The Cabin

By Jules Pardo

Twenty Two Strangers. One Cabin. One Night.

Escaping the brutality of the day, twenty two strangers
find refuge in a cabin. A cabin in the middle
of nowhere. Nothing around them. Night falls bringing
only dead calm silence. Nothing but silence.

What happened next no one was prepared for?

Would they survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond House Publishing
• Release date: Aug 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9780993876011

Book preview

The Cabin

THE CABIN

Jules Pardo

THE CABIN

Jules Pardo

DIAMOND HOUSE PUBLISHING

2014-08-27

Copyright © 2014 by Juliana Perez Sanchez

All rights reserved. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or/and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9938760-0-4

THE CABIN

First edition 2014-08-27

DIAMOND HOUSE PUBLISHING

[e-mail]

For My Wonderful Mother and Amazing Brother

❤

Chapter One

Sirens pierced through the morning silence, disrupting its tranquillity. The cold winter sun was slowly raising in the foggy sky, illuminating the morning calmly. However, it was brusquely replaced by robust red and blue lights, which torturously killed the soft glowing light of the sunrise. Alternating from red to blue, blue to red, they took over the streets, imposing themselves. Aggressively, the red lights tinted every street with the promise of tragedy as the serenity of the blue lights confirmed it all.

The once still morning air now had a soft winter breeze floating through the streets, serene and sweet. It traveled around the town as every street rapidly filled with police officers and firefighters. They began shouting at the top of their lungs before even stepping out of their vehicles. Some shouting commands through megaphones.

They went from house to house banging on doors and shouting.

Everyone needs to evacuate the area immediately!

Everyone needs to leave now!

Evacuate the area immediately! I repeat, evacuate the area immediately!

Confused people ran everywhere in their pajamas, winter coats and boots.

In the few minutes they had, they tried to grab everything they could, leaving a largely unbounded mess behind them. They were like tornados of despair.

Mothers held on tightly to their children. Some held on to their children’s coats so tight, their knuckles turned white. Fear burned deep in their eyes as they gazed down at their children. From their mother’s side, the children’s faces varied from terrified to amusement.

For some, it was a game; a game the whole town was playing.

Some were scared and confused clinging hard to their mother’s hand.

A very few seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.

The once soft breeze gradually began growing stronger and stronger influencing the police officer and firefighters’ shouts to become more and more violent, more and more demanding.

The now powerful wind found solace in the men’s aggressive impatience.

By midmorning, the tranquillity and serenity had been completely replenished by sirens and screams, confusion and terror.  It all blended into a melody of chaos at its very finest. Over the chaotic noise, a police officer ferociously impatient roared,

Everyone has to leave now!

A deadly storm is coming another police officer chimed in with the same impatience.

No one will survive this storm, a firefighter added.

We are not prepared for it, another one said, his voice muffled a little by the chaotic melody.

LEAVE NOW! They all yelled violently in unison.

Terrified, the already hurried townsmen now accelerated their pace, going from running to sprinting in panic.

Adrenaline rushed through the streets, consuming the townsmen’s spirits, consuming their every pulse beating through their hearts.

Colored blurred movement occupied every inch of the streets, of the eye. It was all like an abstract painting.

Only every now and then would the eye catch a perfect clear picture.

A mother reassuring her child in her arms and kissing its head sweetly.

A husband reassuring his wife squeezing her hand and looking into her eyes.

Someone helping an elder or offering a ride to a complete stranger.

A man walking furiously, mumbling to himself the absurdities of life, of the situation, of everything.

A woman terrified clutching her rosary, praying as she looked around and move forward.

Lastly, in the middle of the progression of people marching, in the middle of chaos and misfortune, a perfect clear picture of two hands holding each other, promising never to let go. In the middles of the confusion and blur, two hands proclaimed and proved eternity.



By ten in the morning, the town was now deserted. Only two whole hours after the evacuation had begun. It was bizarre, only a couple of minutes before, the streets had been an abstract painting accompanied by the opera of chaos and confusion. Slowly, the streets had begun to dim and then in the blink of the eye it was empty, silent and abandoned.

No one left.

No cars. No police officers or firefighters. No families. No lovers. No individuals.

Nothing.

Looking towards the right, far ahead near the horizon, were the last cars to have left town, racing in the opposite direction of the coming storm. Far behind, some still at the edges of town, were all those who had no other choice than walk. They hurried as fast as they could.

The wind had grown colder and biting. It rattled aggressively the windows in unison with the walkers. It bit, pushed and slapped them, slowing their progression, but they still marched forward.

Self-preservation was stronger than the wind.

They marched forward fighting to live, to survive. The wind tormented their every step but they marched and marched until the wind was the only occupant of the town. It claimed the town, opening and closing doors with all its force. The wind became the dictator of the town. It brutally made sure no one or nothing could contest it.

Caught in the mist of the wind, posters were savagely ripped apart. Plastic bags fought and flew in protest against the wind. Everything, which was left lying around, flew against the wind in honor of the posters. Furious, the wind mercilessly defeated them. Then the wind proved its authority of dictatorship by making its conquest break and scratch windows, vandalizing the town against their will.

However, it was not enough. The wind had bigger plans. It wanted more territory. Gradually, it determinedly began to expand.

At its side, snow accompanied it, falling from every direction.



Miles away from the town, a cabin suddenly emerged from the thick blinding white falling snow. In the middle of the whiteness, it stood glorious and powerful despite the solitude, which haunted the grounds.

The cabin was quite large and made out of solid wood. It had couple of windows and seemed very stable. Small windows contoured the cabin. There were three windows on each side of the cabin and one in front and one at the back but they were situated fairly high.

Through the window on the sides, inside the cabin, it was large empty room except for numerous chairs and candles. The candles were all dispersed around the room. The chairs were all randomly placed, facing every direction. Some faced one another while other were back to back. Three chairs formed a circle to one side of the cabin, close by a window. Others formed small cluster of chairs and some were side by side. The rest of the chairs were scattered around the room, completing it, in a random perfection.

The double door entrance was unlocked.

It was better than having to stay outside in the blizzard.

As the storm got closer and closer, the wind grew more and more brutal. The wind lifted the snow of the ground and combined it with the already falling snow, blinding everything into a moving whiteness.