0 comments/ 15018 views/ 0 favorites Party Bound By: Manomatul Editor's Note: I'm moving up North to the mountains with my buddy Keith and his girlfriend Jesse. Now both, as people are decent. What I mean is, I wouldn't mind their company the whole winter. Though I just fucking know, that I'm going to be subjected to their wanting to fuck at a very loud rate in the wee hours of the night. Keith knows this cabin, but then again, cabins aren't really cabins anymore, they more or less look like motels with their sickening display of pale oranges and bolted down metal palm trees. We are on the East Coast, so you can see why this is weird. The house is not totally isolated in the mountains, in fact the area in which the house is located just outside some hick town, which gets business throughout the summer. Winter up there is a very dead winter. As for Keith, I met him just out of 9th grade. I'm not a total groupie but it pays to have friends who know friends. I'm not going to dwell on my High School years. What's to say? A lot of my life experiences came from within that time period. With rejected came my will to move on, with love came my ability to hate, hate into control, focus and time. I never really came into my own until I found a certain few I could relate with. I was quiet most of my freshmen year. By 11th, I was comfortable with my friends and my situations. Often girls I came into contact with, I befriended and I admit, if it wasn't for them, I would have never developed a skill for listening to someone, like really listen to someone and not stand there nodding my head, ya, ya, ya. I was there with them, from that, I got too close and fell in love with maybe one or two of them. Things never worked out on my side of the moon. I've grown from that. Anyways, I met Keith after working on some class assignment about things you have in common with other people. Our thing was violence in movies. For me horror was in writing and thinking, Keith was violent in reality, he just loved to fight. If the kid was 12 and said something like, shut up, the poor bastard was done in for. So that was Keith, all brawn. My name is Josh, 28 and living in Philly. I write for the Inquire, Arts and Entertainment. Also, I have a lot of side projects going, new books and scripts. I'm good at what I do. Things have changed slightly since my High School years, I'm more independent, happy for once, I'm single and I like it that way. No hindrance of another. Life is good. Things are getting chaotic. Being in my current situation to get away for some time, I agreed to go with Keith and Jesse for the winter. Keith thinks it a good idea to start a new book. I get call from my mother Saturday morning, telling me, my brother is joining the Marines and all I can say is. "Ya?" "Wow". What is the point of telling me this is what I want to know as I fix myself a breakfast shake. "People are afraid to merge in Philly," My mother says out of nowhere. I love my mom but she's a little off in the head on certain subjects. 11Am, I'm gone. Driving down I-95, I'm listening to the Radio and for some reason the words People are afraid to merge, make me uneasy or somewhat haunted, then again, the breakfast shake did suck. Too thick. I get to Keith's house some time later. I knock on the door and wait a few, nothing. I knock again but louder. A minute later, Keith answers the door, looking like hell. "Ready to go or what." I think I come off a little edgy. Oh well. "Uh, what? Oh ya. Want to come in?" Says Keith, rubbing the sleepers out of his eyes. Naturally, the house is a mess and nothing is packed. "Today, we're going to the mountains, right? Like, is this the wrong day or something? What's the deal?" Slightly annoyed. "Nah man, Jesse was up all night on a bad acid trip, she was flipping out, she was giving me head then in the middle she stops and started screaming out, The snake bit me!" Pointing to an open door where Jesse is passed out, laying over the side of the bed. "Can I get you anything, like a beer or something?" "I'm cool, can we get a move on? Traffic is going to kill us." It takes an hour and a half for Keith to find his suitcases, pack clothes, wake up Jesse and locate the car keys. On I-95, the traffic isn't half bad but the music helps to pass time. In an instant or maybe a moment, something strange happens that doesn't sit right with me. I'm in the back seat, Keith and Jesses up front. I'm going through some maps and notice Jesse staring at me through the windshield mirror, something tells me; she's been staring at me since we left the house. I try to disregard it with a smile and return to the maps. I can almost feel her reflected stare. 20 minutes pass and nothing is spoken between us, then Jesses blurts out. "OH Keith, check out the yard sale!" She's pointing to some garage trash sale run by a family of Mexicans, that has nothing but furniture and lampshades. In the drive way is a polished black Hemi-cuda. "I wonder if it's for sale," Jesse mutters as we pass the sale by. People are afraid to merge, wonder if it's for sale. The climate changes as you go up North, not so much that it gets colder, it's just that the atmosphere shifts seasons as you go up, it's towards the end of November and winter is giving off it's presence. The cold, gloomy high you get when walking down a street in late January. The more we see lifeless trees, the more mountains take their place along side the road. Around 2 in the afternoon we get to town and it's pretty much desolate. Men outside talking with their buddies, fishing poles in hand. Most of the stores have already closed for the winter. Keith stops anyway to buy some items, snack food mostly, chips and dip, a six-pack and some condoms. The house is located at the end of the road that runs along side of the lake. From what I know about the house, it's been renovated in the hopes of selling it off as a summer lodge. It's only one floor but has 4 rooms and 1 bathroom. A nice place to stay if you were on vacation with a big family. From the outside, its pretty big, an Indian red coating, a screened in patio. The chimney stands out for me, which is fluming smoke. "Keith, is someone in the house?" I say, praying that the house isn't on fire. "I don't know man, maybe," He says with a grin and I know something's going on. "Oh God, I'm not even going to ask" "Grab your stuff, I want to show you the place" Walking up to the house, I get the feeling of regret. I miss my apartment already. The drive up has given way to knots in my legs, walking and stretching at the same time. I get in the house and to my surprise, there's incense burning. The living room is big enough to sit latest 6, all the walls are finished in that Indian red, pictures and wicker baskets, pots and plants, a book shelf that covers one wall, with doors on each end. There are 2 couches and an oak coffee table. The wall walking in has a fireplace and big palm plant in the corner. The windows on one side of the room light up the place and on the windowsills are the cinnamon stick burning in its holder. A real authentic look, I think Mexican when I realize the whole place together. "Nice, isn't it?" Keith says, putting down his bags. Jesse walks in and lets out a big sigh. "I missed this place, with all the comforts of home." She throws herself on the couch. From someplace in the house, a shower is going and abruptly shuts off. "Who else did you invite Keith?" Not really caring but equally concerned. "It's a surprise, open door number two" Pointing the left door of the bookshelf. Before I can open it, a chick in a towel walks out, wet hair and shinny. Beautiful actually. "Hi josh, long time" She speaks with some accent that I can't figure out. "Um, Hi, Do I know you?" "Cyndee Norsfield? 12th grade buddies, lovers?" "Holy shit, Cyndee?" "Good to see, you going to give me a hug or not?" "Um ya, sure, just a little surprised" She's still wet when I hug her, when she presses up against me, I suddenly realize I have a massive hard on, I think she notices it too, she gives me a wink and lets go. "That's ok, we have all winter long to get talk about things." She stresses the word long in a flirtatious manner. I feel uncomfortable but I force a smile. Cyndee shows me to my room, by passing down a narrow hallway, I got the last room. Cyndee, now dressed in tight jeans and a tank top, also two sizes too tight, shows me the view from the window. My room is at the back of the house, where the lake and mountains meet. It's still early in the afternoon. So the sun shimmers of the lake but the wind howling reminds us that it's the coming of winter. "Well, I got to go into town for some goodies, I'm the cook of this crew" "I thought Keith got all the goodies we need." "Chips and dip my dear boy is not a balanced meal" "Want me to go with you? You could show me around or just to talk" "No, no, you unpack and when I get back, you'll help me with dinner, deal?" "Ok, see you later then" Cyndee smiles and walks out the room in a kind of skip. She's so fucking hot is all that runs through my mind. I'm sitting on the bed, which is big, even for me. There's a ceiling fan that is blowing cold air on me. I get up and turn it off. The closet is large, there's big chest at the base of the bed, a desk and nightstand. There's a note I discover when I open the chest, it's from Keith: Thank me later. You'll need these. Enclosed is set of condoms. I set my clothes in the chest and move on out to get a look at the grounds surrounding the house. Keith is placing beer in the fridge and Jesse is sleeping where she fell. "Hey, I'm going out to scope the place." "Wait up, I'll come with you." Outside is a lot warmer then it was inside and the sun is blaring between trees. The crisp, fresh air hits you, and you're relaxed. Keith cracks open a beer. "What is she doing up here man, did you fix this or something, I'm not complaining, just slightly baffled." "Of course, I'm your buddy and you need some action," Taking some swigs of beer. ", The truth is, I ran into her a week ago and she mentioned a cabin she now owned in the mountains, and I suggested we all get together sometime. Hey man, she invited us. It's kosher." "It's just strange seeing her after all this time. She looks so different." "Just have fun, come on, I want to show you something." We walk around for a while and I take it all in. Living in a city really makes you forget anything else exists, you know steel and concrete and that's all you know. The sun has set and the woods come to life, it's eerie. It's gets darker and much colder. Inside is this party feeling. All the lights are on and Cyndee is cooking dinner. Dinner is fun and I actually find myself laughing. Then I notice the ceiling fans are on. "Why are the ceiling fans on?" I ask. "I don't know. Does it bother you?" Keith involved in full eating force. "Not really, I was just wondering." "So, Josh, what have you been up to for the past 8 years?" "Mostly writing for the Philadelphia paper, little writing projects and so fourth, Keith thought this would be a great opportunity to start a book, which makes me ask, do you have a computer at all In this house?" "No computer, but a pretty nifty type writer I found in the storage shed outside last week, if that would do anything for you" Cyndee says in between sipping some wine. Cyndee made some chicken noodle soup that took her 2 hours to make, fresh veggies and chicken, she made Keith cut up. It's a friendly mood, which I think the wine helped with, so we carry out conversations with no meaning at all. …A man in the chicken suit told me so…It's flying that makes me horny…the birds are not ok. The night ends and we all crash. I'm left in my bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking, thoughts running around, I can't sleep, words and phrases, signs and warnings, visions that haunt, my heart is pounding. Merging, for sale, chicken suit told me so, horny, birds are not ok. Does it bother you? I slept the first night very restlessly; I would have sleeping intervals of 2 hours to an hour. I kept waking to the sound of motor engines and large clanking sounds. At one point in the night, I thought I saw Cyndee come in my room. Then again, I would drift asleep and wake back up to the sounds of silence. My dreams were black and silent. Through out the night, my blanket kept falling off and the ceiling fan was on full blast. Somehow, I manage to sleep till morning. I wake up at 8am and lay there, staring out the window with the curtains open. The curtains were closed all night; Cyndee was in my room, during the night. I'm not sure why but it seems to be the case. After 15 minutes of gazing like a stoner out the window, I pull myself together. My clothes are also gone, in my boxers, I walk out into the hallway. It's freezing and I wonder if a window is open someplace. The bathroom is very clean and tiled with a bright white that hurts my eyes when they're reflected by the sun through the skylight. The toilet has bloody pieces of tissue in it, I let loose a monstrous piss and flush. The mirror has a crack in the upper right corner, my reflection, a week's growth of beard, bags under my eyes, hair sticking up. I open the towel closet and grab a white robe. I yawn and stumble out of the bathroom. The kitchen is filled with the smell of bacon and eggs. Cyndee is the only one up and she's cooking breakfast in a silky red robe. It's odd seeing her after all these years, by now; she's a stunning, fully developed and equipped woman. Short red hair, full lips, beautiful brown eyes and a perfect body that you can't help but lust after. Here she is, cooking breakfast in the same house as me. I can't help but smile. I approach her at the counter in the kitchen, her back to me, frying eggs in a pan. "Morning." I take a seat and pour myself some coffee that was also freshly made by Cyndee. "Hey, you're up early" She turns and flashes a smile and goes back to cooking eggs. "Couldn't fall back to sleep, it's fucking freezing in this house." The coffee offers some warmth. "So you say, are you eating?" "All I need is my coffee, by the way, my clothes are gone, was somebody in my room last night" "Oh, that was me, we had to move your stuff to another room." "What for? Something wrong?" Cyndee plops two eggs out onto a plate with great care. She grabs her cup and sits down with me at the counter. "Keith thinks it's a good idea you don't stay in the room next to his, something about you needing concentration on your book." "Ya, but I'm not going to start that till at least next week, you didn't have to bother with it, the first day." "That's what I said, but he insisted." She shrugs and takes a sip of coffee. "We really didn't get a chance to talk, what the hell have you been doing for the past 8 years. Miss Cyndee 12th grade?" "I've been doing some dancing," She laughs light heartedly, "Some videos, stuff like that." "Videos? Like?" Not fully grasping what she's trying to tell me. "Adult videos, Josh. Fuck films as we like to put it." A tad red in the face from the blunt answer. "Whoa," Almost choking on my own coffee, "When did you get into that?" "Remember Greg Mathus?" "The gay kid?" I point out. "He wasn't gay! Why did everybody say that?" "He did try and fuck your brother on Christmas Eve" "Shut up, he was drunk, anyway, we went out for some time after we broke up, so one night, we were in his house all alone, and he says, "Let's fuck". You know me, so we were getting it on and half way through, his little brother; Tommy jumps out of the closet with a camcorder, screaming, "Cum shot! Cum Shot!" It was horrible" "I think I heard about that." "Everyone in school saw that video, on some level, It got me off, the attention and what not, and years later, I was fuck queen of Philly!" "You're fuck Queen? Sad to say, I know your work. You wear masks and shit" "Out of respect for my overly religious parents. What about you? What career did you pursue?" "Just a writer, Ok, I'm going to hop in the shower, what room am I in?" I'm getting a bad chill again. So I get up off my stool. "First door past mine on the left. You sure you don't want anything to eat?" "I'm cool, not to worry!" I flash thumbs up and walk away. The room is much like that other, but there's a dresser and the window is right above the bed. There's also a weird smell that soon goes away but also leaves me curious. I'm gathering clothes for today out of the dresser, which to my surprise are folded neatly. Then there's a knock on the door, in walks Cyndee. "Um, Do you need something?" I ask. "I think you forgot these." A pack of condoms is thrown down on the bed. I'm embarrassed and laugh nervously. "I don't need those, give them to Keith or something." I'm trying not to look into her eyes because I know she's smiling. "You never know" And she walks out of the room with the condoms still on my bed. I stare at the small red box for a couple of seconds and then toss them back in the dresser. Due to the age of the house and the water pipes beneath, the water pressure is reduced to a mist that kind of sputters out at you. Standing in the shower, I began to daydream about Cyndee and what sex would be like with her. By the time I snap out of the trance, I realize, I'm fully erect. I stare at myself and wonder if my penis compares or even holds up to the huge cocks Cyndee has probably had before. For a moment, I look past my erection and into the water running off my feet. There are tiny specs of red all over the bottom of the tub. I stir my foot around and try to wash it down. I get down and dab my finger in it, it's blood, and it's also slimly. Probably going on instinct or stupidity, I taste it. It's takes awhile for me to realize its blood and semen. I gag but gain control of myself. For the first time, I feel uncomfortable being in the house, something isn't right. The first 2 weeks is a blur, I remember a lot of late night drinking and conversations. An incident when Keith got shocked trying to plug in the word processor, Cyndee fighting with Jesse over something stupid. Jesse going into a coke binge that nearly ended with us taking her to hospital. The thing that stands out to me, now that I think about it was a Thursday afternoon. I went to bed late the night before because I wasn't feeling good. I wake up late the next day to the sound of thumbing noises against my wall. I hear Cyndee moaning, and then to my surprise I hear Keith muttering something. Keith and Jesse grew apart and didn't talk to each other for sometime. I'm alone in my room, when the first of a bad blizzard starts up. By this time, I'm well into my book writing. The trees outside were blowing in the wind, the snow was setting ice on the lake, and the howls were freaking me out, so I had to close my curtains. For some reason, I can't concentrate. Distractions kept me from getting out even a few lines. Why am I even writing this? Where is it going? What the fuck? Suddenly, Cyndee knocks on my door and enters. "Can I come in here and hang with you? Keith and Jesses are fighting again" Before I can answer she sits down on the bed. "Ya, sure, I can't seem to focus anyway." She looks like she's about to cry, I can see the tears begin to swell up. "Hey, relax, everything's cool." I lean over and hold her. She starts to cry in small gasps and holds me really tight. Then the cries stop and I feel her un-zippering my pants. I don't know why I don't stop her, she moves down on me. She begins to suck, for that moment, while lying on my back; visions begin to play in my head. Pornography and fire. She's a pro and I give no resistance, then the image of her doing the same thing to Keith hits me hard and I jerk away from her. "What's wrong baby?" She says while licking her lips. "This isn't a great idea, you better go." Party Bound "Why not? You like me, don't you?" "I like you, I really do, but something's really off here." Zipping my pants up. "I don't get it? Are you gay?" "Jesus Christ No. But something in this house is wrong. Something is going on." "You're freaking me out Josh, What's wrong?" "For starters, I haven't seen you in 8 years and here you are, in this house, ready to fuck me. Second, if someone could explain the blood I keep finding in the bathroom, I just might be able to sleep easy. Third, it's always fucking freezing in this house and everyone's like, "Oh, the ceiling fans are on?" And last, I know it's not my business but I know there's something going on with you and Keith. So you know, a blowjob is nice and all but it's just, what's the phrase? Not the time or place?" She just sits there, with this stupid expression on her face as if I told her, her parents are dead. "I'll leave, I understand, Sorry Josh." And then she walked out. I stand there in path of a nasty draft. I'm shivering and decide to head in for the night. It's 2 in the morning and I'm unable to sleep, between the storm brewing outside, I keep hearing strange noises throughout the house. People walking around, Cabinets opening and closing, the sound of glasses clanking and people whispering. I sneak out of bed and up to the door to lock it. At least with the door locked, I 'm able to sleep. For the past two nights, I sleep undisturbed and wake up refreshed. I have finally gotten used to the room and bed. Through the night, the snow builds and rises. Like a coffin slowly being closed. Morning and the first thing I do are open up the curtains. White, everything is covered and buried in snow. The snow outside the window has risen to the sill outside the window. It's about 6 feet of snow and still coming down. I've learned to wear slippers in the morning so that I don't catch a cold. I hit the bathroom first, the skylight is covered and some snow is falling through. Somebody left the skylight open the night before and now the snow has made it's way in. I tug on the chain to close it but the space between the window and ceiling is packed with ice. The chain itself is cold as ice. I pull my robe tighter and walk out into the living room, the TV is on and Jesse is watching cartoons. "Hey, there's snow coming through the skylight in the bathroom, I tried to close it." I stand there waiting for a reply but she's silent, her back to me. I shrug and walk to the kitchen, there's no coffee made and everything is left out, even last night's dinner leftovers and dishes. Empty wine bottles and beer cans scattered across the counter top. I take a glance at the clock on the microwave; it's blinking 12:00. I shuffle back into the living room; Jesse is still glued to the TV. "Did the power go out last night or something?" No response. I move closer, right behind her. "HELLO!" She jumps, startled. "Ya? What is it? Sorry, no coffee this morning, we're out." "It's not the coffee I'm worried about, is everything ok? Did the power go out last night?" There are deep bags under her eyes and she looks really pale. She's in a nightgown, and there's red dots matted on it, in a sort of pattern. Bare feet and still staring off into the screen, though it's muted. "I don't know, maybe, some weather," Finally she breaks her gaze and looks up at me. For a second, I'm creeped out by what I'm really looking at. She's lost a lot of weight and it shows in her face. "Hey, be a Hun and pass me a joint." I go through the mess of magazines on the coffee table and find a joint. I had it to her and there's a look of total torment. I walk away and head back to my room. I knock on Keith's door and he answers in his boxers. "Hey man, what's up. What time is it?" By the way he looks and sounds, he's been up all night and very strung out. "Well, we got hit with a snow storm last night, the clocks are out of whack from the power outage that happened sometime during the night, and the skylight in the bathroom won't close." "Did you try the chain?" His breath reeks of whiskey. "Yes, and the ice is making it impossible to close, just thought I'd tell you." "Ya man, thanks, I'll have to go check that out." "Is everything ok with you and Jesse, she looks like hell." Barely holding onto the door for balance, Keith nods and assures me. "She'll be fine, too much of the night life." He winks and slurs a little bit. All morning, Cyndee is nowhere in sight, I've taken it upon myself to stay in my room. I try and call up Philly but all the lines are down. Right now, I'm just lying in bed, listening to the ceiling fan shake and the wind outside, blowing around. I'm not in the mood to write or do anything. I'm completely relaxed and I'm on the verge of dozing off. There's a loud crash of glass and I jump to my feet, slightly dazed. From the temperature in the hallway, I run into the bathroom, the skylight has caved in and there's glass and snow covering everything. Snow is at full force, stinging my face. I close the door and Cyndee is standing in the hallway. "What happened?" "Where's Keith?" I say rather harshly to Cyndee, because I'm pissed, he never got up to check it out the first time I told him. Now something that could have been avoided is now a big problem. "Hey Genius, open the fucking door, there's now a fucking hole in the ceiling." I'm banging on his door, "Hey!" I bang once more and head back to the bathroom. The snow isn't letting up and it's building up fast, some is moving out under the door. Cyndee is still standing by her door, gazing at me, totally zoned out. "I got to go on the roof and put something over the skylight. So if Keith decides to get up, tell him I could use and extra hand. And if I don't come back, don't bother looking till next spring." I'm actually fuming with anger and I'm sweating. I have a pair of jeans with long johns on and my heavy coat, it's warm but being cold isn't my current situation, it's how I'm going to get out of the house is the problem. The patio is screened in but the winds have blown out portions of the screening. The screen door is packed in with 7 feet of snow. I drag an old bench to a side, where one of the screens is flapping in the wind, being careful; I step through to the outside. The snow is deeper than I thought, so it takes me time to get to the other side of the house. Standing outside Keith's window, I peer in. The snow is beating hard at my face; I can only tolerate a glimpse. Keith is on the bed with headphones on, Jesse is sucking him off. It's repulsive, so I understand; it's up to me to repair the skylight. I think about leaving as soon as it's possible to drive back on the roads, but then again, I have no car and the fact that I have to stay up here with them for another 2 months is more than I can bear. I feel trapped. Everyone is losing it. Not only is there a lack of responsibility but also there's a cloud of massive drinking and drugs usage between Jesse and Keith, Cyndee is unstable which makes the whole situation very dangerous. There's not telling how bad things are going to get it the snow continues. Since the house is just one floor, it's going to be fairly easy getting to the roof. In order to get into the shed, I have to dig out the bottom, so I can get the doors open. The wind is so bad, I have to curl up and take a few breaths. I look back at the house and it's barely visible. Once I get the shed door open, I find the ladder in the back. It's damp and smelly but it's better than hanging outside, so I decide to wait until the wind dies down. I start to go through stuff and find a box of videos, mostly recorded tapes labeled, Touched by an Angel, Simpsons, mostly TV shows. A come across one or 2 tapes that are prerecorded, pornography. There's one labeled, ME and Josh/Prom. For a second or two, I just stare at it and try to remember but I don't, so I toss it back in the box. I find and old tarp, some screws, not nails but they should work all the same and an old hammer. After 20 minutes of sitting on a metal barrel of gasoline, I move out. I use the tarp as a shield and make my way to the back of the house, the wind isn't too bad, and so I drag the ladder and prop it up along side the wall. Climbing the ladder itself is tricky, it's cold and my fingers are numb. I have to be careful, as to not getting ejected off the ladder by the wind, so I hold firm. The roof is fairly flat, so it's not too difficult walking around. The only problem is that when I walk, I can feel the roof moving in too. I find the bathroom skylight and peer down into the bathroom. Someone left the door open in the bathroom. I get to my knees and yell down. "Someone shut the fucking door!" No one answers the call and snow continues to fill the hallway. My last ounce of patience is lost and I hurry down off the roof. The tarp has blown into the woods, so I chase after it and drag it back. I haul back up to the roof with the tarp and the hammer. There's a point where I feel the roof caving in, slightly. I hurry back and call down the skylight again for them to close the door but nothing. I brush the snow away from the sides and begin to lay down the tarp. Once in place, I nail it down and secure the outside frame. Off the roof again, I take the ladder away and lay it along the wall. The snow is starting to die down but the artic wind is making my movements slow and calculated. My original set of tracks is now covered. The sun is moving down over the mountains. The front of the house is getting hit pretty hard and most of the screens are now ripped completely open. Crawling back into the patio, I can't catch my breath. The door is locked. The wind is too much and the snow is draining my effort to yell. I knock at the door with the hammer, on the verge of collapsing. I get back into the house by smashing out a side window that oddly enough was my original room. It's stuffy and I rip off my coat and crash down on the bed. For a moment, there's only the sound of my heavy breathing. After a minute or two, I'm back to normal. Getting ready to get up, I hear thumbing noises next door. I think Keith and Jesse, then the more I listen, the more I realize, it's Keith and Cyndee, then I hear Jesse moan. There are simultaneous cries and moans. Equally confused and very fucking pissed off, I'm tempted to bust down the door and scream in all their faces. I slowly move through the house and get the draft of the bathroom. Some snow has melt and the hallway is soaked. I close the door and shovel snow away with my boot. In the kitchen, sometime later, I find myself desperately trying to get in contact with someone. The radio is playing on faded voices talking about the weather and how it's going to be another 24 hours till conditions improve. I sit at the table, still trying to gain control and sense of the recent events. I'm the only one who realizes the seriousness of the situation at hand. I have to act but I'm helpless. How long can I possibly stay locked in my room. The TV is affected too, the picture on every station is faded with static and the sound is close to shit. I pace in the living room and watch as the patio becomes obliterated by snow and ice. The sun is wiped from the sky by 5pm. Neither Keith nor the girls have been out and about for sometime. No sounds. Not a peep. I walk down the hall and hear nothing. I knock on Keith's door and there's no answer. My room is sealed tight but I'm worried about the tarp holding up in the bathroom. For hours, I listen for the possibility of someone laughing or yelling. As time passes, I become tense, the snow, and the silence. The feeling of the lid closing is too much to bear. I gain the will to bang on the door again. No one. I go to Cyndee's room and there's no one in there either. The rest of the house is empty. I run back to Keith's door. I turn the knob and it's locked. "I'm going to bust down the door, someone say something!" I'm actually pleading. "For Christ sakes, Keith, open the fucking door!" I throw myself against the door, a dozen times. Finally, it's crashes down and no one is there. The bed is made but there's clothes scattered everywhere. There's a really eerie quietness in the house that unnerves me. I start to shake. There's a loud crack outside and the lights start to die from room to room. I'm in the hallway and there's a domino affect on the house, light from light. Everything blackens and I freeze. Just the sound of wind picking up and snow battering the windows. It's subzero temperature and my breath is visible. Moving across the living room in pitch black, a low thumping noise echoes through the darkness. As I get closer to the front, I realize it's the front door. About to open it, another sound explodes outside, this time, outback. There's light pouring through the windows. The hallway is lit but I trip on some ice that has formed in the hallway. My knee hits hard into the wall and I topple over as the sharp pain shoots up my side. I manage to hop into my room and look out. The shed is covered in flames and pieces of debris is scattered around the yard on fire. The wind lets loose it's last attempt to take apart the house and while looking out the window, I see the tarp go sailing by. It triggers to me and I limp to the bathroom. When I open the door, a wall of snow crashes down on me. Lying there, I just want to stay put and not move. This isn't real, what the hell is happening? Everything is moving too fast. I pull myself out of the snow and crawl out of the hallway. I can't feel my body; I'm loosing consciousness and end up behind the couch. The last thing I hear is the dull thumping at the door and then nothing. I drift away. The sun hits my face and the warmth it gives me is nothing I've ever felt in my life. In a way I'm saved. There's a thin coating of snow on the floor. My knee is throbbing, I cringe with every movement. I make my way to the kitchen sink and take handfuls of water. With my leg resting up on the counter, I push my pant leg up; my entire knee is purple and swollen. I'm feeling the pain now because the snow last night numbed me to a point of hypothermia. The snow has stopped and sun is shining. I notice also that the ceiling fans have kicked on again. From the kitchen window, I stare, Outside isn't what I remember it being. Mountains of snow and everything else is gone, the car, the road, and Most of the trees are knocked out. The radio plays easy and the forecast is said to be sunny and that the worst of the snowstorm is over. After wrapping my knee, I grab a shovel from one of the storage closets and go to work. All morning, I try to shovel out the snow to the best of my abilities. I open the front door and relieved, I find nothing there. It takes more than an hour to shovel the snow out off the patio and fix the screens with a staple gun. Once all the doors are locked and the snow is cleared out, I head outside. The backyard is trashed with debris and other pieces of tool equipment. There's a black pit where the shed used to be. The rest of the house appears to be undamaged. For another 40 minutes, I try to uncover the car. The fact that driving out of here is impossible makes me sick, at least not until I few more days, Will I be able to get the hell out of here, that's if the snow stops long enough for me to do so. The rest of the day, I sleep away in my room. When I wake up, there's a man in uniform carrying me outside. I 'm drowsy but I manage to mumble a few lines. "There's others, I can't find them…." I fade out again. Back in Philly a week later, I find myself constantly drifting in thought. There are no words I can speak, nothing I can write to express what I feel. If there are big plans for everyone and everything serves a purpose, what was the point to those 2 months I was out there in the mountains? Was this supposed to be a lesson? Nothing made sense now that I look back on it. It feels like a dream, that or my mind is trying to forget. They found Keith tied to a tree in the surrounding woods, beaten to death and Jesse was found, out by the lake, with her throat cut open. With all their efforts, they never found Cyndee. Weeks passed, when reports came in about a body being discovered a few miles southeast from the house, the authorities were fast to identify the body, a woman in her late 20's. She was identified as Cyndee Norsfield. Her picture is flashed all over the News and other reports. Something in me sinks deep, when I realize this girl looks nothing like the Cyndee who was staying in the cabin with us. I call the stations to verify things, the body was identified by her parents and the girl found in the mountains was in fact is the real Cyndee Norsfield. Staring into the screen at a total stranger, something in me dies.