Unplugged

The old mountain road wound through stunning passages of deep red and white layered rock, under brilliantly colored canopies of deep green pines mixed with soft chartreuse Aspen leaves, and past the soft tinkling cascades of miniature waterfalls. But in the backseat of the old green Jeep that trundled up the road, Hannah and Greg saw none of the landscape. Both had their faces buried deep in their electronic devices and ears blocked by headphones. While, up in the front seat, Joe listened with rapt attention as Tara pointed out different features and regaled him with tales of exploring these mountains as a young girl.

Finally, Tara pointed to a tiny side road for Joe to turn onto. Big divots pockmarked the far less traveled dirt path they now took, causing Joe to slow to a crawl. The Jeep bounced and twisted, jarring the occupants violently, as it traversed the perilous road.

Greg growled angrily and punched the back of the driver's seat, “Thanks Dad! You just killed me. And I was on the final boss. It took me all day and now I have to start over!”

“Sorry, son. There's not much I can do about it. This is a really rough road. But there's plenty of time for video games another day. You should put it away and enjoy this amazing view.”

“Right.” Greg snorted and rolled his eyes before he turned back to his precious game.

Joe shook his head, “ Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. I'm not sure either of them will ever appreciate this place.”

Tara smiled warmly, “It'll be fine. You'll see. After a few days they will be totally different. They'll love this place as much as I do.”

Joe gave her a half smile, “I hope you're right.”

A few minutes later, they crossed an old, rickety wooden bridge that Joe prayed would support the weight of their vehicle. It spanned a little canyon, no more than ten feet wide, where a small river churned vigorously about thirty feet below. He could hear the wood creaking and groaning in protest, but it held and they made their way safely to the other side. The trees on this side were dense and blocked the view of anything beyond the road so it came as a surprise when they rounded the next corner and came to a rustic two-story cabin with quaint white and green shutters and an A-line roof.

“We're here!” Tara exclaimed happily.

“Oh good,” Hannah replied without even looking up from her phone.

“Okay kids, we have lots to unload, so I need you two to grab a couple bags from the back before you head in,” Joe put the Jeep into park, pulling up the lever for the brake, and turned off the engine.

Despite Joe's clear instructions, both kids climbed from the car and meandered up to the door clutching nothing but their phones. Neither bothered to look up from the screens.

“You know, it's amazing they don't run into more things,” Tara laughed.

“Dang it!” Greg growled again. “No service. Tara, what's the Wi-Fi?”

“There is no Wi-Fi,” Tara smiled coyly.

Hannah spun around, eyes wide, “What? No Wi-Fi? What are we supposed to do up here?”

“It's okay, I brought my PlayStation,” Greg assured his twin sister. “We can hook it up to the TV and play old school.”

Tara bit her lips together, trying in vain not to laugh. “Umm, Greg, there's no TV either.”

Eyes bulging in shock, Greg attempted to comprehend the words he had just heard. “What do you mean, there's no TV? Did you know about this Dad?”

Joe shrugged his shoulders, “We have electricity and running water, right?” He looked to his wife for confirmation. When she nodded he looked back to the twins, “That's more than I ever had when I went camping with my Dad. It'll be fun kids, I promise. Just not the kind of fun you're used to.”

“Ugh! You're such a boomer!” Greg grumbled.

“I can't even post about how lame you are because there's no Wi-Fi!” Hannah stomped her foot angrily.

Tara just kept smiling, undeterred by her stepchildren's insolence. If they refused to have fun she would have plenty at their expense. “How about you both help us carry in all our stuff, like your Dad asked? Once everything's put away, I'll show you the game room and the library. My Grandpa had a huge collection of books and board games that I inherited with this cabin.”

“Yippee, board games,” Hannah rolled her eyes sarcastically.

“That's enough Hannah!” Joe finally could take no more. “This place is very special to Tara and she's been so excited to share it with us. I will not have you disrespecting your Stepmother like that.”

“I prefer ‘bonus mother,’” Tara winked at her family. “Stepmother sounds so evil.”

Though they grumbled the entire time, the twins helped bring in all the supplies and with a little stern coaxing helped put things away before taking their own belongings up to the bedroom they would be sharing for the next two weeks. They took their time unpacking their suitcases, reluctant to rejoin their parents and have to pretend to be enjoying this archaic excuse for a vacation. That's when they overheard the most disturbing conversation.

“I don't know what I'm going to do with those two,” Joe sighed.

“I have an idea,” their Stepmother mused wistfully. “We could give them each a loaf of bread then take them out to the middle of the woods and leave them!”

To their shock, they heard their father laugh at the suggestion. “Or, we could just get back in the Jeep and leave them here.”

“They wouldn't,” Greg whispered. “Would they?”

“She might, but Dad would never,” Hannah assured him, but still looked a little skeptical.

That night they lay awake late into the wee hours, whispering about the conversation they'd overheard and assuring each other their father would never abandon them. Unfortunately, that led them to sleep in, way past breakfast almost until lunch. So they didn't hear the conversation that morning between Joe and Tara. They didn't know that their parents agreed that the children should get to sleep in rather than joining them on a morning hike. Nor did they hear Tara tell Joe the best trail head was a few miles back down the road, over the rickety bridge so they should drive to it. It wouldn't have led to such a disaster if that breeze hadn't snuck in and mischievously pushed the note they had left from the table, across the floor, and under the fridge.

“They left us. They really did it!” Greg ran to the front door and threw it open. “The Jeep’s gone! I knew our Stepmother was really a witch. She's tricked Dad into loving her more than us.”

Hannah tried to find some argument against her brother's assertion but came up short. She could think of no logical reason her father would leave them alone in a strange cabin in the middle of nowhere without saying something to them first.

"Maybe they just went on a short drive. We should call Dad before we panic." She suggested.

The two took their phones and headed down the worn dirt road toward the bridge in search of a signal. Hannah had been paying attention to her phone, looking for bars, as she held it high over her head. But Greg was looking ahead and cried out in shock over what he didn't see.

“It's gone! That old rickety bridge is gone!” He pointed to the gorge.

The two raced to the edge and peered over. Sure enough, there were remnants of the wooden bridge smashed into splinters littering the banks of the river below.

Wide eyed, Hannah shook her head in dismay, “You're right. She is a witch. She's stranded us here with no way out and no way to call for help!”

First, they got out all the terrible, horrible names they wanted to call their evil Stepmother. Then, they considered what they had available in the cabin and how long they could survive. But quickly agreed they couldn't last another night without Wi-Fi or television. So there was only one thing left to do. They would need to get somewhere with service. Neither realized that the white thing attached to the wall next to the fridge with the long spiral cord was in fact a device they could use to call for help. Instead they headed up the road the opposite direction of the decimated bridge.

"Wait!" Hannah grabbed Greg's arm. "We have to make sure we can find our way back here if we don't get service soon."

"No worries," Greg smiled holding up his phone. "I dropped a pin so we won't get lost."

They headed out. But the road forked and forked again, then twisted and turned before heading over a ridge then down into a deep shadowed valley. It became progressively more narrow until the plants grew over the sides completely, blocking their way forward. The sun hardly penetrated the thick canopy of trees overhead and before long they were completely turned around, unsure if they were even on a path.

"We better head back to the pin you dropped."

But when Greg opened his map app, all he could see was a spinning wheel of death. The map could not load.

"Maybe if we go back to the top of the ridge it'll work better. I think it's that way," Hannah pointed.

With no better idea, Greg agreed and they began pushing their way deeper into the forest where they stumbled upon a path. Immediately, they knew this well manicured trail could not be the same route they had come on. But it must lead somewhere, so they followed it. When they rounded a corner and saw a cabin in the distance, both broke into an excited run. As they drew near, they could see this was no outdated rustic cabin like the one they were staying in. This cabin was modern, sleek and stylish with an asymmetrical roof line, adorned with solar panels and satellite dishes.

"There's Wi-Fi!" Hannah exclaimed.

In their relief to have access to their precious Internet, both immediately forgot their plans to call their father. Instead they busied themselves checking what they had missed in the past 24 hours. Hannah was in the middle of recording a tirade of her harrowing adventure when they heard a voice coming from inside.

“Who's that nibbling on my Wi-Fi?” the door opened and a middle aged woman stepped out. She had grey streaked black hair piled in a messy bun and wore a strange pair of glasses with two sets of lenses and a long white lab coat.

"Please ma'am, we've been lost with no cell service for hours. We just needed a way to connect with the world." Hannah pled.

"Of course, of course," the woman smiled warmly. "You must be terrified. Come in, come in. I'm just working on a silly experiment. My home is your home."

She opened the door wide and revealed an array of top of the line computer gaming systems, a giant floor to ceiling television with every console imaginable hooked up to it, and two state of the art virtual reality headsets. The latter drew Greg in like a magnet and Hannah thought she might have seen him drool a bit.

"I thought these weren't supposed to be out until next month!"

"They're not. But I'm helping test the systems so I get advanced prototypes. Would you like to try it? You both can."

That was all they needed to get over their trepidation. Before long both were fully immersed in video games and neither noticed the room had no windows. Nor did they notice the woman locking the door and slipping their phones into her pocket.

She put out bowls of cheesy doodles and popcorn, stacks of chocolate sandwich cookies, and an endless supply of soda. After a while, she put out pizzas and ice cream, keeping them comfortably full. The only thing they had to get up for was to use the bathroom. There were no clocks on the walls and without a window to see the sun set they had no way to track the passage of time. It could have been hours or days. With a limitless selection of video games to choose from they never got bored and the constant influx of caffeinated beverages kept them relatively alert.

Hannah finally noticed something amiss when she looked at Greg. His skin has become thin and pale and his eyes had sunk into giant dark circles. She dropped her controller and put her hand over his.

"How long have we been playing?"

Hannah could tell she must look as terrible as Greg based on the look of horror on his face when he looked at her.

"What's the matter kids?" A sickly sweet voice came from behind them. "Why'd you stop playing? Do you need more drinks or snacks?"

"No. I think it's way past time we get home. We need to call our dad," Greg started patting his pockets. "Where'd I put my phone?"

Hannah followed suit, patting her pockets then jumping to her feet and searching the cushions. "My phone's gone too. What did you do with them?"

But the woman just smiled back even bigger. "Oh I'm sure they're around here somewhere. What's the hurry? Why don't you sit back down and play a little more? I'll look around and see if I can find them."

"I think we’re done playing games. We just want to get our phones, call our dad, and go home." Hannah insisted.

That’s when the woman stopped smiling and things turned terrifying. She suddenly seemed to get much bigger. "After all I have done to make you happy and comfortable, you think you can just leave me. Sit down and play some more games. My experiment is not over. I. Need. More. Data."

Hannah cowered before her, but Greg dashed to the door, ready to abandon his phone. Unfortunately, he found the door was bolted shut. His futile attempt just made their captor laugh maniacally.

"You are not going anywhere. I need subjects to finish my experiment. I need more data. Now sit down and get back to playing those games." She painted a smile back onto her face. "I’ll just go get you more snacks and sodas."

As she left the room, Greg ran back to his sister who had burst into tears. First he hugged her to comfort her, but then he whispered a plan into her ear.

When the crazed scientist reentered the room, the twins were waiting for her. Using cords they had detached from the game consoles and held across the door to the kitchen, they tripped her and immediately set about hog tying her. Once she was immobilized, Hannah started searching her pockets and Greg went to search the kitchen. Hannah found the key to the door and Greg returned with their missing phones. They raced out the door and called their father.

Joe had never been more relieved. It had been three days since the twins had gone missing. He could barely contain his emotion when he finally got to hold his children again. Tara stood by vigilantly at his side, as she had for the past three days. After hours of questions from the police, they finally left the family in the old rustic cabin, assuring them the scientist was in custody. Tara turned to the children with tears in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry I brought you here. I thought we could use some time up here together to really bond. But tomorrow morning we can head back home.”

Hannah and Greg looked at each other then smiled at their bonus mother. "Actually, I think we’d rather stay and play some of those old fashioned board games with you. Two weeks without television or video games sounds pretty great right now."