The Cabin

It felt as if the tone had been ringing continuously for days, although with no clocks or windows Kellin couldn’t know for sure. They had resorted to tearing open one of the couch cushions, and cramming the stuffing into their ears to block the piercing sound. He couldn’t remember when he last slept; all he knew was that it was before he got here. The lights had gone off and on again three times since they found Jack, and it was assumed that whoever was keeping them here had them on a schedule.

He watched from the couch as Ronnie dug through the cabinets for ingredients. After nothing happened to Danny from the chips, the food had been deemed safe to eat. Since they had been here they had gone through almost a quarter of the food in the fridge, despite carefully rationing it. Empty boxes and food scraps piled in the corner, attracting a few flies. When they had first appeared Kellin had watched them for hours, wondering how they got in and if they could possibly get out that way, to no avail.

Jack was feeling the cracks between the thick logs that built the walls, his tongue sticking out a little in concentration as his eyebrows furrowed. Despite the room having been inspected a thousand times over, searching for an escape had become their past-time.

Ronnie called something out to him, holding up a loaf of bread. Kellin looked at him questioningly before pulling out the stuffing in one of his ears. He cringed as the tone became shriller and unmuffled.

“What?!” He yelled. Ronnie held up the bread again and pulled out his own stuffing.

“Sandwich?!”

Kellin shook his head and hastily crammed the stuffing back into his ear.

Ronnie nodded as he put his own makeshift earplug back in before wrapping up the bread and putting away the other ingredients, taking his sandwich over to the wooden table.

Kellin spread out on the couch, yawning. His eyelids felt heavy from lack of sleep and his whole body ached from crawling on his hands and knees, looking for a trapdoor. He wondered what Amber was doing right now. Even without a way of keeping time, he knew she would have called the police by now. Maybe she was giving baby Hallie her bottle, telling her that daddy would be home soon despite not knowing herself. Maybe she thought he left her. It pained him to know he was detained here and unable to see them, or at least to know how they were. He just wanted to go home to them. The constant ringing, even muffled by the couch stuffing, was like an itch he couldn’t quite scratch. He wanted to scream and break things, and to just make it all stop.

He rubbed his eyes and groaned. Danny had come down stairs and was starting to say something, but he couldn’t quite make it out. He didn’t really care anyways. However, Ronnie and Jack had pulled out their ear plugs and run over, talking animatedly. Kellin sat up and tore out his own ear plugs, joining them. He winced; the tone seemed louder than ever.

“What’s going on?” he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the shrill sound.

“I swear on my life something up there fucking moved,” Danny said, pointing to the staircase.

“What do you mean, ‘something moved’?” Ronnie asked.

“As in something fucking moved. There’s something up there!” Danny said, annoyance clear in his voice. “I mean, we’re all stuck in this shit hole anyways, but I figured you should all know there’s someone else here.”

“What did it look like?” Jack asked, his eyes widening a little with fear.

“I don’t know. I heard it under the bed, and came down here.”

Kellin glanced at the other men. It could be a huge hint as to who brought them here and how to get out, or it could be dangerous.

“Well,” Ronnie started. “It’s either a false alarm, another person, or something that’s going to kill us.” He rattled them off on his fingers. “Either way, we have to check it out. Who’s coming?”

Danny plopped onto the couch, putting his feet up on the table. “Count me out, I’m the one who raised the alarm. My job’s done.”

Danny’s general lack of concern for their situation or anyone but himself was wearing on Kellin, and he sensed that Ronnie was a few more snide comments away from snapping. He glanced at Jack, who had taken a step back. Kellin wasn’t about to volunteer; he had done enough already. And besides, he had more to lose than anyone else here. They hardly seemed to be the family types.

Finally, after a few moments of nothing other than the tone filling the air, Jack sighed.

“I’ll go with you,” he said with an air of defeat. Kellin felt momentarily guilty, wondering how he would feel if something happened to one of them while he did nothing. Ronnie crossed the room and grabbed a small but heavy statue off the bookshelf in the corner.

“Okay, let’s go,” Ronnie said, almost inaudible over the ringing as he began to slowly climb the decrepit staircase. Jack momentarily looked around the room for a weapon as well before snatching a book end off the shelf, allowing several large volumes to fall over. Kellin watched as he dashed up the first few stairs to catch up with Ronnie before slowing to match his speed. The two of them gradually disappeared up the stairs, slipping behind the door at the top.

The tone immediately stopped, and the lights flickered before going out. A scream rang out through the new found silence.