Disappearance (18 page)

Knowing what I know now, I think I should have made the effort to shut the garage door. I feel unsafe having left it up with the door unlocked. Then I remember I smashed open the door that leads to the basement, so if someone wanted to get in the house they wouldn't have any trouble anyways.

I've only stayed at this place one night, but it feels like home. I love the layout; it was as if I designed it myself. While I'm here today there are three things I want to accomplish: take painkillers, nap, and bathe.

I have two bottles of water left, but I haven't checked the house fully to see if there are more. I look in the pantry then go back in the garage to see if I missed them sitting on the floor somewhere, but they aren't there either.

I remember the basement had a little bar area, so I go down and look around.

Wow, there's a ton of booze down here - probably around forty different bottles of whiskey, gin, vodka, and rum. They also have a couple warm bottles of ginger ale soda, which I know from my family get-togethers are an essential ingredient for a good cocktail.

No bottles of water though.

The idea of sitting here and getting slammed is tempting. It would sure put me in a better mood and dull some of my pain. However, I know the alcohol would only dehydrate me more and make me go through my precious two-bottle water supply sooner.

I decide there's always room for compromise, so I pour myself a shot of the best-looking vodka they have. The burn in my throat feels good, tempting me to pour another shot. I know this is a very bad idea though so I put the bottle back under the bar and go upstairs before I change my mind.

I look around some more but can't find any more bottles of water. So I head back up to the master bedroom and cozy myself into bed. When I close my eyes I think about how unsettling it is being in a complete stranger's bed. Who knows what went on here and the last time the sheets were cleaned. It's gross to think about, so I try to forget about it. I feel the fatigue start to set in. Yesterday was the most stressful day of my life and I think my body is still trying to recover from it both mentally and physically. It's only a few minutes before I drift off to sleep.

I don't remember the entire dream - or nightmare I should say - but at the end a man in all black with a shadow for a face pushes Abby over the edge of what looks like a cliff. I can see her falling to the ground, terror in her eyes. Right as she's about to hit the ground I wake up, back into the world of consciousness.

The pain I feel in my ribs is the worst it has ever been. My rest hasn't made me feel any better.

I've had nightmares for as long as I can remember. Most of them stem from my fear of being shot. It's not that I feel being shot would be a terrible way to die; in fact, being shot in the head is probably one of the most painless ways to go (besides naturally dying in your sleep, of course).

I think it's the fear building up to being shot I hate. Seeing an evil person holding a gun at you, and you know death is lurking. That's the part I don't like. Abby certainly knows how many bad dreams I've had in our years sleeping beside each other. I've woken her up countless times in the middle of the night screaming.

I've had several dreams where Abby gets shot. I've never told her this because I don't want to scare her, so I always tell her it's me getting shot. This is the first time I've ever had a dream of her getting pushed off a cliff though.

Now that I'm awake, I wonder how long I've been asleep. It seems like it's been forever and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the next day. I go to the bathroom and still think it's weird the toilet flushes. It makes me feel good, like there's a tiny part of the world that is still functioning.

I take four more painkillers, sipping on as little water as I can to conserve it for later. I suppose if it comes down to it I can start drinking from the toilet, but I'm not ready to go that route yet and hope I never do.

It's a bit depressing knowing I have to go through the same routine again to get food and supplies. And, this time I don't have the comfort of knowing where I'm going. I don't have the faintest clue where a grocery store is and no way of finding one without wasting precious fuel. Topping it all off, I'm miserable -- absolutely miserable with pain in so many areas on my body it's almost laughable.

I make my way downstairs for a bite to eat. The food options are lacking without a functional microwave so I settle for a half-empty jar of peanut butter. It's not the most nutritionally balanced meal but it fills me up.

As I'm eating, I realize I still haven't even looked out and seen the backyard. I get up from the table and put the peanut butter back in the pantry and my spoon in the sink; I'm a classy houseguest.

I can't find a door that leads to the backyard so I make my way out through the garage - taking my ax just in case. The backyard is small and leads to woods that I can only imagine go back for a long way.

In the middle is a playground set. I never did open all of the doors upstairs to look inside. It looks new, so they must have a younger child.

The kid inside of me can't help but go over and play on the swings. My butt barely fits in them and when I put all of my weight down I feel the top start to creak and bend. Maybe this isn't a good idea.

I walk to the end of the backyard and then I see it, a small creek! Never in my life have I been this excited to see a creek. I can finally bathe and get rid of this awful body odor. I walk down and feel the water; it's cool but not too bad.

I race my way back into the house to grab a couple towels, shampoo, and soap. As I walk past the kitchen on my way back out, I think about whether this water is something I can drink. I'm not sure, but my guess is it won't kill me. I'd rather have some dirty water than nothing at all. I grab a bottle from one of the cabinets and make my way back to the creek.

Before I bathe, I decide it's a good idea to fill my water bottle up first. As disgusting as I am, one bath will probably contaminate this entire creek.

I fill it up and decide to take a drink to see what it tastes like. If it's just a small sip, how much harm can it do?

The water is cool to my lips, but tastes like the standard water you would get from the tap. I take another sip for good measure and decide this is likely more than adequate drinking water. I only wish I would have grabbed more bottles, but I'm too lazy to go back.

As I strip down naked, a new feeling excites me. I've never been completely naked out in the open like this before. Not that I'm ashamed of my body, but I can't help feeling a little scared of someone coming by and seeing me.

It's a warm day but the wind is cold. A gust blows by and gives me goose bumps throughout my body. I step into the creek, which is only a couple feet deep, and get down on my knees to submerge as much of my skin as possible. The soap feels amazing as I cleanse myself. The cold water also numbs some of my pain.

When I'm done I feel great, the best I have in days. It's amazing how much your mood and body improve after bathing. I wrap myself in towels and dry off, then put my clothes back on. I do a full walk around the house to see if there are any other hidden gems I've been missing. They have a huge satellite dish in their side yard, which gets me excited until I remember it's not much use without a functional TV. My tour ends when I make my way all the way around the house and into the garage. I put my supplies - except for my ax - into the house and decide it's nice enough outside to enjoy the fresh air. Before I go out, though, I open the car door to check the time – two o'clock.

I think back to my cat theory. If it's true, then a couple hours from now I'll have a little visitor. I think if that happens, my strange theory will be finalized. There isn't a living, breathing creature in sight from what I can tell. No ants crawling, no bugs flying through the air. No birds chirping. No fish in the creek.

It all seems very strange and unnatural, considering this cabin is surrounded by the woods. Granted, I don't have much experience living in this type of environment. I've been a city boy all of my life. I have enough intuition though to know it shouldn't be hard to find some kind of living creature if you spend enough time in the woods, so that's what I try to do. Not that it really matters if I find something or not, it's more to strike my curiosity.

I go to the creek and find a series of rocks I can walk across without getting too wet. I make my way over the water and now officially into the woods - ax in hand - looking for any signs of life. I'd be much safer with a gun, even if I would have trouble holding it, but I'm too lazy to walk back and get it. I don't plan on going far.

I already know it's easy to get lost in the woods. Unless I had a compass, it would be very difficult to find my way back. As long as I'm within eyesight of the creek though I can't get lost.

I look at a tree next to me, trying to find a little creature crawling his way around, but I don't see anything. I kick away some of the leaves beneath me and squat down to get a better look, but I still don't see anything. If I were a bug living in the woods, where would I go?

Far in the distance, about one hundred yards away, I see a rather large log from a tree that fell over. There has to be something living underneath it. I make my way over, looking back and seeing the creek starting to fade from view. This reaffirms my understanding of how easy it is for someone to get lost out here. If you don't pay strict attention to what direction you're going, everything looks the same and it's impossible to know where to go.

This log has taken me much farther into the woods than I was planning, but I feel it's worth it. It's surrounded by a bunch of leaves and sticks. It seems impossible these naturally came to be here. Either my cabin friends came out here and did this or a very large animal did. Somehow the latter doesn't seem likely unless maybe a bear did it. Could a bear be hibernating underneath this?

The thought scares me, but not enough to make me leave. If there is a bear, it's in a deep sleep giving me enough time to run or take a good swipe at its head with my ax. I'm Andrew the Cujo-slayer, after all.

I start kicking away branches with my feet and then realize these piles of branches are covering something up. It's a huge hole! It's hard to tell how deep, but it's quite far. With every stick I move out of the way, I notice a strong odor coming from it. My sense of smell is terrible but this is even unbearable to me.

When I move enough branches out of the way, I look down and see what's there. When I do my mouth gasps at what I see.

A dead, decomposing human body.

Chapter 17

Of all of the things I was expecting to find, a human body was at the bottom of my list. I've never seen a dead body before other than at a funeral. I know after a few days they look almost the same. I can't even tell if this body was male or female because it's so heavily decomposed. All I know is it was human, which means its been here a long time.

The sight and smell are so disgusting I have to turn away. It still strikes me as odd that, like Cujo, no living thing is feasting on the body. It's gross to think about but I know that on any other normal day this would be the case.

I step away, deciding I have no more interest in this hole and body. It's more excitement than I was expecting to get out here.

When I look up, my heart goes into a panic. I'm lost. Seeing the body made me lose my sense of direction. I didn't realize it, but I'm far enough out that I have no idea in what direction the creek is.

I look around, trying to find anything that looks familiar, but there's nothing. Why did I do this to myself? I knew I would get lost if I went too far.

Using my intuition, I take a guess at which direction leads back to the cabin. You would think it would be easy, that there would be some tree or anything unique to remind me where to go, but there isn't.

I start walking, and it's not long before doubt starts to creep in that I'm going the right way. Nothing looks familiar, nor is there any sign of the cabin.

If I was a little panicked before, this has kicked it up to a whole new level. For all I know, I could be walking even further into the woods.

I look up at the sun as if this would somehow help. I know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but that does me little good when I don't know what direction I came from.

I'm so upset with myself for being so stupid. In hindsight, I should have paid attention to what direction I was going. I never thought I would go out this far though.

I turn around and make my way back to the body. If I can use that as my base point, I can walk in each direction for a hundred yards or so until I find anything that looks familiar. Yes, if I can do that I'll be sure to get back to the cabin.

When I walk back, I realize the body should be around here somewhere. I look all around, but it isn't here. It's disappeared, and now I really have no clue where I am or what to do.

Thinking I should start being a little smarter, I take my ax and make several cuts into the tree next to me. This will mark my starting point.

I choose a random direction and after every other tree I pass I make a new cut in it with my ax. If a park ranger were here they would cringe with each blow. I make two eye-level cuts with each tree, deciding if I go on a new path later I'll make a different type of cut.

I think to myself, all I have to do is walk in each direction making these tree cuts and eventually I'll head in a direction that leads me out. I feel like such a genius. Why didn't I do this originally?

I proceed to go what seems like forever until I give up and turn around. Walking back is relatively easy, although some of the tree marks are difficult to find and I almost get lost again.

When I get to my base tree, I proceed to go in the complete opposite direction as before, this time making one mark at the bottom of each tree. With this path I go farther than I did on the previous one, but there's still no sign of the creek or the cabin so I turn around again.