When I woke up the next morning, the first thing that hit me was the smell of coffee and something else I couldn’t quite place. I jumped out of bed to find out what it was. In case you were wondering, yes, I literally jumped out of bed, put on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt and ran downstairs. As soon as I had set foot on the first floor, I knew what that smell was. Pancakes. Someone was making freaking pancakes.
The others were already sitting at the table, except for Brian, who was apparently our breakfast chef that morning.
“Smells great, Brian.” I complimented.
“Tastes great as well.” A.J. said with his mouth full and syrup dripping from his short-trimmed beard.
“You want some?” Brian asked as he turned around and pointed his spatula in my direction.
“Sure. Where did the groceries come from anyway?”
“Mr. Gable, the guy we rented the cabin from made sure we had the essential things for breakfast and such.” Kevin replied.
“Nice! These are great, Rok!”
“I know.” He calmly replied while he prepared another two for himself. “Baylee absolutely loves them. He’d have them every morning if we’d let him.”
“Same goes for me.” Kevin said from behind yesterdays paper. “Family recipe gets to everyone including Mason.”
“You give him pancakes for breakfast?! The kid’s four. Shouldn’t he eat a more healthy breakfast? Something wholegrain for example?”
“Yeah Bri. I’m a bad parent because I occassionally give my son one or two of our famous pancakes.” Kevin laughed as he lowered the newspaper to look at his cousin.
“Wait. YOU eat pancakes?! What happened to the healthy diet of porridge, eggwhites and wholemeat bread?”
Yes, I know I’m kinda slow, but I just realized that Kevin, the emperor of a healthy life-style, admitted he loves to have unhealthy pancakes for breakfast.
“You mean whole-grain. Only during weekends, Nick.” he laughed. “Only during weekends.”
“But still.. you and pancakes is a strange combo.” I replied before stuffing another piece of the delicious pancake in my mouth.
“Coffee, anyone?” Howie asked as he held up the pot.
“Java?” Brian and A.J. simultaneously asked.
When Howie nodded, they both held up a mug, as did Kevin.
“Nick?”
“No thanks, D. I’ll grab some milk.”
And so I did. When I sat down, I briefly looked at everyone. A.J. was reading some magazine, Brian was busy with his laptop and Kevin handed a part of the newspaper to Howie. Probably the economy part, but I couldn’t see if I was right. I don’t know.. it just felt like home. Not my own home, where I usually eat breakfast alone, since Lauren is on the road a lot as well, or with a friend or something. But like being at home with your family. The people you don’t mind seeing you at your worst, with a ‘just-out-of-bed-head’, bags under your eyes and a beard of two days. This was my ‘home’, my family.
“Anyone want to join me for a work out session? And with working out I mean running through the forest..” I asked as I was wiping my hands on my shirt.
“Nope, sorry. I’m planning on doing absolutely nothing this morning, but work on a song that’s been giving me headaches.” A.J. replied, while rubbing his forehead to emphasize his statement.
“And Howie and myself are gonna go get some groceries for the next couple of days. We gotta make sure there’s enough food in this cabin so you won’t go all whiny on us and start talking like ‘I am so hungryyyyyyyyyyy..’.” Kevin said as he wiggled his eyebrows. (Yes, he really does that occasionally.)
“And I’d love to, Nick. But I still gotta take things easy after spraining my ankle. Running on rough ground just 2 weeks after doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“Yeah, I know Rok. Sprained ankles are a bitch.” I gave him a smile which hopefully said I understood and that I didn’t mind going out on my own.
Actually, I hoped everyone would decline. I really wanted to check out the surroundings like a little ‘Nick, the explorer’. This way I could go and work out for as long as I liked without A.J. complaining he was cold, tired and so on.
An hour later, I was all ready to go. I had taken a look at the local map and found out that we were pretty much secluded from everyone and everything. The nearest store was about six miles away and according to Kevin, we were at least 10 miles away from our ‘neighbours’, if there even was anyone renting the nearest cabin.
“Nice and quiet.” I said to myself. “Nice and quiet.”
“Howie, ready to go?”
“Yes. Does anyone want us to bring something back from the store?”
“All-Bran or something. Oh, and some fruit and vegetables.” (Yes, that was me!)
“Juice, please.” Brian said.
“Canned spaghetti.”
“Gross, Jay. You can forget about that.” Howie shook his head while making a face.
“Well, then don’t expect me to make dinner anytime soon.” A.J. laughed.
“We’re smart enough to know not to let you even near the kitchen around breakfast, luch or dinner time.” Brian smiled.
“Good, I was hoping you’d think that way.” He replied as he cleaned the table.
“Alright, we’re off.” Kevin said as he grabbed his carkeys.
“Yeah, so am I.” I said as I zipped my sweatshirt and checked my shoelaces. Last thing we’d need was for me to be alone out there, fall and break a leg or something.
“Be careful, Nick.” Kevin said as he squeezed my shoulder.
“Yes, dad. I’ll make sure I’ll stay far away from wolves, gnomes and woodworkers out there. I also won’t accept apples from old witches or cookies from a girl wearing a red hood.” I said, rolling my eyes at him.
“Not funny.” And yet he smiled. I sometimes don’t understand the old man.
“I beg to differ.” I said as I walked out and of COURSE I had to fall flat on my face because I forgot there was a small step.
Roaring laughter came out of the cabin and I guess I deserved it.
“Sure guys, I’m okay.” I grumbled as I got up and wiped dirt off of my hands. “Thanks for asking.”
“Good, cause we’ve got a lot of work to do, starting tomorrow.” Howie laughed as he walked out and softly slapped me on the back. “Do you have everything?”
“Depends on what you call everything. I’ve got my cell.” I said as I padded my left pocket in which it rested. Thinking of what just happened, I took it out and checked to see if it was still working. Thankfully, it appeared to be just fine.
Howie was still staring at me, obviously waiting for something more. In fact, he looked at me as if I was a three-year-old. “And?? Surely, if your head wasn’t screwed on tight, you’d even forget to take that with you.”
I probably had the must dumbfounded look on my face, because I had no idea what else I could possibly need out there.
A big grin appeared on his face as he said: “Where are your breadcrumbs in case you get lost out there in this big, dark forest?”
“Don’t need them, I’ll just look for your or Brians family and ask them for directions.” I shot back.
“My family?” Brian asked as he joined us out there.
“Yeah, any imps, pixies, gnomes, dwarves or creatures with very big noses.” I laughed as I sprinted off.
“Asshole.” Howie grumbled.
“Prick.” Came Brian’s response.
“Midgets.”
I swear, that joke never ever gets old. Seriously, if you have ever met them, you know they really are THAT short.
As I jogged through the forest, I hardly looked at the surroundings. I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me, avoiding rocks and slippery stacks of leaves along the way. After about 45 minutes, I decided it was time for some walking instead of running.
I then realized it was almost completely quiet. No cars, no talking and not even any dodgy ringtones. The one thing I did hear was the wind rushing through the trees, and even that sound was hardly above a whisper.
I slowly turned 360 degrees and saw nothing but trees and some rocks every here and there. Just green, red and brown leaves on the ground, along with some moss and mushrooms. A typical autumn view. I started walking again in hopes to find a lake or maybe even spot a squirrel or two.
And then I saw it. Some sparkle about fifteen feet away from where I was standing. The gleam was almost blinding me, and I had to know what was almost causing me to go lose my ability to see. The weird thing was, as I got closer to the shiny mysterious object, the sparkle decreased. And as I bent down to pick it up to see what it was, it was almost dull. I removed some of the dirt and then realized that I was holding a very, very small key.
By small, I mean tiny. Maybe a quarter of an inch wide and half an inch tall. Strange that something so small, sparkled like hell while covered by a thin layer of dirt. It didn’t have a opening on the top, so it couldn’t be part of a bracelet or necklace. But if it wasn’t a pendant, what could this small key possibly open then?
I debated whether to leave it there or take it with me.
“It can’t be that anyone has left it there with the intention to come and get it later, right?” I said to myself. “Yeah, I think I’m going to take this with me.”
I put it in my pocket so I could take a good look at it later that day. I could have sworn I heard giggles right then and there. I turned around to see where it was coming from, but saw nothing.
I shook my head, thinking I had imagined it, but then there it was again. It sounded like a group of maybe three of four women, all softly giggling and maybe even clapping their hands. I whirled around, trying to hear where the sound was coming from, but it seemed to come from all around me. Suddenly I felt eyes on me, from all directions as well. There were people, most likely women, watching me, but I didn’t see any of them.
The giggles slowly turned into laughter and the applause increased too. They both became so incredibly loud that I had to cover my ears. It kind of scared me at that point. I heard so much, but didn’t see a thing. Not even a glimpse out of the corner of my eye or a running shadow. Nothing. The ground started to slightly shake because of the noise and I just had the feeling I had to get out of there. I ran to the cabin as quickly as I could, as fast as I could, without looking back.
As I got closer to the cabin, the laughter died down into soft giggles again. But for some reason, that scared me even more.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chapter two. I'm not really happy with it, but after rewriting it several times, I don't think it will get any better anytime soon.
Chapter End Notes:
Even though I'm not really happy with this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. :)
Edit: After Mare's review, I decided to add some things to this chapter, in hopes of clarifying who said what. :)
Edit: After Mare's review, I decided to add some things to this chapter, in hopes of clarifying who said what. :)
