A Cabin Vist

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, Grey entered the cabin, memories flooded her mind, of all the times their family came up for holidays. 

"The hidden cottage." 

They muttered, that's what their mom would call it, as her mother's story played in her head, they repeated it, 

"follow the road down to Mulvoid Lake, take the hidden path through the forest of mist, the cave of terror. You'd end up in the enchanted woods." only now, they realised how weird it all was, for their father to move bushes and camo boards to uncover and recover this secret passage, they were always told to keep it a secret.

As Grey walked into the living room, the furniture sat the same, the lace curtains had faded. A gentle breeze blew through the open window, causing the curtains to flutter, and they were taken back, to another memory.

They were at the cabin, sat in the living room, on the floor under the window. They were playing with their little brother Jacob, flipping through a simple book, mother and father had told them to stay there until they had finished with their 'work' tin the basement.

"Now, Marie," Their mother spoke, using their old name, Grey's gut twisted at the name,

"you look after your brother Jacob while your father and I work", Their mother spoke, her voice becoming stern, her face cold and distant at the last sentence "And remember, never go in the basement, no matter what you hear, ok" 

she waited for Grey to nod, before her warm smile came back to her face, though, it never reached her eyes.

Grey came back with a gasp, they were sitting in the couch, they ran a hand through their hair 

"get a hold," they told themselves.

Taking a deep breath, they got up and headed to the kitchen, no memories, but they played in the back of their mind, windchimes chimed in the summer breeze, laughter and the sizzling of meat on the stove.

Grey brushed their hand over the counter as they walked around to the double glass-pane doors leading to the back garden, opening them and gazing out. 

As they pushed open the doors their mind took them back, the doors bursting open, they and their brother Jacob ran out, laughing and playing, racing to the low hanging weeping-willow.

Grey couldn't help but smile at the memories of climbing that tree, playing in the swinging leaves,

They even chuckled at the memory of making Jacob believe they had been caught by it, and it was going to eat them. There were so many good memories here, how awful this place got ruined by one.

The moved into the hallway to the stair's, one set leading down, the other up. Grey stood at the top of the stair, looking down to the basement door, memories started to creep out, their pulse raced as their breath quickened, their hand began to shake and their chest began to feel as though it was being crushed, turning round quickly they hurried back to the kitchen, hurling their breakfast into the sink.

As Grey heaved over the sink, they squeezed their eyes tight shut, forcing themselves to take deep long breathes, until the pain went away. 

Thank god the taps were still working, allowing them to rinse the vile memories out the mouth.

They jumped as their phone rang, looking at the caller ID, it was Jacob,

"Hey loser," They answered, hoping they couldn't hear the shakiness of their voice,

"Hey nerd" Jacob replied "Just calling to make sure you're down for lunch Sunday, Ty's looking forward to meeting you"

Ty, the new guy Jacob had been seeing, they'd talked to them once or twice over the phone, and seemed nice enough,

"Of course," they answered "Though don't expect me to go easy on him, just because you like him"

They chuckled as their brother groaned "Don't you dare do that shit, c'mon Grey, I really like them, you even said you thought he was nice over the phone"  

Grey sighed "everyone can seem nice over the phone, even in person, it the little details you gotta watch out for, I'm just trying to look out for you"

Jacob chuckled "You always think like that, always sussing people out, even before becoming a detective, by the way on that note, where are you? your boss called me saying you weren't picking up your business phone, It's really unlike you"

Grey froze, looking out the kitchen window that that willow tree, as the leaves drifted in the wind "Oh, I-" they thought of what to tell them, they had no memories of this place, of anything past the age of 10, Grey suspected a mix of being too young to remember and subconsciously pushing away traumatic memories.

"Well," they started "You've been nagging at me recently to take a break, I swear I told him he wouldn't be able to reach me, then again I doubt that mattered if he had a big case for me, could you ring him back and just say I'm out of town for the weekend? "

They heard Jacob sigh "Yea sure, I hope this town trip is purely for a break, and you haven't snuck a case in your bag?"

Grey chuckled "No, no, I promise, I'll call you back tomorrow, okay? there's a sunbed with my name on it"

They said their goodbye's and hung up, and Grey found themselves feeling better 

"Thanks, Jacob" they smiled before heading back to the stairs, bassing the basement without glancing down, they made their way up.

Grey stood in the hallway at the top of the stairs, 4 rooms, their room, Jacobs, Mom and dads and the bathroom, Jacob and Grey's room was opposite each other, then the master bedroom and bathroom further up.

They entered Jacobs first, fewer memories in here other than the occasional time Jacob dragged them in to watch their sea monkeys, the tank now sat murky atop Jacobs table. The bed still lay a mess, the toy box open, dolls and cars scattered about the floor. The walls were covered in pictures of animals, some torn from magazines and books, some printed photos.

Grey made their way to their room, the bed here was neat and tidied, a small bookshelf sat next to their desk. Sitting on their bed they remembered the dozes of times their parents would read to them. 

They remembered their father would always put their phone on the side table. The few times it would light up it read 'UNKNOWN CALLER ID', storytime would immediately be over and lights were turned off.

how weird, they thought, that as a child, you could just write off such weird actions of someone else, simply because they're a parent, simply because that child feels they have no-one else to go to. Grey imagined how much less painful things would have been if they just spoke out if they just confided in someone, talked about the oddities that went on, but things aren't always that simple.

Grey stood outside the door of their parent's room, they were never allowed in here either, they remembered sneaking in once, but the memories of the repercussion had been sealed tight away, long ago, and even if they could, Grey knew they weren't ready to open that box. 

Grey pondered for a moment, what must have happened, for them to be ready to open so many doors by entering this out, but not that one.

Their hand subconical reached to their back, where a scar lay from shoulder to hip, they could feel their chest tightening again, tears started to form in their eyes, as that door stated to creak open.

Grey shut their eyes, balling their hands into a fist while they took a deep breath, releasing as the breathed out, they repeated till they could feel their heart slow and the tightness subsides, No, they thought, no now, not again, I half to do this.

One final breath out and they opened their eyes.

Opening the door they entered the room, As the sun slid through the shutters, it provided them with enough light. They found the place looking as though it was sorted meticulously, sure there was dust, there was dust everywhere in the house, no-one had been here in years.

As Grey moved the dust and objects, they could see how long they truly sat theirs. Intends in the carpet, from the chair at the desk being pulled out a certain, and the shutters on the window were closed, meaning, the sunbleached wood around object's, hadn't been created while they've been gone.

Looking through drawer's they found notes, neat and organized noted listed names and numbers, places and orders, though nothing outrightly stated what it all meant, and some bits were harder to figure out, Grey suspected a coding of some sorts. They hovered over that last date of an order, a moment longer than the rest, before, with a sigh, they lay down the paperwork and turned back to the rest of the room.

Again, not many memories in here, yet they felt a small achievement, a small victory for stepping in the one of the forbidden space's, and so they left the room.

A quick glance around the bathroom gave nothing, there were some old simple medication and first aid supplies, toothbrushed in their holds and the toothpaste on the side. the bath hid by an autumn leaf print curtain.

Making there was downstairs, they found themselves at the top of the stairs to the basement again, the feeling of victory gave their heart strength as they descended the stairs to the door.

The door was cracked open, closer, they could now smell the noxious odour leaking out, how it had not filled the entire house, they had no idea. They raised a napkin to their nose, helping with the stench a little, as they opened the door.

Grey walked into the room, the smell was worse, far worse, as they walked in, it burned their eyes and nostrils as they walked passed the torn down plastic sheets, into the centre of the room, where they found three bodies, far past decomposer, though the bones still remained they would be unrecognizable to a stranger. But Grey wasn't a stranger, they recognized both their parents, however, the victim on the table they didn't know. Memories flooded into Grey, as they were taken back to that night.

At this time, Grey was 12, and Jacob and recently turned 8, It had been late, Grey and Jacob we're supposed to be in bed, while their parents worked downstairs, in the basement.

But Grey had heard Jacob calling them, complaining of feeling unwell, Grey feared for the worst, they had found Jacob pale and feverish, sweating buckets and breathing heavily, they knew they needed to get their parents, surely they would understand they thought as they rushed down the stairs, surely they would be concerned about Jacobs health and forgive Grey for what they were about to do, surely, they thought, surely they prayed.

Bursting into the basement, tears forming in their eyes the shouted 

"Mother, Father, somethings wrong with Jaco-" Their words cut off by shock of what they were taking in, they had run past a hall of plastic sheets, into a room covered in many more.

In the centre of the room was a long metal table and ontop it, a body, not moving, not breaths and their colours desaturated and pale. Grey found their breath caught in their throat, as their parents turned to look at them, expressionless face, and cold dead eyes.

They said nothing as mother took a step forward, a small sharp knife in hand, Grey had panicked and pulled the sheet under her, she had stumbled backwards, till she had fallen, cracking her head on a metal sink behind her.

Grey watcher their fathers face turn to furry as he grabbed at them, Grey had managed to slip away, their top rearing at the sleeve, they ran up the stairs, hearing their father storming right behind them, as they reached to top, they slammed to door shut, running further upstairs as they heard a shout from the basement, followed by a crashing noise.

Grey had run up to Jacob, tearing him from his bed, and barreling out the front door with him, everything after that was a blur, how long had Grey run for, how far did they manage to sprint, carrying Jacob in their arms. Next thing they knew, there were in a police station, being questioned.

Jacob was in the hospital, and Grey had been separated to be asked questions, they had refused to answer anything, they were too scared, too scared of the strangers sitting in front of them, too scared their parents finding them, too scared of the punishment of what they had done and fear of making it worse if they talked.

Eventually, they let them go, Jabob and Grey were both put up for adoption, their parents never showed up or were found, and Grey fought to protect Jacob and stay with him.

Twenty-Four years had passed, Jacob and Grey had both been adopted, Grey became a famous detective and Jacob had opened up his own nature conservation named 'Jackob and Greys Sanctuary'. Grey had come out as Non-Binary and while they had no plans of progressing romantically, were glad that Jacob had found love.

So much had happened, and so much had been forced to be forgotten, but now it had been remembered.

As Grey stood in the basement, in an odd sense of calm, he knew Jacob was safe and was now assured the past wouldn't be back to hurt them, and that was all that mattered.