The Lodge

Katie plugged in her headphones and felt the bus lurch forward as the trip to the lodge began.

Each winter break, her and a group of college friends would get together for a lodge trip. Their typical choice, the Fairweather Lodge, was decidedly not fair weather this year… the lake they usually used to swim and boat together had frozen over and caused the proprietors to shut it down for the season. Eric was chosen to pick an alternate lodge, and decidedly chose the Quardi Clifftop Escape. When asked why, he wouldn’t say. He exasperatedly claimed it was all a secret, at least until they got up to the mountain.

On her phone, she swiped to the video Nera had made to introduce the group to their trip. Katie pressed play.

Nera was in her dorm room, with a visible banner of Wallington University hanging on her wall.

“Hey, Flow Gang!” she waved excitedly. “Welcome to Flow Break 2017!”

She grabbed something from off her desk, revealing it to be an old brochure. “So, since Fairweather’s decided to shit itself this year, we’re going with alternate options. Eric has chosen this-” She shows the brochure, “- I honestly didn’t even know this place was available, but apparently Eric says it’s cool, so I suppose we’re going with that. Anyway, let’s go over the things you guys selected as highlights for the year…”

The video was enough to satiate Katie for the rest of the ride. When she finally made it up to the closest bus stop, she made her way up to the front and asked the driver:

“How much farther until I hit Quardi?”

“Quardi?”

“Yeah, the uh… the lodge overlooking the cliff, that one.”

The bus driver shrugged. “You can probably get to it if you cut through the woods. Should take you fifteen minutes or so.”

She got off the bus and sighed to herself. “I really hope Eric knows what he’s talking about.”

She was hesitant to cut through the woods, and instead followed the path for a little while until she hit a gas station. Around this time she got a call from Andrew.

“Yo, Drew?”

There was laughter on the other end. “At least Eric chose a spot with some service, right?”

Katie smiled. “So, you guys already there?”

“Uhh, only Michelle and I so far. No word from the others. Hey, where are you right now?”

“At a gas station. Near the last bus stop.”

“Oh shit, so you’re already almost there. Hey, I think… I think I know where you are. I’ll go pick you up, okay?”

Katie looked around. Snow was falling. No one was in sight. There was a dim light coming from the gas station. “Yeah, sure. I’ll just hang out around here.”

When she entered the gas station, the first thing she noticed was how empty the whole thing was. Half the shelf space was empty, and the lights tinkered to create a dull atmosphere. At first, she thought she was alone, but then she heard a voice.

“Lookin’ for somethin’?”

Alerted, she jumped slightly then turned around. At the counter now was an older gentleman, rugged by the outdoors, with a large gray beard and a partially toothless smile. Katie was not comforted by his presence.

“Oh, no… I’m just, uh… waiting for a friend.”

The cashier’s smile turned into a frown. “Gotta buy something when you come in. Thems the rules.”

As much as she didn’t like admitting it, the presence of the man began to make her feel very uneasy. She gave a cautious smile and began going down the aisles.

The closer she looked at the station, the more things began to unravel. Some of the food on sale was months out of date. A strange dark stain painted its way through the floor of the aisle, ending at the entrance to the men’s bathroom. A strange smell — not rotten, or stale, but almost gaseous — filled the air.

At some point she noticed a bottled water in the refrigerated section. She opened the door and grabbed the bottle, when she noticed something even stranger.

“Um, I…”

“Huh?” The man called out.

“I think… your fridge is down. None of this is cold.”

“What?”

The man got out from beyond the counter and began stomping in her direction. She quickly moved out of the way, but was fortunate enough to realize he was going for the fridge instead.

“Oh no, no no no…” He rubbed his face in his hands and shook his head before turning back to the girl. “When did this happen? Who did this? My god, no!”

Katie continued taking steps back. “I… I don’t know… it was like this when I opened it.”

The cashier, his face still in his hands, began stepping forward. “Please… if I screw this up… things will be real bad… don’t tell anyone… please… don’t tell…”

The girl began shivering now. “I-I won’t tell anyone… I swear… really, I-”

Just then, a peculiar sound to break the silence. The sound of the door opening, and a familiar voice.

“This guy bothering you?”

Katie turned. Her friend, Andrew, stood guarded at the entrance.

“Oh, no… I was… listen, I gotta go.”

The cashier slowly removed his hands from his face. He whispered. “Go where?”

“Come on, Kat. Let’s go.”

Katie dropped the bottle and hurried over to the familiar boy. They walked out the convenience store. The older man didn’t follow.

“Jeez, what the hell was that about?” Andrew asked as they got a bit farther from the station.

“Beats me, dude. Some major loony guy.”

Andrew shrugged. “Well, you know what they say about mountain people.”

Katie shook her head. Her breath fogged up in the snow. She grabbed tight to her leather jacket. “I mean… I don’t think he would’ve done anything. But I did get major creeps. I’m glad you came when you did.”

Andrew smiled.

Eventually they stopped at a sign post. Andrew pointed into the woods. “Through here.”

“Really? There’s no pathway?”

“There is, but it’s a bit farther down. This is a shortcut.”

Katie looked out into the bramble. “A shortcut. Through wild, undeveloped forest.”

Andrew gave her a pat on the back. “Come on, we’ll be here for a week. Better start getting used to nature now.”

As they made their way through the bramble, quietly at first, Andrew spoke up.

“So, how have things been? Haven’t seen you too much since the Halloween party.”

“Oh, they’ve been good. Organic chem is kicking my ass, as usual. But beyond that things are okay.”

“Heard you got an internship?”

“Yeah, yeah. At the Marci lab.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Andrew said the words emphatically, but after a bout of silence by Katie began to somewhat doubt his words. “That’s… great? Right?”

Katie suddenly sparked back up from her lull. “Oh, yeah, no, it is. It’s a really good lab. A lot of work, though.”

Andrew chuckled. “I’d imagine. A lot more work than psychology, that’s for sure.” As the boy turned to meet the girl, he noticed she was shaking. “Hey, you cold?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“Here…” Andrew stopped and began to take off his hoodie, revealing only a sweater underneath. Katie shook her head and outstretched her hands.

“No, really, I’ll be okay. You’ll be freezing without that.”

“Kat, I was born in Minnesota. I think I’ll be fine.” Andrew pulled the hoodie over the girl, and seemingly defeated by the cold, the girl accepted. As he put the hoodie over her, their hands touched. They looked each other in the eye for a few moments. Katie backed softly away.

“Hey, I don’t think… Thank you, but…”

Andrew backed away as well. “No, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.”

The two made it to the old clifftop lodge and found their remaining four friends. Michelle was the first to notice. “Katie! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

The one Asian of the bunch jumped up to hug her blonde friend. Andrew met with the others.

The guy without a hoodie tipped his head towards Connor, then turned to Nera. “Where’s Eric?”

“In the kitchen, getting his stuff in.”

As Andrew went through the porch door, Connor got up and made contact with Katie. He smiled.

“Hey.”

Katie smiled. “Hey.”

They kissed.

A bit later, the group met in the living room. Eric was at the front, with Michelle sitting on the fireplace.

Andrew sat on the couch across from him. As Katie came in, she tossed the gray hoodie into Andrew’s lap. “Thanks for the jacket.”

Andrew gave her a salute. “No prob.”

Katie sat with Connor on the other end of the couch. Nera was the last to come in, sitting at the rocking chair on Andrew’s other side.

“Alright, alright.” Eric began to call order to the room. “I promise I’d tell you guys why I decided to pick this place when we got here. So, now we’re here.”

Nera tilted her head. “And the big reason is…?”

Eric squatted down in front of the coffee table in front of the group and began to make a series of hand gestures across it. “So, before the lodge was around, this place used to be a burial ground for the Nimera tribe.”

Michelle sighed. “Ah, cultural appropriation! We’re off to a good start.”

“That’s not just it, though! Back when the colonists began to settle the frontier, the Nimera used this location as their last stand. They say around two hundred people died in this very spot.”

Connor began to become physically uncomfortable. “Not really sure where you’re going here.”

“Just stay with me for now — we gotta get the bad stuff out of the way first. Anyway, about a hundred years after the last stand of the Nimera, this rich steel tycoon named Joseph Quardi comes in and builds a lodge. At this point, pretty much no one remembers what happened here, though one might imagine they dug up a lot of bones. Doesn’t matter though; they built the whole thing anyway. Well, two months into the Quardi Clifftop Escape’s service, and shit starts getting weird. Visitors report weird sounds, strange sightings, things moved to where they weren’t before. After some time, rumor starts to spread that the whole place is haunted.”

Nera began to shake her head. “Oh no. I know exactly where he’s going with this.”

“By the 60s, the whole thing was all over the news. The stories were getting wilder and wilder from guests, and the thing made waves over TV and radio. This popularity eventually died down, and Quardi sold the place. However, it was later picked up by some local group, who got rid of the access and kept a single large cabin up for any visitors who dared enter…”

“Yup, he’s going where I think he’s going.”

“…The number one most haunted location in Wallington!”

Eric was always really big into horror and the occult, so now that the truth was revealed it didn’t really seem to surprise anyone. Katie looked a bit uncomfortable, Nera exasperated, Michelle confused, and Andrew indifferent. But only Connor was the one who spoke up.

“So, how do we get rid of the noise?”

Eric looked at him sideways. “Huh?”

“The noise. You can hear it in the hallways, and sort of in the rooms. It’s like… an air leak, or something. Like a valve that’s just sorta turned, but not all the way.”

The African-American student shrugged. “We could probably figure out what’s causing it. Might be something to do with the heat, in the basement or something.”

With the group meeting adjourned, the party split up. Eric and Connor went down to the basement to see what was wrong, Andrew went to check out his room, and the three girls stayed in the kitchen area to unpack.