Freeby Vacation

“Honey, wake up.  It’s doing that thing again.  Please, baby, don’t roll over and ignore me!  I’m serious.  Can’t you hear that?”

“You have got to be kidding me.  Lindsey, I love you.  I swear I do, but I am completely exhausted.  I have to be up in… what the hell time is it?”

“I don’t know what time it is!  Sometime past midnight, I guess.  But Derrick, the power’s off again, and can’t you hear the laughing?  It’s been doing it for the last five minutes.  I walked all the way through every room and nobody’s in the cabin, but I hear somebody laughing!”

“Alright, I’ll go and check, okay?  Will that make you feel better?  Because I promise you there is nobody laughing right now.  Least of all me.”

“No.  No it’s alright.  I can’t hear it anymore.  And it looks like the power came back, since the alarm clock is flashing.  It’s just, this is supposed to be a vacation but the power keeps going out and there’s all these weird noises and –“

“I know.  It isn’t perfect and it’s not what we talked about, but Ralph and Diane loaned us their cabin for free.  And even you said that the extra shopping money would be nice.  Plus, where else would I have access to a private lake and my very own pontoon?  Listen, if you don’t want me to go fishing this morning you just need to say so.”

“Oh, Derrick, that isn’t what I’m trying to do!  I couldn’t care less if you wanted to get up at five a.m. to stab a bunch of worms and feed some fish.  Do you really think that’s why I’ve spent the last three nights with hardly any sleep?”

“I have no idea why you keep doing this.  All I know is you keep freaking out and neither of us have slept for more than four hours at a time since we got here.  Hell, Lindsey, you haven’t even gone out to town yet.  I thought you were excited about all the antique shops and whatever else it was you wanted to do on Main Street.”

“I was.  Truly.  But now I just want to go home.  Something isn’t right here, and it’s starting to terrify me.  I didn’t want to go into town because every time I thought about leaving, this sickening dread balled up in my stomach.  It was enough to make me nauseous.  It’s like, if I leave you alone, something really awful will happen.”

“Really awful to you, or to me?  Seriously, you’re starting to worry me.  If you wanted to go home you could’ve just said so.  I’m not holding you hostage here, and I’m not wanting to be here so badly that I would let you be miserable.”

“Derrick.  I know that.  It’s not you, not at all.  I’m just scared, and I don’t really know why.  I’m sorry sweety.  Just forget my tirade and try to get some sleep.  I'm going to the kitchen to microwave some hot chocolate and I’ll be right back.  The temperature outside must have dropped thirty degrees in the last hour!”

“You don’t need apologize, babe.  We’ll figure this out.  Just hurry back.  It’s crazy cold in this bed without you.”

“You got it, sexy.  Maybe we can figure out a way to warm up when I get back.  Derrick?  Did you hear me?”

“Lindsey. It’s really c-cold in here.  It’s not funny!  I’m seriously fr fr-eezing.  D-did you o-open a w-window?  Stop laughing, i-it’s nnnnoott fffuunnny.”

“Derrick, I’m not laughing.  Stop smiling like that, you’re scaring me!  H-honey?  D-derrick!  Answer me!  Why won’t you stop laughing?  Oh God, it’s freezzzing i-inn hh-here.  The laughing, it's so cold...Honey, don't let go, don't leave me - it's s-s-sso funny, freezing cold, hilarious, I can't s-stop laugh-ghing and sh-shivering...”
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“No sir, they were both run through the system and neither had any priors.  I initially thought it was a murder/suicide, except there was no murder weapon, and the autopsy says they both froze to death.  Are you still at the cabin?”

“Yeah, I’m still out here.  Dispatch a unit my way.  I keep hearing this strange noise, but I can’t find the source.  I swear it sounds like laughing…”