Girls Weekend

Discovery

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

Waiting

She peered from the window, waiting for him, but he didn’t come. Each new hour came and at each new hour, she pressed her face to the window, with no reward. One hour after night fell, she lit a candle to guide her love home to her.

2021 Girls' Weekend

Mickey had planned her girls’ weekend all around the outdoors. First the five of them would meet at Parker’s for espresso and muffins. Liz couldn’t go anywhere without her double espresso straight up and Beda always had an Americano. Mickey just got the brew of the day with a splash of almond milk, while Sue and Georgia wanted cold mochas. Parker’s was established about ten years earlier and was very popular, offering the brews everyone called “hand crafted.” They used single origin beans roasted in house, and made pastries carefully partnered with the drink menu.

“Hey!” Mickey called out; the first to arrive, she had secured a table in the corner. The women got their orders and joined her.

“What’s on the agenda?” Liz asked. She didn’t like surprises and always wanted to know the entire plan.

“Here we go again, Liz! You know it is a secret so you will discover each leg as we go - just enjoy your drink and relax.” Mickey smirked at her.

When all were ready, Mickey wheeled them in her auto over to the bicycle rental place. The visually gorgeous rental attendant was charming and helpful while fitting them to their bike. He instructed them on shifting gears, wearing helmets, braking on hills, and safety and turn signal use prior to letting them go. The rentals were for the entire day, and he was careful to tell them what time the women must return the bikes in the evening.

Off they went, Mickey in front and Georgia behind. “Damn, he was a doll. I have to find out if he’s available!” Georgia cooed at Mickey, who grinned back at her.

The women were pedaling in line in the bike lane following Mickey. She took them around a busy neighborhood to a lake with a pier; on the pier was a small independent shop selling caps, earrings, belly bands for possessions, travel mugs, and bicycle saddle bags. The friends looked through the items and took a rest from biking, sitting on the pier. Beda was the last to join them, sporting a new sun visor from the shop.

Next, Mickey led them up and down hills overlooking the sea cliff, following gulls and crows circling overhead. She was in shape and rode her bike deliberately each day over hard terrain to stay in shape. Her friends were more into walking or swimming, and she knew they were huffing up and down the hills. She had planned this weekend to push them to their limits. After about fifteen minutes of a flat section, she pulled into a picnic table and waited.

“I brought some electrolyte drink for all of you and some packets of nuts. Here ya go,” she said as she handed each sweating, red-faced friend a drink and a package of nuts.

“Jesus, Mickey, you know we don’t bike like you! Is the entire day going to be like this?” Liz snapped at her. Mickey shrugged and grinned. She never let crabby Liz get her goat; she let it slide right off her, which calmed Liz down. Liz’s husband always snapped back at her and then they were in a verbal battle. Mickey, a consummate studier of human nature, watched the couple do this and learned how to stay out of the anger abyss Liz seemed to love.

Next stop was a talk at REI on wildflowers in the mountains. They served wildflower herbal tea and biscuits with baked-in edible wildflowers. The speaker was a woman in her thirties, and everyone enjoyed it. Most of all they enjoyed the rest time and the indoor toilet. Mickey glanced at her Fitbit and realized it was going to be sundown in an hour and they had to get to the final stop for their campfire dinner. She had asked her boyfriend Ray to drop off the items she planned to prepare, and he texted that he had done so and was at home.

“Okay, Kids, now for the final event. You have to keep up with me now. We are going to ride a forested trail and then will have to walk the bikes at the end.” She saw Liz rolling her eyes; Beda was frowning because she was not an outdoors person. “It’s OK Beda, I’ll keep you safe. You will love it.”

She pedaled slower now, leading them out of the REI parking lot and behind old warehouses, then cut off onto a graveled road. The road ended where a chain was strung from posts, but she led them around the left post and onto the dirt road on the other side. Waiting until all were ready, she nodded at them, climbed back onto her bike, and glided off. Mickey kept looking up at the location of the sun and judged she was doing great on time. After a ten-minute ride, the road now wove through a grove of tall trees, becoming narrower as they pedaled along. Finally, the road ended, and Mickey dismounted. “Okay, we have to walk the bikes in now.” Everyone followed her, rolling the bikes next to them on the narrow brushy trail.

She could hear them grumbling; all but Sue, who loved the outdoors as much as Mickey. Grumble, grumble, curse…a few slaps at mosquitos, then a clearing.

“Oh!” they all breathed in unison. In front of them was a small waterfall, the creek bordered by ferns and boulders. The clearing was bursting with purple, pink, yellow, red, and white wildflowers. A deserted garden had flowering vegetables beginning and some sweet peas were staked nearby. Next to the waterfall was a sun-bleached clapboard cabin with paned glass windows. A small porch ran across the front, and two hand-carved ancient rockers sat there. A hand-made stone and glass wind chime was still hanging on the porch. The chiming joined the waterfall music, and no one moved for a while. Mickey was grinning ear to ear. “I knew you would love it here! I found it two months ago and couldn’t wait for my turn to plan the weekend! We’ll have dinner here and then still have time to get the bikes back before eight o’clock.”

The picnic basket was on the porch with bricks holding it shut. She opened it and whipped out a small blanket to sit on. She created her charcuterie board of cheese, grapes, seeded crackers, olives, and nuts. Ray had cut up the watermelon and cantaloupe as she had instructed and left the two bottles of merlot and herbal tea. Brownies were for dessert.

The girls sat down and toasted their friendship with drinks, filling their paper plates with goodies. The sun was setting, and the birds were quieting down for the night. Mickey clinked the wind chime with a small stone to get everyone’s attention.

“I hope my good friends enjoyed this evening! The story behind this cabin is that a young couple homesteaded here but there was horrible event, and the cabin was abandoned. I don’t know if the family still owns the land. I think it’s so pretty.” Her friends all nodded their agreement. The area was truly enchanting.

The Unseen

The sun had set, and Mickey realized what the term ‘night fall’ meant. There had been a bit of light a minute ago and now she couldn’t see stars or the path or her friends’ faces.

“Mickey! It’s so dark! We need to get out of here!” Georgia stammered.

“No one is going anywhere,” an unknown voice murmured. It was low and whisper-like.

Mickey spun around but couldn’t see anyone, not even her friends. A shiver ran over her. “Liz, Beda, where are you?” she shouted.

“They can’t hear you.” Mickey jumped at the voice in her ear. She felt the breath on her neck.

“Get away from me! Who ARE you?” She shouted, shoving an elbow to the side, and hitting only air. She heard some rustling, the wind chime ding, and the cabin door open.

“Mickey! Help! I can’t see anything! The woods are spooky, and I’m scared. My Apple watch isn’t working, I can’t tell the time!” It was Sue yelling out. Sue was never scared of anything; one of their favorite past times was watching scary movies together.

“I’m coming Sue! Call out to me and I will follow your voice.”

“She can’t hear you.” The whispered breath again against Mickey’s neck, making her shiver.

“Get OFF of me!” Mickey shouted. “Beda! Georgia! Sue! Liz! Come to me, follow my voice!” She heard no response, nor any rustling on the ground. Total silence.

Mickey turned in a slow circle and as she reversed, saw a light. She sprang toward it, finding herself at the step of the porch. The light was in the window. Unbelievably, a candle was burning in the window. “That’s my candle. He’ll be home soon. You should not be here. This is my house, my porch, my garden, AND MY WATERFALL!” The voice was overwhelming to Mickey, vibrating her spine, echoing in her brain. Mickey sat down hard, saying, “my waterfall, my waterfall, my waterfall.”

She felt herself being dragged up onto the porch, the words from the unknown reverberating through her skull. Mickey couldn’t move and couldn’t stop the chanting in her head. “My house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall, my house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall.” Now Mickey was on the porch, and she heard the door slowly creak open. Repetition in her head: “my house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall.” Mickey sensed a presence, but her mind was stuck in the repetitive mantra it had begun, and suddenly she found herself inside the cabin. The candle was burning low, and Mickey’s heightened senses smelled the wax, felt the drips of the wax. Drip. Plop. Candle smoke filled her nostrils from the burning-out candle. “My house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall.” Mickey’s hand reached and pulled open a drawer, her fingers finding taper candles. She set one in the brass candle holder mindlessly. It lit instantaneously without a match or any fire starter. “My house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall,” Mickey chanted, humming. “He will be home soon,” she said as she peered out the window. “Soon,” smiling.

Escaping the Dark

Liz had somehow found Beda and they slowly walked the dirt path. They hadn’t found their bikes in the blackness of the forest. Holding each other’s arms, they continued the path to the road, and found Sue and Georgia there. Out of the heavy woods now, they could make out each other and breathed easy. No one had a bike to return tonight; it was too dark to find them.

“We will just pay the overage fee for those damned bikes,” Liz exclaimed. “What a place to take us at sundown. Where in the hell is Mickey??” Startled out of their feelings of relief for finding each other, they all stared at Liz. Where was Mickey?

“Look, we have waited for over an hour. We need to start hiking to get back to the road. We can’t stay out here, and she may need help. We cannot see anything!” Georgia, the voice of reason. “Let’s go. We are going to hold on to each other and walk back the way we remember.” Off they went.

After an hour they got to the road and surprisingly Ray was sitting there in his truck.

“What’s up Ladies? My girl wanted me to pick y’all up so you could ride home and we’re going to Stone Cold for ice cream. Sound good? Wait, where are the bikes?” His eyes scanned them and then he peered behind them, frowning. “WHERE IS MICKEY?”

“We don’t know, Ray. She wasn’t with us when it got dark. We couldn’t see anything and were lucky to find each other! We finally left, thinking she had gone ahead. It’s so dark we couldn’t find the bikes. We’re going to have to pay a fee for keeping them longer.” Beda explained the evening to Ray.

Ray and Mickey

In the morning Ray returned and cut the chain that blocked the road, driving up as far as he could. He found the bikes and loaded them into his truck. When he couldn’t drive further, he walked. At the cabin, he saw the picnic materials and the beautiful surrounds of the cabin. Noting the wind chime and rockers on the porch, he stepped up. The door was locked so he knocked, calling out, with no response. He strode across the porch and peered through the window but saw no one. The cabin had a table set for two, but he could see no signs of recent habitation. “Mickey! Mickey!” he yelled out and went behind the cabin. He found no sign of her and found himself gasping for air, anxiety claiming him. He crouched down beside the cabin, overtaken with fear. “Mickey!” he yelled again.

Mickey counted the candles in the drawer. There were thirty-six. She stepped to the window and took down the brass candle holder, cleaning out the dripped wax. Selecting a new yellowed taper from the drawer, she carefully secured it in the holder and gently set it on the windowsill. “I’ll light this one tonight for him. He’ll be home soon. Home to our house, our porch, our garden, our waterfall.” She smiled.

Outside, Ray felt the hairs on his neck stand up and he whirled around to find nothing. He strode out of the clearing and back to his truck. In town, he dropped all the bikes off at the rental area, paying the fine for being late. Dialing Mickey’s mobile phone, he got no answer and didn’t leave a message when it went straight to voicemail.

The Search

An area search began, people on horseback and dirt bikes, one helicopter in the air looking for thermal images. The pilot found a thermal image only when over the cabin. Police opened the cabin door and found no one there, just the table set for two. One detective commented on a piece of melted wax he found on the floor but did not find traces of a candle burning recently, nor of recent human activity in the cabin. Had he looked more closely he might have noticed the slight indentation in the bed on the far side of the cabin where she sat watching the search, listening.

“She’s not here. We need to keep searching the woods. She may have fallen down a slope.” The police went outside, gently closing the door. “We can find the owners and let them know they need a new lock.”

“My house, my porch, my garden, my waterfall.” Mickey watched the detectives walk down the path. “New day, new candle.” She pulled a new one out of the drawer, humming softly, and placed it into the brass holder setting it on the windowsill. “He will be home soon.”