The Cabin
by Damien Hunt

The night was like no other, the perfect night. Clear, cloudless, with a full moon hanging low and big in the deep purple sky pin pricked through with stars. Of course it was the company, the situation, that made it truly perfect. Melody wandered back out onto the cabin's deck carrying a large pitcher of chilled lemon aid and two glasses. Giggling, her beautiful face split with a wide gorgeous smile, she plopped herself down into my lap, spilling juice over her shorts. She didn't seem to notice the mess as she pushed her lips over mine for a long generous moment.

She stops suddenly, looking over to the glasses as she fills them and I take the chance to look back into the sky, savoring the unblemished sight of stars. The clear sky makes me sad, sad and angry at the same time, and I look away not wanting to deal with the mess my life has become after the incident. When I look back at her, she is watching me with her eyes. Those perfect eyes, now large and sad . . . and questioning.

She opens her mouth, her perfect lips forming a question, the only question, "Jess?" She hesitates, caught somewhere between the reality of needing to know the truth and the fantasy of prolonging this moment, our moment of joy.

Reality, it seems, always wins over fantasy. It is a bitter lesson to learn, but I have come to see that with its acceptance comes hope. Hope for the future. It's not much, but it is all I have these days . . . ever since the incident.

"Jess . . . why can't you tell me what happened? Where have you been these last four months?" she asks quietly, in almost a whisper.

Her voice is enchanting, lending credit to her name. It was what first attracted me to her, her smooth flowing voice . . . like a dream. I look away, fighting down the pain and rage and insufferable sadness that threatens to consume me. I am awake now, and dreams are hard to hold on to once you wake up.

I look at her and know that it is over. She see's the same in my eyes as I shake my head to her questions. I cannot, dare not allow her to become involved. She takes my head and kisses me again, harder this time. Forcing the moment to last, if just for a bit longer. We say nothing, ending the night in each other's silent embrace. Our passion is strong, stronger than ever before, doubled with emotion as we both celebrate and mourn our love for each other. I fall asleep in her arms, my face washed over with dry tears.

I wake up alone. I'm not surprised, but still full of guilty disappointment. Getting up and pulling my cloths on, I take a moment to breathe in the morning air. The cabin, my friend's, sits in the middle of nowhere, far from any city or people and therefore safe. High on a hillside, it has a great view of the only road leading to it, as well as the surrounding forest. No one ever comes out here, not even my friend. He's dead. I watched him die during the incident. I shake the memory from my mind, no longer needing to put myself through the pain. I have had four months to deal with his loss and my guilt.

A small bird, perched on the deck railing, eyes me over for a moment before taking to the air. Its wings are a nice color red, not quite dark enough to be crimson, which is good as I have seen enough crimson stains to last me a life time. Far off dust rises from the road, Melody's car as she drives off. I smile as I realize that at least she is safe and knows that I will always love her.

I look back and another red bird looks at me. From the same spot as the other one. Then it flies away. In the same direction as the other one. I frown and instantly reach down to pick up my backpack. I have come to dread deja vu's.

As I rise, the sun behind me becomes obscured as a huge front of dark storm clouds moves swiftly over what was moments before a clear sky. A fierce wind gusts across the clearing that the cabin sits in and it gets dark, very dark. This all happens within moments. Worse still is the car that I now notice siting in the drive way. It is Melody's. She is still here.

I find her dressing in the bedroom, fresh from a hot shower. She looks up in surprise as I burst in and grab her, dragging her out to the door. She looks at me, questions that I have no time to answer forming.

"They are coming for me," I yell at her, "and they will kill you too if you're found with me!"

I ignore her shocked look as I open the door and drag her out with me into the back yard of the cabin's small woodland clearing. For a moment all the hairs on my body stand ridged and I turn back. The air, it seems, wavers. It ripples like a stone dropped in a calm lake, just for a split second. Then I am blinded by an immense blast of lightning. We are thrown backward onto the ground and into darkness as the bolt strikes the cabin and it goes up in a massive explosion of fire and charred timber.

It can now be said that the moment is fully over.

The rain falls, cold and hard. It slaps me in the face, bringing me out of the darkness. All around me is the smoking wreckage of what is left of the cabin, rapidly becoming drenched. I struggle to clear my mind, fighting the pain and shock. Beside me Melody is out cold. I crawl over to her and see she is not hurt badly, just unconscious, a large darkening bruise on her forehead. The crunch of tires spinning over gravel pulls me the rest of the way out of my fugue-like state. Two black sedans, windows completely tinted, slide to a stop beside the skeletal remains of the blasted cabin. I remember the dust cloud from the road as I lie still, listening to wet swishing steps quickly close in on me and the prone form of my love.

They come, slowly, but without hesitation. They think I am unconscious, which is good, but there are probably six of them, which is bad. I sneak another quick look from between relaxed eye lids, spying four sets of feet. The two in the lead are wearing black suit pants and shinny black shoes. Bad news, but not completely unexpected. The other two, both hanging back by the sedans, are wearing hiker boots and pale brown pants, local cops from the nearby town probably. Two agents. My mind whirls with actions and perceived repercussions, but Melody keeps interrupting my thoughts. I can't find a way out without losing her.

The footsteps move closer and I am running out of time. Suddenly a plan comes to me and I begin to concentrate on the two clueless fools over by the sedans. Both yell in surprise and fear as a loud "pssssst!" echoes around the clearing. They dive out of the way, but too late to avoid the spray of skunk musk that crashes over them. The two agents turn quickly at their outburst, pistols drawn, but all they see is the two fools go down gaging and gasping for air. That and a little skunk waddling off toward the woods. My illusion sequences are improving. Beside me I can hear Melody begin to stir. I smile as I pull the grenade launcher from my pack just as the first agent turns back.

"Thoump!"

The well-shot grenade shell hits home causing a blast is almost equal to the cabin's destruction. The first sedan goes up, shredding the two fools in fire and shards of metal car framework. The second sedan is riddled with fire and shrapnel, not destroying it, but working it over royally. Melody's car isn't so lucky. Most of what is left of the first sedan lands on it, crushing a good part of it and effectively pinning it to the ground. The agents themselves are thrown down while at the same time I am on my way up, legs kicking out to catch the first agent's drawn pistol. It disappears into the bushes. My jump continues up, blurring into an impossibly high spin, as the second agent lines up his sights on me. A full clip is emptied into the air and buzzing hot shells cut through the air towards me as I finish my lively spin. Only one comes close to hitting me, its angry flight leaving a torn wake in the sleeve of my shirt.

I land in front of them both and smile wickedly. They just stare back, both faces blank and mechanical as they pick themselves up. Their eyes are lost behind dark shades, as hard and unyielding as they are themselves. Behind me Melody struggles to shake the concussion from her head and get up. I try to ignore her. It will be hard enough to do what I have planned without allowing my concentration to stray to her. It is near impossible though.

"Jess," she asks in confusion. She sees the two agents and all the wreckage and has no idea what is happening.

At the sound of her voice they leap forward with blinding speed and I meet them fully and forcefully. I concentrate on defensive maneuvers, placing myself out of reach of both and trying to maneuver them into each other. I tune out all else, but they are not so easily baited. Finally after a what seems to be an eternity of combat stretched out in as little as a few seconds one of them hits the other. I strike, quickly . . . and miss. My arm lashes out and barely grazes the side of one of them, tearing through his jacket as it flails wildly in the space his chest was occupying moments before. He is on me instantly, wrenching my arm almost from the socket and flinging me to the ground. The two of them begin to beat and kick me unmercifully as I struggle to rise. They are smiling now, both of them, in maniacal glee.

I struggle to rise, but they keep beating me down. They are taking their time, toying with me. It is all I can do to keep the car keys in my hand, the one's I swiped from the agent as my hand punched through his coat, from being lost. I wait for an opening, all I need is an instant to toss the keys to Melody so that at least she can get away. It never comes and I sense that we are both doomed now.

The first blast of gunfire goes off and in unison with it's sound the agent, the one that I missed, jerks in sudden shock. He goes down in a heap, his knee a mangled mess. I don't know, because there is still a lot that we don't understand about them yet, but what almost looks like pain flashes across his face as he falls. The second agent is taken down immediately after the first in a barrage of bullets that tear his legs like tissue paper. In mere moments Melody has put both agents down without killing them.

I look up and smile at her as I try to pull myself back up. Her face is white as a sheet and her hands, cradling my pistol, are trembling uncontrollably. I go to her, taking the pistol and replacing it with the keys that I swiped.

"Go . . . go now before they get back up," I push her towards the remaining sedan hoping it will still run.

She goes without hesitation, finally understanding part of what has happened to me. Understanding the danger if not the reasons behind it. I turn back to the agents as they begin to rise again and charge them both. Charge into my death. As I engage them I can hear Melody tear off in the sedan and I face my fate smiling.

It takes a full three months before Melody can go back to the cabin. With shock, disbelief and confusion she finds it as it was before she lost her love. Untouched by any of the events that happened that morning, as though they were just a bad dream. The cabin sits in it's same old spot, almost smiling at her in some kind of defiant amusement at her confusion. As she walks into the cabin she begins to cry. Great sobs wrack her body as the sorrow sweeps over her, too much for her to handle. She falls to the floor in despair.

It takes her a moment to realize that someone is standing before her and she looks up in frightened surprise to find the face of Jess smiling back at her. For a long moment both of them just look at each other, then she jumps up and rushes into his arms.

"I thought you were gone."

He turns her face up towards his own, "no love . . . after you had gotten far enough away I was able to escape."

Jess continues to smile and hold her as her sobs continue. As the moment continues they in fact become louder and her body continues to tremble, harder and harder, with her crying. He stops smiling and turns her face back up again.

"Melody, it's ok . . . were going to bo all right."

Her face is a river of tears as she looks into his eyes and continues to cry. When she speaks it is a whisper, almost too low for him to hear.

"I am so sorry Jess . . . So sorry."

The gun shot goes off and he jerks once. She falls slowly to the floor with him, her face looking directly into his, but this time it is his face that is questioning.

"You're an agent! . . . you bastards used her . . ." he breaths his last, shuddering as his life ends quickly.

She closes his eyes after he is gone and lays him down to the floor. Her face is still covered with tears and they continue for a long time before she can speak.

"No Jess, I always was," her voice is splintered with pain and sorrow, "I am so sorry my love!"

Not long after she leaves, the cabin is gone. Not burnt down or destroyed, but simply not there. As if it never was. No road, no cabin, no clearing, nothing but the forest. Then again nobody ever notices because nobody ever goes up there.

0.6