Trapped - The Mysterious Cabin in the Woods

By fishyauthor

We've all seen it. A meme shows up on our computer. It is a nice-looking cabin sitting peacefully in the woods. There is a small babbling brook running behind it. The caption: "Could you survive for 30 days in this cabin with no phone, no internet, and no T.V.? When you are done you get $100,000." Before you answer this question, you might want to read this book. Scott McPherson thought this would be no problem until he found himself face to face with his worse fears.

• Language: English
• Publisher: fishyauthor
• Release date: Feb 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224763917

Book preview

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

Every day starts out as just an ordinary day until it’s not.

Today was one of those days. Scott McPherson woke up just as he had done every other day. His alarm went off on his phone. He reached over, grabbed the obnoxious device, and fumbled around for a moment before he could put an end to the intrusive noise. He used to have it set to wake up to his favorite song, but after a few weeks of that, he decided he no longer liked that song anymore. It was now ruined because every time he heard it, it was just a painful reminder that this is how his day always started out, being jolted out of a deep slumber to the familiar melody of a tune that he used to enjoy. He vowed to never treat one of his favorite songs in such a manner ever again.

Instinctively, as soon as he silenced the alarm, he opened the home screen on his phone and started scrolling through the emails. After a minute of that, he started looking through his social media apps. Same old shit. He used to enjoy scrolling through and seeing updates about his friends and family. But now, most of what he sees are ads and political arguments. What a crappy way to start the day, he thought. Yet every day was the same. And every day, he vowed to change his routine.

Scott opened the music app and started playing the songs from his playlist. He got out of bed and took a deep breath in, stood up, and made his way to the bathroom, stopping briefly to hook his phone up to some external speakers as he cranked up the volume. Nothing like a good beat to get the blood pumping. He could not help but look at his reflection in the mirror. This is not a pretty sight, he thought to himself. Man, I hate Mondays!

He was up way too late the night before, watching football with his buddies. His mouth was as dry as the Sahara Desert, and the odor of cheap whiskey still lingered on his breath. He turned on the cold water in the sink and tilted his head towards the running water, gulping it down, attempting to satisfy the cotton mouth that settled in overnight. It quickly helped to quell the dryness in his mouth and wash away the nasty taste that the liquor had left behind. It felt as if a truck had run him over. He was not sure what hurt the most, his head from the hangover, or that he lost over $1,000 dollars on last night’s big game. Between his gambling on Sunday night football and the poor performance of his fantasy football league, he was in a constant struggle of just trying to break even.

He jumped in the shower and let the cool water splash against his face, hoping it would help to wake him up. Man, it felt good. As his skin adapted to the warm water, he slowly increased the temperature. The heat felt especially good this morning and Scott didn’t want to get out. It felt wonderful just standing there savoring the moment. He turned facing the shower head and just let the hot water pour on the back of his neck and down his spine. He stood there a few minutes longer than he should have, and he knew he would have to rush through the rest of his morning ritual if he were to make it to work on time.

Stepping out of the shower, he rushed through the rest of his morning routine, trying to make up for the time he lost. Those long showers were something he vowed to stop doing for the sake of time, but he was constantly breaking that vow. Running to the closet, he shuffled through the piles of clothes, looking for something presentable he could wear. Most of the shirts were not clean or too wrinkled to be seen wearing in public. Eventually, he found some clothes that both looked presentable and passed the bachelor sniff test for cleanliness.

He quickly made his way to the kitchen and punched the button on the coffeemaker. As soon as the cup of Joe was ready, he poured it into a tumbler and rushed out the door. As he raced to the car, he fumbled around with his keys, trying to hit the door unlock button. He could hear the click of the lock being released, and as he grabbed for the handle, the coffee tumbler began sliding from his other hand. Trying to regain control of it proved futile as the hot liquid spilled onto his shirt.

Oh, shit, that’s hot! he bellowed, and then he looked down at the shirt’s stain that was quickly forming.

Oh great! Really fucking great!

He had just a moment to decide if he had time to go back upstairs and change or to keep it as it is. No time to waste, Scott decided as he jumped in the car. Placing the cup in the cup holder between the seats, he leaned over to open the glove compartment and grabbed some old napkins that he had saved from a fast-food restaurant. Scott tried to blot out as much of the coffee as he could, but he knew it was still not going to look good. He really didn’t care.

They can kiss my ass, he said to himself as he inspected his handy work.

Next, he turned his focus on connecting his phone to a jack in the car, started it up, and synced his phone to the speaker. His commute to work took the better part of an hour, and he enjoyed listening to sports podcasts as he drove. Not that it does him any good. Year after year, he proves how inept he is at picking the right players for his fantasy football team, and year after year, he loses money. He is like the Cleveland Browns of fantasy football. He sped off while listening to two sportscasters argue back and forth about the strength of the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers, wondering if he needed to change his bet for the upcoming game.

Weaving perilously in and out of traffic, he made better time than usual and shaved off almost fifteen minutes from his drive. He swerved abruptly into the parking lot, pulling into his usual spot with brakes squealing as he came to a sudden stop. Next, he disconnected his phone from the car, plugged in some earbuds and continued listening to the argument that had already lasted twenty minutes longer than it should have as he made his way to his office. Well, cubicle. Scott really wasn’t even listening anymore. He just found out that when you walk around with earbuds, people tend not to strike up a conversation with you, which he always tried to avoid. Scott was mostly a loner in many respects and despised idle chitchat with people he barely knew. As he made his way to his cubicle, he chuckled to himself. He always found it funny how people would dare call a cubicle an office. This is no office. It was more like a cage at the zoo that allowed others to gawk at you in your somewhat natural environment.

He passed by several coworkers and gave the old nod that is supposed to convey the message of good morning, how are you? Now, leave me alone. His coworkers knew him well and, if you were to ask any of them about him, the most common thing you would hear is He is a nice guy, but socially disconnected from the rest of the world. This was true. Scott was always very busy with his electronic devices. Checking up on social media, sports news, local news, stock markets — you name it, he was looking into it. Pretty much anything that could distract him from work and the shitty existence of his daily life.

He plopped in his chair as if he had been on his feet all day. The cheap office chair that was provided for him sank down from his weight and let out an annoying squeak as he leaned back. He unplugged the ear buds from his phone, threw them in a drawer and looked back down at the coffee stain now firmly settled into his shirt. No need to go to the bathroom to get something wet to blot it; it is beyond hope at this point. The mission for today was to avoid as much human contact as possible, so hopefully, no one would notice. If they did, hopefully they would politely ignore it and move about their day.

Even on his work computer, he always had two browsers open, one for personal use and the other for business. His addiction to social media was too powerful to let it rest during what was supposed to be his productive hours. What he would do was strategically place his computer so he could keep a good eye out for anyone passing by. If they got too close, he could quickly change back and forth between browsers, hoping to not get caught. He thought he was being clever, but most people knew. In fact, most people at work did the same thing. Maybe not to the extent to which he does this, but most are still guilty, so they are unwilling to say anything to him about it. Everyone is just waiting for someone from corporate to put a block on the computers and put a stop to all the browsing that was preventing the staff from performing at their best.

Not long after Scott got settled in, he saw the familiar figure of his good friend, Ted Stransky, approaching.

Great Monday, isn’t it? Ted said.

Fuck you Scott knows Ted isn’t just stopping by to say hi. This is a typical Monday morning ritual. He loved to rub it in about how bad Scott’s fantasy football team did the night before.

How much are you out this time?

I don’t want to talk about it.

Have you ever thought of quitting?

Have you ever thought of jumping off of the damn roof?

Oh, plenty of times, but then, I think of you and realize my life isn’t that bad.

Very funny! 

Scott doesn’t make much of an attempt to hide his screen when his friend is around, and this time was no different. He had his browser open to one of his favorite social media platforms and on the screen was a peaceful-looking cabin set out in a clearing of a forest with a cute little babbling brook going past it. It appeared to be a serene place of complete solitude. This wasn’t just a picture, this was a meme with the following words, Could you stay here for 30 days with no phone, no internet, and no TV? On the last day, you walk out with $100,000. Ted glances over and takes note of the screen.

I’ll tell you what. Ted says, I’ll jump off that roof if you could ever do that, his finger pointing at the screen.

Scott looks over at the image. He has seen this stupid meme many times but never really looked at it. He analyzed it for a minute and said, Hell yeah! I could do that. I mean, for $100,000, no problem.

Ted almost falls over laughing.  

C’mon dude, like are you kidding me? You can’t go five minutes without looking at some sort of shit on the computer. And I swear you would fucking stroke out if you ever lost your phone for over five minutes! 

This just made Scott angry. He knew Ted was right, but all the same, who was he to tell Scott what he was capable of? They were more work friends than best friends. Even so, Ted was probably about the best friend he had. Outside of work, they spent most of their time at one of the local bars watching sports. They both enjoyed betting on the games with each other, and with other not so savory characters. Ted was a little better at picking the winners than Scott, and when it came to his gambling debts, Ted had to bail him out more than once. Despite that, Ted owed him at least the common decency of not calling him out on his addictions,