I breathed in the autumn air as I gazed at the golden trees dotting the hills. Leaves and twigs snapped under my feet as I crunched around to the back of our cabin. Soft humming drifted from an open window. Just then, I spotted Danny bent on his knee atop a hill, inspecting something on the ground.
“What is it, Danny?” I called.
“Dad, come look up here quick!”
The wind jostled me as I climbed up the hill. From over his shoulder, I saw a hole that shot straight down. It was only slightly bigger than Danny.
“Careful Danny,” I said, kneeling beside him.
“Did an animal do this?”
“Maybe.”
Danny leaned his head over the hole and started singing. His notes bopped down and bounced back up.
“It’s deep,” I said, picking up a pinecone.
I held it over the opening and let go, watching it drop into the darkness. I waited for it to hit the bottom, but the hit never came.
“Stay away from here, Danny. Maybe Uncle Mike is working on something he never finished- we don’t want you falling in,” I said. We stood and dusted off our knees, then I put my arm around him and we walked back to the cabin.
When we returned, Danny ran inside to check on his mother while I poured coal in the grill. I lit the coals and sat back, watching the sun sink into the horizon. The mountains and trees were splashed with strokes of oranges and reds. Anne swung out of the cabin holding a bottle of beer and sat beside me at the grill.
“Beer?” She asked.
“Got one here, thanks.”
She kicked her feet up on a chair in front of her.
“So. Danny told me about some kind of hole that goes to the center of the Earth.”
“God knows what Mike’s working on now,” I said, flipping the burgers. Anne laughed.
“Remember the time he had you guys dig up the front yard to get to that broken sewage pipe?”
“Jesus, how could I forget. Couldn’t smell right for a week.”
“At least he lets us use his cabin to make up for-”
Just then, we heard Danny singing in the distance. It came from the direction of the hole.
“Danny, what did I tell you about going up there!?” I shouted.
Danny walked out of the cabin. “Dad, I’m right here.”
I bolted to the top of the hill and scanned around. The only sound that remained was the wind brushing against the leaves above. There was nothing there. I hurried back and we quickly finished dinner.
Afterwards, Anne took Danny inside to get ready for bed while I cleaned the grill. I searched around the hole one more time, then went inside the cabin.
The cabin was small and cozy. Light danced on the walls from an old metal furnace sitting in the corner. All of the furniture, including the mahogany table, was handmade. Mike even rigged a rain catcher to purify and funnel water to the inside of the cabin.
Anna and I always slept on the queen bed, while Danny climbed up to a little platform above us with a mattress. Danny and Anne were fast asleep by the time I slid into bed. There were two windows in the cabin, one facing the front and one facing the back. From where our bed was positioned, I had a clear view of the hill from the back window. I watched it until I drifted off.
I awoke in the middle of the night with an uneasy feeling. The moonlight cast a bluish tint into the cabin. I turned to Anne and felt her head nuzzled by my shoulder. Danny softly murmured in his sleep. When I glanced out of the window, I saw movement on the hill.
Something slowly emerged from the hole. At first, I thought it was some kind of animal, but as it crawled out and stood, I could make out the silhouette of a woman looming in the dark. Her long hair began lifting up her back and stood erect above her head. She was facing away from the cabin towards the moon. In an unnaturally slow motion, she lifted her hands above her head, and her fingers met at the top. She started to pirouette like a ballet dancer moving under water.
When I sat up, her hands suddenly dropped and her head jerked to the side. She sharply turned to face the cabin. With careful steps, the woman began to dance again, advancing down the hill towards us. I shook Anne.
“What’s wrong honey?” she asked groggily.
“There’s someone out there, Anne,” I whispered as I stood out of bed. The woman quickly dropped to all fours and scampered back into the hole just as Anne shot up to look. Her eyes darted out of the window, then looked back at me.
“Bad dream?”
In the morning, I made instant coffee and brought Anne a cup as she sat up in bed. Danny woke up and climbed down the ladder.
“Want some breakfast, Danny?” Anne asked.
“Yes,” he responded flatly.
Anne rolled out of bed to make breakfast as I excused myself for a morning walk.
I ran up to the hole and inspected around it, but saw no trace of footprints in the dirt. I jogged back down and scanned all around the cabin before heading back inside. I could hear silverware clinking as I opened the door. When I entered, Anne and Danny ate their breakfast in silence. In the center of the table, a single pinecone stood.
Anne packed a picnic lunch before we set out. I drove us to the main mountain road and began climbing up towards the hiking trails. We gawked as we passed underneath a tunnel of golden trees. I rolled the windows down and hung my arm out. The air was crisp. We reached a clearing and the coverage opened up into beams of sunlight grazing down the rolling hills.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Danny?” Anne said, turning back. Danny sat quietly. I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Danny staring into the back of Anne’s seat.
“You okay buddy?”
“Yes,” Danny muttered.
“Not feeling well?” Anne asked.
“Fine,” Danny said.
Anne and I exchanged glances but decided not to press it. We continued up the mountain until we arrived at Eagles Landing. While we hiked, Danny quietly trailed behind us. Even when we stopped for lunch, he ate without saying a single word.
When we returned back to the cabin, I started on dinner while Anne and Danny went inside. I waited for the coals to burn as I watched the sun retreat. An eerie glow penetrated through the dark clouds. Anne finally came out and sat by me as I cooked the hotdogs. She looked back at the cabin then spoke in a hushed voice.
“Ever since this morning he’s been acting that way, John. In the cabin he was just staring at the wall. I can’t get more than a one word answer out of him.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” I said. “First thing.”
We finished dinner and called it for the night. I climbed into bed and stared out the window. Rain ticked against the roof. The wind tossed and rustled, and Mike’s rainwater jug wrapped against the side of the cabin. Anne was sleeping beside me, and I felt the steady rise and fall of her breathing. I dozed off as I watched the oak tree rock and sway in the wind.
I woke suddenly to a noise outside. I sat up and listened for the noise but could only hear the sound of the storm persisting. Then I heard something scuttle outside the window. My eyes darted out the window but no movement was detectable. Then the ceiling creaked.
I frantically studied the dark as I stood to my feet. My hip knocked against the bedside as a strike of lighting crashed, and the cabin briefly lit up. At that moment, I saw it in the corner of the ceiling, across from our bed. Wet hair dangled down, barely illuminated by the flash of light. A pair of arms and legs spidered on the wall as the woman watched down on our bed.
I shook Anne awake as my eyes fixed on the corner of the room. As Anne sat up, it dropped to the floor and scampered out of the cabin. This time, Anne saw it too.
“Start the car, I’ll grab Danny,” I said, snatching the keys off of the night stand. I tossed her the keys and she ran out of the cabin as I climbed up the ladder. Danny was already awake, staring into the ceiling as I climbed to the top.
“Danny, grab your shoes we’re leaving,” I said, throwing the blanket off of him. Without speaking, he slowly sat up and began scooting towards the latter to climb down.
I helped him off and snagged his coat on the way out. As we burst out of the cabin, I could hear Danny’s singing in the distance. We hopped in the car and Anne began to drive away.
“Christ- that was the same thing I saw last night,” I said while pulling my phone out. “I’m calling Mike. I don’t know what else to do.”
I frantically dialed when I noticed Anne was slowing down. She rolled to a stop and her eyes gazed straight ahead.
“Anne Drive!”
“John, we’re not leaving,” she said.
Anne turned to me. In her dark hair, I noticed splotches of dirt.