around. "What's over there? Against that wall?"

 

Erebus slowly panned the light back to 3 shapes on the floor. "Looks like ... mattresses, I think?"

 

"What's down there?" came Seth's voice, clearly from right above the access shaft.

 

"It's a living room," Teddi told him.

 

"What?"

 

"You heard me, a living room. Like, for a regular house," she explained. "But there are mattresses down here, too. Three of them." As she spoke, she and Erebus moved closer to the mattresses.

 

"Sounds like someone was living out here," remarked Seth. "Must have put the padlock on the trapdoor so their stuff wasn't stolen."

 

"Maybe," allowed Erebus. "What's that stuff on top of the mattresses?" he asked Teddi, who crouched beside the uncovered mattresses.

 

"Cloth," she replied. "It's not bedding." She brushed at one of the piles. "Clothes!" she exclaimed. "It's a nightgown! And there's one on the next bed, too. And pajamas on the last bed! These are all kids' pajamas!"

 

"Oh, crap," said Erebus. "Do you think --?"

 

"They're brand new," interrupted Teddi. "They still have tags on them, and they're just laid out. Like they were set up for someone to wear."

 

"Creepy," said Seth, from directly behind Erebus, causing the man to jump, and the light flashed around for a moment.

 

"Don't DO that!" cried Erebus.

 

"Erebus, shine the light down here," commanded Teddi, pointing at the first nightgown. "There's something stuck on the front of it." She brushed at the area. "It's a nametag. You know, like when you're at a party, so people know who you are. This one says, Aurora."

 

"What about the others?" asked Erebus.

 

Teddi moved to the other mattresses, brushing away the dust. "Sneewittchen," she read, slowly sounding it out. "That can't be a name." She moved to the last mattress. "Rip VW," she read.

 

"Death of a Volkswagen?" asked Seth.

 

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Teddi, jumping up. "Fairytales!"

 

"What?" asked Erebus.

 

"Look at the nightgowns!" Teddi grabbed his hand, directing the light. "The first is pink, and the name is, Aurora. That's the Grimm fairytale, The Sleeping Beauty! The next one is a yellow gown with blue trim!"

 

"Sneaky Witch?" asked Seth.

 

"No, Sneewittchen. That must be the name of another princess."

 

"And the dead VW?"

 

"Rip VW," she told him. "Rip van Winkle, the guy who slept for a hundred years! Don't you see? These are all fairytales about people sleeping! I'm not sure about Sneewittchen, but it must be another sleeping princess"

 

"But, why the kids' jammies?" asked Erebus.

 

Teddi slowly looked around the room. "I don't know. I can't tell if anything ever happened here, but I think somebody was planning something. Something horrible."

 

"And we are leaving now, right?" asked Seth, backing toward the open door.

 

"We are leaving so fast," agreed Teddi. "We need to report this." She laid a hand on Erebus' arm. "Please take pictures of everything. I want to make sure they believe us, and just in case someone moves anything before the cops get here, I want them to see this."

 

The three friends closed everything up again then fled the silent, anonymous shack.

They reported what they'd found to the beach security guard, and he contacted local authorities.

The little cove lost its appeal to them, and the friends returned home.

They followed the story about the mysterious shack in the woods, and they were happy that their names were kept out of it. They also noticed that the resort so close to it wasn't named.

Police determined that, although the setting was suspicious, nothing seemed to have happened there. No children were reported missing in the area.

They also cleared up the mystery of the name, Sneewittchen. Apparently, that was Snow White's original name.

 

Teddi closed her laptop and looked across the table of their favorite bar, at her friends. "Let's hope something terrible happened to whoever set up that shack, and that's why it was never used."

 

Erebus raised his glass. "To bad things happening to bad people."

 

"Here, here," agreed Seth.

 

And three glass clinked together.

 

(Special thanks to Bailey for my outfit and hair! I look cute while I'm terrified thanks to her! lol)

Done