What They Left Behind

The first thing Gennie heard that morning was the purr of a large engine. It took a few seconds to realize what it was, but when she did, instant panic set in. She shoved her brother awake.

  “Ben!” she said. “Someone’s here!”

  “Huh?”

  “There’s people here! We’ve got to get out!”

  He sat up straight in the bed.

  “Oh shit!” he cried.

  The problem was they had no other escape route except for the front door.

  “Let’s hide under the bed,” Ben said.

  They grabbed their clothes and scurried under the bed. Ben tried to put his pants on, but it was difficult in such a narrow space.

  “Here, let me help you,” Gennie said. She pulled his pants up. Gennie had her blouse on, but it was still unbuttoned when she heard two pairs of heavy footsteps come through the door.

  “Somebody’s been here!” A man’s voice shouted.

  Gennie and Ben lay perfectly still.

  “I told you leaving those keys in the wind chimes was a dumb idea,” the man reprimanded. “Now look what’s happened.”

  “It doesn’t seem like they took anything,” a woman replied. “Probably just a bunch of hikers passing through. Besides, you forget to take the keys with you every time we come up here. I bet you didn’t remember them this time either.”

  “Yes, I did.” Gennie heard coins clinking together. The man must have been rummaging through his pockets. “Uh…well, I thought I did.”

  “See?” the woman pointed out.

  “Still, I think those chimes are a stupid place to put them. I bet those hikers probably told half of Atlin by now. Soon, we’ll have people coming up and using our cabin for parties.”

  “I don’t think so,” the woman said.

  “That’s what you said when I told you people would be breaking into the cabin if you put the keys where you did and look what happened.”

  “It seems like they only spent one night in here, so let’s get our bags inside. Then, we can go through the cabin and see if there’s anything that been taken or broken.”

  “I’m going to call the police on the radio.”

  “Don’t do that!” the woman scolded. “It’ll take them an hour just to get up here and they’ll probably tell us there’s not much they can do.”

  “They could take fingerprints. If those hikers have a record, they could nab them.”

  “They can’t arrest them for anything if nothing was taken.”

  “They could be charged with breaking and entering.”

  “The police are only going to laugh at us.”

  “Not at me, you! You’re the one who put those keys there!”

  The woman sighed. “Let’s forget about it.”

  “I’m not forgetting about it! I’m going out to the truck to radio the cops! Those hikers are going to have their butts in jail even if it’s the last thing I do!”

  The woman huffed in exasperation. The man stomped out of the house. A few seconds later, the woman followed him.

  “If we’re going to get away,” Ben whispered, “we have to do it now.”

  “They’ll see us if we go out the front door,” Gennie whispered back. “Then we’ll get our asses kicked for sure.”

  “Not if we’re really quiet,” Ben said. “And even if they do see us, we can just run into the woods. If we’re caught in here, there’s nowhere to escape.”

  “I know it’s not going to work,” Gennie replied, “but since there’s nothing else we can do, let’s try it.”

  They snuck out from under the bed. Gennie buttoned up her blouse and put her pants on. Ben couldn’t find his shirt anywhere, so he went bare-chested. They crept into the kitchen and approached the wide-open front door. The couple argued on the other side of the house, where the truck was parked. Ben poked his head out.

  “Both of their backs are to us. We can go now.” He crept out the door. “Come on.”

  Gennie followed him, trying to be as silent as possible. They were about three feet from the woods when someone walked back to the front of the cabin.

  “Hey you!” the man shouted.

  Gennie turned around and immediately froze when she saw him run after her with a gun.

  “Run!” Ben shouted, grabbing her by her sleeve and pulling her along with him. Eventually she broke out into a run beside him.

  “Get back here!” the man yelled. He sounded enraged, which made Gennie run faster than she ever remembered doing in her life. Even though the man was about ten yards away from them, she could still hear him cursing in between his gasps. Obviously, he didn’t have quite the stamina Gennie and Ben did.

  Suddenly, shots rang into the air. Gennie yelped and stumbled. Ben grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her in front of him. Another shot rang out.

  “Ugh!” she heard Ben groan. There was a soft thud as he fell.

  She turned around and saw him lying on the ground. She screamed. She was sure he had been shot.

  “Don’t let him get you!” Ben said in a strangled cry.

  Gennie couldn’t do anything but stand there. She wasn’t going to leave Ben.

  “Where did he shoot you?” she sobbed.

  “He didn’t,” Ben gasped. “I tripped on a rock. I think I twisted my ankle. Why aren’t you going?”

  “I can’t,” Gennie said. The tears were pouring down her face. “I’ll help you up.”

  She put her hands underneath his shoulders and got him into a sitting position. He groaned and winced from having to move his ankle.

  They looked up and the man was upon them, the barrel of his shotgun only inches away from their faces. His dark brown hair was plastered to his forehead and his face was bright red from exertion.

  Neither of them said anything.

  “You both are in big trouble,” he said between wheezes. “What the hell were you thinking, breaking into my house?”

  Gennie opened her mouth in an attempt to explain what happened, but then closed it again.

  “That’s what I thought. Now get up. You’re coming with me.”

  He grabbed one of Ben’s arms and forced him up. He cried out in pain.

  “He twisted his ankle,” Gennie said.

  The man let him go, his small dark eyes glaring at him in disgust.

  “You help him along then,” he commanded Gennie. “Now move it.”

  They walked behind him back to the cabin. Ben had most of his weight on Gennie, which was tiring her out. She was exhausted when they returned to the cabin.

  “I found them,” the man said to the woman. She was rather plain looking with a stocky build. Two barrettes pinned back her waist length blond hair. Her light blue eyes looked at them in sympathy.

  “You can’t throw them in jail,” the woman said. “They’re just a bunch of kids.”

  “A bunch of kids who broke into my cabin,” the man grumbled.

  “You didn’t hurt them, did you?” the woman said.

  “Hurt them? They almost killed me! Do you know how far I had to run to get them? They almost gave me a heart attack!”

  “Why do they look like they’ve been given a beating, then?”

  “I don’t know!” the man shouted. “Maybe they went into someone else’s cabin!”

  “Let’s bring them inside and give them some tea,” the woman said.

  “Oh no, they’re not going back in there. They’re going to stay put right where they are until the police come.”

  “All right,” the woman huffed. “I’ll bring the tea out here.”

  She went inside while the man remained with them. Though he didn’t have his gun pointed at their faces anymore, he held it firmly by his side while glaring down at them. Gennie rubbed Ben’s back to keep his mind off the pain. She glanced down at his bare feet and saw that the right one was swollen. She tried to ignore the cabin owner’s stare though it was hard.

  The woman came out with two earthenware
mugs and handed them to Gennie and Ben.

  “How is it?” the woman asked them. “It isn’t too hot for you?”

  “No,” Gennie replied after taking a sip, “it’s just right.”

  “I didn’t even notice…you’re both barefoot. Do you want to borrow our shoes?”

  “No,” Gennie said. “I think we’ll be okay.”

  “Is this one a mute?” the man asked, using the gun to point at Ben.

  “No,” Ben croaked out.

  “There’s something wrong with his ankle,” the woman said.

  “Well, it’s his own damn fault,” the man replied. “If they hadn’t taken off like that, he wouldn’t have fell down in the woods.”

  “I think we might have some bandages here. If I can find them, I’ll wrap his foot up in them.”

  The man sighed as the woman went into the cabin again. “It must be nice to get so much attention,” the man said spitefully to them.

  The woman came out with a large roll of cotton gauze and wrapped Ben’s swollen ankle in it.

  “This one isn’t giving you a hard time, is he?” she asked him.

  “No,” Ben said.

  “Does that feel better?” she asked, after she was done wrapping the ankle up.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

  “It’s going to take the police a while to get up here, so I want to hear the whole story,” the man blurted out. “Why did you break into my house?”

  Both Gennie and Ben were silent.

  “No reason, huh?” the man said, disgusted. “Just wanted to do it for the thrill, right?”

  “It was my idea,” Ben replied. “My sister didn’t want to do it.”

  “Oh, so the truth comes out. I knew it was you. I can see ‘trouble’ written all over your face. I bet you do this a lot.”

  “Stop it!” the woman shouted. “I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm.”

  “They meant harm, all right. I saw all the food they used up. Now, what else did you kids take?”

  Gennie wasn’t going to say anything, but her nerves overtook her. She burst out laughing.

  “What the hell is so funny?” the man said.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Gennie replied, trying to repress her giggling, “I didn’t take anything…but my brother did.”

  “What did he take?” the man spat out. “I want it back now!”

  “He took…your underwear!” Gennie said, breaking out into laughter again. The woman laughed too. Ben first looked at her as if he had been put on death row, but then he smiled.

  “Do you want them back?” Ben chuckled. “They’re kind of loose on me.”

  “No, keep the goddamn underwear,” the man replied. “I don’t want you standing out here naked when the police come.”

  Chapter 6