The Algorithm and the Bath Water

Jane’s eyes were protesting as if they had been captured by terrorists and forced to consume the blue light of a computer screen without blinking for a week. Maybe it had been a week. She clicked on the latest news article of a car rolling into a ditch on Hwy 70, telling herself she’d close her laptop in 5 minutes, half knowing that she would not.

Jane was a copywriter for a regional engineering firm. Her job gave her satisfaction, however, she had become increasingly on-edge after the last several months working remotely. She found herself writing a sentence and then switching to a new screen. Writing a sentence. Favorite Fall Food Quiz. Sentence. Social media. Paragraph. Dictionary search that somehow leads down an internet search to an article about glow worms. Jane sighed a long, low sigh and finally switched to her favorite tab - vacation planning. She scrolled through the long and short-term rental properties, considering the next location of her remote office, or what she called a ‘work vacation’ where she splurged once a quarter to find a beautiful rental space to work for the week. Colorado? Maybe. Kentucky? Interesting. California? Possibly. Suddenly, a bright red cabin with a heavenly forest view. Whirlpool tub. Check. Access to Wifi. Check. Bike trail options. Check. Budget-friendly. Check. Arkansas? OK!

Jane closed her laptop and proceeded to trick herself into sleeping. It only worked sometimes. Those poor, bedraggled eyes finally got a break.

The drive was meandering and perfect. Jane had texted Chris and her Dad before she left on Saturday. She contemplated how it might be a tiny bit pathetic that the only people who might remotely care of her whereabouts at that given moment were a guy she had gone on four dates with and her father. She had drafted a text to Lexie, ‘Hey! Looking for a getaway?’ and then she erased it. Oh, Lexie. She knew there would be no response, and even if her friend had responded, it would have been a short, polite ‘Thanks, I can’t.’ Lexie had recently started her own business, and as far as Jane could tell, Lexie had become her business, which was unfortunate because that business was beauty care products, and Jane wasn’t interested. And most unfortunate, after one too many drinks, Jane had shared that fact with Lexie. This had led to a simmering, quiet feud for the last two weeks. So, Jane contemplated her two sent text messages and the one that was left unsaid while she passed cow pastures and American flags that increased in size the farther South she drove.

At the next exit, Jane stopped for gas. As a younger single woman driving alone, she found herself constantly on high alert to any potential threats. She scanned her zone as she pressed ‘Unleaded.’ An elderly man and woman waddling toward the convenience store in matching plaid shirts. Check. Three adolescent young men carrying armloads of TastyKakes to their beat up car. Check. A middle-age truck driver with grease stained pockets staring at her and not looking away. Freeze! Jane’s back tingled with a million tiny pricks. She watched him, knowing she was in the jungle now. Don’t look away. Don’t look away. He looked away first, and Jane felt her tension ease slightly. Was she overreacting?

She got in her car, feeling as if she wasn't all there, and fumbled with the keys, playing a mental game with herself. “If he was a killer, could I outrun him?” she questioned.

The car started and lunged forward, and she was turning right onto the highway, leaving the truck and its driver behind her. She looked back every few minutes, reminding herself that there was no one following her. She had watched Jeepers Creepers too many times.

It was a little past five when Jane finally reached the little red cabin. What had appeared picturesque and quaint in pictures translated to run down and forgotten in real life. Jane felt the periphery of panic take hold as she looked around the cabin and realized how remote it really was. She had turned off the highway about five minutes ago only to feel her way through a gravel path with no GPS signal on her phone. Her phone was also at 2%, which was especially worrisome because Jane was now trying to remember if she had actually packed her phone charger.

Upon entering, the cabin was as warm and inviting as she hoped. The kitchen was painted a rain slicker yellow and a fashionable tea tin assortment kindly arranged next to a welcome package greeted Jane and left her feeling like her night was made. As luck would have it, she found her phone charger nestled inside her running shoes, and she surveyed and approved of the whirlpool tub.

By 8:45, Jane was enjoying the type of bath she had only seen in movies. Mint-lavender bubbles were reaching over the edge and water dripped down to the subway tiled floor. She had lit a candle for effect, and her charging phone sat next to the tub serenading her with the sounds of rain.

Or was that a car door that just shut…?

Jane felt as if her entire body was being hoisted up by a power beyond her as she tried to think of a logical explanation for why she might have heard a car door shut right outside her door. Was it the cabin owner coming over to greet her? She remembered the listing saying they lived 30-minutes away, but could come by if they were needed. Jane’s gut felt off. She was back in the jungle, scanning her environment.

She turned the music off quickly, and the silence felt meaningful as she hoisted herself out of the tub and found a nearby towel. The front window was twenty steps away. It was getting darker...could someone see in without her noticing? Did she close the curtains? She crept in a zig zag fashion across the carpet, staying low to the ground, considering whether she could reach her bag with extra clothes sitting on the sofa near the darkened window.

Jane could see bright headlights turn off from the reflection on the wall behind her. Someone was definitely out there.

She crept closer to the window, and her body froze.

She saw a long red and white semi truck behind a cluster of trees in front. Was it her imagination or was that same semi-truck from the gas station?

Jane could feel her chest tense up like her spirit was trying to escape anywhere but here. She could hear gravel crunching with a nearby presence. She waited. The shuffled sound of steps stopped abruptly. She listened as if her ears could reach out and see the steps. No sound. She could feel that she was not alone, but her eyes showed her nothing. Could someone be watching her from the window? She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned, it was just a leaf blowing past the kitchen window...or was it? Jane’s eyes were back to being prisoners - not from a computer light but from something else she did not quite process.

She looked out once more, and the truck sat waiting, but where was the driver? Was this the case of someone who lost their way? Jane could still feel her heart working hard to keep her going. She took three steps back and listened. Was that a scratch on the door? She was very aware that her phone was in the other room, and there were only two windows to pass to get there. Why hadn’t she closed them earlier?

Jane reached her phone and was frantically trying to work the unlock button while trying to process...who could she call? Why did the truck driver follow her? Is he still out there? Jane watched the front door momentarily when her thoughts were startled by a knock, not from the door, but from the window next to the bath tub.

He's here. He knows I'm here.

Jane’s hands went to jelly as she tried to grasp onto her phone, the phone charger, anything she could use to hoist herself up and out of this nightmare as she fell backward, reeling into the bath with a gravely voice calling from the outside, "Is that you, country girl?" A flashing of light, and then there was nothing. All she could see was darkness. Now, only darkness.

It was 2:45pm on Monday, and Lexie was getting restless. She had read the news, scrolled her social accounts, liked a picture of a dog eating ice cream, and was still searching for more. This was the hour of day where anyone felt they could find what it was that they were really looking for on the internet, if only they knew. Lexie was in a mood for tragedies, and a headline for the next article in her feed caught her eye:

YOUNG WOMAN FOUND DEAD FROM APPARENT ELECTROCUTION

A 28-year-old woman was found unresponsive on Sunday in a home in Bella Vista. She was later rushed to an area hospital and pronounced dead. Police officials are still determining the cause of death, however, the body was found next to an electronic device plugged into an active outlet. The woman was identified as Jane Simmons of St. Louis, Missouri. While authorities do not believe this is a murder investigation, police found personal items of the victim outside the house, including the victim’s credit card and driver’s license. Police are currently investigating.

The echo of a text unsent carried its way to Lexie with a feeling that left her empty.

Lexie stared in disbelief as the familiar name crept into her skin and stayed there. She couldn’t shake the feeling for the rest of the evening, even after a glass of wine and a podcast.