It was like the old man had taken all the sounds with him when he exited the cabin. The room had sunk into an impenetrable silence: it was almost deafening. And in that silence, no one dared to move, or even breathe too loud - they were that frightened.
The only one who wasn't scared out of her wits was the woman who had arrived at the cabin last. She moved through the small room, and with the limited lighting pouring through the raggedy curtains, she searched the room for anything interesting. Disappointment showed on her face when she couldn't find anything worth looking at.
The room they were in was nothing but rotten furniture and food covered in fuzz that had been left out on the table. It was like the cabin's owner had just disappeared before they could finish eating. And it was that thought that crept everyone out even more.
The woman, who introduced herself as Adrienne, motioned for everyone to gather in the centre of the room and started to speak: "Right now, everyone is probably feeling scared and confused. It's understandable; we've all suddenly appeared in this place and were told that we are here to help search for something."
Outside the cabin, the wind howled through the trees, making the people inside feel even tenser. Adrienne sensed their unease, and forcing the ends of her lips to stay down instead of breaking into a grin, she tried to comfort them, "for now we should wait for the morning, and hopefully, the old man will come back to explain everything to us. It's no good going outside and getting lost, or something worse happening."
Adrienne settled herself back down in the chair after saying her piece and waited for someone else to step forward and say whatever it is they wanted to say.
It didn't take long for a person to come forward and say, "I agree with her. It's true that we were sent here and don't know what's happening, but if we go outside to get answers ourselves, anything could happen. We should wait for the old man and then decide what we're going to do."
Adrienne nodded at the man in admiration and observed him over the sunglasses. He was tall, with a good figure and amiable features.
Friendly and intelligent, what a good teammate. A gleam shone in her eyes that went unnoticed by the others.
"Um..." a petite girl with an ordinary appearance, shyly spoke up next, and her face shone red as everyone's focus turned to her, "I agree with them too. Rushing out now would be a bad idea."
"Fuck your bad ideas." A ruddy-cheeked man blurred out and slammed a fist on the table. It was the same one who had shouted about calling the police not that long ago. "Staying here or going out there... either way, we're just waiting for death. Who wants to stay here and do nothing?"
Without waiting for anyone's reply, the man pulled open the door, causing the wind to travel inside and make everyone shiver. Some tried to stop him from leaving, but Adrienne convinced them to just let him go. If he wanted to be stupid and get himself killed, that was nobody's business but his own.
Shrugging, Adrienne studied her nails and ignored the looks she was getting from everyone around her. Her nonchalant appearance caused irritation, but there was nothing they could do; it was true that he had run out by himself and nobody wanted to die along with him.
Soon everyone was too tired to discuss things further, so they just settled down where they were and tried to sleep, no matter how unrestful it would be.
☽
The morning sun shone through the gaps in the lone window and woke up the cabin's groggy inhabitants. Most of them had slept, but it wasn't one that was pleasant. Getting to their feet, the participants looked around them and tried to get their bearings.
Bang!
The slamming of the door against the wooden wall certainly did wake them up more and made them more alert. But what really did it was the old man standing solemnly in the doorway, waiting for the people inside to notice his presence.
"Blimey, can you say something instead of scaring us half to death?" A robust man clutched his chest and swore harshly at the old man.
The old man pretended like he hadn't just been cursed at and made his way into the only room. Then he stopped before the table, and said, "yesterday was too late to speak about why you were all summoned here. Allow me to thank you once again for coming here and I'll explain what has been happening."
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