It rang, and rang, and rang. I’d moved to sit cross-legged on the floor in the hallway, staring at the front door as it kept ringing incessantly. There was no doorbell, I’d checked that earlier along with ensuring everything was locked.

I touched the side cabinet I’d pushed against the door, shaking it experimentally and wincing as the door shuddered with it, but it held up.

I’d plugged my phone into charge at the plug in the hallway, the cable ending just out of reach so everytime I wanted to look at the screen I had to shuffle back, but I didn’t want to sit too far away from the door just in case whoever - or whatever - was on the other side decided they wanted to barge their way in and risk having no time to try and fight against the door opening - or breaking.

The doorbell stopped ringing at 7:15am when my phone rang instead.

I shuffled back cautiously, my eyes still trained on the door, and blindly answered it.

“Hey, Charlie! Still alive then?”

“Adrian,” I said, my voice thick yet sharp. Then I shook my head, realizing that either this was just me having a period of insanity or...or Adrian was in the middle of all this too. I needed to follow my part in the act just as well as he did. “Just barely. The glass door broke yesterday. I’m all sliced up.”

A gasp that almost sounded like he actually cared. “Damn, are you okay? Is it bad? Is there a first aid kit in the lodge?”

“I haven’t actually looked. I just cleaned myself up and blocked the door. I didn’t want any wild animals or ‘campers’ getting in, you know?”

“Yeah, good idea. But maybe try to find the first aid kit, okay? Don’t want the cuts to get infected.”

I paused, listening to the static through the phone line, hearing the loud murmur of the train station in the background. Adrian was on his way to work, like a normal person. “I don’t feel safe here,” I said, testing the water.

He laughed, just like he had done on TV. A shuffle of feet, the sniff and cough of a hundred fellow commuters, the shuttling and sigh of a train door closing. “What did I tell you? This is a break. A holiday! Stop worrying! It’s just some pranksters messing with you and…” He seemed to search for the right words. “And the glass broke because it was weak? The lodge has been there a while, it probably needs some better upkeep.”

“A while?” I questioned. “Is that what it said online?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, as if brushing me off. “Look, just relax.”

I wasn’t going to let him do that. “What else did the site say? You said you read reviews?”

“Charlie.” The way he said my name made it feel like a curse, a spell of anger and rapidly growing frustration meant to freeze my panic and fear into a still puddle of nothing. “Charlie, just enjoy yourself. It’s your week off.”

Time for a different tact. “I...I will, I’ll try. But the signal here isn’t too good for me to search online, so I don’t really know what I can do other than visit the lake. So, anything you can remember about the lodge, about what it said was available, would be nice.”

A long sigh. “The reviews were mostly about how pretty it was, how good it was to be comfortably isolated from the stresses of society, and all that. I just remember reading that the lodge was the oldest one available, the first one the company set up like a hundred years ago or something? I imagine they refitted it with actual technology since then, but maybe they just need to re-update if things are breaking down on you. There wasn’t much about activities though - surely there’s a bookshelf with books and puzzles or something else you can do.”

“I’ll have a look, thanks.”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to actually be bored,” he said, humour lightening his tone again. “Remember this-”

“-is my week off,” I finished. “Yes, I know.”

“Just enjoy it while you can.”

I swallowed, blinking. I didn’t like the way he said that. “See you when I get back.”

“And not a moment sooner.” He hung up.

I let my phone drop into my lap, taking deep, steadying breaths. My instincts were screaming at me - Adrian Oakes was not to be trusted. Maybe I really had lost it, maybe this was just paranoia, but if this was real…

Adrian Oakes was not to be trusted, I repeated to myself. And Adrian wants me to stay for the full week, he wants me to relax.

Meaning I had to leave and definitely not take it easy.

I stood up, yanking the charger cable out of the plug and stomping towards the bedroom. I packed everything and set my suitcase next to the front door, ready for when it was time. I went to the kitchen, glancing at the glass strewn across the floor that I hadn’t swept up, and made myself breakfast. Coffee, eggs, toast. I needed energy for whatever was to come, and made myself an extra large serving.

Then I showered and pulled on jeans, my hiking boots that I’d thankfully brought with me, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a zip-up hoodie. I looked at myself in the mirror - I was cloaked in colours of black, dark brown, and dark green, and this was as close as I was going to get to wearing actual camouflage.

My phone vibrated in my pocket with a text, followed by a sudden knock at the front door.

The mechanic.