The Long Weekend

(Note- mild foul language in addition to scary themes and violence)

Thursday

“We could meet tomorrow before school,” Laura suggests. 

“No, I won’t be here tomorrow. Josh and I are headed to Deschutes Lake for the weekend. The Cascades are gorgeous in the fall. His cousin has a cabin out there,” Nicole says.

“Is that the cabin where Josh did some work last spring?” 

“Yep! He replaced the gutters and updated the drainage system. There’s landscaping rock around the edge of the house to keep water away from the foundation. It’s really pretty! His cousin Ryan is letting Josh use the cabin instead of paying him actual money for the project.” 

“I guess that works. I wish I had a contractor in my family.”

“Oh, but don’t tell anyone! HR thinks I have a dentist appointment so I can use a sick day. I’m not wasting a personal day on this,” Nicole raises her eyes at her friend. 

“My lips are sealed,” Laura promises. “Just remember not to post any photos on social media. You remember when Janey got reassigned to kindergarten after using sick days in June for a beach trip?” 

“Poor Janey. I helped her get a glue stick out of her hair one time. She didn’t even know it was there! No, I’ll be careful. A secret weekend away,” Nicole agrees. 

“That will be great for you and Josh! Lately it seems like things have been a little…” Laura trails off. 

“Rocky. A lot rocky,” Nicole confirms. “This time of year is so hard! I’m busy in my classroom, and Josh doesn’t have as many construction jobs lined up because the weather is changing. I think he has a lot of anxiety about not making as much money over the winter months.”

“Your paycheck stays the same, though. I mean, a teacher's salary will never be ideal,” Laura adds. 

“Right, and it’s not like we can only eat ramen in January. We’re fine! He just enjoys having more money over the summer, I guess,” Nicole sighs. 

“Well,” Laura says, “I’m glad you two get a break this weekend. It will be good to relax and get away from here.” 

The school bell rings, indicating the end of their lunch break. 

“Shit!” Nicole whispers. “I didn’t even get to make copies!”

“Go now!” Laura says. “I’ll pick up your class from recess.”

“You are my favorite person in the entire world!” Nicole calls as she rushes to toss her empty yogurt cup in the trash and find an available copier. 

Friday

The next morning, Nicole and Josh park in the driveway at the cabin. Josh and his cousin, Ryan, had grown up coming here for holidays and family reunions. But now, the house mostly sat empty and unused. Their relatives had passed away, or couldn’t travel, or moved away, or just didn’t want to go anymore. Josh and Ryan remained close. Kindred misfits, Nicole thought. Nicole had only been to the cabin once before, but it had been a pitstop on their way to Idaho. It was a lot farther off the main road than she remembered. 

They get out of the car, and Josh tosses her the key. It was on a ring with a tacky I’d Rather Be Fishing keychain that Ryan probably got from a gas station in town. 

“If you get the door open, I’ll start carrying our stuff inside,” Josh says, opening the trunk. “You might want to open the windows up, too. I bet it’s pretty stale in there.” 

“I think I can handle that,” Nicole says, bouncing up to the wraparound porch. She is happy to be helpful in any way that does not involve carrying the heavy cooler of food. 

The door creaks as it opens, as a cabin door should, and humid air rushes outside. The downstairs is mostly one big room, built when it was practical instead of trendy to do so. There is a master bedroom off to one side, plus two more bedrooms and a loft area upstairs. Nicole quickly ties her hair up in a ponytail and hurries to get the windows open for fresh air. 

The two of them spend time getting the house in order. Nicole does a quick clean in the bathrooms and kitchen, not trusting Cousin Ryan to have sanitized anything. Josh is on spider-killing duty. Nicole prepares lunch, while Josh walks around the immediate property looking for anything out of place. The house sits on several unfenced acres, and sometimes campers will pass through without realizing they’ve strayed out of Willamette National Forest. 

“We should go to the lake!” Nicole says brightly, taking their empty plates to the sink after lunch. 

“No, it’s probably busy out there today,” Josh replies. 

“Because it’s such a nice day! Maybe the last warm day this season. We should take advantage of it while we’re here.” 

“I don’t want to run into a bunch of people. Aren’t we here to relax?” Josh whines, sinking into the couch. 

“Yeah, but what’s more relaxing than sitting by the water?” 

“Silence. Silence is more relaxing. Just one screaming kid by the lake ruins it for the rest of us.”

“True,” Nicole sighs. She knows she isn’t going to win, and she doesn’t want to go by herself. 

Josh turns on the TV to ESPN. 

“So much for silence,” Nicole mutters under her breath. 

Nicole finds the book she packed and moves to her favorite spot outside on the porch swing. A good enemies-to-lovers story is exactly what she needs. 

After a few hours, Nicole tries again.

“Do you want to go for a walk with me?” she asks her husband. 

“No. I saw some bear tracks while I was out earlier. We should stick to the house,” Josh explains without looking at her. A football game had started. 

Nicole wasn’t sure this day had been worth writing substitute lesson plans for. 

They eat dinner, during which Josh watches the game from the dining table. Once he returns to the couch, it’s dark enough outside that Nicole takes her book inside and upstairs to the loft. There’s a huge picture window giving her a view of the trees and the stars. It’s her favorite place in the house. 

When the pages become too blurry to read, she walks back downstairs. 

“Are you coming to bed? It’s almost 11,” Nicole asks. 

“Pretty soon,” Josh says. 

Nicole is frustrated, but too tired to do anything about it tonight. She walks to the master bedroom, climbs into bed, and falls into a fitful sleep. She is vaguely aware of Josh laying down next to her at some point. 

Nicole startles awake to the sound of laughter. It’s a jarring sound in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods, like an ice cream truck jingle during a funeral. The noise stopped just as suddenly.

She looks beside her, and Josh is sound asleep. He isn’t the one who laughed. Do people laugh in their sleep? Did he leave the TV on? She doesn’t hear anything now. Was it just in her dream? Maybe–

She hears it again. Hysterical laughter that’s definitely real and coming from outside. Nicole freezes, listening intently, but the laughter stops again. 

“Josh,” she says quietly. He doesn’t move. 

“Josh!” she says louder. He moans, and she pushes on his shoulder.

“Uuuugh,” Josh says into his pillow. 

“Josh, something is wrong! Someone is here!” 

“Mmmmmm.”

“Josh!”

“What?” Josh snaps, finally lifting his head. “What now? What time is it?”

“Someone is outside,” Nicole repeats. 

“No one is outside. We’re miles from anyone,” Josh explains, making Nicole feel like she was complaining to her dad about a monster under the bed. 

“I heard someone laughing outside!”

“Laughing? Doesn’t sound like a murderer.”

“This isn’t funny, Josh!” Nicole was losing her temper. “It woke me up and then I heard it again! Someone is outside! Will you just look?”

“Nic, it’s the middle of the night.”

“That’s why you need to look!”

“Ugh, fine,” Josh says, flipping the comforter off of himself and wandering to the window. “I don’t see anyone. I can’t see anything, actually, because it’s the middle of the night.”

“You could turn the porch light on!”

Josh doesn’t bother responding, but pulls on his jeans and a hoodie. Nicole listens to his footsteps as he walks out the front door and sees the porch light turn on through the bedroom window. She jumps as a figure passes by the window, before she remembers it’s just Josh. 

Five minutes later, Josh comes back inside. He locks the door and turns off the porch light. 

“There’s no one outside. I’m going back to sleep,” Josh states, returning to bed. 

Nicole wants to ask questions, but knows it will just make him mad. She lays back down, mind reeling. Eventually, she falls asleep again. 

Saturday

When she awakes in the morning, Nicole feels disoriented. After too many strange dreams in various locations, she has to remember where she actually is. She looks to Josh’s side of the bed, but he isn’t there. That’s weird, she thinks. He always sleeps later than me. 

Nicole reaches over to the nightstand to grab her phone and check the time. Her phone isn’t there. 

“No, no, no, no,” she says to the disconnected phone charger. “My phone was here. I plugged it in. I always do. I remember.”

She takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly, like her therapist taught her. 

“Okay,” she asks herself. “Why would my phone be gone?” Nicole looks around the room again. “Josh isn’t here. Maybe his phone died and he needed to borrow mine to make a call. I just need to find Josh.”

Nicole gets her slippers from her bag and walks out of the bedroom. The downstairs is empty. The TV is off in the living room, and there’s no dirty coffee cups in the kitchen. The bathroom door is open and nothing is out of place. 

“Josh?” Nicole calls out. 

The house judges her for interrupting the silence. 

She looks out the front window briefly, but Josh isn’t immediately visible outside. Nicole rushes upstairs to check the loft and extra bedrooms. All empty. 

“Don’t panic until it’s time to panic,” she reminds herself. “He’s probably in the car, or watching a deer, or something.”

Nicole quickly grabs a sweater before going outside. It’s foggy this morning, yesterday’s sunshine long gone. 

“Josh?!” she calls again from the porch. 

She circles the wraparound porch twice in case he’s around the corner just out of sight, like cartoon dogs chasing each other around a big tree. There isn’t anything to see, but something still feels out of place. 

As she returns to the front door, she realizes what’s wrong. The car is gone. 

Nicole is forcing herself not to cry. Her hands are shaking. She wants to run away, to do something with her panic, but she doesn’t know where to go. Back in the house to wait? Down the long driveway to the main road? Is Josh okay? Is he coming back? Why didn’t he wake me up? Why did he take my phone? Her mind races faster and faster, a downhill roller coaster picking up speed. 

“Nicole!” a voice yells. 

Nicole freezes. What direction was that from? It wasn’t close. Was it Josh? Is he hurt? Is he lost in the fog? 

“Nicole!” the voice yells again, sounding scared. 

“I’m here!” Nicole yells back. “Where are you?!” 

“Nicole! Help me!” the voice screams. 

Something in the back of her mind tells Nicole that it’s not Josh’s voice, but she pushes the thought aside. If he’s hurt, or upset, his voice could sound different. His voice could be distorted from traveling through the fog. Who else could it be but Josh?

“I’m coming!” Nicole yells as she races off the porch in the direction of the voice. 

“Nicole! Please!” 

She runs through the trees as fast as she can without tripping.

“Nicole,” the voice says, not yelling this time.

Nicole stops to look up. She sees a man, maybe 10 yards away. 

It’s not Josh. 

He’s wearing a Halloween mask, a clown face. 

It’s not Josh. 

He’s holding a machete at his side. 

It’s not Josh.

Nicole turns and sprints back to the house. Her heart is pounding and she can’t breathe. She can’t think, just knows she needs to go back to the house. She can’t hear if the man is following her or not. 

Nicole makes it back to the porch. She doesn’t look back, doesn’t want to see if the man is there. She flings open the front door, hurries inside, and locks it behind her. 

Oh god. Now what? I don’t have a phone. I need… a knife! 

She goes to the kitchen, but the knife block is gone. 

How is EVERYTHING gone?!

She can hear something outside. He’s here. 

Nicole runs upstairs to the loft and finds… her husband. 

“Josh!” she screams. 

He’s standing calmly in front of the window. She runs to him and he embraces her in a big hug. She feels safe and warm in his arms. 

Without a word, Josh throws Nicole at the window. The old glass breaks easily. She hits the porch roof and bounces off, falling head-first onto the landscaping rocks. 

Sunday

“Thanks for helping me this weekend,” Josh says to his cousin. 

“If you need to kill your second wife, maybe we can do it with less property damage next time,” Ryan laughs. “I’m not replacing another window!”

“I’m the one who was up on the ladder! You had the easy part,” Josh says. “Maybe you could buy a better mask next time. A clown? Really?”

“It was funny! She was terrified!” Ryan cackles. 

“You looked like a dumbass with that plastic machete.” Josh says. 

“You’re just jealous that I got the fun part.”

“If you say so.”

“Is the window the last thing we needed to do?” Ryan asks. 

“I think so. Window… car… that damn hole,” Josh answers, holding up a finger as he counts off each task.

“I told you we should’ve just dumped her in the lake.”

“Nah. We left her car at the lake. The cops will spend all that time dragging the water and not have a clue when her body doesn’t turn up. A grave is less likely to be discovered. We went far enough past the property line.” 

“Yeah… Wait, what did we do with her cell phone?” Ryan asks. 

“It’s on the front seat of the car. Maybe it’ll be stolen before the police find it. Her suitcase is in the trunk, like she left on purpose.”

“Maybe you’ll be on Unsolved Mysteries!” 

“No, we don’t want any extra attention.”

“But you could be famous!”

“Ryan, I’m going to remind you again. Don’t. Tell. Anyone. That’s how people get caught. They blab to the wrong person, and suddenly they’re in prison without parole.” 

“I know, I know. I won’t say anything.” 

“Good. I don’t want all this work to be for nothing,” Josh says grumpily, looking at his watch. “I need to call now. It’s been over 24 hours.”

“Can I watch TV?” Ryan asks. 

Josh rolls his eyes and walks onto the porch. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials. 

“Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. How may I direct your call?” a bored voice answers. 

“I need to report a missing person,” Josh says, sounding upset. “My wife left yesterday morning and she hasn’t come home and she’s not answering her phone.”