The Cabin

Jordan Walker sat in the passenger seat of her and her husband’s SUV. “Man he irks me sometimes!” She thinks as they drive in silence.

“I can’t believe you bought a two hundred dollar shirt! You know we are next to broke. What is wrong with you?” Drake starts to vent again to his wife.

He slams on his breaks and they lurch forward. He comes within inches of hitting the car in front of them.

“Just because you are angry doesn’t mean you have to drive like a mad man!” She yells back.

The car begins to move again and he makes an immediate right into a parking lot. He parks the car and gets out, leaving the engine running.

“Oh, honey, don’t you want us to come with you?” She asks in a taunting voice.

He shoots her a “Go to Hell” look and walks into the building. Their five-year-old son, Elven, sits in the back seat, quiet as a mouse. Finally, he thinks it safe to talk.

“Where is Daddy going?” He whines.

“He has to go pay a bill Elvy, he’ll be right back,” she says.

“I have a big surprise for her,” Drake thinks to himself as he walks into the building. “I am not here to support her. She needs to get off her lazy butt and get a job!”

“I wish I would have never quit working; then he couldn’t tell me what I can and can not buy! I was better off before I met him,” are her thoughts on the situation. “I wish I could just drive away and not look back. “ She sits in the car, lost in her own thoughts.

She’s so lost she doesn’t pay any attention to the driver side door opening and him getting in. She blocks out the sound of her five-year-old whining. “He can deal with his son for once, I do it all day!” But, of course, he doesn’t. Finally she breaks away from staring out the window to look back into her son’s face. As she does this she notices that the man sitting in the driver seat of her car is not her husband.

“Who are you? Pull this car over right now, or I am going to call the police!” She fumbles to find her cell phone. The masked driver, dressed all in black, pulls out a gun and points it at her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, lady.” He says. His voice is rough, but his appearance even rougher.

“What do you want from me? I don’t have any money! My husband will know something is wrong, he was supposed to come back and get me! Please, just let us out! You can have the damn car… Just let us OUT!” Jordan now becomes hysterical; telling the driver anything he wants to hear. “Please let us out! I don’t have any money but I will do whatever you want, just please let us go!”

All of a sudden he rips off a piece of duct tape, slaps it over her mouth and handcuffs her hands together. “Shut up, witch. I am going to make you do whatever I want whether you are willing or not!”

She is now quiet, but looking for a way out. She can jump out of the car, but Elven would still be there. She can call 911, but the fact that she has duct tape over her mouth doesn’t make that option hopeful. What if she text messages her husband to tell him that they are in trouble? That sounds like the best possibility to her. She grabs her phone, luckily it is on silent and he is concentrating on the road and the bratty kid in the back seat. She keys in “help we’re in trouble” and sends the message. She puts the phone on the seat between her legs and looks around. They are heading for the mountains. This long, curvy road passes the lake and heads into the national park. Her mind starts going a mile a minute. “What if he kills Elven? What if he rapes me? Why won’t he let us out? I haven’t seen his face, I can’t identify him.” She’s wondering what she should do; it doesn’t seem that her husband can do anything except call the cops. “What if they can’t find us?” Her husband text messages her back.

Her phone is on silent, but it still vibrates. Unfortunately for her, the driver heard it. He reaches over and opens her phone to see her husband’s message. “I don’t care, come back and get me!”

“Well, apparently your husband doesn’t care, see?” He shows her the message. This just adds to Jordan’s anger. She’s trying frantically to open her mouth and tell this man what a bastard he is, and that he’s going to burn in hell; but the man’s mouth just turns upward in a smile. He pulls off the main road onto a small dirt road. It is very bumpy and bounces Jordan around a bit. She sees a log cabin up the road and wonders if that is where they are going. She thinks about asking him, but remembers that she can’t. She prays the whole journey up the path that this man will not hurt them. The driver stops in front of the cabin and looks and Jordan.

“Where are my manners?” He asks is a sarcastic voice. “I’m not going to tell you my real name, but you can call me BD. Don’t get any ideas, those are not my initials.”

With that he opens her door and leads her into the cabin. He is carrying Elven on one hip and is holding the gun to her back on the other. He makes her sit down in a chair in the corner and ties her there. Elven he takes into another room. She is alarmed and fears that she has failed in protecting her son. She just hopes that Drake realizes she wasn’t playing around and gets help. BD walks out of the room he puts Elven in and goes back to her. He puts a blindfold over her eyes and she hears him leave. “Elven isn’t screaming,” she thinks. “He either killed him or he is content.” She hopes for the latter.

No one came for what seemed like hours. All Jordan could do was worry about her and her son’s well being; and wish she never bought that stupid shirt. All of a sudden she thought of life from a different perspective. One that puts her husband and her son, the two most important men in her life, first. She swears that if she gets out of this mess ok she will be a changed person. Her family was to come first from now on.

Eventually Jordan hears the front door open. She doesn’t hear any car, but had been lost in her prayers and her concern. There are heavy footsteps walking up to her. She starts breathing heavy, wondering what is about to happen.

“Are you ok?” She hears Drake’s voice.

“Umph! MMmmmmppppppppphhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!” Is all Drake hears. He grabs the corner of the duct tape on her mouth and rips it off in one quick motion.

“Ow! That hurt!” She screams, unable to control it.

“You want me to put it back on?” He asks, joking with her.

“Don’t be crass, untie me! Some maniac kidnapped us and…” is all she gets out before he interrupts her.

“I know.” Is all he says. He walks into the bedroom that Elven is in and lets him out, leaving Jordan tied up. He kind of likes the fact that she can’t move, and wants her to stay there a bit longer. Drake and Elven walk out into the front room and yell “Surprise!” to Jordan. She sits there, confused.

“This is our new cabin! That is why we are so broke!” Drake says.

“You jerk! Someone just…” Once again she is cut off.

“I know; it was me. I wanted to show it to you in an original, yet creative way!” He laughs as he starts to untie her. She cusses at him for the three days they are there. Although she does have fun, she considers filing divorce papers when they get home from his rotten stunt.