The Cabin in the Woods

Surfacing, gasping, spitting water from her mouth, it took her several seconds to find her breath.

“OH! Cold! That’s what cold feels like-”

“Fight through the pain,” Holden gasped, treading water beside her. “It’s worth it. I’m nearly convinced it’s worth it.”

Dana found her breath at last, the cold quickly numbing her senses. She turned in the water and looked back toward the cabin, where the others were approaching at a more leisurely pace along the dock. Curt and Jules were wearing their bathing suits, while Marty was still in his tee-shirt and shorts. He had a towel slung casually around his neck, but he seemed to have no intention of joining them.

Right then, she could hardly blame him.

“Does it seem fresh?” Jules asked, voice etched with concern. “Lotta funky diseases sitting in stagnant lake water.”

“What?” Dana asked, “this water?” And to emphasize her point she took a deep gulp of it, swilling it around her mouth before spitting it out in an arc. Cool and fresh, it was tinted with a tang of something wonderful. “This water’s delicious.”

“Oh my god, she’s right!” Holden gasped. He took a mouthful too, spitting it in an arc toward Dana. She flinched back and it splashed her shoulder. “It tastes like… vitamins. And hope.”

“C’mon Jules,” Dana called. “Life is risk!”

“Yeah, I might just risk lying out in the sun for a while.” She paused a few steps back from the edge, uncertain.

Curt stepped to the edge of the dock, face falling as he looked down.

“What is that?” he asked, almost to himself.

Dana, treading water, edged back from the dock and further into the lake. She could sense the depth increasing beneath her as she moved, and it was thrilling.

“What?” she asked, a hint of concern tickling the back of her neck.

“In the lake,” Curt said. “I swear to god I…” “Yeah, right,” Dana said, not willing to admit that he had her spooked. He looked so damn serious, and- But then she glanced sidelong at Holden, saw his smile, and knew that it was a game.

“No, seriously!” Curt said dramatically. Jules edged forward and stood beside him, looking nervously down at the rippling surface. “Right there. Don’t you see it? There. It looks just like-” He put his hands firmly on Jules’s back, and as he pushed and she squealed in terror, he said, “My girlfriend!”

Jules flailed at the air as if trying to hold herself back to the dock, and she went in that way, arms and legs thrashing and mouth open to scream. She surfaced quickly, spluttering and turning so that she faced the dock.

“Oh! Oh my god! I’m gonna kill you!”

His expression not breaking for an instant, Curt pointed just between where Jules had landed and Dana was still treading water, trying not to laugh out loud at her splashing, angry friend. She’ll never be angry at him for long, Dana thought, and realized how these two suited each other so well.

“Look-there’s something else in the lake-” Curt said, launching himself straight at where he was pointing, and splashing Dana and Holden as he landed. He surfaced and raised his arms, treading water just with his strong legs. “It’s a gorgeous man!” he shouted, and at the far side of the lake a small flock of birds took flight from the trees.

“You are so dead!” Jules said, still gasping against the cold. She swam to him with three powerful strokes and tried dunking him.

“Don’t kill the gorgeous man!” Curt cried. “They’re endangered!”

Dana laughed, and looked up at Marty standing alone on the end of the dock. He eyed them all warily, holding the towel splayed around his neck.

“Marty, get in here!” she said.

“Nah, man. I’m cool. Just seeing the sights.” He sat on the edge of the dock and dangled his feet, his bare toes just reaching the water. He leaned back with a joint smoking gently in the corner of his mouth, and Dana wondered how he managed to live on a permanent high. Some people chose that way, she guessed. But for her, life was a high.

Especially today

She glanced at Holden, caught his eye and smiled, turning in the water and swimming out for the lake’s center. And for a while before he followed she was all alone, and this beautiful place was her own.

FOUR

And now, it was time for the betting to begin. Sitterson loved this part. The play had begun, and tens of thousands of man hours’ preparation had led to a single moment. Everything had gone smooth as clockwork up to now, and it looked as if they were going to pull through well.

There were some who had doubted his own seemingly lax approach to the job; they questioned his flippant manner, and the way he seemed to make light of the darkest things. But those doubters were here now with everyone else. Ready to bet. Gambling on souls. It was, as he and Hadley had discussed during many evenings over many beers, their own particular version of gallows humor.

Take this too seriously and you became withdrawn and traumatized, and that could only lead to mistakes.