I pause the video and toss the phone on my bed. My chest feels carved out, my entire body hollow.
A childish shriek draws my attention outside. Scooting down my bed and closer to the window, I peer out, my nose pressed to the glass.
Below, coming up the big lawn, is a family of four. The younger boy chases the older girl with something held in an open palm.
I shudder. It’s probably a bug.
They continue walking, and I watch them until they disappear from sight. From this window, I can see a lot of the property. The main house, where I am now, is on a small hill. This gives anyone on the second floor a view of most of the guest cabins. Beyond them is Lonesome Lake. Even farther than that, is the coast.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll borrow my grandma’s car and take a drive to the beach. Maybe I’ll go for a walk around the property. Or, maybe I’ll stay in my pajamas all day and do nothing.
Backing away from the window, I lie down on the bed and close my eyes.
4
Addison
“This seems like a good crew,”I remark as I help my grandma carry in the serving dishes from breakfast.
Every morning Grandma gets up at five a.m. and works on assembling the complimentary breakfast for the guests. I slept in yesterday, but today I woke up and helped her.
She sets her armload down on the counter beside the sink. “These guests have been fun. Two weeks ago I had a crew who were hell bent on complaining. I could have given them a gold bar and they’d have complained it was too heavy.”
“That’s too bad.” I frown, running the hot water and adding a squirt of soap to the scrubber. I don’t like to think of my grandma running this place alone and having to deal with asshole guests.
“The good ones make up for it.” Grandma reaches around me for the containers she uses to store uneaten pastries. She pauses, peers out the window above the sink, then resumes her task of depositing croissants in the container.
She’s snapping on the lid when she looks up again, her hands suspended. “The guy in cabin seven didn’t come up for breakfast yesterday or today. And unless I missed it, he hasn’t gone anywhere since he arrived two days ago.”
I glance out the window in the direction of the cabin. “Do you think we should take him something?”
Grandma shakes her head, finishing the final snap and placing the leftovers off to the side. “This is supposed to be a place for solitude. Says so on the website.” She winks at me. “He doesn’t need an old lady harassing him about food.”
I finish washing the breakfast dishes while Grandma goes to prepare a cabin for guests arriving later today.
My eyes fall on the container of pastries while I’m drying my hands. Again, I look out the window in the direction of cabin seven. It’s not visible from here, but I can easily picture it. From the front, it looks just like all the other cabins, aside from the metal number seven attached to the door. Right now, it’s the current inhabitant that makes it unique.
Why is he holed up? What is he hiding?
Orwhois he hiding from?
What if he’s a criminal?
I roll my eyes at my assumption of the worst. He’s not a criminal and he’s not hiding from anybody. Probably. But if I bring him breakfast, I can suss out the situation.
Besides, Grandma said he didn’t need anold ladybringing him breakfast. And since I do not qualify as an old lady…
Before I can think about it any further, I assemble a plate and wrap it in plastic. Two croissants, one plain and one chocolate, and a side of fruit. Who wouldn’t be happy when handed a plate like that?
I stop to refill my coffee and fill a thermos with coffee for the guy in cabin seven. I hope he likes it black because my arms are too full to carry creamer.
Cabin seven is a little farther than most of the cabins. The crispness of the morning is already burning away, and before long, it will be warm enough to wear a bathing suit and head to the lake. Maybe that’s what I’ll do today, after I help Grandma prepare for the new guests. It’ll be cold, but that’s okay.
Cabin seven comes into view. Like all the other cabins, it’s made of wood planks and mimics the main house. But I know what’s special about it. Unlike the other cabins, this one has a little screened-in porch off the back.
I walk up the three steps and onto the front porch, stepping onto the mat with the wordsGo Awayscrawled on it. It’s meant to be a joke. All the cabins have a mat with some kind of snarky saying. My favorite one is from cabin four:I’d answer the door but I don’t want to.
I knock, and a minute later, knock again.
