Chapter 2 - The Lock on the Mountain Cabin
The car crashed sideways into a thick mud bank.
The engine sputtered and died with a hiss.
Smoke rose from the crumpled front hood.
Sarah opened her eyes and checked on Leo.
The boy was shaken, but uninjured in his seatbelt.
“Stay down, Leo,” Sarah whispered softly.
The black SUV pulled up beside their wrecked car.
David stepped out into the pouring rain.
He carried a heavy metal crowbar in his hand.
He walked slowly toward Sarah’s side window.
“Open the door, Sarah,” David commanded loudly.
Sarah unbuckled her belt and reached under her seat.
Her hand wrapped around an iron tire iron.
She kicked her damaged car door wide open.
The door hit David hard in the chest.
He stumbled backward into the deep mud.
Sarah scrambled out of the car and stood tall.
“Stay away from us!” she screamed at him.
David wiped rain and mud from his cold face.
“You think you’re saving her, Sarah?” he sneered.
“Clara lost her mind years ago.”
“You kept her trapped!” Sarah shouted back.
“Your father begged me to take her!” David yelled.
“She was going to ruin the family business!”
Leo climbed out through the passenger window.
He carried the small wooden box against his chest.
David noticed the box and took a step forward.
“Give me that box, kid!” David shouted.
Leo ran into the dark forest beside the road.
“Leo, no!” Sarah screamed, running after him.
David sprinted into the woods behind them.
Branches whipped against Sarah’s face in the dark.
She could hear Leo’s small boots splashing ahead.
She could hear David’s heavy footsteps right behind her.
Leo tripped over an old tree root and fell hard.
The wooden box tumbled out of his small hands.
It hit a rock and split wide open in the dirt.
A thick stack of paper documents scattered everywhere.
David reached Leo first and grabbed his jacket collar.
He lifted the young boy right off his feet.
“I should have left you in the house,” David growled.
Sarah lunged forward with the iron tire iron.
She swung it with all her remaining strength.
It struck David squarely across his forearm.
He yelled in pain and dropped the young boy.
Leo scrambled away toward a clearing ahead.
Sarah stood between David and the frightened child.
“Run, Leo!” Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Find the cabin!” she shouted.
Leo turned and vanished into the thick fog.
David held his bruised arm and chuckled darkly.
“He doesn't know where it is, Sarah,” David said.
“The cabin isn't on any public map.”
Sarah looked down at the scattered paper documents.
One paper was a map printed from a county database.
It showed an old mining cabin deep in the woods.
A red X was drawn over a small structure near a creek.
Sarah snatched the paper map off the wet ground.
David reached for her, but she dodged his grasp.
She ran into the thick brush toward the creek.
The sound of rushing water grew louder in the night.
She spotted the dark outline of a cabin through trees.
It had heavy wooden shutters over every window.
A massive iron padlock secured the heavy front door.
Leo was standing on the narrow porch, crying softly.
He was trying to pull the heavy lock open with hands.
“It won't open, Aunt Sarah!” he sobbed.
Sarah rushed onto the creaking wooden porch.
She looked at the heavy iron padlock on the frame.
She remembered the rusty key from the wooden box.
She searched her empty pockets in total panic.
The key was gone.
She had dropped it back at the crash site.
David’s footsteps echoed loudly from the woods.
He stepped out into the clearing with a cold smile.
He held the rusty key up in the dim moonlight.
“Looking for this?” David asked calmly.
He walked slowly up the narrow porch steps.
“You were always too smart for your own good, Sarah.”
“Just like your sister was.”
Sarah backed up against the sealed front door.
She reached behind her back and felt the brass handle.
It was locked solid from the outside.
Inside the cabin, a soft thumping sound began.
Someone was pounding weakly against the wooden door.
“Sarah?” a faint voice called from inside.
It was Clara’s voice.
Sarah’s heart shattered into a million pieces.
“Clara! I’m here!” Sarah screamed back.
David raised the heavy iron crowbar in his hand.
“It’s over, Sarah,” David said quietly.
“Your father already signed the release papers.”
“Legally, Clara doesn't exist anymore.”
“I own this property and everything on it.”
A bright beam of light suddenly hit David’s eyes.
A loud police siren echoed through the trees.
Two dark figures stepped out into the clearing.
It was Sarah’s father and a senior police officer.
Her father looked broken, wet, and deeply ashamed.
“Drop the iron bar, David,” her father said.
David turned toward the police officer in shock.
“You called them?” David asked her father.
“I made a terrible mistake five years ago,” he replied.
“I won't let you hurt my daughters anymore.”
David stepped backward toward the edge of the porch.
The police officer drew his weapon immediately.
“Put the weapon down now!” the officer commanded.
David looked at the key in his wet hand.
He looked at the dark, fast river behind the porch.
He raised his arm and threw the rusty key away.
It vanished into the black, churning river water.
“No!” Sarah screamed, reaching out uselessly.
David dropped the iron bar and raised his hands.
“You'll never prove I kept her here,” David smirked.
“The cabin is legally registered as an empty shed.”
The police officer stepped up and handcuffed David.
Sarah fell to her knees in absolute despair.
The key was gone forever in the deep river.
Inside the cabin, the weak thumping stopped completely.
“Clara!” Sarah screamed, banging on the heavy wood.
There was no sound from inside the dark house.
Leo sat down on the wet porch steps and wept.
Sarah looked at the iron padlock through her tears.
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There was no way to open the door without tools.
Her sister was trapped inside, silent and unresponsive.
