“Are you serious?” asked Rachel, excited. “Do you want to just go home?”
“No,” said Alma. “I’m staying, but you should go. All of you should go.”
Paul put his hand in Alma’s. “I’m with you to the end, babe.”
“It’s not locked,” said Stephen as he opened the cabin’s front door.
The gaping maw seemed to draw Alma’s attention inexorably inside. She knew that the cabin wanted her back.
“Don’t go,” said Rachel.
“I have to. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
“Why?” asked Rachel. “What do you think you’re going to find in there?” She held Alma by the crook of her arm to stop her from going in.
“The truth,” said Alma. “Something happened here sixteen years ago that I’ve blocked from my memory. It has something to do with the number 314, and the last time I was here I was able to remember my brother just by staring at the symbol for pi. I was too scared then to learn everything, but not anymore.”
“This place is fucked,” said Rachel. “The whole town is a nightmare. I don’t know if the government has something to do with it, or if this is some fucking portal to hell, and I don’t care. I don’t want to know. I just want to go home, and I want you to come with me.”
“Guys, you have to see this,” said Stephen from the entrance of the cabin. He had gone inside, and came back out to call them in. He waved at them, excitement lighting his features, like a mischievous child beckoning his brothers after discovering where their parents hid the Christmas presents.
“Don’t go in,” said Rachel.
Alma pried her friend’s fingers from her arm. “I’m going. It’s time for this to end. Whatever I’ve forgotten, I can handle it now.”
The sun seemed to provide no heat, the wind held no sway, and the cabin dominated Alma’s every sense. Even the sound of her friends’ voices seemed lost as if in a cavern, far off and echoing. She walked to the threshold, and stepped through.
Her senses returned to normal once inside, although a moment of time seemed lost to her. Now everyone was inside, and Stephen was closing the door behind her. The cabin’s door closed like the lid of a tomb, loud with heft.
“Look at this shit,” said Stephen as he walked to a couch in the living room where two mannequins had been set up.
The cabin was the same, eerily accurate. It was different from when Alma had come here with her mother, and had been reverted back to what it looked like on March 14th, 1996. It was as if someone had stolen Alma’s memories to recreate the room exactly as it was.
The couch was brown and musty, with a pattern of waving lines that looked Native American. The area rug was green and plain, with a hole in it where a dog had eaten through while chewing on a bone.
That dog, the one with the missing eye and yellow teeth; the dog that belonged to the red-haired girl whose father owned the cabin.
Alma staggered and Paul caught her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he steadied her.
“How fucking crazy is this?” asked Stephen loudly as he knocked on the head of a mannequin that was sitting on the couch.
Alma stared at the child sized mannequin. It was a boy in overalls and a red shirt with a pair of sneakers on that had been scuffed from playing in the dirt out back. There were two mannequins on the couch, one a boy and the other a girl.
Alma recognized the clothes that the girl mannequin wore. It was the same outfit she’d worn sixteen years earlier.
“This must’ve been what we saw at the school,” said Stephen. “There must be mannequins like this all over town.” He slapped the boy’s head and the yellow mannequin slouched to the side.
“No,” said Alma. “Don’t hit it.”
“Why?” asked Jacker as he set the gear he was carrying down. “What’s wrong? Do you know what this is all about?” There was an edge of fright to his tone, as if he was struggling to maintain composure in the bizarre setting.
“That’s my brother.” She looked around at the familiar room. “Someone set up this place to look exactly like it did when I was here with my father. Those mannequins are dressed in the clothes that my brother and I were wearing.”
“I think we should go,” said Aubrey. She had her arms crossed and was backing away, toward the front door. “This is fucked up.”
“I agree,” said Rachel. “Stephen, we need to leave.”
“I can’t believe you guys want to leave,” said Stephen. He was exasperated, but his anger was unmistakable. “We’ve stumbled into one of the biggest paranormal stories of all time, and you guys want to just take off? You’re insane.”
“This reminds me of the towns they built while testing nuclear weapons,” said Paul.
A yellow light pulsed outside.
“Get down!” Stephen knelt low and moved toward the kitchen.
The picture window’s curtains were pulled back, revealing the street outside as a security truck came near. The group moved into the kitchen, which was to the right of the entrance, and ducked beneath the counters. The rotating yellow light on top of the truck illuminated the cabin with ghastly shadows for a moment, and then faded away.
Alma would’ve sworn the shadows cast by the mannequins were taller than they should’ve been. She was on her knees on the kitchen floor, exactly where the dog’s crate used to be. It was also where her mother had written the symbol for pi on the ground and then circled it with lit candles. This would be where Alma would try it again, but this time she wouldn’t be confused by the mathematic symbol. This time she would just write the numbers.
314
“Do you think they’re looking for us?” asked Jacker.
“I don’t know,” said Paul. “But we’re sure the hell not going to be able to get the van and my bike in here.”
“There were never this many security guards before,” said Aubrey. “When I used to sneak in here with my friends, there was never more than a few guards at the posts. Nothing like this.”
“Did you ever come down here two days before March 14th?” asked Alma.
Everyone turned their attention to Alma as Aubrey answered, “No.”
“Do you think the date has something to do with this?” asked Rachel of Alma.
Alma looked at all of their faces, stunned that they were surprised by this. “Of course it does. Don’t you guys get it?”
“Get what?” asked Stephen.
“They’re trying to recreate the event. Whatever happened on March 14th, 1996, they’re trying to make it happen again. Or at least they tried, at some point. It looks like it must’ve been years ago, maybe when Cada EIB first purchased the land. I don’t know how they got it so perfect,” said Alma as she stared at the back of the mannequins’ heads as they sat silent on the couch. “But if the mannequins were in the school, then I bet they’re set up like this in every house around here.”
Rachel punched Stephen in the arm several times. The first seemed playful, but the next was with more force, and then by the third hit she started to slam both fists into him. “You dragged us into this, you bastard.”
“Settle the fuck down, Rachel. Jesus Christ! Stop it.” He grabbed her wrists and she struggled to get free.
“It’s not his fault,” said Alma. She looked around the cabin and felt a sudden chill. “Something wanted me back here. I think it’s been trying to pull me back here for years.”
“Well, it doesn’t need me here,” said Aubrey. “Sorry guys, but I’m getting the fuck out of this creepy ass place.” She stood up and headed for the door. “Jacker, it was good meeting you. If you ever get out of this place alive, give me a ring.”