Window

Erica, just calm down for a second!

The wood-paneled walls still reverberated with Erica’s scream. Chris could feel the shaking sinking-gut feeling that hit him when he heard her beginning to fade. He stood at the window gesturing at the clear, late-spring sky, and looked back at the girls, who sat on the dingy sofa behind him.

“I don’t see anything out there,” he said.

“Erica, breathe! What was it?” Emily sat, one arm wrapped around her friend’s shoulders. Erica was breathing frantically and looked at the window, eyes wide.

“It was… an explosion? Or something?” She whimpered, as Shayne slammed in through the swinging screen door and threw down a couple of duffel bags.

“What the hell is she freaking out about? I heard her scream from the car. See a mouse or something?” He turned back out the door with a snort.

“I’m… sorry? Em, I thought I saw… something.”

“An explosion?”

“I mean.. I guess? There was a bunch of smoke or something on side of the mountain over there. It was filling the sky, but now it’s… gone? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

When Shayne crashed back in, they were looking out the window.

“Alright, Em, you and I’ll take that room over there. Erica can have the other one. Chris, you’re on your own buddy.” Shayne raised his eyebrows and nodded toward’s Erica. “You might be able to find a bed if you try hard enough.” Shayne laughed and turned into the bedroom he had claimed.

Not knowing what to say, Chris looked back at the girls on the sofa, then turned and headed out to the car to get his bag.

The brisk morning air washed some of his tension away. He looked back up at the mountain and took in the picturesque scene. The mountain itself was covered with snow, but where the cabin sat, only a few patches survived in the shade of the spruce, or pine, or whatever trees surrounded the clearing around the cabin.

What did Erica see? Did she see anything at all? There were no clouds in the sky, at least none that could have looked like a plume of smoke. Maybe a reflection on the window? Chris had only met her a few days ago, but she seemed like a rational person.

He grabbed his backpack from the trunk of the car and sat on a large stump, watching a couple of sparrows flit across the sky.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and they spent most of it outside. Shayne and Chris spent way too long getting a fire started in a makeshift firepit where they cooked some lunch and burnt some dinner. Erica was quieter than she had been on the car ride to get to the cabin, but as the day wore on, she began to open up a little. They talked and laughed until the sun was fully down, then they retreated to the cabin.

–

The sofa sucked. It was still dark when Chris finally had enough of trying to get back to sleep. He rolled out from under the wool blanket he’d spent the night with and fumbled around with a lamp until his fingers found the switch. He shuffled across the room to the kitchenette to see if the coffee machine worked.

This trip had been Shayne’s idea, to begin with. “Like the old days!” he had said. “We’ll hole up in some cabin in the woods. Bring plenty of drinks and just chill.“ Apparently his idea of “chill” was heading to bed with Emily at 9:30 and leaving Chris to fend with the couch, or Erica.

Erica was nice. Actually, she was really nice, but after whatever had happened yesterday morning, she didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking, and nothing else was going to happen either. So–the couch.

Chris grabbed his phone. 4:52. He sat at the green laminate table, listening to the coffee machine drip and gurgle. He poked around on his phone for a minute, but there wasn’t any signal this far out so he sat it on the table. He looked out the window and saw… movement.

He frowned, leaned forward, and stared into the darkness. The reflection of the lamp made it difficult, but he was sure he had seen something out there. He walked to the window, and pressed his face to the glass, blocking the light with his hands. Was that a horse?

He went to the door, flung it open, and saw nothing but the car they’d driven up in. His thin flannel pants assaulted by the cold night air, he shut the door and went back to the window. Again, he pressed his forehead to the window and saw nothing.

Maybe he needed more sleep.

He poured himself a cup of coffee, and sat back down at the table.

He was still at the table, on his 3rd cup of coffee when the others started emerging from their hibernation. Shayne emptied the pot into his own cup and sat down across from him. The sun had risen, bathing the scene outside the window in bright morning light.

“There’s something weird going on here.” Chris said.

“Like what?”

“Well, look.” Chris pointed to the window. “Do you remember where you parked your car?”

“I dunno man, we’re in the woods. I just landed it somewhere.”

“Just look” Again, he pointed to the window. Shayne walked over, looked for a moment, shrugged and stepped to the door.

“It’s still there, man. Did you think someone had stolen it?”

“No, I’m saying you can’t see it from the window. You should be able to see it from here, but you can’t.”

“What?” Shayne looked back out the front door then came back to the window. “I mean, it’s probably some optical illusion, right? The angles are funny or something at this altitude?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “No, look.” He went again to the front door and Shayne joined him. “Look, by the car there. See that stump? You can see that stump from the window.”

They both stepped back to the window. The car was gone, and the stump was replaced by a huge evergreen tree.

“Whatcha guys looking at?” Emily stood behind them.

They turned. Shayne stammered something incoherent about the tree and Chris said, “There’s something weird going on here.”

Emily came to the window and the three of them looked out. A man stood near a roughly assembled log fence tending a couple of mules, a pickaxe and shovel on the ground at his feet. He was dressed in some ragged blue jeans and suspenders pinching a baggy faded red shirt. The dirty hat on his head was formless and flopped in the breeze.

The shock of seeing somebody standing outside the window punched Chris in the gut and stole the breath from his lungs.

“What?” whispered Shayne. “…who?”

Emily frowned, looking at Shayne. “Who is that? How long has he been out there?”

Chris caught his breath, and said in a shaky voice, “He wasn’t there.”

“You’re telling me, you guys didn’t see him riding up on a couple of donkeys?”

The three of them stood in silence for a moment, watching. The man, apparently done tending to the mules picked up his tools, turned away from the makeshift corral and ambled around the edge of the house.

“Well go see what he wants, Shayne,” Emily whispered.

“What? No way! It’s a friggin ghost or something! I’m not going out there!”

“Wait,” Chris said. ”There’s something weird going on here. I’m not sure there even is a guy out there. Everything we’re seeing out of this window keeps changing.” Chris thought for a moment then said, “Everyone look away from the window. Cover your eyes or something.”

They did. A couple of breaths later Chris opened his eyes again. “See? The mules are gone!”

“The fence they were tied to is still there though. I don’t remember a fence out there,” said Emily, walking toward the front door. “It’s not there,” she said a few moments later.

“Is our car still out there?” asked Chris.

“Yeah”

“Shayne, look. The car should be parked right there.” Chris pointed out the window.

Shayne covered his face with the palms of his hands, groaned loudly, turned and sank onto the sofa. Emily, leaving the door open, walked back to the window.

“What the hell guys, it’s freezing outside.” Erica stood in the doorway to her bedroom. “Guys? …uh, what’s going on?”

“We’re in a freaking haunted freaking cabin or something!” Shayne moaned, his hands muffling his voice. He exploded up from the sofa dropping his hands and looking at the group with wild eyes. “We’re getting out of here! Grab your stuff and let’s go! This is insane!”

Erica’s face went white and she slowly came over to join them. “I knew I saw something, Em.”

“You were right.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

Shayne busted out of his room. “I’ve got your bag Em!”. The girls ran into Erica’s room to gather her stuff.

Chris stood at the window blinking his eyes, watching the world change. Every time he opened his eyes the scene outside was different, usually subtly, but now that he was looking for it, it was obvious. The length of the grass, the amount of snow, and the foliage on the trees all shifted as he blink, blink, blinked. Sometimes the stump by where they had parked their car was there, and sometimes it was replaced by the huge tree, blocking most of the view. I guess that’s why they cut it down. He thought.

The rough splintered corral came and went as well. A window to the past. The time of day didn’t seem to change. It never got dark while he was looking, and when he was sitting by the window watching the sun come up, he hadn’t noticed the daylight changing.

He blinked again and the mountain in front of him was suddenly shorter. That’s not the past, He thought. A chill ran down his spine.

The girls rushed back into the room and he turned to look at them “It’s not haunted, really” he said.

They stopped. “It’s like, a window to the past, or future or something. Check this out.” As the girls joined him, he looked again. The mountain was restored.

“When we look away, it changes,” he said. “Focus on the grass, or a specific tree or something. Every time we close our eyes it’ll change. See?”

“This is insane,” said Emily.

“So what did I see yesterday?” said Erica. “I don’t think I remember hearing about that mountain exploding at any point in the past.”

“I guess that’s sometime in the future,” said Chris.

“Well that’s terrifying,” said Emily.

They were standing in silence, blinking at the window when Shayne came back into the cabin. “Come on guys. Lets go.” he said.

“Wait! Look!” said Emily. The four of them looked out the window and watched as their car drove up the dirt driveway and stopped by the gnarled stump. They watched themselves get out of the car. Yesterday’s Erica bounded to the door with a giggle.

“Well that’s unsettling,” said Chris. He looked at his phone, 9:06am. “What time did we get here yesterday?” he asked.

“About nine I guess,” said Emily.

They heard a low rumbling sound and felt a sharp jolt as if the floor beneath their feet wanted to fall away below them.

“And Erica saw… something right after she walked into the cabin.”

They looked at the window in terror and saw only a beautiful blue sky. The ground began to shake, but they were frozen in place. The sun shone on their faces, and a wispy cloud tip-toed through the sky. Then, they were engulfed in a deafening roar that shattered the window and revealed the apocalypse that was waiting on the other side, choking the sky with smoke and ash.