SAGE
“Someone’s out there,” Jamie said calmly, and I wondered why he wasn’t panicking like I was.
The tent moved again, and I reached out, trying to find Alex’s arm through the darkness. Nothing bad ever happened up here. No city crime. Murders were practically nonexistent. We most likely weren’t in danger. But a nagging feeling that this trip was turning bad wouldn’t go away.
“It’s a bear,” I whispered.
Alex grasped my hand and squeezed reassuringly before he replied. “No, bears travel alone. There’s more than one out there. I’m guessing a pack of wolves.”
“I left my gun in the truck,” Jaime said with a groan.
“You have a gun?” Lacey spoke up. The sleeping bags rustled as she sat up next to me.
“Yeah, I decided to bring one along when you guys said there were bears up here,” Jamie answered defensively.
“Would have been nice to know.” Annoyance overtook the sleep in her voice.
“Shh,” Alex breathed out. “We don’t want to attract any more attention—”
We all jumped when a loud crash came from outside the tent. Feet scampered, and then a low growl filtered through the air. It almost sounded like they were eating something. We all sat in silence until the noises were gone.
“We’ll check it out in the daylight.” Alex lay back down. “Don’t want to go out there if they’re still hanging around.”
I let my head fall back on the pillow, but I was wide awake. Alex’s hold on my hand loosened as he fell back to sleep. Lacey’s deep breathing on my other side made it clear I was the only one unable to fall back to sleep. Closing my eyes, I tried forcing my brain to shut off. I tossed and turned for hours until the sun came up.
Everyone else was still sleeping. It was still early, but the tent was already getting hot. As quietly as I could, I slipped out. I kept it unzipped a bit to get some air flow for them as they slept. My eyes widened at the mess all over the campsite. Hearing a rustle, I glanced back and saw Alex and Jamie stepping out. They stood beside me, assessing the damage.
“Who was the last one in the cooler last night?” Alex asked.
“It was me, but I’m sure I closed the lid,” Jamie said, sounding anything but confident. He rubbed the back of his head and shot us an apologetic smile.
All our food was in pieces all over the campsite. The wrappers were torn to shreds. The guys started cleaning up the trash, and I glanced in the cooler. There was only water from ice that melted.
“We should have just stayed at a hotel.”
I spun around to see Lacey’s face scrunched in irritation.
“Okay, besides this, the camping trip has been fun…we’re going to have to go to the store and stock back up,” I told her, dumping the cooler on its side to drain the water.
“Oh no, I don’t think so. I am not staying here another night. One night of wolves clawing at our tent was enough,” Lacey exclaimed, crossing her arms before looking at Jamie for backup.
“Uh… yeah. Maybe we should go to a motel or something tonight,” Jamie said as he shifted his feet. He still looked guilty about leaving the cooler open.
“There’s a place just down the road you folks can stay at,” Bud said as he sauntered toward the campsite, clearly having caught the tail end of the conversation.
“Like a motel?” Lacey asked hopefully, turning to Bud.
“I guess you can call it that. It’s a real nice house, a mansion really. Been here since my Gramps was a kid. But they rent out rooms, usually to hunters or people just passing through. Not sure if they’ll have rooms open. You know it’s the busy season, aye?” Bud said, his yooper accent coming out full force.
“Thanks, Bud, we’ll check it out. And sorry about the mess. We’ll clean it up before we leave. Animals got into our stuff,” Alex explained, obviously not wanting Bud to think we’d trashed it.
“Happens all the time.” Bud chuckled and tipped his hat before walking away. I was disappointed Lacey and Jamie wanted to leave after only one night. I wasn’t ready to go back to real life.
“Maybe we could find a better campsite that’s near here.” Alex caught the look on my face and was trying to save the trip.
“Why don’t we check out the place Bud mentioned? It’s right down the road, so we won’t have to drive far. It’s still on the lake, so we can at least enjoy one more night up here,” Jamie said, and Lacey was nodding in agreement before he even stopped talking.
“It will probably be run down if their usual customers are hunters. Might not be up to your standards, Lacey.” Alex laughed.
She scoffed. “Anything is better than a tent.”
We all started cleaning up, and it didn’t take long to have the campsite looking as good as new. Jamie went to find Bud and get directions to the place we were going to stay at while the rest of us packed everything up. We piled into the truck and turned out of the campground.
“Turn left out of here,” Jamie told Lacey as we got back onto the main road. “Bud said there’s a small dirt road a couple miles down, and that’s where it is.”
Once we hit the dirt road, I noticed there was no sign on the main road for the hotel. No one would ever find this place if they didn’t know about it. After a couple of miles and a lot of potholes, the mansion came into view at the end of the road. I looked in awe and wondered if this would be better than camping.
It was beautiful. The white two-story beauty had massive pillars supporting the long wraparound porch. There were delicate high arched windows. It looked like a southern dream house. A hidden gem in the middle of nowhere.
Lacey parked, and we made our way up the front steps and onto the large porch. The details of this old house were amazing. Each pillar had large pine trees carved into it that wrapped from the bottom of the pillar and went all the way to the top. The front door was made of solid oak and had a copper door knocker in the shape of a lion.
Before anyone could knock, it swung open. A man who looked to be in his thirties greeted us with a joyous smile. He was wearing jeans and a red flannel shirt. His dirty-blond hair was a mess, and a thick beard covered his face.
“Hello. Are you all looking for a room?”
“Yes, two rooms, please. Just for one night. This place is absolutely stunning,” I said as I glanced around the front porch. There were a few wooden rocking chairs with a little white table between them. I looked at the windows, and my eyes widened.
I cleared my throat. “Excuse me, but…why are there bars on your windows?”
Before the guy could respond, Alex answered, “Maybe to keep out the bears and other wildlife.”
The man smiled and nodded. “Yes, that. Also, my wife and I spend a few months away in the winter and don’t want any uninvited guests making themselves feel at home.”
“Oh…makes sense,” I muttered uneasily. Bars on a window was not something I was used to seeing. Especially up north. I met Lacey’s eyes, but she only shrugged. Apparently, she was fine with it as long as she didn’t have to stay in a tent again.
“My name is Eric. My wife is down south for the week, so it’s just me working up here. We have a few rooms open. Unfortunately, with my wife being gone, the kitchen is closed. So you’ll have to fend for yourselves,” he explained as he opened the door wider and gestured for us to come in.
Disappointment filled me as I stepped inside. It was nothing like the beautiful exterior. The dark wood floor had nicks and scratches covering it and looked like it hadn’t been redone or polished in decades. The dark velvet drapes hanging from the windows were moth eaten and stained. The high ceiling had cobwebs in the corners. There was a musty smell, like the place had been empty for a long time.
A pair of large wood doors to the left lead into a great room. I could see two pale pink sofas that would have been beautiful in their time—about forty years ago. But now they looked just as dreary as the rest of the place. All the walls were a dull white and were bare of any décor or paintings. About ten feet ahead of the front door was a wooden staircase. The paint on the white handrail was coming off and left white chips all over the steps.
“All the bedrooms are on the second floor. I’ll show you which two are open.” Eric glanced at me, and I tried to clear the dismay off my face. “I know it’s not as beautiful as it used to be. This is a big house for two people to take care of. Usually, we only get hunters as guests, and they don’t mind.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine for one night,” I said quickly, not wanting to offend him.
Eric led us up the creaky stairs and pointed to the first door. “This is the bathroom, but there is also one in each of your rooms. The fourth and fifth rooms on the left side of the hall are the ones available.”
Alex and I took the first room, while Lacey and Jamie took the next one. I pushed the door handle down and opened the door with hesitation. I didn’t know what to expect after seeing downstairs. A breath of relief left me before I could stop it, and I was glad Eric had gone back downstairs.
It was as dreary as the first floor, with the same white bare walls. But at least it was clean. I glanced up and didn’t see any cobwebs. The bed was neatly made with a brown comforter, and there was a nightstand and lamp on each side. There was a black leather lounge chair in the corner. I peeked into the bathroom and saw a stand-up shower enclosed in glass. There was a white porcelain sink next to the toilet. Small, but at least it was clean.
“It’ll do for a night.” Alex set our bag down. “We can go somewhere else if you want, though.”
I shook my head. “No. This is fine. It’s still right near the lake.”
We went to Lacey and Jamie’s room, and it was almost exactly the same. Except they had a little blue loveseat sofa instead of a lounge chair.
“We need to restock up on food.” Alex held his hand out to Lacey for the keys. “I’ll go grab some, if you guys want to relax here.”
“I’ll go too,” Jamie said quickly. “I’ll buy it all. It’s my fault we have to get more.”
After the guys left, Lacey and I decided to explore the old house. We walked back down the paint chipped stairs and went into the great room. The room was huge, and the only things in there were the worn-out sofas.
“I don’t think renting rooms makes enough money,” Lacey muttered quietly as we entered a large dining room. The long wooden table was large enough to fit at least sixteen people. I ran my hand down it and glanced at my dust-covered hand. Wiping it off on my shorts, I kept walking until we pushed open the doors on the other side of the room.
The kitchen was as large as every other room in this place. Some of the dull white cabinets were missing the knobs. It had the same dinged-up wood floor as the rest of the house. I tilted my head to the side as Lacey and I exchanged a confused look. Something was off. There was nothing on the counters. No coffee maker or microwave. It was just bare. Footsteps approached from behind us, and we turned to see Eric.
“Like I said, no one uses the kitchen when my wife is gone. She always keeps everything put away so people don’t mess with her stuff,” Eric said as he leaned against the counter.
“This place is massive. How many rooms are there?” Lacey asked.
“Well, there are thirteen bedrooms upstairs. The great room, dining room, a study, and a couple smaller rooms throughout the first floor. There’s also another set of stairs in the back of the house that goes to the second floor. It’s a lot to keep up, but it’s been in my family since it was built,” he explained. “We really don’t want to deal with tourism, which is why we mostly cater to hunters. They aren’t here for the wine and dine experience. They just want somewhere to sleep.”
I nodded as I glanced around the empty kitchen again. I could imagine how grand it was back in the day. We chatted with Eric for a few more minutes before we went out to the backyard. The house was surrounded by forest. The old trees towered over the house, casting shade throughout the yard. The clean, refreshing scent of the sprawling pine trees relaxed me, and I sank into one of the oversized wooden chairs.
There was one little opening, a trail that led straight to the lake. The only sounds that could be heard were the birds and the gentle lapping of waves. This place was so peaceful. Life was so much simpler here. Disconnected from phones, surrounded by nature. It was a place someone could find themselves again.
“What was that?” I asked, sitting up and peering through the trees.
Lacey followed my gaze. “What?”
“I thought I saw something move over there.”
“Probably just an animal. Relax, Sage.”
She was right. I guess I was still on edge over the incident with the wolves last night. Leaning back in the chair, I could feel my body begging for sleep since I hadn’t gotten any last night. Lacey was quiet, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the silence.
The rest of the vacation would be great.