The Girl in the Cabin
“Hey, Nat!” Alexa Tummer yelled while she pulled her long dirty-blonde hair into a ponytail.
“Yeah, Tums?” responded Natalie Letter. Her bright blue eyes, that still look like they did when she was born seventeen years ago, appeared around the corner.
“What’s this newspaper article?”
“Oh, that. It’s a story about how this thirteen-year-old girl went missing at an ice cream shop. It’s really not that exciting,” Natalie replied.
“She’s only four years younger than us,” breathed Alexa while processing the information she had just been told.
“Anyways, we should get going if we want to go on that ride,” Natalie urged.
Alexa’s green eyes sparkled as she laughed at the irony of Natalie’s previous statement. “You’re the one who needed to go in the house. I was ready to go when we were still outside.”
Natalie shook her head as a lock of long blonde hair fell into her eyes. “But you’re the one who agreed to it, so this is really your fault, Alexa Tummer.”
“Maybe, but either way we need to go, Natalie Letter,” joked Alexa while she gave Natalie a forceful but not hurtful hip-check. Alexa was excited for the ride today because it was a rare day for them. There were no scheduled trail rides, so they could take the horses out on a ride all by themselves. Natalie was excited to run along the straight stretches and pioneer new trails, which are characteristic on rides like this one. They each loved that the only people they would have to look out for would be themselves and each other, or so they thought.
“Hey, Nat! Can we stop at the cabin?” Alexa asked. “I need a break and so do our horses. They’re walking at a snail's pace.”
“Eh, why not? But, Tums, just so you know, we are not living up to our nickname of the Terrible Twosome by taking so many breaks,” Natalie pointed out.
“Ok, we only stopped twice. So, it really wasn’t that many,” Alexa argued while she dismounted and brought her horse into the corral as Natalie followed. Suddenly, a crash sounded from inside the cabin. “Nat, was that you?”
“No, I’m right behind you. It couldn’t have been me,” Natale whispered.
“I know. I just really wanted to believe it was,” the frightened Alexa responded. Slowly, the girls approached the entrance to the cabin which a minute ago seemed like a fresh drink of water on a hot summer day, but now seemed like the closet in a horror movie. One step, two steps, three steps...
“This is ridiculous,” Natalie proclaimed while she reached for the closed door. “There is nothing in this cabin but chairs, a table, and a girl. Wait, what?”
After their initial shock from finding the girl wore off, they sprinted out of the cabin. Their hearts beat as loud as a drummer at a parade. Their hair whipped about behind them. Their breath raced in and out of their lungs so fast it got lodged in their throat.
Once they were a safe distance from the cabin, Alexa and Natalie paused to catch their breath. The sun streamed down on their backs as they bent over with their hands on their knees, desperately trying to slow their breathing. A crow called off in the distance. Another responded, almost as if they were laughing at the girls. A four-wheeler sounded in the distance. It’s steady “vroom” sounded as the engine was revved matched the pattern of Alexa and Natalie’s heartbeats. Finally, the adrenaline died down, and the girls straightened.
“Who was that girl?” Alexa asked as she swept loose hair back into its ponytail.
Natalie straightened to her full height and replied, “I have no clue, but I am going to find out.”
“Shouldn’t we go about that another way? We could get hurt.”
“No, now it’s time to take the bull by the horns,” an enraged Natalie exclaimed and stormed over to the cabin door. How dare someone come onto her property without her knowing, and not far behind her was Alexa. Even though Alexa followed Natalie and would follow her into a pit of fire, Alexa’s brain was already calculating the probability that something could go wrong - 34:1.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Natalie demanded of the girl who appeared to be about thirteen.
“Natalie! Don’t you think you should introduce yourself first?” Alexa questioned.
“No, Tums, I don’t. She is trespassing, so I can talk to her anyway I want,” disputed Natalie with great force.
“Um, I’m Corinne,” replied the girl.
“How about a last name to go with that first name, Corinne,” Natalie badgered.
“Dailer, my last name is Dailer.”
“Corinne, Corinne Dailer. How do I know that name?” Alexa asked aloud. “Wait, you’re the girl who went missing two days ago, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“You still didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?” prodded Natalie.
“I, I can’t tell you. You could get in trouble too.”
Alexa and Natalie simultaneously yelled, “Well, now you have to!”
“You’re not leaving here until you do,” Natalie continued.
“Alright. These three men are chasing me because I witnessed a crime they committed--drug smuggling. I ran, but they follow me everywhere I go. This morning, I overheard them say they are going to kill my family if I don’t give up by sundown. I, I just. . . I just don’t know what to do. I thought if I sat in here for a while I would be able to figure it out. But, here you are, and I still don’t know,” Corinne blundered.
“Wait! Nat, are those the three men on four-wheelers we passed on the road?” Alexa asked.
“They might be. One of them gave us a once over, twice! So, would that then be called a twice over? That guy was really sleazy,” Natalie responded.
“By the way you are describing them, it probably was. Was one of the other two fat and one hairy?” questioned Corinne.
“Yeah, they were,” Alexa responded.
“Well then, I really need to get going. If they are as close as you say, they should be here any minute. They’re probably right around the corner.”
“No, let us help you,” Alexa begged. “We can bring you back to the house and call the police. That way you can come out of hiding and protect your family.”
“I can’t. After I witnessed their crime and started to run, they yelled after me that if I called the police, I would be sorry. I don’t want to know what that means.”
“Well, it’s better than sitting around waiting for Hairy, Chubby, and Sleazy to find you. Come on! We’ll hide you in the barn,” Natalie urged. Seeing that she was not going to win the argument, Corinne agreed to go with them. So, Alexa and Natalie mounted their horses and set out on the trail that led back to the house while Corinne walked in the woods and hid behind trees just in case Hairy, Chubby, and Sleazy were nearby.
Just as the girls were about to reach the house, a voice with a gravelly, scratchy timbre sliced through the soundless woods. Alexa jumped, Natalie clenched her fists, and Corinne froze thinking to herself, “as if I could escape this. What was I thinking? How could I be such an idiot?”
Time stood still. The girls turned to look at a silhouette in the distance. It was the silhouette of a fat man. Then, one after the other, two more silhouettes emerged from the shadows cast by the sun of late afternoon. One looked to be the shadow of Bigfoot and the other a lanky man with a cigarette in his mouth. Both parties locked eyes. The woods once again returned to silence with the only exception being the constant pattern of breathing. In and out. In and out. Even the crows ceased their relentless calling as if they knew something major was about to happen. The men had pistols, but the girls had the sun, and their horses’ speed and agility on their side. As quickly as time stopped, it started back up again as Natalie swung Corinne onto the back of her horse. In order to use their advantages to the maximum, the girls urged their horses into a gallop, weaving and twisting between trees so that they were difficult to follow in the bright sun. Temporary blindness ensured no shots could be heard coming from the men’s pistols. They slowed their horses to a canter.
“We did it! I can’t believe we just outran three men with guns! Oh my gosh, we just outran three men with guns,” Alexa gasped as she finally realized the possible fatality of their situation. “We could have died.”
“This is why you shouldn’t help. It’s dangerous!” Corinne exclaimed.
“No, we’re in this together now. We just need a plan. Let’s get to the barn,” Natalie concluded. The girls brought their horses to a gallop knowing full well that every wasted minute is that much closer to sundown, and at sundown, innocent people would die.
“Come on, Tums!” Natalie proclaimed looking frantically at the barn door certain she heard the voice of Hairy not that far away.
“I’m trying, Nat. It is extremely difficult to devise a plan that will knock out Hairy, Chubby, and Sleazy but still give us a safe exit if all goes wrong,” explained Alexa. However, even as she said this, the wheels in her head were rapidly turning, concocting a foolproof plan to save their lives. Now, all she needed was to put it into action.
“I got it!” Alexa said excitedly.
“Well, what can we do to help?” Corinne questioned, positive her desperation could be heard loud and clear. “We don’t have much more time before sundown,” she thought to herself as she looked at her watch. The numbers kept turning with incredible speed: 5:40, 5:41, 5:42. Corinne checked her phone. The sun was supposed to set at 6:01. That only left them with nineteen minutes. Her family only had nineteen more minutes to live if this didn’t work out.
“Ok. Nat, you will pretend to go around checking water tanks, so they see you while Corinne and I make a hay fort–”
“Why are you making a hay fort?” Natalie whined.
“Because when you lure them into the barn, we will have hay bales ready to dump on them once you’re in the fort with us, but if all goes wrong, we can still drop into the lower half of the barn and escape,” Alexa explained.
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get this show on the road,” Corinne stated. Corinne and Alexa  got hard at work as Natalie began her job as bait.
“Nat, over here!” Alexa whispered forcefully.
“They’re right behind me. Get ready!” Natalie answered and sure enough, not even 20 seconds later, Hairy entered the barn followed by Chubby and Sleazy.
“Natalie, you get Chubby. Alexa, you nail Sleazy, and I will hit Hairy,” Corinne ordered. “Now!” The girls shoved one, two, three hay bales at the men. Down tumbled the men as the bales met their target. Shots fired from the pistols in all directions as a last ditch attempt to get the girls failed, but the girls didn’t stop. Even while they covered their heads and took cover from stray bullets, the girls heaved bales off of the fort and onto the men. Even as the last man, Hairy, laid unconscious on the ground, the girls didn’t stop their crusade. It was only when the sounds of police sirens filled the once dead air on that Saturday afternoon and police cruisers pulled into the driveway that they stopped. The police, who were called by Natalie’s mother when the first shot rang out, charged into the barn with their guns drawn. Much to their disbelief, the three most wanted men in the state laid unconscious on the ground with the only people who could have made it happen being three teenage girls. One officer immediately recognized Corinne and phoned the people at the station to tell them she was found, and a call was made to her family. Hairy, Chubby, and Sleazy were taken away in handcuffs, destined to spend the rest of their lives in jail. What started as a rare and peaceful Saturday now became complete chaos, but within it all was an undeniable sense of joy amongst Alexa, Natalie, and Corinne.
“See, I told you we could do it!” Natalie yelled while she fistbumped Corinne and Alexa.
“We did, and I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough,” Corinne replied as her eyes welled up with tears.
“How about you never get yourself in this situation ever again, and we’ll call it even,” Alexa said.
“Miss Dailer, you need to come with me to the station and answer a few questions. Then, I will take you to see your family,” a police officer ordered.
“Alright then,” Corinne replied as she looked once more a upon the two best friends that saved her life. “I will never forget you. I wish you all the best.”
“We will never forget you either,” Alexa declared.
“Yeah, how could we. We almost died,” Natalie laughed. Funny how something so severe could be taken so lightly when all seemed to be said and done. Corinne, Natalie, and Alexa exchanged one last hug before Corinne was ushered into a cruiser.
“We did a good thing today, Nat.”
“Yeah, Tums. We did. Although, let’s make a deal that we never have to do it again.”
“I totally agree. Besides, what else could possibly go wrong?” Alexa looked down to the end of the driveway just in time to see the cruiser that had Corinne in it take a left onto the highway. “Hey, Nat. To get to the police station, you take a right onto the highway, not a left.”
“Grab your horse. Let’s follow it!”

“Hey! Isn’t the police station to the right?” Corinne called to the policeman as she looked out the window.
“Yes, but we are not going to the police station,” replied the policeman as he pulled the cruiser into the deep woods and got out.
“Where are you taking me? My family has to be just dying to. . .” Corinne trailed off as she peered out the cruiser’s window. She watched as Hairy, Chubby, and Sleazy were released from their cruiser and handcuffs. As she reached for the door handle which wasn’t there, Corinne realized she was trapped. Hairy caught her petrified eye and gestured toward three graves. One was not yet filled, but all of them had headstones. Corinne’s eyes drifted over the names on the headstones of the filled graves - John Dailer and Mary Dailer - but it was the name on the third headstone on which her eyes fixed. Carved into the wood of a small cross was the name Corinne Dailer.